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#either it causes weird and ‘random’ effects on someone (still dangerous and painful but like. unusual) OR points of healing specifically
fowlblue · 3 months
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… AF Infection AU.
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shinsouskitten · 4 years
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Shinsou Hitoshi nsfw alphabet
damn kat back at it again with the thirst i hate myself 
Idk how I haven’t done a nsfw alphabet for my KING yet but I’m disappointed in myself for it
this post was mostly finished before the whole ‘this cold makes me feel like im dying’ thing so i just had to add a few and it was ready for publishing (bonus points if you can tell which ones were added in my cold-induced craziness)
Warnings: you know it, you love it, the thirsting of a lonely writer
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A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)
Shinsou is a king when it comes to aftercare. Hot baths, massages, cuddles, you name it. You mean the absolute world to him, and he’ll go out of his way to show that, both in and out of the bedroom
B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and their partner’s)
Shinsou can be pretty self critical, but if you pushed for an answer he’d probably say his hair, cause he knows how much you like it. For his partner, horny Shinsou would immediately go for your neck (literally too). He loves how a single kiss can turn you into putty in his hands, and he’ll leave marks in places he knows you can’t hide just to prove to the world that you’re his
C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)
Inside you, on you, he doesn’t really mind. Whatever you prefer, he’s happy with. If you want to get messy, he’s more than happy to help, but if not he’ll keep you clean (ish). Although he’s unlikely to admit it, seeing you swallow his cum ignites a fire in Shinsou, and sets up quite a few more rounds so he can give you a reward for being so good
D = Dirty secret (pretty clear, a dirty secret of theirs)
Shinsou’s pretty open with what he wants, but when you first start getting intimate there’ll be a few things he doesn’t really want to say in case he scares you away (he could never, but he still worries). He wants to experiment, but he makes sure he knows your boundaries before he suggests anything too out there. The thing he keeps secret for the longest is the desire to wrap your neck in a beautiful collar emblazoned with his name, simply cause he doesn’t want you to think it’s weird
E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)
He does his research, but hands on experience is pretty limited before you. It’s a learning curve, both of you learning what makes the other tick, what causes you the highest amount of pleasure, and what to steer clear of
F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)
Loves to see you ride him. It gives you the power to control the tempo, but also gives him a beautiful view to tip him over the edge of ecstasy. More needy Shinsou (aka when he’s in hornball mode) likes doggy style, cause it means he can pull your hair or hold you up against him and kiss your neck
G = Goofy (how serious are they in the moment?)
He’s not going to whip out a joke book in the middle of sex, but he’s also not going to act like an uptight secretary who’s only able to follow the rules (well, not unless you ask 👀) 
H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)
Keeps himself trimmed, possibly even shaved. It’s no nonsense and means it’s also more enjoyable for you if you’re giving him head
I = Intimacy (how romantic are they in the moment?)
He’s an intimate guy, but he’s also not above teasing (though there’s another letter for that so I’ll keep on intimate for now). Like I mentioned in B, Shinsou can be pretty self critical, and sometimes he can get scared that you’ll leave him if he doesn’t prove how much he loves you, which to him means intimate sex and reassurance (aka, saying ‘I love you’ every two seconds)
J = Jack off (what are their views on masturbation?)
He does it when needed. He’s not insanely horny, so chances are if he is you’re there to deal with him. But if you’re not, and he’s especially needy, he’ll most likely call you up for a little phone session. The thought of you is incredible, but being able to see and hear you is even better
K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)
I think we all know the phrase kitty, right? Well inference leads me to believe that Shinsou would be down for trying out pet play. And yes, as I mentioned before, he would 100% have a collar for you with his name on it. I don’t take criticism for that one
L = Location (favorite places to do the dance with no pants)
More traditional. Sex between the two of you means intimacy, so he’d prefer privacy. You have yet to find a surface in your house he hasn’t tried to fuck you on. That being said, your comfort is of the utmost importance to Shinsou, so if he’s going to fuck you over the kitchen counter, he’s going to make sure you feel comfortable while he does it. So yes, that means he’ll take pillows off the sofa’s just to make you comfy
M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going, etc)
You. Simple as. There are certain things that especially turn him on, such as you biting your lip or being extra attentive to him in what would seem like a normal scene to anyone else watching. Put your hand on his thigh when out at dinner and pay the price when you get home. Or maybe that was your plan all along
N = No (turn offs, something they wouldn’t do)
Shinsou never wants you to be in pain (well not unless you want to be in pain). He’ll leave hickies all over you, but that’s about as far as he’ll go with marking you. Maybe a spank here and there, but he won’t scar you or leave any marks that won’t be gone in a few days
O = Oral (do they prefer giving or receiving? how skilled are they?)
Shinsou prefers giving, but he’ll never say no to receiving either. He wants you to feel good, but if you decide to turn the tables he’s not going to deny you. Once you’re finished though, he’s repaying the favor tenfold. And just as a note, pull his hair when he goes down on you. He adores it
P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)
Yes and yes. It all depends on the situation, his mood, the usual things. He’ll do whatever provides you with the most pleasure (while also allowing him to tease you)
Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies)
He doesn’t love them, but if they’re the only way to get some gratification then he’s willing (only if you are though). He’s careful about location, he doesn’t want someone walking in and ruining the whole thing, even if the risk of being caught makes everything a little more exciting. Chances are he won’t engage in quickies unless he’s been to the place at least once before (he wants to know which wall you’d look best pinned to). He has to feel slightly comfortable in the environment
R = Risk (how risky are they willing to be?)
He’s down for a little risk, but nothing that would be too mortifying for you. If he’s going to screw you somewhere other than your home, he’s going to vet the place over a lot, and find the best place where you have the comfort of being private but the thrill of being caught if someone were to venture too close to your hideout
S = Stamina (how long do they last? how many rounds?)
Freaking hell where does he get it from? Like, he just doesn’t stop. Not that that’s a bad thing, mind you. Most of the rounds consist of him pleasing you, and he’ll only give in and finally fuck you when your throat is hoarse from begging, or when he feels the smallest amount of pity at the tears rolling down your face (did someone say crying kink)
T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them on a partner or themselves?)
Vibrating panties. I said he doesn't physically act on desires when in public, but touching a remote isn’t the same thing as touching you, so he makes an exception. He’s not insanely cruel. For him it’s more about teasing that mortification, so if someone senses something���s wrong, he turns off the remote until they give up. But the moment they’re gone, it’s back stronger than ever
U = Unfair (how much do they tease?)
*roblox oof sound effect*
Once Shinsou gains his confidence with you, he’s not going back. His teasing is often coupled with praise, telling you how good you’re being for him while he denies you pure bliss again and again. He’ll edge you to hell and back if you give him the chance, but don’t worry, it’s worth it in the end
V = Volume (how they sound, how loud they are, etc)
Small moans and louder grunts are the main sounds coming from Shinsou when he’s enjoying himself. He swears a lot, and it’s always easy to tell how close he is to the edge by how creative his swears become. As for his partner, he wants to know how well he’s doing. He wants to hear you whine and beg while he edges you, and the pornstar-like moans that fill the air when he finally gives in and gives you what you really want
W = Wild card (a random headcanon)
You think I forgot about his quirk. Ha, I could never. I said in my hcs that it takes a while for Shinsou to integrate quirk use into sex. As much as you assure him you’re in full trust, he’s anxious about the inability to say no when he has you under his control. The longer you’re together the more willing he is, but even when he does use it it’s usually a way to make edging even more dangerous, with you unable to resist his words when he tells you you’re not allowed to cum just yet
Okay maybe we have 2 wild cards this time cause I also wanna mention his capture weapon. Again, it’ll take a while for it to be available in a less-than-pg manner, but he’s more willing to use his capture weapon than his quirk. Main reason being, you can still use a safeword when tied up. But tying up goes both ways, so even if he prefers to be the one giving the pleasure, he’d never deny your wishes
X = X-ray (let’s have a looksee in those pants)
I’m trying not to be biased cause I love him so much but I feel like Shinsou’s kinda packing. A good 8.5-9 inches (no, I won’t take criticism) and on the skinnier side. But the amount of attention he gives you before his pants are even off means taking him is never difficult
Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)
Not the highest, but when you’re around it increases significantly. He’s not going to fuck you every time he sees you (I mean, he thinks about it) but he also isn’t a nun. It’s a good level, cause most days you can walk, and then on the weekends you’re a little bedridden
Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)
He’s a bit of an insomniac, so screwing the energy out of him is one of the best ways to get Shinsou tired enough to sleep. He likes to hold you, so once he’s satisfied with the aftercare, he’ll crawl in bed for cuddles until the both of you pass out
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izukuwus · 4 years
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Picks and Locks
A/N: Izumonth day 16! For the rest of the lineup, head over here!
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Summary: You stumble across a suspicious student from another course, apparently trying to break into a random lock. Might as well help him out, right? (support course!Izuku x reader)
Warnings: uhhhh there’s a handcuff at one point and implied bullying but that’s bout it
Word Count: 2100+
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"What are you doing?"
The question is simple—no accusations, no hostility, nothing but pure curiosity—but it still causes the boy in front of you to flinch violently, his quiet muttering cutting off in a quiet 'eep!'. His hands freeze on the padlock he's working with, and if you're not mistaken, that's a makeshift shim he's trying to wriggle into the lock.
"Are you… trying to pick that lock?"
You'd been wandering the halls of UA after classes finished for the day, having no cause to stay but not quite wanting to go home yet, only to stumble across what appears to you to be a fellow first year trying to break open the lock on a toolbox.
"I-it's not what it looks like!" he yelps, turning around with a clatter as the toolbox slips from his lap. "T-this is my toolbox, I just... Someone stole the key to the lock, so I was trying to get it open..."
The boy before you at least has the presence to look ashamed at his actions. "Sorry, I'll get out of your way."
You frown. "You're going to cut your hand using a shitty shim like that. Have you ever picked a lock before?"
His mouth hangs open, and eventually, he shakes his head. "Uh, no, I was—"
You click your tongue, sitting on the floor beside him and rifling through your bag for something. "Let me help you." When your hand closes around the leather casing, you rejoice silently, laying your lockpicking kit out beside you and pulling out a proper shim. As you begin to work it into the lock, you give the boy a solid once-over out of the corner of your eye.
He's kinda cute, in a weird, plain way. Freckles dance among the pink painting his cheeks—either he's naturally flushed, or he's blushing, you're not sure which—and unruly green curls sit atop his head. He leans in to inspect the work you're doing on his lock, brilliant green eyes taking in every movement of your hands.
You wiggle the shim as best you can, but the lock doesn't want to give. "Maybe it needs two...?" you mumble, reaching for another and sliding it down the other side of the lock. With just a bit more work, the padlock clicks open, the contents of the toolbox freed.
"Ha! Success!" you cheer, turning to hand the opened lock over to the nervously silent boy. The moment you do, you're startled by the feeling of something clicking in place around your wrist and jerking you towards him. His own wrist is jerked into place, followed by another click, and it takes you a very long moment to realize that some guy just handcuffed you to this poor, shy stranger.
"...um."
The perpetrator bolts, laughing and shouting something over his shoulder about having fun. The boy you're now attached to flinches, remaining silent; you'd be concerned for him if you weren't still processing the sudden errant handcuffing. He doesn't even seem surprised.
You wave your free hand in front of the boy's face. "Hey, are you okay? Are you used to random assholes handcuffing you to strangers?"
He flushes, flinching. The motion jerks your wrist a little. Fucker definitely cuffed you too tight. "N-no, I—sorry, you were just trying to help and—" Tears pool in the corners of his eyes.
"Woah, hey. You're okay. It's not that big a deal, right?" You flash him a reassuring smile, slowly dropping your cuffed hand to rest between the two of you. "Seriously, does that kind of stuff happen to you a lot? Do you want me to come with you to talk to a teacher? I'm sure someone will—"
"I-it's okay, really! Sorry for worrying you. H-here, I can help you carry your stuff to one of the support labs and work on getting that cuff off of you."
You work on packing up your lockpicking tools one-handed, keeping your smile present as the boy wipes his eyes. "It's no big deal! My quirk lets me manipulate metal with enough concentration. I can take a look at it real fast." You concentrate on the metal at hand (or wrist, in this case), trying to morph it enough to release your wrist...
...
.....
"Um. So that's an issue."
"W-what is?"
"Either these aren't metal, or my quirk's broken."
He peers at the handcuffs again, face going pale. "Oh no. I recognize these..."
You tilt your head, finally managing to get your lockpicking kit into your bookbag. "Elaborate?"
"I made them," he admits, though he doesn't look too pleased. "They're quirk-reducing cuffs. A prototype. Come on, I'm going to have to disassemble them if Saionji-kun still has the keys."
"'Quirk-reducing'?" you question as he leads you to an unfamiliar part of the school. "Not quirk-cancelling?"
"N-no, um, so... Some people have quirks that severely alter their bodies, right? In some cases, they just look different from normal. But some quirks cause their users to produce stuff that could be really harmful to them if their quirk got completely cancelled, like if they naturally have glass in their body, or maybe they naturally produce a chemical that's normally dangerous to other people. I-I'm trying to develop cuffs that restrain the wearer without potentially severely harming them if they have a quirk like that."
Your eyes light up. "I see! That's a really good point! How far along are these, compared to what you're going for?"
"Well... I'm still fine-tuning them," he admits, rubbing the back of his neck. "Right now, I've managed to find an alternate method of quirk cancellation than the cuffs already on the market, and I'm trying to see how much I can scale it back while still effectively subduing a villain."
He stops and maneuvers the door to the lab open, sparing you a glance. "I-it might be a little loud, Hatsume-san's inventions tend to be a bit... explosive."
The teacher, a shirtless man with some weird fucking helmet on his head, spares the two of you a questioning look as you enter. The boy leads you over. "U-um, I know I haven't put in a request to use the lab after hours today, b-b-but, um, it's kind of an emergency..." He bows, raising your linked wrists.
The teacher scoffs. "How'd you end up cuffed like that?"
The boy stiffens. "Um! Y-y-you see, it was an accident, a-and I lost the k-key, and—"
You raise an eyebrow, but for now, you remain silent. Maybe he's just shy, and that dude really was his friend playing a prank. "I'm really clumsy, Sensei," you lie, bowing as best you can while your wrist is still cuffed to his. "I was helping him with a broken lock and I messed with his cuffs without asking and tripped, and we have no idea where the key is."
"Well, I can't very well let you kids be stuck together. Have at it, just don't blow anything up or touch anything, even if it doesn't look like it'll explode."
You nod, and the boy leads you by the hand to a free workbench. You set his toolbox on the table in front of you, and he somehow managed to wrangle his arm around until you're stretched across the table. Helpfully, you push the toolbox within his reach. 
The boy sets to work immediately, lower lip sticking out in a pout as he begins searching for the right tools. "I-I'm sorry again, about all this."
"Don't be. So, you're a support course student?"
He nods, something like pain in his eyes. "Yeah."
"You don't seem very happy about it," you observe. Maybe you're more alike than you thought. 
The boy doesn't respond for a moment. When he does, it's so quiet you almost don't hear it over the noises of... Whatever the hell that pink-haired girl is doing in the background.
"I guess I'm not."
You frown. He looks wounded at his own words, intently focusing on unscrewing the cuff on his wrist as though his eyes aren't shining at the admission.
"I know I'm a total stranger, but you've got my wrist, you know. I can lend an ear, too, if you ever wanna talk."
He flinches like he's wounded at your offer, the motion jerking your wrist and torso unfairly. You wince as your chest hits the bench. "Ah! S-sorry, sorry! I just... I'm not used to people offering stuff like that. I wouldn't want to trouble you."
"I won't force you, but I think we might be similar. I'm not where I want to be either."
His eyes flicker to study your face before concentrating on the cuffs. "You're not?"
"Nah. I hurt my wrist pretty bad the day of the entrance exam and didn't perform half as well as I could have. I don't even know if I would have made it into the hero course if I were at my best, but now I'll never know, y'know?"
He swallows, nods. "What course are you in now?"
"I ended up in General Studies," you admit sheepishly. "I'm going to try to transfer into the hero course if I can, but in the meantime I feel like I'm missing out on so much. It fucking sucks."
He flinches, the screwdriver slipping from its drive from the motion. "I couldn't make it into the hero course either," he admits quietly. "It's always been my dream, but..." The boy falls silent, re-slotting his screwdriver and finally managing to unscrew the piece of his cuff that he was working on.
You frown. "I'm sorry to hear that. Are you going to try to transfer, or...?"
He shakes his head. "I should have given up years ago."
"Hey, don't say that! I'm sure you'd be a great hero. I think people who can build stuff like these cuffs are pretty amazing too, though. I don't have the mind for this stuff. Pretty much all I'm good at is fighting."
He shoots you a pained smile as he finally frees his wrist from the cuff, moving to disassemble the cuff on your wrist now that both his hands are freed. "You wouldn't be saying that if you knew me. Thanks, though. For trying to be nice."
You frown. "I'm serious! You're kinda timid, but you seem really nice. You can train to fight, but you can't teach someone compassion."
"It doesn't matter," he insists, and you swear you see a stray tear slip down his cheek. "I'm quirkless. E-even... Everyone's always said I can't be a hero like that, and they're right."
"What the fuck" leaves your mouth before you can even think about it. "That's so shitty! Who the hell's going around saying rude shit like that?"
He blinks in shock. "It's... not that big of a deal. I'm used to that sort of thing, so..."
"You shouldn't be," you frown. "It's not right or fair."
Your words don't seem to help the boy at all. He simply turns back to working on your cuff in silence with a sad look on his face. 
"If you ever decide you want to try to transfer, I could use a training buddy?" you offer, angling yourself awkwardly to pull out your phone and slide an empty contact over to him. "Or, you know, if you just want to talk. I don't really have a lot of friends in general studies, or at all, so, um."
The boy's face flushes. "Y-you, um, yeah! Sure! Sounds great, let me, um—" He pops off the piece holding the cuff in place on your wrist, allowing it to finally come loose and free your wrist. Just as fast, he's shakily entering his name and number into your phone. "—I uh, I never got your name," he admits quietly, words almost lost beneath the noise of the support lab.
You flush. "Oh! I'm so sorry, god, no wonder I struggle to make friends. [full name], it's good to meet you! Thanks for helping get the cuff off me, and uh. If you want, I can tell off that guy who stole your key and stuff for you?"
"Oh, no, that's r-really okay!" the boy yelps, sliding your phone back over to you. "M-My name's Midoriya Izuku. Thanks for helping me with my lock earlier."
"No, don't mention it! I should be getting home soon, but I'll text you, alright?" You roll your wrist, rubbing at where the cuff had dug into the skin slightly. Now that you're free, you slip your bookbag back onto your back, grab your phone, and give the Midoriya boy a little wave on your way out.
He watches you go, rubbing his own wrist with flushed cheeks.
Maybe it's worth giving transferring at least one shot, he thinks. If for no other reason than to have an excuse to train with you.
