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marvel-ous-m · 1 year

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Eddie Munson's Guide for How to Adopt a Jock in Four Easy Steps (1/5)

Part Two

Eddie Munson is many things, but he is not the kind of guy who will kick someone while they’re down.

Call it a hero complex, call it too many hours spent licking his wounds after particularly harsh words from a bully- whatever name you give it, Eddie is vehemently against hurting someone who's clearly already hurting, no matter how much he may hate that individual.

Which is why, in early November of ‘84, Eddie hatches a plan.

It starts in the library, as most of his brilliant ideas do. He’s spending his lunch hour pouring over a borrowed fantasy novel to try and get ideas for NPC’s for his latest campaign with Hellfire, but he gets distracted by a loud thump and a whispered ‘shit’, followed by a sniff. Eddie turns, book still in hand, and proceeds to drop the book onto the carpeted floor of the library in shock.

Because there is Steve Harrington- face beat to hell, hands shakily holding on to a lunch tray, and a salad spewed in all directions at his feet. The librarian- Ms. Boliene (a bitch to everyone other than her outcasts)- began cussing Steve out, demanding he pick up the salad, and Steve got a glossy look in his eye that told Eddie that he was about two seconds from breaking down in tears.

Which- honestly, that was probably the strangest part of this whole ordeal. Steve was King of Hawkins High (and maybe, Eddie theorized, was was the operative word there). Steve had been on a downward slope of popularity since last year when he and Tommy had their falling out. Billy Hargrove (barf) had been getting more and more popular, and, after last weekend, there was a rumor going around that Steve’s girlfriend, Nancy, broke up with him then immediately hooked up with Jonathan Byers.

(Hey, Eddie’s always one to root for the outcasts, he is one, after all- but kinda a dick move, Wheeler. Also, not great of Byers to agree to something like that, especially if he knew about the situation.)

Eddie focused his attention back on the scene in front of him- Steve was now crouching down to pile the wasted salad onto his lunch tray and was blinking rapidly, trying to stave off tears. His head was also doing this thing where it was dipping forward than instantly picking up, like he was trying to even stay awake. Which… huh.

Eddie was sure at this point- this was the lowest he’d ever seen someone get. Even his dad after his mom passed wasn’t like this- at least that bastard could still go out and break shit and get arrested. Steve looked like the only thing he wanted to do at this point was fall apart. Why was he even at school?

Eddie sighed and stood, crossing the room to where Steve was crouching. He gently batted Steve’s hands away and finished cleaning up his lunch, tossing it (and the plastic tray- because fuck this school, honestly) into the large garbage can sitting by the front door of the library. When he turned around Steve was standing, looking a bit shell-shocked. “I… that was my lunch.”

“The floor salad was your lunch? I could believe that before you dropped it, but after? Dude, that’s a low that you cannot reach. I have an extra sandwich in my bag, c’mon.”

Eddie grabbed Steve’s arm, letting go immediately when he felt the whole-body flinch that Harrington gave. Eddie held his hands up, backing up towards the table where he was sitting previously. “I won’t touch you, but you should probably eat, Harrington. I’m extending the metaphorical olive branch in the form of food, I promise that I’m not gonna bite your head off.”

Steve assessed the situation, eyes darting around the library, before he finally nodded and joined Eddie at his table, sitting across from the spot where all of his materials were strewn about. Eddie grabbed his book from the floor and ripped into his backpack, pulling his lunch out and passing it to Steve. (It wasn’t really an extra sandwich, it was his lunch, but it was fine. Jeff always brought snacks to Hellfire and Eddie wasn’t even that hungry today).

Steve stared at the cling-wrapped sandwich in shock, then carefully set to unwrapping it. Eddie noticed a slight tremor in his hands, but decided against commenting on it. “So, uh… what happened?” Fuck, Eddie, abort, abort, that was literally the last goddamn thing you were supposed to ask.

“Um…” Steve finished unwrapping the sandwich, pulling the bread slices apart. “Bologna?”

“Hey, don’t knock it ‘til you try it. I know it probably goes against your rich folk sensibilities, but I promise it’s worth a try.”

“Yeah.” Steve took a bite of the sandwich, then washed it down with the bottle of water Eddie slid his way. “S’not my first time having bologna and it won’t be my last. Not bad, though.” Steve set the sandwich down, licking his lips. “Thank you, by the way. Eddie, right? You played at battle of the bands last year?”

Eddie blinked in surprise. The change in conversation topic made him totally forget his previous question. “Um- yeah, that was me. Me and the boys- Corroded Coffin. Not your thing?”

“No! I liked it, actually. Very ‘stick it to the man’. I can get behind that.”

Eddie raised an eyebrow at Steve, to which he received a responding chuckle. “My dad- he’s an asshole.” oh shit, did Steve’s dad do this?

Eddie’s expression must have shifted, because Steve immediately started rambling. “Shit- no, fuck, I know what you’re thinking, he didn’t do this, my parents have been out of town for like, three months. This was Billy- but it’s fine, really! Like, I can see, and I’m not super dizzy, I’m just a little lacking in coordination which- yeah, the lunch tray. You know what? I’m gonna shut up now.” Steve took another bite of the sandwich and another swig of water, and Eddie noted that Steve’s knee began to bounce up and down.

Eddie decided to push everything aside and deal with it later. Apparently this wound was still fresh (both emotionally and physically), and while Eddie could get into a number of things that Steve just spewed out (his parents have been gone for three months? Billy did this? Steve is halfway to falling over but he’s still at school?!) Eddie elected to change the subject.

“So, Steve, do you know anything about D&D?” Steve’s eyes lit up and he launched into a rant about a couple of kids that he hung around. Eddie listened with a small smirk on his face, eyebrow raised.

Steve was… different than expected. Kind, a little awkward, anxious. There’s only one reason that a jock like him has lunch in the library, and it’s because he didn’t have anyone left to sit with in the Cafeteria. He reminded Eddie of an abandoned dog… specifically a golden retriever with Steve’s eyes and his floppy hair.

Curse Eddie’s big heart and savior complex, but he knew what he had to do. Steve was about to become the newest member of Eddie’s little herd of lost sheep, whether he liked it or not.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I haven’t decided if I’m going to write a part 2- let me know if you’d be interested in one! I’m so glad to be back to writing after a very long semester of school. I should be writing a lot this summer, so drop some prompts in my ask if you want to see something specific!

#steddie #stranger things #Steve Harrington #Eddie munson #pre s4 meeting #<- top 5 favorite steddie tropes #my writing #once again my writing style fluctuates but this is my stream of consciousness so you just have to deal with it #stranger things fic #stranger things ticket #st fic #st ficlet

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iraprince · 11 months

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I love the entire concept of Cookie... the look, the fashion, the gender... Would you mind telling us a little more about him? I'm also intrigued about why she's named Cooking with Gorgeous!

HI i would LOVE to talk about george thank you so much. also this makes me realize i've never actually sat down and just made a post unabashedly infodumping at length abt an oc before and it seems silly that i haven't. i ask only for all dear readers to please temper their expectations for this post with the knowledge that i just smoked half a joint before sitting down to answer it. a small one. but still. anyway

FIRST OF ALL FOR THE UNACQUAINTED THIS IS COOKING WITH GORGEOUS, aka cookie or george for short. he uses he/him and she/her pronouns interchangeably!

hi sorry that's not cookie that's a horse in a bridal veil that i. found in my stuff while trying to scroll and find my cookie art. i just got distracted and had to show you. okay no for real here's cookie

he's the character i'm playing in a playtest campaign of the absolutely mesmerizing sapphicworld, an in-development ttrpg!!! and if i'm going to be talking about cookie i feel like i HAVE to say i think a huge amount of her charm and dazzle and charisma comes directly from the charm and dazzle and charisma of the setting i created her for. i know i am laying it on really thick right now but that is on purpose. i want, desperately and unashamedly, for this game to get really popular bc 1. it's genuinely that good. and it's not even DONE yet and 2. i want everyone to get into it so that everyone will make sapphicworld characters and then i'll get to see everyone's sapphicworld characters.

EDIT i'm scrolling back up here and adding a readmore bc this is already getting so long lol. you asked for "a little more" and apparently i have graciously decided this means "literally every fact about cookie that exists in my brain"

SO a lot of the info/tidbits i haven't shared about cookie are i guess gameplay-specific stuff... his title (which is like a class/playbook) is "The Noble Sweetheart," though in sapphicworld "nobility" no longer has anything to do with wealth or class, and is instead entirely about amassing a court purely via devotion/popularity; her subculture (which is like, Who You Hang Out With; drifters, goths, poets, debauchers, cowpokes, etc) is Babe; and her kind (which is like ancestries but in sapphicworld is really just like, a physical form, which u can change more or less at will) is Lunarthrope, which is basically a werewolf!! or more broadly a furry, since u always look like whatever were-animal you are 24/7. just MORE at night, tho i suppose i don't represent that aspect much in my cookie art... ANYWAY i am restraining myself from just sitting here and like. transcribing her entire character sheet. but basically what all this means is that cookie's role in the world (at least at the beginning of the campaign) is "Professionally — no, VOCATIONALLY Hot Person who everyone loves so so so so so so much." cookie really enjoys this role.

he's named cooking with gorgeous because he's an avid cook, and he wants to share that with you, and he's gorgeous!! though honestly the cooking hasn't ended up as important to his character as it was when i first came up with him, lol — but my initial concept was kind of like, what's the equivalent of a bouncy normie recipe blogger/lifestyle influencer but in the context of the lush horny trans deathless psychedelic universe of sapphicworld. and it's cooking with gorgeous, a doggirl dyke with big blue boobs (six of them!!) who is so devastatingly cute and darling that a bunch of people just kind of pledge their fealty to him for no real reason other than he feeds them. and is cute

also her name is def influenced by the fantastic names of many canon sapphicworld npcs! like, quick example list of some npc names off the top of my head: the booty commie, death cybernetic, princess eureka!, the culinary goof (whom cookie dislikes. btw.), pizza friday (whom cookie loves!!!)

cookie is very very determined, and she's ALMOST always very confident. even when she isn't feeling confident, she's still very good at forcing herself to keep putting one foot in front of the other — maybe just while screaming or crying or uncontrollably barking or at least very ardently complaining. he has a tendency to be spoiled and, like, tactless-via-obliviousness, so sometimes he can be grating to interact with, and he has a petty/vindictive streak; but in general he's an AGGRESSIVELY kind person and usually aims all his shrill, cheerful stubbornness directly toward the goal of refusing to accept anything but the best for everyone.

at the beginning of our campaign cookie has JUST received a brand new castle!!!! (chateau gorgeous.) which he doesn't actually "own" bc, remember, no wealth or class in sapphicworld, but he's the ENTHUSIASTIC new caretaker and is chomping at the bit to renovate it so ppl can live there and he can throw a bunch of magnificent parties and basically continue living exactly as he has been, But Even More Fabulous. obviously this is exactly when the main plot threat of the campaign shows up and spoils everything and compels cookie to go on his First Ever Adventure!!!!!! she HAS to save the world otherwise NOBODY will be able to go to the first big party at chateau gorgeous :((((

at this point to prevent myself from just like, giving you guys a play by play of the entire campaign so far i am going to just start listing every cookie fact i can think of as bullet points

🎀 he owns a magical sword in the shape of a giant microplane. it's called The Microplane. he pronounces this "mee-crow-plah-nay"

🎀 george desperately wants to resurrect The Dog-Lich, an entity that once ruled over all beasts from its palace on the moon but was murdered and torn to pieces in a cosmic war far in the past. her attitude towards this desire is 50% devoted lunar cultist, 50% parasocially obsessive twitter stan

🎀 this isn't really a cookie fact but going back to how his title is The Noble Sweetheart — just for a glimpse at party composition, his fellow party members' titles are The Intimate Scholar, The Tentacle Advocate, and The Tw*nk Controversial (the * is the canon spelling).

