#note the use of a gun

[kagaintheskywithdiamonds]

@aroace-get-out-of-my-face @thefallenangel2008 @ravmycupine

just wanted to add some thoughts to the memory vial/brain dead au (or whatever we're calling it)

because of course ford's guilt about using the memory gun on stan is so much worse than it is in canon, not just for the obvious reasons but also because like

this wasn't the plan

Stan agreed to have his memories erased—of course he did, the whole thing was his idea. But he didn't know he was going to die. Granted, I feel like Stan probably still would've been willing to make that sacrifice if he had known that. But I don't think Ford would've.

Ford just thought he was turning his brother into an amnesiac, and even then he almost couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger. And of course he knew it was going to hurt, having Stan look at him like he's a stranger, but at least that's the outcome he was preparing himself for.

He was not prepared to see Stan's body topple over on its side, his unblinking eyes staring blankly ahead. Ford rushes to his brother's aid, grabbing him by the shoulders, trying to rouse him, calling his name (except, he wouldn't know his own name anymore, would he?). Stan's not moving. He's not breathing. Oh God, he's not breathing. Ford glances at the memory gun on the ground next to them, and horror washes over him as he realizes what he's done. The gun erased more than just memories, it erased everything. Stan's brain was a floppy drive and Ford was the magnet, wiping it clean and leaving it broken beyond repair.

No, no, this wasn't the plan. Time to call off the con. This wasn't supposed to happen. Stop, cut, abort mission, abort mission!

But it's too late. What's done is done, and he can't take it back.

Oh God, I killed him.

Sobbing now, Ford mutters choked-out apologies, first to Stan's body as he holds him tight—and again at his grave after he's buried. And the apologies start up anew every time he visits.

As the years go on, Ford is haunted by all the what-ifs that might've saved his brother's life. What if he had thought to type "Stanley Pines memories" into the memory gun instead of just "Stanley Pines", would it have kept his essential brain functions intact? Hell, what if he typed in "Bill Cipher"? Would that have been enough to kill the bastard and still let Stanley keep most of his memories and, more importantly, his life?

Ford doesn't know the answer to that question. And he'll never know. Because as much as he longs for it, he'll never have that chance to go back and do it differently.

[woe-is-tuli]

ATEEZ(에이티즈) - 'Lemon Drop': Yeosang

[turtleblogatlast]

Someone’s probably pointed this out before but it always makes me happy to remember that it’s Leo and Mikey (Blue and Orange) in particular that can make portals, because:

[anakinh]

arcane characters dnd classes

because im bored and hyperfixating

Vi: Monk. Pit Fighter Vi is Way of the Drunken Master. Drunken Master monks fight hand-to-hand 'mimicking the style of a drunkard'. Technically you don't have to be drunk to be a Drunken Master monk so maybe she still uses those techniques while sobered up later. I think she starts out as a Way of the Open Hand monk, which is just a monk that is Very Good at Punching. The gauntlets are a magical item.

Jinx: Artillerist Artificer. Very straightforward. Makes bombs and cannons. Can use magic (referring to her use of hextech as bombs)

Ekko: Scout Rogue/Chronurgy Wizard multiclass. Scout rogues are very mobile so I think it fits him. Later on he takes two levels in Chronurgy Wizard, which gives him chronal shift. This lets him rewind time briefly to change the outcome of an action - fits pretty well, I think. He only needs two levels wizard to mimic his rewind ability and that multiclass makes him fast.

Viktor*: Transmutation Wizard. In the DnD world, both Viktor and Jayce (and Ekko!) would be wizards because they can just study magic instead of trying to harness it via technology. At level 14 the Transmutation Wizard can use their 'Transmuter's Stone' to create a panacea - a cure to all ills (plus restore youth and raise the dead. sounds familiar). Luckily, I think Transmutation Wizard fits Arcane-Viktor as well (especially once he creates the hexcore, which could be his Transmuter's Stone).

Commune Viktor is an NPC with a three-phase boss fight. The first phase is so simple you know there are other phases. I'd probably add in a mechanic where you try to talk him down in the third phase.