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Tags: @tooloudarts​ @sapid-rose​ @xxangelpridexx​ @birds-have-teeth​ @icythotsenpai​ @warmchoccymilk​ @wesparklebitch​ @izoodles​ @fujimoribaby​ @my-bnha-things​ @denise-the-death-goddess​ @themerpenguin​ @sincerebubbles​ @fudobaby​
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ketchup-monthly · 3 years
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Sanders Sides D&D 2
Ooh fresh take: Jan is virge’s patron and that’s why there’s beef
Also: Jan is some sort of fae related being
Jan: i need you to do something for me Virgil: no Janus: that's not how this works!! Virgil: watch me :P
Okay so I was thinking of Patton as a cleric cuz ooh healer however, Patton as a Druid makes me so happy
I want logan to have Rage
(Also that could tie nicely in an arc about Logan learning to accept feelings)
but barbarian logan is going to be a scholar again and is gonna be smort
bc hes logan. he cant be not smart
Oh I figured he’d be the bbeg that eventually joins the party (hurt/comfort baybee!)(Remus)
he was the bbeg but then joined the party as a bardbarian or just a bard
plus, actual bard who accidentally casts vicious mockery instead of bardic inspiration
Side note: please include a scene where Remus attempts to seduce the dragon
also with this second au, i can start them at like level 5 so people can multiclass
Pat as cleric/druid
gasp logan as artificer/barbarian
janus sorcerer/rogue
because basically everything but alchemist would work well with barbarian, but alchemist feels very Logan
bc mad scientist being actually mad
alchemist logan making an experimental potion and going "here im not sure what this does but im sure its fine! someone drink it"
Remus does it voluntarily, but Logan usually tries to get Roman to drink it
Virgil will occasionally drink it when he's on his last legs and is just like.....100% done with the party
remus as a wild magic path barbarian and just fucking teleporting or doing something equally ridiculous whenever he rages
Oh my god Remus with rage would be a force to be reckoned with
You gotta describe the first time he goes into a rage really dramatically
obviously virgil is trying to "escape" his patron, Janus (really just do whatever he says to not do out of spite)
Eldritch knight roman
Feywild warlock virgil
hey so in the second d&d au, should roman and remus be actual full siblings but like remus went darkside and like romans just trying to get back at him for putting a dark stain on the family name
hey hey hey what about warforged Logan? (essentially a robot)(so like "i dont feel anything" becoming real)
okay hear me out. elf roman and elf base simic hybrid remus. so like maybe the reason remus went darkside was experimentation? so like. hes elf but special
FALLEN AASIMAR VIRGIL
virgil just transforming in the middle of a combat scenario and like his eyes turn into black pits and flightless skeletal wings appear on his back and like everyone near him has to make a charisma check and like he deals extra necrotic damage
Pat is the one human stuck in a band of misfits
so with it, roman would be a full elf, and remus would be an elf that has tentacles bc octopus
So robot logan
i meant literally he doesnt feel anything
like he has all the emotions, but he doesnt physically feel the need to like eat or sleep or stuff like that
he just.....he pretend he don't have the feelings.....but he do.....he feel so much and he hides it all in his littol mechanical heart <3
plus......if he warforged, then like.....AC huge
he stands in front of friends.....he protecc...."no, i don't have feelings, i am physically incapable of affection" but he do!! he do! he take hits for them because he do!! he care so much
Bro he spouts all this and then he uses a reaction to dive in front of someone and everyone’s just like oh
LIKE ROMAN STILL BEING MEAN TO LO BC HE THINKS HE DOESNT HAVE FEELINGS BECAUSE HE DOESNT HAVE A HEART BUT HE DOES
hey hey everyone needs to grow
and logan standing up for himself and other people stepping in and saying no stop thats not right
plus if canon wont give me roman facing the consequences of his actions towards Logan......
but also Roman learning how to properly handle his own emotions and how he interacts with others
logan who doesn't view himself as anything more than a machine to be useful to others
the party giving logan love and affection until he slowly learns his own worth as a person
Roman and Logan not getting along (maybe Roman has a Lore reason to distrust Warforged, maybe not) and slowly learning to trust each other
when Logan is feeling real down or having some issue, Roman actually comes through to help him, showing how far both characters have come
Okay yes but also can we please give Roman more confidence than canon? Like I’m sooooo sick of low self esteem being played for laughs or just being really really sad
this boy is going on a mission and will slap his brother upside the head and tell him to shut tf up remus youre not a monster just come back home and he will do it alone if need be
OKAY SO WHAT IF HE ORIGINALLY WENT ON THE QUEST JUST TO STOP REMUS ONCE AND FOR ALL BC ROMAN THOUGHT HE WAS A MONSTER, BUT ALONG THE WAY, AND AFTER LOGAN, HE CAME TO REALIZE THAT NO, JUST BECAUSE REMUS (AND LOGAN) ARE DIFFERENT, THEY ARENT MONSTERS, JUST DIFFERENT
AND LIKE IN THE FINAL PUSH TO MAKE REMUS JOIN BACK WITH HIS BROTHER, ROMAN IS PROJECTING HIS OWN FEELINGS ONTO REMUS AND EVERYONE IS LIKE WOW BRO YOU GOOD THERE, BUT ITS A BIG MOMENT FOR LOGAN, ROMAN, AND REMUS
im unsure as to how, but it happened when he was an older teen/young adult. a simic scientist either picked him (read: kidnapped), or remus volunteered (potentially to escape court life, unaware what exactly the experiment was going to do to him physically
bc also, remus and roman are royalty
so like. how best to get at the nobes/royalty/rich famous people than by turning their kid into a monster
wait, wait, wait, because i'm lowkey a sucker for this trope, but i'm not sure if it fits Remus: the experiments left him with some fairly significant physical pain/uncontrolled magical reactions. through some combo of trying to deal with that and trying find a cure for his pain, he keeps like....absolutely wrecking random towns on accident but also deliberately wrecking certain places looking for either a) vengeance on the guy(s) responsible or b) someone who can make the pain stop
SO LIKE. WILD MAGIC BARBARIAN DOING WEIRD SHIT TO HIM WHENEVER HE RAGES
AND LOGAN COULD MAYBE HELP WITH THE PAIN AND SHIT
BC ALCHEMY
Yknow, for simplification purposes, we could say the True Bbeg just gave Remus lycanthropy and Remus hasn’t managed to control it yet
lycanthropy but simic shit?
Mr. I-Don't-Have-Feelings sees the poor dude in pain and also Roman in emotional pain from seeing his brother in pain and is absolutely like "i must resolve this like right now, immediately" because he definitely doesn't hate seeing his friend suffering, or his friend's brother whom he's just met
he definitely doesn't relate at all to the idea of someone else shaping your body and absolutely does not sympathize with Remus's plight
i was thinking the grappling thing and either manta glide or the ability to breathe underwater for the simic stuff, but like he doesnt have control over the tentacles yet?
Manta glide seems like we could have fun battle scenes
he just jumps off a cliff to avoid mushy talk/dealing with his actions/roman
Roman: Remus just because you're a monster and though i wish i was an only child-- Remus, jumping off a cliff: byyeeeeee Patton: Roman, look what you did! Virgil: dammit jan what did you do? Janus: why do you think i had anything to do with that? im a fae, not a genie Logan, thinking: what an asshole. i wish i could do that
oh my god Logan always being tired mentally bc he cant sleep
Oh my gosh I love that. So Remus got kidnapped super young, (from royal family) they never found him, as a result Roman had to grow up super fast (side effect: lowkey inconsiderate and forgets to ask for others input). Meanwhile, Remus was experimented on by True Bbeg and came out with some trauma and super cool additives
yep! chronic pain and ptsd and all sorts of other shit!
so like, simic hybrids are usually created when they're adults. but what if the true bbeg decided to go younger to see what would happen, and thats why remus has chronic pain and stuff
he was still growing when his genes were spliced, so hes dealing with growth plates shifting and his body maturing and puberty and body changes and stuff
Pat is going to have a lighthearted story. Im saying that now. Hes the one without all the baggage
Sure, but his parents have to lowkey be the really kind people who are surprisingly always down for violence
everyone: multiple crises Pat: y'all need help Pat: love and affection in spades for his little band of misfits
Patton (which I think would be pretty simple, honestly he might just see danger and jump in and suddenly everyone in the party has Feelings)
Logan
Mhm. So how did he grow up? Was he just poof created? Wait
What if he was created by the king?
To make up for remuss disappearance
wait, wait....angst......he was created to fight (hence the barbarian stuff) but alchemy is his real passion
wait so like. a second son???
hes there to replace remus?
Yea! (But like in a sympathetic grief way) But that causes a bit of a complex in Roman and ergo Roman and Logan have a bit of a beef
okay so like. hes there to be a companion for roman, and like take remus' place, even though hes not actually in line for the throne?
LOGAN AS A KNIGHT
and just......the conflict of being created for a specific purpose (plus being, you know, robot and technically incapable of deviated from said purpose) vs the fact that he actually does have independent consciousness and like....wants to live life for himself
the parents made Logan a barbarian in hopes that him and Roman would be safe
okay. so logan was created by the king with the sole purpose to take remus' place as romans brother/companion, and to be his like guard? protector? and fight, but logan wants to be an alchemist and study shit
wait, wait, wait.....thinks about Asimov's Laws
he.....his first operative is protect (specifically protect Roman)
oh man. so hes literally just a shield
his second level operative is just like.....care for Roman's emotional well-being, but he doesn't really know emotions because he was kinda just spawned and nobody told him how
and he just....kind of....lets Roman treat him like garbage and take all his grief out on him because he's staunchly in denial of both having feelings or knowing how they work
Anyway Yea so Logan created by royal family in place of Remus which created angst between the two “brothers” and identity issues in Logan. Their arcs are learning how to healthily process emotions plus Roman apology and Logan commits to alchemy
So big question: why did virge make a deal?
Tricked
he gave janus his name
and instead of janus like killing him or whatever the fae do to people who break the rules of dealing with the fae, jan was like. hey. i'll give you magic, but do what i say
Janus is lawful neutral, but leans towards being selfish
hes self serving, but he has a strong set of morals and rules he follows
Tho I want to Virgil to also not be pushover so let’s say loophole happened and Jan has to stay with virge (hence why Jan is a part of the party)
okay so a couple of the rules are dont give a fae your true name and don't try to figure out their true name
So
what if virgil accidentally gave up part of his true name, and got stuck in the deal, but then figured out janus' true name
so in the same vein that janus had control over virgil, virgil now has more control over janus
he still gets his magic from janus, so he cant break free completely, but virgil has more freedom and can occasionally tell janus what to do or when to shove it
there should a running gag where virge can explain how he learned Jan’s true name but Jan can make something loudly censor him every time
(he learned his name bc once he heard janus practicing his evil genius voice and talking to himself in the mirror and janus said his true name)
so maybe janus sent virgil on the quest to protect a town or stop something related to remus, but virgil dragged him along
he might just be trying to protect a town thats close to a ley line, or something fae-related, and they just happen upon the whole thing
janus is selfish. but lawful vs chaotic is where he comes through, in morals vs doing whatever. janus has a strong set of loyalties to the fae, and to himself
so like....Remus is just too close to Jan's stuff and he wants to take him down
Virgil is just like....exhausted and said "fine, but if i gotta do this, you're coming, too"
or at least figure out a way to protect his place, even if it doesnt mean fully taking out remus. just moving him would work for jan
Janus: virgilllllllllll hes going to mess up my magic storage locker Virgil: Jan, its empty Janus: but its mine
Yea. Remus attacks a city away from the fae: Jan: Yknow I’m gonna sit this one out Virge: oh no you don’t, get up
Or
Janus vs Janice
so his real name is Janus, but Virgil calls him Janice
Virgil: This is Janice Janice: with a “U-S” Virgil: mhm, sure Jan
I'm a big fan of just like any of the old theory name being various aliases for Jan
Damien, Dante, Ethan, Declan, etc, etc
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thewindsofsong · 3 years
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Ok ok ok!!! So last night I had a dream that I rec’ed a dmbj/svsss crossover fanfic, but never actually read the fic. Then I woke up because my cat was yowling in the middle of the night.
After talking with @1ebilcat and @merinnan for a while, I managed to flesh out a basic outline of what that fic might look like. Please know that because this is a crossover with svsss, there is papapa mentioned. several times.... (nothing actually explict is described because that would make this not a not-fic)
So one day SQQ and SQH are messing around trying to figure out what this new “unique one of a kind treasure” does when SQH accideny drops some melon seeds on it or something and it suddenly activates.
Meanwhile in dmbj world, the Iron Triangle are pretty much retired from the whole tomb raiding business, but still run Wushanju (better now that wu xie actually concentrates on running it instead of running off every week). Someone comes in with a strange artifact that they found while clearing out a deceased relatives store room they want to sell. Wu xie buys it because he’s never seen anything like it before and wants to research it.
Xiaoge gets super weird vibes from the object, but it doesn’t seem overtly menacing, so he leaves wu xie be (if wu xie is preoccupied he gets in marginally less trouble). However, when xiaoge touches the object with wu xie and Pangzi nearby, it grows a point and gives xiaoge a paper cut. The blood touches the object and it activates.
One blinding flask of light and disorienting tumble latter, they find themselves at the foot of a picturesque mountain with a gate that labels them at the foot of cang qiong mountain. They’re quickly found by the cang qiong crew and everyone is super weird out by each other. Things happen and eventually LBH crashes in and says his shizun is missing mobei-jun is there too because SQH is also missing. More communication happens and everyone realizes this is the artifact’s fault. No one knows where the artifact is.
Meanwhile SQQ and SQH wake up someone completely unfamiliar to either of them. After using magic to light things up, they see that they are in a tomb absolutely covered in different depictions of penises: there’s pictures on the walls, statues of men with WAY TOO BIG penises, sooooo many dildos. Queue SQQ immediately launching himself at SQH with a shriek of outrage because “THERE’S NO WAY THIS ISN’T YOUR FAULT YOU SHITTY HACK AUTHOR!!”
Back with the iron triangle, there’s a research montage going on as they and other CQ sect member scour the libraries for any information about the mcguffin that caused all this randomness. At some point in all of this, iron triangle go to MQF to see if he can take a look at Xiaoge regarding his memory problems. After some more research, MQF learns about an herb that could stabilize his qi and stabilize the fluctuations that cause his amnesia.
Turns out that while proper cultivation doesn’t exist in dmbj world, the Zhang family line has managed to cultivate the family line to extended life but because they’re the only ones that can (maybe due to bronze gate?) it has a lot of dangers. 
The herb needed is of course incredibly rare and only found in some horribly dangerous location. Xiaoge wants to go alone because he doesn’t want wu xie and pangzi to be in danger, but knows that they won’t be left behind. There’s some agnst had about how Xiaoge feels he’s brought pain and suffering to wu xie and pangzi, but of course neither of them are having any of it. The three of them talk about how they’ve never regretted meeting each other and how the adventures they’ve shared have brought meaning and joy into their lives. 
The three of them cobble together some hotpot and spend the night before setting off soaking their feet side by side, content and secure in their bonds with each other. Its very sweet. 
The next day, the three of them set off with LQG and LBH. Right before arriving at the location, bullshit happens and Iron Triangle get trapped in the location where the herb is located and trigger a wife plot in which papapa is the only way out. Iron triangle proceeds to have incredibly kinky marathon sex. LBH and LQG can only listen awkwardly from the boundary, not able to get through, but also not wanting to leave completely just in case something else happens. The sexual tension between LBG and LQG grows to new heights. Neither will do anything about it until SQQ is back home safe. 
After the marathon is over and iron triangle has time to actually sleep, the three of them get cleaned up with the herb in tow and head back to Cang Qiong. They get the herb to MQF who tells them it will take at least a day to prepare the pill for xiaoge to take. That night, Iron triangle has sweet, tender, affirming sex because while they all agree that while xiaoge not losing his memories every few decades is for the better, it also means that he’ll have to carry the memories of wu xie and pangzi long after they’er gone, with no hope of them ever being together again.  Xiaoge assures wu xie and pangzi that this is what he wants, to know that at least at some point, he loved and was loved, that he had a connection to this world and that his life has meaning beyond his obligations to the Zhang clan. Wu xie and pangzi make xiaoge promise to live on after they pass and to find him in their next lives.
Xiaoge takes the pill and the search for a way back home continues again in earnest. Eventually, LBH travels back to the demon realm and figures out how to track the artifact through space and time because his protag halo is too strong to keep him away from his love interest for too long. 
Wu xie and pangzi learn some basic meditation techniques that disciples would learn when first arrive at the mountain. Its too late for them to cultivate to longevity and there’s no guarantee that its even possible in their home world to cultivate if you aren’t a Zhang. Regardless, wu xie and pangzi don’t want immortality, they just want to spend as much time as they can with xiaoge. Wu xie is gifted a flute made with special bamboo and pangzi is gifted a wine jug from Zui Xian Peak. Both have spiritual properties that may or may not be able to function when back home, but they’er good gifts given in good faith. 
LBH, losing patience, forces iron triangle to get moving so he can save SQQ. He bursts through time and space and iron triangle plus LBH, MBJ, and LQG end up in dmbj world, in Wushanju. After scaring the crap out of Wang Meng, the group realizes that while several days have passed in svsss world, its only been a few hours since iron triangle was pulled away. Which is good because Ershu was likely to call in an army if wu xie went missing for no apparent reason. The whole thing would have been way too messy. Probably more than one person would have died. 
What follows is a night of LBH, LQG, and MBJ attempting different divination spells to try and pin point the exact location of SQQ and SQH to varying degrees of success. None of them are good at divination. Regardless, the three of them manage to get a general location of where the two missing peak lords might be and the iron triangle gets to work searching the internet for any rumors or information of any tombs that might be in the area. (Its just wu xie and pangzi looking, but xiaoge standing around still in his beautiful borrowed robes from CQ is good moral support.) 
They hear about some local legends about an ecentric noble from a bygone era that was buried in a very peculiar tomb. Potential tomb located, the whole group prepares to head out. the SVSS gang is convinced to not fly over immediately because that would be waaaaay to flashy and draw unwanted attention to them that would delay things even more. The six of them cram in together into the van and head off. Svss gang are forced into modern clothing and are def a little too big to comfortably sit in the van. LBH hits his head on a doorway at least once on this adventure. At lease two women and maybe a guy slip their numbers to him too. The man is supernaturally gorgeous.
After some more road trip shenanigans,  they arrive at the rumored entrance to the tomb and head in. The tomb has a few traps here and there, but is practically child’s play for the iron triangle to get through. Svsss are appropriately impressed by their competence and LBH and LQG think specifically about how the iron triangle is a true threesome that supports each other and fights together. MBJ just wants his hamster boy back. 
When they near the central chamber of the tomb, they hear the faint sounds of fighting which spurs SVSSS to speed ahead while iron triangle tries to get them to at least be a little cautious about setting off traps. 
The sight that LBH sees when he breaks into the main chamber like the kool aid man is a disheveled SQQ beating SQH over the head with a baton? Kind of. Its a baton carved into the shape of a penis. SQQ immediately stops and tries to put on his “peerless immortal cultivator” mask on with a flick of his fan, but its hard for that to be effective when your hair is all over the place and your in a room covered in penises. SQH dives for his king’s thighs and cries in relief that he’s no longer trapped in a room full of dildos and penises with SQQ. 
Then the iron triangle catches up and the realization that SVSSS gang is in modern clothing sinks in. The transmigrators freeze for just a second before jumping in front of iron triangle with a thousand questions. They ask in their shitty English which leaves answering the questions mostly to wu xie because pangzi’s english is pretty spotty and xiaoge doesn’t like talking in general, let alone a foreign language.
