Tumgik
#anonymous d-class
Note
npd culture is growing up emotionally neglected but being academically “gifted” so the only times you received (positive) attention and any kind of support was for your academic achievements
bonus; you ended up attaching your self-worth/esteem to academic validation
.
80 notes · View notes
honeydots · 8 months
Note
tell us more plz
im ASSUMING based on the timing of this u mean my fates ocs! and if not well im taking this as a chance anyway lol. under the cut bc im sorta shy
basically i have my dead nohr sibling ocs, and my son-of-hinoka oc. i'm gonna try to keep it short, but i'll start with the nohr sibs!
Tumblr media
sketched these yesterday just for this lol so these're pretty rough, but! here they are :D they're certainly older in these deigns compared to when they actually died, shhh. oldest to youngest is victoriana, wilfred, klaus, odette. and victoriana and odette are actually full siblings, not just half!
very briefly:
- victoriana: stern and kind, technically the second princess, a little over-ambitious for her skillset - wilfred: paranoid and cowardly, a homebody, studies birds (from afar, or in books) - klaus: friendly but ruthless, his mother was from the ice tribe, quite intelligent - odette: cold and quiet, naive enough that it killed her, wants victoriana to dote on her more
aaaand then we have my son-of-hinoka oc, Kazuki!
Tumblr media
this is pretty old art so forgive me lol. kazuki was made for the sake of a conquest ending, but i don't think he's actually limited to that route. age wise he's probably right between shiro and kiragi, a little closer to shiro's age. he gets lost easily (both physically and in conversation), but is slightly serious and pretty true to his ideals--though he's as hot headed as his mom, and takes walks when he gets flustered (and then gets lost during said walks). in a conquest ending he'd inherent raijinto, typically he'd lean towards clubs!
and those are my fates ocs :D thanks for asking!!
19 notes · View notes
oceandiagonale · 1 year
Note
YOU GOT THIS! I BELIEVE IN YOU! KICK FINALS BUTT! - wurmple anon
THANK YOU I WILL BE FREE BY SATURDAY!!! 🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺
20 notes · View notes
Note
Could you please describe me mc's new outfit more specifically? I want to draw them but without their old orange jumpsuit
i intentionally left it vague so people could draw/imagine them in whatever anomaly uniform they want, so just do whatever you want with it lol
15 notes · View notes
monarchisms · 1 year
Note
Do you, or a follower, happen to know if the new volume of rwby is free anywhere? I'd 🏴‍☠️ it but I don't really know how to do that safely on mobile devices. I don't have a pc/laptop so idk how to install ad blockers and stuff, so going to those types of sites gives me immense anxiety. I mean I could pay for a premium subscription on Crunchyroll but I don't really want to directly give them and rt money. Unless the episodes will be completely free later? I didn't think it would be, since the rest of the show is under premium as well. Was just wondering if there were other options.
ooh, good question! gimme a sec to compile everything i know and add some links and shit like that. if anyone wants to add more information, sites, or corrections, please feel free to do so ^_^
okay, first off, you're right in that you do have to pay for a premium crunchyroll subscription to watch the current season of rwby. here's the post on the rt site explain all of that in better detail. otherwise, it will eventually be on the rt site a year from now, though i don't know if anyone else at rt gave a specific date yet. someone can correct me if i'm wrong here.
second, from me pirating other shows in the past, i find that depending on the site, new episodes of ongoing shows tend to show up on pirate sites ~an hour and a half to two hours after the official release at the earliest. by the time my reply to this ask is published, i bet it'll be on a couple of those sites by now by searching shit like "rwby volume 9 episode 1 watch free online" lol
extensions like ublock origin can work on firefox on both mobile and desktop/pc, but unfortunately, it's exclusive to android phones, and i don't know what type of phone you use to help you further. extensions can't be enabled on mobile ios devices, and i'm only familiar with android and pc stuff :(
for anyone who wants to watch it legally, this is the official crunchyroll link to watch chapter 1 of rwby volume 9. as long as you have a premium subscription, you can watch in whenever you'd like. for those who cannot afford or don't want to pay for a crunchyroll premium subscription for whatever reason, one of my personal favorite much-less-legal sites to watch animated shows is 9anime. eventually, sites like soap2day and watchcartoononline will have it, as well, but you'd have to wait a bit longer for those.
12 notes · View notes
solfinite · 1 year
Note
HC: Sonic is a huge Fantasy nerd, and loves D&D
I THOUGHT I POSTED THIS BUT I SAVED AS A DRAFT SORRY
ooo i really like this! its cute :)
i'd add more/actually talk about this if i knew stuff about D&D ajhsjjfdj i wonder what class (?) of character he'd play
3 notes · View notes
glambots · 2 years
Note
"No known way to counter Eclipse's effect"
*chuckles as i put both a sunnydrop and a moondrop in my mouth and crunch down, killing me instantly*
funny scientists! it's just that easy!
I like to imagine there's a section in their debrief that details what exactly happens when someone eats both at the same time, but the whole thing had been totally blacked out. It fills you with both curiosity and dread.
18 notes · View notes
dwtdog · 17 days
Note
thats fine thats how we indoctrinate people anyways. but honestly its not even a bad idea like there's A LOT of bl books that are just so wonderful or another adaptation of it. i just sent the more well known authors but we can start with cultivation, omegaverse, normal, transmigration (getting put into a book or another land), gaming uhm yeah.
-⛪🐓
(ALSO WHY IS NO PROFESSOR TEACHING ANY CLASSES I WANT NEXT SEMESTER WTF)
THERES OMEGAVERSE??? NEED
1 note · View note
angeltism · 3 months
Note
nobody truly hates you. we find you annoying sometimes, sure, but it's human nature to be annoying. you're a teenager (at least, i would presume); that's just how it is. you're not worthless or disgusting or terrible, you're just flawed.
oh my god im gonna cry (/pos) THANK YOU for being honest oml . and . thankyou for not hating me ? and thanks for the . last bit . i just feel so damn bad about myself sometimes ugh
1 note · View note
incognitopolls · 4 months
Text
We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.
1K notes · View notes
Note
npd culture is, despite knowing that you don't need good grades to be successful, still needing good grades to feel good about yourself
26 notes · View notes
superhaught · 3 days
Text
Sweetest Girl
Tumblr media
Pairing: Regina George x Reader
Warning(s): slight reference to bad home life for reader?
Word Count: 1700, Part 1/?
Anonymous Asked: hello! I was wondering if I could request a regina x fem!reader fic where the the reader is known as the sweetest girl in school that everyone loves and regina is like “what’s so great about her” and just ends up falling in love with her
Enjoy! I intend to keep this one going :D
Regina knew that she wasn’t excelling in her chemistry course this year but she certainly didn’t think she was failing. But the teacher asked her to stay behind after class and gave her a solemn look as she explained that with Regina’s most recent test score (which was, admittedly, abysmal), her overall grade in the class would drop from barely passing to failing. 
“Well, what am I supposed to do? I’m a senior, it’s not like I can retake this class!” Regina griped, beginning to feel her stomach turn over in panic.
“Calm down, Miss George. You still have time to improve your grade. I’d recommend that you start working with a tutor. One of your classmates is available for such an arrangement as it turns out. She’s a very gifted student who is doing quite well in this class. She will likely tutor you not expecting anything at all in return. Are you willing to reach out to her?”
Regina crossed her arms in front of her chest, “I guess I don’t have a choice, do I?”
Regina’s teacher formed a thin-lipped smile, “No, Miss George. You don’t.”
Regina took the slip of paper with the tutor’s contact info scribbled on it from the teacher and left the classroom for her locker in a huff. 
Gretchen and Karen were waiting for her and immediately, Gretchen was hounding the blonde in concern, “is everything okay, Regina? What did the teacher want?”
Regina sighed, “I’m failing. I need a tutor, I guess.”
“Oh no!!!” Gretchen exclaimed. 
Karen tapped into the conversation in a brief moment of focus and said, “don’t worry, Regina. I failed chemistry last year and had to be tutored, too.”
Regina rolled her eyes, “yes Karen, and you fucked your chemistry tutor instead of studying.”
Karen smiled, “oh yeah!”
Gretchen chimed in, “well, it’s going to be okay Regina. I bet you’ll do really well if someone can take their time to explain the concepts to you. Do you know who will tutor you?”