^ aforementioned tw*nk. its name is Mwah ("pronounced like the kiss you blow at someone you just fucked over"). mwah is played by @/squiddelyfather on twitter!

🎀 mwah and cookie used to be very, very tight, BEFORE mwah became the tw*nk controversial. now that it's so.... you know.... controversial, well. they're still very close, but it has gotten a little stilted and weird (and watching them slowly un-weird it together as the campaign goes on has been one of my fav roleplay experiences ever honestly)

🎀 cookie's other adventuremates, skarligge and delaryn, are both very indulgent towards him. delaryn acts the most grumpy/dismissive about it but is honestly sometimes the worst about spoiling cookie out of anyone in the party (skarligge's player is twt@/clown_dream and delaryn's is twt@/glaiveguisarme and hey while im at it our fantastic gm is the sapphicworld dev, twt@/ddemoneclipse. hi guys i hope u don't mind me chattering abt ur ocs here lol it's just hard to talk abt the best of cookie w/o bringing up everyone else's characters and roleplay also!!!)

🎀 cookie is very VERY sensitive and will burst into tears at the drop of a hat. the precursor to this is her eyes getting So So So Big And Wet And Round. one of my favorite bits to menace the other party members with is when something is not going cookie's way i will lean into my mic and say "cookie's eyes are getting so so so big. they're getting so big and wet and round and shiny. they're so so round and fucking big her eyes are like big wet black glass marbles" and this is like kryptonite to them. this is like getting hit with deadly radiation

🎀 oh speaking of fashion!!!! one of cookie's perks from being a Babe is that she can always change her look whenever she wants. she will ALWAYS have whatever outfit she needs and can quickchange instantly. wait this reminds me i have a bunch of seasonal holiday outfits sketched out and i don't think i've ever posted them here but it'll only let me put one more image in this post. well here have this one

🎀 okay well suddenly i have forgotten all other george facts so that's all for now!!! from now on i will try to just dump oc facts like this more often tho this is really fun. ty for getting me going lol!!!

#my ocs #my art #cooking with gorgeous #sapphicworld

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goggles-mcgee · 2 years

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Another Steddie idea brought to you by my 2 am goblin brain because it won't let me sleep.

Basically Eddie and Steve make a stupid bet, I imagine it's something dumb like who knows Dustin better and Steve gets all huffy because obviously he knows his kid better and he makes the mistake of saying "Wanna bet?"

Eddie is all for it. He is ecstatic in fact. They legit bet over what the first thing Dustin will say when he walks through the door of Steve's house since the Party is all meeting up there for a party. Steve thinks he has it in the bag. So he tells Eddie that if he loses he'll do whatever Eddie wants.

And OH.

Eddie is all for it. Eddie will fight dirty if he has to and will bribe whoever he has to to win this bet. Because what Eddie wants is for Steve to sit in for a one-shot DnD campaign. At first Steve is confused but agrees but Eddie is smirking and is just like, "Oh not just sit in Sweetheart~, You will play the roll of an NPC for me. I will have lines for you to read when I say - BUT - you don't know the character until you get there Big Boy."

And look. Steve is confident. Steve also doesn't really see how that could be THAT bad, at least he's not being made to actually play. Steve agrees on the condition that if he wins Eddie has to be the little nuggets chauffeur for a month no arguments, no haggling, no bribing them away or trying to make them ask Steve.

Steve loses.

The campaign is written and finally going to start and Steve is hosting it at his house and Eddie arrives early to set up and get Steve ready and Steve is a confusion because, "Get ready? I thought I just had to read."

"Oh no Pretty Boy~! You said whatever I want, so we're going all out. You get to play dress-up Princess."

And dammit that last pet name was not just a pet name. Eddie wrote Steve to be an NPC Princess character that the Players have to save in the one-shot. Eddie also brought Steve a freaking dress and crown to wear for the part.

It's with much bickering and pleading that Steve just accepts his fate and well, he's a man of his word and fuck this he can rock a dress fuck you Eddie.

Eddie thought it would be funny but he's screwed because Steve really can rock the dress and he looks fucking attractive and it's not fair but he can focus on that later. The players are arriving and Steve still has to find his seat.

Eddie makes him sit on his lap for the whole campaign. The players laugh at Steve's predicament and he acts all huffy but inside he is dying because he did not expect to enjoy sitting on Eddie's lap this much. Or the feel of Eddie's hand on the small of his back that would move to his waist and give a small squeeze when he had to read his stupid lines. Or the voice Eddie put on as Dungeon Master. And it's taking all his self control not to do something stupid.

Eddie is also having a hard time because he already had a big ass crush on Steve and apparently he likes making himself suffer because having Steve sit on his lap in that dress was doing things to him. And the way Steve would listen to him when to told him to say his line or move in a certain way when he said? KILLING HIM.

#they're idiots your honor #idiots in love #steddie #eddie munson #steve harrington #eddie took a calculated risk but man is he bad at math that is not related to DnD #steve is living his babygirl life he just doesnt know it yet

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elite-amarys · 28 days

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Event Announcement: BBA Student Council Election Season

It’s election season at Blueberry Academy! That means that it’s time for our Student Council candidates to start campaigning for your votes. There are multiple seats available, all of them requiring a different set of skills and know-how! The positions to be campaigned for are:

Student Council President *SEE NOTE BELOW*: The one in charge of it all! Student Council President leads the charge on all current projects, makes final decisions, and is the representative of our school to the world at large. BBA is a school run primarily by its students, which makes this is a big role, with a lot of responsibilities, but if you think you’re up for the challenge announce your candidacy today! One seat available, and the runner up in this poll will be named Vice President of the Student Council.

Secretary: The administrative brains behind the operation. The secretary compiles and distributes meeting minutes, assists in special projects, reports treasury information, and monitors all incoming communication from students and clubs. One seat available.

Treasurers: The money masters! These students monitor and manage anything and everything to do with our BP economy, including your BBQ rewards and club budgets. They are also responsible for monitoring all club spending. There are three seats available.

Historian: This is the person responsible for all documentation of club activities, as well as general media attention to BB Academy. They record interviews, save photos of memorable moments, and generally ensure that the history of BBA is well documented. One seat available.

While we strongly recommend that candidates for the Student Council President position have at least some experience with Student Council in the past, any student may announce their candidacy for any position! The deadline to announce your candidacy is MAY 10th

From May 11th onward election season will be in full swing! Campaigns, posters, speeches, big promises, whatever you feel will get you the most votes. And while the official campaign doesn’t start until the 11th, there’s nothing stopping you from making friends and taking names before then, eh? 😉

Anyone running for Student Council President MUST have their platforms finalized and announced by no later than May 15th. Any candidates that fail to announce a platform will be disqualified.

Finally, election day will take place on June 2nd! Any student currently enrolled in BBA who will be attending in the 2024-2024 school year is welcome to vote.

Best of luck, candidates!

//OOC housekeeping below the cut read or perish

First up, any BBA blog can run for any of these positions but the outcome of Student Council President is locked to Amarys winning. This is because 1) BBA Student Council is my baby and I will not be giving up control of it, you can pry my headcanons out of my cold dead hands, 2) This is a canon character trait of hers and 3) My event my rules. That said, the runner up WILL be named vice president, which is also a very important spot on Student Council. Amarys’ name will not be showing up on the actual polls on June 2nd, but if another blog wins by a landslide Amarys will be considered to have won by only a slim margin. So basically, if you are running for StuCo President you are actually running for Vice President.

If you want your character to participate you MUST message me directly, it can be an ic ask or not. The important point is that you don’t just make a post on your blog. I might not see it, and then you will not be included in the list of candidates posted May 11th.

This is going to be a tumblr event, no discord required.

All positions will have at least one NPC running for them. This is both to give anyone who opts in someone to fight against, and to give me a safety net in case there is a position or positions that no one wants to run for.

Lastly, if you want to participate but don’t think your own blorbo would run, you are free to create an anon persona to campaign with. I think this would be difficult to do, as you’d be limited to only campaigning via asks, but it is absolutely an option. You also run the risk of someone impersonating you to spread rumors but hey! I think that kind of drama would be a blast tbh.

That’s all! Let me know if you have any questions :3

#pkmn irl #BBA Election Season

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inkdemonapologist · 1 year

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A buncha scribbles from session 15 of the BatIM Cthulhu game! including:

Prophet swapped Sammy in for a brief moment of awareness before the final ritual to release the muses, in which he was relieved to see Susie okay and Susie was glad to see him... back to normal! Oh geez. Sammy doesn't actually know what Prophet's interactions with Susie were, but he's sure he probably regrets them

Susie hummed a little bit of a new version of one of the Bendy songs Sammy had been working on and oH YEAH THATS RIGHT SHE'S STILL KIND OF POSSESSED,

Back when the Coney Island ride they were underneath was flooding, I specified that Prophet was going to climb up the stairs "on all fours" to minimise chances of slipping and falling and I just wanted to try to draw this lmao. i forgot he was wearing a vest here

with Joey exhausted, Allison was the only one who could conduct the final ritual, and Sammy ended up calling out Prophet to keep an eye on her. i was just way too amused by the idea of sammy just TAKING A SWIG OF INK WITHOUT BREAKING EYE CONTACT TO DO THIS

also in addition to me drawing just so many scribbles of sammy lawrence i DO have some out-of-context quotes for you!!

[Sammy is played by me, Joey is played by Boo (inkyvendingmachine), Henry is played by Maf (inkcryptid), Jack is played by Mochi (whatyouwantedmetosee) and Thren (haunted-hijinxer) is our GM!]

[GM] It kind of jolts, and turns – assumedly – towards you, [Sammy] *laughs* YOU CAN’T TELL which direction it’s looking in, just, IT HAS MOVED

[GM] And some tentacles are gonna come at you guys! Like they do. [Jack] #JustTentacleThings

[Joey] This IS Joey’s arm, which means if it does get destroyed by the circle, Joey’s going to be missing an arm…! [Jack] I can fix it, it’s fine, [GM] It’s fine! Yeah! [Sammy] How many limbs would you like to be made of ink, Joey Drew?! [Joey] I dunno if he’s gonna have a CHOICE! [Sammy] You’re going to have fewer working limbs than Moonlight.