The whole group eventually leaves the tomb and all its phallic glory behind and get above ground where there’s phone service again. After a bit of searching, the transmigrators realize that while this world is very similar to their original world, there’s no signs of “Proud Immortal Demon Way” ever being written here, no other signs pointing to the two of them existing in this world. SVSS gang are very concerned as they watch SQQ and SQH talk in a strange language to these relative strangers, but don’t feel like its the time to figure out whats going on until everyone gets back home. The now expanded group makes their way back to Wushanju in an even more cramped road trip back. SQQ absolutly ends up in LBH’s lap at least once and SQH ends up with MBJ’s head in his lap at some point. its all very cute as the feeling of everyone being accounted for and safe settles in. 
Maybe there’s some stuff about SQQ and SQH being transmigrators and them being tempted for all of half a second to stay in this world that is so very much like their original world but choosing to go back with their lovers and the lives they’ve made for themselves. 
As the complete SVSSS gang now gets ready to head back home, the Iron triangle makes a huuuuge goody bag of all the snacks and treats that SQQ and SQH have been missing ever since they’ve transmigrated and put together a basic netbook plus solar charger for them to take back. There won’t be internet service back in SVSS world, but they loaded it up with a whooole bunch of web novels and pop songs, along with a few spare parts. 
SVSSS gang finally makes their way home after having a large farewell dinner at Wushanju at Pangzi’s insistence and LBH bullies his way into helping out. Its a very sweet scene of laughing and drinking. After dinner is done, SVSSS decide to go back immediately because the time dilation thing would mean they would be away for longer than they would like. 
Once back home, LBH, SQQ, and LQG have a confrontation/conversation about their relationships with each other and figure out if they want to try being all together, all three of them. MBJ confines SQH to his northern palace. Specifically their bedroom. He was also the one that remembered to grab the artifact that caused all these problems to begin with while everyone else was distracted by dildo tomb.
Iron triangle goes back to their retirement, at peace with the decisions they’ve made and the lives they’ve chosen to live.
THE END!!!
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cutekitteninky · 4 years
Text
Dolos
Megane's home planet
!!Warning!! This post will contain some dark themes.
So its time for me to ramble again! So im not going to talk much about megane but I will talk about where she came from and talk about the lore/history of Dolos (megane's home planet).
Not many know about Dolos' origins or how it became so dark and twisted but all we know is bad shit just decided to happen. Dolos is one of the fastest, futuristic, civilizations that has ever been developed in the universe, along with some other planet civilizations and solar systems. Like I mentioned in megane's story post, the high ups of Dolo has some very very questionable practices and how they handle things. For the most part Dolos has a weird job system they strictly go by. Higher ups choose who works and who can't, what jobs some citizens will have and which they cannot etc. Most of the jobs are reparing spaceships/spacecraft, engineering, military, armorer, a helper for the higher ups, etc. Dolos may take a big pride of their military size and such but the way they created it is unhuman to say the least.. Higher ups usually pick children at random who may have potential on the military field and take them from a young age. Sometimes as teenagers and sometimes when they are just a kid from around 9 or 10 or even younger. They take them from a young age to educate them and to train them into future troopers (they actually do this for whatever important field they choosed for them to work on. They call each job a station. Most of them are of course separated from different buildings or sometimes different floors of a building if the stations are able to help each other).
Citizens of Dolos don't know anything about the outside world of their solar system. They are usually lied to by their overly controlling leader. Citizens were still granted with the knowledge of how to fight and basic knowledge but were never granted the right to learn anything outside of the planet unless they worked for the higher ups (they also cannot leave the planet unless its requested by the leader/higher ups). For example, only troopers were allowed to learn about the outside world because some of the missions would've taken place outside of the planet, either to do a outside experiment, taking a escaped citizen back to Dolos, getting resources from other planets, etc. Citizens never knew about the leader's twisted plans and practices he did to those innocent citizens. Citizens believe they are safe, a endless cycle of false sense of safety and pride.
Not only were some jobs and trying very dangerous/risky. Most of the unfortunate citizens had to be used as test subjects for experiments. However only troopers or troopers in training mainly participated in these unhuman experiments. They use these experiments to test drugs that can possibly help them in combat or test anything that can be harmful to their enemies as well. They also did experiments that would damage a lot of the troopers such as noise experiments, vision experiments, anything related that can be sensitive and harmful. Most of these experiments caused a lot of trauma, damage, and even death to many test subjects. Most of these experiments lead to most of their test subjects to have hallucinations and extreme pain in most cases. These hallucinations were extremely terrifying to most test subjects to the point they hide in fear or try to escape, not wanting to do the experiments. And the extreme pain is so unbearable most test subjects can't walk for a couple of hours and can only just curl up in pain.
Test subjects who have hallucinations usually have it pretty bad, they hallucinate some of their peers as these twisted and creepy creatures. Whatever happened to the person the test subject is looking at, the damage the person has can effect their hallucination monster form thing. Not all test subjects have extreme hallucinations but most do. This can also make test subjects become aggressive and fearful because of these hallucinations. They only see it as having the choice to fight or flee. Most of the staff/doctors didn't know how to handle these kind of situations which lead to bad choices and trauma for both the test subject and some cases the staff. Most staff weren't the best with dealing with the test subjects and troopers in training, they mostly treat them like complete shit but still teaches them what had to be teached and still do their job. Just not in the best way possible I guess I should say.
Sorry for the shitty doodles haha- im not good with explaining so I think drawing it helps to get my point across <:D
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More about the normal citizens of Dolos. Everyone must wear uniforms at all times unless you are in your comfort of your home. Normal citizens have to wear clothes that mainly represent the colors of Dolos' colors. Even people with jobs had to wear a specific uniform. (Sadly I only drawn the uniforms for the troopers and normal citizens but in the far future I will draw the uniforms for the other jobs I promise!). Thankfully normal citizens and even those with jobs are allowed to have weapons. They just cannot use it against the higher ups and not on each other. Citizens' weapons are weaker than military weapons in Dolos. However, citizens weapons can still do damage and are mainly used for self defense. If they try using it on higher ups, the citizen on question would be punishment with murder. (Most punishments are either murder or 20 years in jail depending the crime. But most crimes including hurting the higher ups are a instant kill).
Please ingore the names in the bottom of the doodles. This is just to give off the main idea I mean in the post. Also keep in mind the one eye trooper is not how normal citizens nor how troopers look like.
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You may be wondering, hey why is the leader of Dolos so scared of the word getting out about their inhuman ways of life and abuse of power? Well theres a bigger higher up in the universe thats control by someone who is more kinder. This bigger higher up usually checks peoples backgrounds before letting them claim a planet or solar system if they have the money for it. Of course the leader was grated with Dolos but it can be taken away from him if he dare hurt he's citizens or did more than just inhumane crimes. So he usually tries to keep citizens in and keep them ignorant about what's going on so they won't tell them what has been going on. Which is why the leader does not allow citizens to leave the planet. Once you get in you never get out. The leader always immediately takes action to find missing citizens that have been reported by troopers or any citizen because of the paranoia of citizens escaping the planet and finding "help".
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Woah- that's a lot hehe. Im sorry for the extreme dark theme in this one bois <:c I hope this gives a better idea of what kind of environment megane use to be in before the leader fucking became cheeto dust 😔. I have been wanting to talk about where megane use to come from but I didn't want to add it in her main story post because of how much lore it has. I hope you guys enjoy it and if you have any criticism or have any questions, please ask away and let me know! <:D
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yzkhr · 4 years
Text
Haibara Ai had only known Mouri Ran for not more than a few months, but she can safely say she didn't hate her. She never hated Ran. Sure, she was indifferent towards her and tried to stay as far away as possible, but she was like that to almost everyone she met.
Ai has had a rough childhood, taken in by the organization at a young age and being forced to do horrible research while being separated from her sister was proof of that. Unlike the others, she never had time to play and act like a normal child. She was always stuck in the corners of a laboratory, researching and working on drugs and chemicals that can very well end a person's life.
Her surroundings had resulted her into a rigid and cold eighteen year old young woman whose whole life centered around death than magazines and boys. After being shrunken into an eight year old, socializing with the other kids was harder than acting like a child who knows nothing.
Fortunately, her ice like personality was slowly melted away by the ever innocent and energetic—can be a tad bit annoying—detective boys. Where she had been like the cold winter, they were spring that brought new light and hope in her life. They helped her to be a bit more open and social, enough to pass as a kid who's just shy than an introverted woman.
With the help of Ran's amicable advances and Ai's newfound openness,—courtesy of the detective boys— the two slowly but surely started becoming friends.
Ai thought that she found someone who's almost the same age to converse with her about different topics; fashion, clothes, maybe even guys. It made her smile and look forward to getting closer with Ran.
However, those visions were crushed almost in an instant as Ran made her way towards Ai's confused state while being showered with a slew of bullets from Calvados. The young woman slid her down the ground, wrapped her arms around the false elementary student in a protective manner, and whispered at her to endure and wait a little longer. An image of her sister popped up in Ai's head as she held the clothes of her shaking saviour.
Ran's heroic and brave gesture reminded Ai so much of Akemi that she just had to stay away. It wasn't out of hatred; quite the opposite. It was out of love and guilt for her sister.
After that night, she expected nightmares of her childhood and her past with the Organization but it was so much worse. She dreamt of her sister. Usually, it would have been a great dream since her older sister was the most precious thing in her life, but that night was different.
It started with her beloved older sister's kind and cheerful expression that Ai always adored. Her weird yet endearing habits, her meaningful words. Until, they slowly changed to her final moments, her freezing dead body being crushed by Ai's warm one, her soft smile being erased from her beautiful face. The voices behind Ai became louder and louder until it was all she could hear.
'It's all your fault! All your fault! All your fault!'
What's worse is that she couldn't argue. It was really all her fault.
Ai's plaguing thoughts of regret caused her to isolate herself away from the woman who had too much in common with Akemi. Their soft and gleaming eyes, their coaxing voices, their saccharine smiles, their honest words, their courageous acts for the people they love, the very same acts that would caused them their very own death.
Reminding herself that they are in a grave situation, Ai stopped at her tracks and shook her dark brown hair to refocus. Unbeknownst to her, she had stepped—slipped—in the edge, where the cliff with an unseen end lies.
"Ai-chan!"
For a second she saw Ran in a blur, rushing towards her out of balance body. Instinctively closing her green orbs, Haibara Ai succumbed herself to the fall.
-
Haibara Ai thought she had died. After all, that was the most logical thing to happen after a fall. She felt numb all over, all senses didn't seem to work for a while. She expected to feel pain following after, but it didn't. Ai felt like instead of being face flat on the ground, she was hanging mid-air.
Soon enough, her senses started coming back. All she could see was black,—logical since her eyes are close— she smelled damp earth and fresh air, she could hear a strained voice just above her and a felt warm hand snaked around her right arm. Ai fluttered her eyes open and she was immediately met with a view of the muddy ground, a few feet beneath her. She looked up and was astonished to see Ran, whose right hand hold hers while her left was stretched upwards, holding on to a protruding piece of thick branch, preventing them from falling further.
Ai wasn't just feeling it, she really was hanging mid-air.
The strained voice she heared seemed to be from Ran as the seventeen year old woman looked down at her. Her panic-stricken visage quickly turned into a relieved one as Ai stared at her, dumbfounded.
"Ai-chan."
"Wha--Ho--"
"You were standing too near from the edge and slipped. After seeing what happened, I rushed all the way here and well... anyways, just wait okay? I'll pull us out of here."
Ran's voice was calm and comforting, trying not to cause panic in Ai. However, she still heard the slight tremor in the other's voice, making it less effective.
Just like what she promised, Ran tried to pull them up but to no avail. She tried once more but it only made their situation worse. Her hand slipped further from the twig making her and Ai even close to their awaited fall.
Despite her life being in more sooner danger, Ai tried her hardest to remain calm, letting out the woman who's too old for an eight year old body to handle. Ai looked around to see something—anything—to assist Ran and get out of this mess. Unfortunately, her view was limited to the vast rocky edge. She couldn't see any branch to hold onto in case they fall further down and the bottom was not a good sight either.
Despite the ground looking soft and wet, Ai knew the feeling of coming in contact from a long vertical drop was anything but that. She glanced once more at the teenager above her trying their hardest to get them out of the mess she made.
Again. It was her fault again.
Ai kept quiet as Ran offered some kind of comfort through uttered incohorent consoling words. She may not fully hear them but she knew they were filled with kindness and positivity. Even in the face of a horrible situation, Ran was acting mature, Just like an adult, just like an older sister. And that's exactly causing her to feel exasperation. Despite being trapped in a three foot tall body, she was still, in both heart and mind, an adult. A year older even.
But right now, she's nothing but an actual helpless little girl. Because of her clumsiness, they're in this predicament. Because of her carelessness, they might die.
Ran might die.
Suddenly, a dreading image entered her mind. It was Ran, covered in blood from falling, the forest's trees hiding her well. The scene made Ai recall a terrible memory. Another woman covered in her own red fluid, only it was from a gunshot in a dark place filled with trucks. They're different scenarios but have two things in common; both are dead, and both are Ai's fault.
A cold chill ran down her spine despite the sweltering sun. With it came an all too familiar yet novel feeling. It was fear, but not the bone crushing, mind boggling type. It was the kind that would creep to you slowly, eating away bits and pieces until there's nothing left. For a second, being scared at the organization didn't sound so bad.
She had felt this type of fear before. It was when she realized that she could cause Ran's death like she'd done to Akemi.
The idea was absolutely terrifying. Ran was a facsimile of Akemi that just looking at her would bring Ai back in time. Back when her only sibling was still alive and kicking, bringing kindness wherever she goes. Then it would forward itself on her very last day, benevolence gone just like her.
That's why after the Vermouth incident, Ai was more adamant about Kudo keeping his secret from Ran. It was more than just Ran's safety, it was also for the sake of Ai's heart. If Ran were to get involve with B.O and meet the same fate as her sister, Ai knew she'd never be able to forgive herself anymore.
In this situation, it won't be the criminal organization's mistake, but Ai's. She gazes at Ran as the girl kept talking and talking, probably to calm her down even though the woman needs it more than her.
Ran was tired. She did well hiding it by keeping the lines of her mouth curved upward, but behind that reassuring smile was someone who's near their limit. Sweat can be seen rolling down at the side of her face, her body extremely tense, brows furrowed in intense concentration, eyelids drooping but tries their hardest to stay awake. Also, her body isn't exactly in most relaxing position. One arm stretched upwards, holding tightly to the thick branch—her hand was reddening and blisters can be seen from holding too tightly— while the other dropped downwards snaked around Ai's in a firm grasp. Ai could notice some of her Ran's nerve showing from being stretched far too much.
She was burdening her. With Ran's condition and Ai's childlike body, It's almost impossible to get themselves out of this mess. Ai also took note of the branch's condition. She was sure it won't last very long to support the both of them. But if it's just one...
Right now, Ai is nothing but useless. Not only is she being saved once more, she's also endangering the life of one of the few people she swore to protect.
Not only will she prompt death to an innocent life, not only will she diminish the light of Kudo Shinichi's most beloved person, not only will she kill the only angel that smiled upon Vermouth, but it would mean that she failed once more to protect another important someone, another family member, another older sister.
Stealing a glance from the talking Ran once more, with a cold voice, she decided.
"Mouri-san, let go."
Ran's random blabbering to calm down was cut off by that one sentence. She looked at the little girl who's eyes are focused sideways, in an incredulous manner.
"What?"
Ai, still refusing to look at her, just hardened her eyes alongside with her tone.
"I said let me go."
Ran couldn't believe what she just heard. Why would she even request of that?
"Why? If I let you go--"
"I'll fall off."
"So why?"
Hearing her steel intonation, Ai blocked out any emotion and finally met Ran's confused stare. She doesn't need feelings. What she needs is logic, practicality.
"If you let me go, you'll be able to free one of your hand. Then, your chances of pulling yourself out will definitely increase so--"
"But you'll die."
Ran's stare was too intense that it felt like boring holes in Ai. She wanted to look away but that would mean backing out of her plan. The only plan that would work.
"Yes but atleast--"
"No."
Ai expected that. After all, this woman was the person Kudo Shinichi loves. Of course her sense of moral is as high as his. She just wish that Ran won't be too clouded with her emotions that her mind would refuse the most convenient and easiest way to get out of this mess.
"We have no choice Mouri-san. We have to--"
"Yes, we do. Just give me some time and I'll get us out of this mess. So throw that reckless idea away Ai-chan."
Ran knew that Ai was mature for her age. Unlike Ayumi's adventurous and curious personality, Ai was a cautious person that would prefer sleep than to play. She's sure that if Ayumi was in Ai's position, the little girl would cry. Unlike other kids reaction, Ai was calm and rational. But Ran didn't expected the little girl to think that far ahead. Even going as far to thinking of sacrificing her own life for Ran.
Once again, a part of Ran felt melancholy just imagining the things Ai must have gone through to be like this.
"Mouri-san, we don't have time. It's either you let me go and you survive, or we both fall down this cliff."
"I can't do that Ai-chan. You're just a kid! Do you really think I'd sacrifice your life for my sake? No!"
Ai instinctively looked at her own body, remembering she was still trapped inside her eight year old self. Still, she doubt Ran would agree even if she's in her proper form.
'Fine, if acting like an adult won't work, maybe a bratty child will.'
With no warning, she used her free hand to grab Ran's right hand and tried to shake it off from her arm.
"Wait, what are you-- Ai-chan!"
She paid no heed at the teenager's screams and focus on loosening her tight hold. She's careful of course, because she doesn't intend Ran to go along with her.
"Ai-chan, stop!"
"Let me go, Mouri-san! it's my choice!"
"No! What kind of person would that make me!"
"A completely rational kind who understands the situation!"
Ran tried to stop the rampaging eight year old girl but nothing seems to be working. The only time Ai seemed to act like a child seems to be the worst kind of timing. Having no choice, Ran decided to make a risk.
After a few more fiddling and skimming, Ran's hold was really relaxing. But before Ai could do one more skim, she was frozen by the young woman's words.
"If you don't stop and I let you go, I'll go after you."
Haibara completely froze. She stared up at Ran, gaping. This woman--
"You don't mean it."
Ran gave herself a pat on the back, satisfied at making Ai's tantrum stopped. She knew Ai only wanted to save her, but Ran wouldn't like to be save at the expense of someone's life on the line. Specially not a kid.
"Try me."
Note: Will have a Chapter 3
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Text
Monster of the Week Mystery: Michigan- Report from Hell
Oh man i’ve been wanting to write this one for some time, and finally I have the free time to do so
This is a monster of the week version of the infamous game Michigan: Report from Hell. I’ll try my best to represent the game as best as possible while also allowing the players to explore. Also, it’s never stated where in michigan the game takes place, but because of epilogue where they go to a lighthouse, for this it’ll be set in Cheboygan.
