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kittymaine · 21 days

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Five Idiots Look For a Cave - Chapter One

Summary: Laios and his sister Falin are hired to guard a wagon of provisions as it travels from the city of Neverwinter to the small frontier settlement of Phandalin. It seems like a dead easy job, but it quickly becomes more complicated when their employer is kidnapped by goblins, sending them on a wild goose chase across the most dangerous parts of the Sword Coast in search of him with a ragtag group of unlikely allies.

Or, I make the dunmeshi guys play through the Lost Mines of Phandelver, because why not.

A/N: This is such a weird project to tag and explain, but I'm going to try.

For those familiar with Delicious In Dungeon, but not Dungeons & Dragons: The Lost Mines of Phandelver is the scenario/campaign that's provided in the starter set that you can buy for Dungeons & Dragons. I've run this campaign a bunch of times during my years playing Dungeons & Dragons and I thought the characters of dunmeshi were just begging to be dropped into a D&D game. So, that's what I did. The plot of this story is the campaign, Lost Mines of Phandelver, and whenever the characters need to do something, I roll dice to see whether they can do it or not. Combat, investigation, everything. I am literally playing this game by myself and then converting it into a fic.

For those familiar with Dungeons & Dragons, but not Delicious In Dungeon: Delicious In Dungeon is an anime set in a fantasy world where dungeon diving is a well-known career choice. The setting and characters are such a good match to Dungeons & Dragons that I had to change very little to get the characters to fit into a Forgotten Realms setting.

All that to say, the story should be digestible by anyone, even if you're not familiar with both fandoms.

Also, just a warning that I don't really have an in depth plan for this story, so I'm going to add tags and relationships as I go. I really like Chilchuck/Laios and Falin/Marcille, so those are the two pairings most likely to be added, but no promises either way. I'll make sure to warn if I add anything at the beginning of each chapter.

Laios Touden and his sister Falin stood by while the wagon they had been paid to accompany was loaded up with supplies. Young men barely more than boys hauled barrels and burlap sacks of provisions up into the old warped bed of the wagon, more passing up shovels, pickaxes and crowbars. Laios counted about twelve sacks of flour, seven casks of salted pork, two kegs of strong ale, five lanterns, and a small barrel of oil.

It was early, just an hour before dawn, but the south gate out of the city of Neverwinter was already starting to bustle with traffic. Mostly it was wagons not unlike their own, though filled with produce and other products from the farms circling the city that served to feed the swollen populace within the city walls. From farther north the smell of baking bread and roasting meat signaled the beginning of breakfast for the many people packed in close behind thick the stone walls.

Laios was ready to leave the city. He had grown up in the far north, surrounded by rolling fields, freezing cold fjords, and winter lashed forests. He had lived in a lot of places since he had left his home, but cities were never his favorite. There were too many people, too close, all smelling and talking and leaving their things everywhere. He was looking forward to being outside the city walls for a while, but they had to wait until the wagon was full before they could leave.

“Toudens!” a boisterous voice called from the main thoroughfare.

Falin, standing beside him and watching the loading of the wagon with more interest than Laios, smiled and raised her hand at the call. Slower, Laios raised his hand as well, to wave to their most recent employer.

A dwarf with rust colored red hair and beard sitting atop a pretty dapple gray pony split from the little stream of people leaving the city through the south gate and came toward Laios and the steadily filling wagon. Following behind him was an older human man wearing chain mail and riding on a three quarter sized bay mare with another small dwarf with a thick black beard witting sideways on the horse’s haunches behind him.

“Mr. Rockseeker,” Laios greeted him as he pulled his horse up close. He didn’t step down to talk to Laios, but he didn’t begrudge him. Laios wondered how the dwarf had managed to get onto the horse in the first place.

“Please, call me Gundren,” Mr. Rockseeker said with a twinkling smile. His nose and cheeks were ruddy red above his red beard. “Mr. Rockseeker was my father.”

Laios stared at Gundren blankly until he heard Falin snort out a laugh and he realized that the nonsensical statement was a joke. He quickly barked a laugh out that felt false even to his ears. But, if Gundren noticed, it didn’t show on his face that Laios could tell.

“It looks like everyone is here, so I hope you don’t mind if I introduce you to my nephew-” Gundren started to say before being interrupted by Falin.

“Oh, actually! We’re still waiting for a friend of mine who offered to come along,” she explained with a pleasant smile.

Gundren’s face did something too complicated for Laios to follow. “A friend?” he asked uncertainly.

“Who’s everyone?” Laios asked, wondering if Gundren had meant him and Falin. He thought you usually would say ‘both’ instead of ‘everyone’ if you were just addressing two people, though he was no stranger to being wrong when it came to things like that.

“He means me,” a surly voice from near Laios’ hip grumbled, making him jump about a foot in the air and turn around.

Laios hadn’t heard anyone approach, but a halfling man with short brown hair peppered with a few fine gray hairs and big ears was standing right beside him, his arms folded in front of his chest. He had a soft looking green muffler looped around his neck and worn leather armor over a plain white shirt and dark pants. And, he apparently noticed Laios staring, as he threw a nasty look up at Laios after a few second of him looking a little too intently.

He was usually pretty bad at interpreting people’s expressions, but it was hard to misunderstand that kind of look.

Laios tuned back into Falin and Gundren’s conversation just in time to see them get interrupted by Marcille stumbling up to them, panting and bracing her hands on her knees to catch her breath. Her long blonde hair was braided in a complicated style that left half of it piled on top of her head, and half it hanging long down her back and she was wearing a pretty blue dress that looked warm but a little impractical for hard travel. As well as her spell book and quarterstaff of course.

“I’m so sorry I’m late!” she gasped. “I told the innkeeper to wake me up, but she never came! I ran the whole” she paused to take another gasping breath, “way here!”

“I won’t be able to pay another person,” Grundren said to Laios, turning his back on the two women.

“Falin and I will split our pay with her. She’s a good friend of ours. She’s trustworthy,” Laios explained, he hoped sufficiently, for Gundren.

Gundren’s eyebrows did some wiggling, shadowing his small dark eyes for a moment, but then he sighed and his shoulders slumped, and the warm smile and the twinkling eyes were back as if they had never left.

“Well, that’s alright then. Anyway, I wanted to introduce you all to my nephew, Senshi,” he said, turning to gesture to the two men behind him. The human man had helped the dwarf off the tall horse and he was walking up to the small group. “He’ll be accompanying the rest of you on the wagon to Phandalin.”

A chorus of hellos in various levels of enthusiasm came from the small group gathered by the side of the wagon. Senshi looked a lot like Gundren, if the coloring was a lot darker and his face a lot less expressive. Senshi had a long thick wavy beard that matched his thick wavy hair and a slightly receding hairline. His eyebrows were thick and his eyes were small, dark and keen. It was hard to read Senshi’s expression. Laios suspected that was probably true even for people who weren’t him.

“With that, I’ll have to bid farewell,” Gundren said with a little half bow from the top of his pony. “I look forward to meeting with the rest of you in Phandalin.”

“We won’t be traveling together?” the halfling man spoke up. He looked uncertainly at Laios and the others, before turning a frustrated expression up at Gundren.

“It’s faster to travel by horse than by wagon and I have some business to finish up in Phandalin before you all get there. But, you all won’t be far behind me,” Gundren said, already turning his pony around. The human man was mounting his mare, as well, turning her nose toward the south gate. “Take good care of those supplies!” he called over his shoulder as he rejoined the press of people heading toward the walls of the city.

The five left behind awkwardly glanced around at each other. Laios, Falin and Marcille stood together, looking down at the two smaller men who would apparently be their traveling companions for the next two or three days.

While they had been talking, the last of the supplies had been loaded into the wagon and the men who had been doing the loading had left. There was nothing to keep them there but uncertainty about their new companions.

Finally, the halfling man broke the silence with a derisive sniff. “I’ll drive the wagon,” he said. “The rest of you can ride in the back until we get out of the crowd.”

With that, he stepped away from the others and jumped a little to reach the bench at the front of the wagon and confidently took the reins. He looked over his shoulder impatiently and the others took the hint.

“Uh, right. Thanks!” Laios said, probably way too late by the way that the halfling man sucked his teeth at Laios, but Falin always said better late than never.

His chain mail clinking, Laios climbed up into the wagon behind Marcille and Falin, who had already claimed the most comfortable spots on top of the flour sacks. He reached back behind him to help pull the dwarf man, Senshi, up into the wagon as well and got a friendly nod in thanks. Together, he and the other man had to make do trying to find a comfortable spot between the tools and barrels.

Once everyone had stopped shifting, the halfling man flicked the reins and the old horses hitched to the wagon started off, pulling the rattling wooden wheels across cobblestones out of Neverwinter and south along the well maintained High Road toward their destination.

---

They made camp the first night in a little windswept area off the left side of the road alongside a number of other travelers. Their campfires flickered orange in the moonlight, lighting up the worn cobblestones of the road even if it was too dark for anyone to keep moving. The air was brisk since the shoreline was close, close enough that you could hear the soft crashing of waves on the beach in the small silences between the campsites.

“I’m surprised they only gave us five ration packs each,” Marcille said into the silence as they all sat around the fire munching away at the hard bread, dried meat and sharp cheese that had been wrapped up in wax paper for them by the same store that had loaded the wagon up for Gundren.

“It shouldn’t take us more than two days to get to Phandalin,” Chilchuck answered her from around a mouthful of bread. Chilchuck Tims was the halfling man. After half a day of traveling by wagon, Laios had finally worked up the courage to ask and was pleasantly surprised when he answered.

“Still, tis foolish to not prepare for a longer trip. Who knows what trouble we may meet on the road,” the dwarf, Senshi, said as he looked down and rubbed the dried meat between his thick blunt fingers. Laios wondered if he was trying to soften it with his hands first. He wondered if it worked.

“Senshi is right,” Laios said after a second. “If it does end up taking us longer than two days to reach Phandalin, we’ll be in a real bind.”

“We’re not going to die if we have to go a day or two without food,” Chilchuck responded, but he looked a little unhappy at the thought.

Laios shared a look with Falin at that. He supposed that was true, but he had gone without eating before on expeditions that went wrong and it wasn’t something he wanted to repeat if he could help it.

“What made you take this job, Chilchuck?” Marcille asked after an awkward moment of silence. “You seemed surprised to see other people.”

Chilchuck frowned back at her. “What made you take this job?” he asked back.

Undeterred, Marcille answered, “Well, I didn’t really take it so much as I agreed to tag along.” Turning to Falin, she asked, “What made you guys take it?”

“Laios saw the job posting at the guild,” Falin explained as she broke off a piece of her cheese and offered it to Marcille who hummed happily as she popped it in her mouth. “He’s my brother and I often accompany him on jobs that take him out of the city.”

“Yep,” Laios added, thinking back. “Falin has saved my life more times than I could count. But, this job sounded easy and straight forward. ‘10 gold to escort provisions to Phandalin with option to make more. For reliable persons only.’ “ Laios recited from memory. “Seemed just like the thing for me and Falin.”

“Ye belong to an adventurer’s guild, then?” Senshi asked Laios with a raised eyebrow.

Laios wrinkled his nose as he realized that, even if it was true, saying he was part of the adventurer’s guild was probably a little misleading.

“I only just joined a month ago. I’m still pretty green. Easy jobs like this are the only ones I’m qualified for,” Laios said hesitantly.

“But, Laios is really amazing in a fight! That’s how he got into the guild, by proving himself in a tournament. He’ll climb the ranks in no time!” Falin added with an enthusiastic grin thrown in Laios’ direction. Even if the praise made him more self-conscious, it warmed something in his heart to have her support and encouragement.

“Thanks,” he mumbled, scratching at the back of his neck.

“And, you’re just tagging along?” Chilchuck asked Marcille, doubt thick in his tone.

“Uh, well,” Marcille fumbled, seeming a little taken off guard by the question.

“Marcille is a friend of mine from temple,” Falin jumped in to say. “She just moved to Neverwinter and we’ve been showing her around. We didn’t want to leave her alone in the city for however long the job took, so we invited her along.”

Marcille and Falin shared a speaking look, something that Laios could recognize from the outside but not totally understand. Sometimes it seemed like they could have whole conversations with just their faces, in a few brief seconds snatched between words. It seemed an impossible kind of skill, one that he envied and was a little mystified by.

“That’s right,” Marcille agreed, her nose and ears a shade pinker than they had been a moment ago. “But, you still haven’t answered my question. I understand why Mr. Rockseeker wanted someone like Laios to guard his provisions on the road to Phandalin, but I’m not really sure how you fit into this.” She gave Chilchuck a piercing look, one he returned with an unhappy twist of his lips.

But, after only a moment, he sighed and sagged back against the fallen log he had sat himself against.

“Me and Gundren go way back. We used to go dungeon diving together back when I was younger. He was always decent to me. All he told me was that he had some kind of crazy opportunity opening up in Phandalin that I would want to get in on and to meet him there by the gates. He didn’t mention I’d be riding in a wagon with a bunch of strangers while he went on ahead,” Chilchuck finished with a dirty look aimed at the dirt by his foot. Laios didn’t have to be good at understanding people to understand that Chilchuck probably wished he could aim that look at Gundren instead.

“Oh, that’s awful,” Marcille sighed.

“Aye, I’m sorry to hear that. My uncle isn’t always the most considerate. Especially when he’s on a job,” Senshi added with a sorrowful nod of his head.

Chilchuck waved his hand, as if he could swat the condolences offered to him out of the air. “Whatever,” he said. “What’s done is done. I owe you all an apology, anyway. I didn’t mean to take my bad mood out on all of you.”

“Well, it’s a bit understandable,” Falin offered with a smile.

“Yeah, we didn’t take it personally,” Laios said with a shrug. He had assumed that the behavior he’d seen so far had been Chilchuck’s normal personality. It was sort of nice to hear that it wasn’t.

“Gundren is your uncle, huh?” Laios asked, changing the focus to Senshi. “Is there anything you can tell us about him? I only got to speak to him a little bit before taking this job.”

“Aye, he is my uncle, though our family is large and he is one of five uncles of mine,” Senshi explained. “There’s not much I can tell you about him, unfortunately. He and two of my uncles do much treasure hunting in the mountains about Neverwinter. I suspect that’s how you came into contact with him?” Senshi asked Chilchuck.

“Yep,” Chilchuck said. “I’m a locksmith by trade, but I have a reputation for being skilled at disarming dwarvish traps. He hired me way back when I was just starting out and is half the reason I have that reputation.”

“Do you have an interest in treasure hunting, Senshi?” Falin asked curiously.

Senshi stared into their crackling fire, his usually expressionless face becoming sorrowful. “Nay, not I. Not anymore.”

Laios looked around at the others, hoping someone more skilled at talking would interrupt the sad lonesome silence that had descended over Senshi. Unfortunately, it looked like everyone else was casting around to each other for the same thing.

Luckily, it was Senshi himself who broke the long silence. “I suspect my uncle thinks me a bit of a layabout. I don’t do any of the traditional dwarven pursuits. Mining, blacksmithing, gold prospecting. I’m sure whatever job he wants me to help with it will be something like that.”

“And, what is it that you like to do, Senshi?” Falin asked gently.

Senshi looked up for the first time since he had started talking.

“Cooking,” he said decisively. “I love to cook.”

Falin clapped her hands in joy. “Oh that’s wonderful!” she exclaimed.

“What do you like to cook most?” Marcille asked.

“Do you have a specialty?” Chilchuck asked with interest.

Laios smiled as the conversation lightened and turned lively as everyone talked and shared about food, their favorite foods, their family recipes, regional specialties they knew of.

It seemed like the ice had been broken and even if they weren’t friends they were well on their way to getting there.

---

The next morning they got an early start, eating their third ration for breakfast quickly before cleaning up the last embers of their campfire and packing up so they could get back on the road. They were not on the high road for long before they turned left onto a small dirt track with a simple sign marking it as the Triboar Trail.

It’s this road that they would take for the rest of the day and hopefully reach the small settlement town of Phandalin before nightfall.

Laios didn’t know much about the town of Phandalin. From what little he heard from other people in the guild, it was a tiny town just on the edge of the wilderness that was built on the remnants of another older settlement. It sat on the edge of the foothills of the Sword Mountains and was mostly populated by miners and the people who ran businesses that served them.

This part was the part of the journey that he had been hired for. The Triboar Trail was really that, just a worn down dirt trail leading off into untamed and largely uninhabited woods and meadows. All manner of creatures, bandits and beasts populated those lands and would have likely loved to get their hands on a wagon full of supplies like what they had.

A shiver of anticipation ran down Laios’ back as he imagined the types of monsters known to haunt the woods around them. There were stirges, of course, terrible little mosquito like creatures about the length of your arm that attacked suddenly and would try to drain their victims of blood. Ghouls could come out at night, ethereal specters of long dead travelers looking for warm bodies to possess. Ogres preferred the foothills, but they could wander close enough that running into one traveling afield for hunting wouldn’t be out of the question. Then there were goblins, orcs, owlbears! The list just went on.