[Sammy] These guys might all be those goop people, who are harder to fight than humans – [Henry] I don’t think Henry’s thinking about that. I think Henry just heard Bendy and Joey scream and is in Go Mode. [Sammy] Well-- [Henry] I mean, it’s a smart thought! I don’t think Henry’s having it right now.

[Sammy] Leon, if you want to surprise us all and do something really heroic, PLEASE go for it [Jack] I thought you were going to say “please DON’T” [GM] “Don’t be a hero!!” [Sammy] No no, I think it’s fine, if he wants to be a hero, I think he should do it. [Joey] I mean, if he wants to grab Colette and RUN, that would be great, [Sammy] Yeah, nobody can DRAIN INK out of HIM! [Jack] Unless we’re about to learn something,

[Sammy] No, wait, that was Colette’s parents. I can keep all my minor NPCs straight! [Jack] Straight? In this campaign?! [Sammy] *startled laugh* [GM] Tell me about it…! [Sammy] We can’t keep ANY of our NPCs straight! We’re fundamentally terrible at it.

[Jack] I’m imagining it like, you know when you try to use an item in the wrong place in pokemon? [Joey] THE MASKED MESSENGER SAYS: IT ISN’T THE TIME TO USE THAT!

[Joey] Hold on. I was going between two normal ideas, and then I had a really weird one, so I need to check something. [GM] Joey? Making bad decisions in the finale of a scenario? What a thought! [Joey] hIS SANITY IS NINETEEN, SO!!!!

[Joey] Okay. I have an idea. >:3 [Sammy] Oh NO. [Henry] Oh no. Have you got a Joey Plan™? [Joey] *cackling* [Sammy] *muttering under breath* We really should’ve just… waited for Henry…

[Joey] Joey is going to realise the ink is being siphoned from them for use in whatever this guy is trying to do, and he’s not pleased about that, [Sammy] Yeah, neither am I. So far we’re on the same page – [Joey] It’s HIS ink–! [Sammy] It, it’s not – okay. [Joey] So, remember when Joey was visited by the Masked Messenger, and they had the little battle over ink possession? Joey is going to take over the Ink in the circle -- [Sammy] OKAY! This SURE is a Joey Drew™ Plan, [Joey] -- and reclaim it for himself, and take over the magic! [Sammy] Well, the LAST time we had a circle dedicated to doing something with the Yellow King, and Joey switched it to be himself instead, that went SO well, why WOULDN’T you do the same thing again!! [Joey] Listen, he has 19 sanity, I don’t know what you’re expecting from him. *rolls* …….He has 18 sanity, I don’t know what you’re expecting from him!

[Henry] Henry is going to shove the blade of his axe against this guy’s throat and tell him if he does anything fishy, he’ll kill him. [Joey] (This includes turning into a fish.) [Joey] (No more tentacle monsters, no more fish monsters, none of that!)

[Henry] 32, which is a hard success. [Sammy] …What’s your intimidate skill?!? [GM] Oh, y’know, :) [Henry] 85. [Sammy] *nervous laughter???* [Jack] Normal amount. [Henry] Normal amount! [Sammy] YEAH, the same number as Sammy’s musical skill??? OKAY COOL!!!

[Sammy] Does Sammy look like his mascara is running? I just want to know.

[Joey] Can I… *quietly* ...grab Colette and toss her out of the circle? [Sammy] … YEET HER? [Joey] yEAH,,, [Henry] Can’t be more damage than falling over a fence. *everyone giggles except for Sammy* [Sammy] …Okay.

[Sammy] I can’t believe Joey is stealing Prophet’s nemesis. Rude. [GM] I mean, Joey DID stab Moonlight. They can share! [Joey] …I don’t know if they can share. They’ve been doing very bad at sharing.

[Jack] Also she’s not an ink creature, so, big win for you, Leon!

[Sammy] It grabbed me in the leg, right? [GM] Yeah! This is the cool leg scar. [GM] Not to be confused with the not-cool leg scar, [Jack] He’s just never going to live that down, huh. [Sammy] He COULD, if everyone would stop bringing it up! [GM] Sammy wakes up and hopes dearly that Prophet tripped over a fence so at least it’s both of them, but no…

[Joey] So – hold on, let me see if a thing existed back then. [GM] Oh boy…? [Joey] 18th century. Great! Okay, so I’m going to drain the rest of my magic points, to do a new toon action – you know those, circular saw blades? [GM] BUZZSAWS???

[Henry] Henry’s gonna do something suuuuuper risky,,, [Henry] He’s going to drop the axe and summon the scythe. [Sammy] ….OKAY, [Joey] Okay…! I’m very curious what’s going to happen if Henry uses the scythe on the mirror. [Henry] Oh, I wasn’t thinking that. [Sammy] UM, [GM] This is fine, this is great! [Sammy] Nervous chuckle, I’m in danger, [Henry] Henry is going to say “Sammy, duck!” and, swing the scythe [Sammy] OH, OKAY, I WILL DO THAT, [GM] Make a dodge roll! [Sammy] OhhhHHH THAT’S NOT GOOD… THAT’S NICE, BUT IT’S NOT GOOD,,,, My dodge is 55 and I rolled a 69, [Joey] Nice [GM] Nice! [Henry] And since it’s in close quarters, I’m guessing it’ll go through both of them. [GM] Yeah! Roll damage! [Sammy] CAN I,,,, PUSH THAT ROLL MAYBE,,, [GM] [GM] No. :) [Henry] *cackles*

[Jack] THAT’S trauma for future Sammy!!

[Jack] He’s gonna see if Sammy’s okay! See what’s going on. [Sammy] Sammy still looks pretty shaken up, and will tell him, “Stay back my sheep – I will join you soon.” [Henry] “I’m not going to hurt him!” [Sammy] jUST GIVES HENRY A LOOK,

[Sammy] So that’s seven damage! [GM] Okay! You see that the shadowy figure on the other side is ALSO trying to hit the mirror. [Sammy] Huh. Can I tell anything about the shadowy figure, now that I’m right up next to the mirror? [GM] Yeah! :) Uh, looks kinda familiar. It’s maybe somebody you’ve seen before. [Jack] yEAH I thought it might be,,, [Sammy] …wait, what? [GM] Maybe somebody… last scenario… [Jack] Who’s in Carcosa… and wants to break the mirror… [GM] Yeah, someone like that maybe! [Sammy] ………….. Is it… is it Moonlight…? [GM] Yeah! Yeah it is! ...Anyway, the mirror breaks. :)

*successful dexterity check to avoid getting knocked over* [GM] Okay, you keep your feet! [Sammy] Thanks, I like my feet.

[Joey] Joey is going to start scanning for his people, who LEFT HIM while he was being thrown around by tentacles, [Sammy] You were a great distraction, thank you. [Jack] You’ve gotta keep a better eye on your people, one of them just stabbed another! [Joey] EVERYONE ABANDONED ME! [Sammy] I TOLD YOU WHAT I WAS DOING! [Joey] Oh, yeah, no, Prophet gets a pass. Everyone else ran off, and – [Henry] YOU LEFT HENRY! [Joey] ….eh, ‘strue. [Joey] …Left Henry with others! [GM] Bendy’s still there! [Joey] Yeah. Bendy’s got me. [Sammy] Joey, any time he’s trying to leave by himself: “No, I’m never alone, I’m with Bendy!” Joey, as soon as we figure he’s fine, because he’s with Bendy: “HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME ALL ALONE?!” [Jack] Betrayed, Abandoned,

[Joey] And the water is coming in fast, [Henry] These people are going to have SUCH a mold problem when we’re done…

[Joey] Does Bendy have any magic points…? [Sammy] “I spent all of mine turning my arms into buzzsaws!” [Jack] As you do!

[Sammy] Poor Leon. I’m so sorry. You’re going to have to go straight into an asylum.

[GM] You’re pretty sure you’re not in Carcosa. [Jack] Okay, good. I needed to know if Jack would be panicking about things… [GM] He’s got plenty to panic about, but that one is currently good!

[GM] I wonder if Sammy… from Sammy’s point of view, Jack was driving when he lost consciousness, and then he’s still driving when he comes back! Like… he doesn’t even know they went to Coney Island, I don’t think? [Sammy] No, I guess not! Joey was just like “I know where they’re taking Colette” [Sammy] And now we’re going back to the Studio so it’s like, I guess we got Colette! And got wet, for some reason! [Jack] At least he didn’t end up seeing The Great Bertrum Piedmont. [Sammy] There are SO many things it’s good that he didn’t end up seeing.

[GM] Bendy is going to chime in that it was busy, but they went to an amusement park! [Joey] Joey’s going to correct him that they did NOT go to an amusement park. That was not what that is. [GM, as Bendy] “That’s what you said it was last time we went!” [Joey] “Was it like last time we went?!” [GM] He’ll think about that, go quiet for a minute, and then be like, “No, I guess not, huh!” [Joey] “EXACTLY.” [GM, as Bendy] “Yeah, he’s right, we didn’t!” [Sammy] Hm. Hmmmm. Sammy’s squinting at you both.

[Sammy] He might still cough up blood, just not embarrassingly so. Just, in a cool way!

[Henry] Henry will… “pull” is too strong of a word? But Henry will… physically encourage Joey to step back from the circle.

[Sammy] Ehhhhh, I don’t have a lot of hitpoints… [Joey] Who needs hitpoints? [Sammy] I do, I need them!!

[GM] *rolls* …hm. *mumbling to self* What do I do with that…? [Sammy] Troubling reaction! [GM] ….huh…. [Joey] Not getting less troubling!

[Henry] I don’t want to keep using the scythe spell, but it keeps presenting itself as the best option! [Joey] DO YOU HAVE, ANY OTHER OPTIONS,, FIRST???? [Henry] These things have a bajillion HP! [Sammy] I mean, you COULD do the scythe thing, but maybe don’t hit anybody else with it! [Jack] I think you should hit Sammy with it again. [Sammy] NO I DON’T THINK YOU SHOULD

[Henry] Well, my strength is higher… oh no, it’s not, I’ve been doing too much mAGIC, [Sammy] That’s what happens when you do the scythe spell constantly!!! [Henry] Uggghhhhhhh... [Sammy] “Been doing too much scythe spell, better do some more scythe spell!”

[Joey] Do we have any bonus dice left? [Sammy] *sarcastically* Well! If we end up at the hotel, I DID scout it out ahead of time!

[GM] And Joey is feeling all the way better, except for all the ways that he is not!

[Henry] I just want to say, I did not expect Weird Henry to go on for FOUR SESSIONS. [Sammy] He went out with a bang, too, sliced a scythe RIGHT THROUGH THE PROPHET, [Henry] Yeah, everything has been working out so great!

#sammy lawrence #prophet sammy #susie campbell #sammy x susie #allison and henry are here too #call of cthulhu: haunted hijinx #when in doubt just keep drawing #cthulhu game quotes #paper texture from lostandtaken.com

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lily-orchard · 7 months

Note

what's your recommended setup (where to buy them, what order to play them, what mods to get) for playing the baldur's gate games? all the talk around them has me intrigued to maybe check them out

Where To Buy Them

The Enhanced Editions are available on Steam, GOG and through Beamdog's own store. Beamdog's Store is the best place to get it because fuck middlemen in general, but also because if it's gotten from Steam or GOG, then Siege of Dragonspear needs additional tweaking so it doesn't break BG1 mods.