Concept
A strange fog has surrounded Cheboygan, Michigan, making it near impossible to see through it. Everyone has taken shelter in their homes or buildings they were occupying before it arrived, however, those caught outside have turned into strange, flesh-like monsters with gaping mouths [some on their faces while others located in their lower regions]. Because of this, the Mackinac Bridge is closed off until it passes. The cause? The scientist Dr. O'Conner has created a bio-weapon in order to please the United States Military and tested it on a young man. The man, however, escaped the facility and hid in a warehouse, inadvertently causing the mist and monster transformation with his presence. 
Hook
The players hear of the strange mist surrounding the town, and how the Mackinac Bridge has closed down.
Countdown
Day: The mist has appeared, with only silhouettes of the monsters seen within.
Shadows: The monsters multiply, killing everyone in the Cheboygan  Public Library except for Nina.
Sunset: Everyone attempts to reach an evacuation point near the Cheboygan County Airport-Slh, while the news team continues to investigate.
Dusk: Civilians reach the evacuation point, however, they’re surrounded by the monsters. Only Brisco and the cameraman survive with the news crew.
Nightfall: Those that survived the onslaught at the evac point are hiding out in a nearby building. The cameraman makes it to the building.
Midnight: Everyone in Cheboygan is killed and devoured by the monsters.
Threats
Phenomenon: The Mist
Type: Teratogen (motivation: to turn creatures and people into monsters)
Description: A strange mist that's covering the entirety of Cheboygan, Michigan. It's incredibly hard to see through, making some townsfolk not attempt to travel through it. Some are persistent, however, and will drive blindly through. Because of this, there are some accidents seen on the roads, blocking some streets. Those that venture out will have a chance to turn into a monster or be killed by one.
Power:
Monster transformation- Those that walk through the mist has a chance to turn into one of those creatures. It’s unknown how its doing it, but its speculated from some of the news crew that inhaling the mist could be the cause. It hasn’t been tested yet, though.
Hunters that aren’t the monsterous or divine have the chance of becoming one of these monsters. Should they venture outside without a ventilation mask, they must roll Act Under Pressure.
On a 10+, they aren’t affected by the mist.
On a 7-9, they are affected, however they can resist the effects. If they chose to resist the effects, they will have to roll Act Under Pressure again the next time the venture out. If they choose to turn into the monster, they will change their type into the Monsterous type and will gain the traits listed below. They take 2 harm magic ignore armor during the transformation but will gain experience for taking it. [1 to 2 experience, up to the keeper]
On a miss, they slowly start to become one. They take 2 harm magic ignore armor and change their type to the Monsterous type. If they die when they take that 2 harm, instead of turning into a monsterous type they instead become one of the threats in the mystery/session/campaign. 
Weakness:
Killing or containing The Strange Man. The Strange Man’s effects can be stalled by keeping him in a solid containment unit, where the mist won’t continue to spread. Killing The Strange Man will also end it, but it's messier. Stopping the mist from spreading will not kill the monsters present- it just makes it easier to see and deal with them.
Customs:
Monsterous type: The Flesh Beast
Curse: Feed [Flesh, blood, human meat]
Natural attacks: Teeth (3 harm intimate) + ignore armor OR additional 1 harm
Moves:
Preternatural Speed
Unquenchable Vitality
Unnatural Appeal
Claws of the Beast
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Minion: The Strange Man [Identified as Anthony Cipolla]
Type: Cultist (motivation: to save their own skin at any cost)
Description: A young man, possibly in his 20s, in a ripped white shirt, torn jeans, and barefooted. His face looks dirty and clawed up, hair disheveled, and wearing broken glasses. His fingernails are caked in blood, suggesting he gave himself those claw marks. He seems to have lost his mind, ranting and screaming.
He will run up to the hunters and any news reporters following them, asking them random things, and asking where Dr. O'Conner is. No matter who answers him, he will scream and run away from them. It’s almost impossible to convince him to do anything. He will scream about making the pain stop, about the weird “demons” that surround him, about Dr. O’Conner, and any kind of nonsense.
Anytime he receives pain, he will run away instead of attacking. He will only attack should someone grab him, but once he’s freed he’ll run again.
Supernatural powers: His very existence is creating the strange mist that’s covering the town. He himself doesn’t have any other kind of powers. While his body creates the mist, its also giving him great pain to the point where his mind snapped. 
Attacks:
Clawing [1 harm close]
Slapping/struggling [0 harm]
Weakness: He’s still human, after all.
Harm: 7
Custom move:
Should the hunters choose to kill him instead of containing him, he will morph into a massive pile of mutated flesh. It will then explode, covering anyone close to him with the gore. This can trigger a monster transformation listed in The Mist’s powers above.
------------------------
Minion: The Flesh Monsters
Type: Brute (motivation: to intimidate and attack)
Description: Humans that were turned into monsters by The Mist. They always appear mutilated, with a giant mouth either on their head or their lower regions. Their limbs are twisted and contorted, and their faces always looked pained. 
[One of these monsters will be identified as one of the newcasters that was with Brisco and the camera man. Her name was Pamela Martel]
Attacks:
Bite (2 harm intimate ignore armor)
Harm: 8 
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Bystander: The Cameraman
Type: Witness (motivation: to reveal information)
Description: A mute cameraman that works for ZaKa TV. He mostly keeps to himself but will reveal footage of the monster that killed Pamela when he was out on the streets. He’s immune to the monster-transformation effects. He will join the hunters alongside Brisco mostly just to make sure his fellow sound guy doesn’t get himself killed. He’s with Brisco and Ann in downtown cheboygan, or where the hunters first enter the town. 
--------------
Bystander: Jean-Phillppe Brisco
Type: Witness (motivation: to reveal information)
Description: The sound operator for ZaKa TV. He’s brash, loud, flirtatious around women, but panics real bad when monsters are around. He was there with The Cameraman when Pamela was killed and turned into a monster. He does not like ZaKa TV’s chief, Debora, and thinks that she’s helping the monsters take over by sending out the reporters.
--------------
Bystander: Ann Anderson
Type: Victim (motivation: to put themselves in danger)
Description: One of the reporters for ZaKa TV. She can be found in downtown Cheboygan with Brisco and The Cameraman. very flighty and spacy. She doesn’t have a lot of information but will point you to ZaKa TV studio. She will be attacked by a monster.
--------------
Bystander: Carly Reis
Type: Victim (motivation: to put themselves in danger)
Description: One of the reporters for ZaKa TV. She just arrived at the Cheboygan library. If the hunters let Brisco and The Cameraman [and Ann if she survived the attack], she will relay that this is one of the few safe spots that the monsters can’t get in... until one gets in, of course. She will return to ZaKa TV if she survives a monster attack in the library.
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Bystander: Justine Rhoades
Type: Victim (motivation: to put themselves in danger)
Description: One of the reporters for ZaKa TV. She’s with the group going to the airport to get more information on the situation. She won’t go back to ZaKa TV unless Brisco and the Cameraman is with the party. Otherwise, she’ll die to one of the monsters
--------------
Bystander: Paula Orton
Type: Victim (motivation: to put themselves in danger)
Description: One of the reporters for ZaKa TV. She’s inside the lighthouse, trying to figure out how to start up the light.
--------------
Bystander: Mark Bockwinkle
Type: Victim (motivation: to put themselves in danger)
Description: One of the reporters for ZaKa TV. He’s the only male reporter in ZaKa TV. He can be found outside the warehouse, hiding behind some crates. He heard some weird sounds within the warehouse, but as he was about to investigate, some of those monsters leaped at him, forcing him to hide.
--------------
Bystander: Nina Valkov 
Type: Innocent (motivation: to do the right thing)
Description: Nina is trapped in the Cheboygan Public Library due to her fearing the monsters outside. She will help out as much as she can inside the library with their phones, however, she will outright refuse to leave. After witnessing the monsters massacre the people in the library, she’ll be hiding in a supply closet with a vacuum as her weapon.
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Bystander: Debora Flair 
Type: Official (motivation: to be suspicious)
Description: The chief of ZaKa TV. She will send out reporters all through Cheboygan to get to the bottom of this mystery. She’s cold and uncaring, viewing the reporters are just replaceable cogs to her studio. She will tell the hunters to leave should they come to ZaKa TV without the Cameraman and/or Brisco. She doesn’t have a lot of information, but the studio has been able to keep the monsters out so far. 
--------------
Location: ZaKa TV Studio
Type: Crossroads (motivation: to bring people, and things, together)
Description: A large news station ran by Debora. Any of the news reporters the hunters saved will be here. They have a wide range of supplies, from cameras to boom mics, to even tasers and some self-defense equipment. Debora refuses to share the equipment with the hunters unless convinced. 
--------------
Location: Downtown Cheboygan
Type: Den (motivation: to harbor monsters)
Description: The downtown section of Cheboygan, and where the players will first drive to. It’s filled with closed stores and buildings. While the place is running rampant with flesh monsters, three people seem to have survived so far outside: The Cameraman, Brisco, and Ann.
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Location: Cheboygan Public Library
Type: Prison (motivation: to constrain and prevent exit)
Description: A public library filled with several people hiding out from the mist, including Carly and Nina. Eventually, two people inside the library transform into a monster and, due to the locks on the doors, prevent those inside from escaping.
--------------
Location: Cheboygan Lighthouse
Type: Wilds (motivation: to contain hidden things)
Description: The lighthouse located on the pier at the lake. Paula somehow managed to get her receiver to be in contact with a united states military general, who is asking her to turn on the lighthouse so they can start evacuating the civilians. The general will also mention that once the civilians are evacuated, they’ll blast the town to kill off all the monsters.
Should the players manage to convince the general to give them more info, he will tell them that they had been in contact with a bio-engineer named Dr. O’Connor, who wanted to create for the military a powerful bioweapon. However, his experiment escaped and somehow managed to hide out here.
--------------
Location: Stop n Go Warehouse
Type: Hellgate (motivation: to create evil)
Description: An even denser mist is located around the warehouse. Inside is The Strange Man, running around and between the crates.
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Location: Cheboygan County Airport-Slh
Type: Deathtrap (motivation: to harm intruders)
Description: A small airport ment mostly to drop off supplies and used by small bi-planes. It’s the designated evacuation mark should anything happen in the town. However, the flesh monsters have already spread to the airport, hunting down anyone that gets close.
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nocherryblood · 4 years
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Hey! Just a couple of random drawings here!I'll list all the ideas and explanations behind these drawings here:
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1) Idea: Will is sick (Mason's come down with it too- and by how close Mabel is to him by trying to comfort him, she'll get it too... aww), the Gleeful twins (they're about 10 or 11 here) refuse to go to bed (which may or may not have been down to a dangerous mix of Mabel Juice and Smile Dip), Bill refuses to leave his twin until he's better so he let himself into the mansion, and Kill's playing the big brother card and refusing to leave too, instead deciding to settle down on Bill's head to watch it all. :) Ah, bliss. So, what does Stanford do? The only thing he can, drug them into submission begrudgingly read them a bedtime story about a few "adventures" he's had. Oh well...
2) Idea: Stanford and Fiddleford find one of those novelty character photo stands, and stick their heads in the holes to take a photo for a laugh. The end result is two quite weird looking "disney princess " photos.
3) Idea: Vampire Will! I'll run through what's happening in each Still!
(Top left) Will is blood-starved (which is when he's either refused or unable to get, blood) and goes crazy trying to get some. He still manages to looks cute to me in a way. And yes, when he gets mad, he goes red, just like his twin! Aww! (But don't laugh, he's thirsty and it looks like you're next...)
(Top right) Will feeding off of someone, but they've been fed from many times before... can you guess who it is (Hint, look at that "tattoo"...)?
(Left middle) During one of the times that Will is blood-starved, he walks to Dipper's college dorm (crossing through a portal to get to Gravity Falls- thankfully, DipDop is out that evening; the two of them "share" a dorm in college, even if Bill doesn't actually go to classes, he's just there to spend time with his Pine Tree), stumbling a little. Bill smiles, just happy to see his little bro, and lets him in without even questioning it (and here we see the very rare thing called "Bill's innocence"). Will asks him for a hug, saying only that he felt a bit lonely so he came to see him, and Bill accepts straight away, going in for the hug. But he's horrified to see Will's face flicker from sad to lust (FOR BLOOD. FOR BLOOD!) for just a second, but before he can do anything, Will's already bitten him several times in just a matter of a few seconds (vampire speed + vampire magic + demon speed + demonic powers = run the hell away from that OP b*tch). Bill staggers back, falling to the floor, and although Will tries to "switch back" to himself, he can't, and getting a taste of (demon) blood didn't help. The end result is... well... Bill ends up losing a heck of a lot of blood, there is one very surprised Pine Tree who comes home in the morning to find Bill passed out on the floor, and one very drunken Will, who drank way too much (especially because it's demon) blood, and it has an effect like being high/stoned or being intoxicated, it just depends. That was a fun morning.
(Middle right) Someone forcing Will's hunger to grow by smashing a vial of angel blood in his face (which by the way, tastes irresistible to him), which can be used to lure said vampire-demon if used in the right way... A smear of angel blood here on a victim and a smear of angel blood there on a victim, aaaaannnndddd... it'd be enough to send him reeling; poor victim :( And no, they (a normal victim at least; 'angel blood' victims don't stand a chance) won't get turned, they'll bleed out unless someone helps them out, because there's a special venom that Will has to inject with his fangs if he wants to turn someone... so don't think you have a chance of survival, unless:
A) He manages to get himself back and decides to help you out
B) You're a child- because Will will NOT attack children, no matter how much he wants to. There has been only one time (he was forced to by Fidds and Ford for an experiment), and he had to be left in the basement for a week before he calmed down...
C) You find him another victim quick enough (of all the three options, this is the one with the least hope- so say goodbye now while you're at it)
(Bottom right) Will's coffin! It's white, with his name written on the front in black letters written on it in cursive (though as he grows 'older', he does prefer a less 'curly' font, but at first, he likes to stick to his old style of writing- from when he was just a demon). He doesn't have to sleep in it, he can sleep in a bed-, which he does do at first, but he finds it safer in case he accidentally wakes up to find the sun's rays glaring down at him... which won't hurt him exactly, but it's not exactly the nicest feeling either...
(Middle) Blood-starved Will...
Will: "I'-It's [the restraining belt] a little t-tight, Bill. Could you t-take it off, p-please? It hurts...."
Bill: "I know Blue, I-I'm... sorry... but I can't... It's not... It's not..."
Will: "It's not... safe... is it?
Bill: "Oh, Will... No... If course it's safe, I just-"
Will (distorted): "WELL THEN WHAT, BILL?! WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO? I'M STARVING!" *grabs bars, shakes them, growls*
Bill (quietly): *backs away* Will... this isn't you... St-stop it...
Will (quietly): *backs away into 'cell', sniff* Bill...?
Bill: *looks up*
Both: *run to each other, hug through bars*
Bill: "I love you, Blue..." (AS BROTHERS!)
Will: "What's happening to m-me, Bill...?"
Bill: *runs hand through Will's hair* "I don't know, Will..."
Both: *crying profusely*
Aww...
Backstory time! (This could change a little, in time, but here's the rough idea-)
Well, at first, no-one thinks that being bitten by a rogue vampire is going to affect a demon that much...
At first the signs on Will are subtle, like becoming more and more sensitive to sunlight and tending to stay away from more people, unless he trusts them or knows them well... but he was fine.
Soon the signs become more severe, and he develops a sort of hunger eating (that pun tho...) away at him, and his senses are starting to get overwhelmed. But he was fine.
All in all, for first few months, Will can pretty much (mostly) just try to ignore the signs, just blaming it in being stressed rather than everything else. He could still serve under the Gleefuls (especially Stanford and Mason, hint hint ;)) without them noticing too much; the only people to noticeably be worried about him were Dipper and Mabel (Pines), and his brother- whom he was allowed to visit every once in a while. So things weren't exactly alright, but he was fine.
Until his bite marks disappear...
One Friday evening, after a particularly draining show (in which he had to use quite a bit of energy), Will is set to serve the evening tea. At first, everything is fine, and he barely notices anything is wrong.
But just as he walks into the dining room, a sharp pain pierces his neck, causing him to shriek, fall, and drop the dinner plates all over the floor. He quickly attempts to get up to clean it up, and Mason tries to help him too (if only to mock him at first), but before he can leave a snidy remark and walk away with a smirk, Will grabs his hand.
The blue demon switches back and forth between himself and the fledgling merging with him, letting go of Mason's hand as he tries to stay in control. He has visions of blood running down the walls, making him panic and feel like he's drowning, and then feeling like he can't breathe.
Flashes of consciousness of him feeding on Mason (whilst the poor boy frantically struggles to get away from him) phase through the visions to him, but ultimately, he cannot stop it. He "wakes up"on the floor, with Mason bleeding out by the wrist next to him, before Mabel rushes to help Mason. Will sees Stanford approach him, and Ford drags Will up by the collar, and down to the basement, locking him down there. He observes Will from a distance- from a camera in another room- before he begins to notice Will losing himself as he soon tries to get out as his vampire side lets paranoia about being trapped, set in. Will essentially goes "feral" banging on the bars, baring his teeth/currently-lengthened fangs, growling, hissing, rocking back and forth, pounding on the walls... you get the message. After a while, Stanford decided (even though he would usually just let Will suffer) to try to anathetise Will, before eventually just giving up and filling the room with narcotic gases to make him sleep. After a couple of coughing fits, Will finally passes out, and Stanford comes in, resolving to typing his arms next to him with an enchanted belt, so that Will can't free himself, no matter how hard he tries. He also puts a special collar on him, like a shock collar but it can also administer small amounts of the narcotics, if Stanford so wishes. So, with done, he lets Will sleep until the morning, just waiting to observe his actions... And so, when Will is denied/refused, or unable to obtain blood or energy (because he can feed off of people's energy too, it's just not a effective and fills the hunger for much less longer) then that, is when he is blood-starved, so he'll probably anything just to get some, though let it be said, the longer he has to wait, the greeider he'll become. There have been numerous experiments between Fidds and Ford, to see how long will could actually go for without attacking someone whilst blood-starved, unbeknownst to poor Will :(. But regardless of that, the record if around 2 hours and 1 minute...
(If you have any further questions, ask away!)
