#undead niko is something that can be so personal

[tommytranselo]

gta iv undead au where niko actually died in that battlefield setup, was resurrected to get his revenge, and now has to literally sustain himself through violence + feeding on the lives of others.  best part is you wouldn’t even really need to change the plot.

[niamh-writes-things]

hang on a sec, what if instead of dead boy detectives we had vampire boy detectives!

Edwin's circumstances of death would have to be different of course, but Charles can have the same but instead of chilling and waiting for him to die Edwin bites him.

as undead beings they can still see ghosts and all and therefore still try to help them. their reasoning is that they are trying to balance out the evil they do when biting people. they probably have a policy of only biting animals or proper bad guys like murderers and abusers and people who are dicks to women, and they probably steal from the hospital every so often. as much as i like my crazy murder guys, edwin and charles just arent like that, they would want to avoid biting people as much as possible and try to avoid it until they absoloutely have to.

this would make the dynamic with Esther really interesting. she would probably say something like "how are we any different, you feed on the blood of humans, killing them, and my snake feeds on little girls, killing them and giving me beauty!" and instead of an iron cane and an iron collar it's silver. when charles has to go into the snake pit he can just smell all the blood from the girls and he can have a mini crisis.

also they would probably have to rent a room because people can actually see them. jenny probably just thinks theyre fellow alternative people. niko and crystal would definately be a bit afraid, but warm up to them. the interactions with the cat king would have much more tension and stuff.

the story would probably get much darker as our boys actively kill people, but the threat of the knight nurse and edwin returning to hell wouldnt be there. it would probably be replaced with what if one of them is staked, or if we still want the night nurse, she's after them because they werent supposed to be turned, they were supposed to di and go to their seperate afterlifes and she's trying to trick them into goingt to their afterlifes anyway via some kind of magic or a deal with death or something. again with the show being darker, maybe when theyre on a case theres a guy whom was accidentally killed by his abusive father and charles goes a bit mental on him.

charles still gets his crisis because hey, his dad enjoyed inflicting pain on others and he feeds on blood which causes pain so are they the same? can he ever really be a good person as a vampire? is he a horrible person like his dad was?

OOOh and clothes! edwin can keep his outfit because he just isnt comfortable in modern clothes but charles probably embraces the campire aesthetic and goes even more punky than he already is

guys i'm gonna be honest i just really like vampires and i really like dbd and now i need to write a new fanfic

[starlight-time-machine]

Week in Review

10/29/2023 – 11/04/2023

Sunday

Started the day off rewatching Starry Diamond, which Revue Starlight put on their YouTube channel to promote the Starry Session Band Live. I first watched this live when I wasn’t fully into my Starlight phase, so watching it back is really fun… Maho always brings the drama, and Mimorin showing up during Fly Me to the Star is so sweet… Fancy You was really emotional too…

Handsome Must Die’s ending was, as expected, bombastic. It was surprising that Yuri never revealed who she really was, I personally would’ve loved that moment of connection (and because I ship Yuri with Go), but I guess there wasn’t any time. In the end, I’m just glad to see Yuri, Go, Inukai, and Ban live their best handsome idol lives. Overall I’d say Handsome Must Die is a 6/10 for me.

Undead Unluck was pretty amazing, I don’t even have any insightful things to say other than that. The reverse roundtable is an insane reveal, and I’m really looking forward to learning more about it.

As soon as I saw all of them in that goddamn van again I knew they were going to get into another accident LMAO (Ichinose). Things were wrapping up pretty neatly beforehand, with the parents just being like we’re sowwy Sota and the family taking their long-promised trip together, but of course something went wrong because Taizan 5 reserves the last page of every single chapter for a twist. I’ll reserve my final thoughts for when the manga finishes, but overall I’m just relieved that it’s almost over. I’m pretty sure this accident is just a fake out to have an ironic cliffhanger moment, but if they genuinely have amnesia in the next chapter then lol. Lmao, even.

The Oshi no Ko chapter was pretty solid, it’s great to see things from Memcho’s perspective. I’ve always enjoyed how mature and coolheaded she is under that :3 streamer shell. Considering how pretty much all of the past characters and even whatever that little girl is are being brought into this production, I wonder if this is going to be the final arc…or perhaps the lead up to Aqua (and Ruby?)’s final confrontation with their father…

Dandadan 126: C’MON RIN!!! FULFIL YOUR IDOL DESTINY AND SING!!!

Magilumiere 89: I liked that little detail of Niko raising his hand to his face like the classic ojou-sama ohoho laugh. AND LMAO HIM BEING HANDED THE NON-ALCOHOLIC CIDER… But other than that, there are some dark rumblings happening at this party… I’m excited for next week.

Hmmm I’m a little tempted to drop Akane-banashi and check back in once it’s ended, but I do want to keep seeing Karashi…but it just feels like they keep introducing new characters with new gimmicks and I can’t keep any of them straight anymore.

One Piece 1096: Woah…younger Garp looks good…woah we got a lot of young designs…and little Kuma is so cute…and it’s so bittersweet to see Kuma and Ginny enjoy their freedom…

I’m intrigued by this new Chloe character in the SpyFam chapter. It’s great that she imparted some truth to Yuri, but of course he takes the wrong lesson from it lol. It’s interesting to see that he seemingly has a single moment of realization that Yor would be sad if Loid was arrested (before he denies it in a cognitive dissonance sort of way), but I can imagine this dynamic coming into play when the inevitable final conflict finally rears its head. In general, I’m kind of itching for some shift in the status quo of SpyFam…I know we just had a close call between Loid and Yuri, but that’s all it was, a close call, and now we’re back to none of them knowing anything about each other… but I imagine the mangaka would want to stretch this series out as far as they can, so we still have a ways to go.

Cipher Academy 46: YAY ANON-CHAN APPEARS! And I love that her fake name card also got slashed lol AND YOSAIMURA??? OH MY GODDDDDDD YESSS I LOVE WHEN GIRLS ARE SCARY AND THREATENING WOOOOO AND WOW I think this is the first time we’ve truly seen a crack in Kogoe’s cool demeanor…and Yosaimura’s hand on Kogoe’s cheek is so sjdkfjgsjhdfkl her ikemen vibes are absolutely insane. I’m also curious about this air graveyard Kogoe mentioned? And I wonder why she’s worried about Kyora (and Iroha) to the point of stacking the deck in their favour…is it just because of their friendship? Or is there a genuine threat in this metaverse? LMAO ANON LEARNING HER LESSON FROM THE TRILEMMA AND JUST THANKING YOSAIMURA we love to see growth. Aw she’s so cute with a flower in her hair…and this duo is really interesting. And the next chapter is looking to be really fun! God I love Cipher Academy!!!

Monday

I had already started reading volume 2 of the Kusuriya light novels a while ago, but I continued today on account of feeling the itch for more Kusuriya. I feel ambivalent about this Outer Palace arc though – I like the ambiance and the characters and the politics of the Rear Palace too much to really enjoy this new setting, and it feels like the some of the mysteries are just plopped onto Maomao’s lap without her really having stakes in them. From reading the manga, I know that these seemingly disconnected occurrences are indeed building up to something, but I’m looking forward to getting that over with and returning to the Rear Palace.

I also continued watching the Starry Diamond live – finally the other schools make their appearance! (It’s really funny seeing the bottle of ponzu just chilling on the stage…foreshadowing for later). Oni Kurenai was so fun, as was Chou ni Natte, but of course my oshi school is Siegfeld. It’s so sad that Yume couldn’t make it though… but Platinum Forte was great, Nossan’s head voice in the “higeki to kigeki” line was great, and Rose Poems WAS INSANEEEEEEEEEEE AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Nossan and Tonopii’s voices go so well together and their harmonizing is so beautiful and the DANCE and the HAND HOLDING and the WISTFUL GAZES this brought me back to my AkiShio era so hard.

