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eighth--wonder · 3 years

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@technicallyaminecraftsimp @grayve @anastoundingmango pspspspspspspspspspsp i finished the game night fic

fandom: dream smp

pairings: none :] it's just some sbi shenanigans

warnings: they yell a lot but not in a threatening context, swearing

disclaimer: this is strictly about their characters. none of this is directed at or meant to represent the cc's.

enjoy :]

Tommy threw himself onto Wilbur. Wil grunted at the weight.

"Oh, I'm boooooored." He whined.

Phil sighed. "Then go do your chores, your rooms a mess."

Tommy groaned loudly. He threw his arms open wide, hitting Wil in the face. Wilbur gave Tommy a deadly side eye which he ignored.

"Fine, fine. What do you want to do then?" Phil said, putting down the book he was reading.

Tommy stared blankly at the ceiling for about 3 minutes.

"He's thinking." Wilbur whispered.

"Must be why it's takin' so long." Technoblade muttered from his chair.

"Oi!" Tommy shouted. He pushed himself off of Wilbur and lunged playfully at Techno, putting him in a sad chokehold.

"Oh you wanna go, Theseus?" Techno said, grabbing at Tommy.

"Nononononono, please don't hurt me!" Tommy shouted, holding back laughter. The fear in his voice was fake, and a wide smile occupied his face.

Techno nodded in faux victory as Tommy flopped off his back and onto the floor.

It was a solid minute before Tommy said something.

"Uno!" He said, pointing a finger in the air.

"Dos!" Wilbur shouted like he had accomplished something.

"No you idiot, the card game." Tommy said, pulling himself up off the floor. "We're going to play Uno tonight."

"I'm fine with that." Phil said.

Tommy smiled and went to fetch the game. Upon returning, Wilbur snatched the small box out of his hands.

"You fools. You're all forgetting the most important factor in game night." He said. "The selling factor, the end all be all of game nights across the world."

"And that is?" Techno asked.

Wilbur looked him in the eyes. "Snacks."

Phil looked up at the ceiling. "No, we're not getting snacks. I'm not taking you guys to the store at this hour." The clock read 11:30pm.

"Then I'm not playing." Wilbur crossed his arms.

Tommy looked at Wilbur and then at Phil.

"Yeah. Then we're not playing."

"Snacks would be nice." Techno looked at Phil.

"Techno, you're supposed to be the reasonable one." Phil sighed.

"Morals mean nothing if snacks are in the equation."

Tommy bounced excitedly and Wilbur had a smug look on his face.

Phil looked distraughtly at his keys. Taking them to the store would be hell. But, he did really want to play Uno.

"Fine!" He said in defeat. Everyone erupted in a small chorus of cheers.

"Big Man Phil. Couldn't handle the pressure of a 16 year old and some sad wannabe Shakespeare enthusiast?" Techno said to him smugly as they were walking to the car. Tommy and Wilbur had raced ahead of them to see who would get the front seat. Wilbur won and Tommy had been trying to convince him he hadn't.

"Oh shut up." Phil said, pushing Techno to the side a bit. They both laughed.

"I get the music." Tommy said. Somehow, Tommy had gotten the passenger seat.

"Well, no." Wilbur whined. "You're just going to play the Able Sisters."

"No! No, no I won't." Tommy stumbled over his words. He definitely was going to.

The car ride was loud. Wilbur wouldn't stop shouting at Tommy to change the song and Phil kept threatening to turn the car around. Techno had fallen asleep in the back seat.

They arrived at a Walmart. There was one other car in the parking lot. Phil prayed it was the cashiers car. The less people to see Wilbur and Tommy go completely apeshit the better.

The store seemed empty. The air was crisp and the vibe felt forbidden.

"Okay, what d'you guys want." Phil said.

"Sour Patch Kids!" Tommy yelled. One of the cashiers, a black and white haired boy, looked up at the sound of Tommy's voice. He looked highly unamused.

"No, those taste like shit." Wilbur whined.

"Oh shut up! They taste wonderful!" Tommy said, his voice a bit higher in pitch.

Wilbur rolled his eyes.

"Oh, Phiiiiiiiiiillll." Tommy whined. "Can I sit in the cart?"

Phil nodded.

Phil stepped away from the cart to inspect a bag of chips. In the 2 seconds it took him to step forward, Wilbur had grabbed the handles to the cart. Tommy laughed.

"What are you doing, Wilbur?" He said. His voice was damp with laughter.

Wilbur said nothing. He had an evil grin on his face as he positioned his feet on the floor.

Phil turned around at the sound of Tommy's giggles.

"What are you- oooooh no, Wilbur." Phil said, a small hint of laughter crept into his voice.

"Ready, 3. 2. 1. GO!!" Tommy and Wilbur shouted in unison.

Wilbur took a running start and pushed the cart forward with speed. Once the cart gained enough speed, he hopped on the back of it. The cart sailed down the aisle, knocking down 2 small sample stands in the process. They were yelling the entire time, whooping and hollering nonsense as the air pushed their hair back.

Phil pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh. Techno was bent over laughing.

Tommy and Wilbur rounded the corner, Wilbur hopping off the back of the cart and skidding the cart to a halt in front of Phil and Techno. They were both out of breath and giggling like schoolgirls.

"Are you two done? Can we actually shop now?" Phil said. Techno was still dying in the background, holding onto Phil's shoulder for stability.

"Sure, but I'm still pushing the cart." Wilbur said.

Phil shrugged halfheartedly. He really didn't care who pushed the cart, he literally just wanted to play Uno.

Wilbur steered the cart haphazardly around the store, grabbing items he wanted and making an effort to hit Tommy as he threw them into the cart. Techno and Phil walked behind them, grabbing onto small items they planned to put in the cart later.

"Phil, Tommy and I have decided we want to go rogue." Wilbur said. Tommy was sat behind still in the shopping cart, nodding.

"I literally don't care mate, do whatever you want. Just know you're getting what I pick."

Wilbur didn't respond, just turned back to Tommy and nodded seriously. Tommy nodded seriously in return, ruining the mood with his giant smile and quiet giggling.

Tommy stumbled out of the cart, Wilbur not bothering to help him in any way and just watching him fall. Once he regained his balance, the two set off to wander the store aimlessly. And probably make a nation if Wilbur was going.

The cashier from earlier began making his rounds, glancing down every aisle to make sure it wasn't a mess. He got to the sample stands that Tommy and Wilbur had knocked down and made a face of pain was it? No, it wasn't pain. It was more tiredness. Or disbelief. A mix of both to be honest.

Techno felt bad. The cashier was obviously in high school and the bags under his eyes were so clearly visible. His shift must end soon and he shouldn't have to clean up after Techno's god awful brothers.

"Here. Take this." Technoblade said, handing the boy a $20 bill. "They're literally so annoyin' and destructive, it's the least I can do."

The boy took the money gratefully. He thanked Techno about 700 times before pocketing the money and picking up the mess.

Across the store, Tommy and Wilbur could be heard shouting and laughing. Tommy's cough-laugh echoed through the store.

They arrived at the checkout. Phil was the only one putting items on the belt as Tommy and Wilbur were still in the store somewhere and Techno was bagging the items.

The two men stood patiently at the doors, waiting for Tommy and Wilbur so they could leave. The store had gone quiet. Phil wasn't concerned in the slightest and Techno didn't care.

"Fuck it. We're leaving without them." He said, turning around and activating the automatic sliding doors. Techno shrugged and followed, happy he would finally get the front seat.

Phil drove the car into an unlit part of the parking lot. He sat there, tapping his thumbs to the beat of Techno's music.

The two chatted while waiting for Tommy and Wilbur to get there. It was a good half hour before they came out of the store. They were looking frantically for the car and kept hitting each other on the arms. Phil unsuccessfully suppressed a laugh.

"Oh, they're such idiots." He said after he stopped laughing. He drove the car around in a circle three times before they noticed him.

"You left us you prick!" Tommy shouted once he had gotten in the car.

Phil laughed. Wilbur couldn't care less about being left behind. He was helping Techno pick music for the ride home.

"It's not funny Phil! I'm like the kid from Home Alone." He said gloomily. "It's like no one cares about me."

"Awww. Don't say that, Tommy." Phil said. His smile could be heard in his voice.

Tommy grunted. He crossed his arms and looked dramatically out the window. It took him about 2 minutes to get over it though, as he soon was rummaging through the bag of snacks.

"Hey! Those are for when we get home! Stop." Phil shouted, looking in his rear view mirror.

Tommy stuck his tongue out at him but stopped eating. Wilbur on the other hand was elbow deep in a bag of salt and vinegar chips and didn't plan on stopping.

Wilbur and Tommy talked the whole time home. Their voices raised a bit at times but were brought back down by an evil stare from Phil. Techno had control of the music, as he was the only one with a playlist everyone could agree on.

They all piled out of the car. Phil carried the bags and Techno locked the car. Tommy and Wilbur had yet again decided to race back. Tommy lost this time and Wilbur decided in that moment he would never let Tommy forget it.

Everyone sat in their respective seats upon entering the house. Phil on the recliner, Techno on the giant chair, and Wilbur and Tommy either right next to each other or on opposite sides of the couch. In this case, they were right next to each other. On other days, Wilbur would just sit on the floor.

"Alright let's play." Phil said, grabbing the box of cards off the table and dealing them.

They each got 7 cards. Wilbur hated his cards, Techno loved his, Tommy was too tired to comprehend if he liked them or not, and Phil thought his were alright.

The game started. As usual, Techno and Phil got way too into it, standing up and dramatically placing down their cards with shitty one liners.

"You thought you had won the round just by lookin' at your cards, huh Phil. Well sorry to break it to you, I'VE WON THIS ROUND OLD MAN!" Techno yelled. He placed down a yellow 6 on top of the already placed blue 6.

Phil dipped the tip of his hat to shade his eyes. "You fool. You absolute fool. You really thought you won this?" Phil laughed. He placed down a yellow 2.

Techno gasped. "But Phil, you said you didn't have any yellow cards!"

Phil slammed his hand down on the table. "I was simply bluffing!" He shouted.

Techno crossed his arms. "Wil, make your move."

Wilbur halfheartedly threw down a red 2.

"Tommy, your turn." He said.

Silence.

"Tommy?" Techno said, turning to face where the boy was sitting.

He was asleep, his head on Wilbur's shoulder. His cheek was smushed and his cards had fallen out of his hand.

"Awwww." Phil said.

"Don't you dare 'awwww' me. I'll kill you." Wilbur said, being careful not to move the shoulder Tommy was resting on.

A moment of silence followed.

"So I'm guessin' the game's over?" Techno said.

Phil nodded. "Yeah, it seems it is."

They all looked at the sleeping boy.

"You get his arms, I get his legs?" Techno said.

"No, I say we leave him here." Phil said.

"Wait no." Wilbur said.

Techno nodded. "Yeah, that seems reasonable." He said, grabbing his coat and heading towards his bedroom.

"Guys please, no." Wil said. He was smiling.

"G'night Wil!" Phil said, waving and leaving the two boys in the living room.

Wilbur smiled fondly. "Those little shits."

He laughed quietly to himself before leaning his head on top of Tommy's and drifting to sleep.

#ahh i think it's kinda good #can you tell i didn't want to write an actual game of uno and just threw a soft brother dynamic into the mix to make up for it #sbi #dsmp #mcyt #tommyinnit #technoblade #wibur soot #philza #zen writes

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greengrungeemo · 3 years

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Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Ch.4 Himatsubushi was a quick finish for me. Very short, but sweet. I enjoyed the pinpoint focus on Rika and Akasaka. Small town maiden versus federal government city boy. The ultimate dynamic in a serious altercation: a utilitarian issue. A dam construction. Should the few thousand and their homes and livelihoods be sacrificed for the greater good of Japan and its energy resource capacity?

Yet, despite her small size and age, Rika may be the best symbol of strength than any character I know.

Why is this? Well, most who have played this chapter may describe how she has immense power and influence in Himanizawa due to the population treating her as a mascot and symbol, a vessel of Oyashiro-sama. Or, others could say that the fact she knows most, if not, can predict all days of her life leading to her end is a great power in of itself.

I personally view both of those as her greatest burden instead. A cross to carry. You can see it in her eyes. All she wants is to live happily with her friends, that’s all. As described by Akasaka and Ooishi, she never had any desire for power or wealth, only a humble lifestyle with the few she loves. Though, like many of us, life doesn’t tend to go our way. She is stuck. Alone with this issue. Trapped with an emotional affliction she struggles to deal with. She knows the exact day she’ll die. Who can she tell without sounding insane? Her friends? Her teacher, Chie? Doctor Irie at the clinic? Law enforcement? Her parents before their untimely demise? No. It’ll all sound crazy, and if she points at the happenings she predicts and says, “LOOK! See? I told you, I was right!” Superstition would be the primary thought process for all. “You did this then? You planned this?” See? It’s not so black and white, and I’m certain she already thought of every possible angle.

So why did she solely tell Akasaka her fate, and the fates of those affected by Oyashiro-sama’s Curse and their exact dates? A cry for help? An attempt to change fate? Trust in him? Perhaps sympathy or conviction to drive her point for him to go back to Tokyo and do exactly as she demands of him? My personal theory is that it could be any of these or a bit of all of them, or... it’s that she’s venting.

Yes, venting. This entire chapter focuses on the adversity that Rika must endure. She is a wearer of many masks. Intelligent (possibly due to these days being a recurring cycle for her? It *is* distinctly clear in her mother’s diary entries... Where could she be learning these skills and talents?), calculated as well. She knows when to act cute and when to drive her point forward. She knows this is all a matter of timing, and to set her pieces up carefully.

Akasaka on the other hand, he’s a good man. Faithful and devoted to his wife and his work. Sincere and strives to uphold the law and protect people. He may have a mission assigned to him, but he most definitely has his set of morals and principles that he strictly abides by. A good man. Yet, that may seem one-dimensional? And so it is proven. For this, he is naïve. Perhaps he’s overworked? Perhaps there’s simply so much information to keep tabs on, or perhaps he’s too focused on keeping his duty as maximum priority? Either way, he fails to absorb imperative information. When him and Rika are alone at the mountain view, she vents to him all of what will happen. She guarantees him the dam project will stop. Why? Because it will. She provides him exact dates and the events that will follow. Why? Because they will happen exactly as stated in verbatim. The stupidity and naivety of man. His perspective and priority was focused on “how Rika’s demeanor and speech changed”, rather than the actual information given. Pathetic, in Rika’s words.

It’s a shame, because he is the kind of man that would go out of his way to individually stop all of those events from happening. He has his morals to abide by, after all, and his emotional breakdown for Rika in the end is clear of that. His regret is clear... He’s a good man and that’s that.

Putting myself in Rika’s shoes, I wonder how this would wear on me psychologically and emotionally? Perhaps there would be moments of apathy or carelessness at the inevitability of it all - a nihilistic approach - or perhaps there may be moments of desperation? Stop it at all costs. No matter what, it feels as though it’s a much more powerful force than a tiny little girl can overcome, and that’s why it must be so hard on her. Despite her pain, the gestures she makes for Akasaka like cutting those phone line wires... brought me to tears. She wanted to provide him even a single night of respite, if it meant his happiness to be preserved a little while longer... That’s angelic to do with her burden. She’s so strong.

Also, her mocking and making fun of Ooishi’s laugh in the post-game extra was the best thing ever.

---

All in all, the lesson and theme this chapter emphasizes is on choice. Cause and effect. Every choice, big or small, shapes our fate. All choices have their own set of consequences, good and bad. Life would be boring if all the choices we made ended up with good results, and indeed it would be torture if every one of them resulted in bad consequences. Rika may not know what choices to make, but it seems apparent that she’s making the most out of the ones she does know to make to extend the fullness of her life and reach that one step closer to her dream. That’s great, and I’m proud of her for it. After some heavy lessons of my own, I’m making sure to be as careful as possible, but also to act when necessary for those I love. Striking that balance to preserve true goodness. If you slip, pick yourself up and make future choices that will prevent similar slips. Rinse and repeat, and build, build, build. Experience builds character, after all. What kind of individual will you choose to be?

