#this combat is that good shit TM

[infinitelilith]

Nah, I don't think so

[ntj2pj]

[weedle-testaburger]

there was a pretty good comment in a strange aeons video i watched the other day where she said 'how much of 2000s humour was just bullying?' and it made me realise something interesting. in the 2000s that bullying was masked as humour, in the 2010s that bullying was masked as activism

[saintship]

Can i have a prompt #17 with Graves and a tm reader with a lik spice on the side?

Prompt #17 - “Don’t doubt yourself.”

My fics have been a little LAZY recently so this is my attempt at regaining my former glory, I haven’t written for Graves in a hot minute so I had to resurface some feelings lol

Also, I’ve never written mlm before, so if there’s anything that’s particularly off-putting, irritating, inconsiderate, etc, please drop a comment, also I didn’t really mention the fact they’re trans except for one part if you squint, I didn’t know if it was necessary to outright mention it, ALSO the spice is very mild I hope that’s okay :,)

Thank you!

Phillip Graves x tm!Reader - Snowed in

Warnings: description of injury, Gaz possibly being Graves’ gay awakening, internalized homophobia, suggestions of Graves’ racist actions, mild spice, some angst

To be a part of Price’s task force—to be an operator—was to be a team player. No matter what, no matter how genius your idea may be, no matter how good you are at whatever risky bullshit you’re into, you are never on your own until someone says so. This was articulated to Phillip Graves. But there was a reason he ran his own company instead working for one. There was something bold inside him; something demanding and mean. He used it to build Shadow Company, but that didn’t change the fact that his nature was what stranded him by himself in the first place.

You knew from the day you met him that he had walls up that may never come down for the rest of his life. Those traces of insecurity and fear that shot from him in the form of sharp words and trickling bigotry. He was good at ordering. Good at explosives.

Bad at people.

It was warm in the safehouse that the 141, Alejandro, Rudy, Graves, and one of his Shadows were laying low after your ammunition ran thin, and Gaz was grazed badly through the gaps of his vest. You sat at his side while the others gathered themselves, inspecting the wound. Gaz stripped to his bare torso, revealing a sizable chunk missing from just above his hip. The flesh was torn irregularly, and you struggled to find a solution that would avoid infection.

You heard Graves murmur to one of the Shadows,

“Go on.”

He spoke to his men like they were still in training, his tone a smooth blend of authoritative and encouraging. Sometimes you wondered if it was a bad thing that they’d follow his word without a second thought.

The Shadow gently replaced your spot beside him and began working on the wound, his medic badge partially torn from the rock face they had scaled to reach the cabin.

“You look surprised.” Graves’ low voice caught your attention. Your eyes met before he returned his gaze to the Shadow medic, his arms crossed.

“Maybe a little.” You muttered.

“I’m not that cruel, Sergeant.” The smile that he flashed was a dangerous one. His teeth a crystal white, his incisors pointed like a malinois’.

“So you are cruel—a little.” You reply.

“This is war, Sergeant.” He answered evenly, but he could never hide that underlying bite of defensiveness. ‘I’m right, you’re wrong.’

You tilted your head in resignation.

“This is war.”

Graves’ ego was effortless to satiate. He walked away without another smart comment.

“Getting friendly, hermano?”

Alejandro fidgeted with a combat knife where he sat on the tattered couch, his free arm laying on the backrest.

“Not everyone will hate the men that you do.” Rudy chided from beside him.

Your quiet laugh made Alejandro bristle.

“Oye, cuándo dije eso?”

“You’re practically fantasizing with that thing.” Rudy pointed out Alejandro’s knife.

“I..don’t trust him.”

“We know.” You commented. “But he helped Farah, why not Las Almas?”

“Urzikstan does not have a history with America the way Mexico does..” Rudy pointed out. “Graves was born in Texas, he was probably taught all kinds of shit that made him like that.”

It was true; Graves’ file revealed he had never left his hometown until he joined the military. He grew up in the kind of place where the horses and cows outnumbered the people.

“Maybe he’s just the kind of guy that can’t come home from work.”

Your words surprised you.

“What do you get defending him?” Alejandro retorted. “He’s not a good guy.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I think I do.”

As Alejandro stood from his previous position, you heard your name, turning to see Graves leaning in the doorway with one arm on the wooden frame and the other hand having a thumb hooked in his vest. He always stood like that; his hands just had to be grasping something. It made your mouth feel dry.

“One of you, come help me get our truck out of the ditch.” He called.

You heard Alejandro’s scoff and muttering as you crossed the room.

“Thanks.” Graves muttered as he turned to lead you through the snow to the ditch.

“How’d it get in the ditch, exactly?” You spoke, your breath a mist of air in front of your lips.

“Whatever dipshit that was in the driver’s seat left it in neutral.”

“That—might have been me.”

Graves glanced at you, his steps faltering.

“I’m fucking with you.” You murmur.

He just shook his head, that glowing smile flashing again.

You both came upon the trucks, the back two tires settled in the ditch while the front two stayed on the flat ground.

“Who’s pushing?”

“Where I’m from, it’s whoever asks that.” You didn’t miss his grin as he opened the driver’s side door.

“I’m sure you’re not making that up.”

“I’m not..” He laughed a bit through his words, and it made you dizzy. “It’s true..”

“You got a lot of experience doing dumb shit with trucks?”

“You could say that..” Graves’ smile hadn’t dropped. You wanted to keep going, to savor his expression, but your boots carried you behind the truck, and you waited for the wheels to turn before pushing up.

“Don’t let up!”

You heard his shout over the roar of the engine, and tried to steady yourself. But the ice was slick with mud, the soles of your boots providing little traction as you clung to the back bumper.

“Is it moving?” You call to him.

“It’s-"

His words were cut short by a sickening sputter of the engine.

“Get out! Get out of there, the battery’s dead!” His shout was more desperate than you’d ever heard him.

“I can’t-" You muttered helplessly before the weight of the heavy truck pressed you to the frozen mud, the angle of the underside up against the ditch pinning you to the cold earth. The parts that stuck out had raked down your back, cutting into the vulnerable flesh.

You heard him yell your name, your first name. You heard him curse as he dropped down beside where you were trapped.

“Please tell me you’re alive.. come on, talk to me..”

“My legs.. I can’t move my..” You rasped. From the knee down, the crushing metal pinned your legs enough to render you immobile.

“Breathe. You’re gonna be fine, come here.. come on..”

His gloved hand fit into your own securely, and you had to shake off the rush in your head.

When he tried to ease you out, you couldn’t stop the groan of pain that escaped you, devolving into quick, panicked breaths. “I can’t..”

“Easy.. easy.” He had enough room to hold your upper arm steady. “It’s gonna hurt, alright? But you gotta get out from under there..”

You nod, your breath short. “Yeah.. okay..”

“I’ve got you. You hear me?”

“I hear..”

“Alright.”

This time, one his arms worked around your middle, and the warmth blooming in your ribs nearly offset the white-hot tendrils shooting up your legs and back.

Graves pulled slowly, your legs slowly inching free as you gasped and groaned in pain.

“Breathe..” Graves murmured like he was speaking to a small animal, his breath warm on your temple. “Come on.. come on, now..”

Finally, he yanked you free, the both of you partially collapsing in the filthy ditch. You try to stand, but were quickly guided to sit down.

“Hey, don’t be a hero, sit still..” Graves knelt, inspecting your back with a low whistle.

“You didn’t break anything..” You murmured. You couldn’t help but be impressed.

“Told you.. I got you..”

You sit side by side, exhausted from the day, the adrenaline, the pain.

“Thank you.” You murmur.

Graves brought up a knee to rest his elbow on, his other hand waving you off.

“Not an issue, baby.”

When the words left his mouth, any softness in his face hardened into something else. Like he’d made himself angry.

“I-" He looked away.

“What’d you call me?” Your voice was a soft murmur.

“Nothing. I didn’t call you anything, come on..” He straightened to stand.

His expression matched yours now; flushed and confused.

“Graves.”

“I said come on!” He barked, but couldn’t get to his feet before you pulled him to sit back down.

“Sergeant..” His tone was warning. His hand covered yours where you held onto his vest. “That didn’t happen.”

“It did.”

“No.” His words were firm, but his eyes were desperate.

You slid a hand up to his shoulder. “It’s okay..”

“No! I cant-"

“But you want to.” Your eyes bore into his with an unwavering steadiness while your voice quieted to a whisper. “You want to..”

His face conveyed so many emotions, conflicting and fighting one another. He looked at your lips, and exhaled shakily.

“God dammit..”

“I know it’s hard to let go of what other people see you as. It’s okay.”

“You mean cause’ you..”

You nod.

“I—don’t know how.” He managed.

“Don’t doubt yourself like that.”

You were closer now. Close enough for the puffs of your breath to mingle with his.

“No one knows. No one..” He shakes his head, still partially in the headspace that wouldn’t let him feel anything other than bitterness.

“It’s up to you who does.” You murmur.

