#rp bits

[eluviannaa]

Gently closing the journal, she studied its cover. A finger nearly tracing the design, though careful not to disturb what remained.

Then, a pause. A thought.

Eyes flicked to his hand. Finally, with a smile, “It's lovely.”

@dawn-blossom

[batsignal-irl]

"How do you and your brother have fun?"

I take pictures of him in bad situations and send it to Batman

[eluviannaa]

“It's...not at all what it sounds like.” —Elu giving a weary sigh, running a hand over her face. Sin'dorei.

The Vessel

The chains dug cruelly into his wrists and ankles, rubbed raw and unhealing. He was stripped bare—not just of clothing, but of identity, of dignity, of anything that once made him him. If it were the world watching, he might have welcomed it. Might have rejoiced. Because that would mean he wasn’t alone. That he was still seen.

But there was no world here. Only blackness. And the endless, echoing silence of his own mind.

The void was his only companion now. A vast and unfeeling emptiness that devoured all sense of time. He didn’t know how many days—or years—had passed. He couldn’t remember the taste of bread, the warmth of sunlight, the softness of another’s hand. Those things had become foreign concepts. Ghosts he could no longer touch.

It had done this to him. The thing that lurked in the dark.

It tormented him, dancing just out of reach, weaving hope and cruelty together into a noose. Sometimes it showed him glimpses—of the world, of freedom, of before. And just as quickly, it yanked them away. Smiling. Always smiling.

His hatred for it was all that kept his blood from freezing. The only fire left in him. But he had no weapon to raise, no strength to wield one. Even if a sword lay across his lap, he doubted he could lift it. His muscles had forgotten their purpose. His will was brittle.

So he closed his eyes.

And when he opened them again... nothing had changed.

There was no escape. Not from this place. Not from the creature. Not from himself.

He tried to hold on to something—anything. He raked through his memories, searching for the fragments that made him human.

…a door opened in welcome. …a voice that spoke his name with warmth. …the feeling of being safe, without needing to deserve it.

They were fading. He could feel it—how close they were to slipping forever out of reach. And he knew that if he lost them, he would lose himself.

Then— A breath. A break in the dark.

A presence.

Another world, another face. A woman.

He recognized her. Perhaps more prominently than he expected as the implied betrayal stung. Anger and desperation rose within him as his feeble hand reached towards her, his words pleading. "Why are you doing this?" She stared back, offering nothing more than a mirror of his pain.

“I do this for you…”

And then… she was gone. The darkness returned. Colder than before. Sharper. Whatever peace had come with her presence was ripped away.

Perhaps she was real. Perhaps she was just another cruelty conjured by it. Or maybe the madness had finally laid its roots too deep.

He collapsed back into himself. The chains rattled softly, mockingly. He drew his knees to his chest and curled into the smallest shape he could. There was nothing left to offer this endless dark.

Nothing but the tears that traced silent rivers down his hollow cheeks.

@eluviannaa for the brief mention

[fallbackin-time]

“How can anyone be this perfect”

[autisticaradiamegido]

day 106

messy doodle from d&d tonight!!! this is my first in-person table and this was our first encounter with like. a proper map & minis & such!! it ruled.

the flarp table over here......? not so sure abt that one. but aradia is doing her best!!!

[memepocalypse]

They Lost Control

Memes for when the other character has lost it! Some of these can have heavier connotations so peruse with caution.

"You're hurting me!"

"Get off me!"

"This isn't you!"

"Get control!"

"I trust you - but you need to stop -"

"Don't make me tie you up."

"Take a breath, focus."

"You're here with me."

"I don't like that look in your eyes."

"You are stronger than this!"

"You have to fight it off."

"Come on, come back to me..."

"Take a breath. Remember to ground yourself."

"You're better than the monster."

"Don't let it take you over."

"Hold my hand. Take a breath. You're here. You're safe."

"No! No! Please -"

"Why would you do this?! I thought you were better than this!"

"You're meant to be fighting it!"

"We were friends, weren't we?"

"How could it end like this?"

"Please - don't -"

"You're out of control."

"Someone needs to put you down."

"Like a wild dog, aren't you?"

"Get the muzzle."

"If you don't stop, you're going to make me hurt you."

"Oh, poor thing... so much wildness in you, hm?"

"Someone help! Please!"

"Oh, no. Its too late, isn't it? Far too late."

[pipinpali]

Rp doodles of me and my friend 's ocs!!!!

No text ver under cut!! !

[ocdkitsunami]

ermm actually 🤓☝️

[mary-matthews-world]

hi I’m Johnny’s twin sister

Hi Johnny's sister!!

I'm Keith's sister..😒

[lycanr0t]

valvox making out against a wackdonalds dining area window from a scene in @ziptieparty and I's fic ✌️

(also a redraw of this!)