Laios couldn’t suppress a whine of excitement at the thought. The sound, as quiet as it was, was still noticed by the halfling sitting beside him on the bench at the front of the wagon. Chilchuck jumped a little at the sound and gave Laios an uncertain look.

“Oh, uh,” Laios fumbled, trying to think of an explanation that didn’t include explaining that he was just excited to finally be entering monster country. “Just had a tickle in my throat,” he landed on lamely.

Chilchuck gave him a suspicious squint, but turned back to examining the road in front of them.

They continued on like that throughout the morning. Marcille and Falin occasionally walked beside the horses, the two old things walking slow enough that the women had no issues keeping up with them at a brisk walk. Senshi said his legs were too short to keep up and instead enjoyed relaxing on the flour sacks and making small talk.

It turned out that Senshi had traveled all over the world cooking and learning new cooking techniques. Marcille, the most well traveled of all of them, was especially impressed with him and got him to talking about all the far flung places he had visited.

Unfortunately for Laios, not a single monster accosted them that whole morning, even though both he and Chilchuck in front of the wagon were trying to keep a weather eye out for any movement in the brush on the sides of the road.

That is, until they reached a road block just before noon.

Just as they turned a bend in the road, they came upon a distressing sight. Two horses lying dead on their sides in the center of the road, numerous arrows pointing up out of their sides.

Chilchuck pulled the wagon to a stop as soon as they saw them and everyone stopped and stared.

“Those are Gundren and Sildar’s horses,” Senshi said slowly, looking at the two dead horses from between Chilchuck and Laios.

“Sildar?” Laios asked.

“The human man that was with Gundren yesterday morning. His bodyguard,” Senshi explained.

“I don’t like this. This feels like a set up,” Chilchuck whispered, furrowing his brow and barely raising his voice enough to be heard by the two men sitting right beside him.

“Even if we don’t trust it, we won’t be able to get the wagon past unless we move the horses,” Laios said with a thoughtful frown.

“Maybe you could use your magic to move them?” Falin asked Marcille.

Marcille fidgeted with her cape, tugging on the silky red ribbon at the front. “I couldn’t use mage hand to move them, they’re too heavy. I can only manage ten pounds at most.”

Laios sighed and jumped down from the wagon. “I’ll go investigate and try to move them. You guys take cover and let me know if you see anything, okay?”

Everyone nodded except Senshi who climbed down from the wagon, as well. “I’ll help ye,” he said gruffly. “Moving the horses will go faster if we work together.”

Chilchuck jumped back into the wagon and took cover behind a barrel, drawing his shortbow and knocking an arrow, his keen brown eyes scanning the thick foliage on either side of the road. Marcille also drew close the wagon, crouching down by a wheel and clenching her staff in both hands and looking a little seasick. Falin, however, stepped out front holding her mace menacingly in front of her, the sharp metal edges at the top glinting dangerously in the dappled light through the trees.

Laios tried to approach the horses cautiously, but his armor clicked and rang out as he walked. Senshi was quieter, but much slower. As they approached the horses, Laios agreed that they were the same ones he had seen Gundren and the human man riding yesterday morning. Even the tack on the horses was the same. Examining the blanket and saddle, Laios also noticed that the saddlebags of both horses were open, the insides looking dark and empty.

“I’ll take one set of legs, you take the other,” Senshi said, approaching the back legs of the pony.

“Wait, Senshi. Does it look like their saddlebags have been looted?” Laios asked, pointing at the bag he was looking at on the bay mare.

Senshi barely had time to make an inquisitive hum before the sound of a twig snapping behind him sent him and Laios turning just in time to see a small green creature sneaking through the underbrush with a small rudimentary bow drawn on them.

“LAIOS, LOOK OUT!” Falin shouted, pointing her mace at the goblin who had just startled them both.

Before either of them could react, an arrow was fired at them from the opposite side of the road, arching straight at Laios’ back. A flash of incredible burning pain lanced through his back, the pain so incredible that his vision fuzzed and blurred for a moment. He put his hand to his shoulder and felt hot blood against his fingertips, the soft wood of a small arrow sticking out of his back.

Beside him, Laios heard Senshi grunt and turned his head to see his new friend pierced through with an arrow, as well. Senshi was reaching out to touch a small arrow fletched in black feathers that was protruding from his upper arm, dribbling bright red blood.

“Laios!” Falin shouted again, her voice cracking on his name in a way that made his already racing heart stutter in his chest. Then, Falin quickly shouted a word that made Laios ears ring, her hand tracing a strange pattern in the air, before a flame-like radiance shot down from the sky at the goblin they had first seen.

Just as the light flickered in the air, Falin’s magic building above the goblin, the creature dodged to the side, missing the blast of sacred energy by a hair’s breadth.

The little green man growled, his voice high and stringent, making him sound like a saw working through a green piece of wood. Popping up from his rolling jump, he ran at Laios, a short chipped scimitar appearing in his long fingered hand.

Laios watched the blade come at him as if in slow motion, the goblin’s mouth fixed in a vicious snarl, his thin dark hair flying out behind his bulbous head. At the last second he leaned back out of the way of the strike and drew his own sword, his hand sure on the grip through hours and hours of training.

Behind the first goblin, yet another one appeared, this one also wielding a rusty damaged scimitar. It dodged around Laios, who was still engaged with the first goblin he had seen, and went straight for Senshi. Senshi, who had just yanked the arrow from his arm, threw up a hand desperately to protect himself from the attack, but still suffered a grievous wound across his arm that sprayed blood across the dirt road.

With a grunt, Senshi raised his greataxe high above his head. The goblin, still grinning in glee at landing a hit on the dwarf, didn’t see the axe coming until it cleaved his skull cleanly in half.

“Great job, Senshi,” Laios gasped, raising his own greatsword up at an angle to swipe at the goblin he was facing off with.

His own sword, heavier, longer and carefully maintained, carved through the small body and brittle bones of his attacker like a hot knife through butter. The goblin collapsed in a bloody heap with barely a whimper.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Laios could faintly hear Chilchuck saying from over by the wagon.

An arrow flew from the wagon where Chilchuck was hiding, fired into the bushes where the first two arrows had been shot from.

Laios barely had a moment to process that Chilchuck had joined the fight before another arrow flew, this one decidedly not from Chilchuck, and struck him right in the neck. Laios hit the ground in a spray of dirt, blood welling from his neck. In a matter of seconds his body began to feel cold, his eyesight blurry, his heart sluggish in his chest. He could hear people calling his name, but it all sounded far away.

Time became smeary around Laios. He could hear people shouting, see movement in what little he could still see, but the sound of his own struggling heartbeat took up most of his awareness. He could feel the blood pump out of his own body with each squeeze of his heart, smell the salty copper of his own life spilling out onto the uncaring forest floor.

Then, familiar hands are yanking the arrows out of his body. He could feel the flesh tear and give away under the new violence, but no pain came. He felt cold, so cold. Those same hands pressed tight against his back and a rush of warmth and pain pulsed through him, like unseen hands were yanking his flesh back in place, knitting the holes closed with fury, his body put back together none too gently, but put back together none the less.

Laios gasped as he opened his eyes and they focused on the scene around him. Falin was kneeling over him, her hands still stained with his blood, two bloody arrows discarded on the ground nearby. Senshi was laying on his back beside him in the blood soaked dirt, an arrow sticking out of his chest.

Struggling, still feeling dizzy from blood loss, Laios climbed back to his feet, picking his greatsword up off the ground.

“Thanks,” he whispered to Falin as he stood up between her and the two goblins still hiding in the brush.

“I’m just glad you’re okay,” she said around teary eyes.

“You’ve got to get them out of cover!” Chilchuck shouted as he shot another arrow into the underbrush that the arrows were coming from, though from the sound he didn’t hit anything.

Another arrow flew out of the bushes, this time aimed right at Falin, but pinged the chain mail under her robe and fell uselessly to the ground by her feet.

“Ouch,” she grumbled, rubbing the spot on her chest.

“Did that thing just hit you in the boob?!” Marcille shrieked from near the wagon.

“Uh?” Falin responded uncertainly.

Marcille shouted something in a language that Laios didn’t understand and gestured with her staff. Three darts of light flew from her staff to the bushes, igniting them with pale blue light followed by a sound of agony and a wet thump as something hits the ground. Shortly after, the sound of fast footsteps receding into the woods could be heard.

“Whoa,” Laios said, his eyes huge as he turned back to look at a still panting Marcille, her staff still held out in front of her.

“Did the last one just run away?” Falin asked faintly.

“Forget that! Heal Senshi!” Chilchuck shouted, already crawling over the seat of the wagon and hurrying over to where Senshi was still laid out on his back.

“Oh! Right, of course!” Falin exclaimed, falling back to her knees and pulling the most recent arrow from where it had buried itself in Senshi’s chest. Falin spoke some strange words and traced a symbol on Senshi’s skin. A faint warm yellow glow emanated from her hands where she pressed them to Senshi’s torso and the wounds steadily closed, the blood marching backward back into his body as the puncture wounds pulled back together.

Senshi grunted, his unfocused eyes finally seeming to see them, tracking Falin and Laios and Chilchuck as he ran up to meet them, Marcille trailing behind.

“Did we find victory?” Senshi asked with a harsh groan as he pushed himself to sit up, Laios’ hand on his shoulder to steady him.

“We’re alive and they’re mostly not, but I don’t know if you’d call that victory,” Chilchuck said wryly.

“That was terrifying,” Marcille gasped with a hand to her chest. “Is this really what you two do for a living?” Marcille asked with a concerned look at Falin who only shrugged.

“Usually with less dying, but yeah mostly,” Laios said with a shrug of his own.

“Oh, my god,” Marcille breathed. “OH MY GOD!” she shouted after a second.

“Shush! Not so loud!” Chilchuck hissed at her. “Just because these goblins are dead doesn’t mean there’s not more hiding in the woods. We need to get out of here before the one that got away comes back with his friends.”

“But,” Laios said, sheathing his sword and turning to look at the dead horses still blocking the road. “If Gundren was caught in the same ambush we just were, then the goblins could be holding him hostage. We need to help him, right?” he asked, turning to the others.

“I agree. If Gundren is in trouble, we must help him,” Senshi said with a firm nod.

“I don’t think so!” Marcille exclaimed. “You two almost died and that was only four goblins! Now you want to stomp into their lair and what? Demand to speak to a manager? I don’t think that’s going to go over very well!”

“But, Marcille. The magic you just used was amazing! With you and Falin helping us, we’ll be able to save Gundren. I’m sure of it,” Laios said with a determined nod.

“Well… About that,” Falin said awkwardly. “That last healing spell kind of wiped me out. If someone gets hurt again, I won’t be able to heal them.”

“… Oh,” said Laios, caught flat footed by that thought.

“Yeah, ‘oh’,” Chilchuck sighed. “And, I’m too old to go charging into danger unprepared. The two of you aren’t all the way up to snuff either. Why don’t we take this wagon the rest of the way to Phandalin and then come back to investigate? At least that way our two mages will be at full power and you two will be back to full health.”

Laios looked down at the ground, at the two goblins crumbled and bleeding into the dirt, at the two horses still on their sides in the middle of the road. At the blood still crusted into his sword’s blade and his chain mail, still matted into Senshi’s beard and on Falin’s hands and knees.

“Okay,” he said finally. “You’re right. Let’s to Phandalin and come back tomorrow.”

There were mumbles of agreement as Chilchuck, Marcille and Falin went back to the wagon and Laios and Senshi turned back to their original goal of dragging the horses off the road.

“Do you truly think the goblins took my uncle?” Senshi asked as they stood up from pulling the second horse off the road.

“I do,” Laios said. “Horses have a lot more value to goblins than humans or dwarves do. They use them as pack animals and sometimes eat them. If the goblins shot your uncle’s horse, then they wanted him in particular. And, if they wanted him for some reason, then there’s a good chance he’s still alive wherever they’re hiding him.”

Senshi gave Laios a long calculating look before nodding slowly. “Thank you, Laios,” he said gruffly, before turning and walking back to the wagon.

Laios scratched his head for a moment, not sure what he did to deserve thanks. Whatever the reason, at least Senshi seemed reassured.

#delicious in dungeon #dungeon meshi #dunmeshi #dungeons & dragons #dnd #d&d #dungeons & dragons au #pov alternating #fanfiction #kittywrites #five idiots look for a cave

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electronickingdomfox · 2 months

Text

"Yesterday's Son" review

Novel from 1983 by Ann C. Crispin. The author would continue the story in a sequel, a few years later. This one is somewhat different than the average Star Trek novel. For starters, it presents an interesting premise: what if Zarabeth had a son after her encounter with Spock (in the episode "All Our Yesterdays")? And what kind of dad would be Spock? (spoiler: a pretty bad one, at least at first). Thus, the main plot is not about battles in space or encounters with new civilizations, but about the relationship between Spock and his son, and how they overcome their emotional barriers. Of course, there's also a subplot involving Romulans to spice things up, but that's not the meat of the story. And the Romulan threat is there, above all, to strengthen the father-son relationship.

I liked this novel overall. Poignant at times, and with a rather bittersweet (yet satisfying) ending, it offers good character drama. Zar, the son of Spock with Zarabeth, is well developed and sympathetic, and his failed attempts at reaching out to Spock are pretty moving. It's also funny to meet another secret, emotional relative of Spock, years before Sybok appeared in canon.

Spoilers under the cut:

During a casual conversation about Sarpeidon (the now destroyed planet that Zarabeth lived in 5000 years ago), Spock comes across some disturbing photographs of paintings, taken from a cave in the planet before its destruction. The paintings depict a Vulcan face very similar to his own, but with basic differences. So Spock puts two and two together, and realizes how badly he screwed up; some fathers may forget their son in a car, but he forgot his own in an ice cave, five milleniums in the past! Spock decides that it's not fair to abandon his child like this, and convinces Kirk to bring him to the Guardian of Forever, so he can rescue the kid (and Zarabeth if possible).

Since Spock can't get rid of Kirk and McCoy to attend to his family business, the three of them are sent to Sarpeidon's past, around the time when his son was still a kid. The weather is frigid, and after a few days of pointless search and avoiding dangerous beasts, they finally find a trail. Just then, a hooded figure attacks them, but they subdue him, discovering it's actually Zar. They miscalculated while travelling through the Guardian, so instead of a kid, they find a grown-up man in his late twenties (thus too old to pass as Spock's son). Back in the cave, Zar explains that his mother died seven years ago. So completely alone now, and thrilled at the prospect of meeting his father and exploring new worlds, Zar agrees to go to the present with them (it's not like he needs a lot of convincing, anyway).

In the Enterprise, Zar makes some new friends and starts adapting to the modern way of life. However, once the rescue's done, Spock retracts behind his Vulcan wall, and starts being really cold toward his son. He barely shows interest in him, other than giving him lessons in science and teaching him how to control his telepathy (and you thought that Sarek was bad...). Things get even worse when Zar discovers that the warm, passionate Vulcan that his mother talked about, was just the result of Spock suffering a regression in his trip to the past, and that he probably never loved her. Unlike his father, Zar is a much more emotional Vulcan, due in part to his greater human heritage, and he shows a different empathetic ability. He can sense other people's feelings, and he can also project his own feelings on others. Under these conditions, Zar becomes much closer to his other dad McCoy, instead of his own father.

Meanwhile, some Romulan ships have been sighted around the Guardian of Forever's planet. The secret of time-travelling through the Guardian is only known by a few in the Federation, but the Romulans suspect something, and if they learn how to tamper with time, it could be disastrous. Zar starts feeling sick, and finally faints, a feeling he later recognizes as an omen of impending death. He also realizes something while looking at pictures of Sarpeidon's paintings (though we don't know what at this point). Effectively, upon reaching the Guardian's planet, the Enterprise finds the archeological personnel and the first landing party massacred by the Romulans. The intruders have also set a cloaking device around the Guardian, so they can't see how many Romulan soldiers are deployed.

Given his ability to sense the enemies' feelings at a distance, and his survival skills, Zar volunteers to infiltrate the Romulan camp. Spock goes with him, to install a force-field around the Guardian, so the Romulans can't use the portal. However, more Romulan ships are approaching, and Kirk gives them a deadline. If they fail to keep the situation under control, the Enterprise will have to destroy the whole planet, whether Spock and Zar are still there or not (WTF Kirk!!?). During the mission, Spock grows closer to his son, and Zar comes to understand his father's true feelings for him, and why he has such difficulty expressing them.

In the end, the usual status quo has to be restored, so Zar needs to return to his own time. It turns out the painting from Sarpeidon's past that alarmed him so much, was his own drawing of the Enterprise. He's thus the one who brought many technical and scientific developments to his planet, after his experience in the starship. And time-travelling shenanigans are confusing, but I think that an apparent plot hole was properly explained: why did Zar speak English? Of course, it was him who teached the language to the other inhabitants upon returning. So many generations later, Zarabeth would speak it (remember she came from the future in the episode), and would in turn teach it to her son in the past. It's... complicated, but the circle is closed. On the downside, I feel that Zar's departure was a bit rushed. I would have expected a greater resistance from Spock, and definitely from McCoy.