“Graves?”

Soap’s voice called from a few meters away, sending Graves scrambling to his feet.

“The truck pinned them, they’re hurt. Help me out.” In his fashion, he wasted no time showing his embarrassment, reverting to his wavering authority.

Soap only shook his head, but dropped down beside you. “You alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, he got me out..” You muttered as Soap hauled you to your feet, not missing the way Graves looked away at the mention of his rescuing you.

The rest of the night was tense—your back was ripped up, your legs were sore and tender, but it was ensured that nothing was broken. For the three days left before an exfil helicopter arrived, you spent most of your time with your legs propped on the couch. It felt wrong to take up one of the only spaces to rest, to not be able to follow Graves when he walked outside to scan the surrounding hills. You felt chained in place, your only glimpses of him being his fleeting glances in your direction before he walked away again.

You almost forgot he wasn’t coming back to the base with you. He’d be going back to his own site, onto the next mission, onto the next project. It was supposed to be a short interaction between the 141 and him, but you just had to volunteer to help him move that truck. You just had to press him about it.

The sound of helicopter blades woke you up on the fourth morning, and most everyone else was moving equipment outside. You heard muffled voices.

“Graves, go help him into the heli.” Price’s gruff order sounded from outside.

“You don’t need help movin’ all that?” Graves’ tone was wavering; grasping at any excuse to keep avoiding you. You were starting to get irritated.

“You got a problem with my Sergeant?” Price retorted.

A sigh. “No, sir.”

“Right, then.”

His snow-covered boots tracked in the mud from outside, and you glanced at them before you looked at his face.

“Hey.” He didn’t meet your eyes, offering a hand to help you upright. You didn’t move.

“You’re avoiding me.” You mutter. The frustration crept up your throat.

He sighed, his hand dropping back to his side.

“We don’t have time for this.. we might never see each other again, can you focus on that?” His eyes caught your frustration and reflected it right back in your face.

“You can’t brush this off, Graves.”

“Don’t tell me what I can’t do.” He snapped, walking to the door. “You act like you know me because I fucked up back there, but you don’t. This conversation-"

You hauled yourself to your feet, the pain making you wince. You straightened anyway, walking over until you were in his face again.

“What if you didn’t fuck up? You ever think about that?” You muttered.

His chest rose and fell with angry breath.

“Why’re you doin’ this to me?”

His soft tone caught you off guard, and your shoulders that had been tensed relaxed downward again.

“Because you don’t deserve to live like this. No one does.”

Your hand had found its way to his upper arm unintentionally, but he hadn’t pulled away. You weren’t wearing your gloves, the warmth of your palm radiating through his sleeve and thawing the sparse snowflakes that had caught on the fabric.

“How can you be so sure?” His brow was still furrowed with stress, his body somehow lax and tensed all at once.

“I can’t.” you admit. “But I won’t let you walk away without hearing that there is nothing wrong with you. There is nothing to be ashamed of. Who you love is not up to the rest of the world, and that’s one of the few things you still have to yourself. So keep it close.”

His eyes searched your face, your eyes, and finally your lips. His breath quickened.

Your hand drew upward to hold his jaw in your palm. He smelled like warm linen and smoke. One of his hands crept up your back while the other settled on your cheek, all in an impossibly fast motion before he pressed a kiss to your parted lips.

You felt the anxiety and shame melt from him for a moment, your lips working in tandem. Once he had a taste for you, he couldn’t stop. He deepened the kiss with a groan, your own hands hooking into his vest and pressing your bodies together. His hand was just working under your shirt and up your stomach before the door handle turned. With his hand still under your clothes, he shut the door firmly, keeping whoever it was outside. You heard a vague, confused voice, but most of your brain was clouded by his hand moving over your front, up your waist and ribs that were still wrapped in gauze.

You reluctantly pulled your lips from his, breathing heavily.

“Graves..”

“Oi! What the fuck is goin’ on, I’m breaking the door down in three!”

Ghost’s voice caused you to gently move Graves’ hand from under your shirt, pressing one last kiss to his lips before pulling the door open and putting on your best limp. Ghost’s eyes told you he didn’t buy it for a second, but he stayed quiet as Graves trailed after you with flushed cheeks.

You were the last to board the helicopter, turned around by your shoulder before stepping up to see Graves. He seemed almost shaken; but placed his hands around one of yours before setting off back to the safe house. Looking in your hand, you saw the scrawled digits of a phone number on a scrap of a report sheet. You held it the entire flight back.

[vergess]

Okay actually I would LOVE to hear your summary of what the Dresden Files like. actually is, as a series. Because every so often some guy will demand that I read it while insisting it's Superior Literature and the best fantasy series ever (unless maybe second to Lord of the Rings, but usually not even that)

They also like to insist that well of COURSE the main character is extra sexist and never improves but it's a FLAW, the AUTHOR knows it's wrong, therefore girls should LOVE reading his sexism. So like I was not buying this any degree to begin with, but I would love to know what's actually going on here

Bro, these books are Bad(tm). Do not fucking buy them. I cannot in good conscience suggest anyone read them, ever. But I especially, immensely cannot recommend purchasing them. This is "skulking around the library not making eye contact" material.

These are bodice rippers For Men(TM).

They're also, (and for obvious reasons they aren't advertised like this) High Camp Melodrama Fantasy Where Everyone Is Bisexual. But I repeat myself.

With that in mind, they are easily the best written urban fantasy fetish pornography I've ever seen outside AO3, and frankly better than most of that stuff too. It's just... you need to be aware going in that these are serialized porn mags. They happen to have exceptionally written combat and freakishly well considered fantasy elements, but they nonetheless use the same racial and sexual shorthands seen in the bulk of heteronormative, white gaze pornography.

Also, the main guy is an obnoxious asshole on purpose from second one and he does not ever let up on this, so if you don't immediately get along with his sense of humour walk away.

Now as for whatever dipshitted asshole is telling you they're superior literature.... mmmm.... no.

They're REALLY GOOD porn. I understand how really good porn is going to emotionally confuse the highly repressed (and oh BOY do these books appeal to the repressed) into a sort of pavlovian "this is the best thing ever" response.

But like, mmmmm no.

If you do elect to read these books, I suggest casting the main guy with a Black actor in your head. That change alone makes the immense amount of police presence and abuse more palatable.

OH THE COP SHIT

I FORGOT TO MENTION THE COP SHIT

Absolutely bonkers copaganda levels.

Also, the books were um.... progressive for 2005. They are not progressive for 2024. Let's put it like this; Supernatural (TV series) was a contemporaneous peer in the same genre. If you are damned set on subjecting yourself to one of these White Boy Monster Serials, pick this one at least it fucks.

Nevertheless, the writing is surprisingly charming, the Christian fantasy elements are genuinely competitive in a post-LOTR world, and the fetish shit is fucking immaculate.

I don't think Jim Butcher is aware he's written fetish porn, but whatever, he's REALLY good at it. I cannot recommend the sex scenes and the combat highly enough.

It's just unfortunate about the everything else.

Did I mention they're Christian fantasy elements? They are. They really really really aggressively are. These books are set in a Christian-centric universe and they do NOT let you forget that. There's like... so many Christian angels in this shit.

Anyway, if you choose to join me on this cursed journey (do not join me on this cursed journey), some other stuff to note:

Lots of underage and youth fetishism

Like, I cannot emphasize enough how hot and cool all The Youths think the Main Guy is and how aggressively the book lusts-and-guilts-in-turn over The Youths

So, so, SO much incest

Gay incest also

Mafia wedding guy is there, the guy from all the mafia wedding fics on wattpad, he's canonically the main guy's soulmate (no homo) (unless..?)

Main guy has too many soulmates btw, several are gay and some are blood relations, but most are muscular blonde women because he has a serious muscle fetish; fuckin gym gay behaviours

Undiagnosed bisexuality on the majority of the characters (I'm calling it; Jim Butcher thinks bisexuality is the normal POV and this is totally how Normal Guys talk about each other's dicks)

Exorbitant amounts of racism, some of which is "on purpose" and the most of which is horrifically unremarked upon; includes plenty of racial stereotypes. Nevertheless, the cast is diverse enough (outside the circle of main love interests) that these stereotypes can come up at all, so weigh that carefully

Special shoutout to the first major love interest, a Latina woman who dies spectacularly halfway through the series after having the main guy's secret baby

Extremely confusing relationship to psychosis as a mental illness

Melodrama that would make the desperate housewives sit back and stare

Fascinatingly good about homophobia actually, in that queerbaity 2005 way

*slaps the main guy like he's a car* You can fit so much dysphoria in this cis guy

In conclusion: I see why so many AMAB bisexuals of various genders who were part of the target demo latched the fuck on to this series so hard. I myself was fooled into believing these books were "for" Straight Men, and to be clear they are. But they're also Pulpy Gay Camp Bullshit that we the faggots of the world deserve to mutilate and recreate in our own image.

Together, I believe we could fix them.