Regina nodded, “yeah, the teacher gave me this name. Someone in my class.” Regina passed the slip of paper to Gretchen. 
When the small brunette read the name she made an excited sound, “oh! I know her, she’s the sweetest ever! You’ll like her Regina. She’s like, the nicest girl in the school.”
Regina narrowed her eyes and snatched the paper back, “why would I like the nicest girl in school? She sounds like a try-hard… What makes her so great?”
-
You were enjoying your lunch outside in the courtyard because it was a sunny day out. You scrolled through your phone and an email notification caught your eye so you opened it right away. The email read: Hey, I need a chemistry tutor. Teacher gave me your name. Can you? -Regina George
Oh, wow. You thought. Regina George wants me to tutor her?
You typed your response back and sent it off with a whoosh: Hi Regina, I’m happy to help! Do you want to meet to go over logistics today after school? I’ll be in the library if you want to swing by :) you can also feel free to text me if that’s easier
You sent Regina your phone number at the end of the email and in a few minutes, you got a text from, presumably, Regina. She said, “okay whatever” then another few seconds passed and she sent another text, “this is Regina, obviously.”
You responded, “haha yes, I figured!”
The little bubble that indicated she was typing popped up for a long moment and then disappeared. Then it popped back up and turned into a simple text, “k.”
-
Later that same day, you were sitting in the library doing your homework in the welcome peace and quiet. As you were working, you saw the blonde out of the corner of your eye. 
Regina walked down the half staircase into the library and flipped her hair over her shoulder, her tote bag hung from the crook of her elbow, and her other hand held an iced latte notably not from the student-run cafe but instead from the Starbucks down the road from the school. 
Regina approached your table and plopped her bag down on the floor and pulled out the chair across from you, “went to get a coffee before meeting you, hope you don’t mind. You didn’t want anything did you?”
You smiled and shook your head, “I don’t mind, and no thank you, I’m okay. I don’t drink coffee.”
Regina raised an eyebrow as she sat down, “you don’t drink coffee? How do you survive?”
You laugh lightly, “I guess I’ve never really needed it, and I prefer tea anyway.”
“Huh…” Regina didn’t seem satisfied with your answer but she dropped it, “so, do you just stay here to do homework after school?”
“Usually, yeah! I like to get as much done as I can before the library closes.”
“Why would you want to spend more time in this godforsaken school?”
You swallowed hard, “Oh, um… just ‘cause.”
“Kay…”
“So, do you want to talk about tutoring for chemistry?”
“Sure.”
“Okay great, do you know how often you want to meet or how many hours you want to do per week?”
“Christ, I don’t know.”
“It’s okay!” You assured her, “let’s just start with two hours a week for now. We can meet twice a week for one hour each and see if that feels good or if we need to work more or drop down to just an hour.” 
“Alright.”
“Does this time work for you?”
“Yeah.”
“And what about another day in the week?” You asked.
Regina shrugged, “Thursdays?”
“Perfect!” You jotted down a note of the schedule in your planner.
“Do you tutor a lot?” Regina asked, then sipped her coffee.
“Not super often. When I do, it’s usually because a teacher recommended me.”
“Are you like a teachers pet or something?” 
“I don’t know, I just like helping.” 
Regina was silent for a moment. She was considering you. Examining you. 
“So for chemis-“ you began.
“You know, it’s like weird how nice you are. Like, it’s off putting.” 
“Oh… off putting?”
“Yeah, ya know. Like you don’t have to be nice all the time, or for free. Not everyone deserves kindness.” 
“I mean, I disagree, but-“ 
“I can pay you, you know. For tutoring me, I mean.” 
“You don’t have to, though. I don’t need you to.” 
Regina scoffed, “you’re just gonna give me your time and energy for nothing?” 
“Yes. I just want to help. It’s not transactional.” 
“Oh, you sweet thing. Everything is transactional. Maybe you don’t want my money but you expect to get something out of this, don’t you? Otherwise, you wouldn’t.” 
You were frustrated, “how do you know that? You don’t know me or what I’d do!” 
“No one does anything for free. No one performs a service for free. No one is that nice.” Regina took another drink of her coffee. 
“Are you trying to ruin this?” 
Regina raised an eyebrow again but was quick to respond, “am I making you mad?” 
“You’re frustrating me. I’m just trying to do a nice thing.” 
“So you don’t want me to question your motives?” 
“No! I mean…” you huffed angrily, you felt your cheeks grow increasingly red and hot, “there is no motive.” 
“I don’t believe that.” 
“Look, do you want my help or not?” 
“I want to be tutored. What I don’t want is to owe you anything.” 
“You don’t owe me anything!” 
Regina’s expression turned into the slightest smirk as she stood up from the table and grabbed her tote bag off the floor, “I’ll meet you again on Thursday to review this week’s course materials. When I see you again, I expect an answer about what exactly it is you hope to get out of doing this for me.” 
With that, Regina turned and left the library, her hair swishing behind her. 
You hadn’t noticed until then, but you had crumpled up a piece of paper in your hand during that conversation. 
-
Thursday came around too soon for your liking. You had no answer for Regina’s demand, other than the truth, which you didn’t want to tell her. 
At 4:05 pm sharp, Regina waltzed down the stairs into the library once again, tote bag in hand, removing her sunglasses in an elegant motion, a drink carrier from Starbucks with two drinks in her other hand. 
You watched as Regina gracefully spit her chewing gum into a trash can on her way while walking up to your table.
She took one of the cups out of the drink carrier and set it down in front of you, “chai latte. Is that okay?” 
Your jaw dropped open a bit as you stared stupidly at the drink and then back up at her, “y-yeah… that’s really nice, thank you.” 
Regina didn’t sit down, “do you have an answer for me?” 
You sighed, “you really won’t accept that I just want to help you out?” 
Regina wordlessly shook her head. 
You looked down at your hands and saw that they were shaking slightly, so you hid them under the table in your lap and kept your eyes averted from Regina as you whispered, “I do what I can to avoid spending time at home.” 
Regina remained silent. 
You looked back up at her. Her jaw was set and she had a severe expression. You watched her exhale a heavy breath through her nose, nostrils flaring, then she sat down across from you and dropped her bag onto the floor. 
“Okay,” she said simply. “Let’s get started then.” 
-
You spent the next hour reviewing that week's chemistry lessons with Regina. 
When you decided to stop for that evening, Regina reached across the table and wrote something into your notebook. 
“There, that’s my address. You don’t have to check in with me, or anything, you can just come over whenever you want to.”
“Regina, are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. My mom loves having company to entertain, and there’s plenty of space in my room for you to be comfortable and do work.”
“I… I don’t know what to say.”
“How about, ‘thank you?’”
You laughed and nodded, “thank you, Regina. Really.”
The blonde stood up and returned her notes to her bag, “‘course. See ya tomorrow in class.”
“See you then…”
493 notes · View notes
once-upon-an-imagine · 8 months
Text
What Was I Made For? - James Potter
A/N: well, it looks like this keeps on working so... I hope you guys like it!
Anonymous asked: Request for hufflepuff black!reader x James with the prompt "Forget it. Just like you forget everything else." Where reader has never had a fun birthday celebration and usually ignores her birthday but James promises to do something fun for her and gets her hopes up but then stands her up accidentally (with happy ending please). Thanks so much <;33
Warnings: this is super angsty! (and super long) but it has a happy ending; mentions of abuse and overall a not happy family life, reader feels weird for not really knowing how to express her feelings; let me know if I missed anything
Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter :) gif isn’t mine :D  
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
What Was I Made For?
Think I forgot how to be happy Something I'm not, but something I can be Something I wait for, something I'm made for
Tumblr media
12:08 a.m. Your birthday was over. And he didn’t come. Of course, he wouldn’t come. You kept looking at your watch feeling a tiny bit of hope that he would come running any second, apologizing for being late. But, deep down, you knew it wasn’t going to happen. You sighed, running a hand through your hair, and decided to finally leave. You were angry. But not at him. At yourself. You should have known better. You never should have trusted a word he said. Because he treated you as if you were the center of his universe. And you were stupid enough to believe him. Because that’s what James Potter did. He made you feel as if you were the only thing that mattered to him. Damn him and his stupid beautiful smile. The one that got you into this mess…
“You actually want me to believe that you need my help in Potions?” you insisted as he raised his hands in surrender while you pointed your wand at him. “Why are you asking me?”