Spirk Meter: 7/10*. They're brief moments, but pretty powerful. First, and despite the statement that Spock can block other people from intruding into his mind, it seems that Kirk has developed the ability to read his thoughts, even at a distance. Kirk also insists on going with Spock through the Guardian, to the point of blackmailing him if he refuses. Later, Zar complains to McCoy that "there's only one person that Commander Spock cares deeply for, and that's... [...]Not me." In the end, and before departing, Zar asks Kirk to "take care of him" (meaning his father). And when Spock hesitates and attempts to follow his son through the portal, Kirk grabs him, and this happens:

"Spock. He doesn't need you." And he wondered if the Vulcan caught the unvoiced addition, "And I... we... do."

At least, poor Zar seems to take well the fact that his dad didn't love his mom, because he has this weird thing going on with his Captain...

More subtle, yet perhaps more interesting, are the Spones elements, even if they seem one-sided on McCoy's part. McCoy joins Spock in his trip to the Guardian in an even more forceful way than Kirk. Basically, he bursts into the turbolift uninvited and with all gear ready, and blackmails both Spock AND the Captain so they bring him along. Then he's pretty worried about Spock's feelings upon meeting his son for the first time. Once back in the ship, McCoy develops a close relationship with Zar, calling him "son" all the time. Which makes Kirk wonder why he acts as if he was his father, instead of Spock. And the doctor argues with Spock about Zar's education, and also reprimands Zar for rebelling against Spock. So it's easy to see a parallel here between Sarek and Amanda, and Spock and McCoy, as a "distant father/loving mother" pair. And it's noteworthy that the author of this novel was in contact with Howard Weinstein (who writes the intro here), since the latter's novel "The Covenant of the Crown" has also Spock and McCoy acting a bit like parents to a young girl. Besides this, Spock wonders about all the people that have tried to be physically close to him. Those include his mother and now his son, of course, but also Leila and... McCoy.

*A 10 in this scale is the most obvious spirk moments in TOS. Think of the back massage, "You make me believe in miracles", or "Amok Time" for example.

#star trek tos #star trek novels #novel review #spirk #k/s #spones

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lunarsilver · 1 year

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What awaits you in December?

As always, choose the picture or number you feel most drawn to.

REMEMBER

I’m not a doctor, a psychiatrist, a therapist nor a psychologist. Tarot readings will never replace meetings with them.

It’s a general reading, so not everything will resonate.

If you can’t choose between two piles, probably both of them have some messages for you. You can also not identify with any of them and that’s okay too.

Readings can help you make a decision, but they shouldn’t be the main reason of making it.

1 ~ 2 ~ 3

PILE 1

Theme (Major Arcana only): The Lovers – Back of the Deck: The Empress

More info: Ace of Pentacles (R) – Ace of Cups (R) – The Fool – Back of the Deck: Seven of Swords (R)

Oh man, so many cards related to new beginnings!

The theme of your December will be relationships and feminity (regardless of your gender). The deck I used for this part of the reading futures characters from a certain game – both of them are young girls being in touch with who they are and what they want (maybe some of you play Genshin Impact and Barbara or Fischl are somehow special for you). There’s this stepping into your power and embracing who you are. Even if some may think your hobbies or how you express yourself is weird or cringe, there is also a lot people out there that would adore you and appreciate what you do for them.

As I said at the beginning, the second part of the reading kinda shocked me, literally all of the cards except the one at the back talk about some sort of a new start, pretty straightforward. This December is a whole new beginning, why wait for the new year. Be careful, there’s some chance you can miss if you won’t act. Plan ahead. There will be some looking into yourself, understanding your emotions. Do you have an imposter syndrome? There will be harder moments, but The Fool heralds a new beginning, stepping into your power and having fun with discovering new things. Seriously, getting to know yourself better and embracing it just keeps popping up. A truly „stop cringing, embrace the cringe” message.

Kinda an afterthought, but your relationships with family can be important, most likely with your parents and/or siblings, especially with your (older) sister.

PILE 2

Theme (Major Arcana only): Death (R) – Back of the Deck: The World

More info: Queen of Wands (R) – Three of Pentacles – Five of Pentacles – Back of the Deck: Knight of Wands

Looks like you will experience some blockages and stagnancy, but it’s also pretty clear this December is all about your inner self: seeking closure and inner transofrmation. It isn’t really about outer world, more about you yourself. Maybe some of you will feel a little stuck in your spirituality or disconnected from your ancestors/spirits. In case any of you plays Genshin Impact, I used a deck with characters from it for this part of the reading and the ones on your cards are Hu Tao and Paimon, maybe they’re somehow significant to you.

Now, going more into details – we have Wands and Pentacles here, fire and earth. Do you plan to visit some older building, all in white and beige, maybe abandoned, full of plants? Pretty specific, but it came to my mind when I was looking at the pictures of the Pentacles cards, they have both a pretty similar vibe, calming and kinda mysterious. A museum? Renaissance vibes.

Yeah, this Queen of Wands in reverse? That’s what I was talking about earlier, you concentrate energy on yourself now. You may spend more time alone, to understand yourself better. However! It doesn’t mean you won’t have people around you, after all we have two cards from the Court here. You will work on some project together. Remember about clear communication with each other. Nearer the end of December you can have some struggles; save some money for sure, and remember to have reliable people around you. You know, if you ever feel lonely, remember it’s always temporary. Knight of Wands says you’ve got it! You have this passion and determination, pile 2, you can do this! Oops, the Knight slided out of the pile and The Lovers showed up from under it. So, there was this feeling in me that for some of you The Knight can actually represent someone else that will be important for you during December, and I feel like these Lovers kinda confirm it. Some bond, maybe? As if this Knight was about to bring a precious relationship, you are the queen and someone else is the knight – for some, of course. Alternatively, it’s a confirmation of my words: you will do it. Some choices are to be made, and you have the fire in you to make it.

PILE 3

Theme (Major Arcana Only): The Tower – Back of the Deck: Justice

More info: The Hanged Man – King of Pentacles – Six of Swords – Back of the Deck: Knave of Wands (R)

Okay, guys, some major, sudden change, a big event or process that can be hard for you to handle. After The Tower usually something better comes to us, so keep it in mind when it won’t be easy for you. This change is related to what Justice represents: clarity and truth, cause and effect, Justice doesn’t take anybody’s shit. Whatever it is, justice will be served. For some, it can be more literal, be about law. For others, maybe someone who treated you unfair or bullied you is going to deal with the consequences. If you feel like you can be the bad guy in someone’s scenario, it’s time to change. Wow, sorry for being so serious here, just gotten into this mood after seeing the cards. In case any of you plays Genshin Impact, I used a deck with characters from it for this part of the reading and the ones on your cards are Raiden Shogun and Jean, maybe they’re somehow important to you. Some problems with keeping balance in your life?

Moving on, the beginning of this December is about letting go, stopping for a moment, reflecting, looking from a different perspective. It looks like you will be in your power, pile 3! Money, work – you have this under control. Maybe you will be some kind of a leader. Working on some passion project? There’s this stability and reliability in you, even thought different things can be frustrating. Remember to be patient. The end of the December will bring you a transition of some kind, leaving something behind – probably The Tower will be in ruin by now and you will start something new, better than what this Tower was. We have here Major Arcana, Pentacles, Swords and Wands, we only lack Cups (I actually saw a reversed King of Cups while shuffling but it didn’t pop out) – this can signalize a disconnection from feelings. Remember to give yourself some time to think about why you feel a certain way.

#pac reading #pac #free tarot reading #tarot reading #tarot #witchbrl #pick a pile #pick a card reading #pick a picture #pick a card #december #december 2022

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jarognieva · 1 year

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Okay so today I want to talk about this pretty girl:

It is called Celestial Centipende or Fluorescent Flower and we can find it in Byrgenwerth and Chalice Dungeons. In my opinion this name suggest it's just mix of big space bug and a plant. But considering Bloodborne is highly inspired by Lovecraftian stories, I think Celestial Centipendes might be an ancient intelligent beings.

I realised they are similar to the Old Ones (Don't confuse with Great Ones!) from At the Mountains of Madness. The Old Ones are ancient beings who came from the cosmos and created life on our planet. Their civillization was very advanced when they started to colonize the Earth but it started to degradate through time and finally completely disappeared. In the story main characters find well-preserved remains of a few Old Ones on Antartica. Old Ones are not EXACTLY like Celestial Centipendes, but there are a few distinguishing marks that are very similar to them. Here is an extract from a description of one of these beings (fragments that remind Celestial Centipendes are bold):

Objects are eight feet long all over. Six-foot, five-ridged barrel torso three and five-tenths feet central diameter, one foot end diameters. Dark gray, flexible, and infinitely tough. Seven-foot membranous wings of same color, found folded, spread out of furrows between ridges. Wing framework tubular or glandular, of lighter gray, with orifices at wing tips. Spread wings have serrated edge. Around equator, one at central apex of each of the five vertical, stave-like ridges are five systems of light gray flexible arms or tentacles found tightly folded to torso but expansible to maximum length of over three feet. Like arms of primitive crinoid. Single stalks three inches diameter branch after six inches into five substalks, each of which branches after eight inches into small, tapering tentacles or tendrils, giving each stalk a total of twenty-five tentacles

Surely Centipendes do not have wings, and their "legs" are more like arthropod legs than tentacles but look at concept art:

These things around the "mouth" remind more tentacles than legs, aren't they?

At top of torso blunt, bulbous neck of lighter gray, with gill-like suggestions, holds yellowish five-pointed starfish-shaped apparent head covered with three-inch wiry cilia of various prismatic colors. Head thick and puffy, about two feet point to point, with three-inch flexible yellowish tubes projecting from each point. Slit in exact center of top probably breathing aperture. At end of each tube is spherical expansion where yellowish membrane rolls back on handling to reveal glassy, red-irised globe, evidently an eye.

Exept for yellow color and an eye, it seems quite similar, I think.

Five slightly longer reddish tubes start from inner angles of starfish-shaped head and end in saclike swellings of same color which, upon pressure, open to bell-shaped orifices two inches maximum diameter and lined with sharp, white tooth like projections—probably mouths. All these tubes, cilia, and points of starfish head, found folded tightly down; tubes and points clinging to bulbous neck and torso. Flexibility surprising despite vast toughness. At bottom of torso, rough but dissimilarly functioning counterparts of head arrangements exist. Bulbous light-gray pseudo-neck, without gill suggestions, holds greenish five-pointed starfish arrangement.

Tough, muscular arms four feet long and tapering from seven inches diameter at base to about two and five-tenths at point. To each point is attached small end of a greenish five-veined membranous triangle eight inches long and six wide at farther end. This is the paddle, fin, or pseudofoot which has made prints in rocks from a thousand million to fifty or sixty million years old.

I know that some parts of description don't correspond with Celestial Centipendes' appearance, but I think it might be possible that they're inspired by the Old Ones because it wouldn't be the first Lovecraftian reference in Bloodborne. What if summoning a meteor is not just weird superpower holding by a cosmic beast but an equivalent of the Call Beyond? What if they're not just a weird creatures from the dungeons, but the last from their kind? The kind which civilization vanished millions of years before Ptumerians, Loran and Isz. History likes to repeat, especially in Bloodborne, so I believe they were using Old Blood and trying to communicate with the Great Ones too.

#bloodborne #bloodborne lore #celestial centipende #fluorescent flower #bloodborne headcanon #fromsoftware #lovecraft #lovecraftian #cosmic horror #bloodborne thoughts #my post

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daughter-of-melpomene · 4 months

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drop five facts each abt all your Wednesday ocs pls!! (including Esther bc it’s a crime that I don’t know much abt her fr) -🍂

Ahhhh, thank you so much for asking about them, Alvita!! I am also gonna tag @luucypevensie and @dancingsunflowers-ocs since they’re my other Wednesday girlies. <3

We’ll do some facts about Esther first, since she’s my properly-introduced baby:

Given that I don’t think I’ve properly explained Esther’s outcast type to anyone besides Grace, I’ll explain it now: she’s a nephilim! Her mother, the woman who acted as a surrogate for her fathers when they were having her, was herself the daughter of an angel and a human, and because of this Esther is able to tap into a few different angel powers (if not all of the ones available to a nephilim, because Esther is a quarter angel rather than half).

These powers include being able to manipulate and generate light, being able to calm other people’s mental distress simply by projecting calming energy at them, being able to release powerful blasts of light that can cause physical destruction (which is what lead to the collapsed bell tower that got her transferred from her old school to Nevermore), and being able to wield a glowing angel sword by summoning it from the astral realm which is able to destroy demonic creatures (not that Esther has met any of those yet).

Esther’s family is actually pretty rich, with both of her fathers being lawyers and partners in their respective firms (which are actually rival firms, a fact that Esther and her younger brother Maddox find hilarious). Esther doesn’t like showing off or flaunting her family’s money, but she also doesn’t let it stop her from wearing nice clothes and buying her friends expensive gifts on their birthdays or other special occasions.

The St. Claire family also has a golden retriever, which Esther’s fathers rescued as a puppy when Esther was seven and Maddox was three. Esther was allowed to name her and chose the name Reno, after the main character in the musical Anything Goes, because her obsession with classic musicals had started even at that young age. Reno is an absolute sweetheart who always misses Esther whenever she’s away at school, and the entire family absolutely adores her.

Esther has never officially come out as a lesbian to her dads and Maddox - they’ve all pretty much known since Esther was pretty young, and when Esther finally comes home on a school break holding Wednesday and Enid’s hands, everyone just kind of shrugs and welcomes the two girls into their home.

Next, let’s talk about my beloved bitchy lesbian fairy Padma:

Every fairy has an affinity for one of the five forms of elemental magic: fire, water, earth, air, and metal. Padma’s affinity is for fire, because of course it is.

Padma is a twin! Her brother Akshat has an affinity for earth, doesn’t attend Nevermore - he is instead homeschooled as the majority of fairy kids are - and is pretty much the exact opposite of Padma in every way. He’s very quiet and passive, and doesn’t have even a hint of her quick temper.

Like Esther, Padma is also a rich girl (I mean, her family has been around for centuries since fairies live a really long time plus they can literally enchant people), but she is a lot less afraid to show it off. She’s always wearing the latest fashions and has her nails and makeup freshly done, and whenever she gets a coffee from the shop in Jericho she always leaves a twenty dollar tip or something even more because she just has no idea of how much thinks cost.

A really big part of the reason Padma is so determined to compete academically with Bianca for so long is because, deep down, she’s really afraid of people seeing her as just a stupid, pretty rich girl, when she’s actually wickedly smart and cunning. She’d rather rip out her own teeth than admit this, though, or at least it takes her a long time after they even start dating for her to admit it to Bianca.

Sometimes when Eugene’s not around and she’s stressed, Padma will go to the spot where he keeps his bees and just chill with them to calm herself down. Fairies, being forest creatures by nature, have an innate connection with all plants and insects, even if they don’t have an earth magic affinity, and Eugene’s bees really like Padma and will often bump against her face to say hello to her.

Now let us talk about Gus, my beloved stoner werewolf:

Despite werewolves very rarely maintaining canine characteristics when they’re in human form, Gus very much does - he always gets incredibly excited when someone he likes returns after being gone, even if they were only gone for a few minutes, and if you scratch a certain spot behind his ear he will just melt into a happy puddle.

Gus is also insanely clingy and affectionate when he’s high, and it doesn’t even really matter who it is he’s clinging to; if you’re close by and not already hugging or cuddling someone, you can expect a lap full of Gus, burrowing his head into your shoulder and giving you a bunch of compliments in a hazy voice.

Gus has had a bi flag hung up above his bed in his Nevermore dorm since he first arrived at the school. His first roommate, a haughty psychic who came from a super rich family, made a douchey comment about it, and it didn’t even take a whole week for Gus to report the incident to Weems and get his roommate expelled (Nevermore, thankfully, has a very strict no-discrimination policy). He doesn’t really care if people insult him, but he was not about to let the guy think that kind of behavior was okay and risk him repeating it with someone else.

As kind of a surprise given his general sunny disposition, Gus actually really likes true crime podcasts. On most given nights when there’s not some kind of get-together he needs to provide weed for, you can find him sitting on the window seat in his dorm room, smoking a joint with the window open and with his phone playing a podcast beside him.

Gus’s first kiss was actually with Yoko; it was at a little party thrown for Ajax’s birthday freshman year, after Yoko’s spin landed on Gus during a game of Spin the Bottle. The kiss was really quick, but it was also nice, and Gus is pretty proud to say it was his first kiss (and to tease Yoko about her supposedly wanting to kiss him again, which she always rolls her eyes at him for).

Speaking of Yoko, let’s finish these facts off with her new girlfriend, Holly:

I’m still not going to reveal exactly what Holly is just yet (you know, Alvita, of course, but I’d like to keep it a bit of a secret still), but I can tell you with absolute certainty that she hates it about herself. Despite attending a school full of what most people would consider “monsters,” Holly sees herself as an actual monster, and would give almost anything not to be the way she is.