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boyfriem-moved · 5 years
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pl ea se info dump about your ocs
oh boy ok you,,, don’t want this but u already asked and it’s too late to go back so im just gonna start talking
ok so i have like 2 separate oc worlds and 3 seperate groups of ocs within those (these are just the main ones, there’s ones i don’t think abt anymore and ones i’ve abandoned and fan characters and stuff but if i went over all of that i’d be here all day so i’ll just stick with these)
so the first world is just our world, modern day, but with magic. there’s this one town, barnsley, georgia, that’s cut off from the rest of the world. most ppl drive by without ever noticing it, and if someone tries to go in who’s not wanted the town will disappear or try to kill them or just do something to keep them out. it’s a vaguely sentient town. in barnsley there’s a big forest and no one’s ever gone in and come out the other side. there’s ambiguous danger in the forest, mostly faeries who will make you fall in love with them and then kill you and harvest your bones and stuff.
so there’s like 4-6 characters depending on where we’re looking at in terms of what storyline i’m following (this is the one that i did nanowrimo for three (3) times and have over 100,000 words of thrown out content for and obsess over constantly so it has the most solid plot and there’s a lot of it) so anyways i’ll just go over all 6 and try to make it as simple as possible without talking about converging storylines and alternate drafts and stuff
ok! so! vi larson-park is the daughter of one of barnsley’s 3 great magicians! her mom could do all sorts of crazy magic and i can’t get into the parents’ backstory here bc they have a whole OTHER story and that’s just. too much (maybe i’ll do that later? we’ll see) so yeah her mom did magic and also made some bad deals and stole some stuff from the woods and indirectly caused some ppls deaths but it’s like fine probably. so vi grew up with her mom, natalie, her mom’s witch girlfriend, erica, and erica’s twin brother, simon (who i’ll get into later and also who doesn’t exist in half the scrapped drafts) in this big empty DEFINITELY HAUNTED house on the edge of town where erica grew up and they were good and happy. then like a year ago natalie was killed by nick, who i’ll also get into later, and that’s kinda the end of her story, vi and erica are obviously devastated and they have a funeral and vi starts having the occasional odd dream here and there, but things go back to normal after awhile. vi has absolutely no aptitude for magic, and because of that she often feels alienated by erica and simon who are VERY magical and always talking about things she doesn’t understand. she’s fiercely loyal and protective and not really scared of anything. she’s always wanted to know what’s in the woods but knows better than to go looking
tyler is vi’s best friend and also 50% whole entire Not Human. he either came from the woods or was found outside a random gas station in like arizona or something depending on which draft i’m going by, but either way he was found around two years ago and has been clinging to vi ever since. his backstory is a big unknown to the human characters and no one really knows anything about him. he’s a faerie prince, the son of the erlking, who’s sort of the ambiguous villain of the story but i’ll get into him later. he has 3 brothers, sorrel, dain, and kell. sorrel is the oldest and known as the winter prince, then there’s kell for spring, dain for summer, and tyler himself for autumn. (btw his name isn’t actually tyler technically it’s robin but i'm not gonna get into that rn.) sorrel is cool and collected and stone cold bitch, and all he wants is to be king so he roped tyler into helping him try and kill their dad, which failed, so then he lost his position in the royal court and now he’s doing tons of morally gray stuff in an attempt to get back in his dad’s favor so he can kill him for real this time. dain and kell are sort of nothing at all and you don’t need to know anything except dain is really mean and violent and kell is an ally(?). after the whole failed killing debacle tyler ran away to barnsley in hopes that he could find something in common with the humans, since he’d been a faerie all his life and couldn’t stand it. he’s quiet and doesn’t like doing or saying things unless he absolutely has to, is generally unhelpful unless something benefits him, scared of being alone, hates being indoors, runs around barefoot and only eats food from the woods. he’s kinda like an outdoor cat.
nick and marcus jacobs are brothers and general hooligans. nick is the older one (he’s 19) and marcus is 15 and they grew up in barnsley for the first 14 years of marcus’ life until marcus accidentally killed their dad and they left town. which the dad killing subplot is really a lot to get into but basically their dad was the second magician, along with vi’s mom, except the effects of magic on a person can kinda drive a person insane and the others managed to keep it together but he slowly went crazy until he was paranoid and in pain all the time and ended up taking a lot of it out on his sons which ended in him threatening marcus and marcus in an act of self defense unleashing raw magic power he didn’t know he had and accidentally killing him and also taking out all the power in the entire town and causing a minor earthquake. it was a Big Deal. so yeah they buried their dad in the backyard and skipped town. after their dad died all his magic went down to nick so nick has newfound power (marcus btw has never been able to use magic since then and has no idea how he did it) but he also has voices in his head and weird dreams, and with all the voices yelling at him all the time he realizes that the only way to get rid of them is to get rid of the magicians. his dad did some magic bullshit that made him the vessel for the magic once he died but the other magicians didn’t so he doesn’t have to kill anyone besides them and it makes sense bc i say it does shut up. so for like a year they drive around aimlessly, meet with and kill vi’s mom, meet with and kill aidan’s dad (i’ll get to aidan once i’m done here), pick up a hitchhiker depending on which version of the story i’m telling, then go back home where they’re not really welcome anymore but that won’t stop them. nick is cold and mean and. y’know. a murderer, but he also loves marcus greatly and gets attached to people more easily than he would like to admit. he’s sort of closed himself off and resigned himself to killing “for the greater good”, but it’s hard for him, and there’s definitely people he wouldn’t kill. he fully planned to, once he got rid of the magicians, never kill again, and he keeps that promise. marcus is soft spoken and anxiety ridden and a bit of a crybaby and he hates death and doesn’t fully trust nick and doesn’t trust himself either. on the outside he appears bitter and angry constantly.
aidan mulligan is a HOOLIGAN! a whole entire rowdy boy! he’s also the son of the third magician and marcus’ ex(?) boyfriend? more like boyfriend on standby. it’s complicated. there’s nothing special to him, he’s rowdy bc his parents never gave him enough attention so he runs around with people he doesn’t really like and is always getting into trouble. his favorite activities are skipping church and running the local cryptid watch am radio station, which no one listens to and which he used to run with marcus. he misses marcus dearly and keeps waiting for him to come back. he’s loud and talkative and his mood changes drastically but is always on the highest setting. he’s either screaming-and-throwing-things angry or unable to shut up and bouncing all over the place. not to pick favorites but he’s my favorite i really love him. his life moto is “fuck you dad” basically. oh yeah nick killed his dad and stuff and it’s hit him hard but he’s not as torn up by it as he probably should be, which he feels terrible about. his mom lives on the other side of the country and doesn’t currently know his dad is dead, which isn’t really something you’re supposed to keep secret generally but the mulligan family said fuck the rules. he has two brothers, connor and seamus (connor older, seamus younger) and loves both of them though he would never admit it.
simon diederich is the secret special bonus magician!! also i think i gotta talk abt parent backstory for him so,,,, here goes: basically, simon and vi’s mom and marcus and aidan’s dads all stole magic from the forest in a way that doesn’t super make sense but it’s my story i can do what i want. and in the process simon died and they had to leave him behind in the woods, but then since the magic in the forest was weak it couldn’t continue being formless or else it would turn into nothing since so much of it had been damaged by the humans or w/e. so it took simon’s body as a vessel and resurrected him with all his old memories but also 100% more magic power. so he took that power and went back home and has been just straight chillin, unaging, for 30-ish years. he got like. immense wisdom when he was resurrected and is also possessed by a sentient forest so he does what the forest wants which is protect the town and fistfight anyone he doesn’t like. he’s obnoxious and immature and thinks he’s hot shit and loves these trees more than he loves other people probably
bonus character: lila is the ghost who lives in vi’s attic. she’s like 7. i love her
THAT HURT MY FINGERS TO TYPE. I HAD TO MOVE TO GOOGLE DOCS TO DO THIS BC TUMBLR KEPT LAGGING AND MY WORD COUNT IS NEARING 2000 BUT W/E LETS KEEP GOING
next, still in the same universe, are the residents of greywell, washington. greywell is what’s on the other side of those woods no one can cross in barnsley. how does that work? magic obviously. greywell is a lot like barnsley but more sinister, it’s a lot newer so the characters aren’t as fleshed out (with one exception) and there’s really only 3 i actually care abt so this ones gonna be a lot shorter. i’ve thought abt plot but nothing solid so there’s some...stuff but mostly this one will be short
zoe hammond: amateur teen witch who’s also cursed. she has an eye on her left hand which is always watching her and she wants off desperately. u know how i said in some versions of the story nick and marcus pick up a hitchiker? that’s her, going to barnsley bc she knows its magic and hopes someone there will know how to fix her. she respects authority and stays in line for the most part, but she also takes shit from no one. she’ll talk to nearly anyone but doesn’t particularly like anyone in town, also she sells witch shit out of the trunk of her car in the school parking lot
wesley: short rowdy trans boy with absolutely no self control who’s stoned all the time and does crazy things for the adrenaline rush and doesn’t bind safely and falls in love with every boy he meets. he skateboards bc of course he does. he’s always ready to fight and punches ppl a lot but usually ends up losing fights bc he’s tiny. i love him
noa: ok this dude went into the woods one (1) time and now there’s this magic glove stuck on their hand? and a ghost in their phone?? and they’re literally so confused and they’ve never had any friends in their entire life but all of a sudden that weird lesbian witch and her crazy skateboarder friend are talking to them all the time and they died? except they woke back up like nothing had happened even though their head basically blew up? and there’s like faeries and stuff coming after them because they want the glove and they can’t get the stupid thing off their hand and they have no idea what’s going on noa is an absolute nervous wreck who’s really fun to draw and they have no idea what’s happening to them and tbh i don’t rly know what i’m doing either but i’m having a good time
ada: the phone ghost.
last set!! i have them all done already from this thing i did with @dogstoes so i’ll just paste them in but first background:
this is a completely separate world, it’s like this 1910s era fictional city with magic and shit. the magic system is kinda complicated but basically there’s elemental magicians who are heavily tied to religion, they’re believed to be sacred and god sent by p much every organized religion. they do elements, it’s pretty simple. then there’s blood magicians who can basically transmute but they have to use their own blood to do it. anyone can learn to be a blood magician but most ppl don’t want to bc. blood ow. blood magicians are an ABOMINATION AGAINST GOD and there’s a stigma against them in religious communities so they tend to populate big cities and less religious places. there’s also healers who are born like elementals and can’t be trained, they’re isolated from both schools of magic bc unlike elementals they’re not pure (well, depending on which religion you ask) and unlike blood magicians they’re not common. born magicians are born with pure black eyes (irises? the colored part. not just all black) that differentiate them from nonmagic ppl. there’s also super intense mary sue magicians who r rare and born with red eyes (i started this world when i was 13 don’t judge me bitch) and they can shapeshift kinda? but in cool ways, it’s not just shapeshifting they could also make their skin tough or nails pointy or w/e. one of them specifically likes to harden his own blood in weapons it’s kinda metal. anyways here’s the character profiles from the google doc pasted in word for word
Characters (bc i suddenly decided this is Sharin With Rivers material If You Shall Take It):
So basically there's these 2 gangs, run by this woman Lyra Frey and this dude Lucas Sweeney, and they Do Not Like Each Other At All. Neither of them are good bc yknow...gangs….but lyra’s is like...better anyways here's characters
Lyra's dudes:
Emil Finch: 21, any and all pronouns, ace, lyra’s right hand man/ veteran of a bloody civil war (TECHNICALLY a war criminal but yknow…it's whatever). Likes cats and Arya, dislikes cigarettes and being short. Their birth name is Emilee, which they  shortened to their liking when they moved to The Big City, and they used their father's name (Finn O'Malley) to join the war. They're a healer magician but ssshhh don't tell anyone. They used their powers to hurt people when they were in The War and now don't trust themselves, so they stick to traditional medicine thank you very much. (Also knives. They’re a big fan of knives.)
Arya Frey: 21, she/her, Lyra’s adopted daughter and mechanic. She has METAL LEGS and has to walk with a cane so she doesn't go outside much, mostly makes machines and strategizes for her mom. Likes drawing, Emil, making things/taking them apart, dislikes cold weather (it makes her joints hurt), magic, Drunk Emil. She has two cats named vriska and karkat. Everyone is suspicious of these names even though it's like 1910 and an alternate universe and homestuck doesn't exist.
Jaz Anaheim: 18, he/him, big gay disaster, a pickpocket who came to the Big City with his brother when he was 16 to work and send money to his mom, stole from a kingpin, joined a gang, watched his brother die in front of him, and lied to his mom for 2 years about his job and his brothers aliveness while he sent her blood money. He's a humble farm boy, no magic, tall and uncoordinated, basically all he can do is steal and flirt badly and he's very aware. Also where he came from magicians were rare because they were all drafted for the war so when he sees magic he's way too impressed. Likes loud music, people being interested in him, his family (just his mom now :’)), his hometown, dislikes the city, feeling disliked, himself, swimming
Sweeney’s band of assholes:
Elliott Sweeney: 24, he/him, Sweeney’s son and certified dad hater. He's a blood magician which are common and not that impressive but he’s good at what he does bc he did nothing but practice for like 6 years. His dad basically controls him and makes him work for him because he's useful. He resents his dad with every ounce of his being but doesn't have the spine to do anything about it. After accidentally burning down part of their house and killing his mom his dad sent him away to the summer house in the country, where he lived for the past 6 years, obediently doing his dad’s bidding and learning how to control his magic until he got fed up and burned that house down (on purpose this time), making his dad move him back to the family house in the city so that he could keep an eye on him. he’s one of those badass mega magicians who does blood swords and stuff, he’s also spent so much time reading that he knows a lot about magic theory. Quiet, reserved, extremely petty, but shows a sense of humor around his sister. Never really knew Alise growing up so he’s more of a cool uncle than a brother. Likes his sister, learning things, astronomy, dislikes his dad, Emil, doing magic, fighting, feeling trapped
Alise Sweeney: 14, she/her, her dad named her Alise with an S because he's just that much of an asshole. She's a self trained blood magician and good at what she does. She hates her dad almost as much as Elliott does but she's also not a fucking baby about it. Is DEFINITELY planning on killing him at some point. Was raised to make jokes and do crime and her brother said if she does crime she's grounded. Has never been serious about anything ever, and probably has a screw loose. Has killed people. Is basically a tiny fighting machine. Her dad was rough on her growing up. Likes picking fights, Elliott and Atticus, pissing off her dad, causing trouble. Dislikes her dad, people stronger than her, tense situations, being alone
Atticus Grey: 16, he/him, not Sweeney’s son but hates him enough that he probably could be (in case you were noticing a theme here, sweeney is kinda unlikeable). His mom left soon after he was born and his dad ran up a huge debt and ended up working for Sweeney to pay it off, then died in a gang fight before he could get through it. Sweeney, the merciless motherfucker that he is, decided that Atticus would finish paying it off, and snatched him up as soon as he was 13. His dad used to hang out with Emil’s and so they ended up taking care of parentless Atticus (along with (extremely reluctant) Arya. Atticus is really close with Lyra’s entire crew because he's spent so much time around them. He's a fire magician who knows a bit of blood magic but barely uses it, and he's an angsty bitch. Likes Emil, being alone, dislikes everything else.
oh yeah then there’s those bitches in charge:
Lyra Frey is a [REDACTED] year old woman from [REDACTED] who moved to the city while fleeing from [REDACTED]. She was in the civil war briefly, fighting for the [REDACTED] side. Her real name is not Lyra, but is actually [REDACTED]. She loves Arya more than anything else probably. Sees Jaz as an unofficial son, is skeptical of Atticus, likes Emil but doesn’t trust them.
Lucas Sweeney is one of those rich bastards who also does crime on the side. He’s a politician but everyone and their mother knows he’s an absolute crime lord on the side. Has arguably more power than Lyra but has no idea how to use it, plus Alise has already recruited like half his employees into joining her uprising. He’s a selfish man and a terrible dad. No one likes him.
uh yeah that is. all!! this is over 3000 words jesus do asks have a word limit? i sure hope not
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MFAQ
Cycle 9, Day 1
So, before we get to today’s story, let me just quickly review today’s events. If you ever go in for hard-core, experimental, black magic chemotherapy, the first day of each cycle is always a complete circus. Everyone will want a piece of you (literally; I have to give blood draw and urine sample), and everyone wants to see you (the physicians, nurses, research staff, and the PA running the research team)(that would be Boston PA, for those of you keeping up to date). Also, to my physician or research friends who might be reading this, always take into account patient condition and/or special considerations. This is critical when you have a patient who has trouble with the heel-toe walk because they (the patient) sprained something in it the other week, and are still a bit sore. The big hold-up is that my veins and skin are, like the rest of me, slowly toughening and becoming impervious to conventional weaponry. Er, needles, I mean (I realize that might sound nonsensical, but the nurse who installed the IV - who’s done that to me on several previous occasions - noted that my skin was toughening). The good news is, by the time I finally got that sweet, sweet chemo, it was 1:30 pm, which means I probably won’t get the usual nasty side-effects until at least 11-ish, so there;s a chance I’ll be fully-functional this evening. Speaking of functioning, it’s also worth noting that I’m back on Temodar, too, this week, so expect my usual chemo-brain typos, half-thoughts, etc. until, let me check... Sunday? Oh, gods, this is going to be a very long week. Also, it feels like i got ten minutes of sleep last night, so there’s also a strong possibility I’m just sleep-deprived and rambling.
Anyway, since I’m out of ideas at the moment, and I’ve encountered some new questions, I thought I’d run those, with a caveat. So, these are questions either I’ve been asked, other patients I know have been asked, or questions I’ve thought of (or had new insights on). I bring this up because I recently used an online question someone had about getting their fifth brain surgery, and a few folks I know panicked on my behalf. Folks, I appreciate that response, but, at the same time, remember who’s writing this. I turned a dentist’s recent orders that I brush more into a moan-fest. I turned a sprained ankle/knee (still not sure which) and resultant X-ray into another gripe-fest. I am a grade A hypochondriac; rest assured that any major change in my medical condition isn’t going to be wasted on a bullet-point question.
1, Does [X] hurt?
Yes. Yes, it does hurt. I was asked this by a nurse this morning when they were having trouble getting a vein and making a repeat attempt. My rule for this is, use the Golden Rule. If it would hurt you, it probably hurts me. Today’s little insight is, even if you’re operating at a dramatically increased pain tolerance, it’s not like the little stuff is less painful, it just bothers you less (or you’ve developed some sort of coping mechanism to deal with it).
2. Do you want us to pray for you?
Yes. Deep, dark admission time, I asked a friend of the family who’s in Rome to light a candle for me. I know that, as an avowed agnostic who is deeply suspicious of organized religion (belief and faith are all fine with me, but organized religion is to those things what enriched uranium is to regular old radioactive isotopes - neither good, nor bad, but far too potent to let loose without some prior inspections and restrictions in place), I shouldn’t go in for that, but, a different friend of the family lit candles for me in the Vatican on each of my prior to brain tumors, and you do start getting suspicious. Having said that, if you can do more for a cancer patient, do more. If prayer is the best you can do, I’ll take it. Honestly, I don’t think it’ll make any sort of long-term impact on objective reality, but when you’re the slowest, weakest member of the pack, it gives a bit of a morale boost to know someone would at least notice your absence. Having said that, don’t do the classic American thing and outsource what’s intended as a kind gesture to someone else; I’ve gotten weird robocalls from “prayer centers,” which seems somehow worse than people praying for me or offering to pray for me. Again, if you can do more for a cancer patient directly, get off your ass and do it.
3. What should I expect of my brain cancer treatment?
I can only speak for my own treatment, but, basically, expect neurosurgery (which is still the biggest, nastiest, most-side-effect-inducing thing I’ve encountered, although the maintenance chemo isn’t fun), if you’re lucky (if it’s surgically accessible, that’s very good news; because it’s not near anything critical to basic survival - like breathing or speech comprehension), followed by a brief break, followed by six weeks of radiation and chemo, followed by 12-24 months of maintenance chemo. I’ve discussed (Hell, i kept this blog as a journal) assorted side-effects associated with each of these, and I’m still actively discovering new ones. But, here’s the thing; at each step, if it looks like the cure/further treatment might kill you, your doctors might be rather hesitant to go on with more.
4. What’s chemo like?
I don’t have any new insights on this but it gets asked (both in-person and via Internet) so frequently, I always feel compelled to answer it. It’s probably just as bad as you’d imagine, The side effects are numerous and dangerous (one of the long-term side effects of Temodar is, I believe, leukemia).
