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dailyadventureprompts · 4 months

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Homebrew Mechanic: Battles of Attrition

I think we can all agree that there’s something a little wonky with how d&d’s combat system changes between the early and mid/late game. Heroes go from being rightfully cautious about danger to being outright banal about it, confident that their accumulated power will be enough to dispatch all but the most outstanding foes. The traditional solution is to put them up against stronger enemies but in my experience these mismatched encounters are a failing proposition: combat just gets more swingy and there’s only so many high level threats I can throw at them in a short period of time before it begins to strain credulity.

While a lot of folks (Especially the OSR crowd) have taken the stance that 5e is broken because of how much it empowers players, I think the real fault lays with the lack of systems that exist to provide challenge outside of anything related to the damage based tug-of-war that is combat. I think a lot of those systems were part of the non existent “exploration” pillar of the game before Hasbro realized they could make easy money selling the game in its unfinished state and gutted it along with the development team.

Thankfully, I and other homebrewers are around to do what the megacorporations cant, namely have some original thoughts and try and figure out a way to add challenge back to the game without resenting those playing it for having fun.

TLDR: Trying to make our games challenging by upping damage numbers in combat is a losing proposition, in no small part because that part of the game is DESIGNED around the heroes winning. Instead, we up the overall difficulty by making them temporarily weaker with systems like sickness, stress, exhaustion, & item degradation. All of which I have details and guidelines on below the cut.

First and foremost let me state some of my goals for these “attrition systems”, so we can all be on the same page. Whenever I make homebrew rules I try for something that’s going to require little to no paperwork on behalf of the players and can be seamlessly implemented into my DMing style. It’s not about realism, it’s not about punishing players, this is a way for me to add mechanical depth without bogging down the machine entirely.

Attrition should be largely non-permanent. The 5e audience invests a lot in their characters both emotionally and mechanically, so it won’t do to pile on debilitating debuff after debuff to the point of making a character useless.

There should be an inverse relationship between the severity of the affliction and how long it lasts. Think in term of encounters, days, or weeks, (with the understanding that an attrition that goes on for long enough becomes a questhook in itself)

The exception to this rule is if someone hits 0 hitpoints. I’m outspoken in my stance that characters should only die when it’s alternatively appropriate, but the dm is at liberty to inflict thematically devastating setbacks in the unlikely event that the party DOES suffer losses in the damage tug of war.

We want to be sparing with how much attrition we throw at the party at once, so as to not create a “death spiral” where failures compound upon one another and make getting through the adventure impossible.

In most cases suffering Attrition should be something the party is able to avoid by being fast/lucky/cautious/clever or whatever else the encounter requires. It’s there to add weight and consequence to their actions, and as a factor for DMs to build scenarios around.

Exhaustion: Unlike a lot of the other changes made in Oned&d, I actually quite like the overhaul of “each point of exhaustion is a cumulative -1 to all d20 rolls and spell dc, beyond 10 is death” as it allows us to play with exhaustion far more readily as an attrition.

Every night you don’t rest in a haven (a safe comfortable place) you need to make a con save or take a point of exhaustion, with the ruggedness of the environment determining the DC. Characters with the survival skill or natural explorer feat don’t have to make this roll. Only rest in a haven removes exhaustion at the rate of one point per night (though spaces like a luxury inn or a peaceful glade watched over by friendly fey may restore more)

Hitting 0 hp and then being healed gives you a point of exhaustion. Nothing’s going to tire you out like getting magically defibulated so now everyone can stop complaining about healing word spam.

Poison: For our purposes, the “poisoned” condition as written is too severe. Disadvantage on all attacks and ability checks is downright punishing for anything other than a single battle. Instead we’re going to make it work like charmed, where there’s a baseline effect for the purposes of resistance, but the status of each poison is dependant on the source.

Poison falls in the “ short term big effect” side of attrition, specifically undermining a player’s ability to do most things since most effects end on a successful save or at the end of an encounter. Long lasting poisons should have more minor effects than the default poisoned condition, only applying to a few types of rolls or having a bane-like effect that makes judging the odds just a little bit more difficult.

