#plot drop 3

[corinthbayrpg]

Shed down a kindly ray from above upon my life, and strength of war, that I may be able to drive away bitter cowardice from my head and crush down the deceitful impulses of my soul.  – Homeric Hymn to Ares

Ares, son of Hera and Zeus, has always had anger in his heart. It was no secret that he was the least favorite, the most bloodthirsty of all the gods. Even Hera could not curb his desire for war, or his aggression that seemed to rule his life. Dionysus, the son of princess Semele and Zeus, had garnered Hera’s own hatred due to Zeus – but at what cost? It wasn’t Dionysus’ problem, to say the least. The god of pleasure and madness wasn’t built to ensnare himself with the will of the gods. Ares, despite his tactics, found himself enraged by the happenings on earth. Was it worth all this effort that they were putting out? For Artemis and Circe to become so wrapped up in their creations; for Atropos to intervene – why must there always be a side? 

Ares created his own side of the war. Dionysus, following his brother’s lead if only to bother him, also decided this was not worth his time. Being the god of madness, Dionysus wanted to add to the fray – a side that had a choice. He’d never had one, and the punishments carried out by Hera all those centuries ago seemed trivial compared to this. The veil was weakening, it was unstable. If they were going to act, now was the time. The other gods couldn’t control the creatures that they had made so long ago, and if releasing them into Corinth Bay was a disruption? Well, they were going to do it.

With Dionysus at his most powerful during the Carnivale of Corinthia, he released his Kobaloi into the fray. Creatures of madness and trickery, of glamour and magic, they were everything Corinth Bay seemingly wouldn’t need. They had no side, and they had no allegiance, even to Dionysus himself. He wanted the madness and the pleasure, and the freedom, that came without asking his followers to abide by the rules the other gods and goddesses of Olympus had put into place. Ares, deliberately ignoring Hera’s warnings, released his Sphinx into the city. Another creature meant to answer the burning questions that most would have, but not without a price or a wager. Borrowed from an ancient civilization from before them, and a goddess of war, the Sphinx was made anew in recent years, and unleashed back into the world in 1858 after the tear. Now, both the Kobaloi and Sphinx are being summoned to Corinth Bay, to instill madness into the hearts of those who deserve it. 

But it didn’t end there. No, it never would. Hidden under the vengeful and petty acts of Dionysus and Ares was someone else. Or perhaps many others. With a combined power, they sought to harm. Tricks would do nothing but hinder them, it was true pain and madness that they were after. With a whisper of curses and combined power, the strangers gathered at the former temple of Aphrodite, now long forgotten after the parade had filed through it, and called upon the hidden power of the veil, the power that was within their veins. A fog settled in over the bay city, though the Carnivale didn’t consider itself finished. The effects of this fog, however, was dependent upon the species it affected. And this was simply the beginning.

OOC Information under the cut:

WOO okay, lots to unpack here.

Dionysus and Ares decided they were over their siblings and their pettiness, so they wanted to fight petty with petty. Kobalos and Sphinx are now playable species. There are 2 spots open for each, any gender.

Someone, or many someones, gathered at the Temple of Aphrodite (where the parade began) and performed a ritual. This ritual has caused an adverse effect on every species. Please read below for the affect it will have on your characters:

Humans are experiencing nightmares and restless sleep.

Vampires feel an insatiable burning in their throat, no matter how much blood they drink, and no matter the type (ex: human, witch etc).

Werewolves are confined to their human form. They are unable to shift despite the desire to do so, causing a general uncomfortableness in their human form.

Shapeshifter’s shifting is very painful, and they have to shift daily to release the pent up pressure inside of them that is making them shift. This also affects the originals, Petrichor and Nemea.

Witches cannot control their magic, both the element and their additional ability. The element will not respond accordingly, and their ability is almost muted.

Genasi dark magic spells cause them immense pain, including the control of their element.

Cubi’s energy is always low, no matter what. They are unable to heal their own wounds without becoming exhausted.

Morgan Hunters are unable to sense vampires. They feel very human and feel exhausted all the time, as well as feeling the pain from over-exerting their bodies during a vampire fight.

Reapers & Phoenixes are currently unaffected. 

We will post an end to the event on May 12th. The Carnivale is still happening, there is a layer of fog throughout the city, day and night, and the new species can be applied for immediately to be accepted during the next acceptance on May 13th.