(Alternatively commune Viktor as we know him does not exist because the spell Revivify exists and Jayce shouldn't have to turn to unlicensed necromancy to get Viktor back**. Speaking of...)

Jayce*: Hexblade Warlock/Paladin (Oath of the Watchers)***. Again, if left to his own devices in a DnD world, Jayce would be a wizard. I'd say Abjuration (tanky wizard with protective shields) because he wants to protect people (and he's tanky), Order of Scribes (if he's focused on learning/harnessing all magic). Divination to pun on the 'Man of Progress' thing or if you interpret his glitches in s2 as visions of another world/seeing the truth of the commune members/arcane spidey-sense, which tbh really works

However, If I wanted to create Arcane-Jayce in DnD, I would make a Hexblade Warlock/Paladin multiclass. Hexblade warlocks get magic from a weapon, so it can be flavoured as Jayce using his hammer to do/cast magic. The hammer blasts can be very easily flavoured as eldritch blasts. Paladin is added narratively after the post-apocalypse world but not needed if you just wanted to mimic abilities. I'd go for Oath of the Watchers because they literally protect the realm from extraplanar threats. I've seen some people go for Devotion. That's fair, but it's a bit too Knight in Shining Armour for me.

Mel: Divine Soul Sorcerer. Also pretty easy - sorcerers come by their magic naturally, divine soul sorcerers get their power from a connection with the divine + has the gold/light/shielding imagery/spells. Hell, she's probably an aasimar? I don't know enough league lore to tell.

However, she only got her powers later. I think before that she was an Eloquence Bard or a Mastermind Rogue. Mastermind Rogues are more insightful. Both are incredibly persuasive - the bard moreso. The bard has magic - could be reflavoured as manipulation or as her sorcerer powers poking out before she knew about it. Later you could even multiclass her with sorcerer - works better with Eloquence Bard, but it's still not the most optimal multiclass (that's Jayce's). It's not bad, though, and if you only make optimal multiclasses in dnd you're going to get bored. I'd honestly go bard, only two levels in divine soul sorcerer for sorcery points, get metamagic adept feat for metamagic, it'll be fine. Divine Soul sorcerers get wings and healing at higher levels but if she's an aasimar she already has those.

Caitlyn: Inquisitive Rogue/Battlemaster Fighter multiclass. If you want to play a gunslinger in DnD the general advice is 'battlemaster with a gun'. She probably has the sharpshooter feat (she should have the sharpshooter feat). Inquisitive rogues are intelligent and focus on investigating, unravelling secrets. Rogue/Fighter multiclasses are very good - you only need three levels in fighter (edit: but maybe go for five for extra attack.) (She should also pick up the observant and martial adept feats if she can.)

Bonuses:

Vander: Vander is a bartender NPC at the tavern all our players meet up at during the first session. He's a retired high-level monk. Way of the Open Hand, of course. Just like he taught Vi.

Mylo and Claggor: I only added this because I re-watched the first episode and Mylo was apparently the only one who could pick locks. So Mylo is a Thief Rogue and Claggor is, idk, a fighter? (funnily enough both the artificer and the monk would be good picks for resident lock-picker. Not as good as rogue, but not bad)

Silco: Honestly, Silco would be an NPC with a commoner statblock, but I give him ridiculous bonuses to insight, perception, intimidation, and deception. That said, he did fight Vander, so maybe also Mastermind Rogue? With expertise in intimidation? (Still goes badly for him, though. Do not 1v1 a monk in dnd).

Singed: NPC combo necromancy wizard/alchemist artificer, focusing on the alchemy. I'd probably stick some Spores Druid/Death domain cleric stuff in just to be fun since NPCs can be whatever you want. Honestly, in the average DnD world he could just pay someone to resurrect his daughter and we'd solve half of our problems right there. He's originally from Piltover, right? He can afford it.

Ambessa Medarda: NPC Battlemaster Fighter and she has Rictus' anti-magic item that all your players hate.