This makes poison great to use for dungeons and short-ranging exploration where the party is likely to face multiple encounters in one day.

Diseases: 4e aced the design of these maladies by treating them as a contained skill challenge with their own CR with various stages: stage 0: you were cured, stage 1: you suffered the initial effect, stage 2 or 3: you suffered a severe effect, with the final stage (3-4) being some effect that made the disease permanent. When you got a disease it was usually stage 1, and you (usually) saved for it at the start of each day. Beating the DC by 5 or more meant you went down a stage (closer to 0), where as simply succeeding meant it stayed as bad as it was. Failing meant you got sicker, meaning a character could bounce up and down in wellness as an adventure went on.

Diseases are best for longterm adventures, and often undermine one particular aspect of a character ( healing, actions assosiated with a particular stat). Counterpoint to poisons, diseases should start out fairly gentle and then get worse the longer they’re left alone, leading to eventually devastating effects.

Curses: While borrowing the mechanics of diseases, I’d have curses be specifically weirder in their effects. The sort of thing that can make up the central hook or b-plot of a whole adventure. This should also mean that curses are the hardest for the party to stumble into, but also the hardest to shake.

Item Degradation: Detailed in a previous post HERE, the long and short of it is that item degradation is a form of player driven attrition that gently curbs their overall power level. If they go too hard, use their best items recklessly, get involved in needless fights, then they’re going to be in worse shape by the time they reach the final challenge. This was supposed be the idea behind HP/limited class abilities per day, but attrition systems cover that better IMO.

Stress: The psychological counterpoint to exhaustion, I’ve already talked about Stress HERE. I tend to only use stress in horror themed adventures and campaigns, as it builds upon 5e’s optional “madness” system which fits the theme when gothic terrors and eldritch abominations but less so with the game’s usual heroic fare.

Hunger & Supply: I made a super lightweight system based off this idea of “depletion die” for potions and other consumables, check it out, it’s lightweight and fantastic. Using this kind of system gives us another avenue to challenge our party, lengthening or shortening their lifeline as they lose supplies and seek out new caches.

Thinking environmentally: Part of the fantasy of being an adventurer is travelling to dangerous places and living to tell the tale. We’re denying our party that fantasy if we don’t follow through on the threat the idea of these places imply. You should risk sickness if you go into a swamp, sewer, or jungle, thirst should be a factor in desert exploration, just like freezing is for mountain and winter expeditions. That’s to say nothing of magical hazards; cursed landscapes that drain your will to live dead marshes style, alchemical smog in a steampunk industrial zone, fading into nothingness as you approach the edge of existence.

Figure out the natural hazards, make your party aware of the danger, and then build your adventure around the fact that they’ll need to save against the hazard each time they take a long rest.. Do they take a detour if it means having a safe place to camp? Is there a resource they need to manage along the way? Could encounters expose them to further dangers or make their current exposure worse? Keeping these ideas in mind especially when you’re planning a wilderness exploration adventure should give you lots of ideas to fill up those encounter tables.

Adding insult to injury: Giving enemies the ability to inflict attrition in various forms makes otherwise trivial enemies a credible threat even to a seasoned adventuring party. As an example, A party might breeze through a fight with some monstrous spiders ( or even ONE regular sized spider, if you can imagine) , but that spider encounter doesn’t need to be the most dangerous thing ever if their next encounter is a navigation challenge fording a river and a few of the heroes are still groggy thanks to the slow acting poison in their systems.

In this way you can use attrition based battles to soften your party up for greater challenges, long after their HP totals and healing ability have outpaced the damage a single trap/encounter can do.