Oh right, the plot:

The Main Guy, Harry Dresden, is a private detective Wizard Cop (serial plot is investigation based) who may also be the chosen one destined to defeat some elder gods (long term plot), and along the way starts several major supernatural wars and at least 2 arms races.

[magicalgirlmascot]

The Toa Inika are going to go from having only Takua as a mentor to having 2-3 experienced Toa/Turaga EACH all falling over each other to look after them and help them with their new powers. This dynamic ranges from fairly chill (Onua and Whenua are usually on the same page when it comes to teaching Nuparu, and have both agreed it's best not to watch when Lewa takes him for flying lessons), to Absolute Mayhem (What happens when you put four generations of Air Toa in the same room),

I went a little insane on this so in the interest of not clogging dashboards here

Fire: Jaller takes the whole thing Incredibly Seriously. He turns up at KNPS twice a week after school to practice combat training with Tahu in the gym and gets extremely annoyed if Tahu forgets and goes home before he gets there. Vakama is always there when Jaller comes, though, and he's always quite happy to spend time talking to him about anything and everything. He becomes something of a confidant for Jaller, and Jaller appreciates that he treats him like a young adult instead of a teenage boy.

Water: Hahli keeps trying to focus on how she can use her powers for combat and Gali has to gently redirect her towards other uses for them, like reading the weather or healing. It's not so much that Hahli is obsessed with fighting like her Hahli the Barbarian persona suggests, more just that she always wants to make sure she's being useful. Her training with Gali and Nokama tends to be a bit more relaxed and focused on meditation.

Air: Lewa is taking his role as Kongu's mentor about as seriously as he takes anything, which isn't much. He's very excited to show Kongu how to do things and only a little annoyed that he keeps getting zapped whenever Kongu uses his powers. Kongu is still extremely grumpy about not being able to fly, but between him, Lewa, and Matau they're working on a way to get him airborne. Grandpa Iruini is the one who helps him figure out how to handle his telepathy, because he's the only one of them who can sit still for long enough to come up with anything other than "just don't think about it." He posits himself as the Normal One/Grumpy Old Man of the bunch, but also can't help ribbing Matau about stuff.

Earth: Nuparu is very much into experimentation, which is kind of at odds with how slow Onua was to accept things initially. He keeps trying to ease Nuparu into things by focusing on his connection to the earth, like Whenua did for him, but Nuparu mostly works like "what would happen if I did x," doing x, and then documenting the results. Whenua thinks this is very funny, but also helps Onua redirect him to do things like help in the garden. Sometimes in the middle of Nuparu's training with Onua, Lewa kidnaps him to teach him how to fly. Unfortunately the way their flight works is very different so it's a bit of a weird one, but Nuparu loves to experiment and Lewa loves to fly so they get along like a house on fire.

Stone: Hewkii and Pohatu spend most of their training time playing sports and shooting the shit. Sometimes Macku tags along. Pohatu's sneaky, though, and manages to teach Hewkii about using both his stone and his accuracy powers through The Power Of Sports(TM). Onewa keeps trying to convince them both to use their powers to do shit like spawn uncut gemstones and make art, but unfortunately they're both way more into sports than art so he's outvoted. He grumbles about it but honestly he's glad Hewkii is in good hands.

Ice: Well, Matoro is related to two Toa of Ice so naturally he avoids learning anything from his dad and sticks to learning from Kopaka and Nuju. Kopaka isn't sure what to do with an apprentice. He treats it like he does work, planning lessons and giving clear, concise instructions. Pohatu thinks this is very funny and teases him about it when he's sitting at the kitchen table poring over lesson plans and teaching objectives. Nuju teaches Matoro more about theory than anything on account of not having powers anymore, and Whenua is always so excited to show Matoro the archive any time he has any questions. Kualus tries to get involved but Matoro tends to shut down when he comes into the picture, so he settles for needling Whenua for details afterward.

BONUS

Takua's "mentoring" style is very "I definitely know what I'm doing and am not in over my head at all haha." They're so excited that their friends are Toa now and very confidently tell them a bunch of stuff that winds up being completely off base because the Inika are Fucking Weird and don't work like normal Toa. Takua doesn't work like normal Toa either but in a different way. It's all a bit of a mess. They get them through the basics, though, enough to figure out what they are and what's going on.

Krahka doesn't have a mentoring style. Sometimes she shows up at school pretending to be a student and hang with various Toa on their spares/lunch breaks. Sometimes she makes things worse on purpose for her own entertainment. Very often she leverages the fact that she used to be their therapist to Do A Therapy on them when things seem like they're actually bad. She goes home and regales Onewa with tales of What The Kids These Days Are Up To.

[sunlightandsuffering]

Lys, what's the deal with frat boy Eren and feminist Mikasa's past? I know they met at least in high school and are neighbors, that their friendship took a turn for the worse. Did Eren take Mikasa's virginity in high school or college?

omgomg, okay this is getting added to my drabble doc lol, so don't be alarmed if I copy and paste this and ur ask appears again on another post lol!!! But honestly I think I have to figure them out, I really like them being like chilhood friends first, like it jsut adds a fun extra layer to their dynamic! Bc they can drive back home from school together and u have their moms conspiring to get them together and Mikasa is like I HATE HIM!! And u know they do Christmas Eve together and shit lmfaoooo and it causes MUCH chaos !!! BUT i think i wrote a drabble that sort of explains it already, don't know where it went tho lmfao.

But basically, at some point in high school, Mikasa goes Feminist Ultra TM and it becomes part of her personality, and Eren is all for it at first. AND THEN, it begins bc men are awful and Eren is like hOW AM I SUPPOSED TO COMPETE WITH THIS!?!?!? Bc all of Mikasa's friends start getting boyfriends and as occurs in high school relationships, drama ensues and jealousy and it all just poisons Mikasa against men further. And there is Eren, her best friend, 'only man she trusts' AND HE'S BASICALLY BEEN COCK BLOCKED MY FEMINISM!!! She's like I'm never dating, ew men. And Eren is sitting there like 😦😧🧍🏻 I AM A MAN??? I found the drabble tho i'll paste it at the bottom and u can sort of see what I'm going for? Idk if it makes sense tho lol!! Essentially tho, Eren is kind of hopeless bc Mikasa is always hating on men, and he's like a little kid, any attention is good attention, even if it's bad. And so he become MENINIST EREN !! Just bc it gets a rise out of her, and at the very least, she's looking at him now as more than just her wholesome best friend who doesn't count as a man lmfao.

As for the virginity part, as much as I'd love for it to be in high school and have them like have a more solid history, I think it happens in college purely bc that's just where their relationship really sparks ! But idk i gotta get my thoughts together before I write a HARDCORE drabble for them, this was just me spitballing i think

It’s not that Eren hates women. He doesn’t, he really doesn’t, he actually loves women, adores them. 

Mikasa, his childhood best friend turned enemy, well she just brings it out in him. 

He loves watching her get riled up, the fire in those beautiful silvery eyes of hers, it was intoxicating. Fighting became foreplay, and before he knew it, he was a glorified meninist, whatever the fuck that is. 

He can still remember the day it started, the tenth grade probably, Mikasa merrily stomping into class, armed with new knowledge: the wage gap, benevolent sexism, implicit gender bias. And Eren had watched, with horrified eyes as his tender spark of romance with the world’s most beautiful girl, the love of his life was crushed, lit aflame right in front of him… by fucking feminism of all things. Because how was he supposed to compete with a concept, even attempt a relationship when there were limitless facts about how awful men were? How was he supposed to compete with the faults of mankind? Thus, Mikasa didn’t date, she was waiting for a boy so perfect, that he could combat sexism itself, a feminist ally she said. 

Newsflash, they didn’t really exist, at least not in Eren’s experience, and thus, Eren became the very antithesis of everything she represented. And well, here they are. 

He’d been intrigued the first time it happened, an accident at a frat party when she was too drunk to remember much of anything at all. They’d made out a little before snuggling in his bed and Eren had slept contently for the first time in years.

He’d woken up the following morning to a scowl on her face and a hand on his dick, demanding he teach her what all the fuss was about. They’ve been enemies with benefits ever since. 

And Eren finds that despite their rabid dislike of one another, that he quite enjoys their new dynamic.

[rysko]

Since i am enjoying the hunger games meets peaky au too much:

How would Juliusz fare in the games? And What district would he be in that universe?