5. My insurance/doctor can’t kill me!
This was an online one, and I see it in a lot of people who finally have to read through that fine-print on their health insurance now that they’re a financial liability. First of all, human life doesn’t have any sort of measurable, US dollar value, which means that if there isn’t a major financial incentive to keep you alive, especially if it now costs more to keep you alive than you can directly pay. So, yes, assume your insurance will pull the plug on you the minute you try to cash in on your policy. Doctors, although usually less-directly responsible, can - and, based on anecdotal evidence, this is more common than you’d imagine - refuse to treat patients if they think the treatment will cause more harm/danger than good. This is usually a good thing; because you don’t want to stay on chemo long enough for it to kill your liver or kidneys, but that can cut both ways. And then there’s just basic incompetence and/or what the British Medical Journal calls “medical misadventure,” which is the fancy term for when the folks on your medical team or hospital make a fatal boo-boo.
6. Any new insights about proper mind-set?
Yes, and this one ties it all together. One of the downsides of doctors being hesitant to treat patients when they think it’ll do more harm than good means that GBM patients were, until very, very recently, written off. It is, at this point, I get to write about Ben Williams, PhD. B. Williams was one of the very first (if not the first) brain cancer (specifically, glioblastoma) patients to convince a major medical center to treat him. That was in 1995. Ben Williams is still alive. I’ve heard his name before, but I bring him up now, because he thinks (based on some interviews I’ve run across) that the major key to curing chronic, incurable cancers, is just to keep alive, and healthy enough to take more punishment and/or chemo on as-needed basis, and just keep zapping, poisoning, and frying any of those recurrent mofos until they give up. Admittedly, there’s a large amount of random chance and luck in that approach, but I now feel extremely lucky that the Warlocks rolled out from minute one asking if I’d like my chemo “Agent Orange” or “napalm” flavored. And from that perspective - that all it takes to survive a terminal cancer diagnosis is just grim determination to take more punishment, it is nice - possibly even necessary - to feel like someone is invested in your survival. It does help me take another step across the abyssal plain knowing someone’s willing to light a candle for me in the Vatican (thanks, Donna), even if I’m not much of a believer.
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chariflare · 4 years
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end of work week so No Brain Energy for a “full post” so here’s just like. a brain dump of stuff i liked and disliked about 7 deadly sins (s1). pretty spoiler-y
dislikes (so that we end the post on the most tasty part of the meal)
they give melio.das a flaw of “repeated sexual offender” with the same level of gravitas and plot-irrelevance that ya authors make their self-insert protagonists “clumsy” (i.e. it’s written as a “flaw” but doesn’t affect the plot and is often used for ““comedic effect””). unlike clumsiness though, repeatedly groping women should get a person arrested. thanks
elizabeth is still a damsel
jericho. not the feminist take that the author thinks she is. awful
ultimately the cool female villains turn out to be not that strong or important, and also get love interest’d with members of the main heroic cast (& both’s motives depend on a man)
depending on how her character arc ends up diane’s obsession with wishing she wasn’t a giant is kinda uncomfortable
i don’t mind that elaine looks young-ish but i find it uncomfortable that she has an anime kid voice to top it all off (in jp...?)
gil.thunder’s side-switch wasn’t appropriately established and his og character sucks. years of acting as a moustache-twirling bishie villain don’t appear to have affected his psyche in a meaningful way, and it’s impossible to come away knowing what he’s supposed to act like now
final villains of the first arc are BORING (i think they get more characterisation after they come back to life lmao)
usual shonen bullshit that is both a draw to the show and also makes threat levels kind of ridiculous and non-existent after a certain point (getting bogged down in endless fights, people coming back to life, refusal to acknowledge that maybe their society’s awful power structures are the problem, rapidly changing definition of “the most powerful villain EVER”, etc.)... all encompassed in one pig death fakeout
the weird fatphobic king thing
tiddy outfits. (though i don’t mind didane’s actually?)
more generalised misogyny
the most important hetero ships this season are mediocre
if you know king arthur shit you will know that everyone’s loosely based off of characters from arthurian myth. if you don’t know you will be so pissed when king arthur the 16yo sports anime character shows up to be like “YOUR NEXT ARC IS HERE”
holy SHIT the second opening song is so bad. it’s so bad y’all (the the first op for comparison)
likes
all the characters are adult colleagues (above everything else) and they act like it. (they’re... kind of found family nakama but there’s a bit more there.) they’re all unique, respected, practiced masters of their craft from the beginning of the story
gula & jericho for the when they were threatening were REALLY cool. i am so psyched at the thought of a random minor young female villain who is so badass & dedicated to the evil cause she’s willing to enter a near-death state to chase some random losers into hell. gula’s outfit slaps
(cw: suicide) ban is a really neat character. he’s like... an interpretation of a “vampire curse”. he was never really happy before he achieved immortality (seeking it only because ”if you live long enough, something good might happen to you eventually, i guess”), and getting it (by accident) only made him Worse - more self-destructive and more isolated from the people around him. he often can’t bring himself to care about much of anything, other people don’t care about him, and ultimately his existence is so fucked up and he’s laden with so much guilt that he doesn’t care about himself either. but he’s also a fun guy! incredibly powerful! will help you beat up your abusive dad! probably bi! also he has his tits out at all times and who am i to say no 2 that
personality: part of the reason that he’s isolated from other people (and othered) is his social class... but a main part of it is how his childhood kind of, created his personality. he doesn’t really connect to social norms (or laws), has niche interests, and has a “weird”, disconnected personality (again, made way worse by living 100 years past his lifetime). that being said, he’s not emotionally unintelligent, has interests outside of fighting, and is ultimately a good person
(maybe don’t read this one if you’re interested in watching? it’s all spoilers) Depression: ban willingly runs head-first into danger not just bc it’s a valid fighting technique for someone who can’t die but bc he’s... too ready to give up. but this reveal is only interesting bc it comes after like. a period of getting along with the group, being friends and having fun. ultimately hanging out with them hasn’t solved his problems - it’s just made him able to put them aside for a little while... until his trauma gets brought up, at which point he’s willing to take the first hint of an easy exit, despite how unlikely it is that it’d achieve his supposed goal, if it just lets him relieve himself of his guilt and existential suffering by letting him believe for just one second that he can fix all of the things that he “broke” with his own death (note: killing melio.das would have broken his heart and probably have been suicide by proxy). (this causes a lot of trouble and is not framed as positive, but it’s also not framed as all his fault. and he has to deal with the consequences of this? he realises in retrospect that it was an incredibly unsound idea? and lEAVES THE GROUP BC HE REALISES HE HAS TO TAKE A BREAK???)
comparing ban to a traditional vampire arc: unlike with vampires (who are often an allegory for a group of people, e.g. rich people or oppressed groups) there’s only one ban. and therefore instead of having a group with the same trauma he just suffers alone
meaningful conflict between the main characters. i don’t think i’ve ever really gotten this in a shonen show? there’s a LOT of unresolved trauma. the characters still work together bc they’re Adults... but it’s simmering
ban <-> meli: meli is the only person besides elaine who ever really understood ban... but that doesn’t mean that ban’s ok, now (in fact, the resentment about only being understood by one person kind of makes him... worse). (e: meli also has connections to the rare fantasy creature which started ban’s life hell). ban has too much damage to the point that he becomes a liability
ban <-> king: resolved early, but still good. king is convinced that ban is the cause of all of his suffering partly bc he’s too jealous to admit that smo else got close to his sister when he couldn’t; ban has enough guilt that he just Takes It. even afterwards their personalities are kind of incompatible so it’s fun to see them hang out
meli <-> (king <-> diane): relationship drama but it’s not a frustrating bc it’s relevant to each character’s flaws and Baggage (and the plot doesn’t bother to pretend that diane will end up with melio). king has a lot of guilt over accidentally (?) ghosting his family and SOME of it’s valid (but not all). king is jealous of meli for being the target of diane’s affection but also kind of lowkey thinks he doesn’t deserve her bc of the pain he’s caused her
meli <-> elizabeth <-> diane: diane KNOWS she’s not going to be in a relationship with meli but she still desperately holds onto hope. diane’s fears about being unlovable feed into her lack of self esteem as an oppressed (or at minimum, villanized) minority
elizabeth (the princess) is firmly a member of the team and her determination and character improvement is taken seriously. she DOES get badass moments BEFORE she’s revealed to be a reincarnated angel child or whatever
diane (the only female member of the 7 sins who has a big role this season) is consistently taken seriously (by the writers & other characters)
elizabeth & diane get to INTERACT!! and BE FRIENDS!!
i love elaine. first show i’ve seen that (unintentionally? & through fantasy tropes??) nails Older Sister Disease, i.e. the oldest female sibling being left to deal with all the family business, emotional and physical baggage, while all the male/younger siblings just fuck off. caring for your family members but also lowkey resenting them. they don’t invalidate her feelings even after relieving king of a little of the responsibility for her suffering. (i liked the romance prequel manga a lot - i p much only picked up the anime bc i bought into the romance b/w her and ban)
(despite everything) meli.odas acts like a proper leader for his squad. he takes his responsibilities seriously and treats his colleagues as his equals
ngl the twist with gowther disguising himself and his protagonist hair as a disposable marked-for-death npc was really funny
aesthetic is unique and distinct from the overdone isekai dnd fantasy that’s popular atm
the first ed song by flow & granr.odeo cheers me up every time
the feeling of going on an adventure with your buddies. it’s fun!
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idealisticrealism · 6 years
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Blindspot 3x03 recap
(Aka the Patterson and Rich show lol)
AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
I LOVED this episode. Cute Jeller, supportive team, and of course, PATTERSON AND RICH BEING KICKASS BESTIES. Can the whole season be just like this ep bc good lord it is totally up there with my fave eps of this show ever and ugh I just loved it so much guys
Which in a way is kind of a bad thing because it means this review is gonna take me like 6 hours on account of all the screaming, but ah well. Worth it. 
And to the lovely Anon-- I may very possibly struggle to do these from now on due to my travelling, but I’ll try my best to keep them happening if I can. Thankfully none of the other people in my hostel dorm here in Madrid have minded my hectic late-night typing for the last couple of hours lol...
Anyhow, more gushing below the cut.
Ugh look at this. Our babies are dressed all fancy and having drinks and it’s kinda reminiscent of 1x09 except this time instead of just alluding to their interest in each other, Weller is BLATANTLY HITTING ON JANE, his WIFE, who he is MARRIED TO, and ugh it’s simultaneously delightful and almost nauseating haha. Zapata and Reade definitely agree with the nauseating part, because they’re stuck in the surveillance van being forced to listen to every word. Oh, kids. As the child of two people that love to make jokes about their sex life just to gross me out, I totally understand your pain right now. Lbr tho they probably kind of missed this. And lol I love that Jane giggles and apologises while shooting heart-eyes at Weller. You two are the worst. I actually didn’t expect this scene so early but I’m totally into it. And so Jeller keep an eye on the suspect and his daughter/wife, while Tasha works her hacking skills and hacks his computer. Also awww her cousin asked for Patterson’s autograph, that is so cute and I now love her cousin. I love that Patterson is now super rich and kinda a celeb lol. Hahaha I love that Jane delays the guy by telling him she loves his charity work and then literally like 10 secs later the team is into his files and Weller is arresting him. That would have had to feel kinda like an abrupt turnabout lol
Aww Zapata is checking in on Patterson and making sure she’s okay D: I love these ladies supporting each other. But in what sounds like depressing deja vu of both of the previous seasons, Patterson insists she’s fine to be there. Also her puzzle solving skills clearly haven’t suffered-- she figured out that random specks on Jane’s back could be translated onto a grid and brought together to form words? Dude. Tbh I like that the show gives us a brief explanation of how things were cracked without putting any pressure on us viewers-- we get to just smile and nod and be like ‘yep, sounds legit’ and then move on haha. Now Aunty Hirst has rocked up to hear the deets, considering their suspect is a big fish. And basically there’s some evidence that he caused a train to derail which was previously called in as an anonymous tip, and which made him super rich due to something to do with stocks. Can you tell I have very little understanding of the stock market lol, which tbh is kinda unfortunate considering my father keeps wanting me to invest haha.
Oooh Patterson goes to Reade bc she’s been investigating Stuart’s murder on her own despite there already being a team on it, and she tells him that Stuart had a Siri/google home/Alexa equivalent thing and that she thinks the thing recorded his murder, since they’re sneakily recording everything. Makes you worry about Siri and Alexa, doesn’t it… Anyway she wants Reade to go demand the recording from the company before it’s deleted within 72hrs. Go Reade go! Meanwhile Patterson goes to talk to their suspect’s lawyer, and walks in to find her playing Wizardville. I love that she knows exactly which part she’s at just by hearing the sound effects. Ugh you giant nerd I love you so much. When Jeller show up a minute later (maybe held up in the locker room because of… activities…) lawyer lady insists that the emails are planted by a hacker group who is targeting her client. Lol “Mr Lowie can afford better specialists than the FBI has. No offense”/”Offense taken”. Damn right, Patterson, none of those specialists could hold a candle to you. But uh oh, the lawyer mentioned the hacker group-- the three blind mice-- and Patterson suddenly got all shifty. What do you know that you’re not telling, honey???  Also the lawyer lady is threatening them with a very large lawsuit which is bound to make all of this a little awkward….
RIIIICHHH. God I will never get over the delight of seeing him appear in an episode. Patterson visits him in his office, which is literally just a room for cleaning supplies, and she turns on a radio jammer which has him spitting coffee (if that is coffee) out of his ‘best daddy ever’ mug. So either he stole the mug from Weller or someone, or it’s alluding to a weird sex thing. You never know with Rich. (Yes you do; it’s usually the weird sex thing). Ugh and when she demands to know if he hacked into the suspect’s server he’s all “What?? No?? Who??” and god I just love his FACE. Ennis how do you do this??? God. And then ugh he promises her he’s not lying and ugh I believe it. And then she tells him the tatt points to the 3BM and that the FBI are gonna try to track them down and ugh you can see the ‘oh shit’ on his face. I just love the way these two interact, like they’re legit real friends?? Ugh my babies. I adore Jeller and all, but tbh this is my favourite duo on the show rn. And now Weller wants to see them both and they’re both like ‘oh shit’ lol. And then lol he totally ignores ‘ladies first’ and calls Weller mademoiselle and you can hear that he’s nervous and aaahhhh his joke about the 3 blind mice from the nursery rhyme and then insisting he’s a crime fighter now and I just love him so muuuchhhh and this whole time he and Patterson are both half shitting themselves and ugh I feel like he’s using his ridiculousness to keep attention on him and not Patterson bc she doesn’t like lying to her team and ughhhh they’re such broooos. And Hirst appears to tell them all that they need to catch the 3BM asap because the emails were planted and their dude might sue, and to which Rich suggests a simple ‘I was wrong’ to patch things up lollll. And then Hirst has a picture of the 3BM and Patterson and Rich are all !!!!!!!!! and then it turns out it’s a person in a mouse mask and they’re so relieved lol. Also dude after Patterson, i love Rich’s dynamic with Jane the most. She’s basically like his long-suffering mom hahaha. Back in the closet, Patterson’s freaking out and wants to come clean but he’s all ‘how about no’ lol. Also he says that they dropped out because ‘someone thought it was getting too dangerous’ and he points to her but then jabs his thumb toward himself as he’s speaking and now I’m confused?? Which one wanted to bail?? (Probably Patterson lbr). Ughhhh by the sound of it they were such little Robin Hoods, and ugh I NEED the spinoff about this whole partnership over the last 2 years ughhhhhhh. And hahaha omg “so we make it a little harder for them, if you catch my drift”/”by obstructing justice??”/”drift caught.” UGHHHHH GIVE ME THE SPINOFF. GIVE IT TO ME. I will sell my soul for this I stg.
Meanwhile awww Reade is honouring Patterson’s request and talking to a representative from the kinga company about the recordings, and when she tries to deny it he and Zapata totally roll their eyes at each other haha. These bros. And then she’s texting his gf which feels a little weird, and also she says they hung out ‘last weekend’ but uh wasn’t stuart’s murder less than 72hr ago, and so all the events of last ep including Zapata meeting the gf happened then as well (that did happen in 3x02 right?)? Maybe that was friday and this is monday and she meant to say ‘on the weekend’?  Also “You better put a ring on that before I do” LOL I love it. I’m sure it’s just a joking comment but dude could Zapata be bi? Because I would totally be down for that. I like Zapata being friends with Reade’s gf and encouraging them as a couple, since I want Reade and Zapata to remain just bros. I seriously miss Reade/Sarah though. Lbr I’m still totally bitter about that one, Gero.
Patterson found the person in the mouse mask by creating a ‘biometric map’ of the person from the video and using ‘gait recognition’?? Mmmmmkay, sure, I’ll roll with it. Nice little mention of Patterson’s NSA access, though. The woman they find has a bunch of dating profiles and works for Nerd Herd (awww a Chuck reference, I’m so happy) which makes Rich pity her, but uh dude don’t you know she was Miss United States?? And she’s besties with Sandra Bullock, so she’s doing just fine. And ugh when Rich says that they tracked her location, Jane actually praises him and ughhhh look at that parental approval he’s getting, I’m so happy for him. And then haha Hirst wants both Patterson and Rich in on the interrogation and ugh you can just see my poor Patterson getting more and more tightly wound lol can someone just give her a hug before she explodes? Preferably Rich giving her a slightly stilted but genuinely sincere hug. I want it. Nope, need it. Also looks like Jeller now have nothing on their schedule…. time for another locker room rendezvous perhaps?
Lollll their suspect has said like two lines and all I hear is Miss Rhode Island… also she looks so cute in her lil Nerd Herd outfit. I wonder if she ever met Chuck? I mean she’s based on the other side of the country, but still… what if she trained under him over in Burbank before moving to NYC? Anyhow she gushes about how famous the 3BM are and both Rich and Patterson are looking SO UNCOMFORTABLE in their own ways and I’m loving it. Also ugh Hirst’s soft southern accent is so soothing. Could she narrate audiobooks or something bc I would legit buy all of them. Although rn she’s describing bad stuff that the 3BM did and that doesn’t feel right, but then Kathy decides the jig is up and explains how each of those things was actually them helping people/semi-saving the world. Also man this actress is amazing in how she can sound simultaneously kinda deranged but also kinda sweet?? I just want to protect her and her adorable lil face haha. Lol at Rich and Patterson exchanging looks across the room the whole time she’s talking. Subtle, guys. And Rich’s face when she says that the three of them are still best friends?? Maybe he’s starting to think Patterson was right to have made them both cut ties with this wacko. But duuuude why are you so vain, you literally just let her goad you into revealing yourself as one of her former partners. But still, “Oh so by ‘pretty close’, do you mean 100% correct, or?” ughhhh I love the sass. And then  Kathy mentions people being in danger and it draws Patterson over, putting all three of the blind mice at the same table for the first time in a year.... And also ever, when you think about it. Also turns out that the wealthy guy might be planning to blow something up to earn money from stocks like he did last time or something, which prompts Patterson to admit to Rich that she has backdoor access into every phone that downloaded her app. Firstly, wow, glad that power is in the hands of one of the good guys. Secondly, that’s a huge show of trust to tell him that, knowing that he could then steal her phone or something and use the access for his own gain. Ugh these bros!! Lol I do love that he gets carried away with thoughts of Hirst’s browser history tho haha. But anyhow by hacking the lawyer’s phone she figured out where the attack was planned to happen, and aawwwww Rich immediately wants to head to tell the team and Patterson is the one holding back. Also LOL: “Hey Gary.” “His name’s Gary? I’ve been calling him Rick…” ugh how is his every line just SO GOOD? I love the thought that he talks to their coworkers as well, probably talks the ear off of anyone who happens to come near him lol. Ugh my baby just wants to be loveddddd. I love the bickering-siblings thing they’ve got going on though, and “Well now who’s obstructing justice??” ahhahaha. Seriously who do I have to bribe to get the show with just these two? And then when she suddenly decides that they need to come clean, he’s all ‘woah no no, gross’ lollll. And then he has a little lightbulb moment about how to solve their problem-- a ridiculous and very conveniently timed anonymous tip lol. Well, tbh the team never really cares HOW Patterson managed to get their intel, only that she gives them stuff they can use/excuses to go beat people up. Aww but Weller trusts his lil team and acts immediately on their intel, prepared to take the fall for it if it turns out to be a dud. He’s very martyr-ish lately, I feel-- but I guess maybe he just feels invincible now that his wifey is back in his lifey?
