#i keep threatening with the lore built up for this

[alectoperdita]

Do I have a dozen things, including fic requests, to finish? Yes. But I only seem to want to start self-indulgent things that I may or may not even finish myself.

Anyway, inspired by those photos, here's Seto and Katsuya after six months of dating in the Old Friends universe.

---

As soon as the elevator's doors shut, Seto's phone dinged with a message. He checked it, hoping against hope it was a cancellation of tonight's dinner plans.

No such luck for him. It was a message confirming the other party might even be early.

Movement on the edge of his vision distracted him before he could reply. He peered sideways at the elevator's other occupant, at Katsuya, his boyfriend now of six months. Katsuya also had his phone in hand, held aloft, and flipping the bird with the other as he snapped several selfies.

Seto stopped to watch him pose and make faces at his camera. It still boggled him sometimes: how long they'd lasted, how seamless the transition had been, how well they clicked.

In the mirror-finish of the elevator doors, their reflections stood side-by-side but they might as well be from two different worlds. Seto's navy-pattern suit was neat and pressed, a folded pocket square peeking out of his breast pocket, and shoes shined to a gleam. Every detail of his appearance managed and controlled down to the stitch. Katsuya, on the other hand, looked as if he recently rolled out of bed—Seto's bed—despite having taken as long as Seto to get ready.

Seto took his time giving his boyfriend the once-over, as was his prerogative, his eyes tracing the slopes of Katsuya's chest and midriff visible through his torn, sleeveless mesh top. The stretch of black, barely there fabric was broken up by bands of silver, heavy chains stringed around his neck, biceps, and wrists. His pants hung low on his waist, exposing his underwear's waistband, and boasted more straps than belt buckles Seto used to wear in his youth. The artfully tousled hair resembled his bed head after they had one or two invigorating rounds of sex, and his heavy eyeliner reminded Seto of when they first ran into each other on a fateful New Years Eve.

Their eyes locked through their reflections, and Katsuya pursed his lips to blow him a kiss.

He'd been caught staring. Ears now warmed, Seto tore his gaze away and typed a hasty reply to his dinner meeting.

As soon as he slipped the phone into his pocket, though, Katsuya immediately invaded his personal space. His chin rested on Seto's shoulder as his burly arms slung around his waist. Seto's eyes darted back to their reflections again. They were undeniably fetching tangled together, something that pleased Seto to no end.

"I'm not just for looking. You can touch," Katsuya mumbled against his heated ear.

"In that case, we're going right back upstairs," Seto grumbled.

Katsuya chuckled. "Down, boy. You're the one who worried about being late and rushing out the door."

As they said, business before pleasure. Pity.

Sooner than Seto preferred, they hit the ground floor. Katsuya dropped his arms, leaving Seto somewhat chilled and bereft despite wearing a suit in June, and swaggered off the elevator. Together, they crossed the atrium, where the black granite interior threatened to swallow Katsuya if not for the bright glimmer of his blond hair.

"You sure I can't convince you to come with me?" Seto asked. It was not the first time he'd even asked him. If it got Katsuya to change his mind, he wouldn't mind asking several times more.

"Hmmm. Depends. Where are you going?"

"Buddha-Bar."

Katsuya burst into laughter. It was music resonating within the high-ceiling lobby. "Tools go to Buddha-Bar."

He winced.

"Sorry, babe." Katsuya flashed an apologetic smile. In the middle of the lobby, he paused and spun to face him before gesturing to himself. "Plus, I doubt this meets their dress code."

Seto also came to a stop, taking the obvious invitation to ogle his scantily-clad boyfriend more. He couldn't even be mad at Katsuya, because the man was right on both accounts. The restaurant often attracted a crowd more concerned with appearing more cosmopolitan than they actually were, plus it'd would never seat Katsuya when he showed that much skin. Pity because he'd pay to sick Katsuya on tonight's dining party of financiers, all of whom certainly qualified as "tools" in Seto's book.

"They would if I bought them out," he said, blasé even as he stared a little too intensely at Katsuya's sculpted pecs.

Years ago, such an off-the-cuff comment would've pissed Katsuya off. But they were older now, close enough for him to recognize Seto's jokes even if he didn't always appreciate them.

Instead, Katsuya rolled his eyes and twirled around. Seto would've been annoyed if his broad back wasn't as delectable as his torso. Tonight, his boyfriend was eye candy from head to toe, front to back. Merely one of many reasons for Seto to trail behind him toward the exit.

"Hey, look at it this way. At least you don't have to go far, and it'll be an easy walk back once it's over."

Boots clomping, he shouldered past the glass door and onto the sidewalk. Dusk had not yet settled over the city, but the sun dipping behind the high-rises limned the urban landscape in light purple and orange. It was quiet, "quiet" for New York, the calm before the storm of bustling nightlife that descended on the neighborhood after dark.

They took a second to drink it in, then they were off again.

Seto lengthened his stride until he fell into place next to his boyfriend. In his opinion, any walk was vastly improved with Katsuya at his side. Katsuya gave him a sidelong glance before reaching across the small gap to intertwine their fingers. Seto squeezed his hand in return, finding solace in its warmth and weight. They drew glances as they approached the intersection, seemingly mismatched in their style of dress.

Katsuya peered up at him from under smoky eyelids. "You could always ditch 'em. Run away to Williamsburg with me."

Though he said it like a joke, Seto knew he meant it. As with almost anything involving Katsuya, it was tempting.

"Can't. I've been trying to schedule this meeting since last month."

"I know. I know. It was worth a try." Katsuya tilted his head, gesturing across the crosswalk as the light changed. "Alright, I'm headed that way."

Toward the subway. In the opposite direction of where Seto needed to go.

Even as their fingers started to separate like a taut string fraying, he squeezed them one last time. "Tell your sister and Mazaki I said hi."

"I will." Katsuya swooped in and caught his lips in a kiss over far too soon. When he drew away, his eyes twinkled with good-natured teasing. "Have fun dropping a Benjamin on an app and cocktail. I'm off to stuff myself with chili fries. You're always welcome if you get that bored."

With a wink and a wave, he was gone, a flurry of black and bronze lost to the streets of Tribeca.

Fifteen minutes into a round of pre-dinner drinks, Seto wished he had ditched and made the trek out to Brooklyn with Katsuya. But building a new theme park required constant injections of cash flow. As healthy as his company's coffers may be, it alone didn't suffice. Thus the need to wine and dine these bankers to see what loose change he could shake out of them.

Still, he fired a message to his boyfriend asking where he might find him later.

[inbetweenhours]

Because I am obsessed with this one line from Battle Cries by The Amazing Devil and will continue to reuse it in artwork I of course had this though for using it in comparison to the twins of Rivendell, Scott and Xornoth. As I though more about the piece it evolved into a study of the cycle of corruption and hate between brothers within Rivendell’s leadership. This fight that was born in Rivendells foundation and which died only with the kingdom itself.

Doing this I managed to put a lot more thought into my actual ideas about how the majorly slumbering pantheon that the Stag Gods herald from operates its history especially. I revisited my concepts of Alinar and Cohnel, and I made sure to keep in mind the key differences in all the brothers relationships, as well as how the corruption and championship affected them. 

Below the cut im gonna ramble about the lore both canon and MOSTLY my won fanon that provides background to this piece and how it came together in my head :]

I am going to go through each set of brothers and describe their history. From their conception, to their finality, in the context of being a pair. 

The Stag Gods are unique in their conception. For the sake of ages they are affectively twins. The pantheon they hail from was born in the time after the titans fell. As Pixlriffs describes in his opening to season 2, mighty titans once roamed the earn and when they fell their bodies became the lands that empires now rise and fall on today.  The era of gods that Exor and Aeor were conceptualized in were some of the first creatures to evolve to inhabit the lands that these titans bodies became. The first stags, the first serpents, the first flora. The first seasons, of winter, to spring, and summer. Wilderness was born and from it rose divinity in its first era. That of the Stag gods.

When Aeor and Exor were young fawns they were nothing more than animal. Young and reckless, exploratory as they took on their responsibilities. Bringing order and chaos, winter and summer. A cycle  ever chasing one another. They were so different, but they were brothers. They could not be without the other, as is their cyclical nature.

They are affectively the same age. And they grew up in a time where they and the other gods were the only sentient life around. They are neither benevolent nor malevolent gods. No deity is, because those are mortal terms. Their understanding of mortality is comparable to human understanding of ants. They work, and they have built great things have systems. But everything looks so simple from the gods view. 

The gods take care of mortality in the same way a man may take care of his dog. The dog is loyal and loved and cared for, but it is still only a dog. When the corruption first rose it ugly red shades across the land the gods grew weary. It threatened their precious pets, destroying mortalities hard work and making them ill and crazed. So the pantheon banded together and supposedly defeated The Corruption. It took the full strength of most, and so most of the pantheon fell into slumber. The Stag Gods among the few who continued to stand.

The brother stags founded Rivendell high in the mountains, a place to protect and watch over the mortals they personally  had found preference in, the elven civilization. For a long time the elves worshiped both stags, but as time went on a preference for Aeor and his orderly ways grew. Exor grew jealous, and emboldened by the last remnant of The Corruption which has laid in wait for it time to rise again, he acted out. And as more and more conflict grew between the brother stags, the corruption took its hold in Exor, turning him cruel and greedy, and in turn twisting up all the gods followers as well.

We all know how this story ends. Aeor and his brother fight, divided finally, futile, by The Corruption, and Exor alongside his followers are banished to the mountain peaks to waste away in the caves.

Alinar and Cohnel are the next of the brothers. They are third generation Rivendells citizens. Alinar is older than Cohnel, by some years. They come from a comfortable family, nothing so noble, as the country  flourishes around them. They play together in the streets, Alinar leaning Cohnel by the hand too keep him from running off. The play in the snow and as thy grow older  dare to hike further and further into snowy peaks. Till one day they would discover the ruins of where Exors fanatics were one sealed away. 

Alinar would urge them to leave, taking Cohnel home. Enough warning in old tales told as bedtime stories enough to ward him away. But not Cohnel. Ever cursed with youthful curiosity he would return alone. And he would not be seem for many months. Declared missing Alinar would mourn, grow, and push himself to help others where he could not his brother. He would join the council leading Rivendell, where he would be in a position to see the rampant increase of missing persons. The unease and fear it drew throughout their kingdom.

And  under oath to protect the people Alinar would set out, meet his brother again on the battlefield. Now corrupted from his once boyish youth Cohnel is nothing of the baby brother Alinar once guided. Still, the boy has their mothers nose, and the same eyes. Alinar is weak in one moment and decides he cannot kill his baby brother. But he is a member of the council and a hero of the people. Aeor gives him help, guides him as his champion and  brings him to the conclusion of a banishment spell. So he does just that, never to see his brother again, and goes on to become the champion of Rivendell. Heralded as its first king.