Oh shit hello! hi! i did not expect this! Thank you for sending this in July muah muah <333

Let me preface this by saying, i have NEVER seen the Hunger Games and watching the crossover posts was like "Oh this is so cool and looks fun, wish i knew tf was going on" lol so all my thoughts about Juliusz are based on me skimming the wiki and @red-riding-wood helping me out with the lore <3

It was a long battle between 1 and 11, but I ultimately decided District 1 fits him best. He's already from a well-off family that has a history of trade, so District 1 with its specialisation on exports, business and such definetly fits. Plus he always was more of a city slicker lol

Now, my understanding of lore is severely limited, so i'm very not sure how he'd realistically fare in the games or if im missing things. A few factors i'd consider is that he's a pretty good shot (i took a look at weapons in that universe and a crossbow seems so fucking cool and fitting. GIVE MY MAN A CROSSBOW!) and is outdoorsy, so the wilderness wouldn't be too horrible i presume. I can imagine him being pretty sneaky and avoiding confrontation, even if it meant a temporary truce. On the other hand though, he's still a fucking nerd (/affectionate xd) and could falter more when it comes to hand-to-hand combat. Realistically i wouldn't expect him to win the games, but i can imagine him getting pretty close. If he won though, i like the idea of his scars, worsening of his vision and overall anxiety(tm) being outcomes of the games instead of the war like in Peaky.

Also, me and @red-riding-wood did one of those emulators with Juliusz, her OC Charlotte, other Peaky Characters and a few crack characters for fun, and if i had to go off of this, Juliusz officially got 2 kills on his record! Some other highlights being:

welp, that just narrowed lots of things down lmao

CANON. CANON!!!

Based, he'd never do that to our girl Charlotte. eat shit Matteo

okay dude, i think that's just your way of saying fuck you to Tommy

o7 that's an oddly fitting way for him to die LMAO. also kudos on 3rd place i honestly didn't think you'd go that far my son <3

All this made me wanna watch the movies sometime and maybe take some more active part in this au as well, DONT STOP THE BRAINROT!!! <333 This was really really fun and i'm smitten by ya'lls creativity!

[blackjackkent]

OK, for better or for worse, time for Hector to deal with these githyanki on The Skull(tm).

Hector's new build with improved WIS for AC and Hill Giant Strength for Tavern Brawler damage is doing a LOT more work than he was previously. :D

58 points of damage on the turn is tasty. :D (I could min-max him to much more with gear but I'm not stressing that much over it.)

The githyanki are also terrifying however so this fight is still mega scary.

MVP of this fight turned out to be Slow from Gale, which I'd forgotten he even had access to until I reset the fight and looked through everyone's spell slots. It made a HUGE difference against these characters who can attack 2335265234 times in a turn and zip all over the place.

VERY INTERESTING DEVELOPMENT HOWEVER - during the middle of this combat, the Guardian/Emperor called out as a combat line:

"I must regain control over the githyanki prince!"

And oh.

Oh shit.

That's Orpheus in the light cage, isn't it?

Holy shit... Lae'zel is going to have a stroke over everything that happened here without her. O.O;

As the fight ends, the Emperor puts the githyanki back into whatever trance he was in when we arrived.

"Thank you," it intones gravely, turning back towards Hector and his companions. "That was too close."

"Don't look at me like that. I am a mind flayer, yes. Without me you would be a slave to the Absolute."

To be honest, I'm not sure Hector even knows what way he was looking at it. He's frightened, yes, but he's been frightened so long that it hardly feels like a change of pace. He's more confused than anything else; what is the "guardian's" true agenda? What is it doing to the githyanki in the trap? And why does it speak with emotion and ferocity, like a creature with a soul?

"Of all the creatures to be indebted to," Shadowheart mutters bitterly. "A bloody mind flayer."

"I ask again," Hector demands. "Who are you? And I'm going to need a name this time." He is so tired of the secrets, of the confusion.

"You may call me the Emperor," the creature says, and raises a fist glowing with pale energy.

A flash of white through his brain, the tadpole connection he is so familiar with from contact with his own companions. The mind flayer's memories surge over him in a rolling wave.

"An adventurer. I came from Baldur's Gate, though I was never one to be constrained by circumstance. I longed for more."

"That longing brought me to Moonrise Towers on a search for treasure. To a colony of mind flayers who caught me, changed me into what I am now. For years I served the elder brain - the one you know as the Absolute. I was a thrall like any other. But I was fortunate - I broke free, and started a new life in my old city."

"I sustained myself on criminals. Unglamorous, but there were plenty of them, rarely missed, and they fueled me while I did my work.

"I had the good fortune to meet Duke Stelmane. We formed a partnership, and through her I became the governing force behind the Knights of the Shield, the largest mercantile operation in Baldur's Gate. People referred to me as the Emperor - such was my influence. Though of course they had no idea what I really was."

"My needs were sated. I was... happy, for a while. Until my true nature was discovered by the tyrant himself - Lord Gortash."

"He tore me from my home and brought me back to the brain where I became a slave once again. A slave he continued to call the Emperor. The name was intended as a slight - to remind me of the heights from which I fell. But I have grown fond of it. It encapsulates well who I've become."

Hector listens to this tale in bewilderment. It seems almost too fantastic to be true - a mind flayer able to live in secrecy within the largest city on the coast? To command the Knights of the Shield, an organization so big even Hector has heard of it? He would think it impossible - if it weren't for Omeluum. He has seen a mind flayer broken free before.

The whole situation makes him feel tremendously uncomfortable. Trapped. But if the story is true, he and the Emperor have a common enemy. The Emperor and Karlach even have a shared experience - that of being pulled from their homes and enslaved by Gortash.

But there are still so many questions...

"That githyanki in the sphere," he says hoarsely, almost afraid to hear the answer. "Who is it?"

"Prince Orpheus," the Emperor says bluntly, confirming Hector's suspicions instantly. "Son of the first leader of the githyanki. His power has been the source of your continued protection against the Absolute - the power to disrupt hivemind communication. It is the same power that enabled Orpheus's mother to bring about the fall of the Illithid Empire eons ago, a power she passed on to him, and that I leveraged for you."

It turns to look steadily at the githyanki prisoner suspended with the shield at the center of the skull.

"When Orpheus's mother left, a usurper took her place. Vlaaktih declared herself 'queen' of the githyanki," it goes on, its voice a low growl. "Vlaakith wanted his power, but Orpheus rose against her. And so she sealed him and his honor guard within this Prism. Bound by infernal chains, Orpheus could never leave. Bound by duty, his guard never would. They were close to breaking my hold on their prince - and if they had succeeded, we would be lost."

It looks back towards Hector and inclines its head approvingly. "I am releived you have embraced your potential enough that you could help me eliminate them. Alone, Orpheus will be much easier to control."

Hector swallows. Not since the creche - and possibly not ever - has he been so confused about the right thing to do. He trusted the guardian (to a degree), and he needs the Emperor. But the imprisoned githyanki makes him uncomfortable. The Emperor's interest in his potential makes him very uncomfortable. The swirl of unspoken and unexplained intentions makes him tremendously uncomfortable.

"Were you imprisoned here too?" he asks.

"No," the mind flayer answers. "Gortash sent me on a mission to retrieve the Astral Prism. I was one of many, but the first to find it. How Gortash and the other Chosen learned of its existence, I do not know. The moment I found it, I felt a change. My free will returning. I followed the feeling inside - and found Orpheus. I realized what the Prism was for: containment. While my body was within the Prism's bounds, my mind was free. I could resist the elder brain, the Chosen. Better yet, I could plan to overthrow them. All I needed to do was subdue Orpheus and find allies in the outer world. You."

Hector remembers the visions of battle the guardian showed him before. He had assumed it was some extension of the battle against the Absolute, but in truth it was this creature battling against the incursions of githyanki trying to rescue their prince. The rebels against Vlaakith - the people like Voss.

"Was it you or Orpheus that Vlaakith wanted us to kill when she ordered us inside the Prism?" he asks, quirking one eyebrow up thoughtfully.

"Most certainly Orpheus," the Emperor says placidly. "He is a threat to her reign. Some githyanki still revere him, in defiance of their teachings. Vlaakith was safe as long as they believed him to be dead. But as you can see, he is very much alive. She kept him this way because she was reluctant to eradicate such power, power that she might one day wish to take from him. If the githyanki ever find out what she has done, there will be civil war. Vlaakith will be finished."

"What happens if we free Orpheus?" Hector asks.

"That would be a terrible idea," the Emperor snaps at once. "The moment he is free, he will attack you. Your only defense would be to kill him. And in so doing, you would doom us both."

Narrator: Even though he is subdued, you feel Orpheus's revulsion - a pulsing hatred that cannot be contained. The Emperor is telling the truth. To him, you are just another wretched illithid.

"You carry a tadpole," the Emperor growls. "As far as Orpheus is concerned, you are already illithid - a sworn enemy, just like me."

Thoughts are swirling in Hector's head, a variety of panicked possibilities. Could they bring Lae'zel here? Have her talk to Orpheus, calm him, explain the situation, work with him, free him from this prison? And yet the Emperor is right, the risk in doing so is terribly high and the cost of failure so astronomical...

He needs to get away from this place, needs time and space to think, to talk with those he trusts - among whom the Emperor no longer falls.

The creature's words strike him painfully as he struggles to settle his mind - the implication that in working alongside the Emperor, he has become a monster himself. "I'm no illithid," he says defensively. "And never will be."