Footnotes

* Jayce and Viktor cast 'spells' with hextech that reverses gravity, creates lightning, teleports - but, in the immortal words of Ms. Aabria Iyengar, "anyone can cast fireball teleport." Those are conjuration/evocation spells but you don't have to be a conjurer or evoker. Sometimes I see people think of enchantment wizards as 'wizards who enchant magic items' so maybe we'd put Jayce and Viktor there, but actually enchantment wizards do mind control. And, like I said, commune Viktor is an NPC with a three-phase boss fight. Transmutation wizards are the only wizards who can resurrect without making undead and they do it using their transmuter's stone. Although I'd argue that Viktor's commune members are undead... but anyone can cast the Animate Dead spell. And he's an NPC at that point so his abilities are whatever the DM wants.

** UNLESS you assume the hexcore is Viktor's transmuter's stone (which is how he casts the spells panacea/raise dead that I mentioned). It got corrupted as Viktor created it and when Jayce uses it to cast Raise Dead it goes wrong. (Despite its name the Raise Dead spell is supposed to be a normal, safe resurrection spell AND it cures all nonmagical diseases.) Anyway, we're getting into fanfiction now

*** My problem with the Jayce hexadin class is that it's optimized for charisma. Jayce is very charismatic, but his main characteristic is his smarts. A somewhat popular homebrew is to make warlocks int casters so you could go with that. In that case I might multiclass him with abjuration wizard for the extra tankiness. It's still not as good as the original hexadin multiclass so as a DM i'd allow it. Or just keep paladin, ability-wise you only need it for smites and his charisma should be high anyway. Probably your DM shouldn't allow all three on an int warlock.

On the other hand hexadin Jayce's high charisma makes him well suited for the 'talking down Viktor' mechanism in his third phase bossfight, which ... tracks.

[third-doctor]

If I had a nickel for every time an iconic 60s sci-fi series did an episode about the OK Corral Gunfight where Doc Holliday played a prominent role and there was an earworm song I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice.

[angeleternity]

"𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖" ⊹ ˚ㅤ. ݁ ˖ㅤ ࣪

𝑀𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑟,

𝐹𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝐿𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑙. 𝐿𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑐𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠. 𝐿𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠.

𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑙𝑦, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟.

𝐹𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 - 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝐵𝑢𝑘𝑜𝑤𝑠𝑘𝑖

[cleocatrablossy]

PIRATETIMEPIRATETIMEPIRATETIME

they are theatre kids your honor

[daughterofhecata]

Hello Kaj!

A while back you mentioned Sabaton, and i checked out some of their songs, but then i guess i forgot about them again... but the other day i found two Sabaton CDs at the charity shop for cheap, so i bought them - kind of indirectly on your recommendation :-D

Now i want to talk to someone who also knows the band! So, i really like their music, because it fucks! I like that it's fast, the guitars are sick and the choruses go hard, especially when they have shouting or a choir! But i'm less sure what to think about the lyrics of some of their songs, some are hard to parse out what the opinion of the song is, if that makes sense? (doesn't help that english isn't my native language and a lot of references or figure of speech probably go over my head) I've tried reading about the band a bit but i find all kinds of different opinions on them, and whether they glorify nazis and/or war in general and all that...

I'd love to hear some of your thoughts on their stuff, since you've known the band for a while, and also because you have a different perspective as a german and (i really hope i remember this correctly and don't confuse you with someone else!) have interest in that history and therefore probably know a lot!

I hope this doesn't come across as rude or intrusive, i just want to talk about it and am interested in your perspective! Also i'm pretty sure you've talked about it on here before, but tumblr search refuses to let me find anything (as usual)...

And just in case this isn't obvious (this is an anon ask on tumblr after all), i don't expect you to reassure or give me permission to listen to this band! i like critically engaging with things i enjoy and don't think any media is or should be considered completely good or evil!

sorry for the very long question, i hope you have a nice day!

Hey!

Cool shit! Congrats on the CD aquisition!

Very glad about you mentioning you're not looking for permission to listen to them, because even if I wanted to, I couldn't give you a clear yes or no there. Not least because, and please do consider my entire answer under that caveat, I haven't actively followed their music since uuuh The Great War album, so 2019. Still love the older albums, just sort of fell off the train. So I can't speak for anything that may have happened or come up after that.