The final set of brothers are best known I presume. Scott and Xornoth, twins of Rivendells monarchy. Xornoth is older, and that is important to me as I often debate giving them a real age gap but I will stick with the twins lore for now. Descendants of Alinar. As members of the monarchy these brothers lives are different to the others. They found more solace in one another as refuge from responsibility and ridicule from their parents. 

Both princes grew well educated, and with that they knew even more of their history than perhaps the general public were privy. Their ancestry, and that of the gods more available. Both were devout in their academics and their religion, as they were brought up to be. However a key difference was Xornoths ability to push boundaries, push questions. Always a thirst for more, more more- especially in the way of knowledge. They drudged up arguments with mere curiosity and while Scott entertained his brothers thoughts, he was much more well behaved. Not risking mentors or parents good temperament for answers when he could easily keep his mouth shut. 

Still, he encouraged Xornoth’s curiosity, even as it grew more fascinated with more forbidden insight. More curious to Exors scorned history. With so much historical documentation of devotion to Exor destroyed out of fear a long, long time ago Xornoth only grew more despertaly curious. And when they found note of old banished groups of ollowers in the mountains he pleaded with Scott for a coverup. 

Scott allowed it, the two sneaking away and Xornoth returning with an ancient tomb. Obsessive was what Xornoth was turning into, red glint in their sharp eyes growing more by the day till finally  something gave. Where there was once passive irritation and distain Xornoth grew quick to anger and  violence. Till finally the ysnapped, and in a late, fitful arguement with their parents they killed them both.

Scott had not an idea what happened. Not until he awoke the next morning to maids screams. His parents dead, and his brother gone- nothing more than a banishment sigil burned into their bedroom floor as indication to where they had went. Scott would be coronated, and with his kingship he only became more devout to Aeor. 

Scott believed his brother dead, and moved on for over a decade till the events of season one as we know it. Xornoths return, the understanding of what had happened to them. Being championed, and capturing his brother. Hoping dearly to find a way to undo Exors influence. Till finally out of time the two battle on Rivendell peaks, overrun with corruption.

Scott decides to be selfless, killing himself on the rune blade. and As he bleeds out Aeors presence withdrawals from him. As Aeor withdrawals, so does Exor. Until it is only Scott, delirious with bloodloss and pain. Until it is only Xornoth, finally in their right mind after decades of corruption and divinity puppeteering them. And they see their little brother, and know they had failed to protect him from themselves when they ran away. There is nothing left to be done as Xornoth moves to hold Scott in their last moments. Offering the smallest comfort as death takes them both by virtue of their connection.

The cycle of brother, loved and corrupted, which started in the seeds of their kingdoms foundation and that has withered with its end. It is all finally over.

[stone-stars]

okay if anyone wants an insane amount of lore/conversations about melora, telaine, and aryox, i transcribed these for my own reference. i'm putting them under the cut because by god there's so much.

Mira, c3e53 The story of the Ice Knife is tied to the story of the Feywild. Thousands of years ago, after the Gods abandoned this world, the Material Plane was in somewhat of a magical dark age. But the Feywild flourised. They still had their gods living amongst them: the Archfey. Now, the Feywild (despite its name) had its own politics, and power grabs, and eventually there were Archfey who used their powers to open gates to the Material Plane. Some to seek refuge, some seeking to rule it. Now, there is some matter of debate over whether the rift in our sky is one of those original gates, but suffice it to say there were gates opened here in the Frigid North through which creatures of the fey entered Bahumia. Now, there were dragonkin and giantkin that existed on the Material Plane. But the Feywild brought even more of them. And unlike the Feywild, where magic and tricks rule the day, the Material plane has hard rules and can be won by strength and sword. So, the original smallfolk of this world were forced into hiding. Just mere witnesses to a great war between dragons and giants, who fought for the realm. The Material Plane was threatened with another apocalypse. So, an Eladrin Demigod named Aryox-- Aryox joined the war on the side of the giants. But while some giants believed he would lead them to conquer the realm, he was secretly working to restore balance. Once the dragons and giants were diminished enough that the smallfolk could build their cities, Aryox sealed the gate, stopping the Feywild from invading the Material Plane. And that is why the Ice Knife was made. So that someday, perhaps, we might open it back up. But originally it was used to lock the rift. [So it's a key?] Indeed. Now, this quote-on-quote betrayal came as a shock to many of the giants. Except for us. Our ancestors were trusted allies of Aryox. We saved the world from being conquered but at the cost of betraying our own brethren. The specifics of the conflict are largely forgotten and there have since been many wars amongst giants, but still it is said that the cavern where the Ice Knife lies is cursed. They say that a paladin of Gruumsh killed Aryox with the Ice Knife itself and cursed his resting place. Now, I don't know if all of that is true, but the cavern in which the Ice Knife supposedly lies is definitely haunted. I investigated as a brazen young ranger general. The ghosts warned me not to tarry there without purpose. [Do you believe it? Did you feel Aryox there?] I do believe it, yes. There are different stories I've been told. But I believe that Aryox came clean about the true intentions of his plan. He was confronted by another party with conflicting views and they… killed each other in that cavern. All I know is I went into the caves there, I followed where I knew the Ice Knife to supposedly be, and I was greeted by a strange specter, who advised me not to travel further. That it was not the time.

Telaine, c1e96 I was in an adventuring party with [Melora] and another eladrin named Aryox. Together, we defeated the goblin god Bargrivyek, and afterwards we were skeptical of creating another god, so we split his divine heart in three. Each of us swearing to protect the realm, without imposing our will on any of its creatures. But in the end, Melora was the only one responsible enough to keep her pact. But me? I fell in love with the beauty of dragons, and believed the world would be better if it was filled with them. And their numbers were being dwindled by evil giant hunting parties, what other choice did I have? I had to side with the dragons. I-- I sided with dragons in a war against giants, and while we were busy killing each other, humans built their empires and, in the end… defeated us both. And afterwards, Melora banished me here for breaking our pact. And years later, I hear Aryox broke our pact as well, but eventually gave his piece of the divine heart back to Melora.

Telaine, c1e96, confrontation It is just like the followers of Melora to bend over backwards for the plight of the smallfolk at the cost of everyone else. You come to my home, my prison, you attack my butler, and you want me to give you my heart? The thing that gave me the power to become a gold dragon? A dragon lost because the followers of Melora let the giants kill them off? If you want my heart, you can do what your goddess did and break it yourself.

Telaine, c1e96, defeat Telaine: You wish to- to borrow a divine heart? And what would all of you do when you had this power? Do you think you would stay friends? Do you think you— you wouldn’t change? That everything would stay the same. Moonshine: You can change for the better! Change is not inherently bad! In fact it’s inherently great! Telaine: I agree, and that is why I think Melora’s indifference is wrong. I saw the dragon’s plight and I took action. Moonshine: We are not necessarily going to do precisely what Melora did. We did not represent whatever she does. Or whatever she did to you in the past. We are going to make our own decisions and decide what to do with this. All we know right now is the only course of action is just getting rid of Thiala. Hardwon: We’ve got a lot in common with you. You saw the plight of the dragons and you made a choice to defend them. We see the plight of our people— us small folk— and we want to defend them. - “I am the one who changed. I changed. She stayed the same.”

Murph, c1e96 short rest [if you had failed a saving throw] You would’ve gone to the groups old hangout spot in the Feywild. It’s a little like— brook, and a little like picnic area, and she had like painted her and her friends and things like that.

Telaine and Melora, c1e97 “Why didn’t you do this when I was in trouble” “You mistake me not taking your side for neutrality. I am not neutral. I defend the material plane. I would not kill for the sake of the dragons, nor would i stop the smallfolk from building their empires, but this— what Thiala has done— is an attack on Bahumia itself. Here I must intervene.”

Armory, c3e27 Telaine was an eladrin. She was part of an adventuring party with two other eladrin. One became the goddess Melora, and the other was an eladrin named Aryox. We do have some recreations of spellbooks of druids of Melora here, but she herself didn’t have a heavy hand on the Material Plane so we don’t have much here that’s representative of her combat. - (Calder’s eyes are drawn to a giant gleaming bow with blue and white touches.) This is a replica of a bow that was wielded by Aryox, who was another Eladrin, who would actually eventually battle against Telaine. He sided with the giants in their wars. [Ultrus: “Yes. Smallfolk but giant heart.”] - (Callie looks for symbols on the bow.) You do see… this does seem to have been wielded by a winter eladrin. But it is very big. The attendant clarifies; “Aryox used his magical powers to grow to giant size, and would use his godly archer skills to shoot dragons out of the sky.” You look at this bow and you don’t see anything from Oberon, but you do see a symbol on it that is a snowflake, and the design of it reminds you of your mothers old family crest.

Book that Callie stole from Glenn, c3e30 Telaine ended up siding with the dragons during the dragon and giant conflicts that happened centuries ago— thousands of years ago, in fact. And Aryox fought against her. He had sided with the giants. And as you’re reading about this, you see that unlike Telaine, who seemed to actually love dragons and seemed to actually feel for their plight and want them to defeat the giants— everything you’re reading about Aryox here is… he was working with the giants as a means to an end. This is someone who saw the ‘smallfolk’ being wiped out by dragons and giants. So he sees this war between the giants and the dragons and he knows that the longer it goes on, the more the giants and the dragons wipe each other out and give the eladrin a fighting chance. So he was actually on the eladrin’s side the entire time even though he was fighting with the giants. And you do know that the end of this age of monsters where dragons rule the sky and giants rule the earth, that humanoids would build up their settlements and everything like that, and the eladrin would flourish in the feywild and humanoids would flourish in the main world. But as you’re reading this stuff about Aryox, it’s not really clear if he’s a good guy or a bad guy. He seems cold and calculating and you get hints of your mother in there.

Murph summary, c3e53 Short Rest Glen had sort of misread the story of Aryox. Because he knew about how Aryox was secretly helping the smallfolk by turning this big war into an opportunity for the smallfolk to establish themselves in their world. But this was your first time finding out that like, oh, there were a bunch giants that were in on that plan with him. And then a bunch of the giants are from the feywild. - So the lore that has been spread out over the two campaigns is that there were three adventures from the Feywild: Melora, Telaine, and Aryox. You found out very little about Aryox in the first campaign, but you found out a lot about him in the third campaign. Essentially what happened is the three of them, during their adventures, killed a goblin god that was trying to take over the Feywild, took his divine heart, spread it out amongst the three of them. They all made an agreement not to get involved in mortal affairs. Melora’s the only one who stuck to that. Telaine joined the dragons, Aryox joined the giants— and then this is the first time you found out that Aryox was killed by a giant. [Yeah, like he wasn’t on the giant’s side, he was looking for balance.] Yeah. [And a paladin of Gruumsh.] Oh yeah, and so Gruumsh is involved, because you also know that— as you guys learned in Molscuriel, Gruumsh and Kord, there are different people that think that he’s “the all-father,” like the one that the giants should follow.

