#isolationist music

[pleasurewizard]

I put out an album today. It’s about the end of the world and finding hope despite it. It’s a journey, an odyssey through the dismal death of the world. Listen wherever you get music.

[greyias]

As a follow-up on Ari's never-ending musical tour, it appears Steam just decided to stop counting my progress at 17/100, and refuses to update it past that, because the morning after the romance scene, I decided to go ahead and try to hit up the Underdark (and the Blighted Village) that I had forgotten to serenade while in Act 1, and got so many gold pieces from people who she had not played for previously.

Unlike those plebs in Moonrise Towers, mushroom people are really into the lute.

As is this doomed wannabe kidnapper from the Society of Brilliance:

(don't worry why Astarion was hiding. I was trying to save her and her asshole friends' future asses by stealing back the owlbear egg I'd swindled her into taking, but even when Astarion succeeded and started to sneak away she was like "BITCH GIMME THAT BACK" so have fun dying jerk! But... at least she tips better than the Harpers)

Then headed back to the Blighted Village, which I somehow had missed completely while dragging my feet in Act 1, and performed for all the goblins. They enjoyed our traveling show, and had some, erm. Interesting suggestions.

I, uh, am sure it makes an interesting xylaphone-like sound. But I think I'll pass.

Confirmed: Ari's lute playing is more entertaining than watching ogre porn

Thanks I guess? Also we might be forever banned from the Emerald Grove for reasons, but don't worry about that. It's not important.

[prettyboypistol]

How the TF2 Mercs De-stress/Manage Anger

Scout

Actually a stereotypical movie bad boy about it. Cigarette, batting cage, and punching bags his emotions out. Shouts at people and shoves them out of his way, throat closed up in welled up emotions, his lungs refusing to give him air as the tightness of slamming against the metaphorical wall of frustration feels like it kills him inside. You know what? Being so tired you can barely register the world around? It's better than feeling like an elephant trapped in a jam jar.

Soldier

Works out and represses the expressions unless he's in battle. That's actually where he gets most of his energy. He thinks of all the shit that pissed him off or made him feel small and uses that flicker of rage as the start of the firecracker of a soldier on the field. Doesn't talk about his emotions much and doesn't see any need to. Yeah, a few drinks in and he gets sappy, but that's normal. Anger usually gets metal pipes bent or people's faces bashed in. Usually both.

Pyro

Expresses anger and stress as overexcitabiliy and hyperactivity. A constant overstimulation mode. Referencing the comics, Pyro won't hesitate to kill a bitch knowingly if they are pissed off. They're the reason it's called a "crime of passion". High spikes of anger followed by a low simmer of calmness. Actually pretty good about deep breaths when it comes to mild annoyances or daily stress, but the over the top bullshit absolutely gets an over the top reaction.

Heavy

Intimidation and powerplay is the name of Heavy's game. Sharp glares and a clear body message of "I will snap your spine if you breathe near me." This comes from his time in the gulag, when he had to keep himself and his family safe. Looking murderous when upset had a lot of advantages. When it actually comes to relieving the anger, he's an isolationist. Def thinks over the situation over and over again as he distracts himself with one of his hobbies. Usually not reading because his mind wanders off too much to focus on the pages.

Engineer

Hyperactive workaholic. He locks himself in his workshop and doesn't leave until he makes something either revolutionary or a man made horror you could only fathom in your nightmares. Whatever, he can sell it to the Administrator as a torture device. Who cares. Engie isn't much of a talker so much as he is a ranter. He grumbles and shouts to himself in a one way conversation as he tightens that one bolt that gave him trouble. Only once has he dented one of his sentries with his wrench when the energy was too much to comprehend.

Demoman

As is his usual solution, he drinks. He drinks and he talks. It doesn't matter to who or even if people are with him. Talking and bitching helps him to understand the situation, get his feelings validated, and develop more points of view. If that doesn't work, there's always testing his explosives. That release of emotions as he watches the burn pile explode is cathartic in a way. Pyro usually joins in and watches the fire, giving Demo someone to talk to.

Sniper

Also an isolationist, but you couldn't tell either way unless you pissed him off while talking to him. If it's just him, then you wouldn't even know that motherfucker was milliseconds away from starting a fight. Mutters to himself softly, barely able to hear the words himself as he shoots at sodacans and empty food containers all lined up by his van. Long drives while music plays in the background is one of his guilty pleasures when he can get away with it. If you ask what's bothering him he'll have a 50/50 between shrugging and saying a dismissive "it's nothing, just woke up wrong" or will barely explain it, but get the just of it accurately.

Spy

Tries to work through it physically, not emotionally. Man's has never talked about his emotions in his life and you won't make him start now. Usually very bitchy when something pisses him off, and his weapon of choice is personal insults. It's a funny thing really. He needs to feel superior by putting others down because the anger and stress makes him feel weak. There is only one good way to snap him out of a bad mood: casually praise him. "Nice work, Spy." "I knew I could count on you." "Thanks Spy, you're a lifesaver." Are instant soothers. It's nice to be acknowledged.

Medic

Workaholic worse than Engie. This man is really out here about to create an elderitch horror because he stubbed his toe and spilled his coffee. Strained smiles and snide comments are his language when he's had a bad day. If someone directly irritates him, that man is a solid 6'1 minimum and is built. He will and continue to physically intimidate people. Has violent fantasies as a cope.

[buckttommy]

please talk more about bucktommy I love when you talk about them

with pleasure. i need the serotonin.

the first time tommy spends the night, he cooks buck breakfast in bed. somehow buck sleeps through the entire cooking process which is remarkable considering tommy is loud as fuck as he searches for bowls and pans. but anyway. buck wakes up to french toast with syrup and powdered sugar, bacon, and diced fruit and he does NOT get misty eyed but it is a close thing.

tommy gets quiet sometimes, but especially on the day of his dad's death anniversary. i hc that tommy is a bit of an isolationist. when things get bad or sad in his head, he retreats to his little bubble and puts himself back together. buck is clingy, so it takes him a while to adjust to the fact that sometimes his boyfriend doesn't want to be touched/bothered but once he gets the hang of it, it's smooth sailing. he's learned the Warning Signs for when tommy gets in these particular headspaces, but it's easier when he knows they're coming. so on the anniversary of tommy's dad's death, buck kisses him goodbye when he goes to work, texts him little things that don't demand a reply throughout the day, and just waits for tommy to come to him again. he always does, usually the next day, and he hugs buck tight. sometimes they have sex, sometimes they don't. either way, they spend the day after his Bad Day just reconnecting. catching up on conversations and satiating their skin hunger. buck swears he can't possibly love this man anymore than he already does, but when he has tommy in his arms after a bad day has passed and he's still kind of quiet but cling, he's always proven wrong.

