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shuinami · 9 months

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Part 1: What Exactly is Hobie’s Accent and Who Has It?

Part 2: When, Where, Why (Black Londoner Culture since Windrush) | Part 3: How (Writing Tips)

As a black Londoner, a large reason Hobie is so special to me is because I really saw and heard myself in him, while also not seeing a stereotype or typical, lacking in nuance portrayal of a black Londoner.

A lot of people have given great advice about how to write the dialogue of a British person; however, though the U.K. is a small place, different areas, like anywhere, have very different cultures and accents. Even somewhere as geographically small as London has a few different native accents, as many of you have picked up on, Cockney is one but there is also Received Pronunciation (RP), Estuary English and the one Hobie uses for most of his intro: Multicultural London English (MLE).

I’m an MLE user myself, as are most black Londoners, including Daniel Kaluuya (who voices Hobie and was asked to make the dialogue sound authentic). Aside from tilting my head in slight confusion at some of the slang floating around the fandom, one of the last times I rewatched the movie, I noticed Hobie actually only uses one relatively ubiquitous Cockney phrase… and apparently, it was used inauthentically? On the other hand, he uses quite a few MLE phrases and constructions but it seems few people represent that in their fan content.

It made me want to give my two cents and some advice on how to write the dialogue of an MLE user since I haven’t seen anyone do something like this yet.

In addition, I wanted to give a little bit of context about life as a black Londoner, since Windrush brought the first mass migration of black people to England in 1948 until now, since it’s another thing that I haven’t seen anyone talk about how it differs from the typical depictions of British life. And also how that intersected with punk culture and what it says about Hobie. Everyone is entitled to their personal interpretations but, of course, as someone who Hobie’s a bit closer to home for than most, I felt a lot of people are missing a key part of who he is without understanding the youth culture of black Londoners.

To answer these questions, I think it would be good to put names to the four main London accents so you can understand exactly what Hobie’s purposefully mixed accent is made up of and the one thing it is not.

I also want to say before we get into it that some people have unique accents/accents that may not seem to match their status or ethnicity, etc. so it’s not that nobody speaks using other accents but if we hear it, it would be noticeable.

Starting off, we have Received Pronunciation which is that posh, fancy and stuffy accent you probably first associated a British accent with. This is the accent of the rich, associated with types who go to private schools like Eton, with the royals’ accents and political figures. Nothing to do with Hobie.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there’s Cockney. Cockney is an interesting one; it’s a term referring to people that are from East London, and according to Google “traditionally one born within the hearing of the Bow Bells” which means in earshot of the bells of St Mary-le-Bow Church.

The term is also used to cover the accent and slang; the Cockney accent is not necessarily exclusive to Cockney people but rather is one that, nowadays, floats around the working class. The culture, on the other hand, such as familiarity with rhyming slang and stuff like eating jellied eels is not so ubiquitous amongst the working class not from the area. An example of a Cockney with this accent would be Danny Dyer, who plays Mick Carter in EastEnders and some of the other characters also have a proper Cockney accent. Here’s an iconic clip from EastEnders that showcases the Cockney accent lol

youtube

However, there is a more general accent, which refers to the varying mixtures of RP and cockney that most Londoners have: Estuary English. The estuary in the term refers to the Thames Estuary in the South East of England, near but outside of London. The accent is not locked there, however, and extends to London, especially as people have tended to move further out from London with time due to housing prices and thus accents of outer and inner parts of London mix. It’s not associated with class the way the other two previous accents are.

There are no clear boundaries between Estuary English and Cockney, mainly due to upward mobility and movement around London. I’m not a linguist so it’s hard to describe but I would personally say that proper Cockney has some ways of pronouncing things that even Estuary English speakers on the Cockney end of the spectrum don’t typically do.

Some examples I would consider Estuary English or more typical accents would be those of people like Amelia Dimoldenberg (chicken shop girl 😂) and Tom Holland; on the more Cockney end of this accent, you’d have people like Adele (who I’m pretty sure has Cockney family members).

Then there’s Multicultural London English, influenced mainly by the dialects of the ethnic immigrants that have come to the U.K., most notably Jamaican Patois but also, more recently, borrowing a lot from West African Pidgin languages, as well as some words and phrases here and there from other immigrant communities. Most black people speak MLE and many other ethnic Londoners do too, as due to the effects of colonization and structural racism, many are relegated to the working classes and live in community together. Examples of this accent would be John Boyega, Jasmine Jobson, Letitia Wright and, of course, Daniel Kaluuya.

Now that we’ve got the accents down, which does Hobie have?

While the term Cockney is thrown around a lot, there is a strong implication that Hobie was born and raised in Camden, especially given the casting of Daniel Kaluuya, who was born and raised in that area himself.

Here’s a map of London, I split us up based on how I understand people typically refer to it, which is a mix of geography, government designation and postcodes. The rainbow in the middle is considered Central London, it’s a very commercial and touristy area, where all our classic landmarks are and it’s very expensive to live there.

Part of the borough of Camden is in central London and, currently, it starts to get more residential near Camden Market, which is 3 miles away from St Mary-le-Bow-Church, aka. The Bow Bells. A true Cockney is said to be within 3 miles or earshot of the bells (for geographical reasons, the sound carries more East). I’m not sure about the balance of residential to commercial areas in the 70s, although apparently, the area near Camden Lock was industrial. London has changed and expanded over time so someone from an east-most part of Camden at a point probably would have been easily counted as Cockney but I have no clue about the timeline. It’s uncertain whether or not Hobie would fit the criteria but if he was born today, Hobie definitely wouldn’t be considered or consider himself a Cockney.

So again, while there’s no clear distinction of what makes a Cockney accent, Hobie is probably not a Cockney (unless you hc as such).

Does that mean he uses Estuary English? I would say no. I think his accent is predominantly Cockney and he uses some of the slang, as most Londoners do, but being black and not from East London, he mostly uses MLE slang and sentence constructions.

I believe this was the creative intention, given the casting of Daniel Kaluuya, most known for his roles in movies tackling black issues, and the freedom he was given to make the dialogue authentic, meaning Hobie’s blackness is a core part of his character design for Spider-Verse. You can also hear Daniel exaggerating the accent for Hobie at points; as he’s said himself, it’s not just his regular accent, which might not be too obvious to those not so used to London accents. It's a more Cockney accent, particularly in the intro, that he’s putting on instead of speaking normally, despite not necessarily using much Cockney lingo. Bear in mind, that Daniel naturally has a stronger Cockney twang to his natural speaking voice than a lot of MLE speakers.

Returning to the point that the one Cockney phrase, “scooby doo” was used inauthentically; it’s worth noting that you’ll be hard-pressed to find an up-to-date and thorough reference or guide on how to write the use of Cockney slang authentically because Cockney is a somewhat dated culture. For example, jellied eels? Not a common thing anymore, Some people, probably older East Londoners, still do eat them but extremely few places sell them and most of us will have never even seen them in our lives. As mentioned above, upward mobility along with people moving around means that the accent, slang and general culture have been watered down over time. On top of that, a lot of East London has been gentrified, such as the Isle of Dogs (in Tower Hamlets), which has had Canary Wharf transformed - a mall, a business centre and a major transport link and Stratford (in Newham), which has similarly had a giant mall and major transport links added to it.

Some Cockney rhyming slang stuck and is known to all Londoners, such as “telling porkies/porky pies” and “copper”. “I ain’t got a scooby (doo)” is a more common one, although not even that is known to all. Typically, Cockneys only say the first half of the rhyming slang phrase (even if it no longer rhymes). I couldn’t tell you which Cockney rhyming slang phrases have been absorbed into more general London vocab other than those, because again, it’s not used as most lists you could probably find online have it written out in full but know that a lot of phrases have been absorbed.

Cockney slang is an oral tradition of the working class and so until more recently, when literacy rates went up, probably wouldn’t have been written, on top of people tending to write in standard English instead of using slang when writing. Unless you’re talking to a boomer/gen-x/older millennial from East London, it’s not so likely that you could read off a list of cockney phrases to a Londoner and they would be familiar with them. Because Daniel Kaluuya and I’m guessing the other people involved in writing Hobie’s dialogue aren’t Cockneys, well, that’s how we ended up with what we got.