“B-because you’re top of our class-”
“That’s not true. Severus Snape is” you insisted.
“First of all, I would never ask Snivelly for help” he rolled his eyes. “And secondly, I doubt that’s true since you are a year younger than us and are already taking Advance Potions-”
“So ask Lilly Evans then-?”
“Evans hates me-”
“So do I!”
“Wait, y-you do?” he asked, confused, stepping away from your wand. He sounded genuinely hurt.
“I…” you weren’t able to continue. You never really hated James Potter. You hated him because you were supposed to, weren’t you? “D-don’t you?”
“I don’t hate you” he informed you. “Why would I?”
“Because Sirius does! And you’re his best friend” you told him. James noticed the hurt in your voice and in your look. He knew you missed Sirius.
“Your brother doesn’t hate you” he insisted and you scoffed, looking away and lowering your wand. “He doesn’t!”
“Look, Potter, you don’t have to lie, okay?” you glared at him a little. “Isn’t your father a famous potioneer? Shouldn’t you be good at Potions?”
“Yeah, he is… you gotta love the irony, love” he smirked.
“Don’t call me that!” you glared at him. “What if Sirius finds out?”
“He won’t” he assured you. “And I honestly don’t think he would mind if he does” he tried.
“What’s in it for me?”
“Isn’t the loveliness of my company enough, love?” he asked but he saw you raising your wand at him and he put up his hands in surrender. “Fine… what do you want?”
You thought about it for a moment. Nobody had ever asked you what you wanted. Not really. You were always just told what to do. And then, you thought of the one thing you had always wanted but could never do.
“Um… if I tell you… do you promise not to tell anyone? Or um… laugh at me?” you said, feeling your cheeks burn as you looked down. James had to admit, he had never seen you like this. You always looked so confident, like everyone else in the Black family.
“I promise” he said, making you sigh.
“W-would you teach me um… how to uh- f-fly?” you asked in a small voice, James wasn’t sure if he heard you correctly.
“Um… didn’t you learn how to fly in your first year?” he asked, confused.
“Look, it’s a long story. Are you in or not?” you asked, going back to your usual self and James let out a small chuckle.
“Fine. It’s a deal. You teach me Potions, I teach you to fly” he said, putting his hand so you would shake it. Which you did, pulling him closer.
“And Sirius is not to find about this, is that clear?”
“Perfect.”
And that’s what it was. Perfect. For the following months, you and James spent a lot of time together. In the beginning, you found him incredibly obnoxious since he kept trying to become your friend. Which he quickly managed. You let your guard down and found yourself actually liking his company. And then, it grew into more. You never thought it could happen, but it did. He had somehow become your favorite person. Granted, not many people talked to you so, it wasn’t hard. But if there was a word you would use to describe James Potter was, enchanting. And you quickly fell for him. And you hated it. Because now, here you were. Tired, hungry, alone, and upset. You made your way to the Kitchens, hoping that you could at least get some leftovers from the Elves.
“Miss Black” one of them greeted you happily. “We thought you weren’t going to make it” he said, making you frown in confusion.
“M-make it? What do you mean, Blim?” you asked, confused as two other elves carried a basket your way.
“Mr. Potter asked us to save this for him but he never came” he explained, confused. “Said it was really important for Miss Black’s birthday” he instructed as they handed you the basket. You felt yourself smiling a little but quickly wiped it away. He never came.
“Thank you so much, Blim” you told him.
“You’re welcome. Happy birthday, Miss Black” he said, as they waved you goodbye. You thanked them happily, after all, they were the only ones that had wished you a happy birthday, and then you made your way to your dorm.
“Hi, Ophelia” you greeted your beautiful black cat.
At least she showed up for your birthday. You changed into your pajamas, played some of your favorite music on your record player, and sat on the small seat you had created against your window to go through the picnic basket only to find your favorite food. He’d remember. Everything was perfect, even the cake. Except, he hadn’t been there. He promised he would and you believed him. You knew Gryffindor played today. You knew they won. But he promised. And you believed him.
But again, it was your fault, really. You should have never let him in. You should have never told him what your favorite food was. Or why you didn’t know how to fly. Or that nobody in your house wanted to share a dorm with you anymore. You shouldn’t even have told him that today was your birthday. Well, yesterday. Because you now understood what he felt for you. It was pity. It wasn’t love.
“Alright, are you ready?” he asked, holding up the broom.
“Actually… I’m having second thoughts about this. I don’t want to do it” you said, nervously.
“Come on, love. I promise you’re gonna love it” he insisted.
You had grown accustomed to him calling you love by now. No matter how much you begged him, he wouldn’t stop. And no matter how much you tried to deny it, you were starting to like it.
“B-but what if I fall?” you asked, making him smile at you adorably and grabbing your hand.
“I promise I would never let that happen” he said sincerely. “But… we don’t have to do this today if you don’t want to” he assured you.
“No, it’s okay” you said, unconvincingly. “I just… need a minute” you told him, sitting down on the grass of the Quidditch pitch.
“Look, I know you’ve told me not to ask why you didn’t learn to fly sooner so…” he said, sitting down next to you. “May I ask why you want to learn now? Why is it so important to you?”
“I don’t know” you said, quietly as you started playing with the grass next to you. “My mother has told me not to my whole life” you informed him. “She always said it wasn’t for ladies” you said, bitterly. “On my first year, she sent an owl saying that she may not be able to control which house her disappointing daughter was sorted into but I was not to ride a broom, and well… you know nobody wants to go against Walburga Black” you said with a sad chuckle. “I always wanted to learn because Siri and Reggie- um… Sirius and Regulus both know how to and they love it” you continued. “I guess I wanted to have something in common with them” you smiled sadly. “Are you… are you crying?”
“I’m sorry” he said, wiping away the few tears on his cheeks. “That was just… um, w-well, every story Padfoot tells me from your home it’s just…”
“Sad, I know” you said as James composed himself. “You can say it” you told him.
“Is it… as bad for you as it is for Sirius?” he asked, worriedly.
“A little” you admitted. “At least Sirius has you, Remus, and Peter” you smiled a little.
“You have me too” he said, placing your hand on top of yours and making you look up at him. “You know that, right?” he asked, feeling his heart beating faster when your smile got bigger.
“You’re sweet, James” you said, surprising him a little. “What?”
“I think that’s the first time you call me by my first name” he smiled.
“Oh, s-sorry, um-”
“No, no” he chuckled. “I liked it” he assured you. “I um… I like you” he said, feeling his cheeks blushing.
“Y-you do?” you asked, breaking James' heart at how genuine your question sounded. As if you were actually confused as to why someone would like you.
“Of course, I do” he said, cupping your cheek gently.
“A-are you about to kiss me?” you whispered.
“Is that okay?” he asked sweetly and you nodded smiling before James gently pressed his lips against yours.
You had no idea what you were feeling. Your entire body felt as if fireworks were exploding everywhere. Never, in a million years would you have thought that kissing James Potter would feel so perfect, but now that you knew, you never wanted to stop.
“Alright. I think I’m ready” you said once you pulled apart. James smile at you and got up, offering you his hand to help you. “Y-you promise I won’t fall, right?”
“Promise, love” he said, pulling you closer and kissing your hand.
Lies. From that moment. You never should have fallen for him. How could you have been so stupid? James may have been right, every story from your childhood was extremely unhappy, but you had never felt so empty inside. Having a best friend who then turned into something more and you were sure that you felt was something that you had never felt before, and now it was gone.
You hoped listening to sad songs would help you cry but your eyes seemed dry. You felt the pain in your heart, which was weird. You never felt that before. But you thought you might as well cry. James said it might help whenever you felt upset. But it ended up being him who cried. And not you. So, you were about to just go to bed, when you heard someone knocking loudly on your door. At 1:47 in the morning. You sighed, rolling your eyes, and quickly ran over to open the door, revealing nobody on the other side.
“James, what the bloody hell are you doing? You’re going to wake up my entire house!” you said, pulling him inside and closing the door as he removed the cloak around him.
“I’m sorry, love! I am so sorry I’m late! I swear I lost track of time!” he slurred out.
He was drunk. Really drunk. He was still in his Quidditch robes, drunk out of his mind.
“Potter, you’re-”
“No, no, no! Please don’t call me Potter” he said, walking closer to you and grabbing your hands. “You only call me that when you’re mad” he pouted. “I know I screwed up but I promise I will make it up to you, love!”