tommy is a shit dancer, like. just. absolutely abysmal. everything they say about white people dancing is true. rhythm could slap him in the face and he still wouldn't know it. buck, on the other hand... well. he's actually not that much better, tbh, but he did spend some time in peru being mother hen'd by an abuela who didn't speak a lick of english (my personal hc) so he knows how to move his hips a lil. all this to say, one day buck puts on some music and tommy is like uhh what are you doing. and buck is like "what, i have to pay you for those flying lessons somehow. get up, old man, we're dancing." and like. tommy... there's no fixing him, i'm afraid, but goddamnit if buck doesn't try. dancing together usually ends in kissing and laughing into each other's mouths, but neither of them would have it any other way

when buck's paternal grandma dies, he needs to go back home to pennsylvania. he's fully expecting to book a plane ticket and see his boyfriend in a couple days but tommy's like "hey no i'm coming with you," and buck is like, "nah, it's okay. really. i'll be there and back in an instant, it's not like i was that close to her" but tommy's just like, "how close you were doesn't matter. she was still your grandma. and your family may need you, but you're still my priority. so i'm coming with" and like. how is buck supposed to argue with that? maddie and chimney tag along and they make a big roadtrip of it. it's fucking ridiculous and extra and silly but there's good music and laughter and the license plate game and tommy holds his hand when buck reaches for him and, you know. maybe going to pennsylvania isn't so bad if all the trips are like this.

i have this headcanon that buck and tommy are physically codependent and extremely tactile in that they just love being around and touching each other. all this to say that, when either one of them is injured / in hospital, they can often be found holding each other in the hospital bed. when buck has a TBI and is unconscious, tommy cradles him close and kisses the top of his head. when tommy is burned in a fire, buck lets him bury his face in his neck to escape the pain. no thoughts head empty, just clingy touchy cuddly beautiful boyfriends

[bidisastersanji]

The Old Guard x One piece AU got my brain going brrr and i'm gonna make it your problem now. Center of the matter is I want Zoro and Sanji to meet kind of like Nicki and Joe did (discovering their immortality by fighting on opposite sides and killing each other over and over and then becoming eternal lovers) so I went and did some research for the entire Straw hat crew. Main thing is I wanted to link them to historical events that will give them the right motivations and backgrounds! so here we GOOO

Sanji and Zoro: Because Japan has an isolationist past, the only battle I could find that would work is the Cagayan battles of 1582 in Jakarta between Spanish-Philippine forces vs Japanese pirates (a.k.a Wokou, which are basically pirate ronin) Sanji would thus be a reluctant "Rodelero" sent to South East Asia by his noble family (jokes on them he loves being in the middle of the spice trade and he hates being part of a noble family funding the conquistadores) who one day finds himself fighting a mysterious Wokou samurai Zoro. They're partly isolated from their respective camps when they first kill each other, and again, and again, until they realise they should by all means be dead but they keep healing. After a couple decades of -against all odds- running into each other everywhere, they reluctantly decide to try and figure out what the heck's happened to them together- struggling to communicate at first, then learning each others' language over the following decade, then falling in love and becoming inseparable. This makes Zoro and Sanji both over 400 years old, and they are the same age. Zoro learns about so many sword techniques and Sanji about different cuisines/ leg-centric fighting styles during this time.

all the other straw hats and their historical periods under the cut!

Robin as an Egyptian scholar who died during the burning of the Library of Alexandria in 48 BC/ was killed for researching something forbidden during the declining years of the Roman Period (early 200s) and found out she was immortal this way, making her around 2 millennia old. She spends her time recording history and traveling the world and encountering new cultures. Her long time enemy is religious obscurantism, and the Catholic church spends a lot of resources trying to kill her. (they have conspiracy boards about this immortal witch in the Vatican)

Brook: so ancient he doesn't remember much, other that he came from Kerma culture (2500 BC), loved music, and that his entire village had died from an illness, but he came back. His memory isn't great but if there's one thing he's loved in his Millennia of existence is discovering and learning how to play all the instruments that he could find. He mostly hangs in Vienna nowadays as a music teacher.

Jinbei is a Samoan chieftain from around 1000 BC who one day died during a battle with a Fijian chieftain. When he came back from death he assumed Tagaloa chose him. He loves navigating, sailing, exploring and going on voyages with his people. In more recent times (post european contact) he was forced to ally with the US Navy to protect his people.

Nami: Irish lass from around 800 who's coastal, tiny village was about to be raided by Vikings from Sweden. She made a deal with their chieftain Arlong to go with them and map out the British isles for them to help their raids be more effective and targeted, in exchange for not killing people in her village, and that she would make back the plunder they did not get from this town for them. She started to join their raids to try and make this money, but she died in battle. She came back and they believed her to be some kind of Valkyrie or Einherjer brought back to midgard. She took over the raider's leadership- also Norsemen always had women handle money, which works great here. During her time as an immortal she travels, seeks treasure, double crosses people etc.

Usopp a young double agent/CIA spy from the Cold War who died on a mission. He tragically could not return to his love Kaya because he was afraid of putting her in danger by revealing he was alive to the spies that killed him. He relocates and starts anew constantly, his entire life a web of lies. He's a great marksman/sniper.

Chopper died young of the Bubonic plague in medieval Europe. He resuscitated, tragically his father is infected as well and he's unable to save him- motivating him to get to the bottom of this disease, he decides to become a doctor. Looking like a 15 year old for centuries doesn't make this task easy and he has to hide a lot.

Franky is an American veteran of WWI who was heavily disfigured first, and died later (which is why he's not fully healed and needs prosthetics). He's heavily anti-government from having been sent to fight in such a meaningless war that sacrificed young men like cannon fodder. He learned to fix himself up and make prosthetics and masks for veterans, got into making tech stuff

Luffy is a modern, 21st century 20 something year old from Brazil's favelas. He dies in a gun violence incident (maybe linked to a drug war/gang war where he's been trying to protect his neighbourhood) and comes back, experiencing visions of others like him. He's resolute to find them and make a crew, thinking that with all of them together, maybe they can help liberate the world from opressors and inequality

[warning-heckboop]

Finally got the motivation to draw her again. The very best (and only) fanchild I’ve ever designed, Clay and Viva’s daughter, Birdie!

My previous concept art of her can be found here. This new updated drawing is a design of her as an adult, rather than as a child like I drew her previously. I also made a few edits to her general colors.

Her overall design is primarily based on the fact that a lot of Clay’s concept art in the Art Of book made him look like a jazzercise instructor.

The biggest change you might notice is that she’s hearing impaired. This is something that I’ve had rattling around in my mind for a while, but I never really had a time to bring it up before now.