So, whilst a dated dialect probably would be perfect for Hobie, it’s hard to get right or for it to read as natural to a Londoner because it’s difficult to pinpoint people that still talk like that on a regular basis, even in East London and it’s ESPECIALLY not black people/MLE users that talk like that these days. Cockney Rhyming slang was code language, after all so it figures that it’s a bit elusive.

Funnily enough, Hobie’s use of MLE is probably a slight anachronism, a little ahead of his time. Because the mass migration of Caribbeans began in 1948, by the 70s, most young black people would be the first big wave of second gens or immigrants themselves; ‘Black British’ culture would’ve still been quite young and not had enough time to carve itself as its own thing. The MLE we (including Hobie in the movie) use today started to really be what it is today in the 90s. Point being, you’re not going to find documentation of black Londoners from the 70s or early 80s who talk like Hobie.

Basically… Hobie’s accent is not authentic to the time period so if you wanted to write a historically authentic accent/slang… then you probably wouldn’t really write one… buuut it’s less fun and less Hobie! So let’s learn about black British youth culture and racism in London since the 70s, then we can understand the context in which the language is used before we learn the lingo + how to use it 😎

#I FUCKED UP THE MAP COLOURS BRENT AND HARROW ARE NW NOT WEST #atsv fanfiction #hobie brown #across the spiderverse #spider punk #shui fic #shuinami

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neil-gaiman · 1 year

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Hello Mr Neil,

I hope your writer strike is going to be successful and I am sorry you have to strike at all but I’m rooting for you and everyone else involved! That said, I have a question, or rather, I seek your advice. I am, more or less, studying English, and this apparently requires classes on pronunciation, which means, in my case, that I have to speak as perfectly posh RP English as I can manage. Most students and at least some tutors are against this since, as we’ve also been told, only like 3% of anglophones speak RP and having to learn specifically that as The Correct English seems uhh not ideal, but alas we do not get a choice (unless we want to do General American instead which I personally would be very bad at). All this to say – part of our final oral exam in this class consists of reading out a short narrative prose text (300-400 words) of our choosing, ideally with direct speech in it. I have already made up my mind to read something of your writing, because I find the flow and melody of it very pleasant to read out loud. However, as a tiny act of protest that’s available to me, I’d like to read something that can be considered at least a little bit, well. disturbing? fucked up? “what the hell are you reading there?”-like? so my professors will have to judge my pronunciation of Fucked Up Stuff if they have to judge it at all. Is there any text/passage of your writing you might like to recommend for this purpose?

(Ideally something I have personally available, probably, unfortunately... so, Good Omens, American Gods, Anansi Boys, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, The Graveyard Book, Coraline, Stardust, Neverwhere, Smoke & Mirrors, or Fragile Things. Or Sandman, but that probably won’t count for “prose with direct speech”.)

If you have nothing to recommend or no opinion, thank you very much anyway, just for reading this ask and for making your amazing writing publicly available for us to read! Have a wonderful [insert time of day here]!

Ash

The Bilquis scene at the end of Chapter 1 of American Gods?

"Tastings" or part of "Snow, Glass, Apples" in Fragile Things? Or part of "Foreign Parts" in Smoke and Mirrors?

"Other People" or "Feeders and Eaters" from Fragile Things?

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am-i-the-asshole-official · 6 months

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AITA for making an OC based off of a character?

So I, Tina, am a black 15 year old female. I joined a discord rp server where people made OCs that would go to an obviously made up magic school. People made their ocs based off of established characters with a twist. Due to that, people were allowed to claim characters as to not have overlap.

Excited to do something, I claimed Mulan and created my OC. But I decided to make her black instead. Apparently someone else also claimed Mulan a few seconds after I had, so the mods decided that they would place a vote to choose the one that would stay. I was heartbroken by the idea of there being a vote for this. The mods listened and said that whoever finished first got to be the one with the design.

I quickly finished mine and won, so I got to be the Mulan based OC. But the other person (Cece) complained and said it was racist ro allow me to "blackwash" Mulan and that if it wasn't acceptable for someone to whitewash Tiana, then it shouldn't be acceptable for someone to "blackwash" Mulan. I argued that it would still be the same story regardless of Mulan's race. And Tiana was a special case because her story was about the black experience that no one else had.

Cece argued that it was racist for the server to allow this and that it was insensitive to Chinese culture, so the mods disqualified my design and said that a Mulan based OC had to be only Chinese. I called them racist for this and that they were being unfair and biased for it. Mulan's story can easily be retold in any race. It is not Chinese exclusive. They called me an asshole for getting mad and said I could no longer make a Mulan based OC. I refused so they banned me. I asked my friends who were still there to help, and they helped me report the server and get it shut down for being racist. So now we made our own server where I can have my black oc based on Mulan.

But...

AITA for making an OC based off of her?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

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linddzz · 4 months

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32 with Dreamling? 👀

Smut Prompts:

#32: A suffers from pent-up stress and frustration. B offers their body for them to use to get rid of negative emotions.

Edit: Full fic on AO3

Wordcount: 6977 (nice)

Warnings: Canon typical descriptions of violence. Dream being an unhinged little nightmare, but Hob is so down for it. Also, it's a smut prompt. So there is smut. Dicks abound. In typical fashion it took me a while to get to said dicks though. No beta and only the barest editing.

Summary: Service Dom Hob is here to give his bizarre Eldritch boyfriend the tenderest, gentlest domming of his Endles existence. Dream is still going to be a hissing little brat about it. Tbh I waffled a bit on which way to go with this one, but realized that what I really want sometimes is to have Hob scruff Dream like the pissy wet cat that he is and tell him to SHUSH while Dream goes all ragdoll. I also fully embraced a horny headcanon of mine where Dream is more sensitive to physical touch in the Waking.

Shout out to @amahhi, because I picked little bits from our RP here and there for this. What can I say, we got a good Dream and Hob.

Edit 2.0: trying to get the blog unflagged, so the read more has the fic up to the spicy bits. Full fic is in the AO3 link 🙃

-----

It's been a very normal, mundane, and drab sort of day when Hob comes home at the end of it. There's the standard London drizzle tapping away at his window, transforming the world outside into a melting blur of darkening gray shot through with bright smears from electric street lights coming on one by one.

Electric lights. Brilliant. Literally brilliant. They're all going to pay for it in the long run of course, but fuck is it nice to just come home and flick a switch - like so - to light a room up.

There's a corpse on his sofa.

The corpse is on its back, arms rigid at its side. Its skin has a drained, cold paleness with veins as gray as the current sky. The face is perfectly still and perfectly expressionless, with flat blue eyes open and unseeing towards the ceiling. The startling ghastliness of the corpse is offset by the soft black t-shirt, along with black pajama bottoms decorated with alarmingly cheerful blue stars.

This is also, increasingly, a normal part of his day.

"All right, love?" He asks, shutting the door behind him. The first time he came home to Dream lying out stiff and apparently lifeless in his flat there had been a bit more yelling and panicking, followed by careful explanations about what the unexpected sight of a pale and unmoving body with open, unseeing eyes showing up in a safe and comfortable space can do to someone who has been through a few wars.

It kept happening, which meant Dream did not actually understand. But now Dream always makes an effort to put his form into pajamas first, possibly with the logic that if he were dressed comfortably for sleep, then he couldn’t possibly look like a corpse. Which meant he was trying, even if severely misguided. It's more touching than it should be.

The corpse on the sofa routine all started when they became...whatever they are now. The best explanation Hob ever got was that a chunk of Dream’s duties involve delving into the vast unconsciousness of himself, sinking into the wild depths that were made of every dreaming mind that created him to make sure everything was flowing smoothly.

It was all very metaphysical in all the ways that Hob tries not to think about too much. When he compared it to a computer shutting down for maintenance, he got himself a curdled look of such offended disgust that he knew he was on the money. He compared it to sleep instead, which mollified Dream at the time.