[huggywuggysuppy]

once you finish Empires S1 i'd like to hear your thoughts about esmp1!gem. she's genuinely one of my favorite characters to analyse because she is so nuanced and interesting in so many ways anywhere you look at her. her twisted determination to achieve peace at ANY cost, her rigid thinking and neurodivergency, her relation with symbols like her tower or the end and the moon, or her genuine wish to be a good person and so many other things. there's so much that is impossible to grasp at first (<- <- me, lesbian who is really normal about her favorite gem)

She's right.

Essentially, Gem understands the role a wizard PLAYS in a story. She's never the cause of something, but she sure amplifies both the problems and the solutions. She's morally gray, she's playing both sides, but nobody ever challenges her on that because of course Gem's helping the heroes too -- they need artifacts! She's a plot device, a questgiver, a weapon. She's the voice of reason, the straight man in any comedy duo, yet makes the same questionable decisions as anyone. She's experimenting, she's out of her comfort zone, she's having the time of her life. Wizard Gem is, ultimately, a real wizard.

That's the short answer anyhow. Longer analysis, well, I'm so glad you asked. I can't talk about character without diving into the content creator metanarrative (feature not a bug) so let's get into the noodles! What about Wizard Gem makes her so fantastic?

Wizard Gem is a catalyst.

From the beginning, Gem is mixing up dynamics and forcing new inspiration by opposing what's static. The way the rest of the Wither Rose Alliance sort of? Molds? Around her. How Sausage and fWhip are beefing until the day she alliances with Pearl and suddenly the four are besties. How she adds moral nuance to the villain side, both by mixing relations with the hero side, and just by insisting the Wither Rose are seeking peace, really, they're trying their best! This stops things from being so cut and dry and basic. Instead of Xornoth's vain forces against the heroic bumbling fish people (with the plant and animal empires in between), there's all sorts of messiness and drama. And Gem's aware of this, of how she's changing things, and so the effect is amplified.

On a CC level, even her origins are experimental. Gem was originally planning a more naturey plant wizard, but since Shubble, Katherine, AND Pearl, were plant based (& arguably Joey too) she adapted into amethyst and rocks. And it turned out amazing! That foundation of experimenting made it easier to take larger risks both content and character wise. All the empires folk enjoyed the lore centric storytelling: only getting deeper into it through the season, but Gem especially paved the way for embracing rp and outfits and items and fun.

But back to C! As the Wither Rose alliance progresses, terrorizing the server included, Gem maintains her peace loving stance. Taking on the role as fWhip's (and later Sausage)'s PR managers is genuinely so important to me. She never really stops them from doing bad things, but she's always discouraging them and talking them down one or two degrees. Ultimately loyal to her alliance, she's also taking responsibility for the consequences. Helping out Jimmy behind the scenes to lessen the blow, both for him but also herself.

At her core, Wizard Gem wants peace.

For herself and friends at least. Unfortunately, the Crystal Cliffs aren't in a bubble, so she keeps having to save the world anyway. She dreads conflict at best and fears it at worst. Her concerns are her kingdom, her neighbors, whatever magic / building she's invested in right now, and maybe a light shenanigan here or there. She'll help fWhip get out of trouble because they really do love each other, he's always helping her out too in his own ways (ex: making her stuff,) and she'll protect the realm so the problems stay far away from their doorsteps. When things do eventually fall into her lap, she definitely deals with them. Just... not 100%. Enough that they stop breaking the peace for now.

Let's be honest, Wizard Gem is firmly in denial. She's down for burying the corruption and letting it claim whole towers of her base. Often she'll just accept whatever another player brings to her: buying Scott and Katherines plush, whatever weird scams Lizzie tries on her, etc. When Scott gives her the Elsa curse, she hangs out in the nether, takes Shrub’s dodgy Xornoth cure, and stubbornly "it's fine"-s her way through avoiding a real solution until fWhip drags her to Katherine. It's telling that her (short-lived) corrupted evil version is more confident, while others become hyper or angry. This isn't laziness: it's fear. She doesn't want to step on any toes and start any conflicts. You can see it in how she talks to Jimmy and fWhip: giving them what they need not to win, but to end things.

This is how Gem maintains the story role of a wizard: she's always trying to stop things, so she's never starting new things, only making them better or worse. But how does Gem get away with it? She's simultaneously one of the most invested players in the lore, yet playing a character who'd rather be anywhere else. That dichotomy is entertaining, sure, but there's something else here.

Wizard Gem is loyal, curious, and moral. Just... not obviously.

Gem is unfathomably loyal. While she plays both sides, she's always standing alongside her allies in battle and all her actions are ensuring they're safe. She may be exasperated, yet treats her immediate alliance members with kindness. How fWhip drags her into things, but he never asks her to, it's always Gem CHOOSING to follow him because what else is she gonna do? Let him do it himself? How Sausage makes her laugh with his absurdity, even when they're fighting. How she's always a little uncomfortable, even in her great empire, except in the quiet simple moments with her allies between schemes.