“James, you’re drunk-”
“I know! There was a party because we won and I swear I was just going to be there for a few minutes b-because I’m the captain a-and I just lost track of time and-”
“You should leave” you said, quietly, avoiding his eyes. You knew you would cave if you looked into his beautiful doe-eyed face. And you had made up your mind.
“No, no, sweetheart, please I want to make it up to you. Please give me a chance!”
“You are drunk right now-”
“I know, I know. I’m sorry” he insisted. “I can- I just need to-”
“James, please. I’m tired and you’re drunk. Just go to bed” you said, firmly. “We can talk tomorrow if you want to” you told him.
“I don’t want you to be alone” he said, his eyes tearing up. “It’s your birthday!”
“It’s no longer my birthday so… you can go” you said, getting upset.
“I don’t want to leave you” he said, getting closer to you and cupping your cheek softly, making you look at him. “Please, love. I am so sorry” he said. “Please talk to me, just tell me how I can make this right. You can yell at me! You can throw things, I deserve it-”
“James, I don’t want to yell at you” you said, sighing tiredly. “I just want to go to sleep” you told him.
“I don’t want to leave you, love” he said, with a few tears escaping his eyes and bringing you closer. He was about to kiss you and you smelled the Firewhisky in his breath so you pulled away and he kissed your forehead instead.
“Fine” you sighed. “Y-you can stay but I’m tired, I just want to go to sleep” you gave in.
“Okay” James said, feeling his eyes welling up. He couldn’t believe he had failed you. Just like everyone else in your life. He fucked up. He slowly walked over to your bed and sat down. “Is… this okay?” he asked nervously.
“Sure” you said, sounding exhausted.
You threw yourself on your bed, turning your back to him and James quickly climbed next to you. You instantly felt his arm wrap around your waist, pulling you to him. You sighed deeply, preparing yourself for what was to come. You were going to miss him. You knew that much. You hated how used you had become to him. How regular it just seemed for him to show up and spend the night with you. So, you took it in. His scent, his touch, everything about him because you knew it would be gone by tomorrow.
“I’m really sorry, love” you heard him say before he kissed the back of your head.
“Just… go to sleep, James” you whispered back and it wasn’t long before you heard his snores.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
The next morning, James woke up to an empty bed, and the realization of the night before quickly came flooding back into his mind. He quickly sat up and saw you on your desk, writing on some parchment.
“Um- w-what time is it?” were the first words that came out of his mouth and he cursed himself. He was beyond stupid.
“It’s still early” you replied as you continued doing whatever it was you were doing. “If you hurry, you can still go to breakfast before your friends wonder where you are” you said, quietly.
“N-no. I don’t want to go to breakfast” he said, walking over to you. “I want to apologize and talk to you” he said, looking down at the parchment you were working on. “W-what’s that?”
You finished writing and stood up, handing the piece of parchment to him with a serious expression on your face.
“A list of people who are not Severus Snape that can tutor you in potions” you simply said, trying to make your way to your window seat.
“W-what?” he panicked.
“I have your things here” you said, handing him a box with his things. “Oh” you said, realizing you were wearing his sweater so you quickly took it off and placed it on top of his things. “Sorry” you said, and you felt like you were freezing.
“Wait, you’re- you’re breaking up with me?” James asked, placing everything aside and walking closer to you. “Please, just… hold on a second. I promise I can explain-”
“James” you said, taking a step back. It unnerved James how calmly you were talking to him. Like you did in the beginning. Like your walls were up again and he meant nothing more than a stranger to you. “I just don’t think that this is working” you said, silently.
“Please, don’t do this, love! I swear I want to make it up to you” he said as a few tears started falling down his cheeks.
“Why are you crying?”
“Because I love you!” he shouted a bit louder than he intended to. “I know I fucked up and I am so sorry! But please, love, just give me another chance, I swear I didn’t mean to miss it-”
“That doesn’t matter, James-”
“Yes, it does! I know you’re angry, and you have every right to be, I understand that! But this is a fight, I- I can make it up to you and w-we can go back to the way it was-”
“Why would we do that?” you asked, confused.
“Because that’s what couples do!” he insisted.
“We’re not a couple, James” you said, sounding broken.
“Yes, we are!”
“No, we’re not. You never asked me to be your girlfriend. We’ve never gone out on a date. You barely talk to me outside these walls-”
“You said you didn’t want Sirius to know about us! I told you I didn’t care!”
“That doesn’t make a difference, James!”
“Yes, it does! Because I love you!”
“No, you don't!”
“Yes, I do! I love you so much and I know you love me too!”
“Okay, now you’re just being ridiculous, Potter” you said, with a sarcastic chuckle as you tried to walk into your bathroom but James blocked your way.
“No, I’m not!” he said, softly as you tried to look away. He gently cupped your cheek with his big, strong hand and slowly lifted your face so you could see him. Not even a sign of tears while his eyes were flooded. “Tell me you don’t” he said, quietly.
“E-excuse me?” you asked, confused.
“Tell me you don’t love me” he said. “I know you’ve never said that you love me but whenever I tell you that I do, you smile and you kiss me! You’ve never said that you don’t! So, tell me you don’t love me” he insisted.
“James!”
“No! If you want to break up with me, at least talk to me first! You at least have to tell me how you feel about me!” he argued.
“You wanna know how I feel about you?” you snapped pushing yourself away from him.
“Yes!”
“You really want to know how you make me feel?” you said, getting upset.
“Yes!”
“I have no idea how you make me feel, James!” you snapped, breaking James’ heart. “Y-you make me feel happy and angry, and scared, and sad, and crazy, and warm, and vulnerable, and like I can break at any moment, but I somehow know that I won’t because you won’t let that happen but then I feel so lost if you’re not there! And I feel weak and confused, and-” enchanted. “And, alive and like I can float, and sure but unsure at the same time, and like I can be myself and I want to try to be a better person but it wouldn’t matter because you still look at me with that stupid grin! And- and-” you said, trying to take deep breaths. “I don’t know! It’s just a lot all at once and I don’t know how to handle it and I don’t like it!” you said, trying to catch your breath. “I don’t like it, James!”
“Okay, okay!” James said, quickly walking over to you and placing his hands on each side of your face. “Breathe, love, please” he said quietly, as you slowly tried to catch your breath and stop shaking. James was now fully weeping but a small smile formed on his face. “Sweetheart” he said, quietly. “That’s love” he told you.
“W-what?”
“What you’re feeling” he explained. “That’s love” he insisted.
“How do you know that?” you asked, confused.
“Because that’s exactly how I feel about you” he said as you managed to even your breathing again.
“I don’t like feeling scared” you whispered.
“I know, love” he smiled. “I know, and I’m scared too-”
“Then why would you still want to be with me?”
“Because I love you” he repeated. “And… you’ve made me the happiest I’ve been and I know that I fucked up yesterday, I do, but I promise I will make it up to you and, if you let me, I will spend the rest of my life making you as happy as you make me, love” he said in a serious tone.
You took a deep breath. You wanted to. You really did. You wanted to know what was on the other side and if you could live a ‘happily ever after’ that you read in so many stories when you were a kid. But this was real life. And you couldn’t break James Potter like you broke everything else you touched.
“No, James” you said, pushing away from him.
“B-but-” he tried but you walked away, going to your bathroom.
“Please, James. Just… forget it. Like you forget everything else" you said sadly before you walked inside, locking the door and your heart broke when you still heard him cry.
James turned to look at the box you left with all of his things. He couldn’t bring himself to take it. He needed to make things right. He walked out of your dorm and your house and made his way over to the Gryffindor Tower, not even caring about breakfast. He plopped himself on the furthest sofa, and after a while, he heard giggling and a group of girls walking over to him.
“Hey, Potter” Marlene asked. It wasn’t usual to see him without his three friends and his energy was entirely different today. “You okay?”
“Um… can I ask you, girls, something?” he said as Marlene, Dorcas, Lily, and Alice sat around him. “I would ask my friends but… in this particular subject they all are just… useless” he chuckled sadly.
“Is it about a girl?” Alice asked.
“Well… yeah” he admitted.
“Oh, Merlin it is! Who is it?” Dorcas asked, excitedly.
“I can’t… say it out loud, Sirius can’t know!”
“He’s your best friend, why can’t he know?”
“Because it’s his sister” Lily smirked.
“What?” the other three reacted shocked.