[bleue-flora]

why do people think cdream was obsessed with ctommy like i read stellos analysis on it and its well written and nice but they fail to take into account that cdream has a persona and 90 percent of the time is not telling the truth

Ummm well many reasons actually. Ones I’ve talked about a bit before, but basically I think it actually comes down to Tommy himself for a few reasons.

a) Firstly, I think because Tommy believes it, it’s hard for us not to believe it. In other words, by watching his stream, being in his head, that perception is ingrained into the lore itself so we are more inclined to believe it, simply because the character we are watching through does. This is true not just for Tommy but other characters as well and it makes sense, we are seeing things for the first time through their eyes - how could it not taint our view? This is also not helped by the fact that Dream leans into Tommy’s expectations. In multiple scenes we see him bring to life Tommy’s world view, giving him and us more inclination to take it at face value. Like Dream becomes who Tommy thinks he is so it makes it really convincing from Tommy’s head to not believe it.

b) Secondly, in many ways Dream is obsessed with Tommy. Sure not in the way Tommy thinks - like him constantly trying to kill him and take his discs and yada yada… but he tears up Tommy’s whole yard for Tommy’s discs, he fights wars for the discs against Tommy, and in some ways that is Tommy obsessing over Dream forcing Dream to engage. The problem I think is not so much that Dream is really obsessed with Tommy but that he’s obsessed with keeping his “big happy family” and Tommy continues to threaten that and be the center of chaos and conflict, there by making him a priority for Dream. And it doesn’t help that Tommy is also the very center of Dream’s hurt, and beginning and end of his downfall.

c) Lastly, and I think probably most notably, I kinda touched upon this already, but because Tommy is obsessed with Dream, he forces Dream to constantly be involved with him, making it look like a focus/obsession/priority when Dream really may be just trying to defend himself, defend his friends, get back his stuff… etc. Dream can’t not be involved with Tommy because just like the finale Tommy inserts himself right at Dream’s throat again.

So is Dream obsessed with Tommy? Or is he obsessed with getting to live his life, something Tommy continues to make impossible?

And yea the fact alone that Spirit, Mars, and Bekerson existed before Tommy and that Dream built a prison but plans on putting Skeppy in a little cage, should be enough to highlight that Dream is talking nonsense in the disc confrontation about Tommy being the key and him needing Tommy alive and yada yada… like it should be enough to showcase that maybe he isn’t really obsessed with Tommy like he depicts. But perhaps it’s much easier to believe that narrative than the one that Dream is actually a relatively sane person who’s just lying (like he’s accused to be lol - “All you do is lie, Dream…”). It’s a less messy reality then the what ifs and considerations and dissecting needed to find the actual truth. And who doesn’t want to just do the things that are easier?…

[yansimstorythatiwillnotworkon]

Megami Saikou

Name: Megami Saikou

Gender: Female

Class: 2-2

Club: Student Council

Persona: Lovestruck (Devoted)

Reputation:

Overall: +100

Liked: +100

Respected: +100

Feared: +100

Crush: ???

Strength: Invincible

__

I'm not entirely sure about how I feel about Megami. I think she might be kind of dull, but that's only via the fan content. She's widely known as the most beautiful rival, but that's all the art about her is. Either that or changing her race and whatnot (which I never understood, personally). I feel like too many people focus on how Megami looks and what they want her personality to be, instead of her general lore that makes up her character.

This is probably why, despite consuming so much YanSim content, I never knew much about Megami. I think that despite YanSim being such a dark story, the majority of the fandom being built up of minors keeps the interesting fan content to an unrealistically vanilla standard.

Enough about the fandom, though. Regarding game play, I think that during Megami's week, the Student Council will really be justified to be as threatening with everyone as they are with Ayano. Possibly even leaving them vulnerable to bullying, rumours, humiliation, and being fired. Much more beneath the cut.

I feel as though everyone knows that Megami and the Student Council could be on close terms, but I also feel like people constantly forget about how dark their relationship with her could be as well. As much as I'd like to touch up on that, I didn't add the student council up above due to having limited space and having the ability to touch up on them in their own post.

I think that each rival should have a different relationship with their suitor, and it shouldn't copy the whole "guy in love who will not talk to his crush without the help of the main character" schmuck that placeholds the matchmaking system currently. With this in mind and considering that Kaga (supposedly?) is already in contact with Megami's father, I think that it isn't too far off to believe that he's also in contact with Megami herself and is aware of her goals once she arrives in school. How he goes about his actions while knowing this information is a complete enigma to me, though. I feel like if I were to look at Kaga and Megami in a more romantic light, I'd say that the two of them are completely compatible, but only other vastly different circumstances. Without all the Ayano-loathing madness, Megami would probably come to terms with the fact that, psychotic or not, a smart guy is a smart guy, and a smart guy is her type. Additionally, considering Kaga's overall madness, I'm sure in his mind "a future as the head of Saikou Corp" has always been "a future with Megami", regardless if at first it was a romantic attraction or not.

Regarding Taro, I'm sure that regardless of his mental stability in the future game play, Megami's approach in this week would not be giving him a lunch, borrowing his book, or going on a date with him. If anything, her entire week might just be her standing buy him until club time, where she and the student council can have a meeting. Taro himself, after the events of the past nine weeks, feels obligated to some degree to comply with her. Hell, if not to assist in the capturing of a supposed psychopath, then at least to become the hero he couldn't be for any of the past victims. If Megami were to gain feelings for Taro, then she likely wouldn't act on them unless Taro was in a more stable mindset. But if that were the case, I feel like Taro would grow - if not suspicious, then confused of Megami's intentions after she went completely overkill just to confess to him in the end anyway. If he wasn't in a stable mindset, Megami would likely transfer him to a safe and stable school and environment in order for him to continue the rest of his life like normal. Or at least, as normal as a traumatized boy can get.

Ayano will be "assigned" a trusted member of the school (most likely a student council member or female) to watch her at all times. This could essentially force Ayano to kill her chaperone or force her to do a 100% friendly route- which might not even be available in Megami's week all things considered. Several other students (like surviving rivals and close friends of Ayano) will likely be followed for the sake of believability of Megami not targeting Ayano as well as wanting to keep others safe and away from suspicious material. I imagine that if Ayano has kept to a peaceful and friendly route throughout the whole game, even befriending everyone (maybe the SC included), Megami will be forced to tolerate Ayano and not treat her harshly since at that point all her feelings would have just been due to judging her ancestors' actions. This would work far better than Ryoba's game (good and bad ending included) because Ayano has never canonically killed anyone, and can 100% make a change in order to normalize herself and her kids for the sake of Taro. I also think that the only way to peacefully defeat Megami if the peaceful and friendly route was taken would be to snatch Taro's heart before she can.

Raibaru's case could possibly just be an oc-implemented case since regarding her canon information, her being attached to Megami wouldn't make any sense, but I'll still explain a tad bit to you lot anyway. In the story, a reason why Raibaru is so attached to Osana is because of a loss in middle school. Due to this and an oc, she's become suspicious of Ayano and still thinks that Osana's life is possibly at risk. Hence why she partners with Megami.

[duncandonuts06]

Yippee!! I’m finally done with this massive drawing! I am so happy to share with you all Schatzi’s complete ref sheet! Character information and lore dump under the art! Its going to be a lot to read but bear with me. I have a lot to share. Schatzi is my first “thomas oc” so he holds a special place in my heart. I have spent months researching Trench Railways, and I am so excited to finally get to publicize some details from this big project I am working on.

TW: War, and Death

Schätzchen (can be shortened to Schatzi) is a German trench engine. He was built in 1915 so the world has been at war for his entire life. Built for war, immediately sent to war. His personality has been shaped by the soldiers around him. He is brave, strong, and proud (but not vain). He understands how important his work is and gives it his all. He can be stubborn and pop-offish around his crew but holds his tongue around strangers. He is very gullible and naïve which is occasionally taken advantage of by people in his unit. He is considered a fellow soldier by his crew and the other soldiers in his regiment, and they treat him as such.

Schatzi did not start off with a name. In this “universe” as you may call it, trench locomotives usually are never named. They are known solely by their numbers. They are machines made for war, and just like a soldier is known by the serial number on his dogtags, so are the engines known only by the number on their plates. They are seen as expendable and nothing more. If an engine has a name it is because they did something heroic enough to become loved and valued by their unit. In a similar way we only know the names of war heroes, we only know the names of engines brave enough to sacrifice themselves for their humans. The rest are lost to time.

Schatzi understands the fragility of human life and puts himself in harms way to see that lives are saved. He earns his name after saving his injured crew, and a very overloaded train of soldiers retreating from the front. He suffers severe damage in the process and is written off as scrap. However, his crew, who see him as their family, protest and get word out to everyone he saved on that train. It sets their entire sector of the front ablaze. The commander of the region is informed that his soldiers are threatening mutiny if this one trench locomotive is sent for scrap. So, instead of scrapping No. 1091 the engine is saved by the officer’s pen. Once they learn that their engine has been saved, the soldiers go to rescue him and in their jubilation scribble out “Unser Schatz” (Our Treasure) on his tank with chalk. He is repaired, and his crew lovingly paint Schätzchen on his tanks because he has and always will be their little treasure. 

Afterwards, he is adored by everyone. He is accepted by the soldiers as “one of them” and is addressed accordingly. They play jokes on him and tease him just as they would a comrade. He even gets the nickname “Scheissechen” (which is like calling him little shit) when he is taking them back to the front. A lot of “tough love.”

He does any job asked of him. He carries munitions, supplies, and troops to the front but the job he holds in the highest regard is serving as an ambulance. Derailment was very common on Trench Railways. Schatzi is a fully articulated locomotive which gives him an advantage over other engines. He can handle tight corners with ease which enables him to keep up a good pace while rushing to and from the front lines. However, the track was still incredibly rough, and he does derail on occasion. His biggest fear is derailment while pulling ambulance wagons. He knows how precious time is to injured patients and blames himself if someone dies enroute.

Another advantage he has is the ability to “hide” his face. Some trench locomotives have adapted and developed ways of protecting their faces from shrapnel and debris. In a sense they can choose to "hide" their face and appear like a normal engine while still having all the functions of a "living engine." He can still see and speak while faceless which he occasionally uses to play tricks on people.

He prefers the company of humans over engines. Once he was accepted as a fellow comrade he took an interest in how humans live and interact with each other. He enjoys listening to them talk about their families and loved ones. He even learns popular war songs and gets to share rations and drink beer with his crew on occasion. The war has caused him to suffer in his own right but, regardless of how difficult things are, he carries on through adversity and remains strong. Lives are counting on him and as long as there is someone in need he will continue to give it his all.