After Rose Poems, we started getting into the Starry Diamond songs, and I remember the lead up to this album/live so fondly…listening to the previews on loop…trying to predict the groups/who would win the revues…I even bought the album off of Japanese iTunes so I could get my hands on the full Zeus no Chuusai as quickly as possible…yeah, the story elements of these songs kind of went nowhere, but the songs and performances themselves are still a blast. FutaKao’s bickering/flirting is so cute…also this is a cool chance to see the other schools’ weapons in use. It’s also interesting to see the beginnings of this FutaKao TamaRui square dynamic when they were still working out the writing before Arcana Arcadia completely changed the landscape.

OHHHHHH MY GOD FUMI AND SHIORI DOING THEIR LAST REVUE INTRO LINE TOGETHER IS SO AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH AND FUMI AND SHIORI FIGHTING!!! AND MINNA DE LET’S PONZU!!!! AND FUMI SHIORI DANCING TOGETHER!!! Zeus no Chuusai will always be a banger. Oh my god Aiai looked so stunning when she claimed Position Zero… also it’s so funny how this became like the first of five times where Fumi and Shiori reconcile with each other…sisters are just like that huh. Also it’s really interesting to see how the non-Seisho costumes are so rudimentary at this stage, they really improved things for the stage play versions.

Aghhhh I’m so so so sad that Yume couldn’t make it to this live, Gyoshite literally has a bunch of my favourite girls in it and she would’ve slayed the performance so hard… YESSSSSSSSSS SATOHINA WITH THE BARSSSSSSSSS Agh Yume would’ve been so good at this choreo… I like how when Lalafin hits the ground with her hammer, Junna and Yuyuko jump to avoid the shockwave like she’s a Mario boss…

WOAGH the way Maya and Nana combined their last revue intro lines was so cool… MIKORON SPINNING HER SCYTHE AROUND LIKE A…LIKE A WHIP OR A LASSO OR SOMETHING JSDFKLSJDF Okay my Nana oshi friend is going to kill me for this but I can’t help loving Maho in this song SHE IS GIVING 1000%!!!!! SHE IS SADISTICALLY DELIGHTING IN DISARMING BANANA AND HER MANIACAL EVIL SMILE IS SOOOOOOOOOO AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH This really was a Betrayal at Crete…

And then the emotional whiplash of going from Betrayal to Procyon, which is just a bunch of puppies running around lmao. But it’s cute, and Haruki just nails that baton toss. I have similarly little to say about the final song, but Nossan’s voice harmonizes so well with Momoyo and Mimorin’s. In hindsight, it was probably a little silly of us to theorize about who’d win each revue when there was absolutely no way they were going to let Kukugumi, the ones that like 80% of the audience were there to see, lose to some random girls from the mobile game. But hopefully that’ll change for the Arcana Arcadia live (I’m still holding onto hope)…

God Mimorin’s solo lines in Star Divine give me the chills every time… AGHH MIMORIN CRYING IN HER CLOSING REMARKS AND EVERYONE HUGGING HER AND TEARING UP… I REALLY DO LOVE KUKUGUMI… Revue Starlight is just a magical franchise because it really feels like everyone involved with it loves it wholeheartedly and is in awe of its brilliance… I’m really glad that I’m alive to experience this franchise. Now I’m super super super hype for Starry Session, the first real Kukugumi live in like four years…

Read a bit more Kusuriya before I fell asleep, and felt so relieved when we were finally plopped back into the Rear Palace.

Tuesday

Finished reading Kusuriya volume 2. Despite the somewhat rocky road it took to get to the end, it’s satisfying to learn about Maomao’s family and give her parents a happy ending. Also, I didn’t think too much of Basen’s introduction in the manga, but seeing him being explicitly described as being close to Maomao’s age and disposition makes me wonder if he’ll be involved in a love triangle with Maomao and Jinshi in the future…obviously Maomao and Jinshi are endgame, but I wouldn’t mind some more romantic drama since Maomao is so fun in her obliviousness in this sphere.

The new Chainsaw Man chapter was fun, it’s great to see Quanxi back in action again.

I got started on Kusuriya volume 3 because I couldn’t help myself, and I love being back in the Rear Palace again. Maomao navigating the social climate in regards to Gyokuyou’s pregnancy is already super compelling, with her paying attention to the details of her clothing and any substances that have suspiciously made their way in…this is the level of drama I’m down for.

Wednesday

I read like two more pages of Kusuriya volume 3 but I was mostly just busy today.

Thursday

The same thing happened today OTL

Friday

I think I’ll always be itching for my Undead Unluck anime fix every Friday, and here we are. It’s a more lowkey episode both in story and in animation, but after last week’s episode I genuinely don’t mind. I’m all for productions taking a break on some episodes to focus their energy on other, bigger episodes…like next week’s, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Andy shooting his fingers at the Round Table only for everyone to parry it is such a cool intro…and it’s fun to get a glimpse into what everyone’s deal is. I love how chill Billy is, it’s very funny :) And surely he’ll be a chill guy for the whole show right haha. And Juiz is sooooooo cool aghhhhhh and the reveal that this is all in the name of killing God is so fun hehe and I love the slick typography they did when they were explaining the quests… AND SEAN MENTION WOOO Also I liked seeing some of the Shaftisms creep in in the episode’s direction lol I feel like I lose my vocabulary so badly when I talk about the Undead Unluck anime, like all I can say is it’s cool or fun etc. but it is!!!! I’m having so much fun!!!! I haven’t had this much fun with a shounen battle series since One Piece or Hunter x Hunter!!! I once saw a tweet about how a lot of modern shounen try to imitate Naruto or Bleach, but Undead Unluck is one of the only ones that set out to imitate One Piece and I think that’s so accurate… It really feels like there’s a whole world to explore, with so many different characters and abilities… I was a One Piece kid growing up so I’m definitely in this camp of shounen philosophy, and I’m having such a great time with Undead Unluck’s modern take on it. I’m so excited for next week!!! I hope I can see my boy Shen be unsettling!!!!!

Saturday

Kusuriya also had a pretty lowkey episode this week, but I enjoyed Maomao doing her little mushroom hunts and handiwork projects, as well as the Jinshi/Maomao moments. But next week’s Garden Party is what I’m really looking forward to.

SpyFam’s cruise ship arc is starting off strong! It’s fun to see Loid being the comic relief while Yor gets an emotional arc where she re-examines her feelings to this constructed family of hers and her career. I also love this arc for its structure, where a bunch of people converge onto one point or location. As Anya would say, it’s all very waku waku.