(Still can’t believe roseblings isn’t canon. Like fWhip’s line about how he blew up relations with Scott because he messed with Gem, "it's okay fWhip I'm fine now," their tones, ohhhh devious work. They don't need to be canon, nonfamilial platonic relationships and all that, but STILL. I'm only human.)

(EDIT: nevermind they’re canon !! big win for the girlies)

Gem's also invested in magic and learning more about it, and she learns to trust and share that with others. The Crystal Cliffs Academy demonstrates growth: from solving problems herself when they’re too big to ignore, to actually addressing things at the source. Explicitly, the goal is to strengthen other empires magic knowledge so less crises happen. That’s preventative instead of reactionary. Even choosing the Ocean Queen as her first student is intentional: not an ally, causes a lot of medium scale ruckuses, in text Gem sensed her using transformation magic that wasn’t hers and wanted to guide Lizzie towards at least controlling it. Start of season Gem would’ve just kept handling any crises herself.

Essentially, Gem is trying SO HARD to be good. As anon said, she has a sort of rigid thinking (again, fun contrast between CC experimental and C rigidity) that creates this fantastic mix where she's staying true to the Wither Rose because she loves them and wants to keep them safe as their friend, but also trying to act for the greater good as a wizard, even though she'd rather focus on her own things. It's not a stable point of view, and is constantly challenged, creating the amazing series of events that we get to see unfold.

Also, Wizard Gem is straight up cool.

Regarding imagery, Wizard Gem has a distinct style that’s so fun to build and draw and write about. She's magical and otherworldly (dragons, the end) but also ethereal and magnificent on a human scale (towers, the moon.) Amethyst itself is inherently unique: something about forming deep under pressure, growing slow and beautiful, sought after as thrones and paths alike. These aesthetics have infinite storytelling potential, and look cute doing it.

And all these things are carried into Gem’s imagery as a whole! Losing her eye to and getting corrupted by the end portal in Life Series, building dragons and towers and villages all across her mc worlds, often using the moon in builds like her hc10 lighthouse. She’s solidly the moon in shinyduo sun/moon dynamic (while they both employ sun/moon all the time, Pearl builds and lores solidly more sun, let alone their comedy dynamic.) Even the struggle between embracing/chasing excellence versus holding herself back out of fear: that's Gem in every world! Emp1 is combining a lot of Gem's themes into one single character. And turns out she's really awesome!

This character wholeness lets Gem maintain her signature exasperated excellence over the other players. Like PVP prowess and building skill, she's an expert here too, and delightful to watch and interact with. Wizard Gem is amplifying everything, trying to keep her loved ones safe, learning that she needs to make peace herself, all while staying true to her beautiful masterful self.

Finally, CC!Gem is delighted to roleplay like this.

Every time she turns to the camera to give disclaimers and talk about her character, there's an infectious joy and "I can't believe this is my job." She often compares it to D&D, which ohh the parasocial brainrot is taking so normally, but also there's an unapologeticness to it. If you don't like her character / the roleplay / etc, stop watching, whatever, this is fun for the rest of us. Her and other CCs have talked about the crippling pushback from playing antagonistic characters -- and there's no shortage of that in emp1, she has to put disclaimers on the RP portions! But unlike Life Series where she's constantly fighting demons (it's own post, really) Wizard Gem is having too much fun to care. I think that's why emp1 hits different, at least for us Gem girlies. She's taking this seriously, and she's having the time of her life.

I originally posted about Worldhopper/Watcher Gem because that adds an extra layer of spice to her in all series, but it's still really awesome by itself. Summoning the dragons from ANOTHER WORLD? Hello?? Don't think I missed her using the nether portal to change skins either. Giggling during convos with Xornoth, undaunted by the Empires Crown, the list goes on. One day someone will assemble all her characters into the same room to compare notes and that someone will either be me or Geminitay herself.

In short, Empires S1 Gem is a Wizard. She's a catalyst, she ultimately wants peace, she's loyal curious and moral, she's straight up cool, and she's having fun. And isn't that just the most magical joy of all?

Anyway, accepting empires fic recommendations in reblogs / directly into my inbox. What a privilege to get to watch so much great art. Thank you for reading!

[eluviannaa]

“Here, it is home. Perhaps it will show you the way…”

Even as her mind wandered, she nodded to his words.

Gathering her robes, she began to ascend a staircase swaying gently in strange currents. Her eyes lifted with absent gaze. Steps above shifted in parallel, as though selecting their destinations.

The books were mostly silent. A few fluttered at the edges of their shelves, debating their return, politely nudging others aside to reclaim their place.