In the past this deeper delving into himself was done from the throne room. Then Dream started showing up in Hob's flat every now and again, refusing to explain why. Hob isn't stupid, so he doesn't ask why after the first few times. Whatever the metaphysics of it, Dream wants to come here and lie on Hob's furniture being vulnerable in the Waking world, despite all his grumblings about said world. Dream may not be able to explain the want for a space outside of work to go to, but Hob gets the difference between grading papers at his office and doing it in his living room. The fact that Dream seeks this space out makes Hob's chest go all fluttery and hot, and he will never question it ever.

It's why he doesn't make a fuss about the fact that Dream hasn't figured out that he looks like a fucking horror movie prop when he does it.

“Obviously.” Dream rumbles in answer. His voice has a deep, slow resonance that's being dragged up from the darkest fathoms. It's a growling sneer, the sharp warning crack of a cliff face about to give. It says that asking things like “all right?” is the most low, simple mindedly human thing Hob could ask, because there is no reason Dream would be otherwise.

“That sort of day then? Budge up.” Hob tosses his coat to the chair, which earns him an annoyed huff of a sound, and shoves a space for himself by Dream's hip, which earns him a growl.

“What. Sort of. Day?” Dream asks darkly. He turns his head, slowly. His movements are always slow when he's coming up from his not-sleep, and Hob is always fascinated by the process. He imagines Dream reeling himself back from wherever he has gone to, a long thread of his consciousness spooling up to refill the shape of his body. The waxy deadness in his skin doesn't exactly liven up, but it becomes more luminous. The stiffness melts from carved stone to…well not relaxed but something with a bit more give to it than stone anyway. The eyes change the most. The empty flatness of them turns into a clear, bright blue. They're flashing with liquid fire when Dream looks up at Hob, even if the rest of him is still an angrily stiff bunch of sharp edges.

“Not a great one, I think.” Hob leans, propping his shoulders on the back of the couch with Dreams waist and arm against the small of his back. Dream turns his head with his jaw clenched, and Hob reaches out, brushing the backs of his curled fingers in the barest caress over the plane of Dreams cheek.

There's a nearly imperceptible tremor in the core of the body he's leaned himself against. The corners of Dreams mouth tightens, and his eyes flare, like that lightest touch has opened a raw nerve.

“Maybe the sort of day I could help you forget?” Hob murmurs. He hasn't decided exactly what he's offering when he offers it. They could just stay here, watching some meaningless picture while Dream stays pressed between Hob and the sofa, and Hob combs his fingers through that downy soft black hair until all the tension melts from him. Hob could make that milky, sugary lavender infusion Dream is fond of and kiss him slow and sweet for hours. They could have a wild shag or the easiest love making. Whatever will help ease the coiled tension that’s churning just beneath Dream’s carefully still surface. Anything.

The caress continues. Hob traces his fingertips up the edge of Dreams cheekbone and sinks them back into the wild black hair to cradle around that impossible skull. There's a suspicious scraping sound down by his hip.

“That better not be you clawing up my upholstery.” He hums, rubbing his thumb over the hairline at Dreams temple. “Come on love, what do you want?”

“What. I. Want?”

The stillness breaks. A hand snaps up and clamps around Hob's wrist. Dream surges up, sitting awkwardly with Hob nearly in his lap, his eyes flashing dark and his teeth bared close to Hob's mouth.

“You would offer yourself then? A sacrifice to what you would call a bad day?” Dream asks, his voice dropping into a hard scrape. There's a sharp prick against the skin of Hob's wrist as claws grow from Dreams fingers. “You ask for what I want?”

“Obviously.” Hob repeats Dream’s earlier answer back at him. This is always the most uncertain part, when Dream is in one of these moods. This night could go a million different ways, but Hob finds himself keen for any of them. Any that keep Dream right here with all of his attention, snarling or otherwise, right on Hob that is.

There's a hiss of sound, sharp and explosive. The sharp pricks against Hob's skin turn into bright bursts of hot pain, and he feels the wet slide of blood down the inside of his arm. There's a shudder, and Dream suddenly curls down against him with his forehead ground into the curve of Hob's shoulder at the base of his throat. It's an awkward reach, but Hob brings his far arm around to run his palm up the knobbed curve of Dreams spine.

“It's alright, love.” He whispers. The slump is not a loosening at all. Hob can feel the jerky tension in every line of Dream’s body, and his love feels like a spring winding tighter and tighter.

“No.” Dream spits. “You ask what I want. The things I want. You are foolhardy. Brash. You understand nothing. Ignorant.”

“Flattery gets you nowhere, my Dream.” Hob keeps running his hand up and down Dream’s spine, thinking that he really is wound up if those are the best insults he can come up with.

There's a bizarre, inhuman sound. A sharp, jagged, snarling grind. Dream's other hand splays against his ribs, vibrating and sharp. The Endless goes quiet again, and Hob keeps stroking his back, happy to wait for whatever comes next.

“The way you say my name.” Dream whispers. “I want to open your ribs and make you say it. I want to pull each apart, one by one, like the petals of the rarest flower. I want to splay them, pin them. Expose the secret parts of you. I want to see how your lungs fill and shrink when you say my name, when you scream it. I want to see how your heart beats when you dream of me. I want to put my hand around it and feel the precious fluttering of it when I punch my fingers through the chambers. I want to feel it burst like the most wondrous fruit plucked out and crushed in my grasp. I want to feel the pockets of your lungs crackle against my palms when they fill with air. I want you to be screaming my name when I do it.”

His hand moves as he talks. Long fingers drag along the valleys between Hob's ribs, slow and methodical. They're also shaking, a sharp electric buzzing of claws through Hob's button down shirt.

That sort of night then?

“If you're trying to scare me off, you’ve already done that sort of thing in a few of my more exciting dreams.” Hob points out.

“I want to do it here.” It isn't even a whisper now. It's just an exhale shaped into words. Hob notices that it isn't a threatening snarl, or the low purr of Dream enjoying the build up to a grand old violently nightmarish time. There's a shivery dread. A horror deeper than the obvious goriness of it all.

“You fantasize about killing me?” Hob asks, curious. Ok fine, it wouldn't actually kill him, but it would feel like it.

“You can't die.”

It's an immediate response. Breathless. Rapturous. Terrified. Hob is starting to get the idea of what's going on here.

“Scariest thing you've said to me, that was.” He observes with some interest. It's true, after all. He's just learned that his immortality fuels his love's apparent wish to vivisect him in the plane where they both know it would hurt the worst, where the violence of it would be all of the bloody screaming reality without the cushioned fantasy of the Dreaming. Dream admitted that in a way that was clear that he thinks about it regularly. It is, objectively, a scary thing to learn. There it is. Horrifying and alarming. Huh! How about that.

He doesn’t pretend to be surprised at himself when his cock twitches against his jeans. The only thing he isn’t sure of is if it’s the violent idea itself, or the fact that Dream is very obviously holding himself back from affectionately mauling him right this instant.

He's still petting his hand up and down Dream's spine, and he can feel the way his love bunches in on himself with a cracked whining sound that makes Hob's chest ache like his heart’s already been torn and exposed for the soft tender thing it is. There are talons still scraping anxiously at Hob's ribcage. There are still claws dug into his arm, but with less force than before. Dream is tense, already in a state, and in the fine process of working himself up into what could possibly be a legendary tantrum of self loathing.

“Right.” Hob declares, coming to a decision. “First thing: put a pin in that idea. I have to sit on it a bit and work up to it, but I did just get a little hard there, so it's not entirely off the table. I don't think that's what you want right now though.”

Dream froze with shock halfway through that, and Hob knows the best course of action is to keep moving before that impossible head has enough time to tangle itself up in a new way. The hand on Dream's spine sweeps up and grabs Dream by the nape, hard.