[spinef0ryou]

I think it's a bit weird that people are getting so made about some peopld calling out bc for using lyrics like bitches and hoes in their songs. And some time ago someone brought up niko's chloroform joke and people got very mad (the joke turned out to be reference to something (?). Like some people are new to this music genre and cant possibly know everything bc might be referencing! And some people might even like just bc and listen to a completely different genre normally so theres no way everyone can be aware of everything. And i dont understand the logic that because so many other band use these misogynistic lyrics, it it okay for bc to use them as well?? (Tho i get the context in snake for example) but yeah, this is not hate i am just trying to have the discussion on this point of view as well🖤

my opinion on this whole thing is very much coloured from the fandoms i came from (slipknot, murderdolls, dope (who are pretty tame)) so i did think it (edit: the og callout) was weird. but i also saw that op’s blog and what they usually post about which shed some light on their perspective. (though i have Many thoughts about that fandom due to personal bad or neutral experiences with it. and that has probably coloured my view on this as well)

the chloroform joke out of context is pretty bad taste. within context it’s maybe funny. or gives you an inside joke kinda feel, but imo that’s why context is important (i’m an historian so i will scream about the importance of context until the end of time). if i’d never heard hollywood undead and just heard the joke then i’d be like wtf and try to find out. (the song is called dead bite and the lyric is ‘i know that we have never really met before, but tell me does this rag smell like chloroform’. i don’t know if it’s a reference or if the band made it up) and then when i know i’d be like. oh! joke referencing a band bc toured with! poor taste joke but eyyy i see the reference. (and even if i didn’t know that they toured together, hollywood undead are one of the biggest bands of the past twenty years, and that’s one of their more famous songs)

i do think modern cancel culture jumps the gun every time and especially with tumblr (and the rest of the internet but i’m usually here) being the way it is, things get blown up and mountains get made out of molehills. people do that and then when there’s an actual problem no one listens to them (or anyone) and it’s just a horrible mess.

and like i said: context is pretty important. we like to act like bc are a very new band because they are for a lot of people, but they’ve been together since 2013. internet and social media culture has exploded in the past decade, so even with the unlisted and deleted videos, there a lot of content of them out there (and those videos i think have been saved). eight years worth of content is of course not easy to get through but skipping over it or not being properly informed about the band doesn’t give someone a good position to air complaints from.

i think it was @bigsoftkatiedotpng who mentioned (i think it was cultural or social anthropology? i hope that’s right dude!) and growing up in a misogynistic society means some misogynistic things will filter to you without realising them. and to (i suppose) further that thought a bit, i think we forget that whilst bc do have a lot of pop punk and pop and emo aspects to them, they did start off as more of a nu metal band. nu metal was never exactly known for being especially feminist (to put it lightly), which actually leaves me surprised at the lack of songs calling a woman a bitch or hoe. and yeah. like you said, it’s not just bc who use that language. i’ve made a joke both here and on twitter about someone calling joel a misogynist that they should listen to the song bitch by dope whilst jokingly calling it a feminist anthem. breakups hurt and they suck and if it was instigated by one person cheating, of course there’s going to be strong feelings involved. but to get mad at one band for using that language but not others seems odd and a waste of time to me.

and a final note that you didn’t address but i haven’t seen other people talk about do i might as well talk about it here is that no one is putting bc on a pedestal and saying they can do no wrong. the response to someone calling joel a misogynist was to go heavily the other way, not because we don’t think he can do any wrong, but because he continuously gets shit for no reason and it’s unfair on him. the worst example i’ve seen was someone on the youtube comments of an interview from when they got back in finland after rotterdam where someone said they thought he was on drugs because he was fidgety. they didn’t back down even after the interviewer got involved and said he wasn’t. that hit more than a few nerves with a lot of people. also, considering that substance abuse can common with adhd, it can be an extra insult for some. another example was him reposting things to his insta story of like. fan stuff. and some of the insta fandom got the Big Mad about it and saying things that amounted to ‘she looks fifteen so that’s a bit dodgy’

[flowerslut]

DAY TWO: SOULMATES Rated: K+ for mentions of death. Words: 3,701

When you’re born with a dead soulmate, what more can you do?

THE CORPSE’S BRIDE

Disposing of newborns was far from Jasper’s favorite thing to do. He’d been forced to improvise as the years dragged on, using distraction, lies, and manipulation to lure the doomed vampires to their final resting place. Anything to keep their emotions from striking him harder than physical blows could.

He was finishing up cleaning out their lot—this year’s newborns had been a disappointing crew, not strong or skilled enough to help them gain back their eastern lands—when the strange feeling first took hold of him.

He’d been mid-sentence when he paused, turning to look around at the dark plains, their abandoned shack way off on the horizon.

The newborn he was to dispose of, a mild-mannered man who shook during battle yet had somehow avoided defeat all the same, turned as well, his eyes fearfully raking across the area as well, no doubt terrified that something he couldn’t see had caused the Major to stop and react.

Jasper brushed the feeling away as he turned back toward the man, lifting a disarming hand to give an almost-friendly smack against his shoulder, sending forth a wave of indifference as he led them forward. He couldn’t lead the man too far forward or he’d undoubtedly smell the venom that was seeping into the ground several hundred yards away, and he’d understand where the rest of their new crew had gone.

But it was in that instant, as he was patting Niko’s shoulder, that Jasper saw it, bright against his pale, scarred skin. He froze again, and any air of comfort he’d been carefully cultivating vanished into thin air as shock set in fully.

Niko reacted the same as Jasper, jumping slightly to twist out of the way of Jasper’s frozen arm, his frightened eyes looking from Jasper’s face to his wrist, and seeing the sight immediately.

A gasp shattered the silence, and for the first time since they’d changed him the previous winter, Niko stopped shaking. Instead, wonder filled the man and he stepped closer to examine Jasper’s wrist.

“A soul mark,” he whispered, red eyes wide as he leaned closer—but not too close, he knew better—to look at the tiny red heart that almost looked to be glowing. The man smiled then, still wracked with shock, and turned toward Jasper, “you have a soulmate! I—”

Jasper ripped his head off then, trying to act as quickly as he could to prevent the doomed man from speaking any further. As fast as he could manage he grabbed the remains and brought them across the clearing, tossing the body onto the rest.

He didn’t realize he was now shaking until he realized he couldn’t light the match.

His eyes moved straight toward the tiny mark again.

There was no way he could hide it. And even if he did what his brain was currently considering, and if he ripped the portion of flesh away with his own teeth, Maria would know.

She always knew.

Maria, whose own tiny heart was now a tragic, black color. Her mate—her soulmate—long dead and gone.

Eventually he lit the match, ignited the pyre, and turned to make his way back to the shack at the edge of the horizon.

If anything, Maria would see it, witness his indifference, and be pleased. What better way to pledge your loyalty then to overlook a newly minted wrist, fresh with the promise of true love?

Stomping his way back to Maria, he inhaled deeply, mouth filling with venom as he realized they’d get to go into town and feed now.

What was supposed to be the allure of love when fresh blood tasted so sweet?

————————————

It wasn’t until years later—nearly two decades since the mark appeared on his wrist—that Maria finally commented on it.

They were going over strategy for an upcoming encounter when Maria made a sad noise, her tongue clicking with pity as amusement began to radiate from her.

“Ah, muy triste.”

Jasper ripped his mind off their carefully-drawn map to meet her eyes. He didn’t need to follow her gaze to know exactly what she was looking at.

“Tu amor,” she frowned dramatically, her lip jutting out in a way that made Jasper suddenly angry, “está muerta.”

His eyes fell upon his soul mark instantly, but the red mark was gone. In it’s place, one that was startlingly familiar. A mark he’d seen on Maria’s wrist as long as he’d known her. A tiny black heart; indicative of a dead soulmate.

His soulmate, wherever they were, was now dead.

He forced himself to not care, ignoring the way the universe seemed to shift around him in that instant, and continued planning out their next course of attack.

His soulmate hadn’t mattered to him during their life; he’d be damned if they mattered to him at all dead.

————————————

When Lillian Brandon grew pregnant with her first child, she’d been elated. She’d been married for barely six months when her body began to weaken as her stomach began to expand. It was a hard, unforgiving pregnancy, but Lillian kept her spirits high, too excited about the prospect of a child of her own to care. 