Turns out the ‘tip’ is legit, and Jeller find our baddies, proceeding to beat the hell out of them in true Jeller fashion. There’s also a bomb, because of course there is, and Rich makes a suggestion only to be smacked down by Patterson and is properly apologetic haha. Jane then actually takes his advice, using the sped-up clock to convince the baddie to disarm the bomb, then takes him out and shoots the guy grappling with Weller by firing through a bottle of oil or something. Nice. She really is a woman of endless talents, a fact that Weller very much benefits from, both in the field and… elsewhere haha. Also Sully’s accent has dropped at least twice in this ep already, someone must be tired lol. Anyway back at the office, Aunty Hirst drops by to tell them all how proud she is. Also I want to marry the way she says ‘Lowie’. It’s just so damn cute. She then tells everyone to go home, and Rich and Patterson have a quiet little celebratory fist-bump (which they have clearly done before AAAHHHHHHH) over the 3BM investigation appearing to be closed. God they’re the cutest.
Oh yeah, forgot about Reade and Zapata for a minute there, too distracted by the other show-stealing partnership haha. They’re putting heavy pressure on the boss lady at Kinga, and I love that she calls him ‘sir’ and that he’s so firm and authoritative with her. This seems more like a true AD of the FBI! And you know Zapata’s pretty impressed too haha.  Well done, Reade.
Loll Patterson and Rich meeting in a deserted parking lot and Rich stepping in a puddle and then both of them realising that neither of them actually sent the message that they received. Tbh I just love that each of them got a message from the other telling them to come to a random parking lot in the middle of the night and they both came?? Without question?? Ugghhhhhhh have I mentioned lately that I love them. Also what’s Rich’s sitch at the safe house? Does he have a team watching him that he had to evade to get here, or? And lol she calls him dumbwad and everything is so cute and fun and then RICH GETS SHOT IN THE CHEST. Ngl, I gasped far louder in this moment than I even knew I was capable of. There was a split second of sheer, unadulterated panic before I remembered he’s going to be returning for multiple eps throughout the season and therefore has to be okay. But good lord that one second was an awful experience. I swear to god, if they do ever kill Rich then I’m out. I will walk away from this show, Gero, don’t think I won’t! And ugh the shock and horror on Patterson’s face-- for all he drives her crazy, he’s literally one of her best friends, and she’s already lost enough people around her. And then Kathy appears and even though she assures them (and us) that they’re just beanbag rounds, it’s still freaky as hell to see her shooting them both with a shotgun at point-blank range. My poor babies… Aaaand then they wake in a Saw-esque setting and ugh he pokes her so gently to wake her and they’re so cute when they’re kidnapped. Sounds like it’s a semi-regular occurrence for Rich, whose main concern is that he doesn’t get to be kidnapped anywhere fun lol. Aw, is someone using humour to make their friend feel less scared?  “And not the good kind of dungeon” haha. And then he goes for the door and she tries to stop him but too late, he gets zapped by a shock collar and lol my poor baby. “Oh my god, she’s gonna make us play the hunger games, isn’t she??” Which tbh would be pretty interesting between these two. I’m tempted to bet on Patterson as the winner, but then again, the first time we met Rich he did shoot a guy in the chest and was going to have Jeller killed as well, so tbh I think he shouldn’t be underestimated. But ugh it’s so cute that Patterson is desperately trying to get his collar off rather than her own, and then suddenly heeeeeeeere’s Kathy! Who is holding the collar remote threateningly in one hand while sweetly offering them snacks at the same time lol. Sh figured out it was them because of Rich showing off in interrogation and Patterson saying ‘opposite, opposite’ which I did think was a bit of a weird phrase to use lol. And ahhh Patterson calls him Rich and Kathy suddenly goes into Rich DotCom fangirl mode, and tbh I feel you on that one, sister. I would react the same. But now she’s ranting about them being brainwashed by the feds (lol at Rich telling Patterson that she did just sound like weller, awwww) and that she’s ‘saving’ them haha. Then suddenly she whips out a to-do list of hack-tivities, but instead of Robin Hood stuff, it’s more Sherriff of Nottingham stuff this time. Their arguments don’t work, which means it’s hack or zap….
Weller texts Patterson about dinner; everyone’s gathered at his and Jane’s place having drinks and hanging out and ugh they’re all so cute. And Jeller are so casually touchy and he calls her ‘my love’ and I’m seriously caught between finding that corny and super cute. Maybe both. Zapata’s playing Wizardville, which apparently Jane does too, and then they realise Reade must as well and lol Zapata’s innocent little ‘Reade?’ is so CUTE. Weller’s all “You too??” and yeppp, Sully has apparently forgotten what an American accent is haha. Oh well. I love that he goes and snuggles with Jane on the couch (aaawwwww) as they watch Zapata and Reade bicker like it’s a spectator sport hahaha. I love the sassiness omg.
Meanwhile Rich is perfecting his mime-in-a-box routine as he tries to figure out any gaps in their electric prison, and tbh that’s actually pretty brave? He probably got zapped at least a few times doing that. Patterson is trying to figure out how to get word back to the team, but Rich tells her that the only way they’ll get out of this is to go along with Kathy’s plan, because he has ‘a lot of experience with psychotic women who desire him sexually’ and lol at the disgust and annoyance on Patterson’s face and her “What is your point.” Yep, those are siblings right there.
The team are still being cute when Weller gets an email from Patterson saying she’s having dinner with Rich instead, but Zapata notices that it’s signed with her first name, WHICH NONE OF THEM ACTUALLY MENTION. TELL US THE DAMN NAME, YOU JERKS. So I guess that means that Patterson sneakily sent an email when Kathy wasn’t looking? I think that’s what they’re getting at, rather than Kathy covering her tracks by sending that to Weller so he won’t be concerned when Patterson doesn’t show up for dinner. I feel like Patterson totally has the skills to pull that off right under someone’s nose...
Back in the dungeon, the dynamic duo have picked some of the less harmful hacks to start with, including revealing some politician guy as a sex fiend (no surprises there), and Kathy gushes that watching them hack is like watching Picasso paint the Mona Lisa and lolll you can see Rich’s eyes narrow and he really wants to correct her but Patterson is already telling her to let them go, but nope Kathy wants them to crash Lowie’s private jet now, and wow she really seems to have it in for this guy. Also is it even possible to remotely crash a plane? But ohhhhhh crap, Kathy’s brother died in the train crash that Lowie caused. Well, that explains that. She tried to hand them the evidence to put him away, but now she’s taking matters into her own (or the 3 Blind Mice’s) hands. And Rich kinda seems to side with her a little bit after this revelation, causing Patterson to shoot him a look of betrayal and Kathy to beam at him. Oh man I really hope this is a ploy. Ugh Patterson is basically pleading with him not to help Kathy, to stay on their team, the good guy team, and then Kathy zaps her and ugh he’s immediately on his feet but knows he can’t do anything. He has to roll with this if he’s to save either of them and ugh I love himmmmm???
The team is at the office, trying to track down their missing buddies. Again Zapata is the one to see the clue-- the IP address the email came from is in antarctica, just like Kathy’s earlier hacks. They discover Kathy got out on bail, and then that both Patterson and Rich’s cars were found in Brooklyn. I love that they all practically run for the exit. I wonder if they’re remembering the last time Patterson was kidnapped, aka the only unlikable episode of season one?? Better hurry team, go save them! And lol conveniently they find out every place she’s ever worked and one of those happens to be an old zoo, and therefore a nice private place to keep prisoners. How lucky for them….
Poor Patterson is bound and gagged and tries to cry “Rich, no!” as he successfully hacks the jet and sets it on its collision course with the ocean.  Or its fake collision course, I hope. And ugh then he and Kathy are dining together and okay why does she respond ‘kinda’ when he asks if it’s foie gras? Is she pulling a Hannibal Lecter rn??? Also I love the little red glow of the collar through his napkin lol. And then there’s a perimeter breach and Kathy is starting to freak out and so checks on the plane, only to see that it landed safely and Patterson looks at Rich in shock and HE WINKS AT HER. Look at my baby all grown up and fighting on the side of good with his lil FBI family who he lovessssss. Ughhh save me. And then omg she flips out and literally smashes the wine bottle over his head and I gasped super loud again bc do you know how hard those things are???? Ugh both Patterson and I are so worried for our bestie Rich, but meanwhile Kathy hacks the team’s car and tries to crash them?? I love their super synchronized dives out of the car lol. And then omg she literally sets everything on fire while crying over their ruined friendship hahahaha. Tbh I’d be pretty devastated if Patterson and Rich didn’t want to be friends with me too lol…. And then omgggg she is literally about to shoot Rich and Patterson tackles her, saving his life and causing herself to be electrocuted. THAT IS FAMILY RIGHT THERE. I hope Rich someday acknowledges what she did for him just then, bc ugh it was everythinggggg. Thankfully the team is there and Reade is clever enough to order Jane to find a fusebox. I love the tasks each of the team takes-- Jane cuts the power, saving Patterson, Reade arrests Kathy, Weller helps Patterson up and is checking her over all concerned, and Zapata FLICKS RICH until he comes around hahahaha. “He’s fine” lol. I love that she’s all blase about it but they would have been genuinely upset if he was seriously injured. Pretend all you like, I know you care!!
Back at base, the rest of the team calls Rich and Patterson into the conference room to tell them that Hirst wants the other mice caught, but Kathy is refusing to give up names (‘she’s a mouse, not a rat’ hahahaha), and when Reade asks why she kidnapped them, Patterson answers that she was a huge Rich DotCom fangirl, which is technically a true statement. Rich says he didn’t know that was even a thing, which is a completely untrue statement haha. And then Reade says how lucky it is that there’s no evidence whatsoever to point to who the other two are because if he knew who they were he would have to prosecute them and ugh the team has clearly agreed that this is a ‘what happens in the team stays in the team’ situation and then even literally discuss how these tattoos are about them as a group, that Roman wants to expose their secrets specifically. But they have no idea why. (Punishing Jane, no?)
Naw look at this domestic Jeller. Jane is cooking her implausible vegan lasagne, and then Kurt tells her he loves her like ten times, which is super cute but still in an Australian accent!! Sully, c’mon, lol. But ugh he runs to the shower and wants her to join and lord I do love me some established relationship… but then of course lil bro has to call and cockblock, and ugh poor Jane is so upset about how things are between them but he’s all ‘grrrrrr must punish you for making me sad grrrrrrr’ and sigh I look forward to a little bit of character growth on his part lol
Oooh Patterson calls Reade and Zapata in to the lab to listen to the Kinga recording that they got, and finds out that it's been doctored, meaning someone is hiding something. And also, through magical genius means, she figured out the tattoo that Stuart was working on relates to Van Gogh’s famous self portrait. Which is super confusing until the next scene where an ominous man threatens the Kinga CEO never to talk about doctoring the recordings, and turns away, revealing… DUN DUN DUN….. he’s missing an ear. Ooooooooohhhhh intrigue. Who is Creepy Van Gogh and what does he want with the team????
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Unexpected Casualty
Word Count: 2,048
Summary: Visiting a new city through their travels across the universe, Eva, Spirit, and Aikka find themselves caught up in an unexpected scuffle.
*Author’s Note*: This title is super ominous but uhhhhhh. Lol. I........really dropped the ball on this one, and I’m sorry it’s so late ;~; but my SUPER GOOD FRIEND @aepaex had a very special and important birthday this past Tuesday, and I finally finished this gift I was writing for her! I’m sorry it’s a little belated, but I really hope it’s still enjoyable, and I just have to say again HAPPY BELATED BDAY I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!
Another day, another new and interesting place to explore. At least, that was Eva’s mindset when she and her entourage arrived at a new destination on a foreign planet. This time the city seemed to be a bustling hub for a variety of aliens to congregate and sell their wares, and Eva was already excited to see what this place had in store for them. Aikka had dropped she and Spirit off so they could head into the main part of the city while he found a place to dock G’dar. Spirit and Aikka were currently still her only two companions on this spontaneous journey, although she knew that in their free time Aikka was busy trying to coordinate meet ups so they could add a few more members to the group. What she didn’t know were the specific details of said plan in terms of where and when and who, but that was alright. Eva enjoyed a certain element of surprise in her travels across the cosmos, and as she strolled through the market stands that lined the streets she perused their wealth of alien wares with glee.
Spirit strolled close behind her, observing both the stands and the crowd around them. The atmosphere seemed unusually dense and chaotic, different from what Spirit had experienced in other crowded locales. Perhaps there was some underlying emotional disruption going on, or something that had happened that left an unpleasant impression on the area and its inhabitants. Spirit couldn’t put his finger on it, but he supposed that as long as nothing dangerous or disruptive happened it wasn’t a big deal. After all, he was here to enjoy whatever this place had to offer as much as Eva and Aikka. He was just as excited to discover what surprises the universe had in store throughout their interplanetary travels. Although he and Aikka had markedly more experience with such a thing than Eva, there were sectors of the universe that they’d both had yet to visit, and visiting with Eva always made things more interesting.
Eva was an experience in and of herself. Being around her enhanced experiences in a completely unique way; without her around, it was like the luster of life dulled just a little. She had helped Spirit start to see many things in new ways, something that he was deeply grateful for. Agreeing to partake in this journey across the galaxy with both Eva and Aikka, Spirit felt like perhaps he finally belonged somewhere.
Of course, he always felt like he had a place as a racer, but he didn’t have an abundance of close friends back on his home planet. Sometimes when he dwelled on the reality of his loneliness, he began to long to make more meaningful connections with other Phils and even other species of aliens in general. Considering how Phils typically looked, acted, and communicated, it was usually hard for them to reach out to species who had never heard of or experienced them firsthand. It was harder still to break down the barrier of misunderstanding and confusion without inducing more of those same feelings or even eliciting fear.
Speaking of fear, the uneasiness in the air only seemed to be growing, and its effects were really starting to weigh on Spirit. Eva didn’t seem to notice as she aimlessly wove through the crowd, holding Spirit’s hand as she chattered on about random things that she noticed or that drew her attention. Spirit thought that he had been doing an alright job of just commenting or replying to her when it felt appropriate to do so since their hands were connected, but as they made it to the center of the small trading area Eva turned around and grasped both of Spirit’s hands firmly.
“Something’s bothering you, what’s going on? You can tell me.”
Spirit was surprised by her sudden bluntness, his focus on trying to analyze the weird feeling inside him disrupted. He panicked a bit, realizing that in his distraction he’d probably let some of his less pleasant feelings bleed into her mind. He apologized quickly before attempting to change the subject, but Eva just tightened her grip on his hands, a frown forming on her lips.
“Don’t lie to me, you don’t have to,” she explained, drawing Spirit to a less crowded section of the square. “I know something’s up, and I don’t like being kept out of the loop. No matter what it is, I can handle it, and you can trust me. We’re in this together now anyway, aren’t we? So fill me in.”
Spirit didn’t necessarily like having to divulge information that might lead to further conflict, but to a point Eva was right. If there was something lurking that Spirit sensed, the courteous thing to do as someone who was invited to join her and the Nourasian Prince on their open ended expedition was to share his thoughts with her. Then again, despite how much Eva thought she knew, and how much she had already been through, there were still limits to where she was permitted to stick her nose. If Spirit could help it, he wouldn’t lead her further down a path to trouble. They’d all already had enough of that for a lifetime. But there was also a familiar presence in the mixture of conflict that Spirit sensed, and that tidbit of information came in strong and fast enough that he didn’t have time to mitigate the transfer of his thoughts.
“Aikka…something involving Aikka?” Eva asked, her expression shifting rapidly from confusion to worry to determination. “He’s in a fight with someone…where is he? What’s going on? When did this start, Spirit, you have to--”
Too many things were happening at once and Spirit yanked his hand away, not sure what course of action he wanted to take next. He was thoroughly disappointed in himself for not exercising more restraint, especially knowing the kind of impusliveness Eva was prone to, but none of that really mattered in the wake of what occurred next. Spirit and Eva’s eyes darted to the sky in unison as two great beetles rose up over the city. Flashes of light from clashing spells shooting from their backs intensified the midday light illuminating the streets. Eva and Spirit stood glued to the spot as they both realized Aikka was locked in some form of unexpected combat with another Nourasian, or at least another alien who happened to be riding the same kind of beast as G’dar and holding off Aikka’s attacks with similar magic.
“Spirit, c’mon, we have to help him!”
Spirit didn’t know what Eva meant, or how she thought they’d be able to do anything from their current position, but as she took his hand and started sprinting through the crowd her thoughts made everything known. Spirit somehow felt that her rash plan would turn out to be an acceptable course of action, and as the two burst forth into a clearing between buildings Spirit followed the lead that Eva had set out for him in his mind. Shifting forms, he morphed into his racing appearance, a large, silent, sleek body that startled and cleared out the rest of the lingering bystanders. Eva clamored onto his back quickly, and as soon as he felt her fingers secure in his fur he took off.
Eva had a small pistol strapped to her waist that was able to fire various types of alien ammunition, from bullets simply meant to stun to those of a more lethal variety. She loaded a flash generating round into the weapon as Spirit sliced through the air, cutting between the two warring aliens to break up their barrage of attacks. Aikka and G’dar staggered back, and Aikka’s eyes grew wide with surprise and relief at the sight of his friends. He knew he’d probably be in big trouble with them later for getting wrapped up in such a scuffle, but there would be plenty of time for explanations later.
“Aikka, get out of here!” Eva called as Spirit curved back around, coming to a stop between the two hovering aliens. He tried to get a good look at Aikka’s opponent and glean anything he could before either of them starting attacking again. “We’re causing too much of a scene, and there are too many civilians around to continue a battle here. Someone’s gonna get hurt if we don’t--”
“You’re the only one who’s gonna be getting hurt!”