Artist

#homebrew mechanic #d&d mechanics #attrition #combat

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rggie · 2 years

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twst boys as babysitters

characters: leona kingscholar, malleus draconia, vil schoenheit

summary: cheka comes to visit leona! instead of being a responsible adult, leona throws the burden onto you … and the poor unfortunate soul that happened to be with you at the time. tldr; twst boys as babysitters

cw: established relationship, gn!reader, crack & fluff, sfw. not proof read. wc: 1.5k+

leona kingscholar

“oi, herbivore. got you something.” leona calls, dragging his feet into your room, hands hidden behind his back. “early birthday present. keep this one forever.”

oh dear

now you’re no stranger to receiving gifts from your boyfriend (though he won’t admit that he likes to spoil you) but something about his tone makes you worry.

surprise!!!! he raises cheka above his head, who squeals with delight at the motion, making grabby hands when he sees you. you’re his favourite person after his uncle leona, after all!

cue a moment of silence … you’re staring at leona, he’s staring at you … and cheka … is still raised in the air.

“leona, stop dumping things on me all the time.”

“but he likes you. take care of him for me.” which actually means ‘he’s disturbing my sleep and i need to get him off my back.’

you refuse, obviously, and propose that the pair of you babysit together. you’re meeting him halfway.

leona agrees too quickly. perhaps he wants to spend time with you—and okay, maybe he missed cheka too. the little brat.

there is something so endearing about the way leona interacts with his nephew

leona, who has an abundance of smarts and strength, is nothing more but a flickering candlelight when put against the blazing fire that is cheka kingscholar.

his power knows no bounds.

if you’re stuck with these two, expect a lot of play-fights

leona complains and verbalises very often how annoying it is, yet never bothers to physically remove cheka off him. he simply takes the hits, feigning pain afterwards.

“that really hurt. i’m tired now.” leona, be for real. just admit you’re a softie

but beware. if he’s in the mood, he might fight back. and leona shows NO mercy.

it doesn’t matter that cheka is a child! he’s preparing him for the REAL world

oh boy, here come the crocodile tears

when cheka is tired out, it’s time for leona’s favourite time of the day.

no, not lunch time, nap time!!!!

you know the saying two’s company, three’s a crowd? you’re spooning on a bed that’s definitely not made for three.

leona’s arms are strung loosely around your waist, his head in the nook of your neck

cheka is curled up in a little ball against your chest

it’s kind-of a squeeze, but it’s also comforting, their soft snores filling the otherwise quiet room

until cheka wakes up again, and this time he has his eyes on another opponent.

you.

malleus draconia

you’re trying to introduce malleus to your favourite shows, and he’s slowly getting into them as well

in fact, maybe he’s teleported outside your door in order to find out what happens in the next episode of the said show, and not because he wants to be with you.

he rings the door once, then twice, then thrice, but you don’t show up

he knows you’re a busy person, so he tries his hardest to be patient. either way, he’s certain he’d wait eons for you if that’s what you asked him to do.

when you turn up with leona’s nephew in his hands, he …

well, he doesn’t do anything at all, actually

he doesn’t even ask about it. you guys just carry on and sit in ramshackle as if everything is normal.

like hello???? are we going to address the furball other than grim in the room or not?

cheka: *scratching malleus’ horns like they’re ears*

malleus: ???? This Is Fine.

the truth is he’s scared

he’s malleus draconia, a fae feared by all—rendered immobile by a child attempting to swing from his horns.

you’re shocked he’s just letting it happen… he’s just sitting staring at the tv screen as if nothing is bothering him, but his whole body is visibly tense.

cheka is a talkative kid, and malleus is fascinating to him, so he just has so many questions! “why are you so tall?” “are you really a fairy?” “why don’t you look like the ones in storybooks?” “are your horns even real?”