What she is has also caused a lot of problems between her and her family, and as such, she’s one of only a handful of students who stay at Nevermore year-round, not going home for the holidays or summer break, which only serves to add to the layers of mystery and fear that most Nevermore students have around her.

Holly very nearly gives Xavier a heart attack the first time she speaks to him, after Wednesday defeats the Hyde and she decides to start trying to make friends - which, consequently, is the first time she’s really spoken to another person since coming to Nevermore. He nearly winds up falling off a balcony, she scares him so much, which Holly feels really bad about, but he’s also quick to reassure her about it and strike up a genuine conversation with her.

During the time when she kept to herself and didn’t speak, Holly would usually keep herself busy with embroidering various things, which she learned from her grandmother. She’s incredibly good at it, and even gifts Yoko a handkerchief embroidered with a quote from Dracula for their first anniversary.

Holly’s favorite holiday was always Halloween when she was a kid (coming from a family and a very long line of outcasts, it was kind of inevitable), but due to some very significant reasons from her past she can hardly stand it anymore. She now throws all of the energy she used to put towards Halloween into celebrating Christmas, and though of course everyone around her notices how much she avoids Halloween, they’ve learned by now not to question it.

Thanks again for asking me about my babies!! Love you!! <3

#asks about my ocs #oc: esther st claire #oc: padma bakshi #oc: gus becerra #oc: holly millway

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fancyfeathers · 6 months

Text

Society of Protection (Yandere Bungo Stray Dogs x reader x original characters) (normalized yandere au)

Chapter Twelve

Poisoned Apple

Prologue and oc intro

Chapter one

Chapter two

Chapter three

Chapter four

Chapter five

Chapter six

Chapter seven, part one

Chapter seven, part two

Chapter eight

Chapter nine

Chapter ten

Chapter eleven

The next few days felt like a fever dream to you, apparently the Guild’s headquarters, the Moby Dick almost crashed in Yokohama. There was still no word from or about Miss Jane which unnerving to say the least for you all. The next few weeks came and gone and life felt normal, a few members of the society returned to Europe to visit family and friends, Emma, William, Henrik, and Lewis, they would be back at the end of the month. So now that leaves you, Dr. Stevenson, Victor, Alexandre, and Gaston alone here.

Dr. Stevenson and Alexandre were heading out for the weekend, going up to Tokyo to visit an old friend of the doctor’s, and Victor had been invited on a project to help with repairs after the Guild incident so you hardly saw him anyway. So this weekend it was just you and Gaston. You all had returned to the apartment complex now and so you now had your apartment that you shared with Miss Jane all to yourself now, but you didn’t like staying there, too lonely. So now you sat in Gaston’s lounge, he sat on a stood, playing the violin, while you read over the news, then you saw something.

“Hey Gaston.”

“Hm?”

“I think you should take a look at this.” You waved him over and he set his violin down and walked over, glancing over your shoulder. “It seems that gifted are committing suicide with their abilities after a strange fog.”

Gaston’s eyes narrowed as you spoke before he reached up and closed the lid of your computer. “Best not to worry about that, stressing will give you grays.”

You set your laptop aside and gazed out the window, it was raining pretty hard. Gaston’s eyes followed yours, he then looked around the apartment and ran his finger along the bookshelf behind you, not a spec of dust. He smiles and then looked to you. “Say I have an idea. We pack a lunch, go to your father’s estate, start cleaning, find what we can on where he may be, have lunch, bring a book, like an indoor picnic.”

“That sounds pretty fun actually.” You smiled and stood up from your chair, taking his hand he offered you.

“Then let’s be off, my lady.”

—————————

You arrived at your father’s old estate at around noon. You took the key Miss Jane had left you and unlocked the door to the old building, and it was as dusty as ever. Gaston stepped in the hall after you, sipping around to take it all in. “Reminds me of Dr. Stevenson’s manor back in London.”

“I’d love to visit one day.” You replied to his comment as you went to sit over on the staircase, setting the picnic basket and blanket you had brought next to you. “But this place is probably a lot more dusty.”

“Certainly, I honestly couldn’t imagine the doctor letting dust gather on anything.” He laughed to himself and walked towards you, hands in his pockets. “Well then, shall we get started?”

“We shall.”

So you and Gaston began exploring the rooms together, one by one. You showed each other what you found, strange objects left behind from your father that might have been important on a case of his once upon a time. Books in his study were unorganized but looking at them there was no way to organize them for they were all so different. Gaston found photos of your father and uncle along with another individual names “Dr. Watson” your father’s assistant, from what the old stories about him read. You also managed to find older documents from your father that you left inclined to read, they were about his old cases that he took when he was here in Yokohama. Both of you forgot that you came to clean as soon as you walked through the door, there was just so much to look at and see.

So now, hours had passed and now you and Gaston sit on the floor of the main entry, the blanket beneath you as you opened the picnic basket and ate the meal you two had packed, sandwiches, fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, pears, and two apples.

“Strange to think he just left this all behind.” You said, pushing a berry past your lips. Gaston shrugged as he took a bite of a pear slice.

“Your father was a strange man.”

You laughed at that comment as you picked up one of the apples and took a bite…

Footsteps… walking down the hall

Gaston looked away from you alarmed by the noise, someone was here. His hands rested on his revolver as he stood up, looking around worriedly. “Did you hear that?”

You were to occupied to worry about the question, you eyes were fixed on the bite mark of the apple you just ate from, the fresh was black… it was poisoned. Your mind tried to process if you or Gaston packed this, was it slipped into your bag? If so when? You went to call Gaston’s name but all that came up out was coughs and wheezes as you tried to gasp for breath. You fell to the floor and Gaston was quick to kneel besides you. “(Name)! (Name)!”

Your vision was hazy now and you were just able to see the poisoned apple roll out of your hand and onto a ground where a figure out of the shadows came forth and picked it up.

Gaston’s eyes were wide with horror as he stared at the figure who held the apple, but the figure merely smiled as Gaston was finally able to speak out his name.

“Fyodor.”

Gaston’s eyes flicked between your unconscious body and Fyodor, standing over the two of you. Gaston tried shaking you awake as the Russian man stepped even closer but it didn’t work.

“Oh ангел музыки, she won’t wake up.” The Russian man spoke, kneeling down to Gaston’s level. Fyodor reached out and brushed the hair out of your face. “Not without me that is.”

Gaston raised up his revolver to rest in between Fyodor’s eyes. There was only a look of pure range on his face. “Wake her up or I will kill you.”

Fyodor’s smile only widened. “Shoot me at this distance with that old gun and you will blow your own hand off along with whatever damage would happen to her.”

Gaston didn’t lower the gun until Fyodor reached out, grabbed the barrel of the gun and lowered it himself. “So I have to play your game to wake her up, don’t I?”

Fyodor nodded and reached out for the untouched apple that was left and held it in front of Gaston to take. “It doesn’t hurt that badly if that’s what you’re worried about. All will be well when you awake.”

“Or I’ll be dead.” Gaston said grabbing the apple from him and looking it over. Gaston brought it to his lips with shaking hands, the composer’s eyes dead locked onto Fyodor’s twisted smile. With all the courage he could muster Gaston bit down on the apple, the flesh of it black like before. He was sent into a coughing fit just like you when he swallowed. He was gasping for breath as he fell into unconsciousness, his breathing heavy as Fyodor looked down at you two, wearing the same twisted smile.

—————————

You awoke with with a pounding headache and your body felt so incredibly stiff, like you had been asleep for days. Your vision was burly and it took a long moment for things to come into focus, you were laying in bed that wasn’t yours, in a room that wasn’t yours, dressed in clothes that you couldn’t see but knew aren’t yours. You tried to move but your muscles wouldn’t respond. The most you could manage was letting your turn fall to the side to see Gaston laying in an identical bed, asleep, dressed in clothes that weren’t his, and now you could also see an IV attached to your arm and one to his own. You could see a table in between the two of you, it had items and nicknacks from your pocket and Gaston’s glasses, but no weapons. When you went to open your mouth only a cough came out, your throat was like sandpaper, how long had you been out?

“Ahh мышь, you’re awake.” You heard a voice from behind you, Russian in origin. You heard a book close followed by footsteps approaching you. You felt a gentle gloved hand reach over and hold your cheek, bringing your face to face him. Before you there was a handsome man, he had black, mid length hair, dressed in white. “Do you know who I am?”

You couldn’t speak and your mind was too foggy to think but you managed to mouth the word no. He chuckled and ran his gloved thumb along your cheek. “My name is Fyodor Dostoevsky, my dear.” He watched as horror formed in your eyes at the mention of his name and his smile grew in his amusement. He leaned down so that his faces was only an inch away from your own. “I see you have heard of me, I have watched you for quite sometime and I promise you this is only the beginning of our game.”

He bent down to press his lips against your own. His lips felt rough and forceful, not kind and gentle like his touch. He reached over and pulled out the IV in your arm which made you wince in pain but he shushed, cooed, a kissed away your tears. He wrapped his arms around you and picked your limp body and carried you over to the arm chair he had been sitting in. With this new position you could see what you were wearing, a long white skirt, a black turtleneck, a white sweater, and white mary janes. He sat you down in his lap and took the book from the side table and opened it, you couldn’t read it because it was in Russian. He sat with you for what felt like hours and the only thing he said was. “Soon, it will begin.”

You didn’t know what “it” was but frankly you didn’t care, you just wanted to get Gaston and get the hell out of here. Soon you heard a groan from Gaston’s lips and your eyes shot over to the man who was coming back to consciousness. Unlike you he had at least some control of his limbs, must be all his endurance from his work with the society. He sat up in his bed his hand unconsciously searching for his glasses in the nightstand, you could now see at least the top of his outfit clearly, a white ruffled shirt, a white vest, a white jacket, white pants, but a bright red tie, it felt off for Gaston to be dressed in such things given his normal attire and personality. You heard a small hum from Fyodor as he also noticed the composer’s state.

“Good to see you awake as well, Leroux.” Fyodor said as Gaston slipped on his glasses and ripped out his IV which made you cringe. “I see you are as alive as every.”

“I wish I was dead.” Gaston was quick to snap back as he stepped out of bed, but having to catch his balance on the footboard. He paused in his tracks and looked around. “We’re in Mukurotoride, aren’t we?”

Fyodor smiled and nodded, setting his book aside. “That would be correct, I brought you two here so you will be… safe from what is to come.”

“Safe?” You finally spoke, asking a simple question. “Safe from what?”

A low chuckle emerged from Fyodor as he looked at you with those violet eyes. “You were reading the story, gifted committing suicide, the fog…”

Then it clicked for both you and Gaston. The fog is coming to Yokohama and someone is behind this all.

Fyodor noticed the expression on your faces and hummed, brushing his fingers through your hair before standing up and helping you stand along with him. Your legs felt jello but Fyodor rested a hand on both your forearms and hip, keeping you from falling. Once you caught your balance he let go, letting you stand on your own. He walked forward, towards the door in the room and unlocked it with a key in his coat pocket. He glanced over his shoulder at Gaston and you. “Don’t try using your gifts to escape, призрак and мышь. I think you’ll find your abilities have left you.”

“What do you mean?” You asked, concern coming across your face. Fyodor only smiled.

“You’ll see in due time. I’m sure my collaborators would be happy to explain when you meet them, but for now there are preparations to be made.” Fyodor said as he stepped out into the hall and you heard the click of the lock behind him.

Gaston fell onto his bed with a heavy sigh and you came and curled up next to him. “I’m sorry (Name), I have failed you. I let him get to you.”

“We didn’t expect it, Gaston. He took us by surprise.” You yawned in between words and so did he. “We’ll just have to be our own knights in shining armor, get ourselves out of here, escape the dragon.”

Gaston gave a weak smile and took off his glasses once more. “Yes, but I suppose for now we should get some more rest.”

“Agreed.”

You cuddled up next to him and just as you were slipping into sleep’s hold you heard his voice sing, beautiful, gentle, and careful…

“Think of me fondly

When we've said goodbye

remember me once in awhile

promise me you'll try

on that day that not so distant day when you are far away and free

if you ever find a moment spare a thought for me.”

#yandere bungo stray dogs x reader #yandere bungou stray dogs #yandere bsd #original character x reader #bungou stray dogs oc #bungou stray dogs #bungou stray dogs x reader #yandere dazai #yandere chuuya #yandere mark twain #yandere mori ougai #yandere Fukuzawa #Yandere Edgar Allan Poe #Yandere John Steinbeck #yandere fyodor

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creativestalkerrs · 2 years

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the first ten pages

I posted this on my Substack blog as well, subscribe to that for more content. Apart of creativestalkerr’s writing lessons.

notes are taken from Kevin Kawa’s Skillshare class ‘The First Ten Pages,”

writing your first ten pages of your screenplay and making them the most important pages to write.

This lesson is more about the format of screenwriting and screenplays. The first ten pages are by far the most important to your script and should have extra care put into them. The reason why the first ten pages are crucial to your script is for time.

If you send a script, agents, producers, and even casual consumers want to be hooked on your ten pages so they want to read the rest of your story. Rejection is a huge part of the film industry, so you want to pull them in.

Executives Read Because:

Marketability: Is this going to grab the attention of viewers?

Castability: Would people want to audition for this project?

Genre: What type of story is this? How can it be made?

Budget: How much would this cost to produce?

Often, executives don’t need to read the whole script to know of its for them or not. The first ten pages can make or break it.

Five Major Rules: We’ll go into detail for each rule and how you can reveal them in your first 10 pages, but the five rules include;

Establish your genre

Introduce the main character(s) and possibly other major characters

Clarify the world and the status quo

Indicate the theme or the message

Set up the dramatic situation

Establish Genre: Genre is the easiest to reveal, however, it’s also overlooked. You want a good understanding of film genre and sub-genre to help meet your consumer's expectations. There are seven major film genres that you find in film and that being;

Seven Major Genres:

Action and Adventure

Comedy

Drama

Horror

Mystery and Suspense

Romance

Science Fiction and Fantasy

Before even writing, you want to know what genre your story and or screenplay is. When you do know what genre you’ll be writing in, make sure it is stated and clear. Know the convention of the genre you choose both visually as well as the story elements.

Explore your genre and play around with it. If you love your genre, it can make everything else so much easier to write. Write what you know and love, but don’t let it limit you. Play around with it!

Introduce Your Characters: The first character you want to think about introducing in your first ten pages is your protagonist. Although they don’t have to be the very first character that we see, we should see them within those first ten pages. While doing this think about introducing characters that are severe to the story--that are also important overall.

What is an Active Protagonist?: When creating your protagonist, you want to have a goal they have in your story. They should be able to work on that very goal. However, you also want to think of obstacles for them to overcome so they can finally obtain their goal and has the opportunity to do so.

Create a protagonist that meets those key points and the story will actively unfold because of them and their action and not because something is happening to them. Make them an active part of your story instead of them standing outside of it.

You want your protagonist to be an unforgettable character.

Tips for the First Ten Pages:

When writing in your protagonist, you want your consumer to truly care about them, they hope that they obtain their goals but fear they might fall short of them.

When writing, depending on how you have written your main character, your consumer should feel empathetic or sympathetic for them. But keep in mind that not every character deserves this, at least not yet. An example of this is an anti-hero. But you still want to be a little empathetic to them and their plight while writing.

Know everything about your main character. Know internally and externally, know their wants and their needs. These details can help your consumer relate to them and their cause.

Your main character cannot exist without conflict. You need enough for them to overcome it.

Creative weakness for your character. Your consumer can fear that they might not reach their goal because of it

Even better if they might not know/are oblivious to their own weakness or identical about it.

NOTE: Weaknesses and flaws need to be evident within the first ten pages. Later on, you understand your ability to emotionally engage your consumer.

While writing your character at their weakest point, you want to poke at them. Force them to reveal things they would normally be unwilling to share. A truly good character can be able to shine.

When writing, don’t allow your main character to see the full breadth of the theme at the beginning it’ll be too easy for them.

All characters need to change and grow.

Clarify the World and the Status Quo: When you start writing the first ten pages, it needs to give the consumer a taste of the world they’re about to enter. Ask yourself what makes it special. You want to show, not tell. Include a taste of the rules of this world, even if you don’t include much of it.

Details help consumers get sucked into the world and help make them believe it's real. Show off your voice as a storyteller as well as your creativity and originality.

The first ten pages should give your consumer enough. It’s important to know where your characters fit in the world you have built and how they affect it. How the world affects them as they move towards their goals.

You want to set up your status quo in these first ten pages alongside the rules that may follow your world status quo will move along as your story progresses but your rules should never.

Ask Questions About Your World:

Where is my story set?

What time period is it?

What is the culture and demographic of the story?

You want your status quo to relate to your character(s), you want this in order for it to change and for the story to begin. Your world should be a living breathing entity.

Indicate the Theme: This is the root of your screenplay, it’s what you’re writing about and your reason. This is a launching point for your writing.