[technicolor-laura]

@valentiincs​

Laura sank into the corner of one of the family room couches, curling into it almost as if for protection.  Left anxious and exhausted by the press conference, she’d been half tempted to hide in her room.  She was afraid that might appear standoffish after the question she’d received, though, so she’d grabbed her book and hoped the shared space would be quiet.  

It actually took her a moment to realize she wasn’t alone.

“Oh, hello Damien,” she greeted him, setting the book beside her and uncurling slightly.  “How was your...” she knew how he’d spent the day, she realized too late. “Press conference?”

[ben-ravencroft]

Gendry was finally heading North- well him and everyone else who had pledged themselves to defeating the undead. But he was finally going to North and so was Arya. He hadn’t been able to talk to her before everyone packed up their belongs and set forth on the Kingsroad. He had been busy making as many weapons with what dragonglass he had left before they all left for the North though he knew more would be on the way soon enough, hopefully, if the groups staying behind to mine were successful. He traveling with the rest and packed up what little he had brought with him; mostly his own tools than anything personal. One couldn’t take much on the road but Gendry never had much to his name anyways. 

They had made camp after their first day of travels and Gendry was itching to gift the spear he had crafted for Arya. They were heading towards the enemy, one of the enemies, and he wanted her to have the weapon she had wanted him to make for her. He had felt awkward asking for her around camp so he walked around looking for her with the weapon clutched in his head. He didn’t know how long he looked but he rounded a tent and finally saw the face he had been looking for. He grinned as he set his eyes on her, bringing his hands behind him so he could hide the spear for a moment. “M’Lady,” Gendry greeted, “May I speak to you for a moment.”

@xagirlisnoonex

[reeselongdon-blog]

@herblindingfaith

Happy the music store was close today, Reese gladly attended the Mayor’s speech knowing it was better than being in his apartment by himself and at his mom’s. The last thing he remembered was clapping with everyone else in agreement, then everything went black and all he could hear were screams. He opened his eyes only to feel a throbbing pain towards the back of his head, he touched it only to see he was bleeding. Feeling dizzy, he laid on the ground only for someone to put what he guessed was a cloth or something under his head due to the bleeding and an ice pack he ask for to stop the headache that came with the throbbing pain. “This sucks.” He muttered to no one. 

[songbvrd]

“you really think we’re safe bringing new people in here?” carol asked morgan, her blue eyes fixed on him. they hadn’t always seen eye to eye, not in the slightest. but carol trusted morgan. she respected morgan. 

( @ihavetoclear )

[worstloki]

when u've just been through the most harrowing experience of your life (your brother lied to you) (and also u got a gf) and then have no idea what the end fight of the movie is about even though you're the main character of like, life,

(source)

[imelodie]

she’d been hunkered down in the forest ever since she’d seen the huge walls surrounding this, so when the fires started she was left with no where else to go but to wander.. wander until someone found her, gave her the option to come join them, join them in the kingdom.. and she agreed.. knowing she would be better off somewhere like that.. especially with everything growing more dangerous on the outside, and he doubted that she’d make it on her own anymore, if the walkers didn’t get to her, dehydration would get her first.. the girl held onto the strap on her backpack as she stepped through the gates, her eyes instantly landed on a trough filled with rainwater.. and before she could even do anything else, she ran towards it, dropped down besides it to bring her hands down into and create a bowl so that she could drink it.. she didn’t care where it came from and who was looking, honestly she was just so thirsty that she needed it now..

[hcstilc]

“ look, zach... “ her voice was hoarse, unheard in so long that the sound startled her for a moment. she knew he didn’t know much of sign language, and normally, she’d just give up and use gestures, but cal wasn’t around. he wouldn’t have to here her. “ when we get to this new place... no one can know that i can speak, ok ? there’s people there that i--- i’ve hurt pretty badly and, well, we have to make sure they don’t recognize me. so if anyone asks, i’m deaf, ok ? and cal... he’s my translator. we have a plan, and none of it will work if people know that i can hear them. “ 

[bastardfae]

news had spread and it had spread fast. never usually finding himself particularly invested in gossip pertaining to occurrences within the castle, arnon felt his interest sharply pique as the radio beside the register broadcasted the news of the death of the councilman of portugal. straightening in his seat behind the counter as his initial surprise subsided in its intensity, arnon’s gaze quickly flickered toward the other lingering in the doorway of the store. “shit,” he laughs, his tone composed of both shock and amusement simultaneously, all professionalism entirely abandoned as the broadcast continued. “you’ve heard the news, right? that’s got to be a pretty humiliating way to bite the dust.”

