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thecatchat · 5 months

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Ace the bat hound becomes a ghost dog because he's such a good boy and dedicated to justice. Inspired off of this post here.

But, instead of being found out by Danny, it's the batfam's usual mystic contacts, like Constantine, that discover and reunite Ace and the Bats. Constantine muttering about how annoyingly resilient the particular brand of ghost is. From the infinite realms, Ghosts from there are a headache and a half to get rid of but portals, information, and really anything about it is far and few between since no one's been able to get into contact since some fight a couple centuries ago (Dark being sealed away). Justice Leauge Dark promises to let the family know if they hear anything or find any relevant information about the Infinite Realms, but since literally nothing has been heard from them in so long, no one really knows anything off the top of their head about it.

While Ace is technically supposed to be hidden away at home, he ends up sneaking along one day to help deal with Joker after the clown kidnaps Nightwing and/or Robin (Damian). The photos and videos of the event are blurry and smudged, but word of mouth gets around, and soon, the entirety of Gotham is celebrating the return of Bat Hound the Ghost, the very good boy back from the grave.

Meanwhile, things are going great for the family, just having Ace back makes everyone feel just a bit better (because Ace is a full ghost with a core and is helping to filter the currupt ectoplasm called Lazarus Water with physical touch). Jason is over more often and enjoys flopping on the couch with Ace for a quick snooze, Dick is over the moon to fight with Ace by his side again, Damian makes sure Ace is properly introduced to the rest of the animals that live at the mansion, Tim actually falls asleep semi-regularly now after Ace starts bothering him about being awake, and everyone else is reaping the benefits of having a bat trained dog that seems to be able to sniff out when they need a dog to pet.

Then these guys in white show up.

Ace had seemingly been on edge all night and when it was time to turn in for the night and let Signal come out for the day, Ace follows along, not listening to any command to stay home. Some of the others stay ready in the cave but they let Signal and Ace go out with the promise to call the moment something big happens.

Now, up until then, Ace's powers had been tallied up to: intangibility, invisibility, and occasional hovering/heightened jump. Every other exercise responded out as normal dog (except for the whole being dead thing). Maybe slightly higher emotional intelligence, but some dogs are just Like That. Through some tests, they do find that Ace has a new found hatred of Lazarus Water, but they don't find any obvious weakness that isn't a banishment spell which is as worrying as it is a relief.

So when these white suits start shooting using guns that glow the same green as Ace in Signals' vision and the shoots hit? Ace yelps in pain before seemingly barking out some kind of energy ball? And barreling into a wall so hard it cracked from another shot? Every single alarm that Signal can think to trip gets set off.

But not before one of the suits (one of the many suits, they're terrible fighters but there's just so many of them and two of them) takes out something that looks like a thermos and points it at Ace.

Within a second, Ace is gone.

Signal is so shocked he almost gets hit himself by the dozens of shots of energy blasts now aimed at him. He can't get to the white van in time before it speeds off.

----

I'm going to end this part here. I'm going to continue this in the reblogs but I also want people to take a crack at this story themselves! If you're inspired by this please put your thoughts or stories in the reblogs or tags!

#dpxdc #ace the bathound #dcxdc #dp x dc prompt #continued in a reblog #feel free to continue

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comicaurora · 5 months

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How would you as the writer say each of the main six characters fits into which major characteristics of the five man band?

I'd say they don't, but it is fun to lay out the arguments for each of them filling every role.

Kendal:

The Leader; he's the one who got everyone together and he carries the most authority, literally speaking for a deity and doing most of the real negotiations with the powerful forces they deal with.

The Lancer; he's a foil to nearly everybody else in the group, and despite his quiet and gentle tone, has the worst track record of going off by himself and getting into trouble.

The Big Guy; he's got the most metaphysical oomph with the widest applications, and he hits the hardest out of anyone when he decides to start hitting. Gets taken out of commission early to avoid this outcome.

The Smart Guy; with the accumulated knowledge of centuries' worth of lifetimes and the remembered experience of a god, he has access to a wellspring of knowledge with an ease that nobody else can match.

The Heart; he's the one who keeps drawing people into the group, and he cares so, so deeply about their well-being.

Alinua:

The Leader; when the others argue or fret, she's the one who actually makes decisions.

The Lancer; she's learned a lot of hard lessons and sees Kendal making mistakes she's already learned from, and that tension brings them into conflict even though they care deeply about each other.

The Big Guy; direct conduit to a force beyond any god, when something really big needs breaking it's up to her and nobody else.

The Smart Guy; literally cannot stop overthinking, has an intuitive understanding of something deeply arcane to everyone else.

The Heart; motivated by deep compassion at the core of her being, even when it's tactically unwise or she thinks it'll make her explode.

Erin:

The Leader; he is absolutely certain that he is the leader of the group.

The Lancer; proud and self-confident, immediately sure that he knows what's going on better than anyone else, he's a foil to both Kendal and Alinua who are very aware of their limits. This also means Erin gets himself into trouble so, so often, and is continually surprised when the others bail him out.

The Big Guy: The most diverse range of magical firepower plus a superpowered evil side for spice. Erin is a mighty glacier and a glass cannon at the same time.

The Smart Guy; he is absolutely certain he is the smart guy of the group. The most book-smart, certainly, and fundamentally driven by a deep and profound curiosity to understand the world.

The Heart; he'd never say or believe as much, but his greatest frustration with himself is that he wants to be coldly logical and brilliant and instead he's driven by a pesky moral compass that demands he sacrifice his goals and convenience for the people he loves.

Falst:

The Leader; he'd never believe so, but he's very good at taking charge in a crisis, and the decisions he makes generally work out well for everyone. He's also very good at thinking tactically in terms of everyone's abilities and how they factor into the group. Also, probably the most explicitly loyal member of the group.

The Lancer; almost the platonic ideal of Lancer Energy. Angry and snarky and happy to second-guess everyone around him.

The Big Guy; in a Wolverine sort of way, it's less how hard he hits and more how hard he can get hit before he goes down for good. This is the only role he thinks he's good for.

The Smart Guy; aside from a lot of street smarts, he's a deeply curious and puzzle-solving type, and Erin has been deeply impressed with him since he robbed him for the purposes of homebrewing a backyard enchantment. It's all tactical.

The Heart; deeply, painfully loyal to his friends due to a raw, open wound of loneliness. Will hold the group together if he has to dig in his claws to do it.

Dainix:

The Leader; the only person in the group who actually has experience leading a troupe of fighters and knows how to look out for a group as a whole rather than a handful of loners.

The Lancer; the role he thinks the fills, in the "second in command good at taking orders" sort of way.

The Big Guy; has a literal hulk mode

The Smart Guy; the "has way too many weapons and knows how to use all of them" variety. His expertise is in taking down things much bigger and scarier than he is, and you can't do that without being tactical.

The Heart; deeply empathic and extremely in tune with how the people around him are feeling, and the only member of the group with both the emotional intelligence and the sharpness to cut through various teammate's emotional defenses and actually get them to open up. Not too polite to leave other people's issues alone.

Tess:

The Leader; no way in hell. The only role she categorically denies. Tess's beating heart is wanderlust and that doesn't mesh with a group of any kind.

The Lancer; yes please. She'll do her own thing first and foremost, and when it intersects with other people, she'll help out as she sees best.