“i don’t know. why don’t you check for me?” it’s an invitation for cheka to go wild, to do as he pleases

except malleus is NOT smiling, so it goes unnoticed

cheka is like :3 and malleus is like : |

malleus doesn’t want to scare the cub away, he wants to chat with him! he wants to play!!!

but he lacks the verbal skills to communicate properly

he thinks back to silver as a young boy and finds a way to keep cheka entertained

“little lion, would you like to spar?”

malleus, no!!!!???

silver may have been training at a young age, but this is different. he was not raised by two fae.

despite your desperate pleas, cheka agrees.

malleus is grinning, a rare sight—its giddy and goofy and so youthful, you don’t have the heart to stop them

they sit crossed-legged on your bed with spoons for swords, violently clashing against each other

malleus is REALLY serious about it, though. he’s smiling, but he’s also teaching cheka at the same time

“good one.” “this is your opponents’ blind spot.” “you should try this on your uncle leona.”

oh.

you’re starting to think he’s doing this purposely.

but this is the most fun you’ve seen him have in a while, so you suppose leona will just have to pay the price of leaving cheka in your care.

vil schoenheit

why on earth is leona’s nephew sitting in pomefiore’s lounge, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed?

he has half the mind to curse out leona next time he sees the beastman, but then you appear behind him.

his frown and his thoughts falter a little. (his lips subconsciously pull upwards into a smile whenever he’s around you. it really is a bother that he cannot control his emotions better, considering he’s an actor.)

“did you bring him here?” he points at cheka, tone accusatory, but lacking any real bite.

all he wanted was to spend time with you. now he’s plagued by some child who didn’t even know the basic instruction ‘sit.’

upon closer inspection, he shrieks and moves backwards from cheka quickly.

“prefect, where are his shoes??”

“…”

you’re joking, right? please tell him you’re joking.

“so you’ve been having him walk around OUTSIDE barefoot?”

“he’s just … one with nature!” you laugh lightly to quell his anger.

he is not laughing. not this time.

Mother Nature may be smiling down on Cheka, but Vil Schoenheit is not.

his feet. his feet.

those feet have been walking all over the school, who-knows-where, and now they were padding across his previously immaculate carpet. holy seven, he thinks he sees the shape of a foot-print staining the floor already.

that’s it. it’s bath time, he declares, demanding you to swoop the child into your arms and follow him as fast as you can to the en-suite bathroom in his dorm room.

it’s already a battle alone trying to get cheka into the bathtub. cheka hates water, mewing, thrashing his body about and scrunching his nose like a bratty kitten.

but fear not. you’re lucky your boyfriend vil is an esteemed warrior in the sense that he has had plenty experience getting messy kids to behave (*cough*, epel)

get your tickets for Queen vs. Future King Of Sunset Savanna NOW!!! they’re going at it like it’s wordstar

once he’s in the bathtub, things are a lot more calm.

vil is … surprisingly sweet? his voice is gentle and soothing as he works away humming to a tune you’re unfamiliar with, assuring you that you can sit back and relax.

you’ve never seen him interact with children before, but you realise he acts as he does with everything else he cares about—practical and meticulous—although he can be harsh at times, he has good intent.

perhaps it’s the atmosphere of being around someone so young rubbing off on him, but he’s a tad playful, styling cheka’s hair in funny ways with shampoo. at one point cheka’s hair stands so tall above his head, it may rival malleus’ height. just kidding, but you get the point.

afterwards, he lets cheka use his favourite scented creams, as a reward for being good. the plethora of items displayed on his vanity was more than enough to make anybody with a penchant for self-care jealous.

cheka is overjoyed, his sense of smell heightened compared to you and vil, who were only human. the different scents around him are stimulating; he’s content having vil place pea-sized pumps of cream in the palms of his hand.

“smell.” vil orders. he waits for an opinion: “smells fruity, like oranges!” which is about as much descriptive lingo a five year-old can muster up before repeating the process all over again.

you had to stop cheka from trying to eat vil’s products several times

“yes, it smells like summer fruits with a dash of honey drizzled over and a side of fat-free greek yogurt, but it doesn’t taste like it!”

to anyone else it may have seemed quite strange, but to them, it was exciting.

at the end of the day, vil may not have edible treats to give to cheka, or the will to play-fight, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care.