Aikka’s opponent launched another magic attack, and Spirit barely reacted quickly enough to guard Eva from being struck. His wing hissed in the wake of the burn the attack inflicted on him, and Eva shot the explosive flash from her gun before placing her hand on Spirit and instructing him to retreat immediately. She gestured a similar signal to Aikka, shooting off a smoke grenade to give them some cover as the trio fled to a more safe, secluded area of the city. Although both G’dar and Spirit were considerably big and hard to miss as they soared across the city, Aikka was able to cast some magic that disguised their trail at least part of the way. As soon as they landed Eva slid off Spirit’s back, waiting for him to return to his bipedal form before both she and Aikka descended upon him to inspect his injury.
“Are you okay, is this going to be alright?” Eva rapidly inquired, her panic evident as Aikka placed a calming hand on her shoulder.
“Calm down, he’s going to be alright. Let me take a look at it, I’m sure it’s nothing some magic and a bandage can’t fix.”
“I thought your magic was offense based?” Eva pointed out as the Prince took Spirit’s arm and examined it. The fur was slightly singed, but nothing major. Although Spirit flinched a bit, the pain wasn’t excruciating, and he knew that Aikka was speaking the truth. A quick medicinal treatment and some rest would have him back to normal in no time; in the meantime Eva was still frazzled and intent on getting as many answers about the situation she could.
“What was all that about?” she interrogated Aikka as he began chanting something over Spirit’s wound, a gentle blue glow appearing and pulsating around it. “Who was that, and why were you fighting, and are they gonna be able to track us, and--”
“It’s going to be alright, Eva,” Aikka reassured, smiling at her softly.
Spirit could feel the pain in his arm starting to ebb, the sensation turning to numbness as Aikka ceased his chanting. He fetched a bandage from his bag and wrapped the wound neatly, and Spirit thanked Aikka with a grateful nod. Although he was relieved to have his wound treated, Spirit was mildly concerned about the ways in which this injury would prevent him from shapeshifting. Hopefully their group would be able to procure some temporary transportation until he was fully recovered, since he wasn’t sure G’dar would do the trick. “It was just an unexpected scuffle. I don’t know who they are, and we might cross paths with them again, but this time I’ll be ready.”
“We’ll all be ready,” Eva added, placing a hand on Spirit’s good arm as she let her feelings of apology and sympathy flow to him. “I’m really sorry both of you got dragged into whatever that was. I think it would be best if we stayed somewhere outside the city tonight.”
Their journey had barely begun, and already the trio was starting to make unknown enemies. Spirit had a hunch, however, that if the assailant had very well been Nourasian, there was a deeper plot brewing beneath the surface. The universe had undoubtedly changed since the events of the Great Race of Oban, and forces beyond comprehension were still at work behind the scenes. Feelings, actions, and paths were all being manipulated to lead the survivors to a new destination, a new fate. Perhaps Aikka’s scuffle and Spirit’s injury were signs of the adversity that would follow them from now on. Either way, Spirit didn’t want himself or his friends to have to face such misfortune. Together, hopefully they would all be able to find a way to avoid such calamity. After all, they’d made it this far.
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Reflections - Session 3
In which a dwarf and a cleric (mostly the cleric) force the party to clean up their mess.
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Backtracking a little bit...
Be a Dwarf Fighter named Ciaran Broadblade
Formerly Ciaran Silverlord III
Left home a few months ago after getting into an argument with his dad
Renounce original surname, take on a new one
Wander the land for a few months, working as a sellswordaxe
Arrive in Lorthas Village; decide to stay, to help with the goblin problem
Rent a room at the Midnight’s Breeze
Get awoken shortly after going to bed by some kind of a ruckus
Get dressed, go downstairs/outside
...The whole town is drunk. Why is the whole town drunk?
Why is that elf dragging a human woman and a blue goblin with him through town?
WHY IS THE ALARM HORN SOUNDING??
Suddenly wave of multicolored goblins pouring in from the front gates
Elf & co disappear into a random house
They obviously caused this shitstorm.
Ciaran follows. TIME_FOR_JUSTICE.gif
Busts down the door
Watch someone disappear into the bathroom, follow
… What the fuck, there’s no one here
But there are no other exits aside from the front door
How in the shit? Did they just… disappear??
… Did they go through the mirror in the bathroom somehow???
No time to think about it, goblins are attacking
Like 5 goblins of various colors enter the house.
Cornered in the bathroom
TMW the Goblins decide it’s more interesting to fight each other than to fight the moderately armored fighter
Ciaran used “I’ll Hit A Motherfucker With Another Motherfucker”
Attempts to bullrush one of the goblins into another to knock them both prone
It’s not very effective…
Right. Welp. That’s what waraxes are for, I guess.
Eventually all 5 goblins go down
NowToSaveTheTown.jpg
One Dwarf vs Goblin Horde. Round one. Fight!
#DarkSouls
YOU DIED
MEANWHILE IN THE MIRROR REALM
Saren is still studying Azure
Morthal has been practicing a little with his new psionic abilities
He can make bolts of pure energy
And also an ectoplasmic creature called an Astral Construct
Lah continues to insist on referring to Morthal as “Breaker”
Morthal is not amused, begins throwing books at her in retaliation
She gets the hint (and also gets kind of offended), and stops
Saren suggests that they go back through the mirror to gather supplies from Lorthas
Lah: That…………….. May be a problem.
TMW your employees accidentally set a goblin horde loose on a town composed of residents who were all too drunk to stand
“GO FIX YOUR FUCKIN’ MESS”
Morthal & Lah head back into town
It’s pretty late at night - early morning, at this point
Head outside, look around
Oof.
Well…
Shit.
Basically everyone is dead
Bodies litter the streets
Even in the dark, it’s clear that some are goblin, but others are human.
Only a few people appear to still be up and about, and they look pretty banged up, too
The only person who appears mobile is an old man wandering about
He’s wearing white robes and carries a staff with him
He kneels beside the body of what appears to be a dwarf
There’s a sudden, radiant glow
Ciaran inserts coin to continue
TMW the first thing you see after being resurrected by some old dude is two of the motherfuckers who you are 99% sure caused this mess in the first place
Thank the old man quickly, then get up
Go to aggressively confront the elf and human
They aren’t amused
“Listen, man, we didn’t do shit, leave us alone.”
The old dude walks up, introduces himself as Kraxis
He’s a humble Priest of Pelor
Lah is instantly suspicious of him
He explains that he happened by Lorthas shortly after the goblin attack, and is in the process of healing the wounded, and resurrecting the fallen
“So, if you’ll excuse me”
Starts to wander off to continue his task
Ciaran immediately starts interrogating Morthal and Lah again
Morthal doesn’t feel like he should have to answer to this random dwarf
Isn’t very forthcoming with information
Eventually lets slip that they MAY have had a SMALL hand in this attack being so… one-sided.
Kraxis appears beside them again
He heard that shit.
He’s not amused.
Kraxis used “Zone of Truth”
It’s super effective!
Forces Morthal and Lah to introduce themselves, and explain what the shit happened
They begin to do so, begrudgingly, and incapable of disobeying
Lah is very upset that she’s been forced to tell Ciaran her name
Morthal explains the events of the past 24 hours
Ciaran is pretty pissed
Their hairbrained Plan to End All Plans (effective though it may have been) meant the painful deaths of a lot of innocent people
Kraxis isn’t thrilled either.
“Tomorrow, we’re all going to the goblin caves nearby and wipe the rest of them out, to prevent this from happening again.”
Before anyone can protest, casts Quest on Lah, Morthal, and Ciaran
They’ll get sick/eventually die if they don’t comply
Ciaran is LOLING SO HARD
Morthal is NOT AMUSED
Everyone splits off for a while to gather supplies/prepare
Lah disappears to go steal from the mayor, will be back by the morning.
Kraxis goes off to continue healing/rezing people
Morthal & Ciaran have an awkward meal at the inn
Next morning rolls around
RISE AND SHINE, LET’S GO KILL GOBLINS
Arrive at a cave a couple hours later
Yep, this is where the goblins are coming from.
Doesn’t look like many are home, though.
Ciaran guides the party through the caves
Darkvision, heck yeah
Go through a few fights. Kill a swarm of spiders in one room via Hulk Smash Stomp
In another room, spend forever trying to figure out how to get across a pit with spikes at the bottom
Lah can probably make the jump
Maybe Morthal, too
But Ciaran? In all this armor? There’s no way in fuck
And what about the old dude?
Eventually the cleric just casts Stoneshape, makes a bridge
#ThatWasEasy
Fight a few goblins in a couple of other rooms
The wizard keeps summoning bolts of energy
Can wizards even do that??
TMW he rogue has a fucking energy sword attached to her arm
TMW SHE CAN THROW IT, WHAT THE HELL
Eventually reach the last room
Wtf there’s something BIG sleeping in here
It’s covered in a bunch of furs/skins, so it’s hard to tell what it actually is
Que hushed deliberation down the hall
Agree to have Morthal send an Astral Construct to poke the Thing
Kraxis offers to flank the Thing
Ciaran isn’t convinced that’s a good idea
Kraxis insists that it’ll be fine
… Okay
3 2 1 BREAK
Astral Construct pokes it, as planned
It rises up from its slumber, the furs fall off
OhShitIt’sATroll.png
Everyone gets stuck in
Ciaran realizes that the squishy priest is directly in danger
Shouts at Kraxis to switch places with him
As they switch, Kraxis touches him, casts Delay Death
Ciaran tanks the troll, despite being knocked down to -51hp and being literally torn to shreds in the process
“I FEEL GREAT”
It takes forever, because the fucker keeps regenerating
But eventually, the troll goes down
Loot time!
Spend the rest of the day going to other caves and mopping up other goblins
Never come across another troll, thankfully
Head back into town
Alright so this dwarf has proven himself pretty goddamn competent, despite initial impressions
(I mean his dump stat WAS Charisma, but you don’t need that when you’re built to KICK PEOPLE’S TEETH IN)
#StevenAndTheStevens
“NO TIME TO EXPLAIN”
“WANNA JOIN OUR BAND PARTY?”
“........ Yes.”
Morthal and Lah bring Ciaran back to that bathroom with the mirror
“MORADIN’S BEARD, I FOOKIN’ KNEW IT WAS THA MIRROR”
Everyone goes through
FeelsGoodMan.jpg
Kraxis follows
Lah suddenly begins FREAKING THE FUCK OUT
Dreaded realization dawns on Morthal, too
I mean, motherfucker cast Quest earlier
That’s like a 6th level spell
Which means that Kraxis is, at minimum, an 11th level character
(Spoilers: He’s actually closer to 30th)
(WE GO HARD OR GO HOME IN 3.5)
Ciaran doesn’t understand what the big deal is
Doppelgangers appear
Oh shit what the fuck???
Doppelgangers: “I have an army.”
Saren: “We have a Blue Goblin.”
Azure pads up, shoots a laser from his brain
Immediately disintegrates one of the doppelgangers
Lah, Morthal, and Ciaran take out the rest
Ciaran catches on to what’s going on pretty quickly
Lah is still freaking out, though
… Oh. Ciaran gets it now.
Fuck
Kraxis’ doppelganger emerges from the mirror
Takes a step forward
Eyes bulge out
Agonizing scream of pain
Shatters instantaneously
Stare at Kraxis, dumbstruck
He just shrugs.
“Hmm. I guess there can only be one of me.”
Lah is relieved to not have to fight an epic-level evil priest, stops panicking
SHE’S EVEN MORE DISTRUSTING OF THIS GUY THAN BEFORE
Morthal isn’t too sure about him, either, because holy fucking shit
Kraxis takes several valuable gems from Morthal, turns them into a crystalline horse
“If you ever need me, break that, and utter the word, ‘Salvation’.”
Bids the party farewell, walks back through the mirror - his curiosity satisfied
TMW the crazy priest just used your spell components to make a little horse figurine and then fucking left
Saren greets Ciaran
I’m going to paraphrase the conversation that followed:
“Hey kid wanna do some drugs?”
“K”
The weird mirror folk guy injects Ciaran with some kind of dope
TMW your dwarven genes prevail and you don’t vomit all over the place
“Congrats, you are now a Psychic Warrior”
Ooh, that’s why the wizard and rogue are so weird! They’re also part psionic!
Ciaran learns that he can manifest a protective shield around his body, and also emit a seismic shockwave with a stomp of his foot
Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta
End Session 3
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isaackuo · 7 years
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Thoughts on Strange Magic
Thoughts on Strange Magic I love Strange Magic so much! It's so different - a jukebox musical heavily laden with singing and fairy fantasy calendar visuals. The commitment to this artistic vision is breathtaking, and risk taking. There's just nothing else like it.
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I mean, if you actually saw some of the scant promotion for Strange Magic, you might have noticed the fantasy calendar visuals. But nothing could prepare you for the amount of singing in the film because it's so far outside what you could reasonably expect. Apparently the film makers even considered making it sung through entirely. (I'm kind of hoping that unnamed Lin-Manuel Miranda Walt Disney Animation Studio feature will do this, but of course with original music/lyrics rather than jukebox remixes.) The risk of trying something way out there is that people might reject it. That's pretty much what has happened with Strange Magic and I think that's a shame. But if you give the movie a chance, it's a really trippy fairy fantasy that has the whimsical dreamy feeling of A Midsummer Night's Dream and grounds it in compelling characters with solid motivations. The use of singing produces, at times, a weird surreal effect because it's sometimes unclear whether the characters are really singing, or if it's oblivious "musical" singing. Since these characters are fairies rather than humans, it's entirely plausible for them to actually go around actually singing all the time. But then it's weird when the Bog King says "At least you're not singing", and then a minute later he's joining in the song he seemed to initially to shun. This confusing ambiguity accentuates the fuzzy transition between sword fighting and dancing together.
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The duet/duel itself is something different. It reflects feelings that are similar to things like Esmeralda's fight with Phoebus, or Megamind's banter with Metroman (or, I'll grudgingly admit, Roxanne...Metromind forever!). But in the form of a singing duet? I really can't think of any precedent. Later, it gets sublimely surreal when the movie eases into the titular duet of "Strange Magic". The movie seems to transition into true "musical" singing, where singing is exposing Marianne and Bog's inner thoughts rather than them actually singing. But it's ambiguous, in a way that accentuates the surreal change of pacing and visual attitude (it literally shows the previously scary things of the dark forest in a new light).
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This second duet is leisurely and dreamy, evoking the ethereal flight of Lois Lane and Superman. Oh, did I mention that there is a lot of singing in Strange Magic? Well, there is. And that's how we're able to enjoy three very different feeling romancing duets between the protags. The third one is at the end, capping the movie off with an unabashedly trippy introduction of a kaleidescope effect. Because of course! I mean, why not just go all out, and go out with a bang?
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Fundamentally though, Strange Magic is a movie about a love potion. Crazy hijinks ensue, but by the end of the night everyone lives happily ever after. But George Lucas fills in the big factor that was missing in A Midsummer Night's Dream - characters that we actually care about. There's no shortcut to that, so the bulk of the movie builds up the characters and their relationships so we love them and love seeing them bounce off each other. (Even the villain, who we love to see get put in his place.)
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Each character has a core motivation that makes it easy to root for (or against) them. Marianne loves her sister Dawn. Dawn is boy crazy. Dawn's best friend Sunny is hopelessly in love her. Roland wants an army, and is only interested in marrying Marianne so he can get that. Bog hates love and the chaos it causes. Bog's mother wants him to fall in love. And so on.
Strange Magic is not a movie where tension is driven by a real sense of danger. You know everything's going to work out in the end. The tension is driven by magic and love - or really, the magic of love. So, building up the characters and showing by their actions what they care about, we get a real connection with them and feel for them. There's particularly an interesting disconnect between what Bog says about himself and the proof of his every action and instinctive expression. He sings that he's "evil", but his actions betray someone who is instinctively caring even to strangers he finds annoying.
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The movie has been billed as a "Beauty and the Beast" story where the beast doesn't change. But honestly, that's more just a hook and a recurring vibe. Still, it's fun seeing how Strange Magic deviates from Beauty and the Beast: 1) Learning to love: Strange Magic doesn't confuse things by making either protag need to learn to love. They're both had their heart broken, but they're both basically doing okay single. Ironically, the fact that they both hate love at this point in their lives is one of the things that draws them together. 2) Transformation: There is a transformation, actually, but it takes place well before the protags even meet. Marianne starts off pretty much the sort of princess who is really not Bog's type. She only unwittingly transforms herself into the sort of person that would catch Bog's heart after her fiance breaks her heart. This transformation takes place over some time, since she trains herself into a strong sword fighter against a virtual knight to vent her frustrations. Speaking of that virtual knight, it's a fun callback to Sleeping Beauty. In Sleeping Beauty, Briar Rose dances with a virtual prince that's made up of her woodland creature friends. Then, she dances with her Phillip while singing a duet. In Strange Love, Marianne learns how to sword fight dueling with a virtual knight made up of her tiny fairy spirit friends. Later, she'll sword fight with Bog in a fight that becomes more like a dance, singing what becomes a duet. 3) Imprisonment: The "beast" does imprison Marianne's sister Dawn, but Marianne doesn't offer to take her place. The real prison is a result of the love potion, not the physical cell Dawn's held in. Bog and Marianne try to free Dawn together. 4) Beauty: Neither protag is physically hideous nor is either transformed to become "beautiful". This helps to not confuse the message about how it is to fall in love with someone's mind or spirit rather than one's appearances. Bog mistakenly deduced that he was too hideous to love, but that turned out to be a misinterpretation. And while Marianne isn't physically his ideal type, neither does he consider her ugly. Ultimately, there are so many deviations for Beauty and the Beast that it's really more of A Midsummer Night's Dream with some Beauty and the Beast ideas sprinkled in, than a BatB story.
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So how does it compare to A Midsummer Night's Dream? Well, I feel that A Midsummer Night's Dream lacks characters that we really care about. Puck's silly love dusting and magic produces silly pairings for comedic shock value, but little else because I don't think we're given much reason to care about what happens to the characters. In contrast, Strange Magic concentrates almost entirely upon just one usage of the love potion. By devoting so much attention to this one usage, and making it clear how much chaos and stress is produced just from that one love dusting alone, the movie successfully amplifies the impact of the ridiculous love dusting chaos produced by the Imp. So, the story spends a lot of time building up the relationship of Marianne and her sister Dawn. It takes time to really show us how much they care for each other. It's essential to the story because it makes it natural for Marianne and Bog to go from fighting to loving. It seems Marianne really did enjoy their fight, but her higher priority is clearly her sister. It's only as it becomes clear Marianne and Bog are on the same side when it comes to curing her sister that it becomes more than just a spark of natural chemistry. A Midsummer Night's Dream is framed within a lover's tiff between a husband and wife, but we don't have any emotional reason to care about them. The lover's tiff in Strange Magic takes place near the end, after we have grown to care about the characters and their relationship. As they note in Spinal Tap, such a fine line between stupid and clever.
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Oh, and one final random thought - I really appreciate how the central romance in Strange Magic is between two characters who aren't experiencing their first love. They both have enough life experience feeling the crushing pain of heartbreak that they treat Dawn with tender care, at least. The result is that both characters are jaded and have made mistakes, like Megara from Hercules. But neither is broken out of a funk by the adorkable naivete of a manic pixie dream girl/guy. Rather, they just happen to feel a lot in common because of where they've been and where they are in their lives I really appreciate that defiance of trope, and it's another thing that makes Strange Magic so different.
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