The Big Guy; a literal lightning bruiser who resolves every problem by finding a way to punch it.

The Smart Guy; a subtler instance because she's fairly inattentive to anything outside her very narrow range of focus, but when it comes to her areas of expertise, she puts things together faster than anyone else. The first to realize what was going on with Tynan, the first to understand Dainix, the first to track down Erin.

The Heart; not particularly observant, but when she's confronted with someone she recognizes to be in deep distress, she'll open her heart and "home" to them without hesitation. Also, makes friends ridiculously easily.

#asks #aurora #writing stuff

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noose-lion · 5 months

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Maybe it was just my childhood special interest in martial arts and combat, but the bsd fandom drives me absolutely crazy on how they talk about the characters.

Specifically in combat abilities, fighting 'stats', body builds, ect. ect.

I mostly blame the anime, because it made everyone into twigs, but still. Some of my fellow fans out there are sometimes outright drawing lines over a character in a manga panel and going 'Look at this snatched waist' all the while ignoring basic perspective and forshortening rules. Chuuya is victim to this a fuckton.

For a starting example I'll talk about Kunikida. (Because if I start with Dazai or Chuuya I'll get the "He's petite it's not a crime to call him that" hecklers again).

Because remember folks, no need to get heated about fictional characters that were made up to tell a story.

Kunikida is a martial artist. He has a strong center of gravity, and a great deal of muscle mass. He's shown, (even in the anime mind you), to be competent against opponents who have both the height and mass advantage (that one time he swapped with Dazai mid fight, doing the cool grappling hook switch thing). He's a tall guy and he's drawn in the main manga as very broad shouldered and thick limbed. He's your average combat driven male. Built like a boxer.

He's not really the main talking point I see though. He's usually never called petite or delicate or any of the, quite frankly, ridiculous descriptors for a man of his size and build. It's usually Chuuya and in extension Dazai.

First off, ripping the bandaid off quick and easy. Chuuya isn't petite. (Sure technically petite only means short, but ancient also technically only means old. It's about the connotation.)

Chuuya is also a martial artist. Unlike Kunikida, who relies heavily on grappling technique and using his opponents own momentum and mass against them (a defensive fighter) Chuuya is almost purely offensive (most defense being left to his ability). His center of gravity is less stagnate, more fluid. He's acts quickly, crushing his opponent with efficient and well calculated brute force. Chuuya's body build reflects this. He's got a strong torso and thick limbs, strong shoulders that are lined with cords of muscle that absorb the impact of his attacks. He uses his legs a lot, kicks and jumps, and there is muscle concentration in his thighs and calves as a result. In the main manga, he's drawn with a lean torso, broader shoulders and thicker thighs. He's got a baseball player or a mixed martial artist build. (Broad shoulders and large thighs paired with his choice of suit cut is what creates his 'hourglass figure' so many of yall are obsessed with.)

Second bandaid I'm ripping off. Dazai isn't weak or delicate or whatever, but he is not buff or a tank either. And against men built for combat like Kunikida and Chuuya he's at a fairly large disadvantage.

Most of the athletic ability we've seen Dazai exhibit is evasion based. In the main manga he's drawn broad shouldered and thin, usually cloaked by his coat. Dazai has lean, muscle concentration in his shoulders, upper back and core. He doesn't have the thicker limbs of a boxer or martial artist. He better resembles a swimmer, gymnast, or even rock climber. He's not a stick, as flat as he may be. He's also probably a good deal softer then his martial artist counterparts, not living the stricter healthy life style most martial artist adhere to. Dazai doesn't do well against large heavily muscled opponents, he just doesn't have the needed mass for it. If he doesn't get the upperhand quickly he will loose. Evident in how he struggled so much against that one guy he did the cool grappling hook swap thing with Kunikida.

All this to say, almost every individual in bsd is built for their combat filled life, specialized to fit their fighting styles. It's not a big deal, but I find such thinking and analysis fun.

#inkedmyheart's recent post had me once more thinking on this #bsd #my stuff #screaming into the void #and the void screams back #bungou stray dogs #bungou gay dogs #bsd kunikida #kunikida doppo #bsd chuuya #chuuya nakahara #dazai osamu #bsd dazai #soukoku #jester thinks #bsd meta #bsd analysis #bsd headcanon #bsd headcanons

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suzukiblu · 4 months

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WIP excerpt: Danny goes to Gotham and meets a dead Robin.

There are options for ways to approach an unfamiliar ghost–especially a baby ghost, and from the look of him Robin can’t be more than three or four years dead, if that–but since Robin is a superhero, Danny takes the obvious one. He sticks Tucker’s ghost-proof GPS into his chest or a pocket dimension or some cross between the two and then he glides down through Gotham’s smog and starlight and lets the invisibility and intangibility drop to give the kid a light little greeting swat. Very light–it only knocks Robin halfway across the roof he’s racing across. Which might be a little patronizing, but sue him, the kid is tiny.

Lady Gotham croons, mournful and adoring, and her Robin tumbles through a roll and pops up alertly out of the bat-winged shadows that surround him, doing a perfect flip to land right on top of one of the gargoyles at the edge of the roof. His eyes are wide and white-lensed behind the domino mask, and the moment he sees Danny he laughs.

stranger stranger, careful careful, gonna tell my daaaaad, Robin’s core sing-songs, bright and shiny and secure in that threat, and Danny’s mouth quirks in wry amusement. Yeah, definitely a baby ghost. But it’s nice to see Batman’s kid feels safe with him even dead; is still confident in his protection no matter what. Apparently Batman is a little more down with ghosts and spirits than Danny’s own parents started out, but really, of course he is. He is Lady Gotham’s boytoy, after all.

show me what you’ve got, Danny hums back through his own core–the traditional ghost-introduction for any haunt, even with a baby ghost. Honestly, it’s more impressive a ghost this young has a haunt, but given how thoroughly Lady Gotham’s favor surrounds him, it’s not exactly a surprise either.

Danny’s surprised Robin ever managed to die at all, though, considering how much Lady Gotham loves him.

Robin springs forward across the roof and Danny side-steps his attack and tries to trip him, but Robin flips right over his leg sweep and throws a fistful of–what are they, batarangs, Danny guesses? batarangs, sure–right at his face. Danny goes intangible because he just does not have the reflexes to dodge that from this close, but the second he phases back in gets a double kick to the gut.

Robin is definitely a trained fighter, yeah. A trained fighter with experience.

Nice, Danny thinks, and grins as he zaps a tangle of tiny ecto-blasts at the kid in playful mimicry of those batarangs of his. Robin cartwheels out of the way and then darts in low and leaps up into Danny’s face.

Very nice.

Danny inspects Robin’s core thoughtfully as the kid tries to roundhouse-kick his head off his shoulders with another bright, cackling laugh, which is frankly adorable, and it’s actually really impressive? Like–Robin is a surprisingly strong ghost for his age, glowing with faith and shining like a beacon in the dark, and since Danny’s never heard anyone call him a ghost before, he’s gotta at least be strong enough to manifest in a way where he can pass for human when civilians and other heroes are around.

Which, understandable, really. Danny would also not let anyone know his kid was a ghost if he were Batman, after the Anti-Ecto Acts debacle and how long that’s been taking to clean up. Tall Dark and Paranoid would never let the government know his baby was dead, with that kind of nonsense going on.