Edgar, her husband, wasn’t a warm man. If anything, ‘business’ man could go at the top of the list of words used to describe him. She was sure he had colleagues with words far more descriptive, and far more cruel. But throughout her pregnancy, he pulled back from work, making it so that she never went without so much as a sip of water.

Through the months her body was racked with illness, the pregnancy something her slight frame could just barely handle, and by October of 1901 she knew that it was nearly time.

Two days into the month Lillian’s health took a nosedive, and Mary-Alice Brandon was born into the world.

Born cold and unmoving, suspected to be stillborn, she didn’t cry when introduced to the world. Her eyes calm and open and seeing from her first few minutes. Mary-Alice had all ten fingers, all ten toes, and a tuft of barely-there black hair on the crown of her head.

One thing Mary-Alice didn’t have, was a red soul mark.

The whispers floated through the hospital despite Edgar’s swift demand that her tiny wrest be covered immediately. While other babies born with a soul mark were all the same—small, red, and heart-shaped on the inside of a wrist—Alice’s had been different.

Mary Alice Brandon had been stamped with a full black mark, indicating something that only older adults and those struck by tragedy knew: a dead soulmate.

After Lillian was stable enough to hold and feed her baby, she examined the girl’s tiny wrist, held the infant close, and cried with all of her might.

————————————

It wasn’t until the marks began to appear, that they knew something was wrong. Those with living soulmates enjoyed many features of having a person tied to them beyond what could be seen or felt. Some had dreams that were shared. Others enjoyed eerily similar tastes in food and aesthetics. Lillian Brandon had a cousin who could feel his soulmate’s pain as if it were his own; an experience that was as scary as it was rare.

Alice was four days old when the first mark appeared. 

Scar marks weren’t uncommon, but to gain them meant one thing: you had a soulmate, and they were being hurt.

Mary-Alice had been gifted with a dead soulmate from birth. When the first bright purple crescent moon splotch appeared on her tiny forearm, Lillian had almost fainted.

Edgar had been beside himself with frustration, demanding that local doctors and clergymen help fix his infant daughter, using sums of money to ensure the utmost discretion.

But the marks never remained for longer than a week at a time. And by the time the baby was several weeks old, she’d already had a rainbow of marks appear across her limbs, and fade within days.

When Mary-Alice was four months old, the first mark appeared on her face and Edgar swore to Lillian that no child of his would be caught around town with a black heart and a mottled face.

————————————

Lillian theorized heavily for many years, trying to make sense of the marks that appeared and disappeared on her daughter’s skin, despite the proof of her true-love already lost.

It wasn’t until Mary-Alice was a girl, attending school with as much cover as they could get away with under the Mississippi sun, when they grew alarmed.

“He’s out there Mama,” Mary-Alice had smiled up at her mother, her two front teeth missing. “It’s okay. I’m not sad. You shouldn’t be either.”

When Lillian had made Mary-Alice swear to never repeat those words to her father, the girl had frowned, nodded, and skipped away. Her hair was braided down her back, dancing as she moved, revealing a sour yellow mark against the back of her neck.

————————————

When Mary-Alice was eight a group of boys on the schoolyard cornered her. A pink mark that bisected her face in two had appeared in the middle of their arithmetic lessons, causing a bit of a scene and a hefty disruption.

Miss Palmer had dismissed their lessons early that day, unable to control the unruly class, some children jeering, others screaming at Mary-Alice, who refused to even look ashamed at the mark. And when the child refused to move herself to the back of the room to continue on with the school day, the frazzled teacher had sent them all out.

The comments and taunts were routine now, but she hated them all so severely for each insult hurled her way as they circled her, laughing and preventing her escape.

“Off to the graveyard Mary-Alice?”

“How many dead people do you kiss?”

“Enough to try and find your husband?”

“Is it true the morgue lets you check all the arms before they bury the bodies?”

“Aye, Mary-Alice! Old man Kemper’s been dead three weeks now! Maybe he can help you find your husband!”

“Maybe she’s a witch—she’ll show up in a few years with her undead husband still covered in dirt and worms.”

Then, the boy with the lightest hair grabbed her shoulder and turned toward his friends. Alice tensed under his touch. The boy, Wilhelm, always knew what to say to get under her skin, and to push things too far. “Hey, hey. Maybe she is. But maybe he’s deader than a doornail and always has been! That’s why Mary-Alice gets so upset. She knows he’s never comin’ to find her and that she’ll probably die lookin’ for him! There, there, Mary-Alice,” he turns toward her and frowns, patting her shoulder with fake sympathy.

The surrounding boys all began to frown and nod, some of them fake-crying as they called out “Oh, poor, poor Mary-Alice! A husband deader than a doornail! Long dead and gone and never coming ‘round for supper! A dead-man’s soulmate!”

Mary-Alice ripped herself out of her classmate’s grip, put her arms in front of her and charged, pushing her way through the boys who called after her even as she easily escaped their circle. “Be quiet! Be quiet! Be quiet!” She shrieked. 

As she ran back home, tears stinging her eyes, they laughed and laughed and laughed.

————————————

Edgar put an end to the girl’s schooling not long after.

It wasn’t until the third day of home-lessons, upon realizing that this was to be a permanent fixture in her life, that she threw a fit.

“It’s not fair,” she yelled at her father when he returned home from work that evening, stomping her foot, her fists curled at her sides. “He’s out there! I’m serious!”

“Enough, Mary-Alice!” her father had bellowed, but when he lifted his hand to physically silence her, the girl flinched backward, out of reach of her father’s arm. “I am tired of these ridiculous ideas! You need to move past this… this soulmate business!”

“But he is,” Mary-Alice pointed to the orange mark on her palm, “he is alive! See?”

“You are to stay home to continue your schooling,” he spoke the words with finality. “Until you can get these wild dreams out of your head and control your rantings, you will remain here.”

And that had been that.

Mary-Alice cried herself to sleep that night. And the next night. And the next.

————————————

Mary-Alice was fourteen when she first saw her father with his wrist uncovered.

Well. No. She was fourteen when she saw the vision of the moment in which she would discover her father’s uncovered wrist.

She would be helping Cynthia prepare for a walk around the block, tying the young girl’s bonnet under her chubby chin, when her father’s form would catch her eye. His back would be to them where he was standing by the door, adjusting the deep brown band he’d always kept fastened around his left wrist.

An act of clumsiness would cause the band to fall to the ground. And he was none the wiser to Mary-Alice’s attentive gaze as he leaned forward, fetching the band to reattach it to his limb.

But in the seconds it took for him to grab the band, Mary-Alice would see the tiny space where a heart should have been, but wasn’t.

It would stun her into silence and she’d force her gaze back down to her little sister, managing a weak smile at the sound of the young girl’s prodding.

Back in the present day, Mary-Alice was still fourteen. The bonnet she would tie around Cynthia’s chin had yet to be purchased. And Edgar Brandon’s wrist was still firmly covered at all times. In the back of her mind she realized that in her strange absence from the present—something that happened more and more often as she grew older—she’d dropped a glass of water, sending it shattering and wet across the kitchen floor, but she couldn’t bring herself to react.

Shock was quick to strike, but betrayal sank deep into her bones, forcing her feet to remain planted.

Her mother had never hid her own soul mark. The white heart indicated that not only did she have a soulmate, but she’d met them. Most couples with soul marks that were together had matching white hearts. She’d even once witnessed, at the market, a meeting of two people. She’d watched, stunned as the man’s red heart slowly turned to pink and then to white, the newly-acquainted couple hugging tightly as the realization struck them.

Now, she found herself stunned at an entirely new realization.