@krovscastlestarters

[captain-noir]

been slowly making my thru the vc books and i can say now, with certainty that the show is in fact superior in almost every conceivable way. i think nostalgia was clouding my judgment but apart from iwtv and tvl and maaaybe qotd....these books are fucking ridiculous

[disappearinginq]

I’m rewtaching a favorite show of mine - well, up until season 4 favorite - Yellowstone, and I realize that they capitalized on an emotional topic to get out of shoddy writing and what I hate even more is that it worked. 

Jamie and Beth have hated one another from the get go, but between season 1 and season 2, it goes from ‘every sibling in this family somewhat hates the other one but they’re still kind of okay to one another’ to there’s a very intense hatred that wasn’t there before between these two specifically. 

There’s a few scenes where you can make a guess - Beth as a child is blamed for their mother’s death (by her mom herself) when Beth’s horse spooks into their mom’s and the horse crushes her. Okay, maybe that’s why Jamie doesn’t like Beth, and Beth just hates everyone because that’s pretty traumatic. Nope - you get another flashback where their mom is still alive on a Christmas when they’re all pretty young and you find out Beth has always been dramatic, and Jamie is complaining that they should just start opening presents without her because it will be New Year’s before she comes down. Okay, so they’ve always had issues. Some siblings are like that, I get it, fine. One girl, middle child, in a family of all cowboys and she also hates horses? Makes sense - drama is the only way for her to get attention. 

And then comes The Real Issue - some time after their mom dies,I assume Beth is 16 or 15 and Jamie is two years older and about to leave for college, his birthday is in December - so 17 ish. She’s been knocking boots with the other teenage ranch hand (who becomes the love of her life later on) and she winds up pregnant. Rather than go to her father, her older brother, or even the guy she’s been having sex with, she goes to the brother that she doesn’t particularly like, and asks him to take her to a clinic for an abortion. Their family is 6 generation famous - everyone knows this family, their business, etc. John Dutton runs this valley through fear and violence. They founded the town. So they can’t go to a Planned Parenthood, even several towns over, because people will still know and report back to John. So they go to the next door Reservation where Jamie shows his ID while his sister waits in the truck, and the nurse at the desk informs them that a stipulation in getting an abortion there is you’re sterilized. Jamie seems to think about it for a minute, goes back out to the truck with his sister, and tells her it’s okay to come in. 

From then on, Beth absolutely despises Jamie for the rest of their lives because ‘he prevented her from ever having kids without telling her about it.’

And this is where I lose it. 

I get why they picked it, bodily autonomy is a hot topic and so is the fact that indigenous women were sterilized by white doctors against their knowledge for years in a planned genocide. It made the audience so mad that they just stopped paying attention to the amount of holes in this plot. It might’ve even made this make sense if Beth wasn’t the white daughter of a homicidal white land baron who ran everyone and everything in the state of Montana. Why is the blame put squarely on the 17 year old (or the 15 year old) when clearly multiple adults somehow just....screwed the pooch? If you knew who’s kids those were, if you stopped and sort of paled at their last name, why would you not tell the one getting an abortion ‘hey - you sure about this?’ because that’s just too much WTF to expect a white doctor to recognize the rich white kid and say absolutely nothing - no consent form, no talking to her about it - why would you not question Jamie at that point? Why wouldn’t you question Beth? Is this rape? Is this abuse? YOU DON’T KNOW, THEY JUST DECIDED THE EMOTIONAL REACTION WOULD PREVENT PEOPLE FROM LOOKING TOO CLOSELY. Why would you sterilize the fifteen year old in secret when women who are in their 30′s have to get multiple doctors and a psych eval to get a hysterectomy, or tubes tied when their rationalization is ‘you might want kids some day?’ or ‘what does your husband have to say about it?’