That being said, the best place to buy them is the place that has them for the lowest price.

Play Order

The play order is simple:

Baldur's Gate > Siege of Dragonspear > Shadow's of Amn >Throne of Bhaal.

Siege of Dragonspear is optional, you don't have to play it but it's an okay expansion. BG1's original expansion, Tales of the Sword Coast, added a mega dungeon and a bunch of quests, so it's not included in here. Throne of Bhaal was an entire Post-Game Campaign for Shadows of Amn, and Siege of Dragonspear emulated that.

Mods

It is generally advised to not play with mods the first time through, though you certainly won't lose anything if you do. There's no such thing as a "pure experience." Everyone's different. I, for example, cannot play any Baldur's Gate game without at least one mod that makes Imoen speak more.

Both Games

ESSENTIAL

EEEX - A script extender that some mods require. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Start the game with InfinityLoader after installing.

Portraits Portraits Everywhere - Adds portraits to all characters in game.

My Personal Party Member Portrait Collection - My own collection of NPC portraits that I included. Just drop all files into the override folder of both games.

OPTIONAL

Bubb's Spell Menu - Makes Spellcasting more intuitive by pausing the game automatically and sorting spells by level. Requires EEEX.

Tweaks Anthology - An entire suite of tweaks for the game. Not advised for people who aren't familiar with it.

UI MODS

Dragonspear UI++ - There are multiple UI mods for Baldur's Gate, but Dragonspear UI is the best of them.

Infinity UI++ - From the same creator as Dragonspear UI, this one emulates Pillars of Eternity.

Baldur's Gate 1

ESSENTIAL

DLC Merger - If you buy Siege of Dragonspear from Steam or GOG, you need this or mods will break.

BG1 NPC Project - The only essential mod, which gives party members banter that more accurately reflects the second game. BG1 companions are pretty sparse on content. Beamdog was originally going to include this as a baseline feature in the Enhanced Edition but couldn't get hold of the mod's creator in time.

OPTIONAL

BG1 NPC Music Pack - An optional component for the NPC project which gives characters musical scores during their mod dialogues. Some of them are well chosen, like Jaheira and Viconia use their themes from BG2. Others like Tiax or Khalid use immediately recognizable songs that can take you out of the experience. You can replace them with whatever you want by just replacing the wav file in the override folder with something else. Example I replaced Imoen's theme (a track from Neverwinter Nights) with one of her themes from her expansion mod in the second game.

Chatty Imoen - Imoen was a late addition to BG1 and so had no dialogue after being added to the game, which is jarring for such an important character both plot-wise and emotionally. This mod gives her more banter (on top of the NPC Project) and makes her interject in main story quests. This is really good if you want Imoen talking more, which I personally do.

Imoen 4 Ever - Retains Imoen as a Party Member in Siege of Dragonspear. Not advised for a first time playthrough.

Baldur's Gate 2

ESSENTIAL

Ascension - Contains multiple changes to Throne of Bhaal including changes to the final boss, changes to itemization and gameplay, and giving Imoen Bhaalspawn powers.

OPTIONAL

Sword Coast Strategems - Gameplay overhaul. Brutally difficult. Not for newcomers.

Imoen Romance - Full character and dialogue expansion for Imoen, allowing the player to develop a friendship or romance with her. Also gives Imoen a possible friendship or romance with Aerie. CW - Abuse, Sexual Assault, Incest, Mind Altering Magic

de'Arnise Romance - A romance mod for Nalia de'Arnise.

Imoen Friendship - A friendship mod for Imoen that contains six dialogue banters with the player. Not as comprehensive or in depth as the above, but also doesn't have the contentious material.

MORBID CURIOSITY

These mods are terrible, but fascinatingly terrible. Do not install them unless you want to come see the freak.

Chloe - Someone's lesbian Kensai OC. Has a common OC mod failing of making the new character the center of attention, and if your name isn't Charname or Imoen most people are not happy with that. Given Baldur's Gate is a very personal story and not a story about a fantasy world itself, this is a common mistake modders make.

Sandrah - Made by the same person as Chloe, this is far and away the single worst mod ever created for Baldur's Gate. Has the same problem of making the new NPC the center of attention, but also vastly changes the personalities of other characters as well in ways that are viscerally jarring. It also features massive cross-mod compatibility but in the worst possible way that fucks with them and ruins their stories. I noticed this when my character's spouse, who had previously expressed zero interest in children, was suddenly overcome with uncontrollable maternal instinct. It honestly feels like a rewrite fanfic that was accidentally ported to WeiDU instead of AO3. To my knowledge, only two people have ever played it to completion and I am one of them.

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stillinthatweirdfaze · 5 months

Text

I usually don’t make posts like this bc sharing hobbies and interests on the internet makes me very very anxious for whatever reason but I really really wanna share this issue of the Dragon magazine I found at the thrift store yesterday!!!!!!!!

25th anniversary edition of the official D&D magazine !!!!! It is issue 284 and it came out in June 2001. Unfortunately it did not come with the advertised bonus CD rom when I bought it though :[

I’m gonna use this post to show off some of the stuff that’s in it that I really liked or found interestingggg :]

First off we have a full spread add for baulders gate 2, which is kinda funny considering the third one didn’t come out that long ago. I want to eat this ye oldie early 2000ds generic fantasy font I bet it tastes like burnt shortbread.

A little step by step on how the artist made the cover which I find like. Infinitely charming. Especially since this cover itself is so gorgeous. I hope Todd Lockwood is doing good today.

A full page add for an online anime fantasy rpg called Nexus the kingdom of the winds. OUGGGGEEEEE this art style,,,,,,, it takes me back to places it takes me back to like that one vampire anime and clanad and YouTube anime top tens. Fuck graphic design we should start putting sparkles and radial gradients on everything again.

an add for a series of sound effect cds for your games which I want so so bad I need to know what’s on these.

Two little sections where it seems people can submit photos and stories about themselves or their game members to be published. The Dm of the month one is genuinely heartwarming and cute. The thought of Steve seeing that he won made me smile. Also “Nubile dwarf chicks” and “chaotic secretive” is a great example of how early 2000nds out of pocket this issue can be sometimes. You can fucking smell the energy off the second image.

An extremely funny review of a previous dragon issue.

an add for Gen con 2001 and a schedule of upcoming conventions. If anyone went to these I would genuinely love to hear about them I love convention history a whole lot especially from around this time

A page in, apparently a series, about what ttrpg players value in a game written by Gary Gygax!!! If anyone has any previous or the final issues of this study please do share I really really wanna see them. Also the three genders: males, females, and newbies

Two stat blocks for some half dragon characters

A Draconic to English translation table that I wish I had as a preteen because I would have eaten it the fuck up. Also I cut it off but the last sentence on the bottom right is “please don’t disembowel the dwarf” which apparently is “martiver thric gixustratt tundar”

Add for a brand of miniatures and in what stores to find them. I wonder how many of these places are still open

An add for WOTZ game stores with the tagline “it’s where you play the game” and advertising “Hella Bandwith” and “scantily clad BABES.” I find it unreasonably funny that they are three pictures of the same exact woman, scantily clad babe, one (1), one singular babe.

Spell and magical item themed crossword

A full on campaign setting of the real city of London. I didn’t take pictures of all of it but it has a history section, locations, npcs, adventure hooks, and what even looks like a little blank dungeon layout of a mansion . I feel like putting real places as campaign settings has always been like, a thing, but I don’t see it too often. Its charming I like it.

A stat block and gorgeous illustration for a lesser dragon companion. The gradient circle in the back is my favorite argggg I wanna draw like this sometimes

A section on how to assemble your own monster models. Admittedly I know close to nothing about model making so this was an extremely fun read for me

A bunch of PC portraits of half dragons that are so so cool. You see a lot of stuff about people getting really specific designs about different hybrids like oh a dwarf tyfling looks different than an elf tyfling n that sort of stuff in the modern day but you don’t really see it canonized at all. So it’s really interesting to see that concept in an officially published D&D thing, even if it’s just a magazine. I really like the dwarf one a lot.

Possibly my favorite thing ever is this cartoon that reads like a fucking wizard tumblr shitpost. Like down to a fucking tea this is some shit the evil wizard blog would say and it makes me so so so happyyyyyyyyy. It’s the cadence that amazes me they got the tumblr wizard cadence exactly right. Im posting this shit on its own without shame bc I need people to see it. Pour me something whimsical and arcane bar wench.

A absolutely chefs kiss add for a ????? Pc????? Pc game????? Pc accessory??? I honestly can’t tell anyway enjoy your free ps2 polygonal hotted woman ass

And finally the thing that made me fuckin gasp out loud when I saw it, an add for the original year of our lord 2001 shitty D&D movie with special features and online sweepstakes to win a trip to Prague. Holy shit. God I love this game.

anyway that’s it, I plan to frame this thing and put it up somewhere. Ty for reading all my nerd shit. :,]

#D&D #dungeons and dragons #Dragons magazine #vintage fantasy #”vintage?” Not really but idk what else to put #2000s #early 2000s #Old d&d #D&D 3E #fantasy illustration #wotc #Uhhhhhhhh I think that’s it?#Motg #Baulders gate #baulders gate 2 #Nexus: the kingdom of the winds

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love-toxin · 2 years

Note

You want eddie angst? I’ve got Eddie angst

You are everything to Eddie. Perfect in every single way. You’re the only person who’s ever given a shit about him, and you’re his shining light in life. He genuinely doesn’t know how he’d live life without you now he’s been blessed by you, you’re his angel he calls you, he tells you that all the time. You are quite literally the most important thing in Eddie’s world. You make him feel like the best version of himself he can be, and he loves you with everything he has

Except his angelface deals with depression. And in her worst times, suicidal ideation. Eddie is there for you always, but it stabs his heart 1000 times over whenever he’s reminded by you just how much you don’t feel like you deserve anything. How you don’t want to deserve good things. You are the best thing in Eddie’s world, and you promised you wouldn’t leave him, even though his blood runs cold when he worries you could still. But you sometimes can’t see yourself in that way, the way eddie sees you, in any good way. And he’s always there to put you back together, but he’s always crying as soon as you’re finally asleep, because no matter how strong he always is for you, he just feels like he doesn’t know what to do. He loves you, and he feels helpless...

i can imagine Eddie doing that soft touch against the back of your head, cradling it and pulling you forward for a kiss between your brows and a "you okay, baby?" whenever he sees that lower lip trembling like you're about to cry. if you let it out right away, you get pushed into his chest with your face buried in his neck while he holds you, and just hums reassurances until you're all dried out. but if you try and keep the tears back he coaxes them out with his thumbs on your cheeks, rubbing little circles into them and leaning in close so he can whisper that it's okay, you can cry as hard and as much as you like, that it's better to let it out rather than bottle it up.