He smashes the kid into the roof–gently, because he doesn’t want Batman getting the wrong idea if he’s in the area, but also not too gently because he doesn’t want to offend Robin by giving him the impression that he’s not taking him seriously. Robin yelps, then kicks him in the chest with both feet and actually knocks him back while simultaneously using him as a springboard to flip backwards and get some distance.

Talk about parkour, damn. Danny really is impressed.

not bad, he lets his core rumble approvingly, because Jazz has had some things to say about encouraging the baby ghosts–Jazz has a lot to say about encouraging the baby ghosts, in fact–and Robin’s thrums with laughter and delight and too slow too slow, keep up! Then the kid darts forward again, ducks under his arm, and twists around to elbow him in the back of the head. Danny lets out a snort of laughter and throws him off the roof. Robin laughs, and all those bat-winged shadows embrace him as he vanishes in a twist of the dark.

Not even the shadows. The dark.

Danny is definitely impressed, yeah.

#wip: danny goes to gotham and meets a dead robin #dpxdc #long post

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gz-missfit · 8 months

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God the more I rewatch Etoiles fight the more it hurts. Hell the more I watch any parent fight their egg it hurts, from Max bawling over Trump to Quackity being basically insta killed by Tilin and Roiers anger as fake Bobby didn't attack them while Jaiden was filled with conflicting delusional happiness.

But especially this Etoiles fight yesterday puts the whole dinner into a much bigger perspective and I'd like to think that that's the reason why they put Phil in the fight with Etoiles.

They wanted him to hesitate.

They wanted Phil to be the burden during that fight because those things carry the names of his children, the children he'd burn the world down for. But they underestimated how strict Phil is with his trust and decision making to the point that even in egg form he treated them like they were monsters instead of his children.

Phil's special because while yes during Etoiles fight the code got better at adapting to an egg its still the same concept. He still had definite proof that that wasn't her but he still hesitated.

And I wanna go into the why of that, Phil's a hard-core player through and through and you will not get that out of his playstyle, you can see it on every multi-player server he's been on in the past because thats just how he plays the game. And as a hard-core player he probably has the most interesting relationship to mortality and is someone who can understand the eggs on a whole different level. But this means he's also INCREDIBLY aware of how much weight decision making carries and how even a single decision could decide over him staying alive or dying, he's used to that, it doesn't bother him anymore. That's why Phil is also someone who's very confident in his decisions, when he says he won't do or go to something because he knows the outcome then he means that and not even curiosity will get the better of him if he sees any form of danger or risk. If he tells Tallulah or Chayanne an instruction he expects them to follow it to a T because he gives those for good reasons each time (and both of his kids know that his instructions are teachings more than they are just him telling them to do something). And this confidence in his own decisions is why he fought those codes so relentlessly at the dinner, I'm convinced even if he hadn't gone back to get a picture of his kids he still would've fought these codes the same way. He trusts his experience and he trusts that he'll be able to deal with the consequences of his own decisions no matter if the outcome is good or bad. There's a reason why other players usually come to him for advice or when he spends time with someone he naturally falls into a teaching role, it's because he knows so much because he's had to know it all to survive in a world where death is inevitable.

Now why does that differ him from Etoiles? Well Him and Etoiles are good fighter's in their own ways. There's no doubt about that. But Etoiles is more upfront, he's smart during pvp and incredibly knowledgeable about statistics and strategy but ironically enough he still struggles to trust in his own words and decisions. He's someone who's quickly plagued by regret or doubts, it's why he praises Bad and Phil so much. Because both of them are incredibly headstrong and confident in their decisions just due to sheer experience. Etoiles just isn't even if his experience is just as good. And you can see this hesitancy even during the dinner fight, he didn't want to fight the codes until they hit him first. And it was Phil screaming to kill those things that made him set on actually attacking. Even when he got singled out later on and had a fake Tallulah follow him, he didn't attack until Phil confirmed Tallulah was safe with him. Etoiles trusts Bads and Phil's words a lot and holds them both in high regards when it comes to their opinions and decisions because he knows how much sheer experience those 2 carry. But during that fight yesterday he was alone, each of his actions couldn't be reassured because he was fighting alone and the actual Pomme wasn't there. He was terrified of making a wrong decision, even with Pierre reassuring him that it wasn't Pomme Etoiles couldn't bring himself to trust his own decision, even with their secret code not working Etoiles couldn't trust himself, even with seeing it carry the codes swords he couldn't trust himself. Even after the fight was over, after he saw Pommes bed with her sleeping tightly in it. He couldn't trust himself. He didn't feel like a winner to himself because his mind went into a spiral about of his decision was right or not, his mind screamed at him because he was sure he had fucked up royally and that's what makes it so interesting. Because Etoiles is a good fighter! And I'm pretty sure with equal gear he'd beat the 2 he holds in high regards to fighting skill a good amount. But he doesn't hold his own decision making very high, he's happy to be as help as a weapon that when he has to make a call he hesitates. And it didn't help that he had his daughters face stare at him while he had to make that important decision because while Phil loves his children just as much as Etoiles does, Phil never had to earn to be trusted with them. Phil's always been someone people trusted with the eggs while Etoiles had to earn his time with Pomme in promising he'll never let her die on his watch and will be careful beyond believe while he's with her.

It shows in the confidence of their decisions, and it's fascinating how much more it shows during these high tension moments. Etoiles is someone who struggles so much with the knowledge of failure and its what made his fight hurt so much more, because he was convinced he'd fucked up bad even after he saw her bed.

Just some food for thought about our codebreakers

#qsmp #qsmp etoiles #codebreakers #qsmp philza #qsmp code monster #textpost #void mumbling #just brrrrr pffff

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psychhound · 2 months

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[ID: a banner for a game. it is light tan with a crumpled paper texture, and reads "with breath & sword" in large blue font, and "a solo-journaling game that helps you fight anxiety as you fight monster" below it in smaller font. there is lineart of gauntlets lying over a sword with some flowers at the bottom. end ID]

You find yourself tied to the monsters. The scratchy feeling in your chest. The way your hands tremble. The sweat that dots your upper lip when your senses are telling you a monster is close, again, now, and it’s your job to fight it. To stand up for your ideals and stand up to the threat. Whether you tame it, or this is truly a monster that needs to be slain, only time will tell.

You know you will succeed. You always have before. But that doesn’t mean it won’t be a challenge.

Grab your gear. Put on your boots. You know how to find it. You know what to do.

First, you just need to steady yourself.

[ID: a page spread from the game. it shows "step four" on one side, which goes over the five aspects of the game's oracle. on the other side it shows the first oracle component, where something you can taste determines what your heroic core is. the page is minimally designed, with a blue border and text on a white background, tan accents, and one image of a dragon. end ID]

With Breath & Sword is a solo-journaling TTRPG to help players combat anxiety.

In the game, you play as a monster-fighter, who is being summoned once again due to the presence of a new monster. Each time a monster appears, you struggle with the emotional effects of the magic: effects that look a lot like anxiety. You must steady yourself before you go off to fight: in the game and in real life.

Over the course of WB&S, players will participate in grounding methods and breathing techniques to calm themselves from an anxiety attack. These methods also serve as the game's oracle in order to determine how the story goes.