#higurashi #higurashi when they cry #visual novel #pc games #rika furude

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sheetghostwriter · 3 years

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been watching the tag and interested in the tag discussion. whenever this topic comes up on any platform, i think there are two major points of contention that get talked/fought around quite a bit.

the first: the application of tags feeling arbitrary, tags applied too narrowly or too broadly

the second: the feeling that tagging implies some sort of morality (something “needing a tag” meaning that it is inherently controversial/upsetting/”bad”), which makes people feel defensive/otherwise negative about being expected to apply tags to their content

i think both of these mental blocks can be addressed by a shift in mindset away from tagging being primarily a system for filtering/blacklisting and towards tagging being a system for searching/archiving. a strong tagging system would be one where you can easily find the content that you want to see. if this is done successfully, it should be just as easy to use those same tags to filter content that you don’t want to see.

as it stands right now, in my personal use case and, as it would seem from the discussion in the tag, that of many others, cherp’s current tagging system doesn’t really function as either. since the only tags relatively consistently applied are warning tags and gender tags (and fandom tags, but I don’t RP fandoms), my best hope for finding prompts i might be interested in is to search within any broader warning or character tag I’m interested in and just, scrolling. the warning tags are also entirely useless for filtration, since people apply them so broadly out of fear of getting banned for mistagging that often the first line of the prompt is a bolded clarification that the warning they tagged for isn’t even in the prompt, it just might vaguely apply because of backstory reasons, or because it happens in the source media if it’s a fandom prompt. this actually really sucks when the tagged topic is something you actually WANT to play, but almost every single prompt in that tag starts with a frantic clarification that the tagged thing won’t actually be in the RP!

here is an analogy:

you are shopping for clothing. you would like to buy a pair of yellow pants. the search engine on the clothing website allows you to search or filter by color. the designers of the website assume that anyone who wants to filter out yellow pants want to exclude pants that have ANY yellow in them, even if it’s just the stitching. most blue jeans are stitched with yellow thread, so they get tagged as yellow pants. so, when you use their search engine to search for “yellow pants,” the majority of your results are going to be blue jeans, because blue jeans are stitched with yellow thread, and are much more common than pants made with yellow fabric, and the website’s tagging system is designed to prioritize absolute filtration rather than user-friendly searching

now, there are some cases where filtering that strictly might be useful. i have done quite a bit of stagehand/event work, and for many companies show black means BLACK. no white/colored stitching, logos, laces, anything. but i understand that that is an edge case, and am prepared to do a little extra legwork to make sure the clothing i purchase fits my needs, because platforms designed to service many, many people are best designed with user-friendliness to the most possible users as a goal

back out of the analogy:

i think cherp as it is is pretty serviceable to say the absolute least and my overall experience with the website has been positive. the tagging system is, however, a major downside for me, and somewhere that improvements could certainly be considered. i don’t know that i would like it to be AS thorough as something like f-list, but being able to, for example, search exclusively for f/f ships, or exclude certain tags in search results without fully blacklisting the tag, or a system where users are more encouraged to tag for specific genres, tropes, or fetishes so I can easily search for them (or block them!) without potentially missing out on prompts I want to see, would all really improve the experience for me personally

additionally i think a lot of the issues of, making sure your RP stays comfortable, safe, and fun for both parties also comes down quite a bit to being willing to communicate and discuss things with your partner, but that subject would be a whole fresh text wall and y’all it is four in the AM and i really should be asleep

#cherp #rp meta

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inosukeslefttoe · 3 years

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lmao just to be sad abt them again,,, i started ch 3 and it just... hurts so bad knowing that not only is taka mourning the loss of his Best Bro and their friend and just that whole fucked up situation, but he is blaming himself for the whole thing.... again,, hes the ult moral compass so obviously his feelings are all muddled up and hes taking it so hard bc like, his best bro killed their friend but at the same there were so many complications and layers to it that taka doesnt rlly know what was the right thing to do in this situation, and he ends up just putting all blame on himself for it. and you can tell by the time machine bit and his interaction with alter ego that he thinks its all his fault that his homies are dead bc he shouldve been there for mondo to talk to/let his emotions out to,, and he shouldve been there to protect chihiro so nothing bad wouldve happened :,) hes supposed to be the perfect guy and the perfect friend but now hes let the ppl he loved most in this place down and they are gone. it also hurts bc the fact that hes obsessing over how he couldve changed it still shows his unwavering faith in mondo and belief that mondo is a good person and would never have done such a terrible thing and like... idk at the beginning he seemed to be rlly judgy of ppl and kinda looked down on those who arent as good as him,,, but now we get to see again how close his bond with mondo was that taka took all the blame on himself instead of placing any on mondo... AND IM JUST SAD AGAIN LMAO (oh and also i think this shows some development for taka bc he never rlly had many friends right ? but getting to bond with someone, especially so closely,, rlly just made him an even better and more empathetic guy which makes this whole thing even tougher on him since everything in the past had prolly been so strictly black and white without the variable of friendships/other ppl)

i only got to play up to the part where taka talks to alter ego so idk what happens next (might post abt it if it makes me have emotions teehee) but bro this game just keeps getting better and better)... also got emo where alter ego tried to comfort taka by imitating mondo since takas first questions to alter ego were about mondo.... EVERY HOUR IS MISSING MONDO HOURS </3

1-3-21

#danganronpa trigger happy havoc #mondo oowada #kiyotaka ishimaru #ishimondo #i miss mondo

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officialleotolstoy · 3 years

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Oh Dolokhov Brainrot We’re Really In It Now, aka Dolokhov playlist annotations!

A note on the cover photo: I don’t really like this one but I got tired of looking at men on Pinterest so I gave up. The window symbolizes the rum window and the smoking symbolizes uhhhhh habitual bad life choices idk

Drinking game take a shot every time I say “it’s about the vibes”

Wrecking Ball - Mother Mother

“I break it just because I can”

This is THEE ‘I am going to cause problems on purpose’ song and that is like his entire narrative purpose!! Argue with me about this one I dare you

The Good, The Bad, and the Dirty - Panic! At The Disco

“If you wanna start a fight you better throw the first punch, make it a good one”

Partially its just vibes, I won’t lie. But also the consistent spoiling for a fight is very in character

Shoot to Thrill - AC/DC

“I’m like evil, I get under your skin”

It’s got I Am Morally Repulsive But Also I’ll Steal Your Girl energy which really hits all of Dolokhov’s character traits. And of course the added bonus of gun imagery.

Mr. Brightside - The Killers

“It started out with a kiss, how did it end up like this”

I added it strictly for vibes, but then I realized the quoted lyric is very much him @ the Kuragins if you take the reading that he refuses to admit he actually like them but grows genuinely fond of them over time even though he initially got to know them with a lot of ulterior motives.

Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

“Mama, I just killed a man”

The amount of songs that are on these playlists just for what are essentially your mom jokes since Dolokhov loves his mom so much is a little pathetic. But I’m not wrong! I can’t really put it into words but something about this song has Dolokhov energy.

Feel It Still - Portugal the Man

“Give in to that easy living, goodbye to your hopes and dreams”

A good deal of what I find interesting about Dolokhov is the internal conflict he has of knowing he’s become rather wicked and problematic but also not really trying very hard to change and almost enjoying it so a lot of the songs on here are about that, including this one. The “I’m a rebel just for kicks now” also very much screams Causing Problems On Purpose.

The Bidding - Tally Hall

“I like to take advantage of the bourgeoisie”

His whole role in volume one and two is to take advantage of the bourgeoisie! This song also oozes confidence and a sense of superiority that comes from being better than the sellouts in high society, Dolokhov’s not like other girls uwu (he really is, but I don’t think he would admit that).

Say Amen (Saturday Night) - Panic! At The Disco

“I could be better but baby it’s Saturday night”

Embracing his own wickedness! The idea that he knows he could be better than he is but he doesn’t want to take that opportunity...yeah vibes

Wilson (Expensive Mistakes) - Fall Out Boy

“I became such a strange shape from trying to fit in”

This is the epitome of the “woe is me I need to be purified” phase he goes through when he’s into Sonya. Also “I’ll stop wearing black when they make a darker color” reminds me of Comet Dolokhov’s stupid eyeliner <3

Some Nights - fun.

“So what is this? I sold my soul for this?”

There’s a long stretch of this playlist that just boils down to “Woe is me I need to be purified” crisis hours, because Dolokhov’s oscillation between embracing his own cruelty and trying to be a good person is super interesting to me. This song captures the idea that he’s still having fun and there’s some good there, but he’s also aware that he’s losing himself a bit

Roaring 20s - Panic! At The Disco

“I don’t even know me”

“Woe is me i need to be purified” crisis AGAIN. This song gets more to the annoyance with society as a whole and feeling kind of lost in it

Send Them Off! - Bastille

“Help me exorcise my mind”

“Please purify me 16 year old girl! I’m 27 this isnt creepy at all ahahahha”. I do despise Sonyakhov but this has the vibes of a man feeling his own evil and wanting a woman to fix it. Not a great look.

Easy Days (Demo) - Bastille

“I don’t wanna fall back again, back into the easy days”

Near the end of the “woe is me I need to be purified” phase when he’s kind of drifting back to his old ways and he’s like wait no- wait- and then he does anyway because he’s horrible. I also really like the acknowledgment that his horribleness is easy and pleasant for him, and he has to fight against that (and he loses that fight HDJAJJD).

Undisclosed Desires - Muse

“You trick your lovers that you’re wicked and divine”

This is a Dolokhov/Nikolai song I do not take constructive criticism. Undisclosed desires...not being straight...lots to think about! It feels almost like a corruption arc? Nikolai isn’t corrupted nor does their...fling (?) last very long but Nikolai is obviously enamored with Dolokhov despite him being The Worst so I think this fits. I don’t have enough songs for a Nikolai/Dolokhov playlist so I just add those songs to both of their individual playlists

Thnks fr th Mmrs - Fall Out Boy

“Thanks for the memories even though they weren’t so great”

Also mostly a Nikolai/Dolokhov song. This man has never ended a relationship on good terms, huh. Also. Sighs heavily. “He tastes like you only sweeter” never fails to make me laugh when I think about it in the context of Dolokhov post-duel being like oh?? You’re just a stupid WOMAN Hélène your brother and/or Nikolai is hotter than you :/ which is not exactly what I think happened but it makes me laugh to consider. Dolokhov ur bitterrrrr

Dangerous - Royal Deluxe

“I’ll be the last man standing here, I’m not going anywhere”

I feel like this has the vibes of his cruelty, especially in that bit after the Kuragins have died when he and Petya infiltrate the French army.

Another One Bites The Dust - Queen

“There are plenty of ways you can hurt a man”

He will hurt you and kill you so violently :) It’s about the vibes.

White Wedding Pt. 1 - Billy Idol

“It’s a nice day to start again”

In the exact inverse to his “woe is me I need to be purified” phase, he’s like ok yes i will pick up bad habits again and enjoy them because frick you! I read once that this song is about a relapse into drugs, but I’m making it analogous to his relapse into Terrible Person Behavior after Sonya’s rejection. Also the repetition of the phrase little sister does something for my brain idk, after we know he loves his mom and sister it just fits.

Highway to Hell - AC/DC

“I’m on the highway to hell and I’m goin down”

Like White Wedding, it screams acceptance of his problematicness. He knows he’s cruel and evil and he revels in it. This is the phase we see him in most I think.

Back in Black - AC/DC

“It’s been too long, I’m glad to be back”

I think this plays every time he gets reinstated to an army position he lost by being reckless earlier. Just kidding sort of but listen to this song and tell me it doesn’t have Dolokhov vibes. If you do, you’re wrong <3

Poet - Bastille

“I have written you down now, you will live forever”

This is just here cause he ghostwrote Anatole’s love letters and I think it’s funny. It’s MY playlist and I get to choose the barely relevant Bastille songs

St. Jude - Florence + The Machine

“Maybe I’ve always been more comfortable in chaos”

This one’s more scattered lyrics than an overall vibe. “Each side is a loser so who cares who fired the gun” has duel energy also.

Hey Look Ma, I Made It - Panic! At The Disco

Confession: I hate this song. However, it’s about the about the MOM R U PROUD OF ME vibes (she is. Should she be? Probably not).

Rich Kids - Bea Miller

“It’s never enough for the stuck up types”

The not coming from wealth and having to almost scam your way into being part of the aristocratic scene is very Dolokhov. Also in my mind the rich kid he’s roasting is specifically Nikolai.

Money, Money, Money - ABBA

“It’s a rich man’s world”

I’m not SAYING the wealthy man they talk about is Anatole but - [i am shot]. Scheming and clawing your way up to wealth is Dolokhovcore.

This Is Gospel - Panic! At The Disco

I literally have no justification for this other than that i think modern AU Dolokhov would vibe with it. Look at the amount of eyeliner he wears in Comet and tell me he didn’t have an emo band phase. You can’t.

Trouble’s Coming - Royal Blood

This is not about the words at all, it’s more about the vibes. It just sounds Dolokhovish to me, don’t ask me to explain.

Sleep Alone - Two Door Cinema Club

“They’re just ghosts and they can’t hurt him if he can’t see them”

This gives me post-Kuragins’ death vibes, and I can’t pin down exactly why? I think it’s the idea of being very alone and closed off.

Golden Days - Panic! At The Disco

I can’t put a specific lyric to it but it’s the vibes of looking back on your hedonistic youths with nostalgia and rose-colored glasses. Post-Kuragins’ death vibes again.

Go Get Your Gun - The Dear Hunter

“One foot in the grave, the other one’s kickin’ its way right down to hell”

All we see of him after the Kuragins’ death is just him being particularly cruel and reckless, almost careless. This feels like it encapsulates that energy.

The Fallen - Franz Ferdinand

“They say you’re a troubled boy just because you like to destroy”

I’m aware that a good portion of this song is about a Christ figure but I’m going to respectfully ask you to ignore that bit and just focus on all the Sketchy Things the guy does instead. Thank you. He does in fact like to destroy things! Señor Cause Problems On Purpose back at it again at krispy kreme, huh.

#war and peace #fedya dolokhov #my post #w&p playlists #i counted i said the word vibes 13 times #so sorry

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the-bee-is-lost · 4 years

Text

On Top Of The World

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Here is a single dad sanders sides au. With moceit.

---------

"Dad, we have to go!" A small child whined, tugging on his father's hand. Patton looked down at one of his sons, Roman, who was the first to wake.

"And where are we going?" The dad asked, looking at the clock and seeing it was only eight am. "You brothers aren't even up yet,"

Roman huffed, crossing his arms dramatically. "Ah i see, you wanted to leave them here,"

Roman's head shot up. "I, no! That's not it!" Hearing Patton say what Roman had been doing, even if he didn't realize it, made Roman a little ashamed. He wasn't always the best at thinking about other people all the time. "I don't want to forget them, I was just excited," Roman corrected himself.

Patton smiled proudly at Roman, ruffling his hair softly. "I understand your excitement, it's your first play today, but you have forgotten that your brothers are in it too," Roman nodded, looking down. "You got over excited, but that's ok. What about you go wake up your brother's and then we can have breakfast,"

Roman gave his dad a salute, running up the stairs to wake his twin, and older brothers. Strictly Roman was actually the youngest, him and Remus both being 10, but Remus being five minutes earlier. Virgil was 14, but he acted much more mature than most people his age.

Patton stood from where he was sitting reading a newspaper, walking to the stove to start cooking. Virgil was the next son to make an appearance, Roman still not back with Remus yet. Virgil leaned on the doorframe, watching his dad stumble around with eggs and bread, trying to make something edible for breakfast.

"You know there is a reason we say you shouldn't be in the kitchen," Virgil said, making Patton flip around.

"Morning, Kiddo! And yeah, I know, but I wanted to try to make breakfast for once! I'm not here usually after all," Patton smiled sheepishly.

Virgil sighed, running a hand through his purple hair, which Patton's brother, their uncle Emile, had helped him dye, dyeing his own hair a bright pink. "I know, and i appreciate it, but you're going to hurt yourself, or burn the kitchen down," he walked over, turning down the stove which was not supposed to be smoking as much as it was.

Patton sighed, but nodded, putting the eggs down. Virgil looked at his father, who looked defeated, something Virgil wasn't happy about. "I'll help you," he said, not thinking over his words for ages like he usually did. Patton perked up excitedly.

"Realy?"

"Yeah, sure," The teen shrugged.

Patton shook his hands excitedly, getting a little energy out. He might be the parent, but he was very excitable. Virgil began sitting out the right ingredients, getting salt and pepper, and milk.

He and Patton were almost done cooking when the twins came down, wearing almost matching outfits. Both had on button ups, Roman's red, and Remus's green, and black capes. There were paper crowns sat on their respective colors, making Patton laugh.

"Oh so the princes finally join us," Virgil sassed, looking over his brothers.

"Of course!" Roman said dramatically, placing a hand on his heart. "We must be ready at any moment, who knows when a princess needs saving-"

"Or a dragon," Remus cut in, nudging Roman in the ribs. "Dragons need help too,"

"Yeah, sure," Roman rolled his eyes, but sat down at the table with Remus, Virgil and Patton bringing over the food.

Breakfast was over quickly, Virgil rushing back up the stairs to get dressed out of his pajamas. Remus and Roman put their shoes on before running out to the front yard to play. Patton quickly rinsed the dishes, putting them on a rack to dry before going to the porch to watch over his younger sons until Virgil was ready to go.

********

The play went perfectly, Virgil working stage crew, Remus being the villain's evil sidekick (he didn't want a massive part) and Roman as the main hero. Patton was the one who clapped the loudest when it was over, giving both Remus and Roman bouquets of flowers (or queen Ann's lace in Remus's case). Virgil didn't think he needed flowers, as he wasn't actually in the play, but Patton bought him a reusable Starbucks cup instead.

They were about to leave before Virgil stopped them. "Hey dad,"

"Yes, Kiddo?" Patton asked, turning his head to look at his son, not really being able to fully turn around as he was holding both Roman and Remus's hands.

"I want you to meet my friend, Logan. He worked stage crew with me," Virgil explained, gesturing behind him to where Patton could slightly see another teenager and their parent.

Patton nodded, letting Roman and Remus go play with their uncle, who had come back out of the bathroom, and was going to go stay the night with them. "Of course, Vee,"

Virgil led him over, waving to catch Logan's attention. "Hey Lo, this is my dad, Patton," Virgil introduced, gesturing at his dad. "Dad, this is Logan,"

Logan nodded to Patton politely. "A pleasure to meet you Mr. Moral, as Virgil has already stated, I am Logan Bluff, and this is my father, Janus," he said, introducing his own father.

Patton smiled brightly, nodding to Logan. He then got a good look at Logan's father, Janus. And boy, was Patton a little surprised.

Janus was wearing a black suit, and a bowler hat. He had a large burn covering half of his face, and the eye on that side was a milky white, but Patton couldn't help but find him attractive in a way.

"Hello," Janus said, his voice low and smooth, captivating Patton immediately. "It is lovely to meet you," he extended a hand. Patton took it, shaking it politely.

"I, uh, yes! It is lovely to meet you too, Mr. Bluff," Patton stuttered, catching himself quickly.