[vigilskeep]

Hiya, do u have a carrd or anything with info on your ocs? I love reading about ocs n all that crap but the tumblr search function is like actually evil. Keir seems super interesting but it’s like killing me trying to find posts to recap his lore 😭

i don’t i’m afraid!! it’s just his enormous mess of a tag as the lore built up... i might make something sometime??? i hadnt thought abt it tbh. in the meantime feel free to ask me any and all questions even if it’s something i’ve probably already said, i love going over this stuff and will do so forever if even slightly prompted. on that note, if it helps, here is a briefly condensed version:

keir is a red personality (aggressive/direct) non-mage hawke. i did his full playthrough as a warrior, i sometimes talk about switching him to rogue, but the only really important thing is that he’s a reaver and will bite you for real

he’s a man of few words, extremely blunt and threatening to the point of being absurdly over-the-top with pretty much all strangers, and much softer but still bluntly earnest with the small group of people he considers his own. he considers himself first and foremost a protector and would do anything to keep those people safe. his father malcolm was a strict man who raised him to do this and he accepted that wholeheartedly. consider him a guard dog. killed his first templar in defence of the family aged 15

he adores and idolises magic and fiercely supports mage freedom, though ultimately he would absolutely sacrifice a wider “cause” if doing so would keep his mages safe. fortunately or unfortunately, he can’t do that because the two are inextricable

he’s a proud fereldan and cares very little for kirkwall (hates kirkwall. hates kirkwall. someone please get him out of here) and its nobility, which tends to show in his appearance and behaviour. long braided hair, the streak across his nose is kaddis, and takes his mabari, silla, absolutely everywhere

he’s elf-blooded via his father, who was the bastard son of a fereldan elven servant girl and an orlesian chevalier who was with the occupation

his playthrough has circle mage bethany. he adores her and he would do anything for her but her acceptance of her fate and disillusionment with his overprotectiveness meant they had an increasingly strained relationship. it was because she was trapped that he couldn’t leave the city. once he was champion, meredith essentially had a knife to his sister’s throat whenever she wanted his compliance, not to mention the looming threat to anders and merrill, making those three years the worst and most terrifying in his life

he romances anders! friendmance and they escape kirkwall together in the end. not always easy but he really loves him, justice half included. there’s a lot of lore here ummm if i mention the “and they were housemates” timeline, that’s my silly mutual pining alternate version of events where anders moves into the amell estate for safekeeping before he and keir actually get together. if i mention aura hawke, that’s the potential daughter i occasionally hc for them

he had previous relationships with morrigan (in lothering as young 20-somethings) and merrill (during act 1). you cannot keep him away from those romanceable mages

he’s still close friends with merrill. isabela is his best friend. he has a complicated, semi-antagonistic friendship with varric, who was really closer with anders but now after the fact doesn’t want to remember that. he deeply respects and is friends with fenris. he did rivalry with sebastian, but in an agree-to-disagree way where they considered each other friends nonetheless until All That happened. he had a more genuine rivalry with aveline though still coloured by their trauma bonding

i THINK those are the main beats of his lore but he’s my most discussed and developed dragon age character so i’m sure i’ve missed some of the assorted junkyard of thoughts

[elysiandxyz]

Imagine being a devoted Theater kid by heart and decide; “Hey, I have a new hyperfixation, and I love musicals. Why not combine them both?”

INTRODUCING

WDO: A Mysteriful Musical!

Brought to you by: Aphmeow2300 and a person I would have to keep anonymous because I’m not quite sure if they’re comfortable.

This project has been in the works for I think 2 weeks now. Might as well show everyone! This is a project for fun, I hope this idea will spring into a reality someday.

DISCLAIMER: THIS PROJECT IS STILL IN THE WORKS! IF ANYONE WOULD LIKE TO PITCH IN WITH IDEAS PLEASE COME BY IN THE COMMENTS AND SUGGEST! THIS PROJECT IS GONNA TAKE A HELL OF A WHILE. SINCE I HAVE SCHOOL ALL THE HELP WILL BE APPRECIATED AND CREDITED!

- WDO: A Mysteriful Musical will have a Discord server! But for now I’m starting at the blueprint section of this project.

- If you would like to pitch in and help, DM me on Discord! aphmeow2300 (You can help with songs, instrumentals, events, scripts, etc!)

——

# REDO INFO

- This musical will be built like Heathers, it will have dialogue in between songs.

- Most songs are gonna be shortened to 2 Minutes while the most Plot Driven ones can has to 3-4 depending on which songs work.

Total Song count: 63

Reprise song count: 1

Duet Count: 23

Multicharacter songs count: 13

Solos count: 27

- DLCS will end off as a special edition but is apart of the lore still!

- Some ships will be canon here!

- Instead of removing the gunshot gabs entirely, in the prologue will be solos of all the characters and their personality summed up.

—

SONG LIST (Lyrics and All!)

# EMOJI KEY:

☑️ = Full Lyrics of song is Done

🎶 = Multi-character Duet Song (Trio songs count, Songs with Duets but with another person as the background vocals doesn't count)

🎵 = Duet Song

🎼 = Solo

CHARACTER KEY:

Yuma = YK

Shinigami = S

Yakou = YF

Desuhiko = D

Vivia = V

Halara = H

Fubuki = F

Makoto = M

Yomi = YH

Kurumi = K

SONGS IN ORDER:

# Chapter 0

**Opening song: A Death God by your side:** ☑️ 🎼

**Who are you?:** ☑️ 🎵 S,YK

*MYSTERY LABYRINTH*

**Let me show you the way!:** 🎼S, YK

**Deep Fried Puzzle** 🎵 S, YK

--

**Taking a step into Kanai Ward:** 🎼 YF

# PROLOGUE

**Ways of a Detective:** 🎶 ALL NDA

**Money Runs the World:**🎼 H

**Matchboy:**🎼 D

**1 Heart, 2 Heart, 3 hearts, 4:**🎼 F

**A Story to Tell:**🎼 V

# CHAPTER 1:

**An Expensive Task:** 🎵 H, YK

**Devils Authority:** 🎶 H, YK, S, OTHERS.

*MYSTERY LABYRINTH*

**A Lucky Gamble:**🎼 H

**A nail in the Coffin:** 🎶 H, YK, S

# CHAPTER 2

**The Informants always right!:** 🎵 K,YK (S in the background vocals)

**Recruiting the Flirt:** 🎵 D, YK

**Let's get Girly!:** 🎵 D, YK

**A Shameful Disguise:**🎼 YK

**Undercover:** 🎶 D, YK, S, K, OTHERS

*MYSTERY LABYRINTH*

**A star upon the Spotlight:**🎼 D

**Theatrical Suicide:** 🎶 D,YK, S

# CHAPTER 3

**Masked:**🎼 M

**Resistance:** 🎶 YK, S, OTHERS

**Accidental Troublemaker:**🎼 YK

**Focus:** 🎵 YK, F

*MYSTERY LABYRINTH*

**An Adventurers Rare Encounter!:**🎼 F

**Drowning Yourselves in Insults:** 🎵 S, F, YK AS SUPPORT

**Ticking Time Bomb:** 🎶 S, F, YK

# INTERMISSION

**Tugging at my Heart Strings:** 🎵 YK, D

**Amnesiac’s Love Crisis:**🎼 YK

**Hidden Key to my Heart:** 🎵 D, YK

**Strike of Jealousy:** 🎼 D

**Eclipse Interlude** 🎵 YK, D

**The Flame You Lit Inside Me:** 🎵 YF, V

# CHAPTER 4:

**Illegally Steering:** 🎵 M, YK

**Red Head’s Revenge:** 🎶 YH, M, YK

**Worthless Trainee:** 🎼YK

**Saved by the Bell:** 🎶 YK, D, YF

**Companion-Bot:**🎶 YK, D, F

**A Detective's Lie:** 🎼 YF

**A tearful Farewell:** 🎶 ALL NDA

**Threatening Projection:** 🎵 V, YK

*MYSTERY LABYRINTH*

**In Defense:**🎼 V

**Breaking Point:**🎼 YK

**A Chief’s Duty:** 🎶 Y, V, YK, S (VIVIA DOESNT SING, HE FIGHTS YUMA WITH A VIOLIN SOLO WHILE YAKOU ACTUALLY SINGS TO YUMA)

**Dear Vivia:** 🎵 YF, V

**Fountain Full of Guilt:**🎼 YK

**Leniency:** 🎵 S, YF

# Chapter 5

**Is This All a Joke?:** 🎼 YK

**Breaking Point Reprise:**🎼 YK

**Thank You:** 🎵 YK, YF

**Our Final Dance:** 🎵 YK, S

*MYSTERY LABYRINTH*

**Homunculi's Lullaby:**🎼 YK (MAKOTO AS BACKGROUND VOCALS)

**Let's play Charades:** 🎵 M, YK

**Identity Thief:**🎼YK

**Take a chance:**🎼 S (Yuma as background duet)

**Lets play charades Reprise:** 🎵 M, YK

**Dewdrop Downfall** 🎵 M, YK

**It’s been fun:** 🎵 M, YK, S

**Seal the Deal:** 🎵 S, YK

# Epilogue

**Forgotten solution:**🎼 YK

**It's Time to say Goodbye:** 🎶 ALL NDA + KURUMI

**A Peaceful Death:**🎼 S

—

INSTRUMENTALS AND NEW THEMES

# Main themes

A Merciful God - Shinigami’s Theme

Amnesiac’s Burned Memory - Yuma’s theme

A Detective’s Spotlight - Desuhiko’s theme

A Detective's Call - Yakou’s Theme

Dissociation - Vivia’s Theme

Timeless Melody - Fubuki’s Theme (Sounds like a music box and intro and outro can include reversing and replaying the music box)

Cats got my tongue - Halara’s theme

A mysterious Masquarade - Makoto’s theme

Despising Detectives - Yomi’s theme

Secrets Unveiled - Kurumi’s theme

Reminisce - Number One’s theme

~~

Duets and general Instrumentals

A Nightowl’s soft Lullaby - Played when Vivia and Yakou are together

Shinigami Solo Theme: A farewell to your Mentor (Specifically played in chapter 5)

Twimare’s Tango - Vivia and Halara’s duet theme (Harp and Violin)

Intro game Music Reprise & Remix

A mysterious masquarade - Chapter 3 BEGINNING

Feeling rather blue - Chapter 4

A mysterious masquarade reprise - Chapter 5

Amnesiac’s Final Decision - Chapter 5 (played while Yumas dialogue to choose)

Windy Nostalgia - Kuruma's Theme

A Haunting recall - instrumental when N1 has deja vu about Shinigami

Rain rain goodbye, may we meet again someday - Ending Kokobolt theme

_____

Honestly everything’s all over the place, and I want this to be a really well made project. Though schools in the way. Thank you for your time for me to introduce this very underworked project!~

[richincolor]

The Glass Scientists by S.H. Cotugno

Summary: The gothic worlds of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein, and more collide in this graphic novel series about buried secrets, mad science, and misunderstood monsters. For fans of stylish reimaginings like Lore Olympus and gaslamp fantasies like The Night Circus ! London isn’t the safest place for mad scientists these days. After that whole ordeal with Frankenstein, angry mobs have gotten awfully good at hunting down monsters and wiping out anything they don’t understand. In fact, if it weren’t for one extraordinary young man, every out-of-the-box thinker would have been locked up . . . or worse. That young man is none other than Dr. Henry Jekyll. He believes mad scientists would thrive if they could just fix their public image, which is why he founded the Society for Arcane Sciences, a place where like-minded eccentrics could come together to defy the laws of nature in peace. But everything changes when a mysterious stranger arrives, bent on taking the Society in a radical new direction. With everyone turning against him, Jekyll’s life starts to spiral out of control, shattering all his carefully laid plans and threatening to expose his darkest secret—one that could destroy everything he has built from the inside out.