What You'll Need:

A safe space to play

A method of writing or recording

[ID: a page spread from the game. it is the section called "the science" and goes over the psychology behind the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique, the 4-7-8 breathing method, and destroying journaling. it has a few lines about narrative and play therapy, and that the creator of the game used these methods in his social work with neurodivergent teens and adults. end ID]

check out the game on itch now!!

#indie ttrpg #solo journaling rpg #solo ttrpg #journaling game #mental health #anxiety #THANK YOU TO EVERYONE AND ESPECIALLY ALL MY LOVELY KICKSTARTER BACKERS #the game is only 3 usd but there are plenty of community copies available too!!!#i wanted this one to be as accessible as possible so low price and free copies #spreading the word soooo appreciated!!! yall are the best!!!

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th3lovely1 · 3 days

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Caitlin Clark Headcanons

♡♡♡♡♡

-Bullet point form😗

- Heated stuff and all that

♡♡♡♡♡

Sfw

• Is protective of you but not in the crazy obsessive way. She just feels better when you're in her view in public and likes to make sure you're next to her.

• When someone's hitting on you, she knows that you can handle it, but if the person can't take a hint, then she has no problem stepping in. I don't see her as a big fist fighter, so she tries to deal with the situation by talking, but if it doesn't work, then she'll throw hands for you.

• Lovesss laying on you

"Hun, I can't breathe"

"Just a little longer, beautiful"

"I can't hold my breath for that long"

• She will always joke about your height no matter what. If you're taller than her or shorter, she doesn't care. She makes so many corny jokes. If you're shorter then her she does that thing where she rests her arm on your head. And she'll also just pick you up sometimes and leave you in the air. She thinks it's so funny.

"Cait, you better get your arm off me"

"Y'all hear that?"

And it's the same if you're taller than her. She'll still make corny jokes whenever she can.

"How's the weather up there?"

"I know you're not talking"

• She's not very public about your relationship. She'll still post you on her socials and stuff, but she's not doing it every day. But when she gets questions about you in interviews or lives, she always makes sure that people know how big her love is for you.

"Oh, Y/n? She is the light of my life. She's always supported me through this and has been the rock that keeps me stable. She's part of the reason why I'm here today. I wouldn't ask for anyone else"

• Her love language would probably be physical touch and gift giving. She gets busy with basketball, so she gets you little gifts when she can. And when she's shopping and sees something you like, it's automatically in her cart. But when you guys get alone time, she's all over you. She'll follow you like a lost puppy😭. And even in public, she feels better whenever she's touching you. Doesn't matter if it's holding hands or just your arms touching

Nsfw

• The eye contact, omg. Doesn't matter if she's finger deep in you or how messy you think you look, she wants you to look at her

"Eyes on me, baby. I know you can do it"

• Sooo much praise. Always makes sure that you know that you're just doing so good for her.

"Just like that, sweet thing. There you go, such a good girl"

• I don't think she'd be too big about degradation. She uses it but only when she's upset or something like that. But when she does, it's not hard-core. More stuff like "slut" and "brat" just the basics.

•Her hands. That's all I gotta say

• Makes sure that you finish at least 2 or 3 times before she gets attention. But even then she's still making you cum

"You can take it, babe. Don't worry, I got you"

• Anything in public is a no-go. The only thing that she'll do is some teasing.

• Loves when you pull her hair

• Aftercare is the best. She always makes sure you're taken care of

"Did such a good job for me, hun"

#x reader #caitlin clark #caitlin clark x reader #wlw post #wlw #lesbian #caitlin clark headcannons #wbb #wnba #fan fic smut

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opencommunion · 3 months

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"What is this force, these human beings, referred to in this word – resistance?

First, literally, we refer to the achievement of the poorest and most strategically disadvantaged people on the planet. Within the encircled and immiserated Gaza Strip, many of the Al-Qassam fighters are orphans. Amidst closure and de-development, the popular resistance has been able to consolidate an arsenal and bring 1.5% of its population into a guerrilla force of 30,000-40,000 men that can – man for man – outmatch nearly any in the world.

The resistance, secondly, has alloyed ideological commitment, willingness to sacrifice for their people, and technological ingenuity into armed capacity capable of going head-to-head with a nuclear power from underground tunnels, the ‘rear base’ and physical strategic depth needed for guerilla insurgency. The concrete is their mountains. From there they have imperiled an enemy with orders of magnitude higher GDP per capita – Israeli GDP is at $52,000 a year, with arsenals worth billions.

Third, the resistance, in launching its October 7 operation, is an example to the world that post-Soviet asphyxiation and extermination procedures, sanctions and terror lists and aid-based countermeasures, could not prevent the rise of a disciplined and new national movement from raising its head to the sky.

Fourth, the popular cradle brings the word resistance beyond armed men to doctors going to their deaths in lieu of abandoning their patients and women and men in the Gaza Strip’s North – facing white phosphorus rather than abandoning their homes. It is precisely the strength of the civilian commitment to the national project that provokes US-Israeli extermination: ‘the 'civilian' officials, including hospital administrators and school administrators, and also the entire Gaza population’ are, as a result, the targets – not out of cruelty but to break Hamas by breaking its cradle.

Fifth, through these achievements, the Palestinian resistance has been able to present an acute threat to the settler-capitalist property structures called Israel, to militarized accumulation, to the world’s workshop for counterinsurgency technology, and to the entire architecture of regional repression with its associated petrodollar flows, treasury and security purchases, and arms merchandising. For capitalism is not just the smooth clockwork of accumulation through generalized commodity exchange and labor exploitation, it is the machinery of violence – its technology – which ensures the smooth running of the clock, the thingification of its human elements, the political decisions to maintain and rework the machinery of monopoly accumulation, and the waste of human lives which is increasingly the core Arab input into global capitalism.

More worryingly from the perspective of monopoly power, the Palestinian resistance is not alone. It is part of a regional populist resistance enfolding the poorest people on Earth. ... It is unimaginable that the neocolonial authoritarian states nor their US benefactor would remotely tolerate massive working-class militia which speak a language of justice and republicanism and raise arms against those states’ sponsors. In turn, it is as natural as the sun rising in the East that the US, the UK, Germany, France, and their Gulf and Arab satraps would converge on support for Israel as the spear’s tip of the assault on the surrounding Arab popular militia.

And because Israel is the keystone of the regional imperialist order – maintained not by hegemonic consensus but the brutality of Apaches and Merkavas – it is as natural as water falling from clouds that what has developed in the Gaza Strip, as soon as it mobilized politically and militarily, would incite the Western reaction to wipe it from the face of the Earth and impose unimaginable horror to terrify the Palestinian, Arab, and Third World people to never again raise their heads.

The October 7 operation has perhaps overcome the central role of the Israeli state in accumulation on a world scale: ingraining a state of defeat amongst the Arab working classes, as part-and-parcel of the post-Soviet ideological defeat imposed by capital upon labor globally. Deterrence is the form that defeat takes when pushed to the military plane, and Israel openly admits that its deterrence has been shattered.