"Please, call me Janus," the man smirked, making Patton nod quickly.

"Then call me Patton," The interaction unfortunately ended almost as soon as it started, Patton needing to get to work, having a night shift at the hospital he worked at. "I apologize but I have to get to work," he said, Janus nodding in understanding.

"Well I do look forward to meeting you again," Janus said, a small smirk still edged onto his face.

"Can we have Logan over tomorrow?" Virgil asked before they left. Patton was slightly shocked, Virgil never wanted to have people over. "He could ride the bus with me on Monday, we have the same bus anyway,"

Patton looked at Janus. "Well if his father is OK with it-"

"I am." Janus said, cutting Patton off, but making him smile.

"Then I don't see why not,"

Virgil practically lit up, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "I'll bike to your house tomorrow and we can ride back together," Viegil said to Logan, who also seemed really happy.

"That sounds like an adequate plan, I shall see you then," the other teen said, sounding more fancy, but there was still excitement in his voice.

Virgil nodded, giving Logan a quick side hug before heading back to his uncle and brothers. Patton smiled as he watched Virgil go back, Logan heading to talk to someone else, leaving Janus and Patton alone.

"Would you like my number so we can finalize any details regarding Logan coming over?" Janus asked, reminding Patton he was there. The first man nodded enthused.

"Of course," he said, pulling out his phone and handing it to Janus. "Thank you by the way, Virgil doesn't usually ask to have people over, especially not to stay the night,"

Janus hummed. "Logan talks about him quite a bit, he seemed to be extremely happy to finally have a friend," he handed Patton the phone back. "And Virgil sounds like a good person from what I have heard,"

Patton smiled. "He certainly tries his best to be."

"He must have gotten that from you," Janus smirked, nodding to a stuttering Patton before taking his leave swiftly.

As soon as Janus left Patton went back to his family, his face a light pink. Emile seemed to notice, but he didn't comment, instead offering to drive. When they got home Patton and Emile put the kids to bed, Virgil opting to stay up a little bit and clean his room.

"I need to get to work." Patton sighed, putting his coat back on over his scrubs he had changed into. Emile nodded, giving him a hug.

"I'll take the boys to church in the morning, then I'll see you after," he promised, having not gotten much time to hang out with Patton.

Patton nodded, going back out to his car for the third time that day. Once he got to work he didn't expect much to happen, but you never knew living in Florida, people made some not very smart choices.

What he did not expect was to receive a text in the middle of his shift. He reached for his phone, quickly checking the message, his face turning pink again.

'Hello Patton, it is Janus. I look forward to meeting you in the near future, and hopefully getting to know you a bit better~'

Patton couldn't help the way his heart raced as he read over the text, even though It was so simple.

This was going to be, interesting…

#sanders sides #patton sanders #virgil sanders #deceit sanders #roman sanders #remus sanders #logan sanders #emile picani #moceit #sanders sides fanfiction #single dad au

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thiswaycomessomethingwicked · 4 years

Note

for the quiet night in ask: how did Grima make his way into your heart? And why do you ship him with Eomer? I've been meaning to inquire about this for long hehe (also I love your theme! think this is the first time I see it)

I am so sorry, you’re getting an ESSAY.

I’ve been wanting to talk about my Grima feels FOR SO LONG.

HE SNAKED HIS WAY INTO MY HEART.

Um, tl;dr I have a soft spot for the bad guys who clearly have a complicated history with those they are opposing and I think Eomer/Grima have a fun opposites-attract dynamic and I love a good redemption story.

I don’t touch on literacy and Grima in this because that’s strictly the films and it’s worthy of it’s own post entirely.

I’m trying to think best how to break this all out, because it gets a bit long and rambly. I’m using both book and films for this, as a note. Since I tend to mash up different aspects of those Grima’s in my head, give the guy some eyebrows, and call it a day.

So, first off, his history. Now, we don’t really have anything to go on in canon here. All we know, in both book and film, is that Grima “was once a man of Rohan” (ROTK). In the book, Gandalf says: “This here, is a snake. To slay it [Grima] would be just. But it was not always as it is now. Once it was a man, and it did you service in its fashion.”

Grima evidently has served Rohan for some years at this point. We know that Theoden’s enchantment/possession began three years prior to TTT. In the books there is no possession. Theoden’s enchantment relies on the powers of words and their suggestions. Something Tolkien was well aware of carrying great weight and import in Anglo-Saxon culture. You tell a man he is old and infirm, he will become old and infirm.

I understand why Jackson went the possession route - explaining Anglo-Saxon engagement with galdorcraeft/witchcraft and the power of words etc. and how that influenced the development of Rohan in the span of like 7 minutes of screen time wasn’t happening. Possession works for the same purpose, but in a language the modern audience is familiar with - especially in visual mediums. Grima is circa 40 when TTT happens, same age as Boromir for reference. So, let’s say he’s been an advisor for 10/12 years at this point. He has therefore been a good servant of the king longer than he’s been a traitor.

Hence, the outreach. And, in Brad Dourif’s wonderful acting, Grima’s clear desire to go home to his king. In the book it’s more subtle. Grima chucks the palantir out the window at Orthanc and it’s stated that he wasn’t sure who he was aiming for, Saruman or Gandalf, because he couldn’t decide who he hated more.

Honestly? Legit. I would also hate the guy who reduced me to “it” pronouns. But maybe that’s my gender identity stuff playing up ;)

(Granted, in the full quote Gandalf reverts back to “he”, for context. And I’ve said this before, in another post, that it makes sense for Gandalf and as a writer, I agree with Tolkien’s decisions for that scene.)

Now, for some speculation. Not that I haven’t spilled a tonne already. MORE SPECULATION. This time bringing you long term effects of bullying and never having loving relationships modelled for you! Because LOTR, at the end of the day, is all about trauma and how maybe not to deal with it.

So - motives.

We know Saruman’s motives. Indeed, he tells them to us in FOTRK: “[to] have power, power to order all things as we will, for that good which only the Wise can see” and to achieve “the high and ultimate purpose: Knowledge, Rule, Order; all the things that we have so far striven in vain to accomplish, hindered rather than helped by our weak or idle friends.”

Great. Super straight forward. And from the man’s own mouth.

Grima’s though, always come to us second hand. In the books it’s Gandalf telling us (Gandalf can mind read, so yes, maybe he is accurate). In the films, it’s Eomer guestimating.

But Grima never actually tells us, himself, what his motives are.

(a quick aside: if some dude is shoving me up against a pole and threatening me, and I hear someone walking by, of course I’m going to look over at them and it by no means indicates my desire to shag that person. Now, of course, we know from other scenes this is the case. I’m just saying. It’s natural to look over at the person walking by while you’re being jumped by the Third Marshal of the Mark who is twice your size. anyway.)

So what are his driving forces for treason? What made him go to this point of no return then keep going even when people offered him a way back.

It is important to note that his treason required him to forswear his oath to his liege lord. I don’t know how to convey what a big deal that would have been, in modern terms. But it would have been huge. Forswearing/reneging on oaths was a massive cultural taboo in Anglo-saxon [AS] England (and general, early medieval Europe).

And, as Rohan is based on AS England (I forget if Tolkien was cagey about this. He was sometimes a dumb shit and coy about things so was like “noooo it’s not STRICTLY AS England….but it’s clearly AS England with more horses and a light dusting of vikings and the Danelaw”), we can assume it carried as much weight for them as it did for the historical people.

(Indeed, it’s implied, if not directly stated, in the text what a big deal oath breaking is. Don’t say “oath breaking” too loud or the Silmarillion fandom will come out of the woodwork)

The big takeaway: BIG DEAL TO FORSWEAR YOUR OATH.

And he did it! Which is why I don’t buy the “it was because of Eowyn and like some nice jewels.” You don’t betray your country, you don’t forswear your oath to your king, simply because you’re hot on the king’s niece and Saruman might give you a raise.

And, as a liege man to Theoden, he was part of Theoden’s household so would have eaten, worked with, lived with everyone else in the household (Eomer, until he becomes Third Marshal; Eowyn; Hama; Theoden’s guards etc.)

So, you live with these people, eat with them, drink with them, spend all your time with them, for circa 10 years then you do a bunk and betray them? Something happened. I suspect it was years and years of things happening.

Overall, I think it to be a combination of things. As is usually the case for these sorts of crimes. In this case, a nice mix of fear, desperation, greed, resentment, anger and desire.

Fear/Desperation: So, to Grima’s mind the world is ending. Why wouldn’t he think this? Hell, even the Wisest and the Fairest (i.e. wizards & elves) think it’s ending. Why wouldn’t this poor bloke from some small country nearby to Mordor not think it an existential threat to an unimaginable degree?

Grima is sat here in Rohan looking at Mordor going "oh fuck" then who are the leaders left? Denethor (slightly bonkers) and Theoden (past his prime and lacklustre, like his father and grandfather).

This is not a man with a strong moral fiber. Or...any moral fiber, let’s be real. He does not have the fortitude to stick it out through hopeless situations. And it would have been hopeless to his eyes. And those around him (see: Eomer’s do not trust to hope… Sure Saruman was a problem, but he wasn’t just talking about the white wizard).

Gandalf’s plan, which none of these people were ever wholly aware of, was a goddamn Hail Mary pass and it worked. Barely, but it did. NO ONE had reason to believe it would, though. And those are people in the know. Not someone like Grima who has no fucking clue what Gandalf et al is up to. He sees Gandalf then like … Nazgul torture him on the planes of Rohan (Unfinished Tales). He sees Gandalf then bad things happen.

Lathspell indeed.

Greed & Desire: I don’t think I need to go into these ones too much. They’re pretty self explanatory. Grima and Black Phillip hung out and the goat asked Grima if he wanted to live deliciously and Grima, like any normal person, said: um, yes please? Also, Eowyn was around being badass, beautiful and untouchable.

Resentment/Anger: Alright, more probing in the dark. I suspect, for one reason or another (and these reasons would vary depending if you’re looking at books or movies), he was someone who was always treated as other/differently, teased, picked on, isolated, overlooked, doesn’t measure up to Rohan’s military ideal of masculinity. All of which creates an underlying resentment issue.

And nothing festers quite like resentment.

On top of that, I also suspect he was always told he was a snake/untrustworthy/not worthy etc. and if you're told something enough, and you don't have anything or anyone else telling you the opposite, there is a strong chance you become that thing.

It's a chicken and egg: the face you wear to the world tells the world how to treat you; the world tells you what you are and that is how you shape your face.

THEN you add in Saruman. Who is clearly, in the text, abusive. Which, if there were any inferiority/bullied etc. issues that are informing Grima’s actions, Saruman is just going to amplify it.

“You are a traitor because you’re a snake, and you’re a snake because you’re spineless, weak, nothing more than a creature that crawls on its stomach on the ground. Snakes are bad, evil things. Which is all you’ve ever been. Barely deserving of the good treatment I give you etc.” <-- all of which is basically a summary of what Saruman has been saying to him for a few years at this point (in the book, it’s only tangentially implied in the movies).

So Grima sort of morphed himself into what he believed himself to be, fuelled by that perversity resentment causes: Oh you think I’m a snake? I’ll be the best goddamn most poisonous snake you ever did see. Just watch me.

He is trapped in this situation. A hutch to trammel some wild thing in.

Which leads me to an interesting point that I think gets lost sometimes: Narratively, he and Eowyn are similar in what they are experiencing. Isolation, being overlooked, misunderstood/misrepresented, don't fit into societal roles and expectations etc. They just go in very different directions in how they respond to it.

I think that's why, in the film, it was smart to have her give pause and listen to him because what he's saying resonates. He is, in some ways, speaking as much for himself as her. But then, of course, he's also just trying to shit disturb and make mischief so of course, at the end of the day, any sympathy he is attempting to convey is laced with poison.

I do wonder, too, if he's the first person to see her fear and her frustrations and acknowledges them out loud. Which is powerful. To have someone see you. Damn shame it's Grima. Still, Eowyn (in the film) paused and listened for a reason.

A brief aside on my idle, ill founded thoughts on gender and Rohan:

One of the reasons I think Eowyn and Grima go in diverging directions, is that Eowyn is performing masculinity, in her society's accepted interpretation of it. Masculinity, in Middle Earth, is clearly the norm. And in Rohan, it’s a very particular iteration of military-focused masculinity that is idealized (you can bet, men who killed like 10 orcs were awarded places in court above Grima who served as advisor for like ten years but hasn’t killed an orc ever).

Eowyn’s desire to live/perform this more masculine ideal caters to the subconscious thing of “Masculinity is Natural Neutral Ideal” so of course you would want to be more like A Man. Whereas Grima is the opposite, not performing masculinity according to Rohan's accepted view of it.

And gods, in Anglo-Saxon culture (therefore, Rohan’s, most likely. I see no evidence to the contrary) is that a difficult position to find yourself in. Back in AS England, being called argr, unmanly, or to be accused of ergri, unmanliness, was one of the worst insults you could throw at a man (indeed, some laws said you could kill a man in retaliation for calling you such things). I would bet my shirt that people used such insults about Grima in this world. Which is all kinds of messed up.

Now, my interest in him is my general love for a good redemption arc for the most hopeless of characters. It’s why I struggle to call Boromir’s arc, when he’s written as living, a redemption arc. Because I don’t know he has much to redeem himself for. In his own mind, sure, yes, but externally? Not in my view, at least. He has things he’s done wrong and needs to make amends for. But that’s different from redemption.

Grima, on the other hand, is one whose walk-back from evil would be a full on redemption arc. And I like it because he’s not nice, he’s not pleasant. He will never be nice or pleasant or cheerful. But learning how to love and be a good person doesn’t require niceness.

Saruman could be plenty nice. Sauron could be plenty nice. Look what they turned out to be.

And in my writing, I do hope I’m treading that line between creating an understanding of who Grima is without Kylo-Ren-ing him. Or, woobiefying him, as the old parlance was. That’s the line I’m really aiming for. I want people to not hate him. I want them to understand him. Oh, still condemn him, still judge him, disagree with him, acknowledge and know he did bad things and isn’t a nice person. But the end game is to add some understanding and nuance.

Shades of grey.

Also I’m a sucker for challenging redemptions.

Why Eomer/Grima?

Because I am an agent of chaos.

More seriously, I was never overly taken with the Grima/Eowyn approach, personally, which is obviously popular (um...within the Grima world), and closer to canon. There are some beautifully written fics and art out there for the two of them, so if you’re into that. The creators in that nook of fandom are top notch.

I always liked the drastic opposite of Grima and Eomer. As I noted above, Grima and Eowyn are two sides of the same coin. Both bitter and resentful and trapped. And that’s a lot of fun to play with, and i get it. But for me, I love a good strong contrast of personalities in my pairings. (If that uh … isn’t readily apparent.)

I think both Eomer and Grima would have a lot to teach each other and in some really interesting ways that neither would expect. I can see both getting under each other’s skin in that way where you’re sort of always thinking about them.

Grima is also someone who has had very little love in his life (I suspect he wants it, he just doesn’t know how to give or receive it). Eomer is someone who has lost a lot of people (parents, quasi-uncle for a few years there. I think it’s why he’s so controlling over Eowyn. Didn’t want to lose her). And I think there’s something in there where they could help each other grow. But I’m a sucker for some beauty to be there, in the end. Some hope.

Mostly, though, I think it boils down to their dynamic and the angst potential. Eomer is this brash, forthright, fiery third marshal of the mark who may or may not think things through. Big of heart, dumb of ass. Then there’s Grima who is quiet and reserved, cynical, critical, always has a plan or five, gets by via his wits etc. Lots of fun potential there.

#LOTR #lord of the rings #the lord of the rings #grima wormtongue #rohan #eorlingas #LOTR meta #ask #reply #eomer

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blooddrop-palace · 4 years

Text

Project Updates - What to Look Forward To

<3 Hello all! I've realized (humbly) that I have a small following of very nice people that seem quite interested in what I've written so far, and after seeing some mutuals post update-status posts, I thought I should share what's going on with my projects, also. (Thanks for the encouragement, @queenmuzz!)

Updated Dec-10-20

Sons of Fortune

Probably somehow my main focus now, though I am steadily working on other works. Currently working on the “In Between” special short before I start on Chapter 12.

I would also like to talk a little bit about my plans for this story: if anyone has paid attention to this story's tags, yes, I am touching up on the plots of most of the games. In fact, all of them, and the anime. (I already dealt with DMC4. No, I will not tear apart Fortuna lol.) Not all relevant tags are in, yet, because small spoilers. It looks like it's going to be a long while before I even get to the Temen-ni-gru, though. (There is a reason why that event is getting pushed back.) I want to have fun with the family fluff that is the twins each learning how to parent, first.

Hell Froze Over, and We Shall Reignite It

The drama of it all! Dante and Vergil are finally back from Hell, and Nero doesn’t even know his mother is now standing right in front of him. Meanwhile, even I’m anticipating seen how Snow and Dante is going to handle the obvious things currently unsaid... and I have a feeling a small measure of stupidity is still going to be involved.

Current chapter progress: Outline complete.

It's going to feel so interesting, shifting from "Fortune" back to Reignite. I get to write Sera and Vergil falling in love all over again, with a different set of circumstances. Whoa.

And, and... Nero meeting Sera... odd that I'm saying this as the writer, but I have a "I hope he likes his mom" feeling going on.

Also, no doubt Dante's brain is going to 404 when he sees Snow.

Nico prepares popcorn.

This is Not an Office Rom-Com

I have... about 8 new skits planned out. Nothing more written just yet.

That’s all I’m saying about this for now. =P

Hierarchy of Kings

Purely indulgent M/M romance of Vergil and an OC, existing all thanks to

@wordborne

Working on chapter 2.