Review: I can't get over what an exciting time in graphic novels it is right now, especially in the YA and Middle Grade space. There is just so much out there -- from queer romcoms to thrilling adventures to well, graphic novels like The Glass Scientists. Creator S.H. Cotugno is someone I already follow online, since S.H. has worked on cartoons like Gravity Falls and The Owl House. Not to mention the graphic novel has garnered praise from creatores like ND Stevenson and Molly Knox Ostertag.

It's gothic, it's spooky, it's funny, and it's heartwarming -- and I was along for the ride. The Glass Scientists follows one Dr. Henry Jekyll, the founder of the Society for Arcane Sciences -- where quirky scientists (deemed "mad scientists" by society) go to follow their passions and find a home with other like-minded innovators. Outside the Society for Arcane Sciences lies the city of London, a place that is none too friendly (read: lots of angry mobs) when it comes to these scientific endeavors.

This is a story that mixes werewolves in with Frankenstein and the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde -- a delightful gtohic mishmash set in London. The illustrations are evocative and perfectly suited to the tone of the story, which veers between heartwrenching to laugh-out-loud hilarious. There are plenty of characters to root for, from side characters to the hero, who is in a battle with himself.

The Glass Scientists collects the first 7 chapters of its webcomic iteration -- that means that the graphic novel does end on a note that leaves you looking for the next installment. I'll definitely be checking out the webcomic to keep reading. If you're interested in a fun, gothic read, perfect for spooky season, this is it. Check it out!

Recommendation: Get it soon!

[m0thisonfire]

I would love to hear more about Caramele! What are his likes and dislikes? What's his backstory? [I am giving you permission to infodump. Go wild.]

AH OKIE OKIE- GONNA WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN WHILE I STILL HAVE MOTIVATION

I’m going to put his likes and dislikes at the end of this wall of text, and there is a lot, a lot to get down. Just think of one of those walls of texts that have the pinned up photos, on top of me still learning all the Graveborn lore. So it’s gonna be fanon and my stuff mixed with canon.

Also I started answering this and then went to check something on the lore site, and everything got deleted, so I am still suffering over that-

But to begin:

Caramele was born in a small out of the way country town simply called ‘Stone’ somewhere in the Lightbearer empire, named after the huge stone statue of an unnamed hero that watches over the village. There isn’t anything really remarkable or noteworthy about Stone except for the Blacksmith shop and the widowed Baron who lives there with his son. The only ‘remarkable’ things would be the barrows that are scattered around the town and territory, and the ancient magic that the land seemed to be ‘blessed’ or infused with.

A few of the townfolk can channel a little of the magic to grow crops and flowers, and heal their sick and injured to a very small degree. Nothing that can be used in battle or war, so isn’t really considered powerful magic outside of usefulness.

The Barrows, on the other hand, nobody goes near those unless it’s to pay respect to the dead. Stone would have been built around the time of the First Hypogean War, before Annih went AWOL and created the Hypogeans, so the gravesites belong to powerful mages and soldiers from long, long ago. And in the folklore that was passed down from generations, the barrows would have been protected by ‘Barrow Wraiths’, monsters/protectors of the crypts, created to hunt down grave-robbers and desecraters that would threaten the dead and items within. Not strictly ‘Graveborn’, but certainly not living either.

One such barrow would be nearby the shop in the woods.

Caramele’s family is very keep to themselves for many reasons, but his mom Winnifred, and himself, were always the social butterflies of the family, the ones to often go to the town and pick up orders for his dad. He enjoyed his community, despite the occasional odd look he would get from outsiders due to his albinism, but the locals were more than accepting of the Smiths’ son. Rubin Smith is much more introverted than his wife and children, a big and imposing man of few words and fewer friends, but takes pride in his work and family. Caramele also has two older siblings that spend most of their time hunting and foraging, twins named Addison and Aven. Almost everyone in the family knows how to work the forge, and even then Winnifred helped around the shop keeping it clean and organized. The twins hunted, their mother ran the house and gathered orders, and Caramele helped his father in the forge.

When Caramele would be around ten, disaster would strike.

Remember the Baron’s son I mentioned? Well, turns out, he is a not good person. A very unstable not good person. As in, the kind of unstable not good person you would never trust with Divine magic or sharp objects, which, unfortunately, Leon le Menteur had access to both. In abundance, enough so that when he grew up he went into the Heresy Inquisition in the Lightbearer Temple. Which, in itself, is a bad idea. On top of the fact he is one sadistic guy who would target anyone ‘different’. Different like Caramele.

Leon would be twelve at the time, Caramele ten, and a vicious plot would be unfolding in the Baron’s manor that no one even knew of. Under the cover of being a guest at the noble’s party, a stranger (Vedan) would be paying two grave-robbers to infiltrate the Barrow near the blacksmith’s shop, looking for a powerful spellbook he would use later on (Isabella’s book).

Long story short, the grave-robbers infiltrate the crypt and successfully grab the book, return it to the stranger, end up getting poisoned via wine to erase witnesses, and unintentionally woke up one of the Barrow Wraiths through their desecration and thievery.

The stranger would escape into the night never to return to Stone, yet there would be one life he would indirectly change forever.

While the thieves were stealing the book, Leon would have trapped Caramele in the woods nearby as an ill gotten joke before returning to the Baron’s party. And as the night got late and his family got worried, Winnifred would have gone out by herself to find him.

She found Caramele and helped him. The Barrow Wraith found both of them before they could escape.

When Caramele did eventually reach home after his mother sacrificed herself distracting the Barrow Wraith, his outlook on life would be changed drastically. He would be more reserved, friendly, yes. But he would be wary, even outright hostile to most nobles well into early adulthood, especially Leon. Nevermind the Barrows, he would live the rest of his life terrified of the dark and dead.

His family fell into silent suffering despite the seemingly indifferent yet sad demeanors. Rubin became more reclusive, barely speaking outside of his home unless it was for orders or favors for his neighbors. The twins were still lighthearted and goofy, but they would be adverse to speaking about their mother. Caramele, now spending most of his time in the forge to distract himself and becoming quite antisocial, would immediately change the subject with a pointed tone, growing as quiet as his father.

How did the boy every become a Circus Ringmaster, you may ask?

Thank his siblings for that. Noticing their little brother growing more reclusive as he aged, on his fifteenth birthday they begged their father for tickets to take him to a circus. They had hoped something new and exciting would help their brother out of his depression, and Ruben surprisingly agreed. At first, Caramele was less than enthusiastic when they arrived to the huge circus tent.

And then, once they sat down among the crowd, the show began. And for the first time in five years, Caramele would feel Wonder. Whimsy. Curiosity and genuine excitement. And he smiled, for the first time in years.

And he knew exactly what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

After the show, he searched for the Ringmaster and begged, pleaded to be mentored so he could join the circus too.

The Ringmaster at the time was planning to retire soon anyway, and was more than delighted to mentor the teen to take his place as the new leader. Since the circus traveled often and Caramele was stuck in Stone for the moment, the Ringmaster devised a way to mentor him from afar, writing down spells, tricks, and physical exercises for the boy to practice while the circus was traveling. Every year, around Caramele’s birthday, the troupe would return, and for the two weeks they were near the town, the teen was scored and directed in his abilities.

To Rubin’s relief and pride, his son began branching out, becoming more open and social like he had been before. Caramele spent more time outside the forge practicing his magic and honing his skills. The magic in the land helped him, having grown up on the blessed territory allowed Caramele to wield his magic easily, and eventually it began growing in strength the more he practiced. He trained, and he trained hard, impressing his mentor and the troupe with his dedication and growing passion. He even began performing the tricks and magic for other children and adults in the village, growing more certain in his path with every joyful smile and laugh he received.

The light he could see in others was slowly chasing away the darkness he had seen before, the darkness inside of him.

Alas, I can’t let this man be happy for long, so of course Leon does something drastic again.

At this point, Leon is well beyond obsessed with his childhood (crush) target, and once again corners Caramele in the woods. It would be a week before Caramele’s twentieth birthday, before his debut on the stage and before he took over the circus. Leon, who would be soon sent out to Ranhorn to officially be integrated into the Heresy Inquisition, was less than happy with the idea of Caramele being anywhere the Baron couldn’t keep track of him. So he threatened, pleaded, bargained, offered anything to keep Caramele in Stone until Leon could return for him.

Of course, Caramele refuses. Leon takes offense. A scuffle breaks out, and one right hook later from Caramele, Leon snaps and attacks him. Fortunately, Aven and Addison find them before more damage can be done and chases Leon off. But a shock of Divine magic rendered the nerves in Caramele’s hands shot and painful to move.

The circus arrives early, and the Ringmaster is devastated when he discovers Caramele’s condition. Not as devastated as Caramele though, fearful of being stuck in Stone forever, surrounded by Barrows and the Baron. The Ringmaster is fearful himself, and decides to take Caramele into the troupe early to attempt to help him.

The ceremony to give Caramele leadership goes on as planned, though the Ringmaster revealed there was something he had been keeping from the man until the time was right.

A book of magic in the older man’s possession that was bound to every ringmaster that took an oath to protect it, a book that held magic both damning and approved of. Runes that bent the world to the user’s will, conjuration, alteration, and destructive spells alike. On top of healing spells and illusions that would aid in keeping the circus safe.

The book would be bound to Caramele, and in turn Caramele would be both protected and the protector of his troupe, and the innocent he performed for.

Curious and intrigued, Caramele took the oath binding him to the book's magic. When he was finally given his uniform, already enchanted and imbued with runes from the Ringmaster, he could tell he was given a responsibility larger than he previously assumed. Slipping on his showman’s gloves, enchanted at the last moment due to the newest development, his nerves were soothed and even assisted, little to no pain plaguing him. A relief for his performances.