In general, I think Sabaton will always be followed by the accusation that they're glorifying war and the military. That just comes with the terrain, ie concept of their albums/lyrics. And one album I'm especially critical of in that regard is my beloved Carolus Rex, because, well, Sweden was a major player in that war, and they are naturally not impartial. I love the album to bits, but it's also extremely colored by, presumably, how Sweden perceives its own history.

However. I think they are by and large also aware of those tendencies in their topics. And it's the balance, that does it for me. Was Lauri Törni (Soldier of Three Armies) a hero one should look up to? Eeeh, probably not, considering he did fight with the nazis. Do I dislike Rorke's Drift for the weird imperialist/colonialist undertones? Absolutely. But on the other hand, you have songs like Inmate 4859, The Final Solution and Rise of Evil, that are very outright antifascist, and you have Stalingrad, The Great War, The End of the War to End War and - something that gives me particular chills - the cover of In the Army Now (if you haven't heard that one - go do it!) that do explicitly comment on how war is *not* glamorous and great.

As far as I'm concerned, I always got the impression that yeah, they kind of do have this obsession with war history and battles, but to me there has also always been this undercurrent of... idk, looking at humans in extreme situations and honoring them. Especially when we're talking about songs like No Bullets Fly, The Ballad of Bull, Resist and Bite (i know, i know, all of these are from Heroes but that was a formative album for me).

There are huge grey areas obviously, and like I said, haven't really followed them for a lot of years. I have no idea if/how Covid influenced them (bc lbr, quite some people went in.... interesting directions during/after that time) or if they are still working with Peter Tägtgren (he used to produce them & rumor has it, he's gone off the deep end conspiracy-wise), but in general, I think they have a certain level of awareness that they can be sort-of credibly "accused" of glorifying war and are at least partially trying not to do that.

[bloodblockadebattlefront]

PICK YOUR POISON

[booksbwaybadflower]

making endless badflower zines (37/?)

[compacflt]

So one of the things that made me cry (and laugh) the most, when reading the whole series was in Debriefing when Ice has surgery and Mav kisses him on the forehead, then Ice types out “I am cured” with like no punctuation. (Because of course Ice is the punctuation man 99% of the time.)

One, Ice is actually so fucking funny with the “I am cured.” Like no one would believe how funny he actually is. (And I headcanon that Mav knows this, of course, but almost no one else believes him. Which drives him up the wall.) Two, that exchange was so simple but so loving??? Foaming at the mouth here. Especially after those crazy 30 years. So my question is, what are Ice and Mav’s kisses of choice? Forehead, cheek, regular ol’ lips, the world is their secretly sappy oyster.

I haven’t read that chapter of debriefing since fucking last October! Whoa! not sure how i feel about it .

regular ol’ on the lips :) it means something more than all the rest, it’s romantic in a way none of the others are (which is why it’s so dangerous)

okay yes re: ice being funny yes. wait wait wait let me find it in my doc hold on

here!

[bonefall]

Would Midnight be patient with my fellow discalculia girlies... I love her but am So So Pathologically Bad at math

Midnight teaches advanced algebra to cats, you'll be fine. She'll conjure up a fractal for you, color each part of the equation, show how each part interacts and what it looks like when you change it

She'll take you out to the beach and explain the wind and the tide, compare them to each axis on the formula she showed you, and modify one factor. The wind dies down and the sea becomes as smooth as glass.

"Smoothness for the-waves you-see?" She waits for you to nod, never rushing you along, even the most casual questions are genuine, "Excellent! For this is example of maths I-teach. Nature it-will-happen. Simpleness it-being. You-will-understand."

[supersmew]

GASP?!?! a dRAW?!?! well only because i had nothing to do waiting for the bus since ive been so on the go recently. my phone doesnt reallly have like GAMES or stuff on it so i worked on this o3o is a new character hes an evil little incel guy. dont fall for the big animu eyes

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

At this point I've been prioritizing asks over my own ideas for so long that my post ideas list is starting to just be words that confuse me. What did I mean? What elaborate post was this going to be? I used to know.

[cyarskj1899]