Common Themes:

Good vs. Evil

Love Conquers All

Triumph Over Adversity

Individual vs. Society

The Battle

Death is Part of Life

Revenge

Loss of Innocence

Person vs. Themselves

Person vs. Nature

This is more about how the story is told and not the actual theming behind it, but it drives the element.

3 Key Points:

Why do we want to tell this story?

Guiding factors and questions behind the theme.

Exploration of the characters is crucial to the theme.

In the script you’ll find a conflict within the character--theme and conflict are linked.

Screenwriters can show them through their characters in a number of ways.

The theme always springs from the characters' main goals.

NOTE: Each script had to be about something to tackle some great human struggle regardless of what genre it is

Set Up the Dramatic Situation: By the tenth page, your consumer should know what your story is truly about and where it will go from there. They should understand what the story's genre, world, character, and theme are.

On page ten, your main character's world should flip its head. There should be an inciting incident that unfolds (the main complication or problem) This should push your character out of the status quo.

An immediate source of conflict should make your protagonist want to take action. You want to make that transition from a want/need to a desire and soon satisfy that said desire.

NOTE: Inciting incidents should appear around the ten percent mark--around the 10th page.

Project Details: Here is some writing exercise to help you know and flush out your ten pages. Write one to three loglines before writing your ten pages, This gives a brief summary of what your screenplay is all about.

This can help with feedback and help you out with your screenplay. Loglines can help with the first ten pages when you do begin to write them. Also, make sure you give yourself feedback as well. This can help with your own project overall.

Loglines Should Get Across:

The Protagonist: use a description rather than a name, but using one is necessary.

The Goal of the Protagonist: a second act turning point, the status quo to goal.

The Antagonist or Obstacle: how are they stopping the protagonist?

Loglines should show those three pieces and they can show your theme as well.

Example: When [inciding incident] occurs a [your protatonist] must [objective] or else [the stake]

After writing your logline and understanding it, you should be able to continue writing your first ten pages.

Outlining Your Script: The biggest rule to any storytelling, but especially with screenwriting, is to never write without a plan. Depending on what kind of writer you are, have a system to help to outline as it can help the flow of your writing process.

Some writers will outline everything while some will just pinpoint the main scenes. Find a way to outline that works for you, but always plan ahead.

Make a habit of writing ideas down, whether that’s action or dialogue, even if you don’t end up using it, you might come back to it to further projects.

Using Dan Harmon’s story circle is a great way to visualize and get a general idea of what your overall story might look like.

Story Breakdown:

Act One, Sequence One: Status Quo and Inciting Incident (what we’re looking for in those ten pages)

Sequence Two: Predicament and Lock-in

Sequence Three: Obstacle and Raising the Stakes

Act Two, Sequence Four: First Culmination and the Mid-point.

Sequence Five: Subplot and Rasing Action

Sequence Six: Main Culmination and the end of Act Two

Act Three, Sequence Seven: New Tention and a Twist

Sequence Eight: The Resolution (the ending)

Five Major Plot Points:

Inciting Incident

Lock-in

First Culmination

Main Culmination

Third Act Twist

Outline either the eight sequences or just your five major plot points. Writing these things down will make the writing process so much easier.

Formatting Your Script: I don’t want to get too personal here, but I really dislike manually formatting in the screenplay format. For me, it takes away time that I can be used to actually write, however, it is important to know and understand how to format manually, especially if you don’t have a program to help with that aspect yet.

Font: Courier New

Size: 14

Songlines: Around 1.5 inches

Dialogue: 3 tabs

Names: 5 tabs

Indents Dialogue Around 5.5

Cuts/Fades Ins: On the Right Side

Programs like Final Draft are extremely helpful, but if you can’t afford Final Draft, here are some alternative screenwriting programs;

Beat (Mac IOS) - Free (I personally use this for my scripts)

Arc Studio - Free, Paid Plan (70-100 dollars a year)

Trelby (Windows) - Free

WriterDuet - Free (Only 3 Scripts), Paid Plan

Highland 2 (Mac IOS) - Free

There are other programs out there, find one that works best for you and your writing style.

Good Writing Habits: Try things out and ask yourself what works and what doesn’t. Most writers have a driving reason to write. So ask yourself; what's your reason?

The best thing you can do is learn your craft, understanding how to write things you might be unsure about. Ask questions and ask for feedback. Being a part of writers' communities can be such a helpful tool as well.

Read other people's work, and see what works and what doesn't. Get inspired by others' work and try to channel that into your own writing.

You want to try and write regularly. Set goals for yourself and get those goals done.

Giving and Receiving Feedback: Feedback should never be overlooked especially from other screenwriters. Bad takeaways are always good to give a new perspective you might have seen beforehand.

Feedback isn’t meant as a personal attack.

Not every piece of feedback is valid in your situation. Pick and choose what make scents to you and your situation--but don’t disregard it. Not everyone will completely understand your story, genre, or them, however, if you notice many people not understanding, ask yourself what can be fixed and or changed.

As a writer, you put a lot of love into your work and feedback might not feel good but it’s important to always treat your consumers and comments with respect--they are usually wanting to help you and your story.

Lastly, respond to the feedback. Have a conversation about your work so you can improve it.

~Vocabulary~

Screenwriting: the activity or process of writing screenplays.

Screenplay: the script of a movie, including acting instructions and scene directions.

Crucial: of great importance.

Agent: a person who acts on behalf of another person or group.

Audition: an interview for a particular role or job as a singer, actor, dancer, or musician, consisting of a practical demonstration of the candidate's suitability and skill.

Produce: make (something) using creative or mental skills.

Genre: a category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.

Status Quo: the existing state of affairs, especially regarding social or political issues.

Indicate: suggest as a desirable or necessary course of action OR point out; show.

Theme: the subject of a talk, a piece of writing, a person's thoughts, or an exhibition; a topic.

Convention: a way in which something is usually done, especially within a particular area or activity.

Obstacles: a thing that blocks one's way or prevents or hinders progress.

Empathetic: showing an ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

Sympathetic: (of a person) attracting the liking of others.

Plight: a dangerous, difficult, or otherwise unfortunate situation.

Culture: the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social groups.

Demographic: relating to the structure of populations.

Entity: a thing with distinct and independent existence.

Element: a part or aspect of something abstract, especially one that is essential or characteristic.

Inciting Incident: the event that sets the main character or characters on the journey that will occupy them throughout the narrative.

Immediate: nearest in time, relationship, or rank.

Transition: the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another.

Loglines: a brief summary of a television program, film, or book that states the central conflict of the story.

Outline: a general description or plan giving the essential features of something but not the detail.

Predicament: a difficult, unpleasant, or embarrassing situation.

Lock-in: an arrangement according to which a person or company is obliged to deal only with a specific company.

Culmination: the highest or climactic point of something, especially as attained after a long time.

Mid-point: a point somewhere in the middle.

Communities: a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.

Channel: emulate or seem to be inspired by.

Valid: (of an argument or point) having a sound basis in logic or fact; reasonable or cogent.

Disregard: pay no attention to; ignore.

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dascarecrow · 2 months

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Build The Roster - Injustice 3 (DLC)

And with that we arrive at the conclusion of this Build The Roster project. And we're going to wrap things up with one of the most exciting parts of any fighting game roster. The DLC.

Before we do anything with this we have to determine how many DLC characters there are going to be. Considering Netherrealm Studios has been implementing progressively larger numbers of DLC characters since they started doing such a thing we're going to have to speculate a little on just how many characters are going to get in for post-launch. We'll settle on 15 being the magic number this time, going by the rate of progression we've seen for DLC numbers.

Now that that is out of the way we're going to detour a bit to discuss exactly how the DLC is going to work. With 15 prospective fighters we're going to go with a pattern in regards to who gets in. That is going to be 5 packs of 3 characters with those characters consisting of 1 hero, 1 villain and 1 guest character for each pack.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way let's get on with the actual choices, which are made up of...

Superboy

He's had a prominent role in the extended media for the games and his tactile telekinesis could make for a fascinating moveset.

Metallo

Decided to put another Superman villain in the game and we need a follow up to that stage cameo.

He-Man

There was already an Injustice comic crossover with He-Man so why not put him in a game already. Not to mention the Masters of the Universe property has been on the rise lately.

Donna Troy

Wanted to put one of the Wonder Girls in the game and Donna would give us that.

Deathstroke

If the main five Titans are going to be in the game then we need to bring back the Titans enemy. Plus we need an assassin in the roster.

Reptile

It's basically tradition to have a Mortal Kombat guest character and after Scorpion and Sub-Zero he's the most iconic ninja from that franchise.

Tempest

I like his powers which could become a phenomenal moveset and it gives us another Titan and someone else from Atlantis.

Despero

Basically the same reason as Deathstroke, if the founding seven members of the Justice League are in the game then a Justice League villain would be all too fitting.

Judge Dredd

With Hellboy and Spawn already having been used as DLC before by Netherrealm Judge Dredd is one of the few well known comic book characters that could be seen in an Injustice game.

Doctor Light

Just a personal favorite of mine who has unique light powers that could be fun to see in a fighting game.

Larfleeze

We've had the Sinestro Corps and the Red Lanterns show up so why not complete the trifecta with the Orange Lantern holder Larfleeze?

Space Ghost

Another personal favorite of mine who has a variety of beam-based attacks that would be perfect for a fighting game.

Adam Strange

Just a character that I like and think could be a cool addition to the roster.

Sabbac

Decided to throw in a Shazam enemy. Mostly for being a left field pick that people wouldn't be expecting.

And finally we have...

The Power Rangers!

After the Ninja Turtles got in all the rules went out the window and as a Power Rangers fan I would love to see them join the world of Injustice.

And with that we have reached the end of this Build The Roster. Feel free to read and review and let me know if you agree with my choices or feel different ones should have been made.

#Build The Roster #Injustice #DLC

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kitcheninaman · 6 months

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tell me all about ur OCs RN!!!!! /nf

AHH OKAY. THIS WILL BE LONG SORRY BUT IM GONNA TELL U ABOUT THE LUCASWORLD CAST BC ITS SIMPLER THAN IF LOL (if u wanna hear about IF feel free to ask it might just. take time)

lucasworld is the nickname for the novel im writing but the current working title is Middle Of The Road. the main characters are:

Lucas Dixon

Noah Campbell

Lin McAster

Odin Lester

Madison Harpham

there are 3 others (crya, finn, and holly) but they're sadly not all that relevant. they also (mostly) have parents who make varied appearances. lucas noah and lin are 16, odin is 17, and madison is 18.

theyre all trans guys apart from madison who is a cis girl (unless you ask my bf he is adamant she has tgirl swag). the interesting thing with odin is that it isnt revealed that hes transgender until quite far into the book, for various reasons.

lucas and lin are the Main Characters, most of the book alternates between their povs, but occasionally odin gets a chapter because he's my Baby Boy.

important information about lucas: he's about five foot seven, he has shitty brown hair and wire-framed round glasses. he tried to cut his own hair once and it never fully recovered. he loves car seat headrest, he's anxious all of the time, and his biggest flaw is how much he projects his own issues onto others.

important information about lin: he's about five foot five, has silver hair in a middle part which he dyes exclusively with the cheapest box dye he can find, and he's very scottish. his mummy issues r what make him funny. he loves listening to music in the woods, he gets hatecrimed literally daily, and his biggest flaw is he either thinks too much or too little. no in-between.

important information about noah: he's about five foot eight, has a blond mullet which lucas would DIE for, and he's very pale. pale to the point he looks like a ghost... i wonder why. he likes lucas, lying about being dead (he is), and his biggest flaw is the fact he died.

important information about odin: he's about five foot ten, has greasy black hair he slicks back awfully, and is literally always wearing a shitty leather jacket. he thinks he's literally JD from heathers but cooler. he likes planes, bullying lin, and his biggest flaw is his INSANE internalised transphobia.

important information about madison: shes about five foot eight, and has brown hair which she likes to keep down but is forced to keep up for school. her dad is the mayor and shes not very good at relating to normal people. she likes psychology, penelope scott, and her biggest flaw is that she treats odin like a science experiment rather than a friend.

anyway can u guess which of them kiss (on the mouth)

thank you SO much for asking i really love talking about my sillies :) please ask more if you think of anything else!!!! id love to share!!!!!

#oc posting #long post #lin and odin #my ocs #ocs #ask

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savannaswrites · 1 year

Note

on tlh — i agree completely! i did read gotsm and loved that version of james and matthew way more i felt like neither of them really had an in-depth personality in tlh? but just in general i think the versions of the tlh characters in all the short stories and extra content are much more compelling. with characters like anna and ariadne too, but especially james. there was those hints of tragedy that were never quite fulfilled, but also so much fascinating mysteries that tlh doesn’t delve too deep into. don’t know if you’ve read the shadowhunter academy, but his and matthew’s characterization in nothing but shadows was my favourite, whereas in tlh i struggled to understand who james even was at all (more sensitive herondale? will and jem combined? is what i think he was meant to come across as but it didn’t quite work for me) and the potential of james and matthew as parabatai set up in that story was sort of lost.

i also can’t stand their love triangle with cordelia it was tired lol, although to be fair that’s because i kept holding out hope that she’d make matthew unrequitedly in love with james or with both james and cordelia to parallel tda haha. not to start ranting about tlh but i do agree that i wish james and lucie (and matthew since it’s set up in the first two that he likes staying in the downworld) could have interacted more with downworlders since they are technically part warlock. anyways!! yes the lore and downworlder/shadowhunters politics and relationships with the main five (six counting ghost livvy, or seven counting ash) that you set up in fearful symmetry were definitely what got me so excited. i also really loved thule livvy coming back and saying she’d only talk to ty, and then the next chapter we finally got to see ty, and his narration was perfect. omg i’m sorry i wrote so much again. thank u for replying <3 — fs anon

ah, i'm so sorry it's taken me a gazillion years to respond to your message! i read it and was like, i have GOT to finish chot before i write back so i can know what's going on, and -

it did take me forever, i'll admit. that book was a SLOG. also, i am so sorry!! i called that book i was thinking of gotsm, but you are ABSOLUTELY right, it was tftsa that i was thinking of!! i read those two back to back and tbh really thoroughly enjoyed the short story format, although i will admit to being like. frankly quite confused. because if i remember correctly i hadn't gotten around to reading books 4, 5, and 6 of tmi yet, but i had read the emma and julian books, so i was like wtf...simon is alive again?? a;sdkfj

but back to the point: you are 1000% correct, that wonky love triangle in tlh was UNSATISFYING. actually, to be totally, brutally honest, i sort of felt that whole trilogy was wildly unsatisfying. you know?? like, we spend SO much time on this love triangle that just fizzles out without really forcing any of the characters into that crucible that i loved in tmi or tid, so it's like...they don't even emerge changed from this experience?

i would have lOVED it if matthew had been in unrequited love with james. after tftsa, i was like [eyeball emoji] in the hopes that that could be the dynamic, but of course, no such luck...do you think maybe cc just thought that would be too similar to the jace & alec dynamic from all the way back in tmi? because like yes, alec did think he was in jace, but i sort of feel like those books took pains to clarify that he was maybe projecting on him a bit, and that he wasn't truly in love with him the way tessa and jem and will were in love with each other. so this would still have been different, u know? and it would have contrasted so INTERESTINGLY to emma and julian being at the center of that series, i think!

but also, what TERRIBLE villains tlh had. not only were they not intimidating or even very interesting, but the power scaling in the books to me just completely undermines the stakes in twp books before they've even started. this fallen angel is ancient and powerful, but will banter with teenagers and leave them alone to scheme in his stolen realm for no particular reason? and that whole thing with cordelia and cortana...like...i loved emma getting that weapon, but we SEE her train CONSTANTLY. wanting to fight is part of who she is! with these books, it's like their being meant to hunt demons was just so much set dressing for a story that's not quite as interesting as it thinks it was. maybe that's too mean to say??

i just feel like, okay. you have TEN heroes, every single one of whom gets scenes from their own point of view, and the idea is that that won't cause pacing problems?? hELLO. when the narration has to stop and start over and over and over again to tell us exactly how a character is feeling when we could just as well have surmised that from a more focalized narrator just made these books sooo much work.

also i'm so sorry you were like 'not to start ranting about tlh' and that's IMMEDIATELY what i did, but please do let me know what you think because i've been mulling this over since i finished the book and i just??? you know??

#anon #fs

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brown-little-robin · 3 years

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The Strange Redemption of Thaddeus Thawne: Masterlist

The Strange Redemption of Thaddeus Thawne is an ongoing fanfiction about Thad Thawne, a character from DC comics’ Impulse (1995). This is the masterlist, where you will find links to all of the chapters, illustrations, moodboards, and most other related content!

All are welcome and none are expected to read this fic. Strange Redemption is a passion project, but it’s also a long story, and, as a (recently ex-) college student, I know that people don’t have time to read everything they’d like to. This fic isn’t going anywhere. I write it for love.