What else, uhh. She’s best friends with her cousin Labreezy (Bruce’s daughter), because there are way too many boys in their family and they are powerful, intelligent, independent women. She’s a major bookworm like her dad, but unlike him she’ll read just about anything she can get her hands on. She’s not a huge fan of large troll gatherings, partially because her hearing impairment means she’s not as into music as other trolls, and partially because her parents’ isolationist tendencies rubbed off on her. A few other notes are included in the drawing itself <3

[gloamvonhrym]

oh I never posted all my silly phoenicis worldbuilding (birdbuilding) that I did while in fanfic writing hell

here’s a huge mostly-boring set of notes expanding and/or playing havoc with canon. I’m putting it here for future reference. maybe to link to it for funsies if I ever post this hell fic

phoenicis is a small insular nation with little social hierarchy, living on inhospitable mountains inaccessible to anyone except other birds. phoenicis has therefore evolved on a somewhat separate cultural track from everybody else in tellius. in this essay I will

economy/practical shit

implicitly in canon hawks are intensely community-oriented. again, they’re a small nation without much hierarchy, and with some preference for chaos. they all “just do what needs to be done”, paraphrasing ulki. they’re not the Strong Guys for the heck of it: they work together to protect & care for their own, and harbor a strong sense of collective duty and trust.

so they’re commies

with serenes out of the picture they’re the biggest commies in tellius

they don’t have currency, that’s some human shit. to each according to their need etc

(exactly how small and close-knit is. phoenicis? small enough that kilvas, a similarly small nation with even fewer resources, could kill everyone on the home front in basically a day when it was left undefended. so. take that for what it is)

infrastructure

minor architecture tangent: we don’t see much of phoenicis & kilvas except for the exteriors of their respective castles, which is kinda boring. obviously not everyone lives in the castles. but phoenicis DOES have some other visible infrastructure, namely the funky detail of these open doorways built into both the castle itself and the surrounding cliffs:

(I don’t know if there’s any kind of proper name for these, because obviously irl we don’t need them and they’re not a thing. I’ve been calling them sky doors, and I might have nabbed that from rebecca roanhorse’s “between earth and sky”, although idk if she in turn nabbed it from anyone else)

anyway there appears to be no actual barrier on these, at least not externally. what did I say. commies. who’s gonna rob and kill you in your own home, in your little nation-commune, where nobody except other birds can get to you, and everyone trusts everyone else to do their duty and provide for each other. (the answer is that other birds will betray you, eventually. sad!)

anyway it’s boring to stick around the castle 100% of the time. I imagine that this architectural idea continues down into the valleys, where maybe artisans can make stuff and services can be provided and bargain economy shit can happen

hawks have seemingly only been pirates for the last 20 years or so, and they do piracy for the sake of vengeance rather than need, and they can’t do that much of it because there aren’t a ton of them; and unlike kilvas, they abstain from trade with the whole rest of the continent, and are isolationist by choice. so they must be self-sufficient in basically every way. someone’s got to be making fabric, making clothes, making shoes, forging metals, creating pottery, creating music and art, administering medicine, providing education, etc, somewhere.

healthcare

tangent about medicine: phoenicis is probably the only nation in the continent that has historically had no contact with healing magic at all. the herons had innate healing magic, and everyone else either has human mages or contact with human mages. but phoenicis is on its own. their medical science is therefore more advanced by irl standards, because it has to be. they know more shit about practical mundane antitoxins, antibiotics, wound dressing, surgeries, anesthetics, and complications. it’s less pleasant than magical means, but it works.

(canonically, healing magic works on wounds and not so much things like regular illnesses, so everyone’s still got some mundane medical care; but when that’s ALL you’ve got, I think it follows that you necessarily come to understand the pure mundane science better than most other people. I bet phoenicis has bred its share of real scientists. if anyone in tellius is going to invent electricity,) (also: they might value physical strength very much, but because they’re commies, I figure they take care of their sick/disabled/injured pretty well, and most of them are at terms with the fact that not everyone can be the Strongest Guys. reyson’s complex about being too weak to live is likely more due to survivor’s guilt, helplessness to protect others/wreak revenge personally, and a post-traumatic focus on violence as a primary determinant of outcomes, rather than any actual pervasive cultural messaging that he’s useless.)

age

hawks live to some, what, 300+ years? janaff says a 24 year old should barely be speaking, but I feel like his ass was just being dramatic, similar to the way we needle real-life 18 year old adult humans about being tiny babies. there’s no reason why any creature should take 20+ years to be at least functional, that would be a huge evolutionary disadvantage. I posit that hawk adolescence is considered to last roughly age 20 to 70 (with heron adolescence lasting somewhat longer, given their longer lifespan; maybe to 80-85, such that reyson has somewhat recently hit true adulthood by the time PoR rolls around).

teenagers are stupid. hawk teenagers are REALLY stupid. chaos predilection + hormones. many of them will gleefully pick a fight over any dumb thing and be horny about it. strong with the vigor of youth, but exceptionally poor sense of their own limitations

by age 100+, their temperament evens out; but any contender for the king’s power is probably going to come from the young crowd at any given time. speaking of which,

government

there isn’t much of one. phoenicis is not big. everyone knows everyone and they’re very efficient commies so everything gets done that needs to get done. tibarn has 2 dumbass advisors. who needs a secretary of state.

the title of king goes to “the strongest” (I assume the intent is that this is determined by combat, against self-selected challengers who get to take over if they win, wakanda style). although canonically, his power is that he gets to call some shots but doesn’t really get any special privileges or reverence beyond that, which is nice because it means that if the king became super unpopular, the rest of phoenicis could probably depose him without much trouble if they wanted to. no divine rights here.

(worth noting: I think tibarn’s characterization is super different between fe9 and fe10, with RD tibarn being a lot sassier and more informal. FEH skewed towards the RD vibe, and I think they were right for that. given the hawks’ uniquely relaxed philosophy towards royalty, their insular culture, and the likelihood that they all knew tibarn by name before he ever had a title, it wouldn’t make sense for them to do a lot of formalized bowing and scraping. RD tibarn would never have unironically addressed caineghis as “o majestic king of lions” or whatever he said)

(by contrast, apparently, in japanese, reyson consistently addresses tibarn formally (and also naesala, up until naesala betrays him). I don’t speak japanese and can’t really count this as an aspect of my experience of these characters, but I wonder if the other birds also address each other in this way, or if it’s a trait peculiar to reyson.)

family

families are not nuclear. hawks raise their kids pretty communally, foremost in unstructured “flocks” (households or clusters of households). actual bio parents may or may not be closely involved

parenting is kind of hands-off overall. the concept of adult supervision falls away pretty fast. “let your kid do the stupid dangerous thing so that he learns what’s stupid and dangerous” ass culture; learning by experience is optimal, and if you’re not adequately responsible then others are less likely to be sympathetic and/or have your back in turn. hawk kids tend to gain squads quickly, and they often hang together for life ride or die

if a young hawk is neglected or entirely rejected by their home flocks - rare, but not impossible - likely someone else will pick up the slack, if not adults then some loyal friends

relevant headcanons: tibarn, ulki, and janaff have been sticking together since an early age. ulki in particular had some problems - his original family did not appreciate that he kept overhearing things he shouldn’t, and he was way too autistic to know what was meant to not be repeated, so after not too long he became a bit of a lone wolf. tibarn and janaff already knew each other - janaff’s exceptional sight didn’t cause him any similar problems; and were initially concerned with ulki’s misfit status, but his ability was a valuable bonus. they all adopted each other.