“How did you know?” James asked, confused.
“I’ve seen you in Potions” she shrugged. “You two are cute together” she smiled. “So, what happened?”
“Well, we had been seeing each other for a while now and yesterday was her birthday and I promised her that we would do something and I had this whole picnic planned in the Astronomy tower but… I lost track of time and-”
“No!” Alice said, her smile dropping.
“You didn’t!” Dorcas frowned.
“You forgot?” Marlene asked, slapping his arm.
“I didn’t mean to! We were playing with our secondary team because we had so many hurt players, I didn’t think we would win! And then we did and I started drinking and I just lost track of time!”
“You are unbelievable potter!” Marlene glared at him.
“I want to make things right! I love her and I’m pretty sure she loves me to-”
“Pretty sure?” Alice asked with an arched eyebrow.
“W-well, she hasn’t said it, exactly, but I know she feels it” he insisted. “Look, this is the first time I’ve felt like this in my life and I know that I fucked up but… I also know she’s scared and it just… I want to make things right” he insisted.
The four girls shared looks amongst themselves before they went back to James and Lily nodded.
“Alright, we’ll help you” she agreed.
“Really?”
“Yes, but only because she has looked happier lately, and you seem to actually be sorry. But if you fuck this up again, Potter-” Dorcas threatened.
“I know, I swear, I won’t!” he told them.
“Alright, then” Alice smirked.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
“What are you doing here?”
“For fuck’s sake!” you jumped, falling down the stairs you were on and landing on the floor. “Sirius!” you said, getting up. “What the bloody hell are you doing here?” you glared at your older brother.
“I asked first” he shrugged.
“None of your business” you said, rolling your eyes. “You?”
“Same” he said.
“Fine. This has been lovely, then” you said, trying to walk out of the class but Sirius stopped you.
“Okay, no! Wait!” he said, grabbing your arm and turning you around. “I was… looking for you” he admitted.
“If you’re planning on stealing my Potions essay, I haven’t finished it yet-”
“No, that’s not it” he sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I… wanted to… um… talk to you” he said, awkwardly.
“Why?” you asked, genuinely confused.
“Well, there are… a few things I wanted to tell you” he admitted. “If um… you’d like to come with me to the… Lake or something” he said.
“Well, since you asked so normally” you said, still confused. But this was the first time that Sirius talked to you in so long, you really didn’t want to take it for granted, so you followed him. Once you reached to the Great Lake he sat down near a tree and pointed his side so you would join him. “So… did you bring me here to kill me or-”
“Shut up” he said with a faint chuckle. He then looked inside his bag and got out a small present. “Here” he said, handing it to you. “Um… happy birthday” he said quietly. You raised your eyebrow at him before grabbing the gift.
“Is this thing going to catch fire or something?”
“No!” he argued. But he couldn’t really blame you for thinking that. “No, I promise, I just… I know I’m a day late-”
“You’re about six years late but, alright” you said a bit harshly.
“I guess I deserve that” he muttered as you opened your present and you saw all of your favorite candy from Honeydukes. “I… wanted to say that… I’m sorry” he said.
“Um… why?”
“What do you mean why? For shutting you and Regulus out when I got sorted into Gryffindor and then… still not reaching out to you when you were sorted in Hufflepuff-”
“No, I know but… I mean… why now? Do you need something? Are you dying? Am I dying?”
“Stop it, bug!” he said, rolling his eyes and then looking at you when he realized what he had just called you. You felt your heart stopping for a moment.
“You… you haven’t called me that in a very long time” you said, feeling warmth in your heart. Once you thought was absolutely gone.
“I know… I’m sorry, if you’re not okay with it-”
“It’s okay” you quickly said. “I… kind of missed it” you admitted, looking away.
“You used to hate it” he chuckled.
“Yeah, I know but… once it was gone…” you sighed.
“We’re both really bad at this, aren’t we?” he laughed a little and, to his surprise, you did too.
“We definitely are the worst at feelings” you admitted. “Why are you apologizing to me now?” you asked curiously.
“A couple of reasons” he said. “I miss you” he admitted and you glared at him a little. “I really do!” he insisted. “Look, I get that we are awful at feelings and all that but… I’ve kind of been working on it and… I just… I want a relationship with my little sister” he said genuinely.
“Those are big words, Sirius” you chuckled. “What do you even know about relationships?”
“Well… I’m… currently in one” he said, looking away.
“You are?” you asked, a bit shocked and he nodded. “Wow, who’s the unlucky girl?”
Sirius let out a scoff, glaring at you. “Actually… it’s not a girl” he corrected.
“Is it Lupin?” you asked as Sirius widened his eyes in surprise.
“How did you know?”
“Well, it’s pretty obvious, you sink a deeper level of idiot whenever you’re around him” you informed him.
“That’s not true!”
“Yes, it is. Last week you knocked down your cauldron and three others when he laughed” you pointed out.
“That was… an accident” he tried to defend himself.
“Sure, it was” you said sarcastically.
“So… what do you think?” he asked, nervously.
“Why would you care what I think?”
“Well, you’re my sister, and… you’re also… the first person I’ve told” he admitted.
“Really?”
“Y-yeah” he said with a nervous smile.
“Well, if I’m being completely honest… I think Remus can do a lot better than you” you said with a smirk, making Sirius push you a little and glare at you.
“That’s not funny” he argued.
“I wasn’t joking” you said. “Is he… the one that’s making you get in touch with your feelings?”
“Kinda” he admitted. “You know, he and James grew up in a functional home, and… they know how to feel like a normal person” he informed you. “So… a few months ago, I was where you are right now” he added.
“What are you talking about?” you asked, nervously.
“I’m talking about you and Prongs and how you are afraid of being in a relationship with him” he said, casually.
“W-what? D-did James say-?”
“He didn’t say anything, but he’s a terrible liar” he shrugged. “I’ve known for a while and… to be honest, I have never seen him as happy as he is with you” he told you. “And… I have never seen him as miserable as today” he added. “So, I knew you were probably feeling worse, but… had no idea how to express it” he told you.
“How would you even know that?”
“Because you’re just like me” he told you. “A few months ago, Remus and I had our first fight. He told me that he loved me and… I kind of ran away” he said. “We didn’t speak for about three days. I was in such a bad mood, even I didn’t want to deal with myself” he explained. “Look, I know that we are wired differently than everyone else because mum and dad didn’t exactly teach us how to… feel or… love” he continued. “So, when someone does, it feels-”
“Fucking weird” you added.
“Yeah” he agreed. “But… that doesn’t mean that we can’t, you know that, right? And it doesn’t mean we don’t deserve it, bug” he told you. “I know I screwed up on my part and I am really sorry for pushing you away-”
“Why did you do it?” you asked all of the sudden. “I get that you were angry when you came back home from your first year but… Regulus and I never thought any different from you and you… shut us down” you said, sadly. “And then… the next year, when I was sorted into Hufflepuff, I thought maybe-”
“I know! I should have talked to you, I know, I was an idiot!” he said, genuinely. “Remus has made me talk about it a lot lately and… I want to make things right” he sighed. “You don’t have to forgive me if you don’t want to and I don’t expect you to do it right away if you do, I just… had to start somewhere” he smiled, hopeful.
“By giving me candy and saying happy birthday a day later?” you smirked a little. “It’s a good start, I guess” you nodded, grabbing a Sugar Quill and giving him one.
“Well, I also… wanted to help you fix things with Prongs” he suggested.
“Because you love James so much now that you are an expert on feelings and don’t want to see him sad?”
“Well… sort of, but… I love you too, bug” he said, making you almost choke on your sweet. You were pretty sure he had never said that before. “I know, we don’t really say that to each other or anyone else. Remus was the first person I ever said it to. It feels good, you should try it” he continued. “I know you love James-”
“How could you possibly know that? Even I don’t know that!”
“I think that you do and that’s why you’re so scared” he told you. “And I know I’m probably the last person that should be telling you this but… there’s nothing wrong with that” he assured you.
“It’s just…” you sighed. “W-what if he realizes how broken I am and he doesn’t want to be anymore?” you asked, sadly, breaking Sirius’ heart a little. “Or if I end up breaking him?”
“Bug, you’re not that broken-”
“Really? Do you want to know what I was doing in Potions class? I was looking for something that would make me cry” you explained.
“Really?”
“Yes, James cries all the time, did you know that?”