I know I said 3 chapters only. I might have lied depending on how much I want to write. It's supposed to be just... awkward fluff of a listless part-devil who somewhat-recently lost his mate, got in a bit of a tiff with his brother, and now his children are trying to set him up with the prospective-king-of-hell, Vergil.

I think about this one a lot but I haven't written anything new for it yet, only because "Fortune" is taking over my life right now, haha.

Through the Lens of the Beholder

Okay, so...This story has no real plot. As a result, my drive for it is purely down to "if I think of a badass or cool photograph to describe." There is a TINY bit of plot. Only a little. And I don't know when I'll update. But this is why I'm trying not to START new projects. Four is a lot already! But because this one is supposed to be simpler than the other two, I will most likely finish this one before the others, so I can open a new project.

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

Speaking of new projects... Here are things ideas bouncing through my head:

- I still have a prompt from @maybeishouldwait sitting in my inbox. I WILL have it done one day, when I find the perfect way to write it.

A whole, entirely royally late set of Dadgil week fics. Yep. I want to write them. They just won’t be on time.

Written in Ink

A plot-less post-DMC5 story.

I say plot-less. There is a plot. The plot is:

Dante: Damn it, Verge, are you trying to turn my office into a zoo??

In which Vergil compulsively starts contracting strong demons he's defeated, left and right, because he's discovered "the joy of pets." The demons all take on a dark animistic form and things get wild.

A Persona and DMC fusion/AU

I have no title for this yet, and I absolutely cannot start this one until I have finished one of my other big projects. This one will take a lot of big planning, because I am making a new plot, using the mechanics of Persona, with DMC characters and setup.

What I want to write, is a teenage Nero as the protagonist, trying to solve a mystery... probably starting with the sudden disappearance of his mother. (Most likely Sera.) And he meets a lot of "new" people, and even finds new family... and yes, he will find his dad. (I'm thinking he'll know about Vergil, though. At least in name and a photo? Isn't that an interesting difference?)

For those of you not familiar with Persona, the major theme I really want to play with is that of the protagonist growing as a person (and in power) by befriending different people that helps them grow as a person. Each party member and important NPC is represented by a Tarot Card, signifying the type of journey the protagonist (The Fool) "embarks" with that character. There is growth in both the protagonist and that characters.

Again, this is ambitious to try and pull off... but it's in the back of my head. I'll focus on it once I've cleared some other stuff.

Sugar Sweet

A somewhat short-chapter series reader fic... of a surgeon/doctor!reader (barely 30 and good at what you do) who often saves the lives of shady people (e.g. mafia) because you care about saving lives, not the politics. But you do make good money out of it. (Hey, you gotta be at least a bit morally ambiguous if you're going to deal with devils.)

You meet one mess of a young mercenary named Dante, who is totally not human and deals with things like having bullets healed into his back, and he can't reach them to cut them out.

Dante doesn't care about bills for his office, or a lot of the debts in his life. You don't know where his money is going, or if he even makes much money at all (for the kind of specialty work he does? Money's going somewhere, but that's none of your business.)

You won't pay Dante's bills, or his debts, but he will accept pizza and ice cream. And new parts for his jukebox. And maybe a motorcycle. Or a new coat. Or a new car...

And you might complain to him about your dumb patients. Or just listen to him talk about his job. Or you two watch a movie together.

And this just continues. For years.

Tokusatsu DMC fusion/AU

So. First thing's first: I'm a big fan of Sentai/Tokusatsu. What is that, you might ask? It's a Japanese genre, and if you're familiar with Power Rangers, that's derived from Sentai.

Basically: Masked heroes with transformation gadgets, sometimes with motorcycles, fighting against evil. ("Magical girls" but strictly the opposite, a lot more physical combat involved, may involve upgrade gadgets, and not strictly limited to male heroes though mostly a male cast. Also not strictly for male-only audience. Girls like the eye-candy, too. :eyes-emoji:)

Why am I thinking about this?

Because I have found out that: Vergil's VA, Dan Southworth, was the Quantum Ranger (WHICH WAS RED). Nero's VA, Johnny Yong Bosch, was a Black Ranger and a Green Ranger.

...And Dante's VA, Reuben Langdon, had a role in a Japanese Toku show as "B-Fighter Yanma" forever ago???? (HE WAS BLUE!!)

What am I going to do with this info? I'll let you know later. But my Sentai/Toku-loving little heart is about to burst with hyperfixation overlap.

If I ever write this out, expect it to be just as cheesy as an actual Kamen Rider show. Or, at the very least, expect some art. I love Kamen Rider stuff!

Family Fantasy MMO

Snow introduces Dante, Vergil, Nero, and Kyrie to Final Fantasy 14 (because that’s the MMO I play) for family bonding. Yep. Mainly for silly indulgence.

Stardew Valley Visit

Post DMC5, Vergil and Dante accidentally end up going on a vacation when they try to leave Hell. No pairing with the farmer, but instead just a relaxing and somewhat introspective moment of the boys being stuck with most of their power temporarily sealed, learning how to take care of a farm, and maybe do a bit of healing by interacting with the townsfolk while they try to find out where their swords went and how to get home.

Re-Colourize

Otherwise what I would call the “re-colour of Nero and Snow” AU.

What if Vergil was found by Kassy’s family and raised among them? What if Dante ended up briefly in Fortuna and then convinced Sera to run away from the island?

What if we have a Nero who, though brash, is outwardly more soft and open-hearted, and has red-orange and gold colours instead? What if we have a Snow who is named Chiyuki, who wields her katana more like Vergil does, and has a more ice-queen aura about her, and has a teal and blue colouring about her?

This is my excuse to switch up the pairings, but also write Vergil being taught to fight more like an assassin.

Raised by the Blade

Imagine: Yamato, cracked, broken, and separated from her Master... desperately searching for a way to get back to him, and ended up washed up on the shores of Fortuna. Humanoid, but clearly not if anyone saw the cracked, broken, and no-normal look of “shattered” in her torso, that she would have to keep covered.

Made from the power of Sparda, she is pale with white hair... and she finds herself drawn to the orphanage...

Where she finds the toddler that is Nero.

Devil Hunters’ Podcast

Nico “accidentally” finds entertainment in recording the Sparda Family arguments as they talk about hunting; after all, they all share one braincell.

Ascended Monochrome

A white angel remains by the side of Nelo Angelo. Mundus was not pleased by the behavior of his second creation, from the human woman that he had picked up with the treacherous Son of Sparda. But he later discovered that by using her, he could keep Nelo Angelo complacent. Eventually, underestimating love will be his downfall.

Fall to Royalty

A story of where Vergil wins against Mundus the first time, and takes the throne of Hell. But what is he to do next? Eventually, ruling Hell seemed meaningless when there was no one by his side, so he goes to seek out the Lady Knight that he had vowed to never think of or go back to unless he had obtained the power he sought.

Doppelganger Woes

So, I heard Capcom retconned Gilver to be some sort of imitation created by Mundus. I’m all for this! And I’m going to DO something with this.

Side-Project: DMC Tarot List

I started on this maybe months ago; and I have a tentative list oh what characters go with what card and a few detailed descriptions. I think I should confer with

@harlot-of-oblivion

at some point about this, and anyone else interested in, well, Tarot stuff.

#devil may cry #fanfiction #Project Update

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precuredaily · 5 years

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Precure Day 137

Episode: Futari wa Precure Splash Star 39 - “The Rare Miminga Cause a Fuss!?” Date watched: 30 June 2019 Original air date: 12 November 2006 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/c5YcJ7O Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

Mascots, cryptids, what’s the difference?

Here’s a fun episode with a weird moral and a finale that suggests folklore creatures are real after all! HUG does this once or twice as well and I find the concept to be funny.

The plot

While playing hide and seek by the Sky Tree, Flappi, Choppi, Moop, and Foop are spotted by Kenta and Miyasako, who came out there to practice manzai in private. They all freak out.

The next day at school, Kenta is trying to convince everybody that he found a miminga, a type of cryptid, and Miyasako backs up his story, going a step further by drawing what he saw.

With that kind of validation, word spreads throughout the town fast and everybody is excited. Saki’s parents bake miminga cornets, which Saki can’t bring herself to eat. Everybody thinks that miminga sightings could drive tourism and boost business. They bring in a famous college professor, who tries to warn them that professional consensus was that miminga were strictly the stuff of folklore, but nobody listens and the town mounts a search. Saki and Mai seem to have a plan to throw people off the scent, but things escalate too quickly and they’re roped into the search party. Even Kintolesky sees all the people out and about and asks what’s going on, and when he’s shown the drawings of the so-called Miminga, he recognizes them as Precures’ fairies. He walks over to Saki and Mai, who are overwhelmed by the hubub, and with a snap of his fingers he forces Flappi and Choppi out of their Crystal Commune forms and then draws attention to them.

Saki and Mai run away with their fairies, and Kin ushers them to follow him, but they say “We’re not falling for that!” so they make a hard right and.... fall into a pit. They end up in a room filled with weightlifting equipment and Kintolesky tells them it’s his training room, and they are welcome to make use of some of the equipment to improve themselves. They aren’t very keen on this idea, again reminding him that they’re not interested in his goal of training them. However, he has them trapped, so they can’t leave without fighting him. He creates an Uzainaa out of equipment but once again, he does most of the fighting himself. The girls have transformed into Bright and Windy, and they manage to go toe to toe with him. At one point Kin puts on some additional weights, and tries to get the girls to do likewise, to make the battle more interesting. They dodge the flying ankle weights, then Moop and Foop appear out of nowhere and give them the Spiral Rings. They use the Light and Wind attacks to down the monster, then Kin combines the rest of the weights into this Uzainaa, only for the Precures to perform Spiral Star Splash to defeat it. Kin quips that he’ll need to find a new gym before he makes his way off. Also, I don’t remember commenting on this before, but the fairies that appear from Kintolesky’s defeated Uzainaa are gold.

I’m probably late to figuring this out but it seems the inclusion of gold as an element comes from the Chinese classical elements: Fire, Water, Metal (gold), Earth, and Wood. You’ll notice each of these correspond to one of our generals, but the Kiryuus and their wind element isn’t present. They may come from the concept of Aether but I’m sidetracking enough by researching this. It’s just funny to me that Gold is lumped in with the rest of these elements. Maybe that’s western bias.

Back up topside, Saki and Mai decide to bring the search to an end: they hide behind a bush and bring out puppets that look like Flappi and Choppi, allowing Kenta to see them, and then when everybody gathers around, they reveal their “ruse”, claiming it was them all along, practicing for a puppet show. The professor tells everyone he had been trying to warn them that miminga weren’t real, but they weren’t listening, and everybody concludes that they had a lot of fun exploring and walking around regardless, and they should do it more often. All is well that ends well, and as everyone walks away, an actual miminga pops out of the bushes for a moment, unseen.

surprise!

The Analysis

it’s.... another filler episode, really. Ever since the girls got the Spiral Rings, the show has devolved. Unlike the early arcs, Saki and Mai are already close and they don’t have much that they can do to reaffirm their bond, nor have they encountered a threat to their friendship on the same level as when Cures Black and White were separated, and there’s not a supporting character arc for us to follow like the Kiryuus. There isn’t even a goal for the girls to achieve beyond collecting Miracle Drops and restoring the fountains, while FWPC at least had their attempt to find the kidnapped Wisdom and the power of the Prism Stones (as much as that arc dragged, at least there was a goal). The girls get individual episodes like Mai’s art struggle or Saki’s softball tournament that let them shine, but these are intermittent and don’t contribute to an overall objective. (incidentally, this is my overall problem with Smile Precure) So, you’ve got this episode about the fairies being mistaken for cryptids, and the result is that Saki and Mai have to take the fall for their fairies again, and everybody laughs it off at the end and says “well maybe we should go out more anyway,” and there’s some weird running gag about listening to people completely before jumping to conclusions that they keep harping on. I don’t want to call it a moral because, technically, they undermine it several times. Kenta and Miyasako didn’t technically see Miminga but they saw mythical creatures, and at the end they reveal that there actually was a miminga. Maybe the lesson is supposed to be about mob mentality but that doesn’t feel right either.

Moop and Foop are getting the shaft lately. They basically only show up to give the girls the Spiral Rings. Their predecessors in powerups, Porun and Lulun, were at least present in a meaningful way from their introduction through to the finale. We saw what they were doing, they even got character development. Moop and Foop don’t have that. They made friends with Saki, Mai, Flappi, and Choppi, and we heard how they admire the Kiryuus for saving them, but that’s been it for their character progression. In the last several episodes they have only appeared for short sight gags and to summon the Spiral Braces. Also, Saki and Mai no longer tote the Splash Commune around, nor do we see Moop and Foop actually enter it, they just play the stock footage starting with them already in the screen. The end result of this is that Moop and Foop are less memorable, which is sad since they had a pretty good idea with them being a little more mature and perceptive than Flappi especially.

Kintolesky is a delight as always, and here I think he leans a little more into his villainy. He’s not as out-and-out evil as his predecessors but he purposefully kidnaps Saki and Mai so he can have a fight with them, caring not for their circumstances. (okay he did something similar last time but it’s more direct here) In prior appearances you could argue that the duo could have left the fight, not that they ever would, but here they’ve been teleported to a room who knows where with no choice but to fight him. Honestly the Uzainaa feels superfluous and is only there to get knocked around so the girls can earn their Miracle Drop. I wish they’d come up with another way to do that for Kin’s arc since he’s so much more interested in fighting his own fights.

One thing I do like is a small continuity nod, there’s the obvious bit about Kenta and Miyasako continuing to practice manzai, but also, in their cover story, Saki and Mai claim they were going to put on a puppet show at the library like Kaya and Miyasako did way back in SS09.

This review feels a lot more cynical and condescending than I thought it would be going in. It’s a fine episode, but it’s very light on substance and it doesn’t advance any plot or character, not even the supporting cast. It’s got some good jokes but it doesn’t stick out in this series. Then again that’s normal for the 30s in these shows. We’re getting close to the endgame, though, so things should pick up soon.

Next time, it’s Mai’s birthday, and Kintolesky makes his last stand. Look forward to it!

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 0 Zekkouchou Nari!

Miracle Drop count: 6

#Precure #Pretty Cure #Futari wa Precure Splash Star #FWPCSS39 #PCD137

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curriebelle · 6 years

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Where Law and Chaos Came From: a D&D History Lesson

I’ve seen a few interesting posts about Dungeons and Dragons alignments that all share two interesting commonalities:

1) They think the two-axis system of Law vs Chaos and Good vs Evil is too restrictive for people who like to roleplay. 2) They try to redeem the two-axis system by redefining Law and Chaos in ways that make sense to them personally.

Good and Evil aren’t usually a topic of debate on these posts - it’s easy enough to play a character as generally doing the right thing or as being a total bastard. Discussion on acts of more debatable morality (e.g. torturing a villain for vital information, killing an innocent person by accident, sacrificing one for the good of all) tends to veer towards whether the action itself qualifies as good or evil, and not whether good and evil themselves need to be redefined. Conversely, I’ve seen Law and Chaos rewritten as Community vs Individuality, Tradition vs Cultural Mutability, Authority vs Anarchy - all interesting ideas that tend to reflect more on the person writing them than the actual purpose of the Law vs Chaos axis.

I’m not saying these people are wrong, but that these players (as well as the fine folks who wrote the 5e Handbooks) are placing too much significance on the purpose or intention of Law vs Chaos. The historical secret is that Law vs Chaos alignment never had any deep meaning behind it - or, at least, it never had any meaning deeper than the Pittsburgh Penguins versus the Vancouver Canucks.

I’ll explain how, but it requires a bit of a history lesson. The idea of Lawful and Chaotic alignments - as well as a number of other cornerstones of Dungeons and Dragons - came from a different game: a miniature wargame called Chainmail. It’s time for a deep dive.

In 1970, before he helped create Dungeons and Dragons, Gary Gygax developed a ruleset for modeling Medieval-Era battles using miniatures. Miniatures were organized into opposing armies, and the modeled battles were long, drawn-out math sessions, preoccupied with calculating distances, damages, casualties and morale. If you’ve ever played or seen Warhammer 40k, it’s a lot like that, except with English Longbowmen instead of Space Marines.

The purpose of Chainmail was to recreate historical battles, and so the gameplay mechanics were painfully precise, with rules for weather, terrain, and siege weapons. Only at the tail end of the Chainmail rulebook, in a tiny ten-page appendix, did Gygax include the rules that would become the basis for all of Dungeons and Dragons. This was the Chainmail Fantasy Supplement.

Even in the Fantasy Supplement, the purpose was still to recreate battles. The second edition of Chainmail - the oldest version I could find, from 1971 - instructs players on how to “refight the epic struggles related by J.R.R. Tolkein...and other fantasy writers”, only suggesting that the player could “create [their] own world” as an afterthought. Chainmail’s fantasy supplement was made so LOTR nerds could re-create the battles of Helm’s Deep or Pelennor Fields, down to the walking trees and boulder-throwing trolls.

Still, a couple of fun details are kicking around in those ten pages. Even back then, fireball and lightning bolt spells were the main tools in the wizards’ arsenals. Dragons and other powerful fantasy creatures could only be hit with magic weapons - an immunity that lingers on some powerful D&D monsters to this day. Even the colour varieties of dragons were introduced here, and they’ve remained largely unchanged for nearly half a century now:

“White Dragons live in cold climates and breathe frost. Black Dragons are tropical and spit caustic acid. The Blue variety discharges a bolt of electricity. Green Dragons waft poisonous vapours--chlorine--at their opponents”

Classic! (I did omit the mottled purple dragon with the poisonous stinger, but those stuck around too - they’re just called wyverns now).