Don’t be afraid to approach me about the story if you feel like it! Asks, comments, dms, emoji reactions, whatever—all are welcome, none are expected!

Tags

The story itself: #The Strange Redemption of Thaddeus Thawne

Commentary and updates by me: #About the Strange Redemption of Thaddeus Thawne (this tag has been mostly unused for a while, fair warning)

Things that reminded me of the story: #strange redemption intertextuality

Things that remind me of (my version of) Thad: #two aesthetic

Archive of our Own

Note that this location is updated a day or two later than the tumblr version. Other than that, the chapters are identical!

archiveofourown.org/works/35494015/chapters/88477045

Introduction

Part Zero: an explanation of the backstory of The Strange Redemption. If you want to read the fanfiction but don’t know much about the Flash / the flash family / Impulse, you can start with this crash course on the main characters and their superpowers.

Chapters

One: Miracles

Two: Cold and tired

Three: Unsafe space

Four: Family meeting

and Four: continued

Five: Argue back

Six: Carry him gentle

Seven: Things of his own

Eight: Shivering

Nine: That was abuse

Ten: The zoo

and Ten: continued

Eleven: Voice on the landline

Twelve: Courageous heart

Thirteen: Social security

Fourteen: Max-Free Zone

Fifteen: Infirmities

Sixteen: Sunlight

Seventeen: R2D2

Eighteen: Child Soldier

Nineteen: Bless His Heart

Twenty: Shattering

Twenty-one: Conversation

Twenty-two: Anacletus

Twenty-three: A Rhythm

Twenty-four: Mama Bear

Twenty-five: Predator and Prey

Twenty-six: Open Ocean

Twenty-seven: A Packed Suitcase

Twenty-eight: Ground Rules

Twenty-nine: Metropolis

Thirty: I Died For That

Thirty-one: Learning to Purr

Thirty-two: Catharsis

Thirty-three: Adeline

Thirty-four: Porter

Thirty-five: In A Chrysalis

Thirty-six: Calm Before the Storm

Thirty-seven: Storm Front

Thirty-eight: Lightning Strike (part one)

Thirty-nine: Lightning Strike (part two)

Forty: Patience

Forty-One: The Time War

Forty-Two: Dog with Two Owners

Forty-Three: Interlude: Cell Phone

Forty-Four: Chapter One

Forty-Five: The Dark Bedroom

Forty-Six: Midnight Communications

Forty-Seven: How To Get Breakfast

Forty-Eight: Neutral Territory

Forty-Nine: The Party

One-Shots

These are set far in the future of this fic. They contain spoilers! For an overview of some future spoilers (and an open invitation to yell at me about them / have me yell at you about them) see the Spoilers Guide.

Five

Illustrations & Related Art

In chronological order. If not otherwise marked, these are by yours truly. They’re not meant to be serious parts of the story, just fun bonuses!

Book Covers (if this were a penguin classic, what would the cover be?)

Small Thad (before the story begins)

Movie Night with CRAYDL (referenced in Part Ten)

Watchtower text conversation (for Part One)

Thad portrait (for Part Five)

Max carrying Thad (for Part Six)

Kitty kiss (for Part Seven). By the extraordinary @eyefocusing!

Doodles (for Parts 1-9)

Breakdown (for part twenty-two)

Speed Force Spirit

Moodboards, Picrews, and Clones

These pretty much all contain major spoilers; I create them like a valve releasing the pressure of the story to come. They will be somewhat incomprehensible without the spoilers guide (which is usually at least a little bit out of date, as the future of the fic is in flux all the time). But feel free to take a look around!

Moodboards overview, from April 2022

Clones Genealogy

Clones Ranked on Huggability

Clones Chart (a good visual guide, overview of quirks)

Punk | Emo | Grunge | Goth

The Original Picrews, the ones that shaped them

Thawne-Allens in the respective haunts picrews

Happiness Picrews

Mirror Prison Moodboard (Six)

Sunsets And Sunrises (Three and Seven)

Windows

Angels

This Is Heaven (Eight)

(and for myself: pinned post)

ALSO, last thing, you can scroll though each clone’s aesthetic tag using numbers two through nine. #two aesthetic is the tag for the main character, et cetera. Other tags include #cloneboards and #clones charts.

this masterlist is current as of May 24, 2024. If this is a long long time ago, you can check this post at this link for the most recent version! You can reblog this if you like.

#About The Strange Redemption of Thaddeus Thawne #The Strange Redemption of Thaddeus Thawne #Thad Thawne #Thaddeus Thawne #Inertia #fanfiction #flashfam #dc fanfiction #flashfam fanfic

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lowkeyerror · 2 years

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Directors Cut

So I really want to do that director's cut thing that's going around, but no one sent me an ask. So I'm taking it into my own hands. I'm going to do a director's cut on my five favorites from my works. Apparently I've written about 69 (lol) imagines/oneshots/stories ( or whatever you like to call them) so narrowing it down to top 5 might be a little hard, but let's get into it.

5. She's Not That Bad ( Madison Montgomery × Reader) - Published June 18, 2021/ 91 Notes

This was one of the first pieces I posted to Tumblr, prior to this I was only uploading on Wattpad. It's not the most well written but, it get's the job done. It took awhile for me to think of the powers for the reader before I settled on weather manipulation. It's something big and threatening but very niche in my mind, it makes the reader a one trick pony in a way, which explains why she's not preforming the seven wonders. The story ends in way where it seems like the reader is kind of blindly following Madison and that's the intent. As I prefaced earlier in the story the reader felt drawn to Madison for no specific reason, which is why in the end the reader is potrayed as obdeient by simply replying, " Yes Madison"

4. Just My Luck ( Poison Ivy x Reader)- Pt 1 published July 20th, 2021/ Pt 2 Published August 7th, 2021/ Combined 211 Notes

I wrote Just My Luck because I was looking to read Ivy fics and could only find a handful. Like this fic was written in complete self interest, which is why it took so long for me to make a part two. I completely stole the idea of the reader being Unlucky because I was binge watching Murphy's Law at the time ( Great cartoon by the way written by the same guys who did Phinease and Ferb). The comraderie between Selena, Harley, and the Reader just seemed like a given. To me Harley, Selena, and Ivy all have this perpetual soft spot, like they all teeter on the line of vilians, but they have limits and morals. I love bringing up the fact that both Ivy and Harley are technically doctor's so that's why the main conflict revolves around Dr.Ivy studying the reader. There also so many adaptations of Ivy that sometimes I have no idea how to protray her. You've got the slutry sensual Iv from the games as well as the Batman and Robin ovie, and you've got the latest version from the Harley Quinn show who is more of just an angry activist. I often mix them but in the first part of this I'm almost only relying on the first version of Ivy. In part two she's a little more activist/caring because that's what is supposed to make you guys connect with her. This might eventually get a part 3.

3. Simple ( Wanda Maximoff x Reader)- Published August 3rd, 2021/ 215 Notes

I wrote Simple to get back into the written move after posting a shit ton for my 400 follower celebration. I feel like this, wrote itself. It's honestly a lot of fluff but also insecurity projected in the Reader's relationship to Wanda. I think it's feeling we all can relate to of not feeling good enough to be with someone. I think there's point in this imagine when the Reader starts to realize that she had been too caught up in her thoughts to realize that Wanda actually fancied her as well. When the Reader sees that her comments and prescene alone is making the witch flustered the Reader feels comfortable enough to flirt as well as share her feelings. This one is just so cute, and for a lack of a better word Simple which is why it's one of my favorites.

2. Syllabus Week ( WandaNat x Reader)- Published August 7th, 2021/ 315 Notes

Syllabus week is 100% me trying to cope with the pressures of the first week of college. This wasn't my first college syllabus week but it was defiently the worst I was spending all day everyday in front of the computer just doing school work and it was driving me insane. I chose Wanda and Nat because they're super comfortting characters for me. Like I feel like they would be remorseful and super protective, so this was perfect for them. A lot of this is feel with just small touches and acts of affection that could comfort everyone. I really wanted to amplify how exhausted the Reader was. That's why the shower is completely innocent and nothing like sexual or smutty happens in there. It solely revolves around being comforted after you pushed passed your limits.

Honorable Mentions- I couldn't just pick five so I added some honorable mentions. They include my most popular fics as well as some I just wanted to talk about.

Ex Military, New Shield ( Natasha Romanoff x Reader) - Published June 15th, 2021/ 507 Notes

Now I had originally though that this imagine was my most popular. The love and response I got from this imagine was tremendous. Credit goes to @confusinggemini612 for making such a good request. I have not a single clue what it was about this specific imagine that made it so popular. I remember struggling to write this one because I had no idea how to get the Reader into a relationship with Natasha. There were drafts where I had described the mission they went on together but I felt that it dragged it on, so it was a challenge to convey how close they were before sending the reader MIA. I also wanted to convey the close relationship that Maria had with her sister, I wanted it to be more than just coincidentally they are sisters, which inspired the first half of the story where you can kind of see what kind of relationship they have.

Not What I Expected ( Natasha Romanoff x Reader)- Published September 8th, 2021 606 Notes

Talk about not what I expected, this is my most viewed singular part imagine. I had no idea that this had even popped off like that. This was also request by @confusinggemini612, banger after banger with these request. I guess what you guys like about these imagines in particular is the SHIELD Agent part, because a common denomentar of both post. I had so much fun writting this imagine. My favorite type of character to write is the perceived badass who is actually just a big softie/dummy. Whenever I have to write about a goofy reader in coorilation with Marvel, expect to see Thor. Thor is, in my opinion, the best character to have involved when questionable decisions are being made. Only an absolute lunatic would think that they could beat Thor in a drinking competition. I think allowing herself to induldge in the more playful aspects of life was a big tell that they would end up together. The part where the Reader is basically confessing to Nat that if they weren't super focused on the mission she would've distracted them is so cute in my opinion and it does a great job of explaining the contrast in personality. Peter interrupting is also one of favorite fic tropes and I felt this was a good time to add him in.

A Better Gotham ( Harley Quinn x Poison Ivy)- Published July 20th, 2021/ 25 Notes

I honestly loved this request by @frostbite883 . I think that the perspective of Ivy and Harley being normal is so domestic and cute. I really do think if they hadn't have became villains that the enterity of Gotham would prosper. I think that for me the question I had while writing this imagine was if they would just be friends or end up together. I decided that they would end up together not only because of their mutual success but also because they were the only ones that could rely on each other. I think that unstable or not their bond and their chemistry is unbreakable, this was a really cute imagine.

Bonded For Life ( Needy Lesnicki x Jennifer Check x Reader) - Published September 30th - October 28th, 2021/ Combined 662 Notes

The absolute monster of planning I did for these 4 imagines was so worth it. Before October had even began I knew I wanted to write these imagines. I wanted to span the whole month so 4 parts was what I settled on. I didn't want the Reader to be foreign to Needy and Jen but I also didn't want an immediately explicit relationship between the three, which is how I settled on Chip's sibling. The reader and Needy both also being a demon creature was a nobrainer to me. In my heart I know that Needy wouldn't have left Jennifer with that band. Part two was just kind of an explanation of the Reader and where they actually being to feel the bond. Part three was just smut originally I was going to have Jen and Reader hook up in like a closet or locker but I felt that it wouldn't have fit well before or after the conflict with Chip. Part 4 was probably the hardest to write because yes smut but what was the rest of plot going to be. I hadn't planned on killing Chip. It wasn't even a thought in my head, until I physically typed it out. I made the Reader do it because it just gives her another reason to latch onto Jen and Needy. It's a fuck up that the Reader won't ever forget and her codependency grows because of it.

1. I Wish I Would've ( Natasha Romanoff x Reader) - Published September 3, 2021/ 152 Notes

In the AN at the beginning I say that I feel like this is one of the best things I've ever written and I stick by that. Fun fact I orginally named it The Cliff but it wasn't doing well, so I changed the name after posting it. This is probably the most angsty piece I've ever written and I love it. Everything about it was felt complex. The twist of the beginning all being the dream, the conscious efforts of the Reader to get better, having Yelena involved, and the cherry on top of having some spiritual connection to the real Natasha at the end. I love it, it's just so well put together. I usually hate the it was all a dream trope but the way I utilized in this imagine is a little different because the dream still holds meaning and has an affect on the reader. The dream is an important means of communication, it's the only place that the Reader can be connected with Nat. Which is wild considering that I had originally made it so that it wasn't a dream, like the stuff on the cliff was going to be a hundred percent real, but I felt like that was writing myself into a dead end with that. This also has one of my favorite lines in it," There was something so inconsolable about knowing that she wasn't thinking about you." That completely just destroyed me when I wrote it. When you lose someone they can't think about you, they can't remember you, they can't feel you, because they're gone and it just hurts so much. This is one of the few things I wrote that I think has a lesson and a message that you can't move on if you're drowning yourself in sorrow, there has to be an attempt to get better. It might not always work but the effort definitely means something.

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itsclydebitches · 3 years

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RWBY Fairy Tales Recaps: “The Hunter’s Children”

Welcome back, everyone! I’m immensely pleased to report that “The Hunter’s Children” functions far better as a standalone story than “The Grimm Child” did. There are still some wonky bits, but all-in-all it’s a very successful adaptation.

Before we get into that though, an update: I have bought the RWBY: Fairy Tales book! I recommend it heartily, both for the stories and the absolutely gorgeous artwork. I mean, look at this.

However, despite the latest addition to my library, I’m keeping to the original purpose of this project. I wanted to see how well the animated version stands on its own, so in order to achieve that I’m refraining from reading any of the tales until after I’ve watched their short. Thus, I’ve got notes on my initial impression of the adaptation and then a separate section of notes for my reading of the short story it’s based on, many of which remain versions of the, “Why wasn’t this included?” question. I’ll do my best to be clear about when I’m referencing each version.

So! This time, rather than beginning with a moral or perspective on humanity, Ozpin dives right in with, “Long ago, there lived a hunter in the swamps of Mistral…” except this man was a hunter of grimm, not game. We see the unnamed father defending his village from the beasts and, when he’s done, he’s surrounded by a crowd of grateful neighbors. I like the long-suffering eye-roll he pulls, like this fanfare is getting a little old.

What I found less enjoyable though was the... choppiness of the animation? I’m honestly not sure how to phrase this, given that I’m not well-versed in the technicalities of the form, but in layman’s terms the characters tend to teleport from place to place, rather than moving there. For example, we’re not really watching the villagers walk to meet the father, but rather seeing them farther away in one shot and then closer in the next, with the viewer expected to imagine the movement in between. I grabbed a screenshot of a scene I want to discuss later on and, with no effort on my part, caught the oldest brother literally fading into the shot as he “walks” across the screen.

I don’t know if this is a specific style I’m just personally not a fan of, or evidence of a lack of effort on RT’s part, but it stood out to me given that this is a technique “The Grimm Child” didn’t rely on as much (or at all?).

Regardless, other things to note about this opening are the return of RWBY’s iconic shadow people and the use of generic Beowulfs to depict the grimm attacks. I say “generic” because they’re a staple of the series at this point — seen in trailers, shorts, and the story proper — whereas Myers, in his tale, imagines species of grimm adapted to swamps, “such as the great Lagartodiles, fierce Grendels, poisonous Long Tongues, and tricky Whisps” (32). Now, I’m not going to claim that designing and modeling four new grimm for a seven minute episode would be easy — or practical — but this adaptation adds nothing to the main RWBY story. It exists solely to provide us with some Remnant world building, so it seems a shame to remove many of the details that, you know, provide that world building. Especially coming off the Atlas arc which barely even touched on the idea of cold adapted grimm — the most we got were the mammal based grimm sporting some ice and blue hues on their skin — so it’s a bit of a disappointment to get a tale set in a swamp, but absent the swamp specific grimm that Myers thought up.

Nevertheless, we see the shadow villagers hand the father a basket of five loafs of bread, which is a nod to his inability to hunt game since he’s busy killing grimm all day. As thanks for his efforts, the village ensures that he and his four kids don’t go hungry. The adaptation doesn’t make this exchange explicit — and frankly doesn’t need to — but I’m glad the detail was there for book readers to spot.

He heads home where he and his kids have dinner. They ask him why he’s the only one defending their home from grimm and he says, “My semblance tells me when grimm are near.” Yeah that’s... not an answer? This exchange makes more sense in the book because having a useful semblance is just one of three reasons the father gives for fighting, the other two being that he has the strongest aura out of everyone here and that he hates the grimm for killing his wife. The combination of those things is our answer: he’s the most capable in terms of aura and semblance, the most motivated in regards to revenge. In the adaptation though, it just sounds like he’s dodging the question. Reminding his kids that he has a semblance that makes fighting grimm slightly easier is not an answer to why others aren’t helping him despite lacking that advantage — which includes his own kids, two of which appear to be adults, or at least around RWBYJNOR’s age. I mean, I completely get that the moral of this story is learning to work together, I just wish we had some reason for why that wasn’t already happening in the village, beyond the fairy tale logic of, “It’s just not.” You could easily throw out one line about others not having their aura unlocked at all and the father not allowing his children to fight after the death of their mother, the implication being that he’s too scared to loose them too. Thus, the father’s family is the only one equipped to tackle the grimm — a nod to not everyone being cut out to be a hunter or huntress — but he’s not willing to embrace teamwork out of fear, a challenge his children will later learn to overcome. I mean, they do learn this lesson, we still get that line about their father dying because he tried to go it alone, but the tale might have been just a little bit tighter if we had a reason for his solo act, the same way we do get a reason for the kids’ own, initial division: a disagreement on how best to help.