food

the main thing hawks don’t do is cook. because they mostly eat raw meat, fish, and bugs, which is very sexy of them. I imagine every household has certain members designated to hunt regularly on its behalf. add that one to the chore chart

(maybe someone starts experimenting more with cooking when herons are there, and further when phoenicis is open to international relations. for fun and community!)

gender

ok the shit I made up, let’s go off the rails

hawks are queer-normative. in that they don’t give a shit about the anatomy or superficial presentation of who sleeps with whom. most of them are equal-opportunity in that regard

they are, however, by human standards, masc-centric to a sort of absurd degree. they’re not dumb senseless brutes (see again, commies, intense intra-community trust); they’re also probably not the most emotionally available fellas

(“but wouldn’t this level of intra-community trust result in greater emotional availability, not less?” look I’m not saying they’re scared of it. but why would you cry out your feelings with some other guy when you could be killing animals or committing piracy about it.)

gender presentation: I said equal-opportunity in terms of sexuality. might be because it’s a little difficult to tell. the games appear to have no female hawk characters but in MY headcanons their presentation is just masc-centric across the board, and maybe they skew a little less sexually dimorphic in general, so you wouldn’t know anyway

most hawks are he/hims. that’s just a quirk. like discworld dwarves but with less to say about it. just a nation of butches, for fun

bad gender parity in the tellius games? how do you know janaff isn’t a he/him lesbian

hawk dress is largely unisex, earth-toned, and utilitarian. not necessarily fully unadorned - tibarn has an earring & a few other things, including a necklace (feathers; battle trophies?) - but he’s still pretty rugged. nobody is flashy.

nothing AGAINST conventionally feminine presentation per se. hawks would chafe against overly rigid norms. but the way medieval-fantasy femininity looks, they’d probably think it’s a little odd in a practical sense. but who knows. maybe leanne starts something with those she/her pronouns and flowy dresses yk.

(tangent on clothing: phoenicis isn’t really friendly for something like cotton crops, but they can have wool, because goats & sheep can live on mountains. I’m also happy to make up that there’s some kind of hardy tellius breed of mulberry-adjacent tree, which can grow at least somewhere in phoenicis, resulting in the availability of silk and maybe barkcloth. or something. idk I’m not that kind of historian.)

sexuality

hawks primarily value strength, physical + emotional. we knew this. again, doesn’t make for the greatest emotional intelligence. overt softness is not the thing. tibarn kind of sucks at the direct empathy that reyson claims all living beings share, for instance. 2 hawks in a fight would rather tussle it out than waste time talking.

this carries over. in a partner, again, attraction tends to disregard sexed anatomy, but the most valuable thing is being well-matched physically. being creatures of chaos, they trust their impulses, they like a challenge, they don’t mind a fight, and they probably don’t super want to be with someone they have to worry about hurting

(hence that kind of hot chemistry between tibarn & nailah. also janaff hits on lucia at first glance bc she’s a knight obviously she’s got some beef babeyy)

pursuant: by and large, hawks really don’t find herons very attractive. that delicate graceful peaceful affect is kind of a mystifying ideal to them. it’s like art - nice to look at, ig, but what would you actually do with it. people significantly weaker than you are for you to protect, not sleep with. tibarn is a notable exception because he is down bad for reyson

and reyson is like an alien, and tibarn is maybe a bit of a freak for being into someone so fragile. you are the very strongest guy, tf you want with a boy who breaks if you look at him wrong. what do you get out of that sir. he has complexes about this :) but I’m not going to elaborate on that because that’s what hell fic is for

“herons in phoenicis: conceptualizing the vulnerable body in hawk-normative society”, the title of my tellius gender studies thesis at the university of crimea or whatever

speaking of reyson. what does this mean for him. I need to talk about it because I’m obsessed with him. the commie stuff isn’t that much of a culture shock at least

but have some added fuckery: sole survivor, adapting to another culture, learning another language; lone chaos-sensitive empath in a sea of macho chaos-oriented dudes who aren’t very attuned to that kind of thing; also extremely physically distinctive in a way that is kind of weird at best

how do you even maintain a sense of personal identity when the baseline relevant factor is “you’re incomprehensibly different from everyone around you in every way possible”? I think reyson experiences some Gender about this. the most masculine heron is still a lily reed compared to even a fairly femme hawk

reyson’s gender, per the rest of the continent: male. reyson’s gender among hawks: heron

I imagine leanne is somewhat shielded from this once she comes round - she’s able to lean on reyson and naesala, and I figure she does, pretty heavily, considering she picks up maybe a few words of the modern tongue over the course of 3 years. she’s deliberately feminine, and also has already chosen her own terrible boyfriend [affectionate]. she’s not without her own traumas, but she’s more supported, and maybe is even in a place to kind of enjoy the confusion & attention she garners from being the sole girly-girl. I feel like she would.

and her terrible boyfriend [affectionate] is a raven, not a hawk. and by contrast, ravens are VERY attracted to herons. because herons are pretty. and ravens like shiny pretty things.

misc

I’m not quite committed enough to make constructed-culture art, but in my mind hawk visual & aural culture resembles late antique/early modern celtic styles in a few ways. insular culture yk. some book of kells bullshit.

(kinda weird, upon reflection, that phoenicis isn’t full of ancient tongue speakers, considering serenes was allegedly one of the few nations they were ever friendly with. and yet even tibarn understands very little ancient. at the very least, being the most isolated nation, it would make sense for the hawks to have their own modern dialect. but they don’t, that would have been hard for an FE game to pull off, and I’m not enough of a linguist to try. so it is what it is! maybe, even though they don’t fraternize with other nations, they’ve always kept pretty close tabs on them just in case, the necessity of spying facilitated the shift to modern. whereas serenes never did that. anyway sometimes the hawks sound a little irish in my head.)

they are also superstitious. all those lonely windswept coastal peaks, there’s a lot of howling winds, spooky nooks, weird environmental physics interacting with weather phenomena. you end up with stories about folk monsters. hawks know shit about ghosts, fairies, sirens, and banshees, and how to placate them if you piss them off. also the herons sometimes scare people to death because they wear nothing but white and drift around like specters.

I also have a lot of headcanons about herons. but they’re more feelingsy. so I’ll leave that go. I might add to this as I remember more stuff

[vixletserenity]

Although Celeste had made it obvious that she would be shifting her focus onto the upcoming exam for her music course, that wasn't the only thing on her mind.

Perhaps this John man knew, she wouldn't entirely know.

She had called her representative for the Paldean Parliament about addressing them all in the next session; which ironically or coincidentally was right after getting out of her quarantine.

The woman had told her that part of the discussions would be about the Crater; to which she somehow was able to squeeze Celeste having time on the floor.