At the very end of the fantasy supplement, you can find the following list:

I’m not sure why Gygax thought it was “impossible to draw a distinct line between “good” and “evil” here - honestly, this looks like a pretty straightforward good-neutral-evil list to me, but there you are. So Goblins, Orcs, Balrogs and Dragons are CHAOS, and Hobbits (who became Halflings later once copyright started getting huffy), Heroes, Ents and Magic Weapons (?) are LAW. Wizards can be either LAW or CHAOS; Elves are neutral (but kinda lawful sometimes); and apparently there are Super Heroes in the Lawful camp (Gygax describes them earlier as “like Conan”.)

The purpose of dividing these units into Law or Chaos is not to dictate how they are played, but what team they will play for in the conflict. That’s why I made my hockey analogy earlier: all Law and Chaos defined back then was what team you played for. So, by these rules, if you were building a Lawful Army and your buddy built a Chaos Army, you would both be able to add wizards to your team, but your buddy would have exclusive rights to dragons. You’d be able to add magic weapons, but your buddy couldn’t. Moreover, if you decided to hold a fight in a forest full of pixies and werewolves, you would actually roll off to determine which side those Neutral creatures would join.

If Law and Chaos did have any deeper meaning in this context, it sometimes dictated how the units behaved. Units of orcs would attack other units of orcs if they failed an obedience check; dragons, being “evil and egotistical”, always had to attack the biggest, most badass targets first. With rules like that, commanding those armies would be more ‘chaotic’, while the lawful side could generally be trusted to obey the commands of the player.

So at worst, the Chainmail law vs chaos axis is a purely logistical division that dictates which units get to join which teams; at its most #deep, it characterizes the combat behaviour of some military units. I think this is probably also the source of D&D racism, e.g. “all orcs are chaotic evil”. That’s a rule that makes much more sense when you’re trying to divvy up the teams in an extremely complex wargame, because you’re looking at orcs en masse, and you’re not too interested in the personalities of individual units.

So, the alignment system does make some sense in Chainmail, where it originated. Here’s where I show you exactly how much influence Chainmail had on D&D and how it struggled to transfer this concept of alignment in a meaningful way.

The “first edition” of D&D - at least the one most of us would recognize as D&D - is officially called Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. That’s the 1977 version in which players create an adventuring party. (It’s called “Advanced” because a “Basic” edition was also released, strictly for levels 1-3). There was actually one other, earlier edition of D&D, which was released in 1974. It was intended to be another Chainmail expansion, so much so that you needed the Chainmail rulebook to play it!

I’m going to ignore that edition, though, since 1) it’s pretty hard to find the rulebook, 2) AD&D was where the game found its own identity anyway and 3) The AD&D handbook is hilariously bizarre, especially when dealing with player morality.

You might know of some of the weirdness of AD&D alignments already. For example, certain classes had to be certain alignments. Paladins were always lawful good; druids were always true neutral. Assassins were automatically evil, and thieves could not be good. Weirdly enough, all monks were lawful - I guess because they adhered to the traditions of their vaguely-east-asian dojos. (By the way, this means that everybody’s favourite Feather Leather Fashionista, Vax’ildan the dual-classed Rogue/Paladin, is a mechanical impossibility in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.)

It’s easy to see how this move was just an ungainly step forward from Chainmail. Again, this is Gygax telling you what teams your characters must play for - what armies they would join if this were a Chainmail game - without recognizing that the need for an alignment system has basically vanished. We're not picking our fantasy kickball teams anymore; everyone is on the same team, adventuring together, and all an alignment system becomes in that context is a hindrance.

And oh was alignment ever a hindrance in AD&D. Each alignment was a moral code of sorts, but it was also a language. Chaotic Neutral characters shared a language that only Chaotic Neutral characters could understand. Assassins could learn to speak other alignment-languages as they leveled up (or Druidic, if they wanted to be nerds I guess), but if you changed alignment in any way you would lose access to your previous alignment language. This makes absolutely zero sense. Worse still, if you committed an act that didn’t fit with your alignment, it would screw you over mechanically. If a paladin ever willingly committed an evil act they straight-up lost their healing powers and become regular fighters FOREVER. Even if they did something a little bit chaotic, they lost their powers until they could pray the cray away with the help of a lawful good cleric. The book even vaguely suggests that alignment shifting in other classes be met with “great penance”. You’re not allowed to be an assassin again until you do enough poison murders! We’re taking your poison away!

The book describes each individual alignment, but not with any subtlety. This is long before the game itself grasped that the most fun part of tabletop roleplay is the roleplaying, and alignment rules still seem to recall the behaviour of army units rather than the behaviour of individuals. Chaos - as is usually the case - is the alignment that suffers most. The Chaotic Good description gets a nice Robin Hood-y bent, the Chaotic Evil one is the “carnage is good” mantra you’d expect - but here’s Chaotic Neutral:

“Above respect for life and good, or disregard for life and the promotion of evil, the chaotic neutral places randomness and disorder. Good and evil are complimentary balance arms. Neither are preferred, nor must either prevail, for ultimate chaos would then suffer.”

Leaving aside the misuse of the word “complimentary” (you’re looking for complementary, Gygax) and the poorly-structured first sentence - yeah, that’s what the big secret of Chaos is, apparently. It’s not rebellion or individuality (which get championed in the Chaotic Good description), it’s pure, unadulterated, dice-rolling randomness. “Fuck it” made manifest. Don’t think about it too hard, because it doesn’t make any sense, and it will take you down a (fittingly) chaotic wormhole of self-contradiction.

Lawful Neutral and True Neutral are weird, too. Both are described as pursuing the absolute harmony of the word, but like...you know, in different ways. There’s also a bizarre association between goodness and beauty. “Life and beauty are of great importance”, says the Lawful Good blurb. Does this mean that Delilah Briarwood, Wildemount’s hottest necromancer, is Lawful Good after all? shucks.

It’s pretty clear that AD&D is the awkward gangly phase between wargaming and genuine tabletop roleplay, with lots of weird vestigial features and obnoxiously pedantic mechanics that would later be dropped. For some reason, despite the fact that it never made sense to begin with, alignment wasn’t one of those mechanics - or at least it tended to vanish as a mechanic and then come back again in later editions, slightly different but never fixed. This led to another awkward gangly phase at the turn of the millennium, when D&D rules were adapted into games like Baldur’s Gate or Planescape Torment. Alignment creates fallacies and failures everywhere in those games. If you play Evil in Baldur’s Gate, the game can become basically unwinnable, as NPCs begin to attack you on sight. The way to bond with the Chaotic Neutrals in Planescape Torment is to literally spout gibbering nonsense at a man on the street until he barks at you. Even on Critical Role, with its 5e gameplay and extremely talented dungeon master, alignment feels like an arbitrary interloper rather than an important part of the game. Percy stays Good even after torturing a teenager, but Vex goes Neutral for stealing a broom. Nobody in their right mind would believe Fjord is Lawful Good because of his deception and warlockery, but he technically hasn’t violated the LG handbook so far.

So because of these repeated failures to use alignment in a compelling way, I see a lot of people hunting for the right way to do alignments, the right way to understand chaos, law, neutrality and the like. They want alignments to fit. But they never did fit. The truth?

Two-axis alignment is stupid, and it always has been.

Honestly, I don’t see the benefit in remedying two-axis alignment as a system. I have my own re-interpretation of chaos that I like fairly well, and I’ve seen a few compelling ones, but I also think that alignment could use a complete makeover. There are some fun examples of morality systems that I’m sure DMs could experiment with, if they so wished.

You could steal from Ultima IV, for example. The Ultima series was a product of the early days of the computer/tabletop romance - and by early I mean 1980s early. Ultima IV does not use the alignment system: instead, it lets the player ‘train’ in eight virtues to achieve ultimate avatar awesomeness. The virtues are Honesty, Compassion, Valor, Justice, Honor, Sacrifice, Spirituality, and Humility, further divided into the camps of Truth, Love, and Courage. Maybe angels of each of those virtues have corresponding devils (Deception! Cruelty! Cowardice! Injustice! Dishonor! Greed! Blasphemy! Pride!). That could be one way to play with morality without worrying about chaos or law.

I’m also a fan of Pillars of Eternity’s spectra of dispositions, which fit loosely into pairs (not necessarily good or evil pairs, mind you). Benevolent or Cruel, Stoic or Passionate, Honest or Deceptive, Clever or Rational, Diplomatic or Aggressive. Heck, those remind me of the personality sliders in the Sims. What were those again, like - Grumpy/Nice, Playful/Serious, etc?

Those trying to give alignments the benefit of the doubt often suggest that alignments were created to help people roleplay. That’s not...entirely untrue, it’s just misleading. They were created to help people make gameplay decisions, but they were pulled from a different kind of game altogether. It’s like trying to play checkers with chess pieces, and it always has been. The D&D alignment system doesn’t work for D&D because it wasn’t designed for it - it was designed for wargaming. We probably should have just chucked the whole thing instead of enshrining it in nerd culture, but it’s too late for that. Still, our creative energy now would be better spent on a new morality system that actually gives us a thing or two to think about.

#dungeons and dragons #tabletop roleplaying #critical role #currie academia #cuz i learned most of this researching Stuff

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brooke-the-poet · 5 years

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Pawn & Sword

This summer I had been asked by @chibimyumi to make a version of Pawn & Sword Reprise that was singable in English. Taking her translation, and working on it bit by bit over the past 7 months or so, I came up with this version, which conservatively keeps a lot of the original wording, which I felt was rich in imagery and poetic to begin with and added a lyrical touch to better fit the sounds in English.

For anyone interested, yes, I listened to this song on repeat for hours, weeks on end like a fiend to match the right sounds. It's become one of my auditory stims now. Haha

Japanese poetry and lyrics are for the majority narrative, sparing with images, just enough to give you a feel or sense of the image like smoke.

If I were to elaborate, without keeping strictly to lyrics and only focusing on concepts the imagery would have been far greater. More like page poetry. But not singable perhaps?

I have sung this several times now tweaking it and perhaps it will be tweaked more, now that I have time. But not a lot.

Here are the notes I kept while working on it. If you think these are a lot, imagine the work a translator goes through to figure out how the original should be. Please go lavish @chibimyumi with praise for her translation work and so forth. It's some of the most tiring work ever.

(I have professional linguist/ translator friends, I hear all about it)

If anyone is so inclined I would very much take pleasure in hearing karaoke or a cover of the song using these lyrics, just to test how well of a job I've done. please.

Pawn and Sword Reprise: Annotated transcription - Brooke Nilsson.

(1)Your (2) relentless (3) wishes

(4)surpass your (tiny) form (5) .

(6)Wishful eyes of despair. Greedy soul!

(7) I shall be

the One to grant

Your wish.

I will be your power

Your invincible pawn!

(8)Monochrome dissonance

Plays out on this stage

Until silenced.

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1. /Your/ the song needed to open on a similar hard sound to Gouyoku, it’s important that openings and endings sound the same in both languages otherwise it throws the whole song off.

2. relentless: this is synonymous and gives an almost identical image to ‘welling”, it has connotations with swiftness, hard, unending tasks and treatment and is also synonymous with revenge, using it tells you the nature of the wishes.

3. Wishes is the cannon word, it is more specific than desire (this has been used in other translations), which has deeper romantic/sexual connotations and is not specific. The 3 wishes reference.

4. This is a creepy joke going on in the original which is part of Sebastian’s intent, but in English, doesn’t fit the elegance of the rest of the song. I went with the implied image of the wishes being grander than the size of the wisher. Surpass has connotations of fast, upward movement, and mobility both physically and in a class sense. It sounds British. Tiny can be inserted to reinforce the original concept, but it might be cumbersome? try it out.

5. Form vs. Body: A note about Anglo-Saxon origin words vs. Latinate. Anglo-Saxon origin words are rougher and heavier in sound, they add weight to a word, but are notably harder to sing and less elegant. Latinate origin words have smoother flowing sounds and are easily sung. While these two words mean the same thing, the Latinate carries connotations of elegance, education, and sophistication (cold, snobby, sadist) which suits Sebastian. The quickest way to differentiate class and vocal tone in English is to use Latinate vs. Anglo-Saxon. (small vs. tiny: same as described)

6. This is a compounding of the original concept/image described in this line. I moved the mention of greed from the first line to here, as it works better as a form of address and reinforces the other concepts. The same goes for the next line.

7. These two words carry the weight of ownership over a task: /Shall/ indicates “determination, obligation, something owed”. It comes from Proto-Indo-European and is the origin of the word “shield, debt, guilt, blame, fault, it is also proper present tense. (formal British). /Will/ indicates wish/desire, to do something, be used, to choose. It is future tense. It comes from Latin word vel “wish”: to satisfy, be stuffed. will/wish synonymous. (These are all archaic and 19th century Sebastian hunger centric words, for that reason this entire song is one of the best Lord/vassal oath ballads I’ve read, in epic poetry.) The last line is unchanged as it is iconic.

8.I felt that there was importance to this already being in English, so I kept it. Monochrome (ancient Greek origin) doesn’t mean the contrast of black/white, it is the opposite, the sameness. It can be any colour but only one colour, of different shades. In photography it means greyscale. But the archaic form is more precise. This metaphor is used to describe moral ambiguity/hypocrisy. Everyone assumes they have higher/different motivations but in reality, the motives are all the same. (especially in the Madame Red arc) Dissonance is conflict, harshness of sounds. I interpreted this verse to mean the resolution of the conflict, everything suddenly becoming clear and audibly silent. The mention of the stage, it’s a nice sophisticated way of saying everything will be resolved in the next act.

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Ciel:

Sebastian Michaelis

Your name affixed

Sealed with our contract

The demon

fallen into my grasp. (9)

Sebastian:

Even if my body dies

your heart’s desire will be fulfilled

For I am your faithful servant.

Ciel:

I do not seek happiness

(10) Not for anyone's sake or my own

Until my revenge, until that day

I will move ever forward

Sebastian:

Maddening, noble form

exuding that alluring scent

You are my beautiful lord

If it is your wish…

Sebas: To anywhere – I shall guide you

Ciel: To anywhere – at my command

Sebas: Even in dreams, your shadow

Ciel: Swear to me –

Sebas: Secretly

Ciel: Your loyalty

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9.The English phrase for this concept is “fallen into my lap”. I took inspiration from Nayuta’s grasping upwardly into the air when he sings this, and felt the concept best understood as “fallen into my grasp” meaning to hold unexpected power over something, to gain power unexpectedly.

10. This line about Ciel’s motivation is often the least well understood. The idea that he is seeking revenge out of principle, duty, despite knowing that it won’t bring him or anyone else happiness. My take is that he is fulfilling a duty, satisfaction coming from the idea that no one thought he was capable of anything, yet here he is doing this task. It can be seen/felt as selfish proving yourself this way. This concept comes up a lot in disability discourse.

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Sebas:

(11)Bound by the threads of fate

Between dreams and reality

At the edge of reason

Wanders your soul

While the pages of your story still turn

I’ll continue to light your lamp

(12) Shielding your soul–

Even if your throne should fall

And your shimmering crown, rust away

And the dead pile towers high–

I shall heed

Until I hear your final call!

------

11./The borders of black and white/ in this context I decided that the concept here referred to ‘mental twilight’ or reason/sanity.This gets referred to a lot in the series. The threads of fate concept I rearranged the lines to give them the alliteration of the original and better narrative order in English and make it singable. Ending lines on n/l or a vowel is a professional tip.

12.The concept of preservation being sung of here, /shielding/ is a synonym for preservation and ties back to the original concept of the vows */shall/ being made. The ripening of the soul I left to subtext as this concept is redundant to the rest.

#furukawa yuta #kuroshitsuji #sebastian michaelis #our ciel #ciel phantomhive #kuromyu #lycoris that blazes the earth 2015 #i will be your pawn & sword reprise #annotated #thank you for translating!

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winedwords · 7 years

Text

Aleister| In The Dark |Black

Title; In The Dark

Pairing; Aleister Black/Reader

Words; 5200

Summary; He ate my heart out.

Warning; NSFW. SMUT. AU AF. Heathens!verse. Sex pollen/venom trope. Magic healing dick trope. Thigh riding, oral sex, public sex. Kinda dubcon. Persephone and Hades spin if you drink some wine and squint. morally flexible aleister. porn with the faintest traces of plot. shit editing and proofreading is shit. ye have been warned.

A/N: Repost from the old blog

I don’t know how I got talked into this.

This wasn’t my scene. There were too many people entirely too close to me. The lights were blindingly bright and the strobing made my eyes hurt. The music was so loud, I could feel the bass rattle in my chest and thrum through my veins. Or maybe that was the several shots of tequila that I felt in my veins? Even if this was an outdoors event, there was little to no airflow and sweat clung to every inch of skin from the heat and exertion of my pitiful attempts at dancing.

My roommate and coworker, Adrienne, had talked me into coming to coming here and wearing as little as I was. This wasn’t me, at all. Whereas I would have been content with a game night and a couple of glasses of wine, like the homebody I am, she wanted the lights and the sounds and the feel of writhing bodies pressed against each other. She wanted the crush of uncontrolled euphoria brushing against and dancing with her magic.

I love her to bits, I really do, but this is what happens when your friends worship Dionysus. They would throw themselves into anything hedonistic and it would feed their magic. That magic would then reach these euphoric pinnacles and Adrienne swore that it was better than any orgasm she’d ever had, so I just had to come with her to this club.

My usual night out attire was not appropriate, oh no.