#twst imagines #twst headcanons #twisted wonderland #twst #vil schoenheit #vil schoenheit x reader #malleus draconia #malleus draconia x reader #leona kingscholar #cheka kingscholar #leona kingscholar x reader #leona x reader #malleus x reader #vil x reader #🐾・/ rggie twst

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morgandoesstuffsig · 10 months

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Idk if ur requests are open, but hear me out XD. A creator!reader who descends on Teyvat meets all the Archons and such. Then up and leaves by changing their appearance in order to explore their creation and how it has changed. Every once in a while Creator will make themselves obvious by performing acts only the Creator could. Once they are found out they just up and leave again only to resurface after another Divine act. TLDR: Creator playing cat and mouse with Teyvat

oh my GOD creator is just TORTURING then atp

small ramble because i still have massive writers block [cries] also ignore how late this is pls ok mwamwa thnx

c.w // yan. chars

song : Best Friend - Rex Orange County

SAGAU INCOMING : YAN CHARS.

okay so you decided 'hey man, what if i wasn't worshipped the moment i stepped outside'

so you just said fuck it and shifted

(it's been a while since you've done so, it kind of felt weird and hurt a tiny bit)

walking around teyvat in an odd, different form. completely different hair, height, clothes, you get the gist

the only things you couldnt change however were three things:

your blood (still gold, but you didn't plan on bleeding infront of anyone)

your aura (still comforting, caring, and even alluring)

your voice (why? zero clue.)

escaping the throne room you've oh so sadly been bound to!! having fun while doing it!!

(the only real reason you managed to escape is bc you managed to get the archons out and actually tend to their nations, as per your request order)

messing around while escaping fr!! people passing by wondering why this random person they've never seen is (not very) sneakily running away from the creator's palace/temple

but eventually shrugging it off, albeit reluctantly

messing around in mondstat, playing with the npc children more than you could usually, giving them the time of their life!!

this is where you use your first creator powers >:3

some poor kid scraped his knee real hard on the bridge, let's say timmie (hes so sweet he just wants to defend his birds pls b nice to him!!)

you, being the belovent god you are, use your divine powers to heal him

whether you do it with the hc of having to use your own gold blood or just having special healing powers only creator has, you do it

however, your dumbass mind hadn't thought of the fact that Venti may have been watching this

new outlander person with a mysterious aura

and now he quickly learns its you :0!!

the archons had no clue you could shapeshift!! why wasnt this in the ancient scrolls??? did they just lose the ones that mentioned it???

venti immediately finds some weird wind way to tell the other archons

fucking loud mouth

speaking of which, ei is freaking. out.

she came back to just check on you in your throne room and youre just.

not there??

panics, almost goes to zhongli before she gets venti's message and calms down slightly

atp you've realize you've outed yourself

so after making sure timmie is find you quickly run off into the forest before venti can come after you and smother you (both physically and with questions)

forest reached, new mission : new form needed

this basically keeps happening, and it's a needed breath of fresh air for you

running to liyue looking like a normal person until you magically form a special medicine that was unheard of from your hand for an elder, sickly lady

running from liyue to sumeru and shifting into!! an animal!! a fox!! cat!! tiger!! dog!! bird!! any of the sort!!

only getting outed from sumeru after you accidentally spoke while in animal form and having to go over to inazuma as an unknown, traveling sailor!!

getting outed after that for your extremely familiar aura and voice (inazuma people are scarily observant towards strangers) and eventually getting shoved escorted back to your palace/temple

funny stories to tell

however, the archons wont be leaving your room for quite a while..

oh well, who says you don't have other stunts to pull?

#morgan.died : writes #x reader #genshin impact #requests open #genshin cult au #sagau #sagau x reader #genshin #self aware genshin #genshin fanfic #genshin imagines #genshin rambles #rambles #various x reader

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ask-dbd-wh-au · 7 months

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When Y/n dies, do they come back to life somehow in order to help Wally? I noticed that Y/n seems to remember hugging Wally and then dying. Is it possible that they just keep coming back because they're needed for something? Or is it just how that universe works until they "reach the end"? (the end being saving Wally) Or is just by sheer force of will that they keep coming back?