"You are already more illithid than you realize - it has improved you," the Emperor says, and there's a strange sort of smirk in its tone that Hector does not like at all. "You seek to reverse an inevitable process, a process of evolution. When I first escaped from the elder brain, I too railed against the change. But the longer I have inhabited this form, the more it has grown on me."

It leans forward, staring intently into Hector's eyes. "Even if my original body remained intact after I transformed, I would not return to it. Doing so would only impose limitations. As an illithid, I have far surpassed who I ever was before. You, too, should embrace this change."

Hector's stomach churns with sudden revulsion. Any sense of safety he felt here suddenly evaporates. The Emperor may be his ally against the elder brain, but it is not his friend - it wishes him to become a mind flayer as well, simply of a different sort, free-minded but transformed.

"I'm trying to avoid becoming a mind flayer," he says sharply. "I thought you agreed to protect me."

"I believe we'll have a better chance of defeating the elder brain if you embrace your latent illithid potential," the Emperor says calmly. "I've been studying you for a while now. I believe I can trigger the next stage of your tadpole's lifecycle while continuing to preserve your independence." It takes another step towards him. "You have seen what I can do. Imagine yourself with the same strength. The same intelligence. The same devastating beauty. If you let me, I can evolve you."

Hector's skin prickles all over. He doesn't dare look away from the mind flayer but he is sure his companions are showing the same dismay and revulsion that he himself feels. "No," he says, shaking his head fiercely. "No way."

Narrator: Even as you say the words, you feel a lurch of disappointment. Your mind bristles with illithid potential. How could you be so cruel to deny yourself what you want most in the world?

The sensation of the tadpole itself seizing his emotions makes him feel even more ill. There is no safety even inside his own mind anymore.

The Emperor cocks its head to one side, as if amused. "I felt that. It's your nature. You cannot fight it, so embrace it."

It extends a hand, sending a pale green, glowing tadpole drifting towards Hector in the plane's lighter gravity.

"It wants to evolve," the Emperor growls. "But it cannot do so alone. It must commune with another."

"What is it?" Hector whispers hollowly.

"A tadpole, nurtured by the psionic energy of the Astral Plane," the mind flayer answers. "Cocooned here for millenia, it has become extraordinary."

Hector swallows, closes his eyes, fights against the force within his mind trying to urge him forward. [WISDOM] "No," he forces out. "I won't do it."

(A/N: NATURAL FUCKING 20! THAT'S MY BOY!!!!!!!!)

Narrator: A wave of disappointment, stronger than any you've ever felt. And then - stillness. You have resisted your illithid instincts - for now.

He realizes his free hand is clenched at his side, his jaw tight, his eyes squeezed shut. Every iota of his focus has been channeled into finding the stillness at the center of him. The calm. All things with her strength. I walk in the Moonmaiden's light... no grief nor pain nor fury shall wrest me from her path...

And the strain begins to ease, the tadpole receding into dormancy again. He can breathe. He can open his eyes.

The Emperor watches him thoughtfully, unblinking. "You are not ready yet," it murmurs. "Keep hold of it, then. Until you are. Perhaps you will be more inclined to try it when you see more of what our enemy can do."

It shakes its head sharply. "But we mustn't lose focus. We need to resume our journey. You heard the Chosen. The brain has gone to the city, and the army marches to follow. We must not let them reach it. We must find the brain and bring it under our control."

Hector isn't sure he much likes the way it says that, either.

-----

"Let's go," he mutters to the others. His voice has started to shake as the adrenaline required to look the creature in the eye begins to fade. "Let's go. Now. Let's get out of here. We need to go."

"Are you all right?" Gale asks with some concern as they begin striding out of the skull as fast as their legs can carry them. "I very nearly thought your tadpole was going to make you--"

"It nearly did," Hector says curtly. "We need to go."

"Are we trusting this thing, then?" Karlach asks; her longer stride keeps up with him easily.

"No."

"But we're working with it."

"What choice do we have?"

They've never heard him so blunt, so clipped-off. "Soldier--"

"I don't know!" he snaps, not looking at any of them. "I-- we need to get out of here and I need to think. And I need to talk to Lae'zel. And I don't think any of us are going to enjoy it, including her."

[bsideheart]

Hey! :D

What the fuck! :D

Let me tell you, listening to the last mmmh, let's say 3 hours of the burning bridge audiobook at 1.5/2x speed while doing the dishes was an Experience TM.

The splitting of the party was truly where my nerves started being harrowed ngl, don't split up, is a rule that should be applied outside of the horror genre, imo, for my own health. Maybe it's cause of me reading asoiaf recently, but I hate the instances where shit is happening to characters in 2 different locations far apart, and they're both working on slightly different information and footing without easy communication cause that's how we get Tragedy.

Gilan riding like hell and demanding he go back for Will, Evelyn/Casandra and Horace made me lowkey sad, ilhsm, character of all time he's hilarious. His training of Will and Horace is very much giving me Star Wars jedi lineage vibes to me. Also, the scene where he dead ass shoots up like a Looney Toon character to bolt and inform everyone that Cassandra is, in fact, alive, had me gagged with giggles. Okay, thanks for nothing mourning wise, ig.

Speaking of Evelyn, I was vibing with her, secret and all, until it was revealed, she was the Princess of the Realm. Like, don't get me wrong, I still like her, but idk, man, it stuck as a little mmmh fixed? Like I get for plot, obvi the hostage situation had to work. Ppl needed a good reason to go after Will, its to raise the stakes cause what if they found out blah blah blah. But she could have just a random layperson with a huge secret, and I would have preferred it that way cause that way we get an outsider pov in the country/ conflict. I wouldn't even have minded her being some form of nobility. It just feels like a setup for Will to Get The Girl and the Girl is also the Princess. Man, idk.

But moving on. These lil shits. The first time, they're on the field (sort of), and they commit war time arson and mass property destruction. Like, okay, fun!!! But also, the slow and invisible, basically enslavement of the fantasy Gaelic people in their own country by an evil mfer from im assuming fantasy Britian gave me the chills. I might be stretching, but I live in Ireland, and the history of the brehan laws, an gorta mor and the indentured servitude is still present and kicking. Like well aware slayery and indentured labour in no way are the same thing, but the similarities crossed my mind on a surface level

The final battles were quite ingenious, really. The fake out, dive, split, and reform tactics were really good and plausible for the highly specific situation here.

Also Morograth sassy old Queen vibes??? Maybe I'm seeing things. He's so sarcastic and so open about the fact that he does not give 2 shits about killing a kid in unfair combat.

But lowkey the narrator speaking of some random figure running out to bitch slap Morgorath in the face with a gauntlet? First, I shouted out loud, "Gilan NO!" and then after a second even higher "HORACE NO!" Like that knife vine. Or that simpsons meme. That moment was so fucking hilarious to me I paused for a second to giggle at myself.

Also I See Now, the Horace Himbo agenda. No thoughts, head empty, just anger at his friend being held hostage. AND I MEAN TRULY NO THOUGHTS HE JUST THREW HIMSELF UNDER A FUCKING HORSE HOLY FUCK WHAT A SUICIDE MOVE?? LIKE IK HE HAS ARMOUR ON AND SHIT BUT HOLY FUCK THAT'S DEADLY. LITERALLY.

You, a natrually born and skilled fighter, blindly running into battle, underprepaed and fueled by anger and fear/mourning for your boy best friend? Mmmmh, kinda Achilles Aristos Achaion coded of you babes.

UGHHHH ANDDDD. The fact that Horace defeated Morg by being rescued by his horse (Will coded of him!) and then using a move taught to him by a ranger while he was training with 2 rangers, a huge community with a sense of reliance and family or at least geneialty while he himself hates that cause its narrative representation of that (Halt) defeated him, who rules his subordinates in the complete opposite fashion. Something there metaphorially.

Also hilarious that when Rodney is giving out to him for his reckless behaviour, Horace is so concussed he's convinced he's in trouble for not finishing the job of killing Morgarath so he gets back up to do it.

But kinda weird that Morgarath died so easy? He's not dead me thinks.

Okay. Morgarath calling Will Halt's whelp. It's funny if it weren't sad.

Also him running to coast, almost losing his horse in desperation, and losing his SHOE (obligatory sam winchester I lost my shoe gif insert here) trying to catch up to the boats, going apeshit on the bow n' arrow ON HORSE BACK BY THE WINDY ASS SEA AND TAKING BITCHES OUT TO THE DECK WHILE RIDING REINLESS??

I can just imagine the movie shots in my brain. The wide shots of the crashing sea. The shouting of the men and slapping of the oars. The establishing shot, a wide shot of Halt, a tiny figure against this hulking moving boat on the massive sea. A close shot of Halt loading and drawing his bow. The desperation bled of the page 100%.

Him shouting desperately to Will that he'll fine him (not even him and the princess just him) wherever they take him even tho he just rode all the to the coast all ready. Okiiii. And the fact that Will just shouted his name back at him. Like. Oughhh, just a kid. Shouting for his dad.