Adrienne had insisted on the tiniest, strappiest neon blue bikini I had ever seen. I’d balked at her as she pulled it from the shopping bag, the microscopic bits of polyester would barely cover anything and I’d told her as much. She’d just laughed and said that there would be others wearing far less and to stop being such a prude. Her Circle would be there and nothing would happen she said, so why not have a night of fun? Like an idiot, I relented.

Yes, it was a Circle dedicated to hedonism and the worship of Dionysus, but I knew that if they had any say about it, no harm would come to me. Not when they would have to face the unholy wrath of the North American Council.

I guess you could say that I was special, even amongst the magic folk.

See, magic is a finicky thing, temperamental and as unique as a fingerprint. Most magic folk do not fall into strictly black magic or white magic, but rather on a spectrum of grays. We are all born with innate ability, affinities and knacks for certain types of spellcasting. Our magic comes from the blood and each individual had different talents. Some, like Adrienne, are ridiculously skilled at charms and summoning magics. Others, like those in the Order of Osiris, were stewards of the dead, shepherding lost souls to the afterlife and banishing malignant spirits.

Then there was me.

The only White Witch born in nearly four centuries.

White magic was beyond rare. Difficult to wield, incapable of actually causing harm, and the only magic capable of healing wounds and curing illness, those with white magic had been worshipped and revered throughout history as living deities. With white magic, everything had a cost, every action had an equal reaction.

The biggest reaction was the prevalence of black magic. My tutors had said that white magic burns so brightly, that it must always be followed by the impenetrable darkness as its shadow. Black magic was expressly forbidden by mainstream casters, for good reason. Blood magic, sex magic, necromancy, there was no taboo that was considered to be off limits. Black magic could steal free will, snuff out life, summon inconceivable eldritch horrors from parts of the universe best left untouched.

My tutors had warned that white and black magic were inexorably drawn to each other, like two primeval magnets. That they were two halves to the same coin, the light and the dark, yin and yang. Precautions had been taken to never allow myself to be anywhere in proximity of a user of any type of dark magic, lest the inconceivable were to happen.

I felt him long before I ever was able to lay my eyes on him. The brush of his magic against me felt like velvet and tasted like single malt scotch.

I’d been followed before. Since my birth, there was always someone watching from a respectful distance. They were always nondescript people, blending in with their surroundings, if it weren’t for the feel of their eyes trailing me. I’d grown used to them with time, knowing they were there at the back of my mind, but also knowing that they’d never approach.

He was disturbingly handsome and not trying to blend in, in the least. He stuck out like a sore thumb in the sea of writhing humanity, as still as a statue with the slicked back mohawk and the clearly tailored black on black suit. He wasn’t dancing like the others around him, I wasn’t sure he was even breathing. He was just staring. At me.

I was close enough to make out the tattoos on his hands and the crescent moon high on his cheekbone through the crowd and I shivered for reasons I was not ready to examine closely right now.

Illuminati. And an enforcer at that.

Why in the world would they be sending someone who should be doing their wetwork and other unsavory bits of business to keep tabs on me instead of their usual nondescript types? Both the Templars and the Illuminati sent the same types of people to shadow me, always nonthreatening and certainly never got this close to me.

Both groups, the Illuminati and the Templars, were tasked with keeping balance in the world, maintaining order, and cleaning up any… messes to keep the ordinary and non-magic from discovering us. They just happened to go about it from each other.

The Templars were an ancient order, able to trace their beginnings to Babylon, with a strict code of ethics and morality. Everything was for the greater good. Duty, honor, and sacrifice were revered amongst them and it was not unusual for them to sacrifice their lives so that others may live. The ultimate white hats and do-gooders. The handful of Templars I had interacted with had reminded me strongly of the Knights of the Round Table and my mentor had laughed, saying that the Templars made up the entirety of the Knights of the Round and that Arthur was practically a saint to the later generations.

The Illuminati were a whole different breed. Young in comparison to their arch nemeses, the Templars, only about three centuries old, and infinitely more ruthless. They would do anything, no matter the cost, to keep balance. Blackmail, treason, deceit, murder, torture, it was all on the table. They had no such scruples about manipulation or power grabs. It was well known that they were the people on grassy knolls, the shadowed faces in corporate board rooms, and the kingmakers in every political system around the world.

I had been followed and tracked by both factions since I came into my magic. The Council had told me to not be worried, that this was par for the course whenever someone was born with significant magic, especially when it was black or white magic. I was warned that eventually, when the time was right, they would make a play for my allegiances. I had been assured that I should barely notice them with time, that they would eventually become fixtures of my everyday background. The Council was right, they had become my personal shadows, the faces and shapes changing but never enough for me to pay them much mind because I was never approached.

Until this one.

As soon as I had registered who and what he was, he was gone in the blink of an eye. Even if he was gone from my sight, the taste and feel of his magic still lingered.

So much darker than my own, that mysterious suited man’s magic felt like smoke and velvet and tasted as heavy as the darkest of chocolates with the after burn of a finely aged scotch. It seemed to swirl around me teasingly, caressing along my skin like a lover’s hand would. Then it was gone. My own magic crackled along my skin pleasantly at the loss and it reached up and out of its own accord to seek his out again.

I panicked, it felt like my throat was closing up, and I began attempting to push through the crush of the writhing crowd. Nothing like this had ever happened to me before, my magic which I had such a tight control over from a young age, attempting to do something of its own will. The loss of control paired with the tequila and the hum of the euphoria spell that the Dionysus cult had cast was fogging my thoughts and I just needed a moment to breathe and to collect myself.

The bodies of revelers were tightly packed and it was damn near impossible to make any headway to the back of the venue, where there were fewer people. The bass of the music was overwhelming and the strobe lights were dizzying, making progress through the teeming masses of human flesh all that more difficult.

I’d made it a scant few feet when a delicate, but impossibly strong, hand latched onto my wrist. I pulled hard to attempt to get out of the iron like grip, but there was no give. I turned back to confront the person accosting me, but the anger and panic rushed out of me as soon as I made eye contact with a pair of hypnotic and eerily dark eyes. The woman holding onto my wrist tightly gave a blinding smile and leaned in close.

“Dance with me.”

The will to fight drained from me and I smiled dreamily at her. She was petite, with a delicate heart shaped face and an overly full sensuous mouth. Those eyes had hooked me in and all I wanted was to please her and make this strange woman happy. I moved closer to her, my hips swinging to the rapid fire beat that the DJ was playing over the speakers, and she leaned in to press a teasing kiss to my shoulder.

“God you smell divine.”

Her words tickled and I threw my head back with a giggle, exposing the tender skin of my throat. I didn’t see the way her eerie dark eyes zeroed in on the thumping pulse point in my neck, nor did I see the way her teeth seemed to elongate into sharp points. I was too entranced by this woman, the feeling of being around her seemed to enhance the tequila that was lowering my inhibitions.

“You don’t mind if I taste just a little, hm?”

She didn’t wait for a response, leaning in with fangs bared for my exposed neck. I stood stock still, my head heavy from her hypnotic eyes. I could feel the heat of her breath against my skin and then the pinprick of fangs. I relaxed for the barest of moments into her touch before she paused, a strange gurgling noise at the back of her throat.

Then the fog around my brain cleared, the gravity of what just almost happened weighing heavy. My eyes were wide as she practically exploded into dust, her mouth wide in a silent scream, revealing that handsome suited stranger from before, holding a wickedly sharp wooden stake in his left hand.

He cursed in a language I didn’t understand, his eyes drawn to the small pool of blood at the nape of my neck from where that… creature’s fangs had broken skin. I wouldn’t have even noticed the small scrape if it weren’t for the slight burning irritation that emanated from the area. Dust from the creature clung to the lapels of his dark suit jacket, which was clinging to his broad shoulders in what was becomingly an increasingly interesting way to me.

“Do you like men or women?”

The sound of his voice startled me. Deep, cultured, with just the faintest traces of an accent. My skin was starting to feel almost too tight and the thrum of the bass of the electronic music was vibrating straight to my core. I laughed uncomfortably at his words as soon as they registered through the returning fog that was becoming thicker and thicker in my head.

“What? Get out of here you creep.”

The suited man’s face tightened into a grimace, still deathly serious. His magic flared and surrounded me completely. It was heavy, all encompassing, and so dark that it sung to my own magic in a way I had never known before. It was simultaneously exhilarating and comforting. I couldn’t help the purr that escaped my throat and the answering bright burst of magic. I was so lost in the feel of his energy that I missed the way he shivered and the rapid bobbing of his Adam’s apple.

“You were bitten by a dhampir, woman. They have a rather potent venom that acts as an aphrodisiac in their saliva.”

Well that certainly explained a lot about the way I was feeling. I’d begun to break out in a cold sweat and I could feel slickness that was most decidedly not sweat clinging to my inner thighs. My heart was racing and I could feel the panic bubbling up inside of me. How did I miss the signs of the dhampir? It was clearly trying to influence my behavior and get me alone… I could vaguely remember something about an anti-venom, but the crush of the bodies around me and the fog of the aphrodisiac was clouding my memory and judgment.

“Anti-venoms?”

His smile was wry but unapologetic. His sharp eyes were cataloguing my every reaction, likely calculating how long I had until my senses left me and I was reduced to a babbling, horny mess.

“The blood of the offending dhampir, which is out of the question now, or… a high dosage of the unique cocktail of adrenaline, endorphins, and oxytocin that’s released during orgasm. Now tell me, men or women?”

My mouth was dry and my brain was still whirring to process. My answer was clearly taking too long and he hurriedly pushed his hand through his dark hair with a frustrated sigh.

“The venom works quickly, you only have about five more minutes before the it overtakes your nervous system and begins to liquify your internal organs. Which means someone needs to make you cum in the next five minutes to stave off the effects. Do… Do I have your consent to see you through this?”

I was most certainly not ready for this, to be afflicted with a venom that was going to take away my free will, let alone a man offering to help and asking for my consent before I was turned into a mindless sex machine who’s organs turn to mush. He was dangerously handsome, I could definitely do a lot worse, and the touch of his magic alone pulled me to him. What was I forgetting though? This damn pink fog was beginning to take over my vision and I had somehow inched myself closer to him, so close I was practically plastered against his front, the brush of the soft fabric of his suit making my blood roar.

“I trust you. I don’t know why, but I do. B-but what’s your name?”

He smirked, something dark and hungry crossing over his face, but the venom was pumping too thickly through my body for me to pay too much mind.

“Aleister Black. It’s a pleasure, (Y/N).”

There was no chance to respond, as Aleister had swooped in for a sinfully feverish kiss one hand cupping the back of my head and the other playing with the many straps of the neon bikini at my hip. The cool metal of his lip ring felt like a brand against my lips and a quick nip from his teeth had my lips parting to make way for him to deepen the kiss. My insides clenched at his touch and I was already so, so close. His lips began to trail downwards along my jaw line and he chuckled as I shivered against his lips.

I felt like I was burning up.

Every nerve was on a razor’s edge, to the point where every touch by a dancing partygoer and every touch of his lips against the bare flesh of my decollete was a pleasurable torture that bordered on pain. I couldn’t say what part of my body’s reaction was due to the guttural, primal attraction that drew me to him and what part was what that…. thing did to me.

It felt like someone put a live wire to my sweat drenched skin when he pushed his thigh between my legs and up against my core. The pressure on my hypersensitive center was delicious, already on the brink of release, and I couldn’t stop my hips, even if I had wanted to, from rutting against his firm, muscled thigh. Mere seconds had passed of my feverish grinding and the fabric of his suit pants were completely soaked by my desire.

My mouth was agape at the combination of friction and pressure in the place where I needed it the most and Aleister seemed to realize it. Both of his hands grasped my hips in a vice like grip and pressed me down hard and faster than I could manage against his thigh. His teeth clamped down on my earlobe and my release jolted through my body like I was struck by lightning.

I writhed in his arms, hips jerking shortly while my eyes rolled into the back of my head. Aleister hummed his approval, raspy foreign words spoken into my ear. My body eventually stopped shuddering, my chest heaving with my inhaled breaths and my heartbeat still fluttering like a hummingbird’s wings. The relief was only momentary however, then the lust was back and just as overwhelming as before.

I mewled in desperation, frantic for something, anything to bring relief to the pressure. The suited man in front of me made sure to double his efforts of dragging my core along his thigh, before gliding a hand underneath the small polyester triangles of my top. The rough pads of his fingers teased, then pinched the pebbled flesh of my nipple, the pleasure-pain sending jolts of pleasure directly to the tight bundle of nerves between my legs. Aleister caught my lips again, his tongue twisting with my own in the most ancient of dances.

The crush of the bodies around us was pressing me tight against him and it just took a sudden shove of a partygoer against me to send me into another orgasm at the rough treatment. Shudders wracked my body longer this time, the release feeling three times as strong as the one before it. It took several deep breaths to finally gain some semblance of control over my motor functions again, the white hot pleasure finally fading.

The pink fog that clouded my brain and my vision seemed to lessen in its density for just the barest of moments, long enough for me to begin to paw at the front of Aleister’s suit pants. He chuckled and swatted my hands away, only to be met with a high pitched whine that somehow came out of my mouth.

“You’re so cute when you pout.”

His affectionate words only served to double my effort in getting his pants off. His much larger hand grabbed both of my wrists and held them tightly, his once amused face now like stone.

“Sorry, beautiful. Not here, and most definitely not right now. I need to get you somewhere safe before others come for you.”

His magic swarmed me, the taste and feel of it overwhelming my already compromised magic. I weakly in his arms and against his magic for a couple of breaths, before I fell unconscious.

An undetermined amount of time later, I found myself splayed lewdly across the back seat of a large SUV, Aleister between my legs lapping at my core with abandon. I had only been conscious mere moments before I was shrieking his name and grasping at his hair. The pressure and pace with which his tongue had been moving lessened considerably as I rode out my pleasure, the shudders of my body slowly lessening.

It was then that I noticed the hastily drawn symbols on my thighs and lower abdomen, the vast majority of which I could not make out.

“What are these?”

My voice was so much breathier than I would have liked and Aleister looked up, the lower half of his face and beard glistening from the fluids of my core. I flushed brightly at the sight, arousal and embarrassment burning through me. His smile was predatory and filled with male satisfaction, the bright white a stark contrast with the darkness of his beard.

“Sex magic. Increases your pleasure while staving off the effects of the venom. I had to do something, you were starting to seize as I brought you to my car.”

The squawk I made would have embarrassed me further if I wasn’t so indignant.

“Sex magic?! Are you out of your fucking mind? I cannot be party to this!”

I scrambled to get up and he made no movement to stop me, still crouched over my lower body as still as a stone, waiting. I had no idea what he was waiting for, too preoccupied with looking for the skimpy bottoms of the neon bikini, when a muscle cramp unlike any I had ever felt before wracked my lower abdomen. I groaned and attempted to curl in on myself to try to quell the pain.

“You’re going to have to be party to it. The only other choice is to die. Now come to me, this is going to get worse before it gets better.”

The cramp passed for the moment, leaving me exhausted and weak.

“You talk as if you speak from experience.”

He hummed noncommittally, pressing a kiss to the skin of the top of my thigh, his tongue flicking across the gooseflesh that his kiss caused.

“Enough experience to know how long this will last. Your mind is coming back to you, but your body is still prey to the effects of the dhampir venom. It’s going to be a long night.”

I hesitated, just a moment too long, then I choked off a scream as another cramp seized me, this one even more vicious than the last. Aleister’s face was hard, before making short work of his button up dress shirt, the suit jacket in places unknown.

“Do you trust me?”

My eyes were bleary with tears of pain and I could barely make out his face through them. He’d seen me through this far, the only untoward thing he’d done was drawing symbols of profane magic on my body in sharpie, in an attempt to ease the process. There wasn’t even a question.

“Yes.”

I didn’t have the time to read into the flurry of emotion across his face or the way his magic rubbed and purred against me in a decidedly feline way. Aleister had practically lunged upwards to my lips, his kiss demanding and unrelenting. I groaned and arched upwards into him and into his mouth, returning his kiss with equal ferocity. I was so distracted by the flurry of our tongues, teeth, and the taste of myself that I barely noticed Aleister pushing his pants down his thighs.

It was the heavy press of the blunt head of his cock that made me pull away from his mouth with a gasp.

“Last chance. Say the word and I’ll do my best with my fingers and my mouth.”

His raspy words made me tingle in the most delightful of ways, the need in his voice pulling at the dark and primitive part of my psyche. The heavy pink fog had made its return with a dizzying speed and I frantically shook my head. I was just so… hungry for him.

“If you stop now, I could never forgive you.”

Aleister didn’t respond verbally, surging forward between my slick folds and not stopping until he bottomed out inside of me. My scream was wordless and he didn’t pause for a moment, his hips setting a bruising pace against my own. My hips were stuttering upwards into his, desperately craving every generous inch of him, needing more more more.

I was already on the brink, my magic crackling like lightening around me. It reached up to touch his skin, sizzling against the sweat and he groaned. Aleister began muttering in a language I was wholly unfamiliar with, his magic caressing along my skin so heavily it felt like an actual touch. He shifted ever so slightly and the heavy drag of his length inside of me caught that one spot that made me gasp at the immensity of the pleasure.

“Found it.”

I couldn’t be mad at his smug words, because they were delivered so breathlessly. Every thrust of his hips caught the hidden bundle of nerves inside of me, my hands clutching desperately at him as I mewled and moaned and writhed underneath him.

The orgasm was too big, too intense, and came on entirely too quickly for me to adequately prepare. I tried to say something, to warn Aleister, but his thrusts felt like they were driving the air straight out of my lungs. Then the knot that had been coiling inside of me snapped.

I remembered screaming, a sudden rush of fluid leaving me, and the delighted curses from Aleister’s mouth.