Her mother had a soulmate, whom Mary-Alice had assumed was her own father.

Her mother had a soulmate. And her father didn’t.

They weren’t soulmates.

————————————

The discovery that her parents weren’t soulmates marked a changing point for Mary-Alice. She realized her father would never understand what she was going through; perhaps he was even jealous, she theorized once.

It also marked a point in time where Mary-Alice’s visions weren’t just rare occurrences, but now nearly daily disruptions. She would walk into door frames and stumble down stairs. She burnt herself on the stove and her first reaction wasn’t to remove her hand but was ‘I wonder if he’ll have a mark here’.

She refused to believe that her soulmate was dead, despite what the heart on her wrist said. She didn’t have visions of him. Instead, in her dreams, vague feelings struck her, bringing her hope, comfort, and a feeling so warm and exhilarating she could only describe it as love. She had a vague idea of what he might look like. Tall, she thought. With honey-blonde hair.

He was peppered with scars. He had to be. The colorful marks she still regularly found herself sporting confirmed it. Maybe he’d been ill as a child, or an infant, and maybe the universe had been wrong to mark her heart as greyed instead of full of life. Maybe he lived in a horrible place, around horrible people who hurt him constantly. Maybe his heart was beating, just broken. Metaphorically dead instead of literally.

All Mary-Alice knew was that her soulmate was out there, and that she would one day find him.

————————————

The day they buried her mother, Mary-Alice’s mind was far away.

She couldn’t think about anything except for whoever had Lillian’s matching heart. It was surely as black as her own, now.

————————————

Her first night in the hospital, Mary-Alice laid on her cot, eyes swollen shut from crying, throat raw from the screaming she’d done over the past few days.

The nights morphed into days, and together they formed weeks, and then months.

The treatments grew stronger until Mary-Alice knew that she wouldn’t be herself soon enough.

During one of the last night’s she was lucid enough to recall who she was, she contemplated digging words into her skin. If her soulmate also received marks whenever Mary-Alice was injured, maybe she could send him a message.

That night with a sharpened fingernail she carved the words ‘HELP ME’ into her thigh.

The next day they increased the intensity of her treatment.

The following day she forgot who Mary-Alice was.

————————————

Wandering rainy streets wasn’t something Jasper enjoyed making a habit of. After all, humans stared far more when a person looked out of place.

He wiggled his toes uncomfortably in the shoes he’d recently acquired and ducked beneath the awning of a closed down marketplace. It was Sunday and the humans had all made their way back from their services to their homes. The occasional automobile would roll through the streets but besides that, the area was quite empty.

It was something that didn’t bode well for Jasper. He knew it was wiser to wait until the night to feed, but he was so thirsty that he knew he would have to seek out a hobo sooner than nightfall before his self-control gave way.

A young couple ran past him, their shoes splashing through the pooled water on the sidewalks as they laughed, enjoying being caught in the sudden rainstorm.

Their scent wafted toward him, causing Jasper to take two steps toward them, entirely unintentional. It was when his eyes caught sight of their hands, joined tightly and swinging as they moved, that he was able to pull himself together and grind his feet to a halt.

Two matching white hearts stared back at him, and Jasper felt his chest ache.

On a list of regrets so long Jasper didn’t realistically have the time to even pen such a thing, disregarding the presence of his soulmate had slowly worked its way directly to the top.

It wasn’t something he’d given any thought to when his soulmate had been alive. And it wasn’t until years after that they he gave them a singular thought.

The night Maria had changed four newborns just west of Corpus Christi, Peter’s red heart had turned black. Jasper had been frustrated at the man’s distress for hours, abandoning his partner to the outskirts of town just to escape his emotional state.

When he returned that night, Peter had covered his mark with a torn piece of cloth.

It wasn’t until almost a year later, when he was slated to send Charlotte, a tiny, weak recruit, off to the pyres when Peter interfered.

“Look,” the blonde man had forced his wrist into his line of sight, Jasper smacking it away instantly with a glare. “It’s her, Major. You can’t do it.”

It had taken Jasper a few seconds for the meaning of everything to sink fully into his brain. Soulmate. Peter had had a soulmate. And she had died. But really, she had been turned. And it was his job now to kill her.

“Go,” Jasper spat quickly, not giving himself enough time to think about what he was doing. All he knew was that if the pair didn’t take his advice in the next five seconds, his hand would be forced and he’d have to kill them both.

He didn’t see them again until years later when Peter came back, pleading with him to follow.

And with his red-turned-black-turned-white heart impossible to ignore, Jasper followed Peter, and didn’t look back

Except, of course, to think about his own soulmate.

Peter and Charlotte had been almost eagerly supportive. After all, if they could find one another in their strange little immortal afterlife, what was to say that Jasper wouldn’t find his soulmate? They dragged him from city to city for a few years, and at first Jasper wanted to believe them. Of course, the idea of seeking out others of their kind was an asinine one—Jasper was sick of killing—but discovering that the north knew peace was almost too good to be true sometimes.

He’d last seen them four years ago. He’d grown weary. And their undying belief that he’d still find his person eventually made him miserable. In addition to the terror that haunted him with every hunt, Jasper had been barely holding onto whatever was left of his sanity for a long time now.

During his solitude he thought hard about his human life, wracking his brain for any information he could recall about soulmates, but he found himself coming up short. He couldn’t remember his parents names and faces, let alone whether they’d been soulmates or not. The only thing he was sure of was that he’d been born without a soul mark, given one around the turn of the twentieth century, and then soon after it had blackened.

Lifting his eyes, neon lights across the street earned his attention. It was a diner. Tiny, not-very-occupied. And with a quick decision he realized he could hide out in there until it emptied a bit more—and when the rain let up, he was sure that it would—he could help himself to a meal, and move on from this town.

He took one step into the street, pushing all errant thoughts of soulmates and soul marks straight from his head.

It would do him no good to think of things so hopeless.

————————————

In a small diner in 1948, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Alice found Jasper, Jasper found hope, and two black hearts turned white.

[bbq-hawks-wings]

Types of Video Game Avatars

I have literally no reason for this post other than it's 23:45 and the thought will not leave me alone until I write it down and offer it to the void. Game design is fascinating to me and the various methods and approaches taken depending on the type of experience the developers are trying to create is intriguing all the way down to how they choose to make the player interact with it.

Type 1: Direct Self-Insert

Examples: Animal Crossing: Character Avatar, Minecraft: Steve/Alex

This type of character is meant to be a direct representation of the player or whatever the player chooses to be in the context of the world. They have no personal background, no truly set objective, and no rules aside from the limitations of the programming of the game itself. Most often, there's a customization option to allow the player to project whatever they want to be/do.

Type 2: The Chosen Blank Slate

Examples: Fallout Series: Survivor, Elder Scrolls: Dovah-Kiin, Dark Souls: The Chosen Undead, Most dating simulators

Though very similar in approach to the Direct Self-Insert the distinction between the two is the Direct-Insert is mechanically-focused while the Blank Slate is narratively-focused. In games like Minecraft where there may be an underlying lore to the items and NPCs found in the game it takes a backseat to the game mechanics which are meant to be an open-ended playground for the player. The Blank Slate, however, follows a predetermined narrative path (even if branches are available) to come to a predetermined end. While side-stops and mini games may be a key part of the overall experience, the overarching story is the main focus for this kind of player insert.