HATE that Halt is just left there standing on the shore. And we're left to imagine the after. Does he go back to camp. Does he stand there for hours until somebody notices his absence and follows his tracks? Is it Gilan? Rodney? Horace? Crowley and Co.? The Kings party? Does he stand there numb? Does he cry, lash out in anger with his poor horse beside him? Does Gilan blame himself for leaving the kid? Does Horace for being separated? Does Rodney try and comfort him? Does Crowley now think him a "loose canon"/flight risk? Do Halt and Duncan mourn the loss of their children together? Who tells Alyss? And Jenny? Does Alyss spend time with Halt for days after?

Holy fuck I gotta stop with this shit bro, the hole I'm digging here.

Crazy ass ending. I HATE it. More pls

HEY :D HEY GLAD TO HEAR IT :D i showed mh older sister this ask and they were giggling the whole time so rest assured you have very correct opinions. “don’t split up” is always a good rule ur right ur right !!

bro GILAN…………. he’s literally the best character and his dedication to getting that information back was beautiful, and when he went like “MY GOD ITS NOT HER” and halt spilled his glue all over himself 😭🙏

never really thought about evanlyn’s story feeling forced but ur right, maybe bc i was like 11 when i read for the first time but considering other possibilities is pretty interesting. as for the “setting up for will to get the girl and the girl is the princess”, well……… u just gotta see how this one plays out hehehehehhe it’s actually a fascinating way to handle a love triangle and yeah…… fantasy gaelic ppl enslaved by fantasy british ppl…….. the implications are there to be seen and it’s. ough.

MORGARATH MY LOVE he’s literally the most dramatic villain in the entire series. and “gilan no! HORACE NO!” HAD ME CACKLING GHFHSJDHS he’s so silly!! horace himbo agenda is true and real especially in the first few books!!! he has balls of steel for that horse move i genuinely thought he was gonna die. but he didn’t <3 and don’t worry morgarath is actually dead, it did seem pretty anticlimactic tho

AND THE SCENE OF HALT CHASING AFTER THEM IS JUST :( it’s so desperate and heartwrenching and the way he takes his horse as far into the water as he can while shooting and like. will calling for him as loud as he can BROOOOOOO 😭😭😭😭😭 and then all those possibilities about what happened……………. my fragile soul can’t take this. did he mourn in private agony or did he lean on his friends for support i’m inclined to say the latter. but i think the next book gets into it kinda :3 WAIT. WAIT. WHO TELLS ALYSS OH MY GOD who tells alyss i’m gonna lay down in the ocean and never stand up fuck. fuck

please never feel ashamed of sending very long asks about rangers apprentice this was so much fun to read and answer, i cannot WAIT for you to read the next one!!! any character or plot thoughts in the meantime are welcome!! 🫶

[cryptidcariad]

Path of the Beast - Mutations/Adaptations

One of my favourite things about D&D (and other mechanically dense TTRPGs) is when you get your character concept and character build to complement one another. AKA Ludonarrative Synchronicity, AKA That Good Shit (tm). And I've had an absolute blast doing that with Thrash and his Path of the Beast Barbarian build. The campaign has been a great mix of fantasy, horror and D&D shenanigans, perfect for playing my angsty, cursed mess of a character. He still hasn't discovered the true nature of the monstrous form he was cursed with (mechanically he's a bugbear), but its defining traits are instinct and adaptability. In other words, when a dangerous situation arises, he mutates involuntarily in a way that helps him survive. Technically his form only changes when he rages or takes a rest, but I had so much fun with that idea we decided that it happens in smaller ways whenever he uses another ability. A larger snout for tracking things with Perception/Survival, a more simian shape when he needs to climb with Athletics, that kind of thing.

And since I've been doing more art trades with @werelocke, I have now have some sketches to represent those changes! So here they are, mostly for my own reference but maybe other character building / monster character aficionados will enjoy :)

Swimming

"You gain a swimming speed equal to your walking speed, and you can breathe underwater."

One of the three 'Bestial Soul' options you can choose from every short/long rest with Path of the Beast, gained at Level 6.

Kinda situational but I really like being able to move through difficult environments easily. It's fun to imagine him using the 'jaws' mutation to bite and grapple an enemy, then do scary crocodile death roll.

Climbing

You gain a climbing speed equal to your walking speed, and you can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

One of the three 'Bestial Soul' options you can choose from every short/long rest with Path of the Beast, gained at Level 6.

At first I was thinking lizard/gecko for climbing, but I think a more monkey-like form adds a bit more variety.

Leaping

When you jump, you can make a Strength (Athletics) check and extend your jump by a number of feet equal to the check’s total. You can make this special check only once per turn.

One of the three 'Bestial Soul' options you can choose from every short/long rest with Path of the Beast, gained at Level 6.

I'm so impressed with @werelocke's art for this one. It's so scary! Even though this form is mostly just for leaping, I think it's super cool. It may sound kinda niche, but the ability to jump 20+ feet from a standing start is really huge for getting around the battlefield quickly.

Tracking

You are particularly familiar with one type of natural environment and are adept at traveling and surviving in such regions. When you make an Intelligence or Wisdom check related to your favored terrain, your proficiency bonus is doubled if you are using a skill that you’re proficient in.

Part of the 'Natural Explorer' ability gained by Rangers at Level 1.

Thrash has decent Perception/Survival for tracking, wilderness survival, etc, but it was only recently that he got really good at them when the DM decided to give each of us an ability from a different class as a homebrew thing.

To me, this represents him finally learning to understand what his new instincts are telling him whenever he's outdoors, what all those intense sounds and smells and instincts actually mean.

Spotting Predators

Your instincts are so honed that you have advantage on initiative rolls. Additionally, if you are surprised at the beginning of combat and aren't incapacitated, you can act normally on your first turn, but only if you enter your rage before doing anything else on that turn.

As part of the bonus action you take to enter your rage, you can move up to half your speed.

Core Barbarian abilities 'Feral Instinct' and 'Instinctive Pounce', gained at Level 7.

'Fight or flight' is a big part of this character's mindset. He's a little like the Hulk; he has this side of him that he's scared of and can't really control, but it mostly just wants to protect him/itself. Except rather than anger, he's way more driven by fear. And it can be fun to play act a bit twitchy/paranoid and 'pounce' into action when a fight starts!

[senblades]

4, 28, 34 for the ask game!

4: Do you have any OCs? Do you have a story for them?

okay so I already gave my whole spiel about my short film (i'll upload it one day.....) but lemme talk about some of my other characters!

I've got a trio of characters in a nebulous political thriller/high fantasy/steampunk world.... uhhhh basic premise of the magic system is that everyone has a spirit tied to them that is related to an abstract concept, which gives them relavant magic abilities. The spirits can be reeeeally broad or hyper specific- the hyper specific ones actually have individual personalities, whereas the broad ones are too abstract to really keep a hold on something like that

(believe it or not, this concept was cooked up before I knew what persona was about HAHAHA any similarites are coincidental)

the characters are:

Karmen (name pending a change): she's tied to a general nature spirit- very kindhearted, and set to be the next leader of her particular city. but, there are a lot of secrets and shady business that's been going on that she's privvy to because of her position, and she does her utmost to Keep Those Things Secret (stuff that keeps the city safe, but is uh... questionable)

Azaila (...name pending... something lmao): she's tied to a spirit of shadow- very combat focused. she's kind of an asshole fhdkjshfds /affectionate. Her city is wayyyy up north in the snow, and their culture is very merit-based, often devolving into duels and shit for leadership disputes. each family tends to have a 'leader' as well, and Azaila gained this position via questionable means from her uncle (she cheated in the duel lmao- her uncle kinda sucks and she was sorta desperate)

Elias: He's tied to a fire spirit, but due to an... incident (TM) in his childhood, he pretends his spirit is too weak and hyperspecifc to be of any use. he's a knight in the capital's royal guard, as is his father (yay nepotism /j HAHAHA) his whole deal is like... dealing with shit like duty and cowardice and trauma and whatnot

soooo i've had these guys on the back burner for a Hot Second. I'll do something with them one day...... maybe i'll draw them at some point too

28: Any writing advice that works for you and you feel like sharing?

I once again have absolutely no idea what I'm doing HAHAHA- if this was like, art advice, I might be able to help more, but.... hm....

I guess: make sure you plan your plot way in advance! Even for smaller stuff! You are not immune to writing yourself into a corner!

following that, though, don't be afraid to deviate from your plan wildly! (i sure have with fftsr lmao) It's important to avoid writing yourself into a corner, but so long as you see where a potential path lies, you can often write something even better if you deviate from it once you've gotten a ways into the story

34: Do you write to improve? Or is that not a concern for you?

it's not really a concern for me, tbh. since writing is entirely a hobby for me, I don't really feel the need to hold myself to any particular standard.

that's a bit misleading, though, since I do still want the stuff I write to be good; it's like, I improve naturally the more I write, and I'm happy with that natural pace rather than pushing myself for any goal. With my writing, I'll be satisfied with what I've got pretty quickly, where I stop and start with my illustrations a lot more if I come up with a better composition or the anatomy is funky or the colours aren't working and yadda yadda (and thus, i improve at art a lot faster (the life drawing classes def helped with that too lmao (anatomy is an interesting beast to tackle)))

ty ty for the ask! <3

[dragonmage]

After watching the game play I'm still on kinda hype but kinda anxious about it.