After that everything had faded and blurred into a rush of orgasms, different sex positions, and Aleister, most importantly Aleister. Somehow we had made it to a residential building and made it inside, unseen. My memory was hazy and I didn’t remember collapsing from exhaustion.

I woke in an unfamiliar bed, the silk sheets a sensory overload to my touch sensitive skin. The venom may have been out of my system, but it was still wreaking havoc on me. Religious and occult artwork decorated the walls of an otherwise sparsely furnished room and it took me some time to gather my bearings, the walls seeming to seep magic and the smell of Aleister surrounding me. There was an unfamiliar thrum in my chest and at the back of my mind, I could feel annoyance that wasn’t my own.

It took several moments, but I was able to gingerly make my way out of the bed, every muscle in my body screaming from the overexertion last night and my feminine flesh was almost painfully sore. I shuffled my way out of the bedroom, turning to what must have been the kitchen by the sound of a coffee machine and Aleister’s voice. I felt like I was being pulled by a cord towards him.

He was speaking with someone.

It wasn’t until I got further down the hall and closer to the kitchen, did I realize that he was speaking about me to someone on the phone.

“I understand that this was not what the bosses meant when they said to watch her, but what was I supposed to do?”

He paused, before chuckling.

“I’d like to see what you would have done with a pretty little thing like her begging for you.”

Hurt burned in my chest when he gave a bellow of a laugh. Was this some sort of sick cosmic joke?

“No, no, it was not like that. Dhampir venom. You just don’t get it though Michael. Her magic practically sings to me. That’s… its impossible to describe.”

He stopped speaking for a moment, running his hands through his hair.

“She knows that I used sex magic last night to fight off the venom last night. I just don’t think she realizes that her magic bound us together. It’s for the best though, the bosses will be thrilled that she’s ours now. And it wasn’t even as hard as they were making it out to be.”

Aleister paused at my gasp and took a breath. My magic had bound us last night?

“Dante, I must call you back.”

He hung up the phone, not turning to face me. Even through my shock and hurt, I was still struck by his terrifyingly beautiful appearance and the tattooed skin pulled taught over expanses of muscle. I wasn’t of the mind last night to have explored him as thoroughly as he had explored me.

“Did… did last night mean anything at all?”

Aleister turned towards me, his eyes suspiciously dark and molten, with a small and secretive smile on his face. I blinked and then he was in front of me, body heat seeping through the thin fabric of the t-shirt I wore. He filled my vision, all I could see, smell, and feel was him. Anticipation curled in my stomach and my breath was caught in my lungs.

“You were my mission.”

He hooked a long and tattooed finger underneath my chin and pulled me in for a kiss that was simultaneously chaste and claiming. I could feel my magic begin to crackle in the air as my anxiety began to rise. He could sense that between our neophyte bond, brushing his thumb against my lower lip to give me some comfort. Affection was all I could feel from him, with the barest traces of pity.

“There is nothing I wouldn’t have done to have you.”

I wanted to sob.

“Th-that’s not what I meant, Aleister, you know that.”

He gently pushed an errant strand of hair behind my ear, his fingers caressing slowly down my cheek. His touch was almost reverent and my skin seemed to hum with pleasure in the wake of the path of his digits.

“It’s all that mattered at the time.”

The lump in my throat felt like a boulder, cutting off my airflow. He may have answered my question, but I hated that I still had to ask.

“And now?”

He leaned in, his forehead resting against mine and one thick, tattooed arm snaking around my waist. Aleister’s magic washed over my skin like the heaviest of velvets and instinctively, I relaxed into him. This is what I was warned about, the bonding of magics like ours. We were two halves of the same coin, one light and one dark, forever drawn to each other by forces so much bigger than us.

“You are mine as I am yours. I would open the gates of Hell and let every demon loose before I let anyone, including my brothers and sisters, touch you.”

Aleister then ducked his head just a little further and caught my lips in a claiming, soul searing kiss. The touch of his lips did not quell my unease for what was inevitably to come. The… circumstances of our joining was sure to start a war.

#aleister black fic #aleister black imagine #aleister black smut #repost from the old blog #dog days of summer challenge fic #heathens verse

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sometimesambroswrites · 7 years

Note

Hey it's me again! do you still take prompts? If so,,,, malec going to see Hamilton and then discussing lams? Or smth along those lines idk exactly

First of all, it was very rude of you to introduce me to this pain. *harrumphs*There is one line, one line in this fic that I’m really proud of though :3 I don’t really have a lot to say because I’m asleep on my feet rn, but a few quick points1) nobody betae’d this, I didn’t even reread it so ... pls be gentle2) every single opinion here expressed about Hamilton, Burr, Laurens etc. comes strictly from convenience to the plot, I know nothing about them

Jokes aside, thank you so much for the prompt :3 I hope you like this!Also, yes, I just made Lin-Manuel Miranda a warlock.

Alec, of course, has no idea whatHamilton is. He knows who Hamilton is, but he just blinks atMagnus when he presents him with two tickets for Hamilton, fourthrow, central seats. Excellent tickets is what Magnus is tryingto say here. Not that it had been difficult getting them, Lin is agood friend, has been for a few centuries now, but still. Hewas expecting a bit more enthusiasm.

Fine. Never let it be said that MagnusBane gives up easily.

“A musical?”, Alec asks, scepticismheavy in his voice as he raises his eyebrows.

Magnus snatches the tickets from hishand: “A masterpiece”, he corrects.

Alec rolls his eyes: “But they justsing.”

“Who made you try Indian food”,Magnus says, pointing his finger at him, “even though you keptcomplaining and saying you wouldn’t like anything? Who would eatchicken tikka masala every single day now, hm?”

Alec raises his hands - wisely,because they both know Magnus could go on and on with similarexamples. Granted, there had been flops and mistakes like taking Alecto a gay Mundane club or taking him to a painting class for couples,but most of Magnus’ ideas had been, admittedly, fairly successful.

“Fine”, Alec says, “but I havethe right to complain throughout the whole thing and annoy you if Idon’t like it.”

Magnus grins, steps closer and says:“Of course,” and seals the deal with a quick kiss. He feels Alecsmile fondly.

Alec wears tight, black pants and asoft, grey, sweater with a white button down picking out from theneckline, and Magnus is a huge fan of Hamilton already.

They are almost, almost, late,because Magnus is wearing a black, see-through only if you’rewatching very closely, sheer shirt, tucked in his dark grey jeans, anembroidered dragon wrapped around his thigh, and Alec just sighs ohcome on when he turns around from where he’d been fixing hiscollar and sees Magnus.

Magnus grins at him, his shit eatinggrin, because he knows, and Alec simply glares at him whenMagnus pushes him away, lips red and eyes glossy, says: “Now it’llbe your fault if I don’t pay attention to this thing.”

Magnus keeps grinning.

They sit, Magnus’ fingers tangled inthe soft sleeve of Alec’s sweater; he can feel him tense besideshim, knows Alec isn’t comfortable with being surrounded by people,knows Alec has already memorized the exits and the routes to reachthem. He rests his head on Alec’s shoulder and Alec relaxes thetiniest bit, exhales, slips a bit lower on his seat and rolls hiseyes like he’s saying you know how I am. Magnus smacks anobnoxious kiss on his jaw.Then a voice says at thisperformance, the roles of Laurens and Philip will be played byAnthony Ramos and silence falls.

Alec is still sceptical at first,Magnus can tell. He’s watching distractedly, like he’s bored, andhe looks around half uncomfortable, half annoyed when people whistleand clap at the first Alexander Hamilton.

It only takes one performance for it tochange. By the time Aaron Burr, Sir is over, he’s completelyenraptured. His eyes are focused like when he’s training, his lipscurling in surprised smiles and annoyed frowns based on who’s onstage.(He seems to like Lafayette and Laurens, he’s fondlyannoyed every time Hamilton talks - he knows they’re both thinkingJace - but he can’t figure out how he feels about Burr. Hejust gets this weird frown on his face every time he’s on stage.

Also, Magnus is perfectly aware of thefact that he’s watching Alec more than he’s watching the stage,but he can’t really help himself.)

He sees him laugh and pay attention tothe lyrics, sees how he relates to the soldiers, how his eyes are wetand bright when Laurens belts out tomorrow there’ll be more ofus surrounded in a blue light, how he aches for Philip’s death,how he laughs every time King George is on stage.

He sees him stand up and clap at theend, eyes bright.

Magnus knows they’ll have to see itagain, because he doesn’t really remember anything apart fromAlec’s expressions.

Alec is rambling about strategies and Ican’t decide if that was bold or plain stupid and can youbelieve it they bet everything on morale and do you have booksabout George Washington and yes, I know, you’d told me so,and Magnus is more than happy to hang off of his arm as he eats hishot-dog and stay as close to him as possible, trying to steal some ofhis warmth as he listens to him. Alec doesn’t ramble oftenabout things he likes, but when he does it’s the most fascinatingthing ever. He’s incredibly smart and sharp and sees things in waysMagnus often doesn’t, and the fact that it was Magnus whointroduced him to Hamilton makes it all the more satisfying.

They are walking in silence, have beenfor probably twenty second because Magnus had gently pointed out howAlec’s hot dog wouldn’t be very good when frozen, when Alec asks:“Am I Burr?”, with a frown on his face, the same Magnus had seenevery time Burr had been on stage. He asks quietly, like he didn’treally mean to but couldn’t quite hold it back.

Magnus looks at him for a moment, knowsthat simply saying no, what the hell wouldn’t help, so heasks: “Why do you think you’re Burr?”

Alec shrugs, takes a final bite of hishot-dog: “I don’t know”, he huffs, “he always seems to wantto play it safe. Wants to please everyone. Ends up screwing uproyally.”, he shrugs again, “Sounds familiar.”

Magnus hums, tilts his head and holdson to Alec’s arm, doesn’t let him look away: “I don’t thinkthere’s anything wrong with wanting to please people, you know? Youjust have to find a balance so that you don’t forget yourself inthe meantime, what you stand for, who you want to protect. And that’ssomething you manage perfectly,” he adds, and Alec looks away anddown, a small smile curling his lips. It’s too dark to see, butMagnus is pretty sure there’s a pretty pink blush sitting on hischeeks.

“Also,” Magnus goes on, lighter,“if anything, you remind me of John. Laurens”, he adds, becausehe sees the question in Alec’s eyebrows before he asks out loud,“He too would do anything for what he believed was right. He wasstubborn when it came to his beliefs, he was incredibly smart, andmostly he was -- kind. Patient. Loyal to a fault.”He blinks,realizes Alec is watching him closely.

“Were you two -- a thing?”There’sno worry or anger or jealousy in the way Alec asks, simple curiosity,a drop of empathy in case the answer is yes, and Magnus shakes hishead, a small smile curling his lips: “God no. No, John only hadeyes for Hamilton.”

He sees Alec’s eyes widen insurprise: “Laurens and Hamilton?”

Magnus hums, nods: “They were --well, together, in their own way, from the moment they met untilJohn’s death.”

He doesn’t add maybe longer buthe remembers how Hamilton seemed to have lost something after John’sdeath, how he’d never been the same. When news of his death hadreached him, Magnus had wondered if maybe he’d aimed his gun alsobecause he’d thought of John, of how he was waiting for him on theother side.

He sees Alec mull it over, sees how heworks all the pieces together, Angelica and Eliza and John anddifferent kinds of love, for the politician and the soldier and theman.

He sees sadness settle in his eyes. “Itmust have been difficult”, he says, leaves the sentence like thatbecause there’s really no need to finish it.

Few things about Hamilton and John’slife had been easy.

He sees the sadness in his eyes and hecan’t stand it, knows the thoughts running in his head, so he says:“You know, I really didn’t like Hamilton. I found himobnoxious and loud and stubborn. He talked too much and he gave me aheadache more than once. So I asked John what he saw in him and Johnsaid when I’m with him the perfect world feels like it’s justone breath away. So when I heard that John had died I -- I feltlike I had to check on Hamilton, for him, so I wrote to him andHamilton wrote back saying I’ll build for him a world sobeautiful he’ll have to come back.”

He blinks, holds Alec’s hand tighter,feels Alec’s fingers brush his cheek, his arm around his ownshoulder, a brief kiss in his hair.

He thinks that that’s really thepoint, the only point. Going on without forgetting. Wrapping yourselfin pain, letting it hold you up until you can do it yourself.

Alec murmurs: “Let’s go home,”against his forehead, and Magnus wraps his arms around his waistsing-songs: “This is an order from your commender,” andAlec huffs, smiles.

He knows every single word of everysong by the next time they go see Hamilton.

#otp: heart & soul #malec #malec fic #malec fanfic #malec fanfiction #magnus bane #alec lightwood #shadowhunters #shadowhunters fic #shadowhunters fanfic #ambros writes #merinfandomland

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overwatchochelp · 7 years

Photo

Overwatch OC Review: Phuong Nguyen, “Phuong”

Sent in by @kokizuki! @chiefpharah! Review under read more.

Appearance: Phuong is 5'3" tall with black hair and near black eyes. her default skin is her stage magicians outfit! she wears a dark violet jacket with tailcoats over a white button up, accompanied with dark violet slacks. her accessories include: a violet + red velvet top hat, a velvet bow tied under her collar, a yellow rose, pearl earrings, and a belt full of canisters.

Effective design! It certainly matches Overwatch’s charm for being thematic and detailed.

she got her gauntlets and leg prosthetics from her former circus to complete her stage outfit. her gauntlets are hard light compatible, and she uses them for her magic acts, including the production of her throwing knives (her standard weapon).

Full name: Phuong Nguyen (both common Vietnamese names)

Callsign: it’s just Phuong! she’s a performing magician, so unless you strongly recommend a stage name, i want her to be addressed by her first name

Judging by how she styles herself, I think she’d be suited for a bold stage name. Performing magicians always present themselves with an air of superiority and awesomeness- it’s how they win the audience.

At least, that’s my understanding of performing magicians. “Phuong” is still fine too.

Age: 29 years old

Sex: female

Sexuality, romance: a lesbian very comfortable in her sexuality! :> i ship her with Tracer and Emily romantically, but it’s not canon in her lore because i simply can’t find a way to connect them story-wise?

Both at once? So it’s a polyamorous lesbian triangle. It will be difficult to pull it off since it’s not confirmed (according to my information) if they are open to polyamory, so if you want it canon you’ll have to push your headcanons on canon characters. The shipping is harmless though.

Nationality: Vietnamese

Ethnicity: Vietnamese, as well!

Language/s: Vietnamese, English, Russian (from her former work)

Base of operations: Saigon, Vietnam (but she travels frequently due to her work)

Occupation: Phuong’s a solo-performing magician! she built up her reputation from her former circus by making acts primarily with hard light, a new practice in the entertainment world. as a very well-known celebrity from both her talent and charm, she often tours to spread as much happiness and hope as she physically can.

Affiliations: Dove’s Eye Circus (formerly)

GAME WISE

Health: 200

Armor: 0

Shields: 0

Role: offense! i picture her as a ★★-difficulty fast-moving player who does well at close combat, due to her higher melee damage, and someone who can easily jump into the fight when a bulk of her team is already there. she’s extremely mobile at a level similar to Genji, especially with her passive. an effective Phuong playing style is using height advantage to use Clapperclaw and getting as close to use melee. (as a lil heads up though, most of my worry about her is her move set being too defense-y, so additional attention would be greatly approached!)

Weapons: her main weapon is knives she rapidly produces with her hard light gauntlets! her primary fire is Light Toss (left mouse), which is long range. its default is throwing 2 knives at a time, but it’s chargeable (like Zenyatta’s secondary fire) to have a set of 2/4/6 knives. the charge time for each stage is .2 seconds, output is 8/14/28 damage, and reload time is 1.7 seconds.

Secondary fire: none

Melee: she slashes with two knives, with an output of 60 damage (that might be too high though?)

Maybe so. I’m not sure about the usual melee damage range of Overwatch heroes, but I believe cutting it down to 45 damage should do it.

Abilities:

Review posted in your updated ability post!

- passive: High Jump (due to her prosthetics, Phuong is able to jump higher distances, accessing heights others may not be able to reach; can also grip walls for .5 seconds)

- shift: Clapperclaw (at a high distance in midair, Phuong directs her fall at her target, damaging them with her claws; 50 damage, 3 second cooldown)

- e key: Bullet Catch (can catch bullets/projectiles with her gauntlets, but does not direct them back, kind of like a half Genji deflect; duration 3 seconds, 8 second cooldown)

- right mouse: Dove’s Ditty (short range, healing for one ally (attaches to closest teammate, prefers teammate with lowest hp), heals 50 health per 3 seconds, 15sec cooldown)

note: i’ve listed three abilities, but i was thinking that the additional ability makes up for her lack of secondary fire (like Doomfist).

Ultimate: Phuong’s ult is Chainsaw Trick, which traps enemies in a radius within hologram boxes she creates with hard light. In the next sequence of her animation, she pulls a chainsaw out of her hat to attack her trapped enemies. The chainsaw has enhanced damage with 95 damage per swing. The enemies that aren’t currently being sliced by her chainsaw are stunned for a 5 second duration.

Signature quote: hostile, self ult line is “Ready for my showstopper?” and friendly ult line is “Tune in for the show!”

Skins: her rare skins are based off suits of cards! she also has two epic skins: Rock Dove (which is based on her dove/magic theme) and Lotus (the national flower of Vietnam).

her legendary skins include: Ao Dai (a traditional Vietnamese dress meant for the Lunar New Year Event), Skvader/Wolpertinger (not yet designed; based off the similar mythological winged rabbits), and Prophetess/Soothsayer (not yet designed; meant to be fantasy sorcerer kind of clothes).