Ruben, the twins, and the newly retired Ringmaster were present for Caramele’s first performance a week later. Leon was as well, though he left in a fit of rage before the show was over. It was a success, and despite the mysterious book now in his possession, Caramele had never felt more at peace watching the happiness he brought others.

One would assume this is a happy ending. Despite it all, he got to find happiness again. Afterwards, he travels with his troupe all over Esperia, performing for folk and factions of all kind and bringing light and joy where he could.

He kept his circus in top shape, taking in the outcasts and those who had nowhere else to go. As a blacksmith, he could keep the equipment and important fastenings repaired and stable. He was used to wounds and injuries from his time in the forge and his siblings’ hunts, so he could easily stitch and fix minor wounds from accidents. He tested everything himself before shows to ensure top performance and safety for his group, and took genuine joy in training and practice with them. His dedication was admirable, his passion, undeniable. It was everything he ever wanted.

It did not last long. Tragedy number three struck, and struck hard after five years on the road.

It was a day he decided to train by himself in the woods. He wasn’t far from the tent, his troupe stationed near the house of Raine. The estate was a ways off, but Caramele had heard tales of their family. At twenty-five and traveling for years, he mellowed out towards folks and aristocrats, and even hoped that the Raines would attend.

When he heard rustling nearby, he would assume it was an animal of some sort, and be unbothered. When he heard the sound of a young girl groan in pain, he would stop what he was doing and rush to the sound.

It’s here he would first meet Silvina, near death but clinging to life. He would be filled with concern and worry for her, and would approach to help her up, return to the tent, and attempt to heal her. He would not have been able to account for the necromancer that had tracked her…

Caramele’s cause of death was a stab through the back, piercing his heart from behind and being left to bleed out by the necromancer’s surprise attack. Neither he or Silvina would be found by the troupe, and he would be assumed missing for many years to come.

Yet his resurrection causes… intrigue for many Graveborn once they discover his existence.

The necromancer did not resurrect him, no. Only Silvina. And yet, somehow, Caramele was slowly turned into a similar being as her by some unknown force. Not Quaedam, though Caramele would still be under his ‘guidance’.

When he awoke, he was met with the sight of the full moon above him. The next sight was Silvina standing over the body of the necromancer, and a dagger pointed at the newly resurrected Ringmaster. With a little convincing and a gentle hand, he manages to coax Silvina into a calm so he can figure out his situation.

A Graveborn. He was less than thrilled with that, considering his fear of the dead, but oh well. His forced optimism took the second chance as a second chance.

Afraid of returning to his troupe and overwhelmed with his situation and recent resurrection, he offered to travel with Silvina to help her get home safely. Silvina reluctantly allows him to tag along, and eventually, Caramele stands before Vedan’s castle.

On Isabella’s insistence and Silvina’s recounting, Vedan begrudgingly lets him stay with them until he gets his bearings. Of course, they eventually get used to the Ringmaster’s presence, and ‘until he gets his bearings’ turns into ‘You can’t leave, actually. Ever. The girls like you too much, so I won’t let you’.

At first, Caramele and Vedan clash. Hard. Vedan reminds Caramele too much of Leon, and Vedan doesn’t care. Because this guy is a blacksmith turned circus man. Why would someone like Vedan care about what he thinks?

… Until the day came when Vedan realized he somehow began co-parenting with Caramele. Until Caramele realizes that Vedan, in his own way, is completely different from the noble that tormented him growing up.

As time passes and Caramele gets used to being a Graveborn, Vedan integrates him into the ranks and brings him to Bantus.

And that’s usually where Caramele can be found when Vedan and the girls travel there. The man can either be found in the Count’s castle, or somewhere in Thoran’s castle, rarely anywhere else.

While most Graveborn fight and are used to break enemy ranks, Caramele is one of the more ‘essential type’ Graveborn. Not a mindless drone, yet not a fighter either. He usually works in the castle forges repairing everything and anything he can in his free time, or spends most of his time helping other Graveborn. Works in the infirmary with Niru, helps Silas with his experiments, runs papers for different officers, strategizes with Grezhul over battle plans, works in the library keeping records of different things… stays by Vedan’s side as a sort of ‘second opinion’ in the Bloody Priesthood, though he himself isn’t part of it.

His optimism eventually fades into cynical optimistic nihilism, still smiling, yet indulging in much darker humor and becoming more tolerant of the actions of Graveborn around him. Day in, day out, day in, day out… it wears on one's brain, and Caramele goes from initially horrified by those around him, to indifferent and sickeningly amused. He lives to serve, and still uses his passion to perform for his faction and bring a glimmer of joy into the ranks as best he can, though he is often sassy, sarcastic, and very stubborn on his morals and certain matters.

He gets along with the other factions, and is quite peaceful despite his demeanor. There are many things that make him unique as a Graveborn, such as him being able to remember his life as a Lightbearer and being able to walk around in the sun, dubbing him a ‘daywalker’. There are many theories about this from the medical and scientific Graveborn, from his abilities and memory, to the kind of Graveborn he and the girls are, to the fact he seemed to be one of the pactless Graveborn.

The working theory is that the oath Caramele took to bind the book to himself somehow keeps him from Quaedam’s influence and allows him to retain his humanity, though he can interact with the avatar of death just fine. A theory Shemira helped formulate was that he could walk around during the day because of the runes in his uniform. No one wants to test that theory in case Caramele does burst into flames without his unform.

Another working theory is the magic Vedan used in the ritual to turn himself into a Graveborn may have affected Isabella, Silvina, and Caramele’s Graveborn forms. The book, from the barrow in Stone, influenced Isabella’s undead form somehow. Silvina as a Lightbearer being in close contact with her sister at all times seems to have influenced her undead form as well. Caramele is not enthusiastic about this theory, because that would mean even as a child, he would have probably been cursed to this form because of the Barrow Wraith he had been in contact with.

Another reason he does not like that theory is because why the fuck was Vedan in Stone? When, where, why, and what does that mean if Vedan has a book from the gravesite Caramele knows the Barrow Wraith that killed his mother was from? Does Caramele even want to know?

He does not, he finds, because thinking on this actually tempts him to be aggressive and quite murderous. It does not help with his bottled up temper either-

For the current day and age during Afk Arena’s current events, Caramele is more temperamental, yet still subservient, beginning to actually pick fights and itch to fight the Hypogeans. He only takes orders from Vedan, Thoran or Theowyn, Grezhul, or Quaedam himself. Even then it’s begrudgingly and with an unbelievable side of sass.

As a technical Barrow Wraith, Caramele’s prone and main instinct underneath his humanity is to serve and protect his ‘barrow’. Isabella protects her book and sister, Silvina protects her sister and Vedan, Caramele takes it upon himself to protect the Arcanists Union and their home. As a Support Tank, this comes naturally to him, and the growing urge to defend as the Hypogeans grow near leaves him viotile towards intruders and enemies.

——

Likes:

Candies. As a Graveborn, Caramele insists on hard candies to keep himself focused or to zone out while fixating on something. It doesn’t matter to him he can’t really taste it, it’s sweet enough and that’s okay with him.

Coffee. Quaedam save this man, Caramele cannot get through the night without three to five cups of coffee, at least.

Sleep. He sleeps during the day, sleeps during the night. He is dead set on this schedule because it’s what he’s used to. Hence why he needs ungodly amounts of coffee if he’s forced to function at night. But sleep is, to him, temporary death, an escape.

Performing. He still loves making people smile, be it Graveborn, living factions, or Isabella, Silvina, or Daimon. His passion is still what makes him… him.

Smithing. It eases him, reminds him of home and his family. He’s damn good at it too, and takes pride in his work.

——

Dislikes:

A majority of the Graveborn. This man may be all smiles and pleasantries, but he despises the fact most of the Graveborn willingly turned themselves, and/or turned others against their will. He has exceptions, and hears out everyone’s stories. But for the most part, he’s suspicious of everybody.

His height being pointed out. Look, Caramele is only 5’3. He hates being called short. The one time Torne pointed it out, he never did again because Caramele stole his kneecaps and hid them in one of the kitchen cabinets. No one risked calling him short after that.

The dark. Caramele hates the dark. Hates the shadows, hates the things in the shadows, is terrified of the Barrow Wraith from Stone finding him again. At night, he sleeps with a candle.

Mirrors. Caramele. Cannot Stand. Mirrors. He misses how he was before, despite his albinism setting him apart from most people. He can’t stand seeing himself as a Graveborn, an undead, with ashen skin and glowing green eyes, and horns and a tail, so similar from the monster that killed his mom yet so different… he avoids mirrors whenever he can.

Eating humaniods. Caramele will not touch or eat anything considered humaniod or part of a faction. In his opinion, dead is dead, and goes out of his way to avoid eating people, choosing to eat animals instead. He does not trust a plate of meat given to him by anyone in his faction, and will not eat it.

[fnaffersblog]

Oh.

Honey.

Honey, no.

Alright. Spoilers for 'Sun has a Plan to KILL ECLIPSE in VRCHAT'.

This is gonna be a fun one.

Trigger Warnings Below for: Cursing.

They really gotta set up, like, a teleporter or something so they can get to GF's faster. I know they don't have magic but, like, get a car? Something? Marathoning over here to the point that an animatronic is losing it's breath is, like, just do something so your not dying every time you have a magic question that's gonna take less than ten minutes to answer.

I know GF wants his privacy and also he's being hunted by every government in the universe or something, but also, like, come on man. Are you really hiding all that well at this point? You get visitors at least three or four times a month, you know? You have kids who wanna come see you.

Oh! I ALSO thought GF wouldn't be affected by the wish. He'll probs figure out real quick what's going on.

That or he's fucking with Sun.

Oh yeah there he goes, literally not even a second later.

I never thought the fucking 'bippity boppity' could be threatening. I'd be nervous too.

"My boy! How ya doin?" Awwwwwwww.

*serious conversation about the power of the Newton Star* *Golden Freddy jamming out on the stairs* Sometimes you just gotta boogie down, I guess.

"You'll need to find another primordial source" Like this one I conveniently have in my backyard!

Sun does not care for magic lore. RIP Sun

didn't they say at one point that there was only one Star per universe? And, that's, like the reason you can't use it in another universe because it's tethered to the universe it belongs too or something?

Newton Star out here with the most confusing backstory of any character on any of the FNAF reactsverse shows.

Maybe it's more of a 'the folks in other universes who have acquired a Star have used it's power so that no one could oppose them.' Lord Eclipse, Lord Lunar, Lord Monty are all the most powerful people in their respective universes, I'm sure they would have just eradicated any other stars/ returned them to their source form so they couldn't be utilized.

Maybe it's different objects. There's just ONE Newton Star. There's Just ONE Star of the North. There is only one object that can do a thing, one star that can grant wishes.

bit cnfoosed.