TLDR; some probably wrong theories about what we're getting, mostly positive but also seems like not as much New Fun things tm

-I loved the animations and art style and backgrounds

-Levels: I think its gonna be like Inquisition and parts of 2 where the levels are more 'set paths' kinda things with beautiful backgrounds very much like Val Royeaux - which is kinda iffy on how little was in Val Royeaux but I imagine there's gonna be 'open world' areas much like the Hinterlands. Idk why I expected something different but I did, and am just worried about how much we'll actually get to explore

-The Combat was Kinda Good Kinda Bad - it was hard to tell exactly how much was button combinations or just spamming X; it looked like there was a parry and a dodge option, and as some others said reminded me of Jedi: Fallen Order - which I really enjoyed !.

-I can already kinda guess though that at higher difficulties the enemies are just gonna be health sponges; idk what difficulty they were playing at its already seemed like the baddies weren't that hard but just didn't go down quickly

-I don't/didn't particularly care for switching between party members, but I also think it will be missed - there was so many times where I had to play Cassandra 1v1ing a dragon bc the rest of my party went down lol. I think it added a level of strategy - again not that I used it much, but it was a mechanic of at least 2 and inquisition that I relied on for harder fights.

-I really really liked the rain effects in cutscenes and on characters - i hope that theres a blood option like that lol.

-I was on the fence about Varric Dying and everyone's theories that he is, but there's no way he's not after that game play lol. I saw a tiktok saying that they could see it where Varric's the one in charge/leading/gathering the Veilguard and with his dying is how Rook becomes leader of the Veilguard and yeahhhh that seems pretty accurate.

-I like the companions commenting on your personality, it's always been a fav component of mine and it seems it might pop up more than in Inquisition.

-Oh the entire opening/showed sequence reminded me so much of the Inquisition one which is kinda :/ but it was good , but also sad in how much it feels like a repeat of a climatic/cinematic set piece (ala bridge collapse, demons, sliding, the veil fucky). The magic effects look gorgeous tho.

-Obligatory comment about Varric not being blonde/ginger

-Saw some others comment on dialogue/voice acting; for me it seemed on par with Inquisition, and again a neither bad nor good thing lol. I can see the faults of it having to establish what happened in Inquisition for new players, but again seems like par for the course.

-The different factions seem very interesting to me, and with how much it was showed in the 'tutorial' I'm curious if they're making it even more apparent than again previous games, at least dialogue wise

-I really think that regardless of class, everyone might be getting some 'extra/magic' abilities - someone pointed out that Harding might have some little extra oomf, and with the limited party, ON TOP OF Veil fuck shit, I think it's very possible to see not only party members with interesting mechanics, that Rook has the potential to arcane stuff - I mean the whole thing with the Veil was that Solas was opening it and giving elves magic (iirc, and the funny hahas about Fenris running around with mage spells lol) so it'd be interesting if that was something race effected as well.

-but overall positive, I think it'll feel like more of the same which isn't bad, but I had also hoped with how much time in development There'd be Something More - this is also based off just some sneak peak stuff. I just don't want a repeat of Andromeda where they change the entire feel to something watered down thats for a bigger audience but essentially not Dragon Age/Bioware

-I would love to comment on the story because at the end of the day thats why I play. - game play wise, it seemed expected, story wise I like how many potential things were brought up but its way too early to tell how much we're going to get. It seems more than Andromeda and Inquisition with the factions and new characters and I can only hope that it has as much depth as breadth that its showing

[vonlipvig]

I write this from my panic room, hiding from the worm that kicks my ass every time it sees me…

Dearest Jules

This game is amazing and I love it. Also this game is a bastard and I hate it. I had to operate on FIVE people IN ONE GO who all had evil fish in their lungs. This went about as well as you could expect, and it took me eight attempts to get past patient No.2, fortunately here my glorious incompetence finally paid off, and in a rare moment of empathy, the game decided that I could stop at three actually, and help arrived to bail me out.

Then, as I sat, wrapped in a shock blanket and sipping a hot drink, THE FUCKING TRIANGLES CAME BACK WITH NEW GASEOUS THORNS!

Needless to say this drove me to my limit. The patented Eleanor Smith Method (TM) of nocking them out quickly with the grace and care of a back alley dentist was no longer cutting it for me. Brought to my lowest point I was driven to do the impossible and understand how Triti actually works. It took a lot of swearing, dead patients, and at least three separate YouTube videos, but Jules, I have done it! I finally understand these damn triangles now! All of gods secrets now are mine to know! (Then I lost two more patient because I went over the time limit)

Afterwards, Angie asked me (the surgeon who had to pause surgery to pull up YouTube) if things were getting easier for me. And surprisingly it turned out they were, because now the triangles were gone, and I could focus on the easier task of killing squid. I only lost two patients!

It was at this point, I realised how much I’m invested in this story, and how much I like these characters. I think the read hot crucible of back to back surgeries meant I’d spent a few days away from proper character interactions and narrative chapter parts, so when it returned I was like: oh I’ve missed this, this is great!

I love watching these guys interact, I kind of wish I could watch them just on a regular day. What do you think the office party is like? I bet the dialogue there would be great.

Anyway our New Dad (Sidney), seems to have fucks that he gives, and entered a new and exciting rebellious phase, effectively telling the political bastards to go fuck themselves because people are dying, and then calling Victor to ship out the new drugs regardless of what those assholes say. Victor was, of course, fully prepared for this exact scenario, and had the files all ready to go…. along with his own secret weapon, an anonymous tip to the press. Victor comes through for us so much, and I’m not just saying that because he’s kinda hot and let me take a break from surgery to play Professor Layton (a game I’m good at).

We also had a very serious discussion about our combat capabilities, and I love the looseness with which Tyler ‘I’m a healer but…’ Chase holds on to his Hippocratic Oath. Even having witness his final fuck disappear freely over the horizon, I was still a little surprised that Sydney agreed to his plan of catching these terrorists ourselves, with the only addition being to make sure every group had a combatant in it. I was also a little surprised that Victor doesn’t have a taser squirrelled away somewhere for just this eventuality, because honestly he seems the type.

Anyway the plan went like shit and Cybil got infect by an evil, worm who I hate and fear in equal measure, but I must press on for Cybil, who is cool, and who might tell me what’s going on between her and Original Dad (Greg) if I save her. The time has come to stop shaking and crying in terror, and step from my panic room a grown w- (the worm tunnels into my heart, killing me instantly)

we gather here to mourn the passing of our dear friend and mutual, eleanor bagadew, whose untimely passing at the hands of Evil Worm signifies a true loss, not only to ourselves, but to the entire field of medicine 🙏🏼.

OH MY GOD YES I REMEMBER THE 5X OPERATION. like, this game truly had no mercy at times. i'm surprised i didn't scratch up my ds screen with how furiously i was tapping and slashing at it with this, tbh.

oh, i'm really getting a kick out of derek, in the middle of the operation, going "ok angie, please hold the phone like this, yes, thank you, ok...triti tutorial, triti tutorial...here it is, let's go, quick! AH GEEZ THE ADS", miss thompson you have to deal with so much, thank you for everything, queen ♡.

YES YES i love these characters so much, sidney my MAN ♡ (love love loveeee his relationship with victor, ngl iiiii kinda ship them lmao, same with victor and tyler). they're all written so well, and sure, the story can get Wild and Crazy at times, but the characters really do ground it so much. and YES, what i would give to just have scrubs the tv show but with the caduceus gang lmao.

go forth now, save queen cybil, do it for all of us (and greg, of course ;3).

[binarystargames]

Machinations of Court and Frame pre-production notes: Noble Houses and their Agents

I don't have an actual cover for this one yet so for now you get a screencap from the SRD title. This one's still at pretty high level. But I did some of that high level work and I wanna talk about it!

Speaking of the SRD, this is the third Total//Effect game I initially proposed/outlined/etc on the Total//Effect SRD. My general (self)-pitch was:

Mecha, But Politics

This Time, This One's About The People, Not The Mechs TM

(But it's also about feudalism and how internecine struggles between people in power completely do not care about the average person)

Political maneuvering and such. Heavy Faction emphasis in the form of noble Houses. Think Battletech or Game of Thrones or Dune.

Heavy emphasis on Relationships/Bonds/etc. They're big in Valiant Horizon but they're supposed to be even bigger here.

No "traditional" group tactical TTRPG combat. But there are mecha duels, because that's very important to me.