I’m getting way ahead of myself though. For now, mention of the father’s semblance is what gets the kids to explain what theirs is too. This is the scene we got as a preview for the series and it remains pretty awkward in my opinion. Again, this works better in the book simply because it’s given as narration. We’re told that there was a lively conversation about whose semblance is better, but that presumably doesn’t include explaining what those semblances are. Because this is a family. They know each other. I don’t sit down to the dinner table and explain to my parents that I possess an interest in writing. Oddly enough, they’ve been around long enough to pick up on that. These are the sorts of details that need to be negotiated when changing mediums. RT always had an easy solution here — just let Ozpin narrate more things — but they could also have introduced a side character who exists only to be told what each semblance is after being saved by a grimm, or simply show us these semblances in action, trusting the audience to pick up on what they’re seeing — such as watching the youngest brother become invisible. For more abstract concepts, introduce them with dialogue only when they become relevant, like the eldest sister suggesting that she let her semblance lead them to their father after he goes missing, but before the shadow dude shows up with the news of his death. Here, we’d be changing the original story a bit, but doing so in order to ensure it still achieves the same goals as an animated short, like not breaking the viewer’s immersion. I would buy the older sister dropping a reference to her semblance when it might be useful to the family in a way I simply don’t buy four siblings re-explaining to each other what they’re able to do. It’s awkward.

I am, admittedly, trying to improve what doesn’t necessarily need improvement. We’re watching a short here. These characters will literally only exist for seven minutes and then, presumably, we’ll never see them again. Combined with the acknowledgment that, yes, fairy tales are often filled with holes and seemingly illogical choices, this isn’t the sort of project that needs editing with a fine-tooth comb. Not like the main webseries does and “The Hunter’s Children,” as said, lacks the confusion seen in “The Grimm Child,” which means it’s already cleared the bar, so to speak. It’s fine. But can’t things be more than fine? Don’t authors strive for more than just what’s serviceable? We talk a lot about potential in regards to RWBY and it feels like this adaptation is one of the less glaring examples of that. The story works, it’s just there’s a lot that could have been done to turn it from “good” to “great.”

(Speaking of potential, can we talk about the eldest daughter’s semblance leading her to whatever she needs the most? How the hell does that work? I mean, what kind of hierarchy of needs is her aura working from? One example is purely biological — you need to eat so here’s bread — while the other is far looser in regards to what “need” means — you need your family, not just to help keep these people safe, but in a more general way throughout the course of your life. Sometimes RWBY’s semblances spark my imagination like nobody’s business, but other times they just make me sigh and wish for the days when Remnant’s magic was solely of the “I can move really fast” variety. From hereditary inheritance to passivity, concepts of luck to skills that technically don’t exist in the canon, semblances have become incredibly imprecise over the years, made worse by the show simultaneously leaning hard into technical explanations for Ruby. I think we can chuck the eldest daughter’s ability into that growing mix.)

Another example of those these edges is right in the next line. The father says, “My semblance tells me when grimm are near. I have a duty to protect them.” What’s the technical term for this? Some sort of inconsistent noun-pronoun agreement? The way his dialogue is constructed, it sounds like the father is saying it’s his duty to protect grimm, given that they’re the last subject referenced. Obviously we know through context that he means the villagers, but he should be saying that too: “My semblance tells me when grimm are near. I have a duty to protect the village.” It’s one of the many errors that makes me wonder how many people read RWBY’s scripts prior to finalizing them. Specifically, how many people other than the scripts’ writers because most people can’t easily catch their own mistakes. That’s why we have editors.

To shine some positivity on this recap, I do really like the design of the house — very cozy — as well as the characters themselves. Like with Poppy and Oak, I think this imagining of the Hunter’s family strikes a good balance between individuality and genetic similarity. In recent years certain studios (cough-Disney-cough) have come under fire for sameness in character design: same big eyes, same button nose, same flawless skin. Whatever else we might say about RT’s shorts, the characters are visually unique. I particularly like the youngest daughter’s design of big hair, big glasses, and a big attitude attached to such a tiny frame.

As the family all explains their abilities for the audience’s benefit, the eldest son steals the younger’s loaf of bread and everyone laughs at the little display he gives by turning invisible. The father then gives his own bread to replace what was stolen as he leaves, chiding them for their behavior. Remember that everything in a story this short should serve some purpose. It’s not like we’re looking to fill the time with generalized characterization, after all. So concluding the scene this way implies that this family, alongside overcoming their inability to work together, will specifically need to learn to appreciate the youngest of the group... though that doesn’t happen. If anything, the younger brother provides the most self-critical apology at the end, reinforcing this initial belief that, yeah, he’s the weakest link. Or at least he was.

Once again, I’m admittedly reading a lot into very short, very simplistic storytelling, but what is up with RWBY ragging on children? Oscar has to apologize to the group for being punched and slammed into a wall. Whitley has to prove himself after surviving his father’s abuse and getting Weiss’ weapon shoved in his face. This kid has to listen to his family deride the fact that he can hide from grimm — which is a damn useful skill! — claiming that they’ll do all the work for him, only to apologize at the fireside for being too selfish. The kid looks legitimately hurt here.

So if that’s not something the story wants to grapple with, why include it? Just have him roll his eyes and toss a bit of food at his brother’s head, framing this as a common bit of teasing that he’s secretly fond of. You don’t have to make the children of the group emotional (or physical) punching bags especially when, for the hundredth time this recap, that’s not in the book.

Anyway, one day the father goes deeper into the swamp to try and figure out why there’s been more grimm attacks lately and doesn’t return when expected. One of the shadow people show up to deliver the sad news of his passing and wHAT KIND OF UNCANNY VALLEY SHIT IS THIS.

Okay, screenshots do not do this justice because yeah, it’s just a shadow dude. We know ‘em, some of us love ‘em, it’s a RWBY staple to just imply the basics of a person when they’re a background character. Or at least it was at the show’s start. I have no problem with these shorts foregoing individual designs for the background people — I’d have rather gotten cool swamp grimm — but why oh why wouldn’t you give him a mouth? He has eyes! Eyebrows! Ears! Hair! A nose! Even goddamn creases in his neck and face! Yet he’s missing the piece of his body that he’s using to communicate with this family. It really was a, “Oh hell no” reaction for me, watching this shadow creature start chatting without any mouth to do it with. Legitimately that’s more creepy than the dead people in “The Grimm Child.” Why, with all that other detail, is he missing a mouth? Because then they’d have to animate him speaking? They’ve already got these characters teleporting around the screen, just give him a circle that makes a few random movements and we’re good to go. This man has a single line. Just slap on something vaguely mouth-shaped and give it one motion. Two if we’re feeling indulgent. Or, again, have Ozpin narrate the bad news while this guy just stands sadly in the doorway, eliminating the need for a separate voice actor at all. There are many options here that don’t involve me stopping the video to ask my dog in a broken voice, “Why have they done this?”

For the record, she loves watching anything that moves on my computer, so she was a big fan of the episode. Good girls watch RWBY with me.

At this point in the story I’m going, “Ah yes. The father tried to tackle the grimm on his own and that’s why he failed. The children will realize this and come to the conclusion that they must work as a team” and I was very pleased to get that exact moral at the end. It admittedly feels like a low bar, but after so much of RWBY’s pitfalls and last week’s ending missing a crucial bit of context, it’s a breath of fresh air to get a story that follows through on what it’s set up.

The kids grieve for a bit and then start a big argument about how best to move forward. The eldest sister wants to defend the village, the oldest son wants to go help others, the youngest sister wants to study grimm, and the youngest son wants to seek his own adventure. This devolves into a shouting match that Ozpin says is a common occurrence, which is a weird choice considering the book says the exact opposite: “The hunter’s children loved one another too much to argue” (33).

Regardless, they make the same decision to go their separate ways. Here’s where we get that shot of the oldest son out on his own.

I saved it because he’s traveling and finding other villages decimated by grimm, but this doesn’t look anything like a grimm attack. Show some bodies, some leftover grimm scrounging around, maybe some burned down houses if a fire started. This just looks like someone was in the process of building a village, got distracted, left, and broke a few beams on their way out. One moment this short is making me go, “Oh, pretty background!” and the next I’m left scratching my head.

The oldest son continues to get the short end of the storytelling stick as he comes across another village under attack, but “not even his semblance was enough to overcome the grimm.” So I’m like, okay, he died?? In the book it’s explained that he has to link the whole village up with a rope so he can draw from their combined aura, giving him enough strength to overcome the grimm. That’s a very cool way to win the fight. Here, we cut immediately to the younger sister, leaving the brother’s fate up in the air until the very end. He’s even animated with a rope/grappling hook around his shoulders, but we never see him using it. Again, it’s weird. It’s also unclear whether the crowd of shadow people he’s show standing in front of when he reappears are the villagers he rescued, or the villagers his sister is currently leading to safety. Once again, RWBY’s various installments seem to contradict each other. Am I to believe that the brother saved that village because he does so in the book, or that he failed because last we hear in the adaptation, “not even his semblance was enough to overcome the grimm”? I’m working under the assumption that the adaptation meant to convey Myer’s ending, but as always, it doesn’t come across that way with the information we’re given.

So all the family is coming back together again. The youngest son gets lost in the woods and is attacked by grimm. He uses his semblance to hide from them visually, but can’t keep them from sensing his emotions (which is what distinguishes his semblance from Ren’s). Luckily, his younger sister is nearby and she calms him enough for the grimm to depart. Following them, they come upon their older sister leading the remaining villagers to safety, assisting in taking out the grimm that are too much for her to handle alone. Even the three of them aren’t enough though, which is when the eldest brother arrives and the four finally fight together.

It’s a nice sentiment and I like how relatively neatly their paths manage to cross. Oh, and the hug between the two youngest siblings is just adorable.

The only thing that kinda bugs me is that it’s just fighting here. I mean, the two older siblings were divided on whether to protect their own people or others. Now they’re doing both. The youngest son was unsure about whether helping people was the way to go at all, considering that both parents died in their attempts. Now he’s overcome that fear. Which just leaves us with the youngest sister. She believes that studying the grimm is what will assist them the most and yes, she realizes that observing from afar can only do so much, but the problem is that her observations don’t do anything. I was expecting a little moment when her research gave them an advantage, similar to Ruby shouting at Weiss to go for the boarbatusk’s vulnerable underbelly. Yet they just hack and slash their way through the problem, sending the message that they never needed her unique skills, just a fourth blade on the battlefield. Anyone would have done. I don’t think this mini missed opportunity would have stuck with me so much if not for the fact that RWBY, as a franchise, is now very anti-strategy for a combat show. I won’t rehash all my arguments here regarding stolen airships and foolish moments of unearned trust, but suffice to say, the show now makes the strong argument that brute force and a bullheaded attitude is all you need. “The Hunter’s Children” argues that you need teamwork to succeed, but only certain skills within that team are necessary. Namely, a boost to your physical strength and aura. Knowledge? Research? Strategy? Nah, they’re not key components of winning battles. Provided the younger sister has a pointy weapon, she’s good to go.

She even says during her apology, “I was wrong. The best way to learn about the grimm is by fighting them.” You weren��t wrong, you just weren’t completely right either. You need both. A huntsmen needs to know that a boarbatusk can be attacked from underneath, that some grimm are too old and intelligent to take on alone — or at all — and that the apathy will literally sap your will to fight them. What would Weiss have done without that knowledge? What would have become of Ruby if she’d followed her desire to “Let’s kill it”? Why was the group in so much danger down in those tunnels? Ignorance. You’ve got to know how to approach a grimm before you have a chance to beat it. I’m constantly astounded by RWBY’s recent approach towards both knowledge and the more peaceful solutions it might bring.

Anyway, the siblings all gather ‘round the camp fire to lay out their failings, some of which are — as established — a little more persuasive than others. We get the moral of how their father never should have tried to go it alone and, though not officially, this family becomes the first, four person huntsmen team. The great part is that in Ozpin’s book notes he says, “One wonders If the King of Vale had this story in mind when he established [the academies] after the Great War.” Did you know that in academia you have to cite yourself? If you’ve got research you’ve done that’s informing your current work, you’ve basically got to provide some manufactured distance and put in a (Clyde, 2021) like that’s not you and this isn’t a little weird. That’s the vibe I got from this line and it’s hilarious. The totally not King of Vale theorizing about what the King of Vale’s intentions might have been. Classic.

Now, if only we saw this four person setup in the webseries more often. Outside of Beacon, I mean. For all that I gripe about his novels at times, Myers does a lot of world building that, sadly, has never made its way into the story proper. The implications of this work, that fairy tales are an integral part of Remnant’s culture and have informed everything from regional beliefs to the structure of all the huntsmen academies, simply isn’t seen in the main RWBY tale.

As a final note, we get a concluding shot of the siblings with their associated color as a background.

Admittedly, I don’t know what color-related thing RYPB might spell. Then again, I never would have gotten “coffee” out of CFVY, so I’m sure we can get pretty flexible with this team name.

Thus endeth our second RWBY: Fairy Tales recap! I’ve managed to write nearly 4,000 words on a seven minute video.

... yup. Seems about right.

See you next week! 💜

#rwde #rwby #rwby: fairy tales #mymetas

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hamliet · 3 years

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RWBY and the Philosopher’s Stone

So, I finally watched RWBY after a friend name-dropped several characters and I was like wait... those names are alchemical. I was still pleasantly surprised to find out just how deeply rooted in alchemy the story is, from its characters to its plot structure.

Background: alchemical structure is a type of story structure that focuses on inner transformation via outward obstacles. You can find it in literary traditions across the world, from Moxiang Tongxiu’s novels to A Song of Ice and Fire to Harry Potter to The Witcher to Trollhunters. Carl Jung incorporated it into his psychology. Daoism plays heavily into Chinese alchemy. The Wizard of Oz, one of RWBY’s main inspirations, is a blatant alchemy allegory. It’s everywhere, so it’s not surprising RWBY is drawing heavily on alchemy, but it is neat to see how blatant the references are.

Thematically, the goal of alchemy is a metaphorical philosopher’s stone. The philosopher’s stone, in legend, is said to produce an elixir of eternal life, and to be able to transform “baser” metals into gold.

In stories, when positive, as it usually is, this usually results in a character either overcoming death (see, Harry Potter) and/or transforming the world and others around him (Harry Potter saving his friends, etc.) But the journey from how they get from prima materia (raw material) to the philosopher’s stone? Now that’s the story.

(When reversed, a metaphorical stone results in something that can destroy everything; see: the One Ring, also Salem, because Salem’s whole thing is that she cheapened the process of life and death, while alchemy states that death is a necessary part of achieving life.)

So, mostly I’m gonna talk about the symbolism I’ve seen so far and make some predictions for what’s likely to happen next in the story, and for the characters.

Each of the four main characters has a name that corresponds to one of the four phases of the Magnum Opus. “Blake Belladonna” refers to the nigredo, or black stage; “Weiss Schnee” to the albedo, or white stage; “Yang Xiao Long” to the citrinitas or yellow phase, and “Ruby Rose” to the final stage, rubedo, or red (Ruby’s name is quite literally taken from that stage). Naming them for these stages shows a dual purpose: while Ruby is the central character, she needs her team around her, and Team RWBY will save the world together. Team JNR is also a part of the stages, but I’ll get to what they represent later on.

Jung associated each of the major stages with a major archetype. The major stages can be further broken up into a total of seven or twelve or even fourteen stages. Most commonly you’ll see George Ripley’s Twelve Gates referenced, and I believe that’s what RWBY is referencing as well since its allusions are pretty perfect. The "gates” or stages also sometimes overlap, especially when different characters might be at different stages.

Nigredo: Seasons 1-3

Alchemy begins by gathering the prima materia, or raw material. The characters assembling in season 1 is more of the gathering than the actual transformative process. But once we hit season 2, we dive straight into the process.

Calcination occurs during the climax of season 2, during the fight on the train. Season 3 contains dissolution, or the washing of impurities through the exposure of certain secrets (like the fall maiden) as well as the literal dissolution of Beacon Academy, and separation (the end of the season, when Team RWBY is scattered).

Narratively, Jung associated nigredo with the shadow, with someone’s dark night of the soul, their low point. In historical artistic depictions, often part of nigredo is dismemberment... which happens to Yang when she saves Blake from Adam. See, Splendor Solis:

The goal of the shadow is that it should be integrated with, accepted, rather than denied. Facing the shadow is a necessary part of growth and ultimate transformation... and the point is, through facing the shadow, hope and light come.