"You are *dolphin noises* me!" LOLOLOL

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm wasn't a faaaaaaaan of the Stan Lee thing mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Look, okay. The magic shit is always so out of pocket, because, like they just keep adding onto the rules and stuff of magic in the FNAFreactsverse. It's probably one of, if not THE most complicated system in the whole thing because it's built by just slapping more stuff onto this ball of what magic is and how it can be done and stuff. So every episode where they talk about magic or they meet w Golden Freddy is a treasure because I can't take ANY of it seriously.

They just make shit up and it's so fun.

LIKE, DRAGON BALLS NOW EXIST IN THE FNAFREACTSVERSE THEY JSUT MAKE SHIT UP IT'S GREAT

GOLDEN FREDDY IS LAUGHING LOLOLOL

aaand then they ruined it by bringing up the submarine god dammit.

two for two on jokes that were maaybe not so great

Ayyyyyyeeee do you know who ELSE would have the knowledge to make the star via residual memories and stuff because they were in the same body? Someone who has outright been stated to have absorbed all of the magical knowledge Moon had? HMMM?

Golden Freddy is so fun too. He's like. He's timeless. He's been around for a long ass time. He's been divorced, multiple times I think. He's a dad. He has several kids, all of whom are magically inclined. He's lived through the events of the shows more than once and knows what's going to happen. He's from a different universe. He lives in the middle of bumfuck nowhere in a spooky house where it's always raining. He's surprisingly nice. He's the most powerful entity across several universes. He's nearly omnipotent. He charmed his house to jumpscare people randomly because he thinks it's hilarious. He laughed at Moon getting punched in the face. There's a Dragon Ball under his bed.

Sun did the thing! Where you accidentally use a different name casue you've got too many siblings/family members to keep track of and then have to correct yourself. My family does that all the time!!!

Killcode's off enjoying life to it's fullest. I hope getting dragged back into all this shit doesn't end in tragedy for him. We only want good things for Killcode in this house.

It only has to be a good enough reason for Eclipse. Eclipse's reasoning doesn't have to make sense to anyone else. It just has to make sense to him for it to be the thing that drives him.

Sun bobbling his head while he's sarcastically asking GF "Hey! Freddy! Can you zap me home?" was great lol.

Sun this man is a GOD. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU NEVER THOUGHT TO ASK?

DID YOU NOT THINK HE COULD?

HE SHARED A PIECE OF HIS SOUL WITH YOU DUDE TELEPORTATION IS A BABY SPELL TO HIM

WHAT WAS THE THOUGHT PROCESS HERE Im laughing lol

What fucking voodoo doll?

What?

Is this going to become a legit plot point in the future? I fucking hope it does that sounds real funny.

Poor Sun he's so fucking stressed. He even looks stressed in the thumbnail. Of course the second Moon's gone he's out trying to solve the problem.

That was less stressful than I thought it was gonna be. This was a fun episode. Lore heavy, moving the plot forward, but like not heavy heavy you know? It's a nice reprieve.

I CANNOT take the serious moments w GF seriously at all. I can't do it. "How do you know this?" "Maybe it's because I lived through it once already." "You're not from here are you?" "i'm from many. I'm an amalgamation. I've seen a LOT." My DUDE. You are a FREDDY FAZBEAR. This cryptic shit DOES NOT WORK.

[mono--chromatik]

Heyy!!! your ocs are so cool. I'm sorry if this is a rly dumb or annoying question [or if it has been asked before!], but can you summarize your ocs' lore?? As in, the general conflict/background/plot/story whatever?? Im so interested in it, but I genuinely have only a small clue of what's going on!! Thank you!!

nono you're totally fine! i like talking abt my ocs anyway (i tend to get asks regarding some, but if i havent answered them its because im still fleshing them out

I've been spending a lot more time with worldbuilding as of recent as opposed to characters in specific so in terms of written-down stuff i dont have much, which is what my toyhouse is for! it's only greyscale, saturate and my sona (whos unrelated) on there atm but i dooo plan on publicizing character pages in bulks when i have them ready. that said, i'll be using this ask as a dumping ground for the current information swimming in my brain soup tyvm

Also the actual story itself isn't fully written so i cant offer much on that end, so srry. I'll answer what i'm able to

Lost Connection is set in a world where government bodies have created a dome situated far out in the ocean with the purpose of creating a re-enactment of human society using machine bodies and AI. They first started as basic but large machines with barebones programming, enough to get them moving. They were supplied with material and tech used to create more machines that gradually got better as the years went on.

Fast forward to today, with slight assistance from human moderation without their knowledge they had created a similar society to humans that caters to the robots (mechanic facilities, clinics specifically for accessorizing because god knows the trouble a machine would go through having to get an ear piercing without damaging wiring, that sort of thing).

The surface of the dome is split up into separate parts in the same sort of sense the world is split up into countries, since the robots don't know anything outside the dome and as such perceive it as just, the world. There is also the underground of the dome which was initially intended as a prison system but overtime became more of a dog-eat-dog world packed with criminals. Machines beneath the ground are much more physically imposing and are prone to violent behavior.

LC has 3 main characters. Greyscale, Saturate and Inforn.

Greyscale is a 11'8ft disproportionate white cat who has earned notoriety through media coverage, some being truthful while others being made up and muddying the waters. Despite the stigma however they would never go out to actively hunt down someone without a good enough reason as to not put herself at risk. It prioritizes self preservation and is often reserved.

Contrasting him is his daughter, Saturate. A 1'9ft Frankenstein of a robot who was illegally built out of parts found in a junkyard, including her CPU, which wasn't wiped of any previous data and effectively made her start off life with the programming of a 10 year old kid and miss out on almost an entire childhood, only being updated a few times before being left at 13. Due to the unorthodox way she was built she has been mistaken for a rodent more than she has been identified as being a bear. She is constantly anxious to some degree and actively makes an effort to keep people far away by being hostile.

The two of them live in an old hotel where they mostly have to hide in. Unfortunately due to trespassers or journalists they find themselves threatened with being discovered quite a lot. To combat this, Greyscale is incredibly territorial and would go out of their way to make sure the person who set foot in the hotel wouldn't leave. Most of the time, the body of the trespasser is later on utilized as a source of components, skin and motor oil. Greyscale has no qualms harvesting these whether or not the person is dead or alive, and the parts tend to go towards repairing Saturate, the weaker of the two. As a result, she has experienced dying on a couple of occasions, only to be unethically brought back from the dead.

And opposing these two is Inforn. A 6'5ft black cat who works in a news network as a reporter and anchor. He is responsible for most of the misinformation on Greyscale, yet could never bring himself to go near her. By indirectly putting the two in a dangerous living situation they have developed an immense hatred for him overtime. Stakes would most likely raise if he somehow found where they were hiding.

wagghhge I THINK. i think i've spilt my brains enough. theres ofc some other guys too but if i went on about more ppl this ask would quickly turn into a book chapter, so i'll leave it with the main information

AND for future reference i'll tag this post in particular incase the question is repeated

[spotsupstuff]

hello! having a UI hyperfixation rn!!! do ya' have any hcs for them? :0 or any lore or something similar!! i would love to hear it!! (you do not need to respond to this ask if ya' don't wanna!)

i'm gon repost my old headcanons on her

• she really wishes her surrounding circumstances were in some kind of way special but actually she's built at the least unique place with basically nothing neat happening nearby. there are strange giant cherry trees nearby, but that's about it • LOVES lizards. she's the one who made the Cyans and sent some over to Pebbles to fuck him up. thankfully, as we all know, Cyans are kinda stupid and since they launch themselves over edges of cliffs they haven't managed to destroy the local ecosystem • her citizens used to keep lizards as pets. most of the time just for the joy of having 0 braincells creature follow you around while looking pretty, but some had 'em as sort of hunting dogs • was the one who created The Rivulet. she was mumbling to herself and a friend smth about how boys only screw things up while engineering Riv's genome • she BASICALLY packed Riv into a cannon and shot them over right into the middle of a scav toll cuz "come on, it's not that far away. this will make your journey shorter and shit". i don't care how goofy it sounds, this is how it went in my heart • in possession of probably the most durable comms ever made • claims she's purple! she's actually fake out purple which means homegirl is Deceptive Blue. she CONSTANTLY fights over this with Pebbles • despite their squabbles she did care for Pebbles. she was very excited to not be the youngest anymore and getting to baby someone

• her and Nish always start verbal sparring matches, often consisting of threats that more often than not range on impossible to actually commit. they constantly lead their mock wars in #general. Moon's gonna kill 'em one of these days • trusts Moon the most- which is why she outed Pebbles' rot and sent Rivulet with the instructions to extract the rarefaction cell • her city is called Sermo [that means "conversation"] • city's representative instrument was a shamisen. she absolutely knows how to play it and loves to threaten people with the bachi

some additional stuff: • Nish is Innocence's Mentor. just like Suns was Pebbles'. they however have a much healthier relationship than those two • her outfit is supposed to be based off of a Vietnamese folk dress • she's a member of the Phone Operator Guild, which is why her comm. systems are so durable • the friend mentioned up there is that Murder of Crows oc of mine • my Inn is basically Candace Flynn. of course with some things different to fit into this world, Innocence's existence as an Iterator and to still be a different character. Innocence, unlike Candace, for example is more ruthless about the whole busting deal. while Candace doesn't actually want her brothers to be harmed, Innocence leaked the Rot information specifically to punish Pebbles with how much it would hurt him • she's obsessed with seeing and knowing things. so way later in the Iterators' lifespan, one of her structure's legs buckle and she smacks her puppet's face badly enough that it caves in and destroys both of her eyes • because of the Citadel pearl: - Innocence knows how to appreciate simple beauty like dust floating in rays of the sun - she likes feeding her lizards personally. she'd probably attempt becoming a cook if she had the means or reason - "defeating an opponent in a debate contest, and being applauded by fellow team members" is something she deeply desires and it shapes her as a tattletail/talker

[tsunamiholmes]

What is "The Scarlet Owl Tavern" anyway?

I'm so glad you asked. Oh, what's that? You've never heard of The Scarlet Owl Tavern? Well that's okay too, this post is to explain what my little area of Toonkind D&D looks like, since a lot of people have been gaining exposure to our universe through the recent train/conductor polls that feature our most iconic character, The Engineer.

Ever since I joined The Drafthouse (where Toonkind games are centralized) people made jokes about my toony nature and "inhuman luck". In fact, it got to a point where I was being compared to "that one NPC who runs a tavern and knows everyone".

It started as an inside joke with my sona being "D&D-ified" to fit a tavernkeeper-style design that people could reference in their Toonkind games, but people started to catch on and make tavern designs for their own sonas, and eventually I caved and actually played in a game as myself.