So first off, I think to give this the proper "space" (haha) to breathe, this one also needs to be a space game. This lets me be pretty vague on certain points without it being weird, especially I'm purposely relaxing "hard"-ness because the specifics aren't the point - everyone has FTL shit and can travel easy, planets are just habitable or terraformable and have atmospheres, it's fine. Get those good Dune/Battletech vibes going more so than like, Front Mission.

Given that, I think the proper order of operations is: Factions/Allegiances contain Houses which contain Planets. Factions/Allegiances are something that I think mostly gets hashed out in play but I'll focus on Houses/Planets.

Planets

The main resource I'm tracking is the number of planets they control, which is the only "resource" I'm tracking as such. More planets, more power in general: certain things can add "virtual" planets to this tally, like prominent (extra-population/resource/etc, counts as two) or independent (counts as half at most, is split X ways between any House with a trade agreement with them) planets. What do more planets get you? Each House gets X actions per Faction Turn: reinforce X planet, infiltrate Y planet, do some digging on Z, etc. I'm thinking the big benefit is that they get 2/3/4/5 actions if they have 1/3/6/10 planets: meaning a handful of lower Houses can overwhelm a higher one if they're isolated.

Houses

So off the bat, my first inclination was to do some kind of complicated 4X resource thing with Houses. But I realized very quickly that I didn't want that. The thing is that the interplay between Houses is not so much a game in and of itself as it is a backdrop to the personal action between agents of said Houses. Your points of view aren't the machine, they're also cogs in it, even if they are very important cogs. So what do we do for Houses?

To define a House, we start by defining the House's Distinction. This is kind of like a character class or playbook for the House. The ones I have down are Legacy (they're very old and storied), Money (they have a lot of it), Connections (they're got to where they are through intel and favor arbitrage), and Industry (they have control of some major supply of something, like food or ore). This is basically why they matter.

When you define this, the player making the House (this is a full-group effort, ideally, with each player making probably 2) is asked 3 Distinction-based questions to define something in particular about how the House got to where they are, who they're allied with, and who they're unfriendly with. Distinction also defines holdings, i.e. how many planets they start with, but it's based on a roll and each kind has various downsides: Money-Houses have High Die (average 5ish) but many are independent, while Connections-Houses have Low Die (average 2ish) but their capital is always Prominent. Because this isn't really a game about winning or losing, I'm perfectly fine with Houses starting on the front or back foot. For example, I rolled up 1 House of each kind to test this, and the Legacy and Money houses started with 4 each while the other two rolled very poorly ended up with 1 each. That instantly creates an asymmetric dynamic: maybe those first two are the major two powers, with the other two splitting one way or another (or combining forces to act as one...for now, anyway). That's workable!

The chosen Distinction also defines the Frames the House picks as its "core three" types (light, medium, heavy). I've defined 3 "lines" of mechs by name/manufacturer: the first is intended for old-money, focuses on melee capabilities, and labels theirs like TYPE-WEAPON; the second has more of a PMC vibe and labels theirs like 0X-ABC where ABC is a "character class" like KGT = Knight, RGR = Ranger, etc; and the third is full manufacturing and labels them XMYAZ (for instance MM10A4, like how the US military labels things as M16A4/etc). Legacy Houses have to pick 2/3 from the first (they're the oldest one, prior contracts, etc), Money houses have to pick 2/3 from the second (they have a expensive-but-practical vibe), Industry has to pick 2/3 from the last (more of an emphasis on no-frills craftsmanship), and Connections have to pick 1 of each.

Distinction does another thing with Relationships too but I'll get to it when writing about...

Agents

So the focus of the game is characters who are Agents. This is a very broad term that more or less comes down to "representative of a House, sponsored by them to get The Overwhelmingly Good Shit from their Frame manufacturer, sent to problem areas to fix or create problems or as liasons/representatives". Each player makes two and play shifts around various sides of a conflict on a per-session basis - when Agents clash, it could be with an NPC, or depending on what House moves have been taken, it could be another PC Agent! (And since direct conflicts are 1v1, you can just have this play out as PvP, unless both duelists were made by the same player.)

I'm taking a similar approach re: playbook/broad "class"-like distinctions to Agents. Specifically, I'm envisioning 6 kinds of Agents on a sliding scale of privilege/status/position from Heir/Scion at the high end (literally in line to be House leadership, or could be if enough people die) to Officer/Mercenary at the low end (not even nobles, just professionals who are good at mech fighting). The more important you are, the more Status you have: Status means that other characters with more/less relate to you differently. (One big one, for example, is that is no big deal for someone of higher Status to actually kill someone of lower in a battlefield duel, but someone of lower status is expected to find a way to disable rather than kill whatever inbred heir in their sight who has a death wish.) It does mean you've got more of a target on your back, however, and less ability to pivot around: I'm thinking a meta-currency equal to X - Status (probably 4 - Status, with Status being 1-3).

Playbooks/whatever I end up calling them also define a few things. I'm envisioning a passive ability relating to Relationships (like counting them as doubled for the purposes of Influence or unlocks), as well as starting packages: starting Relationships with the House and with people, and starting Moves picked from a big list split between Court Intrigues and Frame Maneuvers (like the Mercenary is Maneuvers-only at first, but it gets 4 instead of 3 Moves and can gain more of an appreciation for intrigue over time - think someone like Bronn from Game of Thrones).

Finally, back to Distinctions to talk about Relationships. When characters gain Relationships, they can take those out with other people (which gives advantages to influence them in particular) or with Houses. In addition to making it easier to influence them and various set benefits like extra Frame access or Tells on all that House's Frames or that person's Maneuvers, When they take a Bond (which is 1 of 6 points you can put into a Relationship, crystallized by a specific thing), they gain a token, which they can spend anytime to answer questions about a House: the questions in particular are defined by that Distinction/Playbook, and there's one good-connotated/one bad-connotated. For example, Legacy has a) What hidden secret in their past could propel this House to greatness? b) What dark event in their history or lineage is this House trying to hide? (Keep in mind these aren't just for good bonds, these can be for enemies too - a character can create a Relationship with a House they've sworn to bring to ruin, for example, and cash them in to create some horrid rift they can exploit, or a friendly Relationship can turn sour after a betrayal and lead to awful things being revealed on both sides.)

Hell Yeah

This game's gonna be cool as shit whenever I make it for real, folks. I mean I say this about literally every significant-sized game I make but this one's definitely also my baby.

[mixing-bowl-of-stories]

What are some silly fun facts about the Crux members?

:D I’m glad you asked, I don’t have many funny ones (because I haven’t really thought about it) so I’ll give you some generalized fun facts.

- Noah is terrified of spiders

- Pandora actually used to be fascinated with spiders so she’s chill w/ it

- Nico’s staff can summon a magic blade, making it a scythe

- Owen carries a giant steel hammer

- Owen can manipulate metals

- Nathaniel wields a longbow

- Natasha uses throwing knives

- Natasha learned how to use throwing knives by accident because she was bored

- Natasha is NOT fun to play darts with

- Nathaniel thinks it’s dumb that Natasha doesn’t take her combat and weapon seriously

- None of the Woodwhisper triplets have ever been inside a traditional brick and mortar school

- Owen graduated with honors at the Morganian Institute of Technology

- Owen owns his own business

- Barbara has the ability to summon shadow copies of enemies and use them to fight for her

- Barbara is the queen of vicious mockery

- Barbara takes pride in being Noah’s better and cooler mom

- Pandora affectionately calls Owen “old man”

- Pandora isn’t actually the shortest member of the group, instead, Josiah and Lilith are

- Josiah and Lilith are halflings

- Pandora once severely backtalked her father’s father because he was talking shit about her family and friends

- Pandora has backtalked several important nobles into silence

- Karissa and Lilith love to sing about the adventures they’ve been on

- but they especially love to sing about the other members in The Crux, rather than themselves

- They find it more interesting to sing about the lives of their friends than they do their own, in their eyes, their lives haven’t been nearly as interesting as their friends lives have

- Karissa has the ability to mimic anyone’s voice so long as she’s heard their voice once

- Ambrose and Constance have adopted Karissa as their younger sister

- Lazarus has a point where he’s let out of prison to travel with The Crux and defeat a mutual foe

- Pandora loves to read and write, she can also draw. She’s good at drawing because of her need to draw maps for Arthur and her parents.

- Noah tries to draw but still isn’t very good at it yet

- Amelia used to be a malicious witch until she met Chance and Barbara and decided that she wasn’t going to let them saving her go to waste despite her nearly being killed for being a witch.

- Amelia is also a doctor! That was her coverup for her witch stuff.

- Amelia gives Noah a sleeping tonic to help sooth the nightmares

- She also gives a stronger dose of the same tonic to Pandora, although Pandora didn’t ask for it. Amelia just saw the condition she slept in at night and decided Pandora needed some peace

- Owen and Noah are really close (hehe bastard boys [tm])

- Everyone in The Crux considers each other to be a found family of sorts

- Sometimes everyone is on board with causing some mischief >:3c