and while he's generally pretty good at talking away whatever's nagging at your mind, sometimes Eddie knows the words that are better left unsaid. sometimes it's better for him to show that he loves you rather than telling you. fluffing up your pillows and fetching your favourite blanket when you're getting ready for a nap. pulling the shower curtain open to kiss you before he leaves the trailer, even though he gets his hair all wet and has to shake it out. leaving your favourite sweets out on the counter, sitting under a bowl for you to come home to. cutting your sandwiches into hearts and writing "i love you" with your condiments even when you don't see them. burning a million mixtapes with you in mind, ranging in titles from "nighttime angel thoughts", "loving my angel in the day", "dreaming of my angel", "thoughts i have of you", etc etc. running up to hug you as fast and tight as he can after being apart--no matter if it was ten hours or ten seconds. taking you on rides in the van when you need to get out of your room, loading up your favourite songs in the radio, and scream-singing them alongside you to get all that rage or sadness or anxiety out by force. bruising up his thumbs with the hammer while building a little garden plot by the side of the trailer, just so he can plant some little flowers you like in the colours that make you the happiest, and you can look out the window and see them when they're all in bloom. making you an npc in his campaign that you can play if you like, and if you're not at the hellfire meetings, he can come home and chatter in great detail about all the adventures his mini-angel went on with the party and how much fun they had.

these are some of the many ways he shows his love, hopefully in enough doses that he can get a smile or a laugh out of you when you're least expecting it. but even if he doesn't, he would never quit trying to--no matter how many pieces you feel like you're shattering into, Eddie will always sit and spend the time helping you put yourself back together. he'll kiss those painful words off your mouth, those claims that you're crazy and pathetic and worthless, he'll smother you in kiss after kiss until you don't have the breath to say one more insult. he hates when you're mean to his little angel, he's sure their feelings are hurt, and he has to kiss all those little wounds better!

#haha anon did you describe me-//SHOT #eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie's angelface #st 4 #stranger things #tw: suicide mention #ellie writes #anons

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msviolacea · 1 year

Text

So I started playing a solo TTRPG this weekend - I’m trying out a solo Curse of Strahd campaign to see how it works and whether I can hit some of the story beats my other campaign didn’t due to the natural progression of their stories. And I have some thoughts about the process!

1) Honestly I think anyone who likes telling stories to themselves should try playing a solo TTRPG at some point. It’s a delicious balance between ��I want ALL THE CONTROL” and “someone please for the love of god TELL ME WHAT COMES NEXT.”

2) It’s also very good for someone whose attention span issues are similar to mine - I find it really, really hard to concentrate on a game for the amount of time a regular group wants to play. Like, I know my D&D group would probably happily play for more than 3 hours at a time, but that’s the limit of my attention span for running a thing in one sitting. And if I’m a player, I need to be doing Something Else in order to keep my brain happy for several hours of talking and back and forth. (In the Zoom gaming era, “something else” is usually “mindlessly farming crafting resources in a video game.”) But playing solo, I can just go “hey, I’m gonna run a scene for an hour” and then I can be done! And go back to the next scene the next day!

3) I cannot recommend Mythic GM Emulator enough - either as a tool for solo roleplaying or general GMing or adventure design or just a writing tool. It’s got a great system for asking yes/no questions, determining how likely the ‘yes’ answer might be, and providing a d100 table to roll on accordingly. It also has great tables and rules for generating random encounters, or just inspiring you to think about what this next location/NPC/enemy might be and what role they’ll play in the narrative.

4) Choose whatever TTRPG system you want to play with the GM Emulator (or whatever tool you choose to replace the GM) based on how much detail you want to deal with. I’m having fun using 5E, but it’s a lot of back and forth between books and character sheets. It would be less work to run it with a more narrative-based system, but that also depends on your comfort level with said system. I’ve been watching a YouTube series of a voice actor who plays his first solo season with Savage Worlds, and that seems to be a good level of crunch versus narrative decisions. And I know Ironsworn is built for solo or duo play, I just need to learn the system at some point. But since I’m incredibly familiar with 5E and CoS in specific, it felt like a good way to test out the GM Emulator and general flow of solo play.

5) I know there are a ton of solo journaling TTRPGs out there, and I plan to play some of them at some point, but where my head is at right now, playing something that has more rails to it is better for jumpstarting my creativity. Leave too many doors open, and I just won’t create anything at all. But hopefully after a while, I can “graduate” (for certain values) to something that simply gives you prompts, rather than a full game system.

So, I’m having fun so far, and can highly recommend the experience, especially if you want to experience a particular system or adventure but don’t have a group to do it with, or if you just want something to jumpstart your creative muscles.

#jaime rambles #solo ttrpg

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paint-lady · 5 months

Note

🖊 + Maru!

Send me a “🖊+an OC“ and I will talk about that OC! It can be a headcanon, a fun fact, a small paragraph of backstory- anything! Alternatively, send in just a “🖊“ and I will talk about any one of my OCs at random!

Oh, Maru my beloved.

Maru "Maru-Maru" Maru is my character in Secret World Legends and my NPC (and eventual PC) for the Secret World ttrpg. They are the current OC im constantly rotating in my brain like a rotisserie chicken.

I had attempted to write a longer form comic for them and even finished a first chapter. Unfortunately, life got busy and started taking more spoons to other tasks and I am not able to dedicate the time and energy I want to the comic. And thats okay. In the year I have been cold, I have expanded upon the Maru-verse even further, and discovered even more interesting loops and details to incorporate. And I cannot wait to illustrate them one day.

So without further ado, please enjoy this extensive lore breakdown on Maru-Maru:

For your convenience this post has a keep reading <3

Name Significance: Of course Maru is not their given name. Its partially a joke, partially an echo of a long-lost memory, partially a misheard role to fulfill, and their first grasp on their identity.

The name Maru firstly comes from my Exalted Zenith character. My partner and I wanted to name our bees after them, as a way to honor the fun we had with such a short campaign. Little did we know how smoothly Exalted and SWL can blend together- the transition from one age to the next, apocalypses rising, and powerful beings beyond comprehension changing Creation. The tone is certainly different though: an Exalted chronicle is uplifting and with epic heroes to save the world, whereas SWL is riddled with uncertainty about how long the collective will of reality can hold.

The SWL version of Maru can barely remember their previous incarnation, it's more like a weird dream than anything else. If they look to closely, the memory vanishes; like the people of the Third Age trying to grasp their memory of the Second, and their predecessors before them. The golden light within them feels different, yet can still vanquish monsters with their touch, and aid people plagued by nightmares seeping through cracks in reality.

A more recent discovery has played nicely into my friends headcanons and names of their characters. SWL Maru was discovered by experienced agents of names Inanna and Ninshubur in Kingsmouth. While the name Maru is not a Sumerian/Assyrian deity, Mamu is. There is not a lot written about Mamu. They are most notable for being a god of dreams and having both male and female depictions. We love a lil gender fuckery in the pantheon. There was temple built in Imgur-Enlil (modern Balawat) to them. Dreams were not seen as depictions of the subconscious (thanks Freud) but rather true portents of the future. This is all over the epic of Gilgamesh as a literary device to keep that long ass story going. Regardless, the Assyrian King who had dreams of Inanna vanquishing his enemies felt the portents were significant enough to build that temple to the messenger: Mamu. Additionally, there are oodles of accounts of death-dreams and glimpses into other worlds (namely the Underworld) across several sites, whether its recorded dreams from priests and priestesses- or more Enki myths.

And this is what Maru does- even by accident. They catch glimpses into the other worlds, talk to other versions of themselves to relay messages and warnings, and make sure Inanna and Ninshubur are aware of whatever weird shit is out there. In the SWL ttrpg, I intend to have Maru explore this role to fulfill more, as a messenger and a dreamer. Funnily enough, the surname I gave Maru is 夢宮: Yumemiya, which can translate to Yume: dream, and Miya: a shrine, or place for gods. Don't you love it when the narrative falls into place like that? (But in truth, I borrowed the surname from Kanae Yumemiya, an actress who portrayed Usagi in a Sailor Moon Live production...)

Lastly on name significance, we have the japanese translation that Maru means ◯, and is literally a circle. Depending on the characters used to spell Maru, it can also mean truth, and expanded to mean a complete unending cycle. Putting two ◯◯ together is like censoring a name or word, similarly to how $#%&#! is used in English. In a way, Maru-Maru is saying their name is Redacted, or blankety blank or So-and-so. This was incredibly hilarious in the SWL game when QBL labels the player a terrorist after climbing Orochi Tower. Ah yes, you've definitely found the ringleader who set off the Tokyo bomb: It was ◯◯! Excellent journalism, QBL, no notes.

But in truth, its a clever and funny way to hide themself. Searching Maru on google is gonna get you a stardew valley villager and a cute, chubby cat youtube sensation. And they like it that way.

So whether it's Maru, Mamu, Redacted, ◯◯, or some other weird fifth thing, they'll always be that one odd baby bee who reaches across dimensions to keep reality running just a little longer. They won't have to face the end alone, in fact, its statistically improbable.

And if you survive. If you are still you. Think on the questions. Remember when you were a bright little thing, so full of questions?

THE LIFE CYCLE:

Time is a funny thing when dealing with several versions of the same individual. The smallest changes completely alter a course of events. Many Marus recall gaining their bee not long after the Tokyo Filth bomb around 2012, and being swept up by whichever agency got to them first. Many recall their parents working tirelessly at their jobs at the Orochi Group. They learned how to cook for themself at a young age because Mom and Dad wouldn't be home til late. Many recall the first time they heard the buzzing static was as young as 6, following the sweet whispers through a soon-to-be park and a newly planted flowering tree. There are a few that never receive a bee, or receive their power through other means. These timelines are the strangest ones.

A riddle to kill a sphinx: What's one, then three, and then one again? Wait- that's not how it goes...

The Lumie, Templar, and Dragon Maru all share the same origin. Depending on where an outsider glances, the three realities are so close, they are nearly one. Nearly. They grew up in Kaidan with their parents. They did attend the Orochi-sponsored schools and attended several programs, but flew right under the radar for "gifted abilities" that Orochi was seeking. Little Maru was aware of whispers in tv static, rattles in old pipes, the shrieks of summer cicadas Evangelion style. As a young child, they marched to the beat of their own drum, ignoring or indulging the whispered warnings as they saw fit. The dreams were harder to ignore, but when they told their parents about the big scary monsters that couldn't get out- it was written off as their overly active imagination. After all, they had failed an aptitude test to get into the nearby elementary school near their work. Its uncertain whether or not Maru's parents knew what that test was truly analyzing- and whether or not they were relieved to see they failed. Decent Orochi employees have excellent poker faces.

Sometimes one is born special. Sometimes specialness is genetically modified into one. Not every child is equal.

As they grew older, the supernatural continued to burrow into their eardrums. Maru was an average student, but occasionally received top marks on answers whispered to them. They earned a reputation for being a little bit of a tech whiz, and had an observant eye for finding errors in codes. Not really a "super power" but troubleshooting tech is an immensely useful skill. Maru was exceptional at the ol' percussive maintenance with old printers, punchcards, and fax machines. When things went to digital interfaces, Maru found the tried and true "have you tried turning it off and back on again," to be a real winner.