When that time arrived, Celeste was dressed in the usual dress suit she had worn when sitting in these sessions. She walked up to the speaking podium, her body language being bitter as her mouth opened to speak.

"I would like to announce that I will be stepping down from the position given to me as the expert and top researcher of Area Zero."

There were voices all over the room from all the adults in the room. Some were panicking at this and telling off at her before Celeste put her hand up to continue speaking.

She only had a certain amount of time on the floor, and she was not going to waste it by this backtalking.

"I will no longer be your pawn in order to gain power in the international fields. And I no longer tolerate the pathetic attempt to make me; one of the few initial people who knew of Professor Turo's passing, into Paldea's Regional Professor by force.

The Academy here promotes the students to choose whatever path they want; to find their own Treasure. And yet, the adults here in this very room are so selfish and power hungry that they want to steal that away from one who moved to this region after her family was given enough sympathy by the isolationist government to give refugee status during the Great Freeze years ago."

There were more voices of protest. They're growing. Saying how disrespectful she was being until Celeste slammed her hands the hardest she could on the podium.

"I'M NOT FINISHED YET! BE SILENT AND STOP INTERUPTTING THE TIME I HAVE BEEN GIVEN TO SPEAK TO ANY OF YOU!" She yelled; her voice echoing across the chambers and quieting almost everyone in an instant.

"My childhood was robbed from me by a person who should be there to protect me, yet he chose to hurt me for selfish and petty reasons. And now that's happening all over again by the people who should've known how damaging to the mind it is to see and experience what I have!

I refuse to let that happen ever again! Even if I have very little time to still be considered a child in some people's eyes, I choose to take that and finally live for myself! Just as what the teachers and Director have wished for students like myself!

You know enough about the Crater through everything I've done and the clearance you've given Ms. Briar at Blueberry Academy. There's nothing more you need to know about down there! Leave it alone and pay attention to the people that you should be serving as public servants!

To the youth you've abandoned for so long to the point that they've had to take the pain they've felt into their own hands because the literal adults in the room failed them in multiple and severe degrees!

It is time to bring this era of conquesting the Great Crater much like the ancient emperor whose kingdom came to a demise for his own greedy desires and keeping it secret from the public to an end! The people of Paldea and the rest of the world deserves to know what this oh so sacred and all knowing governing body has been doing while the region's systems were degrading beyond recognition."

She took a deep breath in and out as the timer started to indicate that there wasn't much time left for her.

"As my parting words...I will say this. Think more about the consequences of what you all have done in the perspective of fifty years; even a century from now looking back at these events in hindsight!

The mysteries have been solved; it's futile now to only think about them. Use what time we have on this planet to think on how all this will impact those yet to come and people like me who will have to live and fix what problems you create.

For the future will not always be in fully your hands to control; whether you like it or not."

Without another comment, Celeste got off the podium and walked out of the chambers quietly and calmly. She's done what she needed to do.

And is now in full control of what she wants her future to be.

[kenyizsuartblog]

Skarner sketches - 2024-04-03-06

Okay, so, uh... this is new?

I don't actually play LoL for a multitude of reasons, and I can't claim to have been very deeply ingrained in its lore before either. Sometimes one champion grabs my attention temporarily, like Tahm Kench (most accurate re-imagining ever of the Devil in folklores), Kindred (Death never had a more awesome interpretation), Braum (he is just an amazing guy) or the God of All Sass in the Universe, Aurelion Sol (Boop). But I have never created fanart of them, or started reading up on the lore even at a surface level.

Well, for some reason, the newly reworked Skarner has somehow gotten my attention on an entirely new level. No, I'm still not going to play League. I might check out Riot's non-PvP games, tho...

Turns out, I'm kinda sorta joining in when LoL's lore building is at its lowest, few new champions, no "color stories" anymore, and basically no other stories, which is... kind of heart-breaking, not gonna lie. Because I see the unified lore Riot is trying to build and it is genuinely impressive both in ambition and in actual execution. They can even work in redesigns and reworks into the story seamlessly at times. I hope they pick up steam again soon.

Skarner might have gotten my attention because of his design; because of his amazing similarity in appearance and in role to the best sea monster ever put to screen - Leviathan from Atlantis: The Lost Empire; because of his banger music; or because he has a lot in common with my Ra from my Egyptian mythology story idea where they both teeter on the brink between utter paranoia-fueled tyrannic rule and genuine protection of their people.

Whatever it may be, I like Skarner, the Primordial Sovereign. I am not sure how much LoL's story is allowed to progress, and champions to have arcs, but I hope against all hope that Skarner's story will involve one hell of a bi--slap from life that will get him back on the proper way to protect his people and not actually ruin them in his paranoia.

Maybe the Void will swallow Ixtal in a surprise attack, but Skarner manages to make it out with citizens on his back like Milio, and Qijana as the last Yun Tal and therefore de facto human leader of the Ixtali. The formerly isolationist nation is now forced into nomadic life atop Skarner as they seek a new home or allies to get back at the Void finally. I mean, Jax is looking for volunteers from what I have heard, and Skarner actually likes Jax and Icathia. Now... wouldn't that be a fanfic idea?

I hope I can deliver a few more sketchdumps, because I have ideas both for Skarner and for the brackern species as a whole.

2024.04.06.

[kurnutus86]

"Mick Harris traffics in the isolationist ambience of Lull, while Martyn Bates is the emotive voice of literate cult-pop duo Eyeless in Gaza. The unlikely pair - one given to terminally frigid drone, the other to impassioned, bittersweet voicings - finds common ground in folk music's most macabre tradition, the murder ballad. These ghoulish parables are awash in blood and tears, the strands of love, hate, birth, death, sin, and salvation entwined within like the roots of an ancient tree. Mothers callously kill their children; suitors slay their maidens without remorse; and fate exacts its cruel price from all."

"The archaic murder ballads that leak from Bates' vocal cords are intensely sad and carnal. They tend to leap off cliffs of hollow effects or drone darkly, offering neither a robust delivery nor an element of irony to take the edge off. The archetypal characters that live and die in them give life's full tragedy back to Harris' electronically numbed "post-isolationist" dreaming."

"Passages (originally released in 1997) plays out an unbreakable and timeless cycle of bloody folklore (people) and hypnotic soundscapes (the god who watches). The effect is chilling yet engrossing. Where most ambient music has barely enough courage to ring the doorbell and run, Murder Ballads slips through the cracks of the unconscious and does its work with remarkable ease."

All the more reason to listen thoughtfully."

[pleasurewizard]

Listen to my weird album if you want. It’s about radio waves. Religion? Ephemera. Who knows? it’s unnerving noise nonsense ambience

[2xplusungood]

Maybe Im just reading too deeply into things but I get the distinct feeling that Obsidian absolutely fucking hated Fallout 3 and it manifests in various subtle ways

One of the most iconic characters in Fallout 3 is the Galaxy News Radio host Three Dog, who has a very bombastic personality, is constantly talking about The Lone Wander's exploits and is a meetable/killable character. In New Vegas, Mr. New Vegas host of Radio New Vegas, is more of a calm, suave sort of character who mentions the courier specifically only once. You never meet him and he's only really mentioned in the game once (That I can remember at least) by Trudy at the start and never again.