There is an explosive hiss of incredulous shock when Hob yanks him back. The face that Hob pulls off of his shoulder has wide obsidian eyes and a snarl with a wicked set of fangs. He holds the nightmare scruffed, meeting glittering dark eyes while his heart pounds with what isn't nearly enough actual fear.

“You want me to stop you.”

Dream’s eyes widen further, the hand on Hob's wrist drops lifeless to the sofa. Hob watches a burst of pink bloom across the unnatural white of his cheeks before the response is wrestled back down. Dream’s eyes narrow, but he's watching Hob closely.

“You are. Incapable. Of stopping me.” He growls. It's not a threat, just reality. Which is how most of Dream’s threats go.

“You're going to let me though, I think.” Hob says. He digs his fingers a little into the hard muscle of the back of Dream's neck, and takes several mental notes on the way the nightmare’s head lolls back and the hand on his ribs goes still. Hob turns where he's sitting to bring one leg up on the sofa, to bring himself closer to the odd monster he loves so dearly. He pulls Dream further, already feeling dizzy at the way the jagged, black eyed nightmare with his luminous white skin and razor teeth goes pliantly until he's leant back, practically being dipped with Hob over him.

“I think you need to let go, love. But you don't like what you might do if you let go.” He says with a smile. “How about we try things my way hm? You let go, but you hand the reins to me. Let me take charge.”

Dreams face goes through some fascinating shifts. He gazes up at Hob with such a raw, wounded want that it looks painful before the expression flinches when Hob's other hand comes up to stroke his cheek again. There's a jerk though Dream's limbs, and Hob is sure the joints are doing things that would make him feel queasy if he looked.

“You…here?” Dream asks, and his voice is thin and sharp and shivery. Hob knows why Dream’s clarifying that, and why here is making Dream writhe and flush with his mouth stretched a little too far on teeth that weren't meant for a human jawline. Hob knows that things feel different for Dream, when he's in the Waking. He's a creature of thought and idea, and touches in the more physical Waking world come across stronger than he's used to, more overwhelming. It’s not that Dream never bottoms, or even that he never submits. But it’s always in Dream’s own realm, where his submission isn’t really submission at all, but a coy play where he acts up the part of a sweet wilting fae lover or a wanton hedonist. He has a harder time staying in control of the situation, when they’re in Hob’s world, where there are less heated fantasies for him to sink himself into.

And the Dreamlord would never admit it, but Hob has noticed the way he keeps showing up in the Waking world to initiate things, even if it's just to cuddle up against Hob and find ways to get petted until he turns into a shivering puddle of nerves. But cuddling here is one thing, this is something else, something new.

“Here.” Hob nods, stroking his thumb slow and firm over Dream's nape, feeling the little vibration that goes down Dream's spine from that point. “I need you to say you want me to though, ok?”

That gets a furious, low hiss of a growl. Dream’s eyes flash and he snaps his mouth full of razor teeth with the sound like a bear trap. Hob lets him squirm and hiss and shudder. He's always such a trembling little thing, like there is too much going on inside for his outer shell to hold in. One day, Hob is going to properly catalog all of the ways his cosmic power of a lover shivers like a leaf when he thinks he's keeping himself all grim and stoic.

“You. Wish me …complicit.” Dream hisses, the words grinding out from his chest, as there's no way the wide maw of needle teeth is currently capable of speaking that clearly. “You would have me voice it. Admit to it. To be brought low and ragged.”

“I want your consent,” Hob huffs a small laugh, which might not be the best response but God does he love this proud twit, “you pretty, deranged little thing. I'm not doing anything if you don't actually want me to, and we can stop at any point. It's important to me that you get that.”

“My consent,” Dream spits, and this time there's a tearing sound when he does start clawing up Hob's upholstery, “is that I am allowing it.”

On paper, true enough. Dream is thrashing and snarling and gnashing his monstrous teeth with eyes like flaming pits. He's also kept in place by the weak, flesh and blood human hand holding him by the back of the neck. The only reason Hob is able to scruff him and have his head tilted pliantly back to expose the long white throat, is because Dream is letting it happen.

“I think you would allow me to do a lot of things you don't want me to.” Hob says gently. The thrashing stills, the snarling quiets, Dream's teeth finally shrink down into more standard shapes.

“There we are.” Hob breathes, smiling. His chest feels like it may burst, like Dream may end up getting his dark little fantasy after all. It's more than any man could deserve, seeing the way Dream goes quiet and panting, eyes fixed wide and blue again as they stare up at Hob. He keeps the hold on Dreams neck, and smoothes the other hand back through Dreams hair.

Dream makes a thin, fragile sound, eyes flashing black before returning to their clear blue.

“I need to know you actually want this, darling.” Hob explains again. “Not just that you're allowing it. I can't go thinking that you might just be going along with what you think I want from you.”

There's a shift of movement, more of a little squirm than the furious thrashing from a few seconds ago. Dream clenches his jaw together and stares, eyes glittering with new wetness. Christ. Hob is going to get a complex. It can't be good for his ego, having Dream like this.

“Yes.” Dream finally whispers, swallowing thickly. He even nods with little jerky movements against Hob's grip. “I want…what it is, you are planning. Here. In the Waking. I want you to have me. Your way.”

Hob rewards him with a hard kiss, mostly because if he doesn't get his mouth on those quivering pink lips he might explode. Dream goes lax with a whining sound that is absolutely going to give Hob a complex. Plush lips part immediately under his, as sweet as anything. Then teeth flash against his mouth, still sharp and wild but followed fast by Dream’s tongue lapping hungrily at the bite. There are hands clawing at him again, pawing at his back, twisting in his hair, digging into his hips. Dream is doing some impossible wiggling and Hob realizes that there is more than one pair of legs hitching around his hips and tangling between his own legs. It must look like he's snogging an enthusiastic spider.

“Enough of that.” He chides, pushing a hand on Dream's chest. Teeth sink into his lip again, and there's a low growl when Hob pulls his head back so Dream can't start trying to get his tongue down Hob's throat. Or trying to affectionately bite his lips off. “Shush. Lie back, and settle down dearest. Christ, you're all wound up.”

Another small push does the trick. Dream goes down with a little huff when his back hits the sofa. He’s suddenly as meek as a kitten, if that kitten had blood on its lips and a sharp intrigued glint to its eyes. Rather like a kitten then, actually.

Not that Hob is thinking much about kittens. He's far more focused on the way Dream’s skin has gained a more human flush to it, on the curious little chirrup noise that comes from him. He's looking up at Hob with swollen pink lips and his eyes still blue, but the dark blue of a deep ocean. The shirt he's wearing is stretched at the collar, revealing the tantalizing dip of his clavicles, and his ruffled hair is the most adorable thing Hob could imagine. It's such a flip from the snarling monstrous thing Hob had scruffed less than a minute ago, and all of it is so wonderfully Dream. Objectively terrifying in his violence, objectively sexier than sin.

“You're horrible for my ego.” Hob declares, sitting up kneeling between long legs that are still clad in the damn cartoon star pajamas. Dream answers this with a velvety pleased sound, and Hob feels legs bent around his hips and hitched up his waist and one bends a knee up on his shoulder-

“Ah-ah, stick with two.” Hob taps at one of Dream’s thighs before getting to work unbuttoning his shirt enough to tug it up over his head. “We're in my world right now, so we’re doing things my way. With a human shape. And stop eyeballing my ribcage, thanks. I told you we're putting a pin in that.”

He can hear the displeased hissing sound, and decides to give Dream a pass on that. There are times where words seem to lack the correct expressions for the Prince of Stories, and he has an astounding repertoire of inhuman, and even inorganic, sounds to fall back on. Despite his orders to stop with the rib stuff, there are long hands on his sides as soon as his shirt is tossed away. When he looks down, Dream’s eyes are half lidded and dark, fully fixed with stark hunger on Hob’s exposed torso.

There's a scrape of claw, smoother than before, and the bright line over his side goes right to his prick. It is…so tempting…to change his mind and tell Dream to have at it. Just to see what would happen, to see how it would feel to get torn apart by something that loves him so much. Except there's a little tense pinching at Dreams mouth, even as his eyes darken further and his hands spread over Hob's ribs to feel them expand with each breath.