“Yeah, he cried when Moony and I told him we were dating” Sirius laughed.
“I feel empty without him, Sirius, and yet… not a single tear!”
“Well, that doesn’t mean you’re broken” Sirius insisted. “We never cry” he continued. “Blacks don’t cry” you both said at the same time, letting out a small laugh. “We’ll get there, bug” he said, pulling you to him and kissing the side of your head.
“We?” you asked, a little confused.
“Oh yeah, now that you have accepted me back into your life I’m not leaving-”
“Can I reconsider this-?”
“Nope, it’s too late! We’re going to be best friends, bug!”
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
You had surprisingly spent the rest of the day with Sirius, and Remus had joined at some point. They took you to Hogsmeade as Remus insisted on at least taking you out for your birthday. You liked Remus, and you could see that he definitely brought out the best in your brother. They seemed very in love. And at some point, it dawned on you. You were in love with James. He had been right. What you felt for him, was love. You were still terrified but you had made up your mind to talk to him the next day. Remus and Sirius even said the four of you could go to Hogsmeade together. This was definitely the craziest thing you had ever gone through in your life. But you were done feeling sorry for your self and you were done being afraid. You definitely did not want to spend the rest of your life like your parents. Feeling nothing and being unhappy. So, you would talk to James and try to be happy for once. However, when you opened your dorm’s door, you saw that he had already gone ahead of you.
Your mouth dropped when you saw the scene in front of you. Your dorm was decorated with beautiful fairy lights above, like floating stars, and candles and flowers everywhere. James was in the corner, finishing putting some flowers next to your bed.
“James?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, love- I uh-” he stuttered, walking closer to you. “Um, I know you told me to f-forget about it but…” he sighed, offering you the last flower in his hand. “I don’t want to” he chuckled. “I don’t want to forget about it and… I don’t want to forget about you” he explained. “Love, I know that I majorly fucked up” he continued. “And you have every right to hate me and never forgive me if you want to but… I wanted to give you the birthday that I had planned for you first. The birthday that you deserved before I royally fucked it up” he said, grabbing the picnic basket on your window seat.
“Did you ask the elves to do the whole meal again?”
“N-no” he assured you. “Um… I did it myself” he said, making your heart flutter a little. “Granted, I… uh, I don’t think it’s going to be as good” he chuckled. “So, we don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to” he assured you before he placed the basket back down. “I um… I also didn’t get to give you your present” he said, grabbing a bag on your nightstand.
“You-” you felt something weird happening. “You got me a present?”
“Of course, I got you a present, love” James smiled sweetly. “Would you like to open it? Or we can eat first if you’d like. Or you can eat. And I can leave if you prefer-”
Before he could go on, you quickly grabbed the bag from him. James smiled to himself at how excited you looked, opening your gift. And then, you pulled it out. A book. And a stuffed rabbit. An exact rabbit like the one in the book. Wearing a small knitted cardigan with Gryffindor colors. Just like the one James had given you.
“What-?” you tried to catch your breath. “H-how did you-?”
“The sweater comes off” he smiled. “I asked my mum to make it, I thought it would look cute because you like mine so much” he explained.
“N-no, how um- how did you know-?”
“You told me, remember?” he frowned, confused. “How when you were a kid, and your mum took you and your brothers to Diagon Alley and you ran off and got lost and ended up in a muggle library” he continued. “And you read that book and you always wanted a rabbit like that one-”
“Y-you remember that?” you asked, in complete disbelief.
You told him that story so long ago. You remember it perfectly. It was the first night he stayed in your dorm and you ended up talking all night. You had no idea he would remember it. It felt like forever ago.
“Of course, love” he said as if it was obvious.
Before either one of you could say anything else, you threw your arms around James’ shoulders and you planted a big kiss on his lips. James widened his eyes in surprise a little before he closed them and wrapped one of his arms around your waist and he placed his other hand on your cheek.
“This is…” you sighed when you pulled apart and you looked down at your rabbit. “This is the nicest thing anybody’s ever done for me” you chuckled.
"Um... I also wanted to ask if... you would like to be my girlfriend?" he said, nervously.
"I would really like that" you nodded.
“Wait, are you… are you crying?” James asked, brushing a few tears with his thumb.
“A-am I?” you asked as a smile appeared on your face. You brought your hand up to your face and you saw that it was, in fact, covered in tears. “I’m crying!” you chuckled as you noticed James’ eyes welling up as they usually did. “James, I’m crying!”
“I can see that, love” he smiled brightly at you. “I’m really sorry I forgot your birthday” he said, pulling you closer.
“It’s okay” you assured him. “You cooked for me” you said with a small laugh.
“I also apologize for that. I have no idea what I was doing” he warned you.
“It can’t be that bad” you assured him. “Would you like to join me?”
“R-really?”
You nodded, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards your window. You sat down as James pulled out the food, smiling when he saw you playing with your rabbit’s ear and going through the pages of your book. He had never seen you smile like this. And he promised to himself that he would do anything he can to keep that smile placed there.
“James?”
“Yes, love?”
“Um… please don’t cry when I say this but… uh, you were right… earlier today” you said, nervously before you cleared your throat and you looked at him. “I love you” you admitted, feeling an enormous weight off your shoulders. And of course, James’ tears quickly ran down his cheeks.
“Y-you do?” he asked with a sweet smile and you nodded.
“I’m sorry it took me so long to say it” you said, nervously. “I just… well, y-you know Sirius and I don’t really- um… I was just… scared because we were sort of instructed to… not really feel anything and I just… didn’t want to screw things up with you because you are very in touch with your emotions and I’m a bit broken that way-”
“You’re not broken, love” he insisted, holding your hand in his. “I wish you could see yourself as I see you. Because you’re perfect” he said, making you smile a little. “And I love you so much” he said, pulling you for another kiss and he felt your smile against his lips. “Say it again” he asked when you pulled away.
“James-”
“Please” he pouted, making you laugh and roll your eyes a little.
“I love you” you said, making him throw his arms around you and pulled you to him, peppering your face with kisses as he heard you laugh, which was his favorite music.
“I love you too!”
The End
[Bonus Scene The Next Day at The Three Broomsticks...]
"Sirius... are you crying?" Remus asked his boyfriend.
"It's just so beautiful" he said, wiping his tears as you rested your head against James' shoulder. "How Prongs set everything up for her birthday after he forgot and he got her that cute rabbit" he said, while Remus chuckled and hugged him and he looked at James.
"You kind of opened the gate for Blacks to cry, you know that right?"
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
A/N: I really love how this turned out so I hope you liked it too! xD let me know what you think! Remus is coming next and then Sirius!
3K notes · View notes
anim-ttrpgs · 24 days
Text
Why I Dislike PbtA Games, and How Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is Their Opposite
Tumblr media
@tender-curiosities
Tumblr media
It is no secret that I hate PbtA games.
Though due to a recent misunderstanding regarding another post, I’m going to preface this post by saying that this is going to be a very opinionated post and
I do not seriously think that PbtA games are inherently bad, though I may sometimes joke about this.
While I do often question the taste of people who make and play PbtA hacks, I do not think poorly of their moral character.
While I am going to call for PbtA to be used less as a base for games in the future, I’m not saying that the whole system and all games based on it should be destructified. It’s good for what it’s good for, but unless you’re doing that, I really think you should use something else.
Now that that is out of the way, here’s what I have to say about it.
My first experiences with PbtA games were pretty rough. Monster of the Week was not the first, but it was one of the first ‘indie’ TTRPGs I played after having previously played mostly only D&D3.5e and 5e. I really appreciated that the use of 2D6 over a D20 meant that the dice results would be more predictable, and I really liked the various “classes” I was seeing. (At this time, I didn’t really understand that they weren’t really “classes” at all, though I think I can be forgiven for this because many people, even people who like PbtA games, still talk like “classes” and “playbooks” are interchangeable.)
I was very enthusiastic to play, until it came time to start actually “making” a character, and found that I couldn’t “make” a character. I wanted to make a nuanced, three-dimensional PC who was simultaneously stereotype-affirming and stereotype-defying, with a unique backstory and dynamic with the other characters—but when I went to actually fill out the character sheet for basically any “class”, I found that most of the backstory and most of the personality for my character was being set for me by the playbook. It felt like the only thing about the character I really had a say in was their name, and that two PCs of the same playbook would actually turn out to be almost identical characters. At the time, I thought this was very restrictive and very bad design.