Fallout 3's whole deal was the conflict between the blatantly evil Enclave and the blatantly good Brotherhood of Steel. In New Vegas the BoS are back to being cultish isolationists with almost no presence in the mojave and the Enclave is completely absent bar ONE questline that humanizes the people who previously were a part of the Enclave.

Stealth was extremely abuse-able in Fallout 3 with the Chinese Stealth Suit and Stealthboys. Stealthboys in New Vegas aren't nearly as useful and the only people who use it in the storyline are the Nightkin, who are getting mental illnesses from it and Benny, who is IMMEDIATELY captured while trying to use it. You can also find TWO unique Stealth Suits: The Chinese Stealth Suit from F3 which is hidden away in an extremely radioactive part of Hoover Dam and doesn't have its "Stealth field" function and the Stealth Suit Mk II, which constantly talks as a joke and gets you addicted to med-x

Power Armor was a huge part of Fallout 3's identity, appearing heavily in the promotional material and getting Power Armor training is part of the main quest and is near impossible to miss. New Vegas supplants this by having the "Flagship armor" be the NCR Ranger Armor and if you don't do the Brotherhood Questline or For Auld Lang Syne you can easily miss it.

This is more my interpretation but Fallout 3 (As well as 4) tend to glorify the times before the bombs "hey weren't the 1950s fucking AWESOME hey look 50s music! Gingham! Nuclear families!" to a degree that the satirical aspect ends up being completely lost. Hell theres something to be said about Nuka-Cola, a fake brand mimicing overabundance of advertising in the world, becoming what is essentially a real life brand to advertise Bethesdas big AAA game series. New Vegas, on the other hand, takes a giant dump on this idea by almost completely removing the "1950s but future" aesthetic with a much more fantastical "wild west but future" vibe while having a lot of its themes being "for a better future you need to stop clinging to the past"

The Karma system is a core part of Fallout 3 but I cannot stress enough just how much of a fucking meme it is in New Vegas. Like the most common way to gain karma is murder while doing things "looting the camp of the people who just tried to kill you" and "killing/disabling the immortal autocrat of new vegas" give you negative karma so the whole system feels completely random and arbitrary that affects very little in the game which I feel like is entirely intentional to point out how dumb the idea of a "good person/bad person" system in any game is and the reputation system is more "your actions will govern how people see you" rather than some vibe you give off of being good or bad

[junewongapologia]

I know it's been lost in the many, many annoying years of ST writers deciding Vulcans are bad and contemptible for having what amounts to just really visible cultural differences from humanity, but I really like how... Culturally Vulcan Spock is.

His colleagues have like a fixation on his mother's heritage but... he grew up culturally Vulcan on Vulcan and his human mother all but states in Babel that she's basically assimilated into Vulcan culture because she agrees with its ethos. In all of TOS Spock considers himself Vulcan.

He's... very well adjusted and settled in so he is, he's a guy who sacked off the VSA to join a pseudo-military against the wishes of his pacifist dad and on the ship he plays Vulcan musical instruments with his human colleagues, and keeps a room full of Vulcan cultural artefacts that presumably remind him from home. (I get that this is half-retconned in the movies - most explicitly in ST V 🙄 - and also pretty inconsistently written in TOS but it's still there!)

Idk it's kind of sad to me that the Vulcans are literally the innovators of IDIC and they've been flanderized into these isolationist bigots because the stoicism/pacifist vibes can be kind of confused and off-putting to people.

Like. List of Vulcans we actually meet in TOS:

Spock

Spock's dad, ambassador to Earth, married to a human in some weird 60s sitcom couple dynamic, in-text reason he is estranged from his half human son is literally stated outright as being because he thinks Starfleet is too militaristic and he's a pacifist - like most Vulcans.

T'Pring - Spock's fiancée/wife, breaks up with him because it seems like too much of a hassle to be married to a celebrity, never seems to have any issue with his parentage, clearly thinks he's Vulcan since she divorces him via Vulcan ritual (logical, fight to the death) and not Human ritual (illogical, loopholes/contacting your local divorce lawyer)

Stonn - has two lines, neither of them are about Spock.

T'Pau - kind of maybe says something bigoted ("they say thy Vulcan blood is thin"), but then pulls strings to get the Enterprise off the hook for disobeying orders at the end of the episode, presumably as a favour to Spock, who she knows is going through a rough time, or out of respect for Not-Really-Dead Jim.

Surak - from a war torn civilisation five hundred years ago, still less bigoted towards other species than McCoy lmao

I might be so wrong about this but idk I just like Spock's room full of unabashed Vulcan shit, and I think ST has ignored and wasted opportunities for interesting stories bc they're kind of obsessed with deconstruction of everything about TOS/the ST universe to the detriment of anything else including the actual original ethos of Starfleet.

[sadayoshientertainment]

The O'Malley Family || The Death of X and OHM

The O’Malley “Twins”

The original Momoko, a kitsune, began reincarnating into her own lineage every few generations (failing that, she had no qualms with reincarnating into someone else's lineage at random, which is how she wound up Irish and in the US). Her current incarnation had a complication: the mutant gene, preventing the reincarnation from working properly. This failed reincarnation wasn't free of Momoko entirely, as she ultimately developed an alternate personality that eventually gained the ability to manifest as its own person: her "twin"

Chiaki O’Malley

Besides her unusually sharp canine teeth, she doesn’t display as many indicators of her kitsune ancestor as her sister does

Mutant -- Primary Power: can detect, locate, and identify all other instances of the mutant gene, no matter how minor or insignificant -- Secondary Power: has a migraine, due to knowing where, who, and what all other mutants are at all times

Other Information: -- Proficient spellcaster and martial combatant -- Wields the artifact weapon called Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi/Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, which contains the power of Susanoo, a Japanese storm god (among many purviews) -- -- Chiaki uses spellcraft to channel his power -- -- The more unsheathed the sword, the more power can be harnessed but the more Susanoo's temperament alters her also -- Singer and drummer -- Comes off as asocial, but is extremely passionate and extroverted with friends; the constant migraine makes her subdued a lot of the time and quick to anger -- Near-sighted -- Behavioral Disorder -- -- Low empathy

Momoko O’Malley

Not a Mutant -- Arguably, not even a real person. She is something of an imaginary entity, a kitsune that exists only in tandem with Chiaki. She can escape from reality into Chiaki’s mindscape, if needed -- -- She likes displaying her status as a kitsune, with fox ears, tail, and sharp canine teeth, but can masquerade as a standard human without issue