Seen from this perspective, the risks run by the western capitalist states – their imposition of fascist regulation against freedoms of speech and assembly, their backing for genocide, their desperation to see the Palestinian armed militia wiped from the face of the Earth – is logical, reasonable, and rational in its sociopathy. It is the logic of monopoly attempting to defend itself and the consciousness which bodyguards it with fire from the sky. It is a logic which fills graveyards, and a logic which makes orphans, and it is a logic which might yet meet its end in that crossroads of continents – that salient, and city and their camps and their people."

#palestine #resistance #imperialism

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aceviscontiswife · 4 months

Text

Late Night Visit | Danny Johnson

Danny pays you a visit after a very successful night, you help him celebrate.

I figured that since I started this blog with Danny, I should return from my very long absence with Danny.

Afab!Reader. Warnings: 18+!!! PRE-ENTITY! Pre-established relationship. Little plot before smut, lots of f-bombs (sorry), Talk/descriptions of murder, Mating press, degradation, talk of murder during sex, overstimulation. NOT PROOFREAD… oops.

It was a cold, rainy, miserable night in Roseville. Most people were staying home, curled up in bed and sleeping to pass time. Danny was not, nor was the woman whose life Danny had worked so hard to take. She was a fighter… something Danny had not expected but he eventually managed to take her down. Her screams were like music to his ears, and the bloody scene her murder had left? Tonight was a success.

However, Danny was left feeling pent up. He had to tell someone about how good he did, about how skillfully he dug his knife into that woman’s chest… he needed you. God, you were the best reward he could think of, and Danny definitely deserved his treat. Despite it being nearly midnight, Danny began making his way to your apartment, still wearing his bloodied cloak and mask. Not like anyone would notice him anyways.

***

You were woken up by a tapping on your window. The rain had died down a while ago, so when the tapping didn’t stop you figured you might as well see what was going on. Flicking on your bedside lamp, you look on in shock as you spot what was causing that annoying tapping.

Danny?

Did he have no fear of getting caught? He was covered in blood, still wearing his signature Ghostface outfit, and practically banging on your window! You get out of bed, only wearing one of Danny’s shirts—that he had left here the last time he came over, and quickly open your window.

“What the hell are you doing?!” You whisper harshly, helping Danny inside before shutting your window and looking up at him with the most annoyed yet concerned look you could muster. “I’m not allowed to pay my girlfriend a visit?” You could practically feel him grinning at you from under his mask, Danny knew how to get on your nerves quicker than anyone. He also never stopped by your apartment after one of his… nights, at least not without having changed first.

“You are, but… why?” Your question was only met with a chuckle as Danny reaches up to take his mask off, revealing the face you had come to love more than anything. As well as a look in his eyes that seemed to answer your question before Danny could. “Tonight was amazing, doll. I can’t wait to tell you how well I did… but right now, right now I need you more than anything.” His words brought heat to your face as well as your core, a tingle running down your spine as Danny takes a step closer to you, his eyes practically undressing you then and there.

Danny got like this after a successful kill. Before you came along he would just handle things by himself, but now that you’re here? God, he couldn’t wait to have you. Without waiting for your response, one of Danny’s gloved hands grab your chin, tilting your head up until your eyes met his. Danny wasted no time in quickly pressing his lips against yours, the lustful urgency behind his moves enough to make you whimper against his lips.

Danny guides you towards the bed—you blindly stepping backwards until the back of your knees came into contact with your mattress. Danny gives you a soft push, breaking the heated kiss and causing you to fall back onto the bed in the process. Looking up at him, you could see just how badly Danny needed this. He wasn’t himself, no, he was Ghostface—primal, bloodthirsty, and ready to get what he wanted. Arousal rushed through your system at the sight, and you were sure your panties were already getting soaked.

“Fuck,” Danny starts, already beginning to take off his cloaks. “If you don’t want this, then you better say it now doll.” Danny pauses for a moment, giving you one chance to back out. You knew what you were getting into, you might be the one and only person Danny loves, but he would always put his needs first—and his need was you.

“I want this.” You reply, a lustful tone dripping off of your tongue that you had never heard before. Or at least not this intense. Danny only nods, continuing to removes his cloaks until they fell into a heaped, bloodstained pile behind him. A smile paints his features, dark brown eyes somehow darkening as he begins to undo his belt. “Good.”

His belt now undone, Danny tosses it aside and unzips his pants, letting them fall to his ankles before kicking them aside. He was left in his boxers, his bulge straining against the fabric and a wet patch forming where the tip of his cock would be. It was now your turn to undress, and you wasted no time in doing so. You took off your shirt, about to take off your pajama pants as well before Danny swatted your hands away and did it himself. He chuckles upon seeing how wet you were, the sight spurring him on even more.

“Fuck it, I can’t wait any longer.” It was Danny’s version of a warning, and before you knew it he was on the bed, pinning you under him. Your legs wrap around his waist, but Danny grabs the back of your thighs and pushes your legs back until your thighs were pressed against your chest. Danny pulls his boxers down, pulling away just long enough to finish taking them off and tossing them with the rest of his clothes.

Your panties however, were simply moved to the side. Danny couldn’t be bothered with taking them off. “You’re already so wet, doll… did seeing me all bloody really get you that fucking excited?” Danny clicks his tongue, lining his cock up with your entrance. No prep, but with how eager Danny was, you didn’t expect any. His words sent a spark of arousal down your spine, your pussy clenching against nothing as your clit practically begged for attention.

“Please, Danny—“ You were cut off by Danny, who suddenly pushed into you without warning. Your heels dig into his shoulder blades, a strained gasp escaping your lips as your eyes screw shut. Danny groans, pumping into you at a quick pace. “This what you wanted? To be pounded like the slut you are?” You didn’t respond—you couldn’t respond, a loud moan interrupting any of the words that wanted to leave your mouth.

Danny growls as he thrusts into you, reaching down to kiss and bite at your neck, leaving marks that you were sure everyone would see the next time you went out. Neither of you cared, however, as Danny chuckles suddenly and pulls back, grabbing your chin and forcing your attention to be on him.

“Wish you could’ve seen it, doll… she was—fuck, she was screaming so loud, had me worried for a second that someone might hear.” Was he really talking about that now? Anyone else would have been utterly disgusted, but for some unknown reason, it only turned you on more. “She bled so much… Stabbed her so. many. fucking. times.” Danny groans, a moan escaping his lips as he drills into you, hands grabbing the back of your thighs and locking you into the press he had you in.

You could already feel that all familiar knot growing in your stomach, your gasps and moans growing louder and needier as you try to warn Danny. “D-Danny-! ‘Can feel it- don’t stop!” Danny laughs at you, not easing up on his brutal pace whatsoever as he brings you closer and closer to your peak. “Look at you, already about to cum. Such a whore, barely started and she’s already gonna cum.” His words, while rude, were all you needed to topple over the edge, your pussy clenching around Danny’s dick as you cum with a strained gasp and yell of his name.

Danny could feel his orgasm building closer, but he held it off, fucking into you until you were writhing and squirming under his grasp, hands grabbing at his biceps as you try to escape the painfully pleasant overstimulation.

“Gonna fill this pussy up with my cum—shit, you feel so good. ‘Feels better than killing that bitch, that’s for fucking sure.” You cry out as Danny’s pace begins to grow sloppier and sloppier, still managing to hit all the right places, leaving you seeing stars. Tears of ecstasy were dripping down your cheeks, only filling Danny’s darkest desires as he bring a hand up to cup your cheek—the softest thing he’s done so far, his lips crashing against yours.