When they didn't want to hear the whispers, they'd make use of bulky, noise-cancelling headphones. Maru would often be seen wearing them outside of class and in their home, enjoying the peace and quiet. Maybe the headphones were a placebo. It only worked because they believed it worked. However, at night, their mind would be plagued with vivid dreams and even louder whispers and messages. Headphones can't keep hide the noise if its already in their head. Frustratingly, they'd always wake up and immediately forget what they dreamt. This was their normal. Caffeine to keep themself up during the day, wear headphones to keep out the messages, and TV to drown out the static at night.

And there wasn't really anyone to talk about it with. Last time some Orochi kid fessed up to their weird dreams and whispers, he'd definitely vanished. Teachers said the student moved away, but Maru knew his parents still worked in Faust upper management. Another girl said she could hear thoughts before you could finish thinking them. Maru thought that one was bullshit- but she disappeared too. Lesson learned. Keep the static to yourself.

Don't fear It. Fear Nothing. Fear the Foundation. It's no wonder; they say once you hit four, it's all downhill from here.

When it came time to apply for highschool, a few of their peers found this "Clubhouse" and despite its messaging, were blabbermouths about it. Maru always felt uneasy about the place. If there were whispers saying they had nothing to fear, they didn't trust it. They couldn't believe the claims that were coming from this place. Free drinks? Can play games as long as you want? You can be yourself without any fear? Maru especially didn't trust the last one. None of their classmates knew how they felt wearing the girls uniform. None of them knew how exhausting it was to shut out the whispers, keep the eyes on them sated with just the right expectations, and then complete their coursework on top of it all. Maru absolutely did not want to "perform" there either.

Upon finishing highschool, Maru was presented with an opportunity. They'd complete a university comp-sci degree and then immediately dive into a job at the company. Orochi is not devoid of nepotism. At first, this seemed ideal. They'd attend university in New York, and take their summer internships with the American branch of Orochi. Should everything go well, which... it was going to go well that was the expectation... they'd be looking at a substantial salary and generous benefits while working in the Tower.

America was loud. America is loud. But the sheer volume of everything drowned out the buzzing whispers. They still needed the headphones to drown out the rest of the noise though. They could focus a lot more on themself outside of the Orochi bubble, even if their presence was just a few streets away.

Maru figured out a lot about themself in the four years at Uni, especially the gender thing. They enjoyed building weird robots and programming them to do silly things- in addition to their assigned tasks. They enjoyed the few college parties they attended. They even had a steady, long term relationship with a classmate named Caesura (nods back to Exalted). As graduation loomed, they dreaded going back home. They realized how much time they spent alone and really did not want to go back to that solitude at Orochi. So they avoided it. They delayed their graduation by a year and a half by swapping majors, making absurd connections and promises with subdivisions of Faust and Anansi, and prolonging which classes they needed to graduate.

What was the cause of all this, sweetling? Where is the zero point?

Everything changed sometime in 2012. Maru couldn't get anyone on the phone back home when the bomb went off. Even the work lines in Faust were gunked up. They have zero clue if a letter they wrote made it through security and into Orochi's headquarters. Caesura had also vanished. (Unbeknownst at the time, the man was abducted by the Dragon. In most timelines, he does analog calculations for the faction, figuring out where pieces need to move rather than doing field work himself). And then they get their bee, freak out and wreck their apartment, get nabbed by one of the big three, and then get sent out to Kingsmouth.

Things start to break and differ sometime after this for our Red, Blue, and Green iterations of Maru. They all admit to being unaware of their prowess for chaos magic before meeting two other big bees: Ninshubur and Inanna. It was Ninshubur who gifted the confused baby bee a chaos focus, and Inanna gifted a them an empowering gadget. Receiving these items are one of the more prominent cracks on the flickering timelines on the Reality Engine.

Though the most prominent tears in their time are when the Dreamers made themselves known to Maru. The first, a gift. The second, worship. The third, freedom.

Templar!Maru, believes they were tricked by the gift. They swear they would have never have listened to the bubbling voices, but deep down they know that they fell for their sweet words. Whenever the Dreamers approached them, they were certain to make sure they'd never be fooled twice. Their choices are marked with unbound Blue wings.

Dragon!Maru had already begun developing their philosophy on the cyclic end of the world: however messy and destructive it was going to be, whatever was going to rise out of the ashes was going to be just as magnificent. Decay is a form of life. They morbidly want to see what the world will look like at the end, but have to be strong enough to make it there. Accepting the gift, begrudgingly worshipping, and freeing the Dreaming Ones is all part of their dream. Their wings drip with filth. Unease sits in their stomach, they do not know if they'll get their wish.

Lastly, Lumie!Maru was keen on not listening to more voices in their heads. They are the only iteration to refuse the gift. Their wings gleam gold. What is done cannot be undone, and they loathe that their defiance to one set of voices is obedience to another.

Go ahead, glance back. Don't sweat it, sweetling. You won't turn to salt and you can't make yourself impossible. History will conserve itself. The continuities will hold.

Again, time is funny when dealing with several iterations of the same individual. The slightest changes make immense impacts on their lives. There are Maru's who graduated on time. There are Maru's who never left Kaidan. These individuals work with Orochi, whether they want to or not. There are Maru's who's last memory is the filth exploding from within that guy's jacket. There are Maru's still sleeping. There are Maru's who joined the Council of Venice, there are Maru's who hacked the Swarm's game back, and fled their factions. There are Maru's who want nothing to do with the secret world and just want a peaceful goddamn life with their wife and accounting job. There's a Maru who is just really into boats...

But they are all connected, tethered to one another. Like a rat king on reality, fated to meet and tangle.

FUN and STRANGE DETAILS:

BLOODY VALENTINES: Uta, the rabbit killer in Kaidan, is three separate individuals who used to inhabit the same body. Lilith is responsible for splitting her like a worm and separating the sibling souls into new bodies. Maru is an anomaly: they are physical duplicates of the same individual existing simultaneously. Both Maru and Uta fight with unprecedented coordination, switching aggro and balancing their buffs between the three of them. The showdown at the top of Orochi tower was certainly a spectacle... And a vocabulary lesson for swears in several languages. Some agents have noticed the similarities between Maru and Uta, but Maru is quick to squash any speculations. This is not because the two actually know each other, but more Maru does not want anyone to know their Orochi background if they can help it.

The buzzing on Uta reveals some interesting clues about Maru and their existence. Uta was not plagued with insanity but rather hypersanity for the new age- and with new software there are bound to be bugs. While Maru didn't absorb their twin in the womb or was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia; Maru was also sensitive to whispers just outside reality. And so were other children born around the same time. Maybe Maru and that generation of kids got the patched version.

A LUCID DREAM: The Black Signal, or John, tells the Chuck's who will listen that he's no longer singular, he is plural- but remembers what it was like being a sole individual. To Maru, this is so old news. In fact, Maru loves to snark back at him saying that he is not special and they're plural too. There are many Maru's. The Black Signal doesn't really tend to listen to this. Maru may be many, but Maru is still meat. If they would hatch, then they'd have a new conversation. Again, Maru disregards this, and says they've spent enough time being an egg.

They don't want to think too hard about what it means to have "hatched." They know John's not talking about them being nonbinary. Maru is an adept and experienced enough chaos user at this point to recognize when a timeline is too different for them to safely pull on. There's a phantom pain in their outreached hands and fingers when they try to go too far. They are aware that there are some selves they used to be able to call upon and cannot anymore. Something about them has changed. They are aware they can become "out of sync" with their doppelgangers or even be "out of phase," and get stuck somewhere overlapping two or more timelines. But to not be able to call themself at all is terrifying. If only they had the ability to glance at all it all from the outside ... oh.

At least, Maru can't do this consciously. Some versions of Maru have swapped places with their doppelgangers in their sleep or had rude awakenings of being pried from bed to be used as a meat-shield for another. While dreaming, they can go anywhere- so long as they don't forget how to wake up. These ones don't know how close they get to bleeding out of reality.

MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICES:

In my SWL playthrough, I of course ran into a whole bunch of bugs and glitches. And I love them. But, there were times that it made the game do absolutely weird things- which provides some very fun stories to weave into the glitch. The most notable was at the Second Choice in the City of the Sun God. At this point, my partner had played ahead and was almost through Translylvania when I had finally defeated Aten. He knew there was an Ultimate Move behind the choices and spoiled a little (with my permission). I didn't know what "Blue Wings" meant but I understood to get them I would need to, against my better judgement, listen to the Dreamer's at least once. So after defeating Aten and being greeted by the Filth bird saying "hey you should do the worship emote" I then obliged and typed /worship.

And the game crashed. No worries- this happened all the time for me. My laptop would get obscenely hot running this game and would shut itself down so it wouldn't fry itself. Upon reloading, I had to do the Aten fight again but found myself having trouble with some of the UI interface. Reloadui did not solve the issue, and I found myself in front of the Filth bird again. I typed /worship and Maru did nothing. I opened the emote tab, and clicked, and Maru would do nothing. In fact, all of my emotes were not functioning- except the dances.

I laughed as I watched Maru dance and devour tacos in front of the Dreamer, not knowing how frustrating it must have been for the cosmic entity to watch some small, nascent angelic thought just proceed to do anything but what it requested. How much longer? Out of frustration, I eventually attacked the creature, triggering the next cutscene. The Dreamer's were angry, and I laughed and laughed.

Now the strangest thing is in game play, Maru sometimes has golden wings. I have had friends say they see blue wings and I will see gold on my screen. I've also had the opposite. In all cutscenes, they are blue. Considering the overlapping timelines, it seems like Lumie!Maru's almost choice bleeds through onto their timeline sometimes.

INITIATE THE D20 SYSTEM:

I have been very fortunate to be the storyteller for some very avid fans of the Secret World and have presented an alternative timeline to the world they know and love. Maru of course, is no exception to this. Everyone is operating with different times and circumstances. Eventually, I will get the chance to play Maru in the game. But for now, Maru has only made one appearance: to Olivia, the newest bee of the group. Of course, Olivia has zero idea what implications she has encountered by merely interacting with this version of Maru, untethered to their doppelgangers. The TTRPG timeline is indeed one of the strangest.

Thank you for reading this absurdly long OC lore post, I have spent easily 3 week writing and editing and rewriting and adding. I hope you enjoyed and it sparks some fun thoughts about SWL and maybe a lil Exalted. As a treat.