Peacock’s Tail: Seasons 4-5

Okay, I lied, there are sometimes five phases in alchemy. At the very end of nigredo, just before albedo, there is sometimes a flash of light, of rainbows and colors, that give hope. It’s not quite a phase, more of a moment, but it’s referred to as the peacock’s tail. While this is less plot-related, it does make sense that this is the point in the story where Team RJNR is formed. Why? Because look at their colors:

Ruby: red, black

Jaune: yellow, blue

Ren: green, purple

Nora: white, pink, orange

Between them we’ve pretty much got the full rainbow.

We also have, in Blake’s arc, the introduction of Ilia Amitola, whose last name is the Souix word for “rainbow.”

Albedo: Seasons 5-7

Albedo is associated with the anima or animus, or the part of ourselves that we are lacking (it’s generally gendered as the male within a female and the female within a male, but please understand he’s not talking literally and more in terms of traditional qualities ascribed as feminine or masculine that we may repress), which more than fits the fact that this stage begins while team RJNR is literally wandering around a continent called Anima.

Conjunction is a term in which all the separated parts that can be salvaged from the Nigredo come together. Obviously the main incident for this is the fight at the end of volume 5, but I’d argue it overlaps a bit with volume 4 and even with separation.

The characters are only able to come together again once they’ve accepted aspects of their shadows. Yang deals with hers in Raven and Blake with the White Fang. Nora and Ren’s fight at their home village represents them dealing with their shadow as well, and also relates to conjunction because conjunction is the stage where the first chemical wedding comes into play. A chemical wedding is the joining of alchemical partners, and while I’ll probably discuss ships in another post (there’s a lot of set up alchemy-wise), I’ll just reference the obvious one here:

The fountain image and a person shooting arrows is some pretty uncannily similar imagery to the fight at Nora and Ren’s home village.

Next up in albedo is putrefication (focus on death and rotting). We see this with the encounter with the Apathy, who look like skeletons, cause death, etc. We’re also introduced to Maria Calaveras, aka the Grimm Reaper. (Her last name also means “skull” aka the white results of putrefication).

Congelation requires a lot of water, and we see this in the focus on Atlas, wherein snow (water) is everywhere. The point of congelation is to separate the thin from the thick, the latter of which will of course become the Philosopher’s Stone. We see this through Team RWBY’s break with the Ace-Ops (aka the Aesops), whose simplistic morality and rule-following are not going to bring about character growth or eternal life.

Citrinitas: Volume 7-?

Citrinitas focuses on the light, or fire. That immediately after congelation, a giant whale brimming with yellow appears in the white-colored Atlas is not a coincidence. Citrinitas is associated with the sage or the wise old man/woman, so Maria and Pietro fill this role.

The first stage of citrinitas is cibation, which involves feeding with fresh material. I’d actually say that it seems quite possible cibation overlaps with congelation, in that there is a focus on food and on training with the Ace-Ops early in Volume 7. The next phases are sublimation and fermentation. I can see potential for sublimation in that it essentially is when solid becomes air (think of the setting of Atlas), but it’s too soon to say what this means for the plot.

Fermentation, though... well, things will get worse before they get better. :’)

Rubedo:

Finally, Rubedo is associated with the fully individualized self. We can assume each of the main seven will come into their own, confident of whom they are. Oscar should, as well, and probably will have fully control over his body by the end (ie Oz will likely... find rest or whatever).

The stages of rubedo are exaltation (the creation of the stone after two contraries meet), multiplication (the stones’ properties increase), and projection (the stone’s abilities are projected over the entire world, aka presumably RWBY will save the world).

The most common way to display multiplication is through, well, a lot of couplings. It’s why the main characters ending single seems extremely unlikely to me. Even if it seems a fairy tale ending, well.... *gestures to everything about RWBY being inspired by fairy tales* Fairy tales were also often alchemy based. But ships will get their own meta, because I actually don’t really ship much besides Renora and am for once not super invested in anything, but I can see the set-up for four or five ships.

I also want to highlight the other symbolic names that stood out to me:

Ironwood. While I know Ironwood references the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz (tin being one of seven metals associated with alchemy), his name also references a second metal: Iron. Tin and Iron are the two of the three basest metals in alchemy (the other is lead). Iron in particular is ruled by Mars, the god of war, meaning it is associated with violence. It’s not a coincidence that pretty much from the second Ironwood is introduced, the concept of war comes up, and his entire character has gone on to be the embodiment of the military and violence.

Tai Xiao Long. His name literally means “sun,” and Ruby’s mother is defined by her silver eyes (silver being a color traditionally associated with the moon). Ruby is thus considered the child of the Solar King and Lunar Queen, two mythical alchemical figures who together create the “Philosophical Child,” or the personified philosopher’s stone.

Pietro Polendina: his name literally means “stone,” and Penny is his philosopher’s stone. Penny is arguably a reference to copper, another of the seven metals, as copper references compassion and love, which seems like Penny to me.

Qrow and Raven Branwen: crows and ravens are symbolic of nigredo, or the black phase; death, decay, etc. However, within the story I think Qrow and Raven fulfill this role as the Jungian shadows of hunters as a whole and of Yang.

Sun Wukong: obviously a reference to the sun.

Emerald Sustrai: Emerald is a reference to the Emerald Tablet, which in alchemical lore is a tablet containing the secrets of alchemy, as written down by Hermes (in legend). Hermes is, of course, Mercury. Everything about alchemy stems from the Emerald Tablet, so Emerald should be important. In addition, green is the color of the prima materia, so it references Emerald’s arc in being shaped and molded by Cinder.

Mercury Black: Mercury as the mythological god is the legendary founder of alchemy, so like, he’s important. Mercury is also the third most important metal in alchemy, after gold and silver. It is necessary to achieving the philosopher’s stone so, like Emerald, Mercury is probably important. Mercury is of particular note because mercurial characters are common in alchemical literature: they make stuff happen. Think of Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, for example. Mercury transcends death symbolically (you can see the roots of this in Mercury’s backstory with his assassin father): it is difficult to pin down and can quickly shift from liquid to solid. Thus, in alchemy, mercury can shift between life and death.

Mercury is also a noted servant of the white queen. I initially thought this a surface reference to Salem’s appearance, and it might be, but Salem is more associated with a black queen in the recurring chess motif, and I don’t see Mercury staying on her side (mercury isn’t fixed, after all; that’s its central tenet), so I kind of wonder if the “white queen” will be later revealed. Or maybe it just is a surface mention.

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thoughts-on-bangtan · 3 years

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being honest i dont get jm using a award to say he misses tannie... we don’t know 90% of their lives but they are very close to the point of still sleeping together sometimes. and going deep if they were really a couple jm woudnt miss taes dog right? and even as friends he could visit it. unless its because of their schedule right... this kind of comment sometimes confuses me and haters will use it as “they arent close” lol. i just wanted to know your pov.

Judging by Admin 2's reaction, as well as some others in our asks, I have a feeling I was the only one with a more realistic expectation, or lack of expectations, as I waited for the BTS profiles to be posted. Based on last year's, I knew expecting something grand out of Tae, and especially Jimin, would just be me setting myself up for failure, which is what I think happened here.

But, let's discuss it.

I spent a solid couple of hours making an excel table last night that contains everything every member said about every member (sourcing 3 translators for maximum insight) to see if really what Jimin chose for Tae is so "bad" that suddenly people are sending us asks like this one, and another one I'll add later down the line. And the conclusion I've come to is that...what he gave to Tae, as well as Hobi and Seokjin, as awards are the only ones that have any actual emotional/personal connection to them.

With Namjoon and JK Jimin basically states the obvious--Namjoon is tall and JK has gained muscle mass, meaning nothing new or with a proper emotional connection was stated; to Yoongi he made the same request many other members have made, so a work connection, nothing inherently personal.

Now, compared to that--Seokjin teases him/them, which isn't new info, so Jimin asked him to stop or do it less, a valid request which I'm sure he also voiced to Seokjin outside of this FESTA profile and also shows a degree of personal connection; Hobi gets requested to not walk away after asking Jimin a question, which again shows a personal connection and that it's a reoccurring thing; and lastly Tae with Tannie.

Something I've noticed is that some ARMY, who are used to our western celebrities and draw conclusions about idols based on those parameters, forget that BTS are busy, like whatever you consider busy, take that and multiply it by ten. During his vlive with Hobi and Yoongi back in April, Tae said that they are much busier and their lives far more hectic than any of us realize. Taking that into account, and the fact that one of the members (I think it might have been Seokjin) mentioned they work at least ten hours a day for 360 days a year with practice, MV and CF filming, photoshoots, interviews, recording and working on music, meetings, and many other things we have no idea about, do you really think Yeontan lives with Tae full time? A dog needs to get walked and fed but if Tae is out of the house every day for at least ten hours, what would happen to Tannie? He'd just sit around at home alone all day which just isn't fair, so I'm sure Tannie lives with Tae's parents much the same way Micky lives with Hobi's parents and/or his sister, JKs dog lives with his family, Holly lives with Yoongi’s brother, Moni with Namjoon's, and years ago Seokjin had to give his sugar gliders to his parents because he was too busy to take care of them.

Based on that of that, I'm not sure how often Tae get's to see Tannie. Probably not all that often, to be honest. So, if Tannie's owner doesn't get to see him often, I'd assume Jimin gets to see him even less (if we work on the assumption that Tannie lives with Tae's parents and thus Tae could only really see him when visiting them or when they visit him, that means Jimin wouldn't be able to see Tannie just like that either, since that would be like intruding on family time, right?). And we know Jimin loves Tannie, so him using that award to say he misses him and is asking about him shows care and an emotional connection to Tannie. Do I think Jimin also asks Tae privately about Tannie? Absolutely. And still, while Jimin didn't give Tae the, I don't know, "hot body Award" like Yoongi did with Namjoon or the "person I love most in the world award" (which we should know by now would never happen, and if you expected something of that intensity level, than I'm sorry but you've set yourself up for disappointment from the start), he still drew a personal and emotional connection between himself and Tae, as well as the pet Tae loves dearly.

More below the cut:

Jimin could’ve asked about the other pets of the members, but he didn’t, he only ever really talked about Tannie, and here he does it again, so doesn’t that show that he has a bond with him, a closer one than the other members since they don’t/didn’t ask about him (except for Hobi that one time on weverse)?

Speaking of Hobi, am I the only one who finds it interesting and cute that he only drew little hearts for Jimin and Tae when writing down their awards?

Also, we have to remember that these profiles are for us, fan content (remember when Jimin asked Tae last year to post more pictures of Tannie on weverse because ARMY miss seeing him, so what if this is drawing a connection/parallel to that?), and not meant as the members “confessing” something to each other that they otherwise wouldn’t or don’t have the chance to do so. It’s not meant to be all that serious and instead just be fun and nice for us to read, show us a bit of their dynamic and that’s it, no world shattering revelations to be found, from any of them. Or do you really think Yoongi doesn’t like Jimin just because he told Jimin he’s trying too hard to be funny? It’s just part of their dynamic. Or that none of the members have anything else to say to JK besides commenting on his body/appearance? As for vmin, I’d like to remind us of this moment from their Friends subunit interview for FESTA 2020:

Whatever Jimin and Tae want to say to each other, they don’t need FESTA to do it, or us to be there as witnesses. Like Tae didn’t already say enough by telling us that 95z is love. Or Jimin by writing Friends.

From anon: because of you I came back da Namjin. I am a senior army and 2 years ago I left Namjin because I thought they broke up. You made me three Vmin but after what JK wrote about Jimin and after Jm himself about his chances I think that vmin are not together or Jimin withdrew. I think Jk would not dare to write about Jm that he has cute fingers etc if vmin were a relationship. it goes too far and confuses Jk too much. I don't want to say that J / k*ok is real because it certainly isn't !!!!

Now this is where I just sit and sigh heavily because it’s exactly what I expected and I will admit it irks me to no end. Let’s establish a little timeline:

Based on the FESTA Mission! BTS 4 Cuts Teaser that was posted earlier we can deduce that at least part of FESTA was already being prepared back in the first half of March, since on March 12th Jimin, Namjoon and Seokjin had their salad making vlive. Let’s suppose that everything FESTA related was prepared and written out by the members around that time as well. Sometime later BTS filmed YOU QUIZ followed by LET’S BTS and BTSxGame Caterers and everything else we’ve seen after that.

Or going a little further back to sometime in November 2020 while they were preparing for MMA 2020 and the Black Swan performance. We got the practice video today and if you pay attention to Jimin and Tae even there you notice that while Tae is waiting for his turn in the choreography, Jimin runs past him after his part is done (0:55) and they pat each other or do a “high five” or something along those lines as a way to cheer each other on. A very “we’re broken up” or “I will break up with him soon” thing to do, right? Or in min-January when Tae posted seven pictures out of which three were of just Jimin after an ARMY on weverse asked if anyone had any nice pictures they could use as wallpaper for their phone. Between all that I’m having a hard time honestly finding any moment where either of them seemed sad or “cold” toward the other the way you would be and feel if the person you love pulled away from you or broke up with you.

If you are still unconvinced and still think that is what Jimin tried to communicate to us, would Tae really have gone on national TV and said he likes Jimin the most? And would Jimin have agreed that he likes him a lot as well? Or looking at the making video of their Kloud Beer CF that was posted today as well, would Jimin really be looking and interacting with Tae this way if he decided to end things between them?

Also, going back a little, your mention of Jimin reflecting upon opportunities/chances now that it’s a new year. My question is based on what you made the judgment that this comment has to be about vmin and not about something entirely different in Jimin’s life, or maybe something connected to BTS as a whole? Just because of him asking Tae about Tannie? Jimin, as well as Tae and the other members, have entire lives outside of just their bonds with each other, entire careers, passion projects, families, friend groups, and that little bit of time they have to themselves, so immediately thinking Jimin’s comment must be related to his relationship/bond with Tae basically makes it seem like Jimin’s life is a romcom or a TV show in which the only thing that matters is if the main character will date or remain in a relationship with character B or not, but life isn’t like that.

Personally it reminded me of something Tae said during their Bring the Soul documentary about how BTS had the opportunities to go higher faster but they decided against them. Perhaps Jimin’s comment was about something like this as well, especially since we know Jimin is a very private person and very selective of the personal things he shares with us and the ones he doesn’t.

For the FESTA profile JK decided to give Jimin the “Cute Award” with the explanation that his “Face, height, fingers are cute” which, honestly, is just saying something that a) is true and b) has been said in millions of ways by every member across the last couple of years. I don’t see what the issue here is? During one of the episodes of BTSxGame Caterers Seokjin said that Jimin is very cute and that he has a small, beautiful face, so really he even added the word beautiful in there, which JK did not, so what really is the issue here? The fact its JK, right, that’s where the issue lies, to which I ask why? On this blog we’ve already established that there is (in our opinion and based on everything we’ve seen and heard) no romantic connection between JK and Jimin (nor Tae), not now and not in the past either, so why is him saying that Jimin is cute (which he is known for even by people outside of ARMY, or like James Cordon calling him his cute baby mochi) is an issue but Seokjin or any other member is not? Either we use the same measurements for everyone or we don’t compare or make such assumptions about any of them.

What I find curious, because this does make it seem like you, anon, are someone influenced by J*k*ok shippers and their opinions, see an issue in JK saying that about Jimin, and how that’s “proof” that Jimin and Tae can’t possibly be together, and yet you took no issue to Namjoon basically saying he wants to give Tae an award because he is so handsome he is above every list or Yoongi comparing him to Michelangelo's David, both of these being much more superlative and grand complements/awards than JK saying Jimin’s face, height and fingers are cute.

It’s funny how things that Jimin and Tae have said about and to each other that make their bond very clear (I want to live with my lovely Taehyungie forever or here is my love for you while handing Tae a bunch of red heart balloons or 95z is love, a statement I’m sure he wouldn’t post if that sentiment weren’t mutual) are all questioned or ignored, but something as basically trivial as a comment about Jimin being cute is turned into a major issue. The mental gymnastics is fascinating.

Lastly, going back to the first anon and their mention of how haters will use Jimin’s Award for Tae as “proof” that they “aren’t close anymore”--why do we care? Like Namjoon said in the Mic Drop lyrics Haters gon’ hate. They will say a lot of things about a lot of things and even make things up if they feel like it to push their agenda, so really, regardless of what Jimin would’ve said, or not said, they would’ve found a way to twist it and make it fit their narrative. Besides, what haters think has no actual effect or bearing on what Tae and Jimin have with each other, and neither does what other shippers claim. Haters and other shippers don’t control the narrative, BTS do, and everything Jimin and Tae have shown us in 2021, as well as the last eight years, shows me that their bond has only ever grown stronger and closer and more beautiful and awe inspiring, even while haters claimed they stopped being friends years ago, so why should you or I care what they think?

Like Yoongi once said in one of his vlives about how haters can write all they want, he won’t read it while they will get sued.

#Taehyung #Jimin #vmin #FESTA 2021 #BTS FESTA 2021 #answered ask #answered ask by admin 1

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