Other Information: -- Adequate spellcaster -- Proficient martial combatant -- Her soulbound weapon, the original Momoko's spear, takes the form of a guitar/axe -- -- It can switch between sharp and dull almost instantly -- -- Helps her with spellcasting as a focus -- Singer and guitarist -- Cheerful and impulsive; easily bored -- Behavioral Disorder -- -- No empathy -- -- Vindictive -- -- Destructive -- -- Compensates with a strict moral code emphasizing equity, justice, and limiting suffering, taught to her by her father (as is tradition in their lineage), and also by performing music as loud as possible

Momo/aki (Combined Form)

Larger than the anthro forms of previous incarnations, due to being two people. Their potential power is magnitudes stronger than their predecessors, as well

Momoko typically controls the body, while Chiaki performs magic from their mindscape -- Both are fully capable of either role and can fight simultaneously, controlling different limbs

Shared traits

Hate the X-M*n

Frequently use music as a spellcasting medium -- Chiaki is better than Momoko at performing magic in a traditional method

Preferred music types: Metal and Punk Rock, as loud as magically possible -- They dabble in pop, classic rock, and jazz

Big fans of the Champions, even after Ms. Marvel was killed and replaced with a bootlicking X-M*n that promptly discarded her friends and family to push the X-M*n's supremacist ethnostate

In the majority of realities, they lose one of their parent's due to the X-M*n’s isolationist and supremacist policies (a substantial part of their loathing of the X-M*n) -- In 616, the X-M*n/Orch*s war collapsed a New York City apartment building, among other damages, killing their father -- -- Sp*der-M*n (P*ter P*rker) was involved too, putting him squarely on their shitlist

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

The O’Malley Parents

Rebecca O’Malley

Mutant -- Primary Power: armor mimicry -- -- She can create bio-imitations of armor that she’s touched around her body -- -- The more complicated the armor’s mechanism and/or the more rare the material she’s mimicking, the more energy/effort she needs to expend -- Secondary Power: high density body -- -- Her body mass is much higher than would be expected in order to supply the raw material for her armor mimicry -- -- She puts on weight easier

Hates the X-M*n

She was a mutant rights activist in her community, pushing for tolerance and equity with social outreach movements -- It was going well enough until the X-M*n began their segregationist policies and their mutant ethnostate, whereupon her efforts collapsed and she began being targeted by anti-mutant extremists and getting ostracized from public life. Ultimately, it got bad enough that the O’Malleys had to move to a new city

In realities where she survives the X-M*n/Orch*s war, she begins studying her husband’s magic materials. It’s slow going for her; in 616 especially, the head trauma she suffered in the event that killed her husband further impedes her progress

Liam O’Malley

Descendant of a kitsune/Not a mutant -- Passed on Momoko’s reincarnation factor to Chiaki

A proficient spellcaster, albeit fairly forgetful

Near-sighted

Emotionally repressed, he tends to eschew the company of others in preference of his artistic projects

In realities where he survives the X-M*n/Orch*s war, he frequently suffers injuries that cripple at least one of his legs

---

The Death of X & OHM

The Death of X

The Death of X originates from a reality where both Chiaki and Momoko's parents were killed by the X-M*n/Orch*s War. Without a parent to dissuade them, the O'Malley twins went on a murderous campaign of revenge against both organizations. While Momoko was content with personally killing their targets, Chiaki's pragmatism and ambition won out. Sacrificing their own lives, they molded the powers of Susanoo, sealed in Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, and a sample of Terrigen material into a new god. After purging its source universe of the mutant gene, the Death of X set its sights on the rest of the multiverse, intending to perfectly execute its purpose: a universe without the X-M*n -- It's primary method of X-M*n slaughter is to choke planets with Terrigen-infused mega-storms, destroying the DNA of anything with the mutant gene. It has no interest in killing non-X-M*n mutants, but it's both more efficient and precludes the possibility of new X-M*n forming in the future

The powers of Susanoo hold precedence in their own universe over the powers of Susanoo from different universes, leading to the Death of X seizing the power of Susanoo native to each new universe that it travels to. The prior universe's power is relegated to supplementing its magical energy -- It possesses tens of thousands of iterations of Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi from the tens of thousands of realities it has already purged of X-M*n

Traits: -- Emotionless -- Merciless -- Efficient & Pragmatic -- -- If a mutant or other entity might prove equally dangerous to the multiverse’s X-M*n, it will frequently furnish them with the means and/or motivation to apply themselves in that manner (such as Myriad or the X-Parasite) -- Theatrical -- -- Despite its attempts to excise this trait from itself

Born from death, it is not actually alive and cannot die

A planet-spanning omnipresence, it has no true physical form -- When it focuses on a specific place, it forms an avatar to interact with the world, which can vary in size

Possesses Chiaki's mutant power to detect and locate the mutant gene, regardless of how insignificant or minor -- It could be argued that it, itself, is a mutant

The Death of X isn't concerned with if it fails or not, knowing the multiverse is filled with entities like itself: X-M*n killers, dedicated to vengeance -- Other iterations of itself, of varying origin and temperament -- The similar but ultimately unrelated Inhumanity Omega, Terrigen given form and power as a Spirit of Vengeance for the multiverse's Inhumans slaughtered by the X-M*n -- The Celestial Sentinels -- The Lords of X, who travel the multiverse and cull the human population, demanding obedience or annihilation from each universe’s X-M*n -- The Krakoan Hivemind, a kaiju that seeks to absorb all mutants into itself -- The X-Parasite, which feeds on the mutant gene, turning victims into zombies -- Myriad, the power-stealing artificial mutant -- -- Formerly the X-M*n's Ms. Marvel doppelganger, driven mad by being forced to kill the people she was programmed to think were her family and friends -- The reality-threatening Quantum Singularity, a universe collapsed into a single, ever-expanding moment due to the X-M*n's meddling with time

OHM: Orch*s Hunter Machine

A constant compatriot of the Death of X, the Orch*s Hunter Machine (OHM) has its own murderous mission that it endeavors towards: Killing bigots

Before Chiaki and Momoko sacrificed their lives to create the Death of X, they seized control of the body and mind of Tony Stark, forcing him to construct a machine to perform the half of their revenge that their god was less capable of: killing Orch*s' staff and supporters. OHM would subsequently expand its parameters, thereby making its name obsolete, to include any anti-mutant extremists and, later still, to cover a large range of bigotry: -- anti-mutant extremism -- fascism -- ethnonationalism -- -- Frequently causes the X-M*n to be added to its primary list of "Bigots To Kill" -- racism -- sexism -- homophobia -- transphobia

Traits: -- Merciless -- Efficient -- Precise -- -- It has no interest in wanton slaughter, preferring to target individuals directly -- -- Of course, in realities without Internet systems for it to access, OHM frequently finds itself at a loss for what to do -- Simulated Antisocial Personality -- -- AI based on Tony Stark’s brain patterns (while possessed by Momoko) -- -- Has a number of their personality quirks, as well as a simulated version of Tony's voice -- "Mysterium" plating -- -- or whatever that stupid X-Shit is -- Liquid Adamantium claws -- -- Can be extended at near supersonic speeds -- -- A specialized electric current hardens the metal