Later, now that I understand the design intent behind it, I still think of it as very restrictive, but I think of it as very bad design for me, not inherently bad.
When I play a TTRPG, I want more freedom in who my PC is. That doesn’t mean I want less rules, in fact having more rules can often increase freedom, but that’s a different post. I want to create original, unique characters, that I won’t see anywhere else. If it’s a class-based system, I want that class to barely touch the details of my character’s backstory or personality, so that I can come up with something original and engaging for why and how this “Fighter” fights. This means that two level-1 Fighters, despite having almost the same mechanical abilities, will potentially be very different people.
PbtA games don’t let you do that. In a lot of PbtA games, you’re not playing your own original character, you’re playing someone else’s character, that every other player that has picked up the same playbook before you has played. It’s more like “character select” than “character creation.” I think I could liken it to playing Mass Effect or The Witcher. Every player may pick a few different dialogue choices in those games that change the story, but we’re still all playing Shepherd or Geralt. No one is going to experience a new never-before-seen story in Mass Effect or The Witcher, which is very much a factor of them being video games and not TTRPGs, and therefore limited to the amount of code, writing, and voice-acting that can go into them.
This anonymous asker who sent a message to @thydungeongal seems to feel pretty similarly to me about PbtA games, and @thydungeongal's response is a very good response about how people find this appealing.
I have more respect for PbtA now than I did, but I still don't like it because to me it seems to play so much against what I consider to be the strengths of TTRPGs as a medium, much like how video games like The Last of Us and David Cage games play against the strengths of the medium of video games, and I will never like it. But other people clearly do, so to each their own.
Then another reason I don’t like it is because I think it’s oversaturating the TTRPG space. I’ve referred to PbtA before as “indie D&D5e”, and i do think that’s a reasonable comparison, because in much the same way that you always hear “D&D5e is a system that can do everything”, I think a lot of people seem to be under the impression that the PbtA system is a system that can do anything. It’s kinda the système du jour for indie TTRPGs right now, and many iterations of it make it clear that many designers do not consider how PbtA differs from more traditional TTRPGs, and how it is specialized for different types of TTRPG gameplay. Just like how I feel PbtA isn’t playing to certain important strengths of TTRPGs, I think that many—maybe even most—PbtA hacks don’t play to the strengths of PbtA. But this isn’t really PbtA’s fault, that comes down to any individual indie TTRPG developer on a case-by-case basis. And the cure for that is something I’m always saying: If you are going to be a writer, you have got to read lots of books. If you are going to be a director, you have got to watch lots of movies. If you are going to be a video game developer, you have got to play lots of video games. And if you are going to be a TTRPG designer, you have got to read and play lots of TTRPGs. That and you have to understand that TTRPGs are specialized. Even "agnostic" systems like PbtA are somewhat specialized, and therefore might really not be a great fit for the game you’re trying to make.
That and, to get more subjective again, there’s like an ocean of them, and I don’t even like the ones that are actually good.
Tumblr media
Now that I’ve talked about how I don’t like PbtA games, I’m gonna talk about a game I do like: Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy. Obviously, I like it because I’m the lead writer for it, but I would also like it even if I wasn’t the lead writer for it, because it’s just my kinda game. Eureka is the opposite of a PbtA game. I wrote it to play to what I feel are the strengths of the TTRPG medium.
Eureka’s character creation uses personality traits as a mechanical element of the character, but it does so in a deliberately freeform way. You build your character’s personality out of a list of traits, so who your character is is very much linked to what your character can do, but we aren’t just handing you a pre-made character.
Eureka is designed to incentivize organic decision-making by the PCs, most often by the mechanics of the game mirroring the world they live in. Every mechanic aims to create situations wherein “what will the PC do next?” is a question whose answer can be predicted - it doesn’t need to be ordained by a playbook.
One of my favorite examples of this is, rather than a “Fear Check” forcing the PC to run away if they fail, or “Run Away from Danger” being a “Move” on their character sheet, Eureka opts for the Composure mechanic. The really short version is that one of the main things that lowers a PC’s Composure is encountering scary stuff, and the lower a PC’s Composure, the more likely they are to fail skill checks, and the more likely they are to fail skill checks, well, the less brave they and their player probably feel about them standing up to this scary monster. So if the PC has low Composure, they are more likely to choose to run away. The lower their Composure, the better idea that will seem.
This system really really shines when it comes to monster PCs in Eureka. Most monsters benefit a lot more from having high Composure, but have fewer ways to restore Composure than mundane PCs. Their main way to restore their Composure is by eating people. The rulebook never says “your monster PC has to eat people”, but more likely than not, they’re going to be organically steered towards that by the game and world itself. Sure, they could decide to be “one of the good ones”, and just never eat people, just like you reading this could decide to stop eating food. You technically could, but when your body starts to fail, how long would you? (This is a big part of the themes of Eureka and what it has to say about crime, disability, mental illness, and evil. People don’t just arbitrarily do bad things, it is often their circumstances that leads them down that path until they see little choice for themselves in that matter, and “harmful” people are still just as deserving of life as people who “aren’t harmful”, but that really deserves its own post.)
It has been said that Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy actually arrives at much the same end as the PbtA game Monsterhearts, and I actually don’t disagree, but it gets there from an entirely different starting point and direction. The monster PCs in Eureka are very likely to eat people and cause drama, but it won’t be because they have “Eat People and Cause Drama” as a “Move” on their character sheet.
Monsters in Eureka have a lot of abilities, which they can use to solve (and create) problems as the emergent story emerges organically.
(Oh and Eureka is about adult investigators investigating mysteries, and sometimes those investigators are monsters, not about monster kids in high school, to be clear. The same “end” that Eureka and Monsterhearts reach is that of the monsters being prone to cause problems and drama due to the fact that they are monsters, though this isn’t the sole point of Eureka, just one element of it.)
You can pick up the free shareware version of this game from the download link on our website, or the full version for $5 from our Patreon.
And don’t forget, Eureka is fundraising on Kickstarter starting on April 10th, 2024! We need your support there most of all, to make sure we hit our goals and can afford to make the best version of Eureka we can make!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Interested in branching out but can’t get your group to play anything but D&D5e? Join us at the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club, where we nominate, vote on, and play indie TTRPGs, all organized by our team with no strict schedule requirement! Here's the invite link! See you there!
We also have merchandise.
Tumblr media
222 notes · View notes
outivv · 1 year
Note
Hello! Can I make a request, please? An MC who behaves like Jack Sparrow. For dorm leaders 👀✨
The last request was not sent anonymously, so if it doesn't bother you, please delete it. It was awkward :D
– anon🦐
Tumblr media
Synopsis: Jack sparrow like reader!
Warnings: not proofread
Characters: dorm leaders (ace, Leona, azul, kalim, vil, idia, and malleus)
Pronouns for reader: gender neutral/ not mentioned
A/n: hello!! This genuinely is such a fun request Omg Omg. I was like eying this for a while, cause I couldn’t get to it until now which I do apologize for :’). Anyways! Hope you enjoy, and have a great rest of your day <3!
Tumblr media
— Riddle —
You make him mad. You’re so unpredictable, and all over the place and he can’t like… pin you down metaphorically.
You also get ace and deuce into trouble too. You’re either dragging them down with you, or make a quick last minute escape, and riddle can’t manage to give you a proper earful.
He thinks your mannerisms, and way of thinking is so… hard. You’re so carefree even if you get in trouble over 100 times, how exactly can you just… be so casual???
— Leona —
He can’t quite figure out if he likes you or not. You’re similar to him, in the way that, you skip class because you just don’t really care. But the fact that you’re even similar to him posses him off.
He probably at first thought you were actually stupid when he first met you, but the when you actually did something super smart, and actually admirable he fucking collapsed. JEGEUR HE WAS LIKE “no.” IN DISBELIEF
Leona could probably only hang out with you in small dosages. He probably gets easily overwhelmed by you, and just doesn’t wanna deal with that HVSJEHE.
— Azul —
M. Pirate. (Derogatory). M. Drunkard. (Derogatory).
If you can’t tell azul doesn’t like you very much. Mostly because you’re so unpredictable. He can’t get you to sign a deal whatsoever, no matter how tempting he makes it????
Jade and Floyd like you and that actually makes him so mad JEGEIEJ. I mean who can blame them, your pirate stories (that are mostly over exaggerated) are cool. And jade and Floyd find you interesting, which, grated, is hard to do.