#steph answers questions #thanks for the ask!#swl #storyteller vibes #maru energy

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iraprince · 2 months

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do u have any advice for those that want to run a quest?

it feels a LEETLE silly answering this when all my own are currently on hiatus bc i got busy (SORRY TO CALLIST0 READERS LOL) BUT!!! yes i do. i have only ever run quests/interactive comics on the site questden, so i guess as a baseline this will kind of all be geared towards that, but i think most of this should translate to any hosting situation

you have to be cool with your plots branching and mutating in unexpected ways, and you have to be willing to play ball with your readers. quests are a collaboration between the author and the audience. it often feels a lot like gming a tabletop campaign (and that's the origin!! questden, specifically, was originally an offshoot of /tg/.) -- we've all had or heard about bad GMs who view their position as that of a narrative dictator who exists to punish and prod a captive group of players thru their own personal novel, but a good GM is interested in telling stories as a group. u have final say and have to stay true to the important stuff abt ur story, but if u get mad or frustrated when ur readers want to explore something "off topic" or aren't following the threads of ur narrative the way u expected them to, u don't actually want to run a quest, u just want to make a webcomic w mandatory comments. (the flip side of this is: consider if the story u want to make is the right one for an interactive quest. if it is REALLY important to u that the plot beats of a story go a certain way, maybe save it for a medium where u have more control!)

keep it loose and fast. the art does not matter. i am rly guilty of not following this one, but i still think it's really important! one of the things i like best about quests is the barrier to entry is very low and you SHOULD be able to start and maintain one very quickly. if i were better at keeping my art scrabbly and sketchy and loose, my stuff would not go on hiatus as often as it does. draw fast! it's NICE if the art is gorgeous to look at and definitely will draw readers, but it's way better if the art is simple enough that you can update frequently and without much stress. the quality of ur writing + character building, and whether u are telling a story that's engaging and that ur readers feel meaningfully involved in, is 100000x more important than the art.

on the more nitty gritty side: try to have a hook in each update. one of the most common reasons suggestions die off is readers being unsure of what they're supposed to do next. sure, too much spoonfeeding could end up feeling like railroading, and you don't have to end every single update by getting right in their faces and yelling "WHAT DO YOU DO NEXT??", but when you finish an update try to take a second to put yourself in a reader's shoes and see if there's an obvious next step. is there a course of action to decide on/debate, are there clear questions they can ask an npc, etc -- i can't think of a great way to describe it, but you want to avoid ending an update on a note where the player character and readers are basically sitting there looking at each other like "um... okay. that's that, then." some ppl even just end all their updates w multiple choice options, which is a super simple way to keep things moving if it fits the style of what ur doing. if you don't want it to be that overt but you still can't think of a way for there to be a clear hook, you can at least try to leave a little nudge in the narration that invites the readers to try to tie whatever they've just done/learned back into the pc's main goals/motivations or current tasks. (on this subject, VERY useful for your main character to have a very specific goal or end destination that everyone is on the same page abt. it's harder for your plot to lose momentum if you can always point at what your readers are supposed to be moving toward!)

finally: KEEP UPDATING EVEN IF YOU GET VERY FEW/NO SUGGESTIONS. it's a niche genre. questden is a small website. it's hard to get people to read something new, especially if it's in a new and unfamiliar format (and especially especially when it's on a website that looks like a chanboard lmao). picking up readers takes a long time, and a lot of people lurk without suggesting (ESPECIALLY if it's a difficult/plot-important decision, and also especially in the opposite, if it's a very obvious next step and someone else has already commented what most ppl would say). it's very tempting to want to wait for more suggestions bc u "only" have one or two, and then that wait becomes stagnation, and then you're frustrated and u end up dropping the quest bc "nobody cares." instead u just have to push thru!!!! u only have two suggestions and u wish u had more? maybe next update u'll get more. u have NO suggestions and u feel like that means ur quest is dead in the water? NOPE! the solution is to update again, bc maybe ppl with latch on more and have something to say in the next scene. the more u update ur quest, the more u'll be able to talk abt it (and maybe get more readers), and specifically in the case of questden the more ur thread will be bumped to the front page. think abt how many times you've seen ppl talking abt a webcomic or a book and thought "i need to check that out eventually...." but it takes months for you to actually do it. 99.9999% of the time, ppl need to see something MULTIPLE TIMES before they check it out!! most readers do not come from clicking something the very first time they see it!! i know it can feel lonely and discouraging, but u owe it to ur art and the stories u want to tell to keep trying, even if engagement is very low at first, otherwise you're killing it before it's even had a chance. like, get shameless about it. ask your buddies to comment on your quest. but give that horse a few really good whacks before you decide it's dead!! i think that's my main thoughts. if you have any more specific questions i'm happy to help if i can! but also i think you'll learn the most by just jumping in and fucking around. quests are easy to pick up and easy to drop, and imo do really well as a playground where u test different ways to draw and tell stories, so might as well just get messy.

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utilitycaster · 1 year

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The Beaujester/Widojest stuff actually reminds me of why I almost wasn't on board with Fjord/Jester at first - I really don't like ships where it feels like one party has to wear down the other, and at first, I thought that was the vibe. So I get really stumped on why people are pushing for closure here. It reminds me of that wild d&d court case. Why would they needlessly burden their friend (Jester) with this information? What do fans think would happen after???

Hi anon,

You are 100% right in that I also think of that D&D Court Case (for those wondering, it's the one that starts here and basically, a couple is playing in a D&D game together and the DM some time ago confessed drunkenly to the player who is writing in that he has feelings for the player's girlfriend...and is now romancing her in-game as an NPC). Like, for real, keep that to yourself! It's so awkward and for what! Tell your therapist! Tell other friends outside this social circle! Do some weird art about it! Have weird feelings! But do not say that to the actual couple involved, holy fuck.

It would require someone with far more knowledge of fandom history to back up my hunch here, so I am presenting it as just a hunch, but it feels like there has been a very heavy drive in the past maybe five or six years towards, rather than "oh man, I wish this ship had happened instead, and here are my AUs and fics in which it did" to "here's why the story is BAD and UNRESOLVED and WRONG." And I don't quite know how it came to be, since internet forums have been around for quite some time, and maybe I'm just clueless because I have come relatively late to every social media ever and it was always like this and the volume has just increased. My personal theory is that people saw all those quirky letter writing campaigns of the 2000s and didn't realize that mailing potato chips or whatever to an NBC exec who was cutting the show because it wasn't getting enough viewers by metrics that were well behind current technology and who would see this and say "oh, shit, this has fans, maybe we can make money off it" is very different than writing hate mail to actual creators, but I could be totally wrong.

But anyway, it is pretty apparent that Uk'otoa was left unresolved! Travis actually had laid the groundwork in-character as Fjord (the bounty hunter hire for Sabian, telling Jester in 2x117 he wanted to deal with Uk'otoa before other things) to return, but it made sense for the show to end after Aeor. Meanwhile, it's not unresolved for someone to quietly nurse a crush, and I'd argue, actually, that both Beau and Caleb's feelings were largely resolved in show. Beau outright told Fjord that she'd had a crush on Jester, but her feelings for Yasha were deeper and more real (and in general this tracks with Beau's repeated self-sabotage when things felt too good to be true). And if you take off the Widojest shipping goggles, it's hard to see Caleb's actions following the party's return from Rumblecusp as anything but quietly admitting that this is not going to happen, as he pushes Jester to dance with Fjord and finally tells her about his past. The goal post of "resolved" secretly means "the preferred ship happens instead."

And then no one ever has an answer for what happens after. Does Beau break up with Yasha? Does the entire scene in Aeor with Essek in 141 - absolutely pivotal, despite coming so late, to Caleb's arc - just not happen, because you really cannot read that as anything but romantic? Does Jester break up with Fjord? How do we reconcile that Jester does not wish to live in Rexxentrum as a housewife, and does want to continue to see the world and be able to regularly spend lots of time in Nicodranas? Do Caleb or Beau make even the slightest concession to Jester's wants and needs, in this fantasy?

I guess I'll wrap this up with this thought: I think that Beau and Caleb's romantic feelings for Jester and how they deal with them are very well played by Marisha and Liam and are incredibly important - indeed, crucial - to understanding their respective character development. But that's the thing in the end. The romantic feelings are deeply important to the stories of Beau and Caleb. They are a footnote on the story of the Mighty Nein. And they are utterly irrelevant to the story of Jester.

#answered #Anonymous #cr discourse #i was actually pretty generous and one day i shall write the meta of why those stories are so important

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gl00mystarz · 2 years

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jumping on the Eddie Munson bandwagon if I may... Eddie Munson with a boyfriend that does ballet. Just straight up imagine this just sorta graceful and composed ballet dancer with the same interests as Eddie going to his band concerts and helping with the darkest and most ruthless DnD sessions. Srry if this is a bother and thank you a lot for the effort you put into your writing !

Yes yes, Eddie bandwagon.

Just to let everyone know, I recently finished something in my personal life so I'll have way more time to write!!

And don't worry my dear, you're never a bother. I love writing, it gives me something to do <33 also I didn't know what you wanted so I decided to do HC's :) (small warning for weed mention)

Eddie Munson with a nerdy ballet boyfriend

SFW

🌸 He loves that you're so willing to help with his campaigns, as well as that you show up to every single gig his band has. It makes him feel all warm and giddy inside to know you care this much about him. He didn't even need to invite you, you just loved him that much.

🌸 In turn Eddie, though very out of place, will come to every recital and practise you have. He loves watching the way you move, the way you flow with the graceful music, it enamors him. He loves sketching you in his little sketchbook to use you as a DnD NPC.

🌸 He loves having you sit in his lap during DnD sessions, just so he can see all your hard work as you help him run the campaign, you're technically both the dm's and he loves it so much. He loves seeing the same amount of passion he puts forward come from someone else.

🌸 He makes a song just for you, and at first you didn't realize it, but when he starts playing a song to the similar beat of some of your routines, your heart melted knowing he thought of you that much. You make him sing it to you late at nights in his bed, its nice.

🌸 You 100% made a ballet routine out of some of his favorite songs, it was very difficult considering these are rock songs have a much faster tempo than your usual songs, but after he made a song for you, you felt like you had to make a routine for him.

NSFW

🌸 You always reward him after every gig with whatever his heart desires, usually he asks if he can just have his way with you. Though sometimes, he asks for you to just pleasure him with your mouth while he takes long drags from a joint.

🌸 Eddie can't help but get slightly wound up during his DnD sessions with you sitting in his lap, you get so excited and squirm around and accidentally grind against him, most breaks are taken cause he NEEDS to have a quick makeout session with you to hold him over.

🌸 You can't practice at his place, it always ends up with you bent over the nearest surface as he pounds into you, Eddie really can't help it, its as if you hypnotize him with your elegant dances and poses. He loves watching you but sometimes he can't help himself.

🌸 Sometimes when you two are planning Eddies next campaign, you'll give him ideas, and instead of complimenting you when you tell him one he really likes. It ends up in a heavy makeout session and hickeys on every inch of exposed skin.

🌸 You're his good luck charm, the two of you have a ritual of fucking in the back of his van before gigs, sometimes you leave him hanging just so he's pent up and has the motivation to get through said gig abd get back to his trailer to fuck you senseless.

#eddie x reader #eddie munson x male reader smut #eddie stranger things #eddie munson x male reader #eddie munson #x male reader

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steddie-as-they-come · 5 months

Text

blame it all on human nature - chapter 5

ao3 link || part one

☆Tuesday, April 8th, 1986☆

Eddie takes his normal seat at the lunch table, swinging his legs into his chair. Like ducklings, the kids file in around him.