I apologize if this question is strange, I love this AU, despite not knowing anything about Dead By Daylight and I'd love to learn more!

*cracks knuckles*

Alrighty, so let me explain a few things ‘cause many questions like these are easily answerable if you know or have played DBD before! It's understandable if you aren't familiar with the game that this au is based on to be confused or lost about these aspects of its world. So! Let me do a rough summary of how the world of Dead by Daylight (the game) works and its lore!

So, the world that our darling Y/N and Wally find themselves in is neither earth nor the neighborhood that Wally comes from, it's a realm entirely created by the Entity. The Entity is an eldritch, world/reality destroying, horror that captures survivors and killers from various universes and realities to play into its twisted games to feed off their emotions, in a sense.

Many consider it like an Emotion Vampire, it feeds on fear, desperation, rage, hope, anger, and other intense emotions.(Which is why it never allows Wally any comfort or happiness, he’s supposed to be a killer invoking terror on the survivors, not the sad lil meow meow he actually is) When a killer or a survivor becomes numb and hollow of all emotions their soul is all consumed by the Entity and it replaces them with a new victim that its captured.

With that in mind, the way the Entity has these games (or also known as trials) is incredibly integral to how the Entity feeds. These hunts and deaths you see Y/N get chased and killed in are all a part of Trials the Entity creates using worlds it has consumed before as the stage.

Each trial has 4 survivors trying to fix 5 generators so they can power up an exit gate to “escape”. This is how the Entity feeds off hope, survivors think they are escaping the nightmare that is the Entity but in actuality they are just brought back to the campfire just to go into yet another trial all over again, an endless cycle. Opposing the survivors are the killers that the Entity has captured and brought to its realm to bring out these intense emotions from survivors, some killers are more willing than others… and some… well, they learn to obey the Entity one way or another.

The killers hunt and murder the survivors and the survivors try their damndest to try and escape and that cycle repeats over and over and over again until they are emotionless husks, the Entity constantly consuming from them the whole way through. In reality, no survivors remember what happens between trials and campfires, the Entity typically wipes clean their memory so they come in like fresh juiceboxes most of the time.

However, Y/N has always had a habit of writing things down to remember small things. Now that they are in the Entitys realm, they utilized their notebooks to help retain their memories through entries of their past experiences, its the only reason why they remember past trials at all.

So TLDR: Y/N keeps coming back from death because the entity is not done feeding off them.

(on another note as well: Y/N doesnt always face Wally, it's random who you get put with each time in a Trial which is why Y/N struggled to find Wally again so much. Just as Y/N doesn’t always face against Wally, Wally doesnt always wind up in trials with Y/N and is left to his struggles with the entity alone)

Also campfires are basically a respawn point all damage you got from Trials will go away and you basically reset and your memories wiped. Y/N's notebook is incredibly essential to helping retain their memories.

I will say I'm not exactly the best at explaining things but things like google and lore videos on youtube can go even more in-depth about the lore of DBD and how the world works!

Hope this helps and thank you greatly for the ask! I love talking about DBD since its a game I love to play and its lore has always been interesting to me!

-Demi💙

#dbd au #dead by daylight wh au #demi's art #welcome home dbd au #ask dbd au

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muaviinu · 11 months

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i LOVE UR SKK SWITCH AU SO MUCH. IM LITERALLY GOING INSANE OVER iT, so im curious, idk if this has been answered yet but I HAVE A FEW QUESTIONS SORRY IF ITS LONG

1, what exactly was the event that happened that lead to chuuya getting kicked out of the pm? i heard it was something to do with dazai framing him, but how did that go and how was the fight between chuuya and dazai

2, chuuya has a hat from ranpo, so im wondering if it was modified to be like fedora that chuuya got from verlaine, so he would have better control over his ability, or if he doesnt need that anymore due to fukuzawas power

3, speaking of verlaine, what was HIS reaction when he found out chuuya joined the ada