“Hands to yourself.” Hob decides for both their sakes. He taps a finger between Dream’s eyes in chastisement, and nearly loses that finger when teeth snap up towards it. Dream is fast, but he's used to getting away with things, so there's only a surprised hitch of sound when Hob grabs under his jaw and shoves his head back.

“My way.” Hob reminds him, surprised at how low and rough his own voice comes out.

FULL FIC ON AO3

#dreamling #my fic #dom gadling is here to be the gentlest mildest service top #dream is a weird eldritch cat

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valictini · 3 months

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I want to take a moment to appreciate all the cool stuff that Tubbo's death brought to the RP.

(obv talking about the characters there)

First of all, the way that it was the culmination of months of RP where Tubbo isolated himself more and more and more, until he genuinely thought no one cared about him? Him constantly putting his last lives on the line, culminating into an EGG of all people killing him? Delicious. Also we got to see Creation again! And we learned a bit more about Tubbo himself! He lost his purpose... Which apparently is a program of some sort? Wdym he wasn't alive to begin with? Is he a cybord-adjacent being like Aypierre? Or maybe something completely different, like a code? A fully grown egg??? So much to think about!

(I could just feel the excitement in cc!Tubbo when he saw the death coming like awwww yes it's all coming together)

(Also absolutely HEARTBROKEN that he died literally like 30 minutes before the Valentine's day event where Fred was apparently supposed to show up!!!! Guy really couldn't chose a worse (better) timing!!!!)

We also got to see the reaction of others too!

New egg drama, with Richas being the one who landed the killing blow. We got to see the horror and despair in Sunny and Chayanne, the only ones who knew for certain that Tubbo wasn't joking. The silent grief, that cannot leave until Tubbo's back. But will he come back the same as before? The possibilities are so scary and I can't wait to see how it'll shape the eggs in the future.

We got Philza who intially did not get it, assuming it was part of the months-long bit that Tubbo was Chayanne's egg and that they were just being dramatic for fun. This made the whole scene that much more tragic imo. And the pay off when realised later that holy shit he's actually dead? So cool. We got him and Creation's first meeting too, and after the initial confusion about whether or not he was a friend (war flashbacks to the day Luffy was kidnapped by a similar mysterious entity that showed up out of nowhere) he ended up doing everything in his power to help Creation, to bring his friend back!

And from what i've seen Fit is in full denial? Like absolutely refusing to acknowledge that Tubbo was even ABLE to die? And fans speculating that Pac might follow suite because of his past traumas? Awesome, can't wait to see how this unfolds. The possibility of a denial feedback loop is really interesting.

And finally as an Aypierre viewer, I'm excited at the possibility for him, the ONE person Tubbo actively dislikes, ending up providing the computer parts necessary to bring Tubbo back, since he's the only cc who has access to computer craft. I know it's unlikely to happen since literally no one knows he has computer craft so i don't think they'll think to ask him for the parts... but one can dream.

So yeah, overall this was a really pivotal and awesome RP moment

#qsmp #qsmp tubbo #qsmp creation #qsmp richarlyson #qsmp chayanne #qsmp sunny #qsmp philza #qsmp fit #qsmp pactw #qsmp aypierre

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opal-owl-flight · 24 days

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Gonna be interrupting the ongoing Neo3 saga for a bit, because something serious needs to be addressed.

Its come to my attention that there have been some serious allegations against me and another member of the Magoverse server. The posts were brought to us by someone in said server and that’s how we all found out.

Im here to provide proof against them.

TLDR: There has been a person lying about some very serious matters. I will discuss and provide proof against their claims below.

A former member of our server, giyagas-strikes-back, has claimed that I have been generally harassing them while they were there. They have stated that they have no proof of their accusations. There is no evidence of this because it did not happen at all.

I did not abuse or harass them. All I did was address the behavior that was making other members of the server uncomfortable. We were not once rude to this individual. We had spoken with them regarding their disruptive behavior multiple times, including their disrespect towards our members when they had asked them to tone things down and failed to regard such wishes.

Seen below:

For this next series of screenshots, they were involved in an rp involving sudden angst/violence that made members in the server uncomfortable. I was not the one who addressed the concern, but I did agree with the point of the one who did.

Another event where they commented something negative about something and someone else talked to them about it. Again, I was only agreeing with someone else, I did not speak harshly to them at all:

We never held a grudge against them, and only spoke to them in this way when they made someone uncomfortable.

Additionally, they told us that they were at least 13 (minimum age for joining the server) when we talked to them. We all thought we were speaking to an individual who would handle criticism we gave them seriously. We found out later that they were lying about their age:

Because we weren't notified, it only came to our attention much later into their membership, as is shown here. (Edited Discord notifications do not provide an "unread message" tag, and with a massive influx of members coming in at that time, this message was quickly buried.) We do not accept members under the age of 13 in our server. Every member under the age of 18 must inform us that they are a minor (no specific number required, just that they're under 18), and they are given a tag indicating that they are a minor. Additionally, we have multiple guidelines in place regarding minors and VC manners. We all mind our distance. To note: Before we could confront giyagas-strikes-back they left the server. We are unsure if they left because they caught wind we knew about them lying about their age, or if they left because of the multiple times that members of the mod staff had been forced to step in to handle behaviors or statements made by them that made other members uncomfortable.

An extra note to add, giyagas-strikes-back claimed that all this happened in a server where the “mod was always away”. We are the mods, and they were fully aware of this. The status of our mods is very apparent and in no way shape or form secret. Even our nicknames are given a specific color to indicate that we are the mods of the server. We only ever interacted with them on the specific server that we mod, so I am unsure if this is another lie, or if they legitimately didn’t realize we were mods and that is why we kept addressing their behaviors with them.

They also mentioned that I associate with Blaze, who they claim said weird stuff to them/is grooming them. But doing a quick search on a statement they made proves otherwise:

I believe these allegations are an immature act of retaliation due to our addressing their ill behaviors.

Theres one more thing I need to address. It was also brought to my attention that someone is claiming I stole an AU. I was never approached about this, neither has Blue as far as I am aware, and honestly have no idea what AU they're referring to, so I'm going to assume it is CtyH (Close to Your Heart, the au where Mags marries a god). We first discussed this au last January 26, 2023 -- here are screenshots of the first discussions about it. This AU started off as an offshoot to my interp and evolved from there. If anyone ever felt I had stolen something, it was never brought up with me or Blue, and I never wrote this AU with anyone elses in mind.

In closing: A healthy reminder. When people are accusing others of something, never take just their word as fact. Always look into it before making your own decision about the person in question, even if it comes from someone you trust. Never let anyone's opinion be your opinion. Always, ALWAYS, find the facts and discern for yourself! Make your own choice. Don't allow others to choose for you. Take this evidence as you will, but please, if you know those responsible for damning our names and making these baseless claims, we ask that you do not harass them on our behalf. We will not tolerate anyone speaking ill of them in my name. Yes, what they are doing is bad, but would any of us be better if we reciprocate in the same manner? That helps no one. Instead, simply inform and educate others. Be peaceful, be respectful. Be polite. Do not attack these people under any circumstances.

#opal owl hoots #negative #please dont attack anyone over this.

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silkkorchid · 25 days

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What went down in TWST rp in a week-

4/20 - 4/26

This week is dedicated to @the-lord-of-malevolence soon departure from roleplaying. Take care!

NRC Book Club has their birthday this week! A bunch of congratulations has been given!

There is a wedding. BETWEEN THE NRC PROPHET AND THE BOOK CLUB’S BROTHER!?

NRC Prophet is trying to adopt Rolly, Ruggie’s daughter. And he isn’t considering a certain parent involvement.

NRC Pride club light replace the NRC Therapist with this advice they are giving.

NRC Pride club is sponsoring the prom that is happening in NRC.

NRC host club finally making normal food for once?!

NRC garden club mod 🌺 is confirm to be the richest one in that club due to his parents owning the most popular opera in Queendom of Roses.