Type 3: Silent Protagonist

Examples: Doom: Doom Guy, Legend of Zelda: Link, Half-Life: Gordon Freeman, Super Mario Bros: Mario

This type of player avatar is very close in function to the Blank Slate in that there is a set narrative line the player is intended to follow, but unlike the Blank Slate the player is handed a premade character with a set identity, background, and place/role in the story. However, the character remains mostly or completely mute with a limited range of emotes and interactions, at least some of which the player may have control over in any given situation. The intent with this avatar is to wear the character like a costume - escaping your own life for a time to enjoy being in someone else's, though usually still with enough freedom to create your own attachments and opinions on the content of the world as you play through it.

Type 4: POV Shuttles

Examples: Red Dead Redemption 2: Arthur Morgan, Witcher Series: Geralt of Rivia, Nier Automata: 2B

One of, if not the most popular kind of player avatar is the POV Shuttle. The player has control over the avatar's actions and potentially even the choices they make, but the end result is always the player living out and experiencing the story of the avatar and its own first-hand experience in the narrative. This is the most "detached" or "distant" form of avatar for a developer to chose for the player as the POV Shuttle still retains its own separate identity, set of ideals, history, and "thought life" from the player. While the player may be able to make different decisions for the character to determine their fate throughout the game, the choices presented are (or at least should) always remain in character for the avatar and therefore be choices that would naturally or realistically make based on their own experience in the game up to that point.

Type 5: Hand of God

Examples: Sims, Dungeon Keeper, Civilization

In this example, the player forgoes an avatar and exists in a plane within but "above" the game world below. Occasionally, the NPCs of the game world will be aware of the player's presence, but will likely never understand the scope of the player's ability or the fact that they exist outside the game. The player usually has limitations for what they're able to do at the beginning of the game, but by the end as they learn the mechanics and limitations are able to do as they please as the malevolent/benevolent god they choose to be.

Type 6: Puppet Master

Examples: Undertale: Frisk, One Shot: Niko, Doki Doki Literature Club: Player

One of the rarest and hardest to implement types of avatar is the Puppet Master. This is because the avatar given to the player at the beginning of the game is only a means by which to interact with the game world with the explicit intent to engage in a level of meta-gameplay with the player - that is, addressing the player directly as a separate entity from their avatar and the game world at large. The player's avatar may be unaware of the fact that the game is engaging with the player separately or the game may simply wish to switch up "play space" for the player and switch up gameplay to something otherwise not indicated or advertised in any marketing material to surprise them as an entity separate from the game world. This type of player avatar must be implemented carefully so as not to come across as gimicky and cheap, but done properly it can add a level of personal weight, consequence, and emotional investment that may not otherwise be available to the player through other avatar types.

What do you think? Did I miss anything? Do you have thoughts or avatars/games that really stuck with you?

[aeipathcy]

nobody asked but a large headcanon dump of trivia concerning Niko and Lian, some information is probably repeated from previous posts

It's a running gag that Niko makes Lian try on his failed ring crafts (these crafts are him trying to recreate the ring he used to propose to his deceased fiancée) and makes a point to put them on his left ring finger to get a proper reference

and Lian gets really pissed at that because he doesn't know why Niko does it and Niko’s act of being "unaware" of the implications kills him inside

Niko says it's okay for Lian to throw out the rings if he wants to, but Lian never does—he used to be tempted to throw them out but he was never able to go through with it

and Niko isn't aware Lian actually keeps them

Lian wears Niko's most recently gifted failed ring craft on a certain finger only when he knows Niko won't be around. 

Niko actually cooks all of the food Lian takes for school and eats at home

Lian can't cook to save his life

According to Lian, Niko can make a really good cup of coffee (it's become a thing for Niko to make coffee in the morning lately)

Lian keeps his room extremely toasty and warm

Niko likes warm places, so of course he took over Lian’s room and kicked him out in the process

Lian now sleeps in the bonus room right outside his room (bedroom 2) instead and also keeps that area really warm.

Lian used to yell at him for staying in his room but now he's just chill about giving it up as long as Niko doesn’t mess or move things around.

Lian consensually allows Niko to take blood from him since Niko doesn't have any other option for food at all (unless roaming stray animals are around--which alone aren't enough anyway)

he's aware about Niko's constant blood cravings and doesn't mind the whole process. It’s because he understands Niko can't eat every day due to a human body's limitations on restoring blood.

It only gets annoying when people think those bite mark is a result of something else... which either gets Lian really pissed off or super embarrassed--possibly both at the same time.

Niko honestly gets annoyed when Lian takes on too many people's sickness/illnesses in a short span of time, mainly because he always is the one to do the caring part.

While Niko won't ever admit it, he gets worried when Lian takes on worse things than normal and actually goes out of his way to make a meal that'd help him feel better.

If Lian took on something really bad, Niko actually offers to give him back his room temporarily.

Niko really hates it when people try to touch him or imply romantic (esp sexual) feelings towards him

But... he doesn’t mind nearly as much if Lian is the one initiating tactile contact (not that he does much anyway)

Also, Niko usually doesn’t initiate large contact at all, but that’s inverted when Lian’s in the picture.

Niko has not even stopped to ask himself why that is.

Niko teases the hell out of Lian and riles him up for his amusement all the time to add some nice thing to his day

Niko is possessive of Lian in the sense of "only I'm allowed to take blood from him" because of the way its healing properties stopped his decay entirely

He wouldn't want his fellow undead to find him out as a source so he takes care to never mention Lian or reference him at all when hanging out with those types of persons

On rare occasions (ie. when dealing with nightmares) , Niko has found it easier to sleep when he's in Lian's presence. It’s probably got something to do with the soothing aura he unconsciously put outs (because caladrius traits).

Lian actually doesn't mind Niko's affectionate gestures at all since he is someone who craves touch/tactile touch himself, but he makes a big show/deal of it in public to save face.

Lian already considers Niko a friend, despite all the grievances the guy gives him.

He would be more direct with that but the one time he mentioned it, Niko completely deflected/ignored it.

Niko and Lian have major soft spots for each other but they just don't realize it. I mean, Lian would normally stay clear of people like Niko and vice-versa.

I suppose the things actually keeping them from not interacting is the mutual benefit they get from each other that’s related to their non-human aspects.

Obviously, both are aware of each other’s non-human qualities. Niko makes a lot of references to it. Lian does as well, but only in private.

Even though Niko cannot stomach legitimate food and cannot taste well (due to impaired taste perception), he still goes out of his way to taste test whatever monstrosity Lian tried to cook to save others from being poisoned or getting sick from it.

Niko technically has a conflict about how he feels towards Lian. Is it really him liking Lian as a person or seeing him as a beneficial source of food that can literally help him stay alive longer?

Lian is one of the few people who is considerate of Niko not liking being referred to as a vampire. Lian always refers to him as a corpse or undead out of that consideration.

[austinplaysrpgs-blog]

Tyranny of Dragons, Part 5: The Road to Waterdeep

Part 4 here

Part 6 here

New characters:

Varis - Half Elf Eldritch Knight, Chaotic Good

Varis was raised by his elven mother in the Misty Forest. He never knew his human father. While he was away on Emerald Enclave business, his village was attacked by the green dragon, Chuth. His wife and two children were killed in the attack. He has traced the attack back to the Cult of the Dragon.

Helja - Hill Dwarf Life Cleric, Lawful Good

Helja is a member of The Order of the Gauntlet. Her now-estranged husband, Varram, has been outed as a high-ranking member of the Cult of the Dragon. He's gone into hiding. Helja intends to find him and set things right. Likely dismantling the cult in the process.