Again, it’d would’ve made perfectly logical sense if it’d been an indigenous woman and a white boyfriend (or no boyfriend, or even her own husband, or literally just by being  indigenous). Why does no one question why Jamie was either 1) so angry at his sister that this is some pubescent revenge scheme (except it’s clearly shown that he regrets it - thank you Wes Bentley for caring about your character development when the writers didn’t) or 2) so scared of his dad finding out that his little sister is pregnant that he decides right then and there that getting sterilized is the best course of action? I mean, this is the dad who puts a branding iron to his youngest son (when he’s still a teenager) when he gets a woman from the Rez pregnant and refuses to take her to a clinic for an abortion like his dad tells him to. That’s the son he likes. So the threat is real that something bad would’ve happened if they told their father - bad enough that Jamie and Beth keep it a secret into their 40′s - but AGAIN - why is this on Jamie? And only on Jamie? Is it really that hard to make the leap that Jamie knew what his dad was going to do - drag his sister to a clinic anyways, and then quite probably kill the kid who knocked her up - the kid who winds up being her husband and her father’s favorite son? Why are we not putting the (or any) blame on John Dutton who was apparently so fucking awful at this point that they were scared to go to him and this was the better option? 

There’s too many parts in this story line that make absolutely no sense, or require a lot more guilty adults than just Jamie and Beth (should also note, that for the first season, Jamie and Beth, for having this horrible relationship and skeleton in the closet, still call one another when they’re in trouble - need a ride, need to confess something, try to save the ranch, etc - and then it just vanishes in season 2). 

Maybe I give Jamie too much leeway. Maybe it’s because I love Wes Bentley as an actor and keep watching the Behind the Story shorts on the DVDs where he explains Jamie’s motivation. Or maybe because I really fucking don’t like that they’re obviously trying to make Jamie the Bad Guy because he’s the adopted son and clearly, Adopted Kids are always the Bad Guy in media (I have never met a single adopted or foster kid who was like ‘yeah, my loyalty is to my Bio parent despite the fact that they were so fucking awful that I got taken away by the state and put in a much nicer home with people who actually want and love me, let me torpedo my adopted family’s lives straight into the shitter now that I have my bio family again’. But the fact that the entire fandom in a goddamn western has become like Team Iron Man vs Team Captain America because EmOtIoN irritates the fuck out of me because it’s excusing the writers for having absolutely no fucking idea what they’re writing about and just want drama for the sake of drama and never really thought out how this would actually go down. 

And this isn’t even touching on the fact that any child that Beth had would be emotionally or physically abused because that’s exactly what Beth does to the teenager she ‘adopts’ in season 4, because having a kid doesn’t automatically make you a better person - which they would know, if they looked at the amount of kids in foster care. 

[corinthbayrpg]

The parade far behind, the fog settled in throughout the city – the Carnivale dedicated to Dionysus and an age old tradition finally found its end. The city would spend the next evening cleaning up the city. The lights would come down, the flower trails would be swept away, and all costumes used in the parade the weekend prior would be tucked away to be improved upon for the following year, once Spring was ushered in once more. What wouldn’t stop was the Greek pride and tradition, and the music and sense of hospitality that flowed from Corinth’s residents to those that were strangers.

For the supernatural world, however, their ill side effects from the fog had yet to go away. The gods hadn’t bothered to intervene on their behalf. Perhaps that came as a surprise only to a few, the original shapeshifters that had so much faith that they were favorites – only to be given silence. Their children were in more pain then they were, but there was nothing stopping it. Those who had committed their energy to the city wide spell were letting it linger, sink in deeper than just the physical exhaustion. 

By Friday, the effects would be gone. Perhaps they would ebb the closer they got to the day, or those who are not as strong willed might feel the same effects as they had since it began. Either way, the gods had gone silent. Whether that was because of their own volition or they simply wanted to, only time will tell.

OOC Information:

The event is officially over. You are more than welcome to continue your event threads, we just ask no new ones begin.

Please feel free to make post event open starters. After 5 have been posted, please respond to at least 3 before posting your own.

The species specific effects of the plot drop will effect all characters until 5/15, this Friday. The effects will start to ebb if your character is proactive about it, and will vanish completely on Friday.

We will be accepting tomorrow, and by Friday we will be back on our usual acceptance schedule.

[majorpepperidge]

oooo i love overdesigning characters for one reference and then simplifying it later ooooo

[tianhai03]

was playing ffxv again last week so here’s some gladio doodles + a fixed and colored version of one of those doodles bc. him :) <333

[tiptapricot]

I am unfortunately not loving the new mando season

[songbvrd]

“don’t touch me,” river said quickly as she moved her wrist -- which she was wrapping after landing on it wrong -- “it’s fine, i got it.” river wasn’t sure she was interested in this place that they were trying to advertise to her. 

( @empathylcst ; @ofdespondence ; @ihavetoclear ; @hcstilc ; @justxkeepxfighting )