NRC Clubs are planning to make an otome game with them in it.

Who brought weapons to NRC?

Crowley got 3 children that he neglects like the students in NRC

Professor Crewel is gonna use the weekly update to keep tabs on his students. ALSO HOW MANY DO YOU PROPLE KNOW THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSE!?

Professor Crewel loosing his shit, congrats.

Lucius holding a poll to try to start a rebellion towards Crowley in order for him to leave his office…

Lucius dropped the f bomb 27 times. Don’t tell professor Trein about it-

Lucius still being a savage towards everyone. + calling Sebek a Karen

Trey broke the 4th wall

Hungry Heartslabyul students are out for blood due to someone rearranging the kitchen, which made Trey unable to cook or bake.

It’s now confirm from Deuce, he got a plushie addiction of chickens.

Cater is now slapping cheese on people.

Rory needs to calm down with the confetti canons. That’s gonna be a pain to clean up…

Cat!Rolly and Lucius are currently doing a cat fight with each other…

Scar just got transported into Savannaclaw… and knock out the shit of Leona and Malleus. Plus their magic pens broke… THANKS RUGGIE FOR THE UPDATE!

Shit went down in Savanaclas that I will not say.

Leona is asking Che’nya what would their names be IF they get married.

Ruggie is having a hard time this week…

Ruggie and Silver did a platonic kiss. according to Ruggie. I’m so ded aren’t i?

Ruggie is gonna overblot sooner or later thanks to the blot drop.

Leona questioning if Silver and Ruggie are in a relationship. THE ANSWER IS NO

Azul being attacked and his mom is asking for no violence.

Azul is gonna be so grounded when he gets back home for the break. (Mrs. Ashengrotto is not happy 😃)

Epel is gonna be dead from Vil due to him making so much (failed attempt of )cornbread. Plus Epel consuming so much carbs.

Idia is giving pipe bombs and grenades.? SOMEBODY KNOCK OUT IDIA THIS INSTANT!

Another Vil has joined the battle-

Rook is dying from laughter thanks to Che’nya.

Also Idia ate an alive grenade…

It’s now confirm. Idia is a whale in genshin. (it was obvious but hey it’s confirm now)

Idia now has someone that loves him??? PLUS IDIA GOT KNOCKED OUT FROM BEING KISSED

Idia has been hit by EMOTIONAL DAMAGE!

Ah yes, some of Sebek embarrassing childhood stories is being told by Alce due to Yuu request.

Sebek just drop someone on their face the moment they gave back his jacket.

Sebek tried to drown Donnie for no apparent reasons.?

Silver’s magic pen went bye bye 👋 (by kaboom)

Sebek loosing his shit

Malleus is at it with the accidental flirting.

General Lilia was a dumb kid back then!

The boys future children overblotted and other stuff.

Rollo regrets opening his inbox after the NRC Prophet said he gonna die in 36 years + 8 months.

The Rosehearts family is in shambles.

AR for Che’nya is about to punch Leona in the face soon-

Che’nya is still being the menace to NRC

blind0raven is in trouble for something.

@blind0raven being bullied by Che’nya for their love to Deuce

@quartztwst getting a trophy for being a huge simp

#twisted wonderland #twst #disney twisted wonderland #disney #twistedwonderland #🍮 speaking #disney twst #twst rp #twst rp weekly update #twst wonderland

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utilitycaster · 3 months

Note

The thing I've realized, in the broader Actual Play space, is that a lot of creators are trying to turn Actual Play shows into TV shows.

You mentioned Kollok in your tags, and the creator of that has mentioned creating Kollok in a way to try to appeal to the Netflix audience.

And I'm all for experimentation, but tbh if I wanted to watch a TV show, I would go watch a TV show. That's not what I'm looking for in an Actual Play and over editing and gimmicks actively turn me off from it.

Folks creating Actual Play seem to put a lot of weight on it, but I don't know if it's that important from an audience perspective.

Hey anon,

Huge same - I've been thinking about this for a while, especially in regards to choices I didn't like (notably on D20, though the Candela split screen in chapter 3, while relatively minor, felt like part of the same trend and I'm really interested in seeing whether they keep it). I actually did mean to write more about this not in the tags of a reblog, so thanks for this ask because it gives me that motivation to do it!

Earlier this year I was at an event and someone who to be totally honest I found kind of annoying was talking about Dimension 20, and I decided to keep quiet and listen to what other people had to say, and another person (whom I respect and specifically know to be like, left-leaning and inclusive and not gatekeeper dudebro type, which is relevant to the next statement) who is solidly in Gen X and has been playing D&D since at least 2e mentioned that he doesn't like Actual Play at all because he is from the era where D&D was frequently played in third person and is somewhat of a purist in that sense. Ie, this guy would say "Gawain pulls out his sword and smites the dragon, with a 24 to hit", rather than "I'm going to pull out my sword and smite the dragon." He described his idea of D&D as being very much collaborative storytelling in the sense of a bunch of third person narrators who happen to be the storytellers for one specific character, not a first-person acted scene.

I happen to like both forms of narration and am not a purist either way, and indeed use both third person and first person myself as a player (as do many actual players; you see this on CR and D20 all the time). But I think this does show just how broad this spectrum is. You have people all the way on the "I am narrating an improvised story, I am the storyteller puppeting my character and I am not trying to be immersed" side and then you have shows that are trying to push this into full immersion...but so long as you have dice rolls, you'll never achieve it.

I prefer something in between: I do love watching people act, but I really like the gears and wires! I love mechanics! I think people who say "I love actual play D&D but I don't really care for combat, only RP" don't actually like actual play D&D! This is a specific format and I do not want people to hide the fact that they are using the rules of a game and are at a table, because they are and we know it.

This came up when I and others talked about the Legend of Vox Machina adaptation: they're probably going to have to find a way to convey the same tragedy and gravity of Scanlan's ninth level counterspell that doesn't require viewers to know the mechanics, because if you watch that scene as actual play the meaning of Sam saying "Nine" is immediately apparent. It hits hard with that one single word, but that won't be the case in an animated adaptation where no one is rolling a D20. Mechanics are in intrinsic part of actual play. You can enjoy actual play without that knowledge, but a solid grounding in those mechanics will only enhance that enjoyment (well, unless you're one of those rules-lawyery weirdos who gets bitter about any GM rule of cool/homebrew that they couldn't predict from the rulebooks but those people will never be happy).

The more general context of "being in a game", not just mechanics, is also in my opinion valuable. Brennan, on a Worlds Beyond Number fireside chat, referred to certain NPCs like Caramelinda as "furious that they are in a D&D game" and it's a funny and true statement. I feel like trying to push actual play into the realm of scripted shows is that: it feels like you're trying to hide the origins, and I think the quality of the show will ultimately suffer when you do that. It feels almost ashamed of what it is, and I don't think you can make something that transforms a medium/genre/thing in between the two without having a profound love and respect for the original, even if you also find it flawed. (This is also, tbh, how I feel about a lot of attempts to divorce D&D from the fact that it is ultimately a game influenced heavily by sword-and-sorcery fantasy, or about attempts to turn high or heroic fantasy into something that neatly affirms all of one's 2024 real world political beliefs, but that's another post).

I also think that the out-of-character element of actual play is a big draw. I have been open about having complicated feelings about the parasocial and projection aspects; but those feelings are "hey, this is still a show that is a source of livelihood, you are not hanging out in someone's living room and getting weird about the fact that the CR cast no longer responds to every tweet is dumb" and "you have not been betrayed by the creators because you didn't get the plot you wanted," and "the fact that two actors sit next to each other is not, in fact, a solid basis for shipping." I am equally opposed to the idea of "the actors do not exist, only the characters do," put forward in that attempt to make actual play Netflix-ready. It's fun to watch the CR cast rib Travis for turning bright red for, as people said, pretend kissing his real wife. It's fun to watch the Intrepid Heroes heckle Brennan when he plays a villain. It's fun to hear Aabria and Erika scream at WBN plot developments and for the McElroys or the NADDPod crew to wheeze with laughter and all of these shows but CR are to a degree edited, and all leave that element in, which I think says something really important about what actual play is understood to be!