Cut to over a year later, where we've held around 40 games in The Scarlet Owl Tavern as our sonas and built some incredible lore. Those games can be found here:

THE SCARLET OWL TAVERN GAME PLAYLIST

What is The Scarlet Owl Tavern, then? What do we do in it? What's it like?

The Scarlet Owl Tavern primarily is filled with the players' personas, some of which are modified versions to fit the D&D/Toonkind setting, and others which still resemble the original sona design.

There's a lot of 4th wall breaking and meta shenanigans that go on, including referencing AUs and even speaking to the players directly.

There's found family (because what's a Toonkind plot without it?)

There are multiple weird entities that hang around, one of the most mysterious being "The Defect". No one has ever seen him, but some have heard his voice in their heads.

An 8-headed horrible goose named Harold runs the kitchen because Chloe the Tavernkeeper cannot cook to save her life.

There's apples.

There's a broom closet that has a secret door to a second, hidden bar that's called The Broom Closet.

There is a lot of chaos and goofs, and the tavern has been threatened to burn to the ground more than once.

The plot revolves around our sonas figuring out what makes them unique (hint: they're all sonas) and why there seems to be weird entities lurking around the place. Also Chloe seems to know more than she should... and she also has a lot of enemies from her past that keep turning up.

Overall, The Scarlet Owl Tavern is a fantastic place where people can have fun just being themselves in a fictional setting where anything is possible! Yes, D&D sonas might seem a bit cringe on the surface, but by gods they're a delight to play.

I hope you enjoyed reading a little about what my creative outlet has been for the past year and consider listening to one or two of the games that have taken place in my tavern!

The Scarlet Owl Tavern wiki page can be found here.

Chloe the Tavernkeeper's wiki page can be found here.

[werewolf-girl-knot]

SO. About W5...

I ended up "legally acquiring" a digital copy of the core book and just finished my first read through of it. Some thoughts.

First of all, let me say my major gripes about it re: indigenous and disability erasure remain present, and do end up being a deal breaker for me regarding Paradox and giving them any money.

Still, there's some interesting stuff in here. I am personally a V5 enjoyer. I dislike 'gothic superhero' type chronicles, cumbersome lore and mechanical bloat. I do like Personal horror, power that comes with serious costs, character-focused storytelling, urban fantasy that feels contemporary and grounded, and brave, direct political themes. so V5 ended up being a general improvement for me over V20, give or take some small things. These are the biasas I'm carrying into my thoughts on W5.

The good: Rage Dice make a return from V5's hunger dice, and with improvements! Hunger dice were controversial in V5, but personally I found them to be a fantastic way to keep the Beast as a present threat in your chronicle. Finally, a reason for being a vampire to actually feel like a curse! And Rage dice in W5 I like even more. I enjoy how they turn failure into success when you're trying to accomplish something violent, but otherwise can cause critical problems with your approach when you're *not* trying to be violent. It really encourages you to get into character and play your character more impatient and aggressive when your rage is higher. Finally, Rage that actually feels like a double-edged sword! The things Rage does is also an improvement for me. I dislike extra actions in TTRPGs, ironically I find that they just slow things down with too much dice rolling. Making Rage something you spend to regenerate faster is a much better idea.

The forms are more distinct and interesting now as well. This is one of the things W5 takes from Forsaken than it very good. Finally, a reason to use Hispo and Glabro! Crinos feels extra powerful, *and* risky, with its rule that it will enter a frenzy if you don't kill something that round making it much more threatening and dangerous, which is precisely how it's always been described in the lore, but never really represented in the game very well until now. Claws are high damage but only deal mundane types of damage and Bite is lower damage but Agg. Also good from a design standpoint, makes the rule about not eating human flesh finally matter.

Harano and Hauglosk. Harano finally becomes a present threat for Garou. Something they need to fight against, and help their pack against. It seems to operate a bit like a humanity stat, only that your sweet spot is in the middle. Too far in the other direction, and your character starts to flirt with fanaticism. This is just fantastic for making Werewolf have an actual morality system, a balance in their faith/convictions based on actions taken in the chronicle. Much more interesting than Gnosis as being an essentially meaningless resource. I have seen some braindead takes about this being a way for STs to punish players?? Don't play with STs who try to punish you and force you to do what they would do. Simple as.

The bad: new takes on the tribes. Generally I like how the book explains lore concepts, but the new tribes are so sanitized with any possible ounce of controversy taken out of them, that the political themes most of them were built to explore are totally absent, or significantly muted. In a vaccum I would think making the Get of Fenris fall would be a very interesting way to drive forward the plot, but the execution here makes them feel a little cartoonist. Very roundabout in saying that they've become werewolf eco-facists, a better way to do this be making a Hauglosk-ed version of each tribe to represent the corruption of each tribe's ideology. The cult of Fenris work as a general condemnation of the worst side of Garou in general, but having the bad guys camps in W20 just worked better for this, and had lots of room for improvement. As with all the other tribes, the Get of Fenris feels flattened and removed from its cultural context.

The Ugly: Paradox being horrible and racist. If you haven't read about this already, then... Idk how you found this post really. But this post covers it more thoroughly than I could.

The book attempts to address this with a note I put in the bottom, listing some facts about the issues experienced by indigenous groups, while making a half hearted attempt to connect it to the Garou. In the face of this erasure from their actual game though, it feels like a platitude.

As for the removal of crinos-born Garou, it's another flattening of a complicated part of the game's politics. It might have been nice to see Garou culture advance a bit, but removing them entirely removes the representation they embodied. Most of the direct representation in this game has been removed, but I think the the indigenous and disability represent the most egregious loss, especially in a game about those who are most actively being sacrificed in the name of capitalism. Which isn't some fandom interpretation, it is literally stated in the book.

This all leaves me very sour on the game's fiction, which for a storytelling game like Werewolf the Apocalypse, is important. Which is a shame, because I see a lot of good steps forward in the mechanics, making a game that's more fiction-first, without all the terrible attempts at capturing D&D's wargame combat. But frankly, it's hard to want a game who's treated it's writers so poorly to do well, even if I do think the current writers did very well with the constraints they were given. It's hard to recommend that anyone pay money for this.

[findyourrp]

✶ISO: A LONG-TERM RP PARTNER​ 🤗ꜝ ⺌

♡⤷ my name is ramsey / rams, i'm 30 years old, use they/its pronouns, and i'd prefer my partner to be at least 28 years old— but that's not a hard line, just a preference. i'm in a lot of fandoms, but i prefer to write original stuff for the most part. i typically write at about a lit+ level and higher, and 1K word replies are pretty common for me. i love longer threads, but not strictly novella as it can get overwhelming for me and i'll burn out and lose motivation. that said, i also like to do little texting threads between the bulk. i can use both ani and realistic faceclaims, it depends on your own preferences, i don't mind using either. i'm specifically looking for someone that likes to play older men that are built like a brick shithouse (think a man that looks similar to kevin creekman, cengiz coskun, jason momoa, or daniel sheehan.) that has the personality where someone will look him and think "i can fix him" and he infact makes THEM worse instead.

♡⤷ i have an array of ocs and canon characters that i play as, but i tend to lean towards playing my oc percy most of the time as he is my strongest muse and the one that's the easiest to mold into any verse i see fit. percy is a non-dysphoric trans man, and if that's a problem then please keep scrolling because i'm not dealing with you. percy is very important to me, and is a very long term character that helped me with my own gender dysphoria. his ani faceclaim is carol from friday night funkin' and his realistic faceclaim is a model that goes by keeahwah on instagram. he's very much a comfort character to me, but also i love putting him in predicaments of all sorts. especially bad ones.

♡⤷ one specific idea that's been stuck in my head for ages that i'd like to play out is of percy being the youngest prince from a pacifist alien planet. it's the closest planet to the sun, and the alien race that lives there, the notarians, are cold blooded. i have extensive lore for the alien faces and the planets percy and an npc is from but something specific that needs to be mentioned is that percy's planet is rich with a rare metal deposit that is very valuable and highly sought after, but due to the spiritual relationship that notarians share with their planet, they strongly believe and partake in taking only as much as you need so they don't allow outsiders to mine at all in fear of upsetting their planet and her dying.

♡⤷ he's in an arranged betrothal to an npc of mine, another alien on another planet that has the galaxy's biggest military force. theyre rather cold and calculated people that have a love for violence and a tendency to allow power to make them arrogant. they're aliens that have to colonize small planets in order to survive, as their main form of sustenance are peoples memories. percy seriously hates the arrangement, and he's terrified of his betrothed who's shown to be possessive and obsessive about percy for years prior to their arranged betrothal— he's a senior general in the military, which for them is a very high and important rank. he's basically in charge of everything, and he's very respected by his fellow comrades despite him being a bad man personality / action wise because of his "prowess" in "war".

♡⤷ percy's father-- the king-- has been facing increasing political push (and genuine threats) to allow the militaristic planet to set up their own mining operation for decades. after one such meeting where percy's fiance was losing his temper over the refusal to allow them to mine the metal, percy's father--desperate to avoid having their planet invaded and colonized by force-- offered to instead just open up trading routes, but the amounts provided to the other planet would have to be closely monitored to avoid their planet dying from overmining. however, percy's fiance didn't think that was good enough and instead decided to threaten all of their citizens with forced memory harvesting and invasion if he didn't "sweeten the pot". percy's father asked him what he wanted, and percy's fiance said to marry percy. forced to yield to avoid their people's destruction, percy's father agreed. percy was devasted when he learned of the arrangement, and hasn't spoken to his father directly since in protest as he has always had a dream of finding his soulmate like his parents and grandparents did-- as had many of his people-- but now he feels extremely cornered and doesn't know what to do.

♡⤷ then, while off his home planet on a time sensitive errand for his mother, he chooses to take a ferry ship instead of relying on the military to get him from a to be, despite what his two bodyguards that his fiance assigned to him (they're in plain clothes because percy feels uneasy when they're in uniform.) insist. however, the ferry ship that percy's riding on is boarded by space pirates that are looking to steal money and jewellry. your character (YC), the captain of the pirate ship, is a known to be a very dangerous and rough man. percy's bodyguards try to keep him out of sight due to his high rank and the political leverage that pirates getting his hands on him could cause by hiding him behind behind one of them under their cloak. however, YC spots percy under the cloak and confronts the bodyguards. they try to protect percy, but they get overwhelmed and killed. realizing what percy is by his eyes (black scerla's with molton gold irises), YC is estatic about the goods he just secured and drags percy off onto his ship. initially it's for ransom and maybe some fun, but it slowly becomes romantic on both sides over time.

♡⤷ obviously this would involve darker themes!! i don't mind writing the heavier stuff, but i'd prefer to keep those kinds of threads off tumblr and keep it either on discord or on chatzy (preferred)-- but we can talk about boundaries and hard limits privately-- just either send me an im or like this post, and i'll msg you instead!! sorry this is so long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

.