You’ve probably been banned from mostro lounge three times over.
— Kalim —
“Wow a real pirate! Oh my god that’s so cool!” He says as he literally has a treasure room, with a magic carpet in it. >:T
He is so interested in everything you have to say he absolutely adores you, and wants to hear every one of your stories.
You probably both get into a lot of trouble and sneak around campus a lot. You give jamil a absolute headache every time you step foot in the scarabia dorm.
— Vil —
“Ew.”
That’s it.
Vil probably saw you went “ew dirty pirate.” And shooed you out of the dorm JEVJEHE. He’s super mad that epel likes you, so he probably prohibits you from stepping in the dorm LMAO.
Teaches you about hair care, skin care, and overall care HEGEH. Then after all that sure you can step within 20ft of the dorm.
— Idia —
Stays. Clear. Of. You. At. All. Costs.
He cannot, and I mean cannot be around you. Mostly because again, you’re insanely unpredictable, and Idia can’t figure out your thinking pattern AND THAT FREAKS HIM OUT
Any time you need to talk to Idia you are forced to go through ortho. Unless you sneak into ignihyde when ortho isn’t there, and break into Idia’s room. Which. We all know you’re not above doing that.
— Malleus —
You have only been allowed to see malleus like five times because of Sebek. And his stupid. Guard. Knight. Whatever. (Kidding ofc I love Sebek)
Malleus was probably very interested in you and your behavior from the moment he heard of you, and wants to learn more about you.
However HE CANT FIND A TIME TO DO THAT. Malleus sneaking out arc >:). He’s becoming a rebellious teenager for you, you should be proud <3
Tumblr media
1K notes · View notes
tiyoin · 11 days
Note
Taking a step back from twisted singer reader (I'll be back). I really want to expand/give origins ideas to the group chat(s?). Like how reader got the phone, how they got added and other things. Btw love who added that
With that said I'm starting a new agenda: ✨Grandfather Mozus Trein :D✨ Everyone knows that Crowley is *cough* neglectful & irresponsible *cough* always there for his students and never once put himself first 🤠. I feel like reader low-key reminds Trein of Anastasia (red hair) ya know? Maybe it's how reader plays with their hair when they start getting bored or the doodles on the written exams. All these little habits they share. Just an old man missing his family.
Someone has to be a responsible adult for reader and who else is better then a father with so much wisdom. He knows Yuu has a way of communicating and protecting himself so he isn't as concerned ,but poor reader can't do that to save their life :(
So I can see Trein giving them(mostly reader) a phone (B4 book 4). It's nothing new or special; it has an old blue case with a fading pattern and skuffs. The best part about it is Trein paying the bill. The wallpaper is changed to Grimm napping tho
It's kinda an unspoken rule that reader keeps it for the most part. With Yuu and all the things he tends to get into it would last a week if he was lucky.
More then likely the only numbers in the phone are Aduce/ maybe the other first years and Trein ,but I don't really see any of them be texters tbh. So not much coming in. Maybe a few homework questions??
As for apps a see maybe 2-ish games 👁️👄➖
Over all, it's just a classic antisocial person's phone. Until Cater finds out. Next time Yuu has the phone Carter tells him what should be added and how to #sign up for them. And Yuu being the person he is asks "Cater how do I help my introvert make friends?" Cater being the #helpful upperclassmen is he downloads the app and sends the invite.
The app they use is probably the twst discord. I think that's the only social idia has/honestly uses Some of them has like a cover for the icon. Like no one can know they use that app for whatever reason.
Everyone besides reader kinda knows what account belongs to which person. To add a bit of anonymous(ness?). Cuz no way would reader give her honest opinion about Rook or someone else if she knew that they themselves/close friends are in the chat.
Imagine if one of the guys that reader doesn't get along with ends up being one of reader's close/safe online friend. Like idk if you know who Aphmau is but she has a Minecraft roleplay PDH (don't judge me plss) where Aph and Aaron don't like each other irl but are really close online friends.
I'm sorry if my asks tend to be all over the place. I get sided tracked a lot and end up spacing out every 10 works. This was written between 3-5ish am. Also 👉👈 I think the reason we're on the same brain wave is cuz we're air signs.
Also thank you for liking/replying to my ask/yapping ☺️ it's means a lot to me
I've been waiting to get a Mac charger just to answer this ask🤭
GRANDFATHER TREIN IS SOMETHING I DID NOT KNOW I NEEDED BUT GLAD I GOT
because we always see crewel v crowley for custody over yuu.
but I defiantly agree with you that trein would see one of his daughters; especially anastasia in reader. whether it's by a few habits they both share, or how they're sometimes second fiddle to their more out going companion. but trein can see reader's life falling into shambles the more they're in twisted wonderland, the more they're isolated, and it kills him as both a father and educator.
and believe it or not, he cares about his students. they may not think so and curse him in the hallways, but they'll be thanking him in years to come, they always do (he prides himself in that, and the line of students he has at reunions telling him they're the best teacher they ever had.)
so maybe he pulls reader aside after class, ofc he can tell how tense they are, how nervous they are... especially by how intense their eye contact is, a little creepy but trein understands. he tells them to sit down in a chair he magically spawned as he flicks his head at lucien. who is all too glad to use you as a chair. he can see reader visibly relax as they're testing the water's with the temperamental feline, but trein starts talking.
he wants to help them, as he wouldn't be doing his job as an educator if he just stood by and watched you struggle. how he would have failed the pledge he made to crowley and himself if he let one os his students fall under the radar in favor for his smarter ones.
yes that should sting but it's the truth, and to no fault of your own. you obviously had... less than stupor teaching before this, and you have to catch up on a decades worth of stuff due to your... situation. and he is willing to help you during both lunch hours and free period. he also recommends student tutors for this and is willing to work out some kind of deal between you and the tutors. he wants to see you succeed. not just to prove he can turn a pumpkin into a carriage, but because you deserve it.
maybe you're not so much like his biological daughter, but like his step daughter. the one with a soul of diamond but a heart of glass. and if reader ever needs someone trustworthy (and he emphasizes this) that isn't actively split-dying their hair in their thirties or prances around with a bird mask then he is always open.
no matter how burdenous they feel relying on him, or if they think the matters are silly. he will tell it to them straight. he also suggests talking to cater diamond of heartslabyul, that if anyone can help you make friends, its that chatterbox.
dont even try to refute it cause trein AND lucien will be sporting you an unimpressed look.
but I swear to everything cater has a fucking NOSE- a sniffer if you would for introverts. or he has mastered chenya's invisibility spell and over heard your conversation because- I AGREE WITH YOU- yuu would 100% ask cater to help his little ol' introvert make friends.
so he seeks them out, grabs their phone while chatting away, and downloads 'magi cord' dw yuu is there too. cater even goes a step further and adds his contact to their phone because 'tehe he has the elusive reader's number and no body else does! #1inamillion #hewon! #he'sgonnaextrovertsohardit'llmakeyourheadspin 😼
but later that night you're fighting to go on the app when cater sends you a link, the second message he sends you (with 'hey hey! it's your fav upper classmen cay-cay here!' with an obnoxious amount of emojis, being the first)
it's a link to a magi cord group chat called; raven of secrets. (or smthn idk, I pulled that out of my ass) and he explains that the whole point of that group chat is to remain anonymous. there's a handful of members from different dorms and that's all you're supposed to know.
they talk about gossip, homework, assignments etc. the more he talks about it the more it sounds like a secret society. but nonetheless, you join.
and all hell breaks loose 🤭
personally I think that only a few people know who is who in the chat group. like the organizer because they gotta make sure everyone who has the link is an nrc student. and obviously there's a few friends who gave other people the link or joined together. but there's also active polls where people debate who is who.
just so it gives them the extra comfort of anonymity.
IMAGINE SOME ADMITS TO STALKING POOR READER AND IT TURNS INTO A THRILLER AHHHH (everyone knows who rook is. not because of his French, but because of his detailed posts)
--
NO CAUSE I WAS ALSO AN APHMAU FAN HAHAHAH I used to eat her role plays up. but watching them now... they're super cringe and I can barely watch an episode of phoenix drop high 😭
and dont even worry about it 'being all over the place because I am literally like that and it's so fun being able to bounce all over the place hehe
AND YAY ANOTHER AIR SIGN😽
82 notes · View notes