It does not escape me that the seasons/shows using heavier camera edits have often, in my opinion, sacrificed story quality for a visual style I don't even care for. I do watch prestige television, and one of the more striking cinematographic choices I've seen lately are the extremely long single take shots used on both Succession's final season (Connor's Wedding, 4x03) and The Bear's first season (Review, 1x07). Prestige TV is not doing the glitchy Neverafter stuff. Hell, I liked Sagas of Sundry: Dread and never finished Madness before it went offline and haven't made an effort to seek it out specifically because the black box theater feel of Dread felt fun and new but not too removed from actual play vibes, whereas the higher production values of Madness, ironically, made it feel too artificial and stilted to keep my interest.

Actual play is its own beast, and in trying to appeal to a new audience you're probably going to lose a lot of the one you have. A big part of why I haven't been motivated to check out Kollok is that everything I hear about it, even positive reviews, makes it sound like it's missing the things I like from actual play and doesn't achieve the level of scripted shows. Honestly I think the REAL answer here is that if you want to find a space between a Netflix drama and an Actual Play show, ditch the rules and make stuff like Midst, which is as discussed inspired by ttrpg/actual play spaces, but is broadly plotted out in advance. I think that approach can combine the best of both worlds, whereas I feel as though attempting to be a Netflix show will usually spend so much time trying to hide the fact that there's a table there that it will detract from the actual story.

#answered #Anonymous #i should probably watch an ep of kollok before passing full judgment #but like...god. everything i hear about it makes me go oh god they massacred my boy #long post #on actual play

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darthstitch · 1 year

Text

Professor Cryptid Wet Cat

Look, Professor Gadling being a secret immortal cryptid has already reached peak meme status. The Gdoc is a rabbit hole to get lost in on a rainy day.

But Professor Murphy? Hooo boy. The students are just getting started.

Nobody calls Professor Murphy by his given name of "Thomas." Like, you could try, but he's not going to respond to you, as if the name was just something tacked on for the sake of appearances.

One of the class overheard Professor G calling Professor Murphy "Dream." Now, everyone initially thought that it was just another adorable pet name (there's a running list of them in the Gdoc). But then another student who had been getting drinks at the New Inn had overheard this sweet little boy calling him "Uncle Dream." Go figure.

Here's the thing, though, "Murphy" is an Irish name but there isn't a trace of the Gaelic's music in his accent, proper RP that it normally is. Unless you're an Irish student and suddenly, there's the lilt and the sweetness of the Goídelc in his voice when he talks to you, echoes of the tales of the Children of Lir and Cu Chulainn, best heard as the bards sung them.

The language thing doesn't stop there. Professor Murphy seems to inexplicably know every language ever spoken, happily chatting away in a mix of Tagalog and English with the Filipino students, Welsh with the kids from Wales, French and Italian and Polish and Russian and Swahili and Igbo - circumnavigating the globe as neatly as you please without losing any stride. And then, going back in time, as it were, straight to Middle English.

6. Middle English, as everyone knew, was the language Professor Gadling tended to slip into from time to time and there was something unbearably sweet about how Professor G would refer to his husband as myne owne hertis rote, only for Professor Murphy to answer with my heart's gleam and that lovely little smile. But one hadn't lived until they heard both Professors absently talk to each other in Middle English as if they'd been born speaking that language and had temporarily forgotten that they were already in the 21st century.

7. Suspicions about Professor Murphy being a vampire abounded, until they had all seen him walking in sunlight, with Matthew the Raven on his shoulder. Then it became rumors about Murphy being a Twilight-variant of vampire because he literally glowed in the sun. And had so obviously sent poor Professor Gadling dot exe crashing at the sight.

8. This conversation also happened:

"Who is Edward Cullen and why would he sparkle? And why would all of you be Bella Swan?"

All of the students look at each other. And then:

"I will fong the first person who explains Twilight to poor Professor Murphy, I swear to Christ, I will fong you."

"Perhaps I should ask Matthew."

"Caw! Nevermore!"

9. One of Professor Gadling's classes had taken a trip to the Tower of London and Professor Murphy had just tagged along, much to his husband's delight. Every. Single. Raven. from the Tower had just converged on Murphy as if he were their long lost King or something, cuddling close, cawing in delight. Matthew was so obviously, adorably jealous at the whole thing and somebody could've sworn they heard a distinctly American voice holler: "HEY CLAWS OFF YOU ASSHOLES. GET YOUR OWN DREAM KING!"

10. Sometimes, the students could swear up and down that Matthew the Raven could really, truly, talk. Professor Murphy and his raven have often been seen sitting together, often with Murphy apparently showing the bird something on his smart phone or tablet, deep in discussion with him. Everyone tried very hard not to think about this too deeply, especially since Murphy would often return to the classroom with a better understanding of current jokes and memes once he'd had a "conversation" with Matthew.

11.

"Darling, why do you have a plushie of .... good lord, is this Cthulhu?"

"A gift from my students, my love. We had a rather engrossing lecture on Lovecraft the other day."

"Oh. Oh no. Don't tell me you had the same sort of thing going with him as you did with bloody Shaxbert!"

A huff. "Certainly not. Such a small-minded young man, utterly arrogant - though he did have potential. I thought to teach him a lesson by showing him how insignificant he truly was in the infinite vastness of the universe. His mind almost broke from it."

"Ah. And where does Cthulhu come into this?"

"Lovecraft had a horror of marine creatures, specifically those of the class Cephalopoda. I often took the form of this creature in my nightmare aspect. The wings were an inspired touch, I believe. He was near out of his mind with terror - some of my finest work."

"Of course you were bloody Cthulhu, why am I not surprised? My adorable little eldritch abomination..."

"Hob Gadling, there is nothing adorable about me -- a;dkjf;adlkfja;dlkf!"

12. Rose Walker's first novel Into the Night was a best seller and readers everywhere rejoiced when they heard it would become a series. Readers also fell in love with the enigmatic King of Dreams, the antagonist in Ms. Walker's book. Thus, the second novel in the series, The Prince of Stories, was eagerly awaited by many. Once again, the same mysterious voice actor did the audiobook, which quickly climbed to the top of the charts in all the platforms of its release. But what drove Professor Murphy's students into a tizzy was Ms. Walker's dedication: "For Uncle Dream, our Prince of Stories" and the following exchange:

"Professor Murphy, we didn't know you were a fan of Rose Walker."

A proud smile. "My niece has quite the story to tell. I've been looking forward to reading her next book."

"You're Rose Walker's Uncle Dream?!"

-end-

Am I writing more of what I started in this POST - yes, yes, I am.

Do you guys want to see a more complete version of the first story? It's in AO3.

#dreamling #dream of the endless #hob gadling #professor dream #professor gadling #professor mysterious and professor wet cat #i crack what i want #did i just write myself into another happy AU #yes yes i did #shhh nobody tell neil

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magicinverse · 7 months

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Red team fans some of you need to stop being assholes (I'm not talking about everyone ofc, but if the shoe fits)

Like seriously I get that your team is in disadvantage but some of u are acting like the most annoying people ever, I don't mean when you complain about the team distribution that I get

What I don't get is directly insulting the other teams, look if you are supporting someone great!! I love it, but I've seen people I've never thought I would use swear words against others: cunts, bitches, pussies etc. The amount of people I have blocked that I never thought I needed to it's crazy, some people really flip! "respect everyone and don't insult" apparently that changes now

Going to others chats to send hate, the Sunday multiple times people came to send hate to Roier's, yesterday to Etoiles, bbh and today to Fit (those are the ones I have seen cause I was there, but I don't doubt there is more) "Oh how do you know it's the team red enjoyers" because it's always people complaining about the team red favs "you killed Carre" "You don't deserve to win others have a disvantage and you are killing them" "Fuck u, Go team balls" "Go team red" (while someone is commenting about supporting THEIR team on THEIR chat) come on are you guys 3 years old? Now I'm not saying the other teams fandom don't get toxic on others chat but for some reason is mainly coming from a especific place...