I love the inclusion of Vietnamese cultural elements. Overwatch is a highly culturally diverse organization and it makes me glad to see people make use of that fact.

LORE WISE

Bio(short): i’m not very confident in my full bio, so i held off from making a short one!

Bio(full): she grew up in the first Omnic Crisis in Saigon, Vietnam. her parents were poor farmers, and she spent her childhood helping them + going back and forth from the city running errands for extra cash. as a young adult in her 20s, she found work in Dove’s Eye Circus after her enthusiasm for their work was reviewed by the ringleader. when she was taken in, she did some maintenance work helping the circus travel (Dove’s Eye performed in a route from Vietnam to Russia).

How did the first Omnic Crisis affect her in Saigon? You can also reason why it didn’t, but you better be good. The global omnic uprising isn’t exactly something anyone can sleep over.

the circus carried and left cargo at certain pit stops which confused Phuong, but she paid no mind to it (the circus was kind enough to gift her a job so why question it?). after receiving a shipment of hard light tech, the circus taught Phuong to create magic acts with it. since hard light was still incredibly new to the public (i estimate this is around the time Vishkar introduced hard light), Phuong became a sensation w the circus’s already existing popularity.

How did a travelling circus acquire such cutting edge technology? If it is around the time hard light technology was unveiled the world, then I don’t believe Vishkar’d let any little bit just slip away from them.

she enjoyed her work immensely, making people smile as she did when she first saw the circus, and developed a very attached loyalty to the circus. in a stop to Russia, while dropping off shipments, her circus was violently attacked by a Talon branch to steal their cargo. in the fight, Phuong got blasted by a grenade and lost her legs from the knee down.

You can probably align this with my earlier point. Instead of a Talon team, it could be criminal mercenaries under the employ of Vishkar.

she had to stay in recovery for weeks under the medical care of the circus staff, and once she was given prosthetics, she fell even deeper in her loyalty to Dove’s Eye.

How so? What drew her closer to Dove’s Eye, seeing replacements of her loss? Or is it the realization of how important Dove’s Eye really is to her? Is it from reeling from the heat of battle did she understand her love for the circus?

when she recovered though, she couldn’t let go of the Talon attack and the shifty business the staff had when transferring goods to and from stops. after some snooping through logbooks and laptops, she learned that the circus was illegally distributing + selling, and even stealing, tech and weapons for money. page after page, screen after screen, she found herself horrified that she was associated with such a corrupt organization. however, her extreme loyalty to the circus made her reluctant to think of resisting. despite her newly-gained knowledge, she not only went along w their illegal activity, but also cooperated with them, as the staff knew of Phuong’s revelations. she helped them transfer their goods through strictly negotiations, though she sometimes got into physical fights in the name of self defense and defense of her coworkers.

Admittedly, it does take a lot for someone’s loyalty and trust in a group that feels like home to them to waver in the face of a terrible truth. However, it doesn’t feel like you adequately established her loyalty. How did she grow to love the circus? Her job? Did her fellow performers feel like family? Did she enjoy the constant moving? What made her so loyal?

What led her to cooperate with something she found so hideous? Did she figure she would get punished? Did the punishment weigh more to her than the morally upright path?

Phuong continued w her magic acts, which gave her comfort in the suddenly unfamiliar environment she placed so much trust in. when the Second Omnic Crisis broke out, Phuong had extreme guilt about how much her circus was contributing to the new war in Russia through their distributions of tech and weapons to both sides. with information she fought for and stole from the ringleader, she exposed the hell out of her circus and was an integral part to their shutdown. from then on, Phuong performed solo and rose to be an international celebrity from her experience and charm

Personality: Phuong is a very coolheaded person who is dedicated to her craft and life mission. her life mission? to spread hope and happiness to those around her, no matter the cause. and she takes it extremely seriously, making her a very altruistic and charitable person. she takes it to the point where her obsession causes her to neglect her own needs and wants (but i’ll save that for later! :>)

like i’ve mentioned before, Phuong’s a successful magician and entertainer, so she’s naturally a charismatic and people pleasing person. what kinda makes her stand out to her fans though is the extent of compassion and exhaustion she’ll push herself for her fans. she’s on tour often and is constantly trying to think of new tricks to satisfy her audience and is always trying to make her fans smile and laugh a lil. she tends to be hands on w her fans, frequently having meet and greets and runs past her own security to high five a fan. maybe two. she’s as involved as she is because she solely believes that her life purpose is to give people hope and happiness. (take note: she feels she’s FATED for this, it’s not just an interest) (also, the repetition of hope comes from her dove theme!)

Beautiful character ;-;

with company, she’s a good conversationalist with the right amount of snark and is pretty chill. she likes to flirt and tease and finds nothing in it, so she doesn’t get flustered by it when other people do the same. she will, however, be very grateful and almost shy if you tell her how much you respect her work and spirit.

Not too shy I hope! A magician’s best quality is their confidence!

Relationships: i don’t mention Overwatch in my bio? i think she could be recruit material due to her knowledge of hard light, so these are possibilities if i decided to add Overwatch to her bio! these would affect in-game interactions too, i suppose

- Tracer and Emily: Phuong very much admires Lena as the embodiment of compassion and determination she is! Phuong also loves Emily for her cheeriness, and the three are just a bunch of big ol lesbians

- Symmetra: Phuong’s paid attention to Satya’s hard light work through media (since Phuong also uses hard light for magician work), and although she admires Satya for her skill, she feels sorry for her. Phuong herself has been tied to a criminal circus she dedicated her life to, so she feels some sympathy to Satya’s misguided loyalty to Vishkar.

Looks like it’s a distant relationship. Which brings to mind: how would Phuong try to approach Satya? Knowing her own troubled past, what would she come up with?

- Zarya: she finds Zarya very admirable due to her strength and how she gave up fame for her country, and Zarya finds Phuong interesting due to her beginnings in a Russo-Viet circus. they could sometimes be found talking about the beauty of Russia or working out together.

- Lúcio and D.va: Phuong is also a celebrity, so she’s sometimes chatting it up with them!

i can list a ton of other interactions, but basically she gets along with most people. in her canon lore, she admires Overwatch for their core motivation to uphold peace (and has a little bit of a crush on Tracer since she’s the poster girl). she also has an opinion on Talon, but in that she absolutely despises the destruction and harm they cause wherever they go and also that y'know. they kind of demolished her legs

Strengths: as previously stated, she’s not only hardworking but also a huge people pleaser to those she respects. because of this, she’s willing to perform to her extent to complete any task given to her, and maybe a lil more if she’s eager. Phuong is also a charismatic person and finds it easy to get along with other people, allowing her to work in a team and to draw people to her. physically, she’s an alert person and is quick on her feet, ready to slice and dice anytime.

Weaknesses: she’s willing to work to her extent, but that commonly means beyond her physical extent. she drives herself to exhaustion if left unattended and can sometimes become paranoid, making her waste more energy and ammo spent on her fear. Phuong is also an easily manipulated person, in that she realizes she’s being manipulated but allows it to go on due to her obsession with pleasing people. though it’s easy for her to focus on tasks, she also finds it hard to commit herself to people themselves, due to her complications with misplaced loyalty in Dove’s Eye. she finds herself distrustful of strangers and coworkers alike at times, tensed for them to reveal some horrible truth harming others. to somewhat cope with this, she tends to tease to feel “unattainable” and play hard to get with people who want to know her past friendly coworkers.

Glad to see the terrible, two-faced aspect of totally giving to others made manifest in this character.

Likes: she absolutely loves birds, especially pigeons and doves! she finds them extremely charming and finds delight in the coincidence that their symbolism corresponds with her life mission. she also takes an interest reading up in modern technology, especially in the realm of hard light (though she isn’t picky). romcoms are also her thing, since she loves the idea of, well, love and how it can make people happy. she also appreciates the comedy and often stores it in her mind to spice up her magic shows.

Dislikes: she is not a fan of overly authoritative, bossy people. she gets that there needs to be order, but if the person in command doesn’t deserve the respect in her mind, she’s very passive aggressive. on a more material side, she finds dolls uncomfortable in that they’re always in one expression and look kinda fake. and wooden floors. she loves how they look but can’t stand the idea of walking on them and scratching them up with her prosthetics.

Hobbies: as predictable as it is, bird watching! she loves writing down the birds she sees in a lil logbook and feeding them if she can. even when she’s not on a bird watching quest, you can bet she’ll whip out her phone to take a pic of a parakeet in a bird store she just finds adorable. Phuong also likes to dance and collect little things. she just got off her button high and is now collecting rocks

Extra: her general theme is magic and doves, especially their symbolism, so i hope that was apparent in my submission! but other than that, i think that’s it! thank you so so much for reading this in advance!! <3

Verdict:

I find Phuong to be a beautifully fleshed out character! She is exceptionally well designed, especially with the gauntlets and prosthetics. I would recommend you add some gold accents on her suit and hat, because the abrupt change from the golden tech to her dark purple clothing can be a little jarring. Perhaps some gold stripes on her shoulders, pant legs, and hat brim ought to do it.

“Recommend” is probably more in a personal taste here. The design stands on its feet well enough without further changes! (I just realized that might be a backhanded remark at Phuong’s... Uh.)

Her backstory stands well enough too, but some lack of detail makes it falter. See if you can try rewriting the climax of it, where Phuong finds out the Truth. You’ll find you’ll be able to sufficiently establish details this time around, I’m sure.

Her character is absolutely well done! The consistent inclusion of her general theme is a fine touch. Her quality of appearing perfectly amicable and peaceful on the outside while being perfectly not on the inside is quite well established too. It’s good if you put this detail into the conclusion (as it is) of her backstory. Perhaps it should go on to enumerate how her experience with Dove’s Eye changed her being.

Overall, Phuong is an excellent character. I recommend going over this sheet again and try rewriting some of the backstory. It has been the one I considered more thoroughly than the others. Good luck, and thank you very, very much for waiting. I know I’ve taken so much from your patience, and am very thankful you still hit me up after a long, long while.

Cheers.

-Mod Jager

#overwatch oc #oc review #phuong nguyen #chiefpharah #OC development #mod Jäger #submission

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oumakokichi · 7 years

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Hm, I've been wondering.. is there any reason why the survivors color scheme are red and black? Or there isn't anything at all? :0 I'm not sure if someone have talked about this, and I was curious so..

This is a pretty fun question! I wouldn’t know if there’sany definitive reason per se, but I do feel like it represents a pretty strongstylistic choice. There’s some pretty heavy imagery revolving around red andblack throughout the DR franchise, so the choice of having all three survivorsfeature that color scheme in one way or another feels like it does havemeaning, at least in my opinion.

When I mention red and black having strong imagery, I thinkno one could disagree that those are probably the two colors that mostrepresent “despair” in the entire franchise. Junko’s uniform most heavilyfeatures red and black, and the black side of Monokuma’s face having an ominousred eye has been a trademark of the series ever since the beginning. Unlikendrv3’s opening, which features purple eyes for all the characters to highlightthem as potential “liars,” red eyes and shadowy imagery usually indicate “despair”in some way—there was a lot of that with the sdr2 characters at the end of DR:Hope, if I remember correctly.

“Hope,” by contrast, usually is represented by greens,browns, and occasionally white (though there’s certainly some white in bothJunko and Monokuma’s design as well). These much more neutral, lighter colorsare often associated with the idea of hope in real life as well as DR, so it’snot surprising they’d be used to indicate a certain mood or idea. And theycontrast well from the darker, heavier colors associated with “despair.”

It’s extremely interesting to me that all three survivors inndrv3 very deliberately have color schemes which are almost entirely red andblack, considering I don’t think there’s ever been a survivor with thatparticular color scheme in either of the other two main games. The onlycharacter who you could perhaps make a case for is Syo, rather than Fukawa,considering the red eyes and all the blood imagery—but then again, she’s aliteral serial killer, so you could argue just as well that the red and blackimagery still represents a “despair” of some sort there.

Ndrv3 is all about breaking the trends of the previous DRgames and subverting our expectations. That’s exactly what happens during theChapter 6 trial, when Kiibo as the protagonist begins trying to rally everyone’sspirits and talk about hope and cooperation and working together, only for Saiharato interrupt bitterly saying, “What do you mean ‘hope’?” Saihara rejects theidea of hope entirely, especially as it’s presented in the killing game show:he’s smart enough to realize that this “hope” is exactly what the audiencethemselves wants to see, and hurt and tired enough that he literally says itwould be better to pick the “despair” option in Tsumugi’s choice if it meansnot playing into the audience’s expectations.

Despair, then, takes on a very different tone and feeling inndrv3 compared to previous games. By choosing not to pick hope, Saihara alsochooses not to reject despair. Technically, he picks neither, opting in the endfor an answer that would be the most disappointing to Team Danganronpa and theaudience by rejecting the game altogether. But it’s still very interesting thatdespair itself, the idea of just giving up and refusing to cooperate or pulltogether or do the usual DR thing of everyone believing in themselves, is stilla better choice in a way than playing into the usual tropes of friendship andhope overcoming the evil of despair.

The Hope’s Peak arc has made a few attempts over the lastfew installments to try putting hope and despair as concepts on a more evenfooting and question whether hope is really good or whether despair is entirelyevil—but I feel like it never really accomplished that task fully. When dealingwith such obvious moral dilemmas and ideals like hope and despair, the twotended to get used as a rather obvious stand-in for “good vs. evil.” And it’shard to make a case that being evil is not entirely a bad thing or that beinggood can be worse than being evil when you’ve got people literallymass-murdering others on one side, and people saving the day and being friendsand trying to keep others alive on the other.

Thankfully, ndrv3 deals far more with questions of moralambiguity and more vague concepts like “truth vs. lies,” rather than hope ordespair. There’s a definite sense the entire time in ndrv3 that dealingstrictly in ideals will only get you killed, and that’s really fun to playwith, especially when the game itself starts playing on our expectations ofseeing the whole plot shift back to Hope’s Peak Academy.

Ndrv3 really did succeed for the first time, I think, intreating hope and despair both like very dangerous concepts, rather than twoideals which need to be pitted in a life-or-death battle. And it was very funto see the idea that despair itself was the lesser of two evils in the killinggame show per se. Despair at least was real within the killing game. The painand suffering the characters experienced, the loss of their loved ones, theirdismay and horror at realizing they had nowhere to go in the real world—all ofthese things constituted as very real despair.

Even the audience in the outside world per se experiencedwhat I would call something very close to “despair” on a pretty regular basis,regardless of how the state of the outside world might or might not be inndrv3. The glimpses we get of the young boy named Makoto in Chapter 6, theimplications of Saihara’s audition video, and Tsumugi herself all suggest thatthe monotony and pressure and boredom of outside society has made it impossiblefor certain people to live at all without throwing themselves into DR as anescape.

Considering how much boredom and the idea of seekingexcitement and entertainment is veryintentionally linked with despair (despair itself is Junko’s only solution tothe problem of boredom, after all), I would say that it’s not a stretch to saythat the outside world in ndrv3, or at least those who can’t perform or keep upwith societal expectations, are “in despair.”

“Hope,” meanwhile, is… well, fairly nonexistent in ndrv3, atleast not until Kiibo’s sacrifice at the very end of the game. I don’t thinkMonokuma was necessarily lying when he says in Chapter 5’s post-trial that “hopedoesn’t exist anywhere in Saishuu Academy.” Every single moment that has to dowith hope in ndrv3 is a carefully crafted lie meant to trick the charactersinto continuing the killing game, rather than ending it. There’s no such thingas Hope’s Peak Academy (or if there is, the Hope’s Peak arc at least isentirely unrelated to the ndrv3 characters’ struggles), and the choice of “hope”and “graduation” is actually the worst possible one during the Chapter 6 trial.

The audience wants to see the characters reach “hope” in theend—and that means that they want to see them first suffer, struggle, andovercome “despair.” The two ideals can’t exist without one another. As long asthe outside audience wants to keep seeing the characters “hope,” they’re goingto have to keep “despairing” first, and that means that the killing game showitself will keep going for the sake of entertaining and providing people what theywant. And this kind of “hope” is very much a false hope, something that canhardly be called “hope” at all when you know it exists solely for the sake ofmaking people suffer.

This brings me back to all the “despair” imagery with thecharacters. Red and black are so prominent in Saihara’s, Maki’s, and Himiko’scolor schemes that I can’t help but feel that them being the three survivorsrepresents a subversion from the survivors of the previous games. Ending the gamewith three survivors who have very much experienced despair and rejected hope,who very much gave up their lives entirely and would have all died had Kiibonot sacrificed himself for their sake, has a very different feeling than thevery hopeful, looking-towards-the-future sort of messages of both dr1 and sdr2.And it also, I think, helps put emphasis on the whole idea of “the end ofDanganronpa” and stepping away from the killing game show itself.

It might be a stretch, but just like Ouma in Chapter 5 saidthat he wanted to make both the ringleader and the audience themselves taste “truedespair” in order to get back at them for making them suffer, I wouldn’t besurprised if the three survivors having a color scheme so heavily associatedwith despair was meant to come back to that idea a little bit. After all, endingDanganronpa means ending “everyone’s hope.” It was a taste of despair forpeople like Tsumugi and Team DR itself.

This is, of course, just my interpretation! There’s probablysymbolism to be interpreted from the whole thing, but I also wouldn’t doubtthere’s a certain element of “well, red and black are just really popular inthis year’s video games.” At least, that seems to be the case judging byPersona 5 coming out around the same time. Anyway, thank you for asking! I hada lot of fun answering this one!

#ndrv3 #drv3 #new danganronpa v3 #dangan ronpa #danganronpa #ndrv3 spoilers //#my meta #okay to reblog #anonymous

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