She passed, attempting to decipher the pattern if there was one. As expected, there was no true logic, only, ah, she saw it now—intent. The movement was not benign. The collection was…adjusting to the observer.

Not to presence, but thought.

The collection at her shoulder held titles on excavation. Enticing, unsettling, curiously direct. Understanding, anticipating the unspoken:

Reflections Bound to Bone. A Field Guide for the Curiously Marked. Suggested Readings for Those Who Know Better…

She smiled faintly, amused. Tempting. Though not yet entirely correct.

Idle fingers met the pendant at her throat. A silent offering of focus, thoughts turning to invite communion.

And so the next shelf responded, aligning with eerie precision:

Mirrors Without Mercy—this one earned a dry chuckle. Field Reports on Responsive Scrying Apparatuses.

Then—

A title sparked with expectation:

Fragmentation as Preservation

She paused, smiling in earnest now. A glance spiraled downward, curious if he had been watching. Then, without hesitation, she reached for the tome.

The cover, moderately worn, wavered. Stars drifted just beneath its surface, caught in the illusion of tethered motion. The title curved around a depiction of a gem mid-fracture, each shard suspended in the act of splitting and rejoining. A mirror of her pendant's design.

And still, she showed no surprise. Not yet.

She opened it carefully. Reverently. The pages parted with a quiet exhale, its whispers reached from ink toward her breath. Her attention narrowed, eyes pulled inward, beckoned deeper.

The pendant stirred toward the tome. Strands of hair followed, drifting weightless.

A single finger traced a line near the center of the page. She hadn’t meant to speak, but the words came unbidden:

“The anchoring of memory in partial vessels allows for the sustained suspension of identity across temporal or corrupted states.”

@allasticus

[forthefictionallesbians]

I've been seeing a lot of anti-independent rhetoric on the overnet forums recently, and I feel like it's important to clear some things up.

It is perfectly fine to think about what it would be like to be a floret, even if you're an independent or a free terranist! It's almost impossible to avoid wondering about it from time to time when we're surrounded by the affini and their propaganda. And, in fact, it is actively a good thing to daydream about, so you can get better at rejecting affini advances if you find yourself in a compromising situation!

Even for the most committed of feralists, it is a good exercise to be able to hold something in your mind and then reject it. Just rejecting it full-stop leaves you vulnerable to the affini's shock and snuggle tactics. We all have fantasies about being the one who can fully resist them on sheer willpower alone, but I have had too many strong-willed friends become subby little sprouts because they didn't prepare properly. You need to have mental experience with sinking into their soft, comforting vines, feeling your thoughts and worries drfit awayy, starinng up inko theirr irreestisble eyess and fesling thiieerr bi9rhytjm

And then pulling yourself back, no harm done! Knowing how bad things can be, preparing for the worst, and practicing a path to coming out on top. It may take a bit logner to come bavk uo each time ass tou drif5t and think sboute it butr its imortsnt andd doesnr mesn yeour sjny less indpednte

Edit: Stop saying I'm a sprout!!! It's not illegal to make a few typos when you're distracted with tooughts odf being embeaxed by ann affini because yoru dso good st restidting. See, Incan go back to fullt normal after!!!!!

[eluviannaa]

She lifted a finger, “Ah, and yet you know it. This is precisely my interest—to see it for myself.”

Following his gaze to the vessel, “Not to worry, it's far too small to contain your...resolve.” The word followed with a vague smile.

As the map bloomed, her eyes widened—only slightly. A connection he had somehow understood. His words called a glint of her pendant, though she would not notice it.

The elf simply smiled, a touch more than would be taken as polite. A ghost of desire flaring violet.

She lifted the hood of her cloak over pale waves, shadows setting the light of her eyes.

Purpose.

A purr twisted the shape of her amusement into something darker. Darker still than he may have seen...until this very moment.

“Oh—I always dress for ruin.”

And it was clear she would enjoy it.

@allasticus

Alla: *offers nightmare*—Elu: Is it housebroken? I’m bringing it home.

A smirk curved his mouth, the echo of something half-forgotten flickering behind his eyes. “They say the snow’s never melted since the god stirred. That even death grows cold there.” He looked to Eluvianna, gaze sharp—questioning, but not uncertain. “Dress for ruin. Bring what you must.” He stood, swift and sure, the decision already made. “I will open the path.” A pause, then a glance back, expression dark with a promise not quite a threat, not quite a warning. “You will not enjoy it.”

@eluviannaa

[fallbackin-time]

“I actually feel a lot better, I really should listen to Lu’s advice more often”

[hellothereimaloser]

Could- could I ask for Darry angst or hurt/comfort??? He seems like a rather neglected/ignored character and I’d love to see him get more love!

You ask - I deliver lol also messy hair Darry>>>>>

Thanks for requests you guys <3 I had fun drawing that one even tho is pretty messy, I hope you like it :3