Some are also completely disregarding the effort other teams put! I'm not going to say Red team didn't deserve the win they got yesterday, what I'm saying is that some are acting like Etoiles put his team on the first spot effortless when that's not true at all!!! He was tired and receiving a lot of shit from chat while still putting an effort to make his team win ALONE

"yeah but Etoiles did alone and the red team still needed all their active members to win" THE BLUE ALSO HAD LIKE 5 MEMBERS ON AND THEY STILL DIDN'T WIN!!! By that logic every team who has Etoiles has an advantage and THAT'S TRUE!! But does that mean Etoiles doesn't deserve to play or have his work completly disregarded? No!!!!!

And the first day there where also a shit ton of comments like that!! The fact that other teams have less experience is not the fault of those who have experience and are putting effort in this too!!! Not mentioning how some were assholes to the the blue team when they won

"oh but this is about the eggs lives so it's really unfair" again let me remind everyone that those are fucking npc of a minecraft game and are not hate worth it, that being said I do get that point, but let me ask? What would have been fair? And puzzle and enigma event? No. A construction event? No. A build a machine event? No. All of them in one event? Yeah! That would have been great but I think that's not what most of you wanted is it?

Don't worry guys when this events ends we are going back to the lore/puzzle events while the survival focus players will have to watch from the sidelines helping your lore/rp focus favs and wait another 7 months to have something!! Good luck to you guys who like the mod create and that kind of stuff I guess we will have to see how long it takes for you!!

quackity... SURVIVAL... multi player... ANYWAYS!!! Have a great day those who are not being completely assholes and I hope your team has great day too!! Doesn't matter which color it is

#qsmp #qsmp fandom neg #qsmp red team #Again I know it's not everyone who likes team red #But some are not “supporting you favs” they are just bullying everybody else #fandom discourse

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modernzai · 1 month

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Hmm, my name is Dazai, Dazai Osamu. I decided to check this website out because apparently a lot of the other students are on here too, so I wondered if this could cure my boredom. And anyways, if I get a chance to annoy my dearest friends Kunikida and Chuuya, who am I to refuse? I don't mind others asking me stuff too though, I'll take any chance to stir up trouble~

[OOC- hihihi, mod here, @kaiserkisser is my main blog. ive been dying to make a rp blog for ages so here i am ksadfhjskg anyways dazai my beloved <3 there is a more than 50% chance of me messing up the reblogs by doing it from either kaiserkisser or chuuya-kisser

mod uses she/they, and dazai uses he/they. no nsfw please, because i am a minor. very light suggestive stuff is ok, although not preferred. if i am uncomfortable with answering something, i will not answer it. ooc stuff will be in brackets like this: [ooc-... ]

also, mod is one of the biggest possible soukoku shippers, so this blog will be mostly skk-centric when relating to ships :D apart from that, im also alright with kunizai and kunichuzai, theyre cute <3 you can interact with ur own ships too, as long as they are legal, but they might not always receive the response you expect.

about this au: here, dazai is a first year college student, freshly 18. its a, well, modern au lmao so like, no abilities etc, just normal school. well, as normal as it can get with dazai around. naturally, it wouldnt be dazai if he didnt love to annoy the shit out of people and be smart but dumb af. i hc that he's actually good at chemistry and computers idk why.

please note: bsd itself has a number of sensitive/ heavy topics, and while this is a modern au, its still dazai here. so there might be occasional dazai-typical suicide mentions.

uhm anyways im also a bit nervous when it comes to starting interactions so pls dont mind me! id love to interact with yall <3 follow backs from kaiserkisser bc this is a sideblog]

creds: dividers by cafekitsune, all other pics from bsd mayoi

#bungou stray dogs #bsd #bsd rp #bsd roleplay #bungo stray dogs rp #dazai osamu #bsd dazai #dazai rp

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moiteneia · 4 months

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The Federation Children:

I would love if the QSMP admins connected the lore of the island's cubite residents to each other, especially q!Jaiden, q!Baghera, q!Quackitiy, and q!Cellbit. And I would love it so much that I even have a headcanon in mind :D

Well, let's review the lore of our cubite, who is stuck in Purgatory and suicidal, shall we? q!Cellbit doesn't remember much. Apparently his memory was erased, as the first memory he has is from the age of 12/14, when he was in the Hunger Games and had to eat bodies if he wanted to survive. A child who ended up in an arena and had to do everything to stay alive, seeing himself as a monster. So, after escaping from the prison from which he was sentenced after the war, he ended up in Quesadilha, already close to his thirties, he sought to redeem himself, but not only that, he sought to know what it was to truly live. And he found his own life in a family, q!Tazercraft, q!Felps, Richarlyson and, of course, his husband q!Roier, who showed him countless times that he was more than an investigator and was not a monster. q!Roier showed what love was, what it was to want the good of another person and who he was.

That is, until he discovered that the Federation was not only causing his life now, no, q!Cellbit discovered that his entire life could be different if it hadn't been for the organization that kidnapped him as a child and separated him from his biological family and his twin sister. As a result, revisiting memories, being overcome by trauma, tiredness and anger, he couldn't take it and succumbed to emptiness and despair. Now, after seeing what he thought was the death of his own son, q!Cellbit tried to kill himself in Purgatory, separating himself from those he loved who were left, trying to spare them and thinking that he only did them harm - that he it was bad for q!Roier (which we know is not true).

Now, let's move on to the lore of the other cubes.

What made the Federation arrest and take q!Cellbit was that he saw something he shouldn't have. Something so terrible that he wrote in his diary that q!Bagi, his sister, should run away and not trust anyone. Something so scary that a child tried to escape the island, even if it was by swimming.

Well, I think there is a possibility that at this point, we connect his story with that of the other three.

In the lore of q!Baghera, she discovered that she was an experiment by the Federation, being transformed or made to be a hybrid and even having her feathers plucked out in the tests that the organization carried out.

We also know that both q!Quackity and q!Jaiden have a connection to the Federation. Q!Quackity having a twin brother he was unaware of who personally plays the Federation's game, doing missions and filling in for his brother when necessary to accomplish what they want.

And q!Jaiden who talked amicably with Cucurucho countless times and has the specific nickname of Blue Bird, even having wings, like q!Baghera's.

(I would like to analyze more, but unfortunately I don't watch the three of them that much. I really apologize for that, because I love the rp of the three and their respective stories - if you want to analyze and connect them better, feel free! I would love to read it!)

However, I believe it is possible to think of little q!Cellbit, as a child, playing research while watching children from a distance, in the backyards of the Federation - a place his parents banned him from going.

So, alone and wanting to make friends besides his sister, he enters the building and sees q!Baghera being hurt. He sees q!Quacks taking tests and, upon failing, being taken to a pool to drown, as punishment. And q!Jaiden doing everything perfectly and receiving sweets that make her "happy" but unaware of where she is.

And approaching the glass, he meets the gaze of q!Baghera, who asks for help as she bleeds and, desperate, he just runs away, without noticing the security cameras that have always been watching him.

It's good to remember that Cucurucho always makes excuses for q!Cellbit and is currently and never seems to believe his confessions as a traitor to the Federation. It does missions personally for him. And as a child, q!Cellbit taught his sister about codes and messages, riddles and puzzles...

What if, the Federation used this moment as a chance to have another test subject? What if from the moment he returned to the island, being stronger, more dangerous and intelligent, the Federation just became happier? And if the "perfection" that the Federation seeks so much is in the cubits of Quesadilha Island and that's why it wants it, it fights for them to follow the Order, for them to follow what makes the organization happy? Because it's good to remember, Cucurucho's mission, at the beginning of the series, was always to make the island "happy", but the bear already said that it's not exactly for the island's residents to be happy, but his mission is for the Federation.

The happiness that is important to him does not come from them, but from the rules, from perfection, from the guinea pigs.

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