Directives: 1) Kill Orch*s and its supporters anti-mutant extremists bigots 2) Support the Death of X a) Kill P*ter P*rker (if convenient)

[jakethegardenrake]

ACTUALLY ykw for the time being I'll publish a draft up I did of his character, appearance, etc, some details to give some insight as to his character and what he's all about. Melly is gonna give me a lore drop later today so I actually know wtf I'm gonna be writing about

Swanky Sans

Appearance: Well dressed, presentable, always wearing his best clothing. Red or black bow tie, black top hat with gold ribbon, black blazer over white buttoned shirt, smart black trousers, black smart shoes, cufflinks with a small silver pin in the shape of a book as his good luck charm, silver expensive watch on his left hand, hazel eye lights, lazy left eye, sly grin, confident facial expression, straight line teeth, same height as sans canonically is

Personality: Bookworm, history buff, very isolationist and terrible social skills, relies on his well dressed looks to portray his confidence and high social status, when in reality he’s very self conscious, always attempts to appear occupied, usually by pretending to read an Agatha Christie book that he carries around with him. His ‘nerdiness’ stems from being home-schooled yet receiving a very poor education and being neglected by his carers, which also lead to his terrible social skills and inability to notice social cues, sarcasm or make good jokes. He frequents his time in the library, and always dresses up in his same outfit, as he has multiple of the same clothes. If he’s ever caught outside of his comfort bubble, e.g without his best outfit on, if he’s outsmarted, put in a precarious social position or on the spot, his façade will drop very quickly from a confident, well presented, stable looking guy to an incredibly awkward, anxious, unaware individual with absolutely no clue how to get back to his usual snazzy self, and will almost always run off to his wardrobe, the library or his study room, where he’ll either practice music or bury himself in a hyper fixation of either a book, a specific song, musical artist, or historical event, which he also just naturally does every few weeks. He’s a singer, but only when he’s alone, and if ever caught singing, will likely just freeze from embarrassment on the spot and just stop completely, despite being a very capable singer and pianist. He struggles with making friends and has very few connections, even if people try very hard to befriend him, he has no clue how to reciprocate it and will often appear emotionless in his response to peoples kindness. However, if you do manage to get him on your good side, the majority of topics in his conversations are passionate rants about his hobbies and interests, in which he’ll suddenly cut himself off and get rather embarrassed, before usually running off to bury himself in a book again. Romantically, he’s a very passionate person, with a lot of flowing literary creativity, and often writes about romantic experiences between 2 individuals, no one in particular, often inventing characters to imagine in his fictional romantic short stories and poems, and may sometimes write a song to accompany this literary work, which he’ll practice for hours before recording it and saving it to his laptop, which he keeps extremely hidden as it’s where he documents his feelings and activities. The way he talks is seemingly intellectual sentences, interrupted with short pauses, and a not very intellectual word. For example, “Ah yes, I was examining the..thingies and I noticed the precise structure of this literary work is articulated beautifully.” or, “This song is perfectly hand crafted, the rhythms compliment the melodies extraordinarily, I love how the lyrics are so.. Flumbily jumbily.. Ignore that I said that.” He also has very little physical expression or emphasis on his words, even what he’s passionate about, and will often sit very still no matter how excited his voice gets. Overall he's a smug and confident guy on the outside, awkward antisocial little bookworm on the inside, but that doesn't mean you should underestimate him, you never know what sneaky schemes and tricks he's got up his sleeve.. or in his thousands of books

[pikespendragon67]

Eh, I feel bored so I wanted to share some of my current creative ideas that I’m currently too burnt out to really work on:

First is for an original series that might be called Isolationists Club or maybe a more poetic name if I really wanna put in the effort. (Probably something with wildflowers? idk) It’s about people that usually isolate themselves for various reasons finally deciding to healthily communicate with one another. So far I have the sort of club advisor as a marriage counselor that wants to delve more into individual therapy (and is notorious for actually causing more divorces since he sees how terrifying his clients’ relationships can be) and a woman that isolates herself from bullying trauma that still lingers well into her adult years. (I wanna say she’s in her mid to late 30s or maybe 40s?) I’m gonna lean into more of the emotional trauma side for why people isolate themselves rather than general fear of being outside & such.

Next is some refinement for Octopath 3 OCs! This time with pictures from this Picrew. All of them will have musical names and music will play a big factor into the main motif of the story/final boss hopefully

Octavio the Dancer is a young lad (in his early to mis 20s) that wants to learn as many dance moves as he can, potentially finding a partner or instructor to help him do so. His ability to try to recruit others is him offering a dance, BUT! It comes at the cost of potentially fighting an NPC for that person’s hand. If Octavio loses, reputation goes down. If he wins, he can potentially summon both the original & provoked NPC into battle

Cress the Thief comes from a long line of gentleman/lady thieves, and she basically keeps the Robin Hood principle while still being able to do dirty work. Her uncle is trying to get her cousin to do more nefarious assassinations, so she’s trying to keep the family’s reputation safe. I’d say she’s 19? Also! She can sell the stuff she steals to the black market that the Merchant I’ll introduce later helps run.

Tacet’s a Hunter whose village is trying to find its new Chief. Anyone from the village that’s eligible has to go through 3 trials to prove themselves. His childhood friend’s way more competitive & hot headed about this. I’d say he’s 17.

Don’t have an O or secondary T yet, but I’ll have a placeholder for the time being

If I were to keep his original name, this would be Oliver, but I wanna keep the musical terms alive. He’s like my old OC from an original series I had, which was people with powers just living their daily lives. He’ll be the Apothecary for this, where he can actually control plants. He can concoct using ingredients he creates, but it takes a lot of energy from him. He’s 35

Picardy’s the Warrior of the group, but she’s definitely more of a mercenary than anything. Her former sworn oath partner has passed away, so she wants to fulfill his final wishes for him. I’d say she’s 37-46, depending on how I feel.

Alto’s the Scholar of the group. She may or may not be involved in starting the events for the final boss (still working on that). Like how Cyrus discovered a Philosophers Stone and Osvald had that whole thing™️ in chapter 3, Alto’s also going to have her own Fullmetal Alchemist moment! This time, I think she’s a mix of Van Hohenheim & Dr. Markel. YIPPEE!!! (Also this Picrew didn’t really let me do anything but she has streaks of white in her hair). Potentially immortal or thousands of years old, but physically is 29.

I sadly don’t have an idea for the Cleric yet, so I would like some assistance here, please. Only thing I can think of is something like. Nacho Libre? Eh.

And finally, we have Harmony the Merchant! She’s a clock engineer that’s trying to inspire her family to inherit the clock shop she works at so that she can retire easily. She’s the oldest at like 60-70. And yeah! She helps in a black market of sorts since she knows how hard it can be for people to get needed resources like medicine/engineering parts