Danny groans, muffled against your mouth as you feel his hot cum fill you, his thrusts only letting up for a moment before they start back up. You weren’t sure how much you could take, but Danny didn’t seem to care. You were in for a long night, and you knew it.

You whimper, squirming underneath Danny as the pleasure begins to be too much. Danny knew exactly what he was doing to you, and he’d be damned if he stopped any time soon. “You wanted this, doll. I’m not stopping until you’re practically full of my cum.”

***

Trying to get back into writing after taking a freakishly long break is… hard. Still, I hope you enjoyed this (that I totally wrote at 1am & while super sick)! Love ya. ❤️

#dead by daylight #danny johnson #ghostface dbd #ghostface x reader #ghostface #ghostface x y/n #ghostface smut #danny johnson dbd #danny johnson smut #dbd smut #need him

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vinelark · 11 months

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ALL timkon recs I BEG

hello hi! here are some of my favs! it got long so putting some under the cut

💄 Lipstick on the glass by @cairoscene read for timkon being soft and goofy and disgustingly in love, set in vague future college-y years with amazing core four dynamics too. cair is one of the funniest people to ever exist and we are so blessed that they decided to write some timkon. (also read for my own greatest contribution to literature, the fictional “jerry the void nexus” meme)

🎢 been a number and a name by @wynterstars i had SO MUCH FUN reading this one, a 90s comics-divergent AU where robin and superboy become friends—and crushes—when superboy is pretty new on the scene. feat. lex luthor being terrible, tim staging a rescue operation that at one point involves platform shoes and a blonde wig, spice girls references, and fantastic action sequences. it’s also a series, with an installment focusing on kon & clark, and a currently updating longfic sequel with SO MANY timkon identity shenanigans (my beloved) and kon feelings (also my beloved).

📸 the surveillance series by @smilebackwards i feel like i rec this all the time but it’s because it’s THAT GOOD. a tim-centric AU where tim joins the family late, but is still involved in bat business without the bats realizing. there’s some fun timkon identity shenanigans at the top, and some of my all-time favorite tim characterization (ruthless! lonely! brilliant!) plus a great tim & bruce arc, too.

🦉 Detours by miyaji_08 this is part 2 of a series and i def recommend reading the whole thing! a reverse robins + joker jr au that has lots of trauma and lots of healing, and in part 2 there’s timkon identity shenanigans that’s simultaneously enemies to lovers + And They Were Roommates. tim sure does run a gauntlet of horrors in this series, but it has so much healing and also one of my fav reverse robins concepts i’ve read so far.

📱 unfurl by @burins tim and kon might be dating, and there’s no kryptonian sex ed handy. bruce, being bruce, makes it his business, which means talking to clark and Realizing some things about his own feelings. superbat are billed first here, but i think timkon steal the show—i laughed out loud like five different times reading this. hilarious and sweet on all sides. (and if you like this, check out their timkon road trip fic!)

🌾 A Saturday Evening by malcyon in which tim visits the kent farm for family dinner with kon, feat. very sweet established relationship timkon and fun superfamily dynamics, and it touches on tim’s past grief over kon’s death (and complicated feelings post-undeath).

🤼‍♂️ Sore Loser by @hearteyeshayley kon learns that tim always let him win while sparring, and has to process that. this was such a fun exploration of tim’s prowess as a fighter—one who regularly has to go up against superpowered friends and foes alike—and also tim as a person who is always doing mental calculations about the people around him (in an endearing way). kon, too, got his time to shine and grow, and the ending was so smart and sweet.

🔮 Ascension by Violet_Witch an AU longfic where tim is a witchling and kon is a fallen angel who has (oops) just lost his wings. tim sets out to help get kon’s wings back, and there’s a ticking clock because angel wings are dangerous in the wrong hands—and tim has a big, horrible secret that’s about to come due. the plot/worldbuilding of this was WILDLY cool, and there was a big ol misunderstanding in the middle that had me clawing my face off (in a good way).

🌌 straight on ’til morning by merils kon vs. the terrifying ordeal of growing up, feat. sweet friends-to-lovers timkon and really thoughtful exploration of some of kon’s canon past relationships and their abusive dynamics. i haven’t finished this one yet but it’s been rec’d multiple times and i’m excited to dive back in (and it's recently complete!)—and what i have read so far gave me an amazing sequence of kon and dick interacting and dick’s big brother mode activating in an instant, which is something i now desperately need more of.

📧 aaaand would it even be a reclist by me if i didn’t include send to all by @cairoscene the absolute moment i find myself feeling down i go reread this and boom. i am instantly laughing again. timkon are just one part of a bat grab-bag here but they are so so funny and cute and in-character. maybe one day i’ll compile the timkon-centric sequel that exists in my head but for now i’ll just go reread this for the zillionth time.

okay yeah!! i’m probably missing so many good fics here because i constantly have like a zillion tabs open that i plan to read someday. also i reserve the right to reblog later like OH I FORGOT— but in the meanwhile, happy timkon reading!

#timkon #fic rec #asks

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wiserodin032402 · 1 year

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Kobeni from Chainsaw Man is a D&D Fighter

Okay yeah crazy people make dumb shit in D&D all the fuckin’ time, you can just say what the fuck on the internet. Some idiot made an article on how to play Cyberpunk Edgerunners characters in D&D what’s the big deal?

The big deal is that the D&D Fighter isn’t really...well represented in actual fiction. Controversial take, I know, but most uh...most mundane characters in fiction don’t really fit the bill of ‘Only good at combat but in a mostly superficial way that’s completely outclassed by the real shit of the setting’.

They’re not this:

This unique blend of...hell on earth that just isn’t present in actual fiction. One could say completely fucking unplayable. For those not in the know, this is D&D 3.5′s iteration of Fighter. For those who play 5e, this is basically the widely-mocked Champion Fighter subclass.

They’re proficient with all simple weapons, all martial weapons, all armor, and all shields including tower shields. They also have the following class skills: Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Ride (Dex), and Swim (Str)...with a grand total of 2 + Intelligence bonus skill points per level. That’s right, if you’re a Fighter of Average intelligence, you get to be okay in...2 skills.

And their saves are atrocious. If something even slightly scary shows up, the average Fighter is shitting themselves and running for the fucking hills.

This is obviously wildly fucking unrepresentative of any character in fantasy fiction. Too many demonstrate the ability to do more than just fight, and the characters who are famous for focusing on fighting are in series where being good at fighting means you can cut mountains in half or blow up the moon. And they’re all so...brave. Immune to fear even.

Enter God’s Chosen Failwoman

She’s a Public Safety Devil Hunter from the hit manga Chainsaw Man. She does this because her family made her, and it was either killing devils or prostitution.

Kobeni is a massive coward and in the first arc she’s introduced in with The Eternity Devil, she’s all too willing to simply kill Denji and give his heart up. When something scary is happening, Kobeni is the first to coward out.

Kobeni also isn’t very skilled. She quits public safety to go work fast food, and she can barely do that. Fast Food, considered entry-level work in this hellish economy due to how easy it is to teach someone to do it.

And yet, something curious.