Tylo - Human Shadow Monk, Lawful Good

Tylo was orphaned by a Zhentarim raid that went sideways. He was taken in by a group of monks and trained to be a spy from a very young age. When he came of age, he was recruited by the Harpers, where he sought a chance to strike back at the Zhentarim. For now, Leosin Erlanthar has sent him on a quest involving the Cult of the Dragon.

Porunga - Platinum Dragonborn Eldritch Knight, Lawful Good

Porunga, also known as Perry, is an anointed knight of Bahamut, and acts as Bahamut’s emissary on the material plane. He finds himself on the road to Waterdeep when he happens upon the party’s caravan. It’s highly unlikely that this was a coincidence. He has a very particular hatred of the unpredictable evil that is Goblins.

The next day, Varis, Helja, and Tylo meet up with the party, having been sent by Leosin. Together, they wait until the cultists arrive, and join up with the caravan headed north to Waterdeep. Rezmir is nowhere to be seen, however.

There are seventeen wagons in the caravan, including the party’s own wagon. They spend time getting to know the various merchants and guards in each wagon. There’s a woman who is green from head to toe. Her name is Imsa, but she won’t divulge information about her past despite the party’s prodding.

One night, while the party is camped out in the Fields of the Dead, a scream rises from the hills outside of camp. One of the guards comes running, and tells the party that Green Imsa was taken by something. The party, sans Varis and Niko, suit up and take off into the fields. They find a crypt hidden beneath one of the hills, guarded by undead. A necromancer has taken up residence, and intends to sacrifice Green Imsa for some nefarious purpose. The party breaks her free of the ritual and kills the necromancer.

The caravan happens upon a turned over wagon under siege by hobgoblins. The party steps in to save the merchant and guards hidden behind it. The merchant buys a horse from the party and joins the caravan.

A large thunderstorm follows the caravan for several days. When they awake on the fifth day of rain, mushrooms have grown everywhere, coating the ground as far as they can see in every direction. Stepping on or otherwise disturbing the mushrooms causes the mushrooms to wail in pain and let out a puff of black spores. The party suspects that the mushrooms are poisonous, and when the mushrooms visibly start to grow, they panic and begin cutting a path through the mushrooms. The cries of the fungi are disturbing. Tylo in particular is haunted by the sound, and has nightmares for several days afterwards.

A couple of days later, the caravan catches up to a couple of women travelling down the road. The sisters are looking to travel to Waterdeep and are happy to travel with a large group. Later on that evening while Varis is on watch, the sisters approach him. They use Varis’s loneliness to lure him away from camp, where he is promptly murdered. The next morning, the party awakens to find the three of them missing. Unwilling to form a search party and lose time, the caravan moves on.

A stag with a golden coat is spotted on the hill by the road. The fur trader springs into action to slay the beast, but Kai and Haeek stop him so they can hunt and kill it themselves. After they collect the remains, Kai sells the pelt to the fur trader. On the caravan’s next rest day, a group of townsfolk armed with torches and pitchforks approaches, demanding repayment for the death of their good luck charm. Several members of the caravan and party point out Kai as the person who killed the stag, and he is forced to pay the townsfolk the money he made off the fur. He is resentful of the people in the party who outed him.

The party stops at a nearby inn called The Golden Stag. Three men have bought up all of the rooms and the stables, and are having some laughs at travelers being turned away and forced to sleep outside. The party attempts to appeal to these men, but it just seems to encourage them. The innkeep is apologetic but won’t sell them rooms that are already paid for.

Kai sneaks around and enters the men’s rooms one by one. Inside one, he finds the body of the innkeep tucked under the bed. Something is squirming inside his chest cavity. Kai decides he doesn’t want to mess with whatever that is, and goes back to the lobby to tell the rest of the party. When one of the men starts walking upstairs to the rooms, Kai attempts to charm him. When he does this, the men drop their facade, as they and the fake innkeep shift into their true forms: green slaad. A terrible fight breaks out. The tides are turning against the party when a platinum dragonborn kicks the door in and helps them slay the slaad. They go upstairs after the battle is finished to check on the innkeep’s body. There’s a hole in his chest cavity, and a slime trail that leads out the window. The party shrugs and moves on.

The caravan is stopped by a man buried up to his neck in the ground. “OATHBREAKER” is written on his forehead. The party argues for hours about whether they should dig him up or not. Eventually they dig him up anyways. The man claims that the family of his betrothed did this to him after he broke off their engagement because the family were criminals. The party is unreasonably suspicious of this story but they eventually let it go and move on.

The forest thickens on either side of the road and closes in, forcing the road into a narrow pathway. Ettercaps and spiders assault the caravan, killing horses and carrying them off into the woods for food. The party dispatches them before all of their horses are killed. Niko checks on Charles after the fight, only to find a hole burned in the floor of the wagon with acid. The party looks around for tracks and follows them into the woods. 

They find Charles webbed to a tree, and this is when the huge spider decides to strike. Its legs are like tree trunks, and the party has difficulty distinguishing between them. One of the legs lifts up and impales Anian. Tylo punches several different trees in a fury, to no effect. A tendril lashes down, picking Anian up and lifting him to the mouth of the spider. The party wails away at the creatures legs and some trees while the creature bites Anian, killing him. The party is eventually able to fell the beast, which falls to the ground with a crash. The party cuts Anian out of the webbing to take his belongings.

They return to the caravan, where they sneak Charles back into his wagon. Niko is very cross with the rebellious wyrmling, who is getting stir crazy cooped up inside the wagon. The party carries the body of Anian along with them for a couple days just in case he comes back to life again, and then burns his body in a pyre. Anian’s skin burns away to reveal golden scales, and his golden dragon spirit flies into the sky.

The caravan arrives in Daggerford, which is closed to visitors. The party is really curious about getting inside and disappointed that they don’t get to sleep indoors. Kai pays a guard to get an audience with someone in charge. The guard goes back into town and doesn’t return, pocketing Kai’s gold. The party is able to find out through the local tanner that there’s a quarantine going on and decide to hit the road. An uneventful tenday later, the party arrives in Waterdeep.

[marcusfeniix]

I was tagged by the ever lovely @v-jolt; thank you, hon! :> Under the readmore is various information about me, if you’re at all curious.

Name? Niko (it’s not my real name but I don’t care for my real name so hush)

Nicknames? Nik, Niko, Sarge, Fenix, Light, and various others. But mainly it’s Nik or Niko.

Zodiac? Pisces (Pisces/Aquarius; why all this water related bullshit??)

Sexual Orientation? I consider myself straight.

Ethnicity? Caucasian.

Favorite Fruit? Kiwi and pomegranate and star fruit (which i haven’t had in YEARS //cries) and.. various other fruits;; 

Favorite Season? Hm.. Summer and Fall, I think?

Favorite Flower? I’m not much of a flower person, tbh. So I have no idea haha.

Favorite Scent? Fresh brewed coffee, incense/candles, the way the air smells after it’s rained or just before a downpour... Various smells for various reasons. Some trigger a pleasant/good memory from the past or something, and some are just plain nice.

Favorite Animal? Cats, dogs, horses, reptiles... so many;;;

Coffee, Tea, or Hot Chocolate? All of the above!

Cat or dog? Once again, all of the above. I miss our cats.....

Dream Trip? I have no idea, actually. I know there’s places I’d love to visit for various reasons, but like. I don’t know if I’d call them a “dream trip” or not. Visiting Japan would be cool, but also just making a trip to Panama City would be great, too. We don’t have like.. hardly any money, so travelling is not an option, sadly. :/

Number of Followers? I think I just recently reached 4,600! Crazy, scary number haha;;; Why.. are you guys here?? a;slflsdhjfg

What do I post about? I prefer to post about video games (lately it’s been a lot of Uncharted, but there’s also Resident Evil, Gears of War, Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, Deus Ex; just whatever video games I’m into), but I also post about my personal life, aesthetic-y stuff, art, writing... there’s a good variety here, haha.