“Whatcha got there, Baby Byers?” Eddie asks, as Will sets something carefully on the other end of the table. Eddie can’t really see what it is.

“Finished your DM screen.” Will explains. “Just gotta wait for it to dry now.”

“Shit, really? Lemme see!” Eddie hops up and circles the table. The thin wooden screen looks much different than he’s used to, but it still looks magical. Instead of glossy black, Will’s decorated it with painted symbols in different colors, glowing like they’re about to come to life.

Eddie lets his hand hover above the paint, not daring to touch the wet paint and ruin it. “Looks incredible, Will.” he says. “You’re a great artist.”

“Thanks.” Will says, and Eddie crosses back to his seat.

“When are we gonna play the campaign?” Dustin asks. “I have an idea for my character already!”

“Oh, really?” Eddie waves at Robin as he sees her enter the cafeteria with some of her band friends, and about half the kids follow his example. The girl she’s walking next to gives her a weird look, probably wondering why Known Ex-Wanted Man Eddie Munson and the entire nerdy freshman population are waving at her.

She waves back.

Eddie refocuses on the table. “You can tell me about your characters now, if you’ve got ideas.” He shuffles papers around in his disaster area of a backpack. “I think I’ve got extra character sheets in here.”

He passes out the sheets to the kids, watching them all get to work. Dustin starts immediately scribbling. Wow, he wasn’t kidding when he said he had ideas for his character. Will and El bow their heads together over their papers, and Will looks like he’s explaining some stuff to El. Mike and Lucas talk together excitedly.

Eddie, for his part, starts scribbling notes to himself on his hand. Make NPCs, he scribbles. No, that’s too vague. He crosses it out. Make tavern NPCs, he adds. Better.

The familiar clicking noises of rolling dice make him jerk his head back up. Dustin’s got out his d20, rolling for various stats. Kid after my own heart, Eddie thinks to himself. Always keep a dice set on you.

Mike snatches Dustin’s d20, rolls for something on his own sheet, then tosses it back, scribbling whatever number he got down.

The harsh jangle of the bell jerks them all out of their D&D-induced trances, and Eddie says, “Keep those sheets and finish them up before you give them to me!” Dustin tosses his dice back into their plastic container and books it out of the lunch room, grinning and waving back at Eddie and the group as they all disperse, much more slowly.

Eddie can’t keep his mind off the campaign for the rest of the day. He pulls out a journal, sketching the different monsters he wants to try to incorporate. His chickenscratch penmanship is crammed around each doodle, a brief description to help him when he’s actually narrating the campaign. As each class passes, his hand turns more and more blue with inked words, reminders for later.

He’s not paying attention in class until he hears the dreaded words: “partner assignment”.

The room is basically empty nowadays, just like the rest of the school. Grant, Gareth, and Jeff weren’t the only ones who left. The school’s population has dropped by the dozens, maybe even hundreds by this point.

Eddie hunches over, hoping if he’s a small enough target, no one will want to be his partner and he’ll end up alone. Normally he’d be more confrontational, but he’s not looking to start anything and be forced to repeat the year for the fourth time.

Someone sits in the empty desk next to him. Eddie can’t see who they are, his hair’s in the way.

“You just gonna ignore me, or…?” comes a familiar voice, and Eddie almost cries with relief, tucking his hair out of the way.

“Birdie, thank god.” he says. “I was gonna do this assignment by myself. You’re my hero. I didn’t even realize you were in this class!”

Robin glares at him. “Okay, seriously? What is with people and not knowing I’m in their class? First Steve, now you?”

“I’m going to level with you, Buckley, I don’t even know what class this is.” Eddie informs her. “I knew you were in a class of mine, so that should give me a leg up on Harrington, right?”

Robin looks unamused. “Are you high?” she deadpans.

“One: how dare you, just because I don’t know where I am does not mean I am under the influence.” Eddie says in a dramatic whisper. “Two: no, I just wasn’t paying attention. Can’t even get weed anymore.”

Robin sits back. “Okay, are we gonna actually do this project? I think I brutally murdered the rest of my school friendships by coming over here.” She looks across the room, and sure enough, there’s two girls Eddie doesn’t recognize glaring at her.

“Of course we are!” Eddie says. “...what’s the project?”

“I’m gonna hit you with a car,” she informs him, and Eddie barks out a laugh.

Erica waves off Eddie’s offer of a blank campaign sheet for her character when they pick her up from the elementary school later that day. “I had my own because I was prepared.” she tells him, passing a piece of paper to him. “My character’s done.”

Eddie’s a bit taken aback. “Well then,” he says. “Good for you.” He takes it from her. “Can’t wait to play with you-” he consults the sheet. “Captain Saral Niserie.”

She scoffs, but Eddie thinks he sees a private, excited smile as she looks back out the window.

☆Thursday, April 10th, 1986☆

“We open in a tavern, settled in the middle of the forest.” Eddie says. He thinks he hears Dustin mumble something about cliches, and levels the little butthead with a glare before continuing. “There are no buildings around as far as you can see, and you are with your party. Starting with…” He places a little figurine on the table, watching Hawkin’s face (they’re an unfamiliar girl, maybe around his age, with short red hair right now) light up. “Hannah Rockebrook, a level eight human warlock.” Eddie walks her across the table and puts her on the board. “Hannah opens the door and ushers the group inside, smiling at the bartenders, a pair of half-elf twins.”

He nods to Dustin, who’s on his left, and Dustin begins to talk. “Zoi, my satyr sorcerer, orders a round at the bar and brings it to the table.” He looks at Eddie. “Can I roll for perception?” Eddie nods. “Seven, with a plus one, so that’s eight.”

“Zoi sees a poster on the wall and points it out to the group.” Eddie says. “Also, you lose ten gold for paying for the drinks.”

Erica, who’s next, says, “Saral Nisarie, my cleric selkie, reads it aloud.” She looks at Eddie, because, right, they don’t actually know what it says.

“Monster hunting!” Eddie announces. “Rewards handsomely for each monster your group kills!”

The group begins to chatter, and Eddie keeps hearing Dustin and Mike talk about how boring the campaign is already. They haven’t even played for longer than a few minutes!

Will bangs the table (Lucas’s miniature falls over, and El fixes it with a sharp jerk of her head). “‘I think we should do it!’ my dragonborn Lytlutyl announces.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Eddie says. “Say that name again.”

Will sounds it out slowly. “Lee-tuh-loo-till.”

“Yeah, I’m not saying that every time.” Eddie deadpans. “Can you give her a nickname?”

Will rolls his eyes. “Fine. What about Lita?”

“Acceptable.” Eddie waves a hand. “Continue.”

The group goes around, introducing themselves. El’s chosen to play a ranger, a Drow named Atierith (Ah-tee-er-ith, nicknamed Rith at Eddie’s request) of House Tema. Mike’s a tiefling bard named Celan the Degenerate. Lucas is a wererat artificer, named Iros Wainwright.

They delay a little bit when Lucas insists on talking with the bartenders (named Ronan and Stella) about the monsters around and learning effectively nothing, but they do manage to make it out of the tavern before the first session’s close, which is more than Eddie had been expecting, to be honest.

Saral lights off Hand of Radiance, and her hand begins to glow so the party can see in the woods. They walk for in-game hours, unable to find the monsters Stella and Ronan insisted were everywhere.

“Wind blows through the trees.” Eddie says. “Uh, Will, make a perception check.”

Will grabs and rolls the d20. “Nat 20!” he cheers.

Well, Eddie wasn’t expecting that, but he supposes he can give it to them a little early. “Some of the trees aren't reacting to the wind. None of their branches are bending when the wind blows, unlike all the other trees.”

“Can I throw something at one?” Mike asks.

“Roll dexterity?”

Mike does. “Eleven, with a minus one, so that’s ten.” El makes a little aborted motion, as if reacting to the number, which Eddie doesn’t really get.

“That hits.”

“I pick up a rock and throw it at a tree.” Mike says.

Eddie mentally runs through who’s where. “Lucas, roll athletics?”

He does. “Fourteen.”

“The tree makes a swipe, narrowly missing you.”

“Mimic!” Dustin shouts, panicked, and Eddie grins evilly.

“As you all watch, eight trees begin to twist and crack, bending at their halfway points and planting their canopies on the ground like legs. The ground underneath you shudders and shakes.” He traces around their minifigures, splitting the group in half. “Saral, Celan, Rith, and Zoi, you get lifted into the air on the back of the monster. Hannah, Lita, and Iros, you’re stuck on the ground.”

“Can I cast Inflict Wounds?” Erica asks viciously.

Eddie looks down at his sheet. The monster’s got a defense of thirteen. “Roll for it?”

She does. “Nine?”

“Sorry, kid.” Eddie says. “The monster feels your attempt to hurt it and growls. The motion shakes its entire body, and you slip off.”

“Can I catch her?” Hawkins says urgently, appearing right between him and Dustin.

“Hannah moves to catch her.” Eddie says before Lucas can jump in, because he can see he’s about to. He picks up the d20 Dustin had picked out for him, black with red inked numbers, and rolls for athleticism.

“She got a seventeen!” Eddie says. “Hannah takes one point of damage from the catch, but Saral, you’re fine, and you land neatly in Hannah’s arms.”

Erica smiles smugly.

Will jumps in. “Can we try to cut down the tree legs from here?”

Eddie nods. “Go ahead.”

“Uh, Lita’s got an axe,” Will says, consulting his character sheet. “So she attacks the leg closest to her.”

“Roll strength?”

“Eight, saving throw adds two.”

“She gets about halfway through the trunk before the monster roars and flings her away. Take five hit points.” Eddie says, and Will marks it down.

The battle’s fun. More chaotic than Eddie’s used to, due to the sheer number of players at his table, but they manage to get through the fight with no deaths. El delivers the final blow, and the table goes wild as Eddie describes the monster curling up and shriveling away.

“There’s something red in the husk of what used to be the monster.” Eddie says, and everyone’s interest is immediately piqued.

“Iros goes to check.” Lucas says.

“Roll perception.”

Lucas winces. “Four.”

“It’s a person with curly hair in a red tunic.” Eddie says. Bare minimum. “They’re lying on their side, asleep.”

Dustin tilts his head, leaning forward. “Were they possessed? Were they turned into the monster?”

Eddie smiles evilly at him.

“Can you heal them, Erica?” Lucas asks.

Erica sneers at him, but rolls for it anyway. “Sixteen.”

“They sit up and groan. ‘What happened?’” Eddie says.

“‘You were a monster,’ Celan tells them.” Mike says. “‘We defeated you and you turned back into this. Can you tell us who did this to you?’”

“‘I don’t remember.’ they say. ‘I was sick, in my bed, and then I woke up here.’” Eddie claps his hands. “I think we gotta end it here for the night, guys.”

The kids all boo, but El sticks around at the end to thank him for the campaign. “It was fun.” she says.

“No problem, kid.” Eddie says. “Happy you like it.”

#steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie #living hawkins au #steddie fic #steddie fanfiction #stranger things

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