When it comes to completely normal, completely mundane, completely comprehensible violence, Kobeni is unphased, and is insanely good at it. Sure, her partner got shot, but her reaction was to simply kill the shooter

and then go find the perpetrators

And when confronted by a frankly mundane demon attack, it doesn’t even touch her:

She’s also good enough with that knife, which for all intents and purposes is a completely mundane kitchen knife to slice clean through bone:

It’s groundbreaking. I’ve searched far and wide, but I’ve never found a character in fiction who perfectly lines up with everything that D&D 3.5 and even core Pathfinder 1e Fighter sets out to emulate. Someone who’s only good at violence, who’s insanely good with only one weapon, but can never break out of being completely mundane with their violence. Who, no matter how strong they get, how hard they work, is only human, with entirely human limits.

Here’s how you build Kobeni.

You need a high Strength and Dex. You need to be a Human. You need Weapon Finesse. You need to take Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization, the full featline, with whatever knife of your choice (Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Greater Weapon Focus, Greater Weapon Specialization, Melee Weapon Mastery). Take Lighting Reflexes. Take Light Armor Specialization.

Hell, if you want to more closely emulate how Kobeni functions, take the Combat Focus featline, which puts you into a sort of battle trance once you make a successful attack that lasts for about 10 rounds, which gives a bonus to will saves and other effects. Effects you can only get in Combat.

And guess what? You’ll be getting the genuine Kobeni experience. Being only good at completely mundane violence in a world that dramatically ramps up in stakes and moves past you.

#my ramblings #D&D #fun meta and analysis #chainsaw man #kobeni

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ponett · 1 month

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Do you have any advice for people making OCs/sonas? Yours are really well rounded and unique and I'd greatly appreciate the insight of someone who got a passion project off the ground!

So this is a very broad topic, and it varies a lot based on your own creative goals, what kind of characters you're creating, and where you want to use them. Creating an OC to be used in furry pinups is a little different than creating one for a dramatic story. But I'll try to give some general advice on how I do things for the types of characters and stories I tend to work with

Heads up: this will be kinda long lol

The germ of an idea

For me, I'll generally be inspired to create a character starting with a small number of core traits. These could be anything. A color scheme, a body type, a job, a hobby, a personality archetype, an outfit, a visual motif, a functional role in a story I'm working on, a noteworthy facial feature, a weapon, a relationship of some sort to an existing character, a single scene or joke I want to use them for. For furries and fantasy characters, species is usually one of the first things I'll have an idea for, which tends to get the ball rolling fairly easily since we have all sorts of cultural associations with different animals and fantasy creatures.

Any standout character trait like this that you find compelling can serve as that initial spark. The inspiration can come from anywhere, but it's often just a matter of knowing yourself and your own tastes. What do you like? What are the people in your life like? What really speaks to you in a character? What's an existing fictional character that you'd like to rewrite and take in a different direction? What's an aspect of yourself that you would like to see represented more often in fiction? It doesn't have to be something super deep or fleshed out right from the start, though. You can start with something as simple as "I want a black cat character" or "I want a character who dresses like an arcade carpet" or "I want a character who looks scary but is actually nice." Whatever it is, it's something that differentiates the new character from the ones I already have, because otherwise I'd just be using them.

Contrast

From there, you can start brainstorming other traits that might go with those core traits. Some of those may be traits that naturally complement each other. Continuing with the black cat example, maybe you wanna play into the common cultural perception of black cats and say that this character brings bad luck, or is associated with witchcraft. However, I often like to give characters contrasting or even seemingly contradictory traits, which can help elevate a character beyond a stock archetype. Real people tend to be a walking ball of contradictions, after all.

I've talked a lot about how I did this with the main cast of SLARPG. Melody is a fox, traditionally a crafty and untrustworthy predator, but she's extremely introverted and gentle. Allison is a bunny, but instead of being a meek and cuddly little prey animal she's an outgoing fighter who loves a challenge, and she has a muscular build. I think this kind of thing gives characters some fun flavor, and can be really effective for both comedy and drama. For an example from something I didn't write, take Senshi from Dungeon Meshi. He's a dwarf, and he embodies certain stereotypical aspects of dwarves - he's a short, buff man with a big bushy beard, he lives underground, he's stubborn and doesn't like elven magic - but he also goes against some of them. Instead of being an expert on mining and blacksmithing, Senshi is a culinary expert who has a deep appreciation for the natural ecosystem of the dungeon. He's a weirdo among dwarves for not caring about the wellbeing of his axe and for using his super awesome shield primarily as a giant wok. And that's what makes Senshi fun and interesting.

So going back to our example, instead of going with the stereotype, we could make a black cat character who has comically good luck, or who's superstitious and afraid of witchcraft, or who's an extremely rational person who always believes in science over superstition. Or maybe you roll with the bad luck angle, but instead make the black cat be the victim of their own bad luck in some interesting way. Maybe this black cat has terrible luck with love and can't hold down a relationship. Maybe this black cat is an aspiring speedrunner who consistently gets the absolute worst RNG possible in every video game due to their own bad luck. Maybe this black cat has accrued a horrendous gambling debt after a long losing streak and has loan sharks coming after them.

These are all just hypothetical examples, of course. I don't exclusively make characters with ironic contradictions like this. The idea is just to build on those core traits you started with in interesting ways, and that's one of my favorite ways to do so. But honestly, a lot of the time execution is more important than the sheer originality of an idea, and sometimes really putting your all into playing a trope you love straight is the right move.

Specificity

Regardless of what direction I take a character in past that initial seed of an idea, the key ingredient tends to be specificity. To give them specific details beyond the most stock possible version of that core idea you started with.

This is something I internalized from Tim Schafer, via a blog post in the behind-the-scenes backer material for Broken Age. Sadly I'm not sure if that stuff is still available, but I did save this particular post about creating characters since it really helped me, so I'll directly quote a chunk of that post here:

No two characters would approach a problem or react to events in the same way. At least, not if you’ve designed the characters well. If you’ve left them too vague or superficial, if they are merely functional elements in your story instead of individuals, then they might react in the same way. And that’s a problem. So to avoid that, I’m going to talk about one the most important parts of character development: specificity. Making sure your character is a specific individual, not a stereotype. A unique character, different from anyone else in the world. It doesn’t mean that they have to have wacky gimmicks, eyepatches and crazy accents. It just means they have to be specific. For example, let's create a new character. Let's say your story has a scene where your main character gets in trouble in school. So you’re probably going to need a school teacher. Imagine a school teacher for a bit. Do you see her in a little red schoolhouse? Maybe a bun in her hair? An apple on her desk? Thick black glasses? Let’s put a ruler in her hand for good measure. Done! We have our teacher character. She’s ready to be in the scene where our hero goes to school and the teacher sends her to the principal’s office for passing notes. Right? I mean, this character doesn’t have too many lines, so why develop her character any more? The problem is that this teacher is a very shallow stereotype of a teacher. She has no specific attributes that make her memorable. She’s the teacher you would get in a set of free clip art. She might not have many lines, but if all your supporting characters are this way, your story will be more bland than it should be. Even if this teacher is only onscreen for a minute, she should be unique and different from any other teacher in the world. Luckily, it's not actually that hard to make her so. You just have to ask some very basic, specific questions.