Do I get asks on a regular basis? You’d probably think I would given how many followers I have, but nah. I rarely get any, actually. Which is cool by me. I’m bad at the people interaction dealio and I think there’s a good few of you who probably consider me unapproachable LMFAO I tend to give off that vibe sometimes. That, and I’m an anxious shit, so. Yeah. 

Favorite Band? That’s like.. the worst thing to ask, tbh. It’s too vague, too.. out there?? Anyway, there’s a lot. And even then, there are some bands I don’t like, but like a good bit of their music, just not them as a whole. I like Linkin Park, EDEN, RED, Evanescence, Breaking Benjamin, Starset, Hollywood Undead, uhm....... and a bunch of others.

Aesthetic? That’s.. hard for me to describe, honestly?? Ah.. you can check out my aesthetic tag which is literally just the tag “aesthetic”. But uhm... ya know, like... tattoos and piercings, beanies, futuristic/cyberpunk clothing (think along the lines of Deus Ex).... my aesthetic is kinda all over the place, so... yyyyeaahhhh.

Fictional Character I’d Date? Yikes(TM) that’s a difficult one LMFAO;;; There’s a few, some not of the best, but ya know-- Rafe Adler, Rhys, Aiden Pearce, Chris Redfield..... there’s so many..............

Hogwarts House? Ya know, a bunch of my friends and people I follow in general takes these quizzes, but I have never taken a quiz to figure out my Hogwarts House. Never much cared to because I’m not huge into Harry Potter?? I mean, I’m intrigued, but also don’t wanna bother with getting flustered over questions that I’m unsure of and with signing up to some site just to take a quiz. Tagging: @blufeniix, @vanillarafers, @herr-doctor, @ddanic, and... whomever wants to do this. It’s late/early (fucking 6 in the morning because fuck my body) and I can’t think properly, so. If you wanna do this, go crazy. You can even say I tagged ya if you want. Idc.

[osunews]

osu!weekly #101

The time has come to open a new chapter on osu! History! A new landing page is out to show off a new face of circle clicking. Did you just come out of hibernation? Read on to find out what you slept through!

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A makeover for our website-in-progress has arrived! Though it's more likely we’ll have more people naturally appreciating it’s full glory when we replace the old website, you can check it out right now by logging out. This story and much more came from peppy’s development blog (which also happens to have a massive new button on the new landing page). If you want to get the scoops straight from the horse’s mouth, you should follow that blog closely. We’ve been slowing down since last week’s near daily updates, but there’s still plenty of content to dig in on every week!

Pippi greets our visitors with a smile and the promise of taking over the world

An interesting new “mapper subscription” service has popped up in the form of a discord bot! It seems to still be in the early stages of development, but already sees a surge of users much like the number of people who requested it to be in the main game. While it is still a planned feature for the main site eventually, you can go follow all your favorite mappers right now while we work out the road map for everything that has yet to come.

Voting for this season’s osu!fan-art contest is now closed! Just a look at the fantastic submissions we’ve had this time tells me that we had one of the most successful fanart contests yet. If you’ve been waiting patiently for the results to arrive, you will likely not have to wait much longer. A little birdie told me that the results are coming very soon, so keep your eyes out for the post!

Just a reminder to everyone that there has in fact been a change to how the ranking process works. The beatmap nomination group has been split up into two tiers, with each tier being able to perform different tasks to help your map through the ranking system. For information on how and what’s changed, as well as a full list of tiered BNs, please refer to the thread.

The osu!standard community mentorship program is at the start of a new cycle! This means that between the 23rd of april and the 5th of May, experienced mappers/modders can apply to be mentors in the upcoming round. For those who want to apply as a mentee, you’re gonna have to wait just a little longer when pupil applications open up on the 7th of May. The mentorship program is a great opportunity for new mappers to get further ahead in the game with the expert guidance of a much more experienced member of the community. I recommend anyone who has the initiative to learn and become better to check it out!

The SOFT (Springtime osu!mania (4K) FFA Tournament) is ironically one of the HARDest tournaments osu! has ever seen, and it is nearing its conclusion! The grand finals of the everyone for themselves madness is set to go forward this weekend. Tune in Saturday 29 at 12 UTC and Sunday 30th at 11 UTC to see the finale of the unrated brawl that can only end with one man standing!

Maybe they should make a spinoff titled the osu!HARD tournament and have players eat cement blocks

Registrations are open for the osu!mania PH Summer Tournament! This time, they seem to be going to also host a 7K tournament in addition to the 4K tournament they normally do. In line with its namesake, for once, this tournament is only open to those who wear the Philippine flag on their profile.

One of our players discovered that a pretty important aspect of (over)streaming has changed! A pretty big change was made to the way streams can be hit in the event of a miss. In the past, missing in the middle of the stream meant there was no way to recover the next note. While this change is reflected in a version of the game that is very much a work in progress, it seems like a pretty solid improvement on what we have right now. What do you guys think?

pishifat posted what I personally consider a fairly important video on a little history of the way the ranking system came to be! It would be an understatement to say that the way we handle beatmap ranking has come a long way, and perhaps its current form might not be immediately intuitive. If you need a refresher on how the ranking process works, head over and check it out!

Cookiezi is still an unstoppable player in the current year as he pulls off a crazy HD 45 miss pass on a 10* map, Hige Driver join. SELEN - DADADADADADADADADADA (Long Version). You might wanna stick around for the entire video. It gets pretty insane.

Ekoro is certainly MADE OF FIRE as he secured an unbelievable 99.51% HDFL FC on Niko - Made of Fire, earning himself only 269pp, but this score will not match that number at all. Strap your pants on, you are in for a wild ride to 2009 mapping!

Might as well do it with eyes closed, v2fax pulled off an unbelievable 97.69% HDHR FC on LeaF - Wizdomiot to give himself 425pp. This is something else for the 19th placed Japanese.

inteliser made it big time again as he completed an amazing SS run on UNDEAD CORPORATION - The Empress scream off ver on Jepetski’s Empress to earn himself 492pp and the No. 1 spot. An amazing score that may take a while to get beaten as no one has gotten an SS yet! Check it out straight from inteliser’s channel!

NOTABLE MENTIONS

Rafis finally gets some of that sweet pp goodness from an amazing 99.30% HDDT FC play on TrySail & TRUE - High Free Spirits vs. DREAM SOLISTER on Pentark’s Extra, giving him 630pp.

More FL plays! Mawksee pulled off a stunning 97.30% HDHRFL FC on Girl's Day - Ring My Bell on the Insane difficulty to give him a mere 137pp.

Rohulk forgot how to get low accuracy and stunned people with a crazy 99.80% HDHR FC on Camellia - dreamless wanderer to earn himself 359pp and the No. 1 spot.

SCOREWATCH SCORE SHOW

This week, we take a look at _yu68 and shinchikuhome as they take their limits and break it on The Limit Does Not Exist. Have a watch!

An interesting time indeed! You may have noticed that for now, the tournament section is merged with the news. This is because the tournament corner is undergoing a revamp to make sure it can bring you updates with tournaments every week, no matter what! As a result, the format will be changed and for now, special tournaments get their own place in the weekly news. If you have anything you’d like to share with us for inclusion with our publication, drop by the osu!dev discord and highlight me for my attention! We’re always looking to broaden our horizons with your stories and scoops, so don’t be shy and say hello!

—Nyquill