Tim goes on to explain how simple exercises like filling out character sheets with basic questions about your character (there are a million of these online) can help push a character beyond a stock archetype, even if it's a minor supporting character. Questions about where they're from, their likes and dislikes, their beliefs, their goals in life, that sort of thing. For minor characters especially, a lot of these details may never actually come up in a story, but just asking even a few of these questions and giving them specific answers helps you see them less like an archetype and more like a real person in your head. Maybe you never bring up your character's backstory or their favorite sport or what kind of music they listen to, but just having a specific answer for questions like that might help color the way you depict that character in subtle ways. It makes it feel like they aren't defined by just that one core trait you started with, and helps make the characters and world feel more alive, like there's stuff going on with them beyond the bounds of the story or the drawing.

It's a careful balancing act, though. It's easy for a character to feel like they're a collection of too many unrelated gimmicks and quirks. Again, like Tim said, these specifics don't have to make for the craziest, most original character ever, there just has to be something there.

Let's go back to SLARPG as an example, where I combined broad character archetypes I liked with more specific personal elements that I felt like I wasn't seeing enough in the fiction I liked. Melody is riffing on the common idea of the reserved healer character in the RPG or MMO party and the shy girl archetype, but she's the main hero instead of a supporting player in another person's story, and she's also a fat bisexual trans woman who draws a lot of little details from my own life. Her interests, her relationships, her opinions on things, her personal hangups and dreams, these all set Melody apart from other fantasy healer characters and define her as Melody Amaranth. Specificity!

But it doesn't always have to be super deep, especially if you just want some characters to draw for fun and aren't planning on writing a story with them. Take my fursona. I've always loved dogs, so I made my fursona a dog. I chose a Samoyed in particular because I think Samoyeds are the cutest, and I hadn't seen hardly any anthro Samoyed OCs at the time. I leaned into the breed's signature fluffiness to help my fursona stand out from other canine OCs. She has simple identifying traits like being fat like me, wearing glasses like mine, and having a hairstyle kinda like mine (when I tied my hair up in a bun, at least). And there you go. Fursona achieved. She's not a wildly high concept character, but she doesn't need to be

Anyway I realize that this is mostly about the writing aspect, so here's a few quick bullet points about designing a character's appearance:

Face and body type variety are good, but personally I would say lack of body type variety is worse than same face syndrome

Knowing some stuff about shape language is good, but you don't have to be completely beholden to the "circles are friendly, squares are sturdy, triangles are scary" shit. I'm generally more interested in using repeated shaping in different parts of a character's design as sort of a shape motif. Melody's body, hair, and tail are all made of round, swooping shapes, for example. (This is more applicable if you're designing cartoonier characters as opposed to realistic humans, obviously.)

Knowing some basics of color theory is also good. I like using complementary and contiguous color schemes on characters and generally try not to use too many distinct colors on one design. Black and white and grey and various browns are good as neutral colors to balance out the colors of the rainbow, and gold can be a nice accent color

A small handful of identifying accessories can be fun, but don't rely on those to make a design stand out. Ideally your character should still be identifiable even when not wearing their default outfit, or even in silhouette

Aaaaaand I'm gonna call it a wrap there! This is a huge topic, so hopefully this helps with at least some of the basics! At the end of the day, though, don't beat yourself up if you can't sit down and force yourself to come up with the most crazy awesome OC ever. Just have fun and be yourself!

#rakruined #ask #slarpg asks

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comradekatara · 12 days

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I meant Hama and Katara... But thank you for the Kanna & Katara Link. I'll go theough it.

ohhh yes i obviously have so many thoughts on hama and katara as well..... hama is the embodiment of who katara could have become had a) her circumstances been slightly different (and worse) and b) had she had less emotional strength & resilience & desire to cling to her own humanity at all costs. like, the fact that katara gets multiple figures who embody the terror of her submitting to her most vengeful instincts and perpetuating the cycle of violence instead of working to end it is honestly quite beautiful, as that tension culminates in "the southern raiders" and katara lets herself prioritize her own humanity over her pain and rage and (totally justified) desire for revenge.

i know a lot of people think that hama and jet are the most politically confused aspects of the show, since they do play into the thing lok does where it's like "all oppressed peoples who employ radical means of resistance are simply cackling mustache-twirling terrorists," and while i do think that the way hama is framed at the end of "the puppetmaster" is in poor taste and lacks nuance, it's also pretty clear to me that a) their trauma is portrayed as sympathetic b) their stories are depicted as tragedies and c) atla doesn't actually demonize violent methods of resistance. like if katara wasn't literally the main character i'd feel much more comfortable making that critique (because lok does do this and it's liberal bullshit and it sucks), but we see katara use violent means of resistance as early as episode 6 of the whole show. she's literally framed as a hero for doing ecoterrorism; even when she's actually in the wrong in that situation, her desire to do whatever it takes to help people and encourage them to fight back against their oppressors is celebrated unconditionally.

the lesson katara has to learn from them is that she must never let her anger and desire for revenge consume her over her love for humanity and her drive to help people. jet and hama are both deeply traumatized in a way that made them prioritize wanting to wield power over others in the same way that they were once made vulnerable and helpless, and katara recognizes that instinct in herself too, that instinct in every person who has been subjected to that degree of violence. hama targets fire nation civilians out of spite, because she was once a regular girl from the southern water tribe who was targeted for reasons beyond her control, made to fight and treated like a villain. the reason she goes after "regular people" instead of targeting actual combatants is specifically because she knows that if the roles were reversed, the fire nation wouldn't care about differentiating her people in those roles; she's giving them a taste of their own medicine.

she used to be a resistance fighter who fought back against the imperialists on her land with everything she had, and it didn't work. she suffered unimaginable horrors, and in the process discovered an ability that would allow her to make others suffered the way she did. no, she's not a good leftist or whatever, but her motivation is understandable. she's driven by pain, not reason, just as katara and zuko are in "the southern raiders," just as aang is in "the desert" when he loses appa, just as sokka is in "the boiling rock." when one is hurting that badly, the desire to ease one's pain supersedes logic, supersedes one's core values in general, the values of grief taking its place. hama has been grieving her entire life; whoever she was before the raids is gone, and now she is someone shaped wholly by pain. and had katara not met hama, been traumatized by her, and thus vowed never to be like her, who knows whether she would have had the ability to take a step back and recognize within herself that she is standing over that precipice, and instead walk away from the threshold of violence, and back towards herself.

#ariadnesweb #asks #katara #hama #hama&katara #analysis #hama is kind of katara's sokka.... in the sense that sokka is aang's hama.....#they both have such similar struggles and are able to understand each other on a very profound level #but also must never submit to the logic that propels them become who sokka/hama already are #obviously hama's circumstance is more extreme #but both aang and katara must recognize their own humanity and never let themselves sink into the pain and be driven by it fully #whereas hama and sokka have already abandoned their humanity #in different ways. but still #that's for another post i guess #remind me to talk about sokka azula aang trio sometime #bc its crazy.#anyway i think i find hama more effective than jet to communicate this aspect of kataras arc #because hama is an elder of her tribe and she can bond with her in this incredibly special and culturally meaningful way #whereas jet is kind of just like. what if haru was an asshole #so uhhhh..... sure i guess #but we already know and like haru. so he's just kind of boring to me #whereas hama is awesome and i love her so much <3333 #(t shit that says in giant letters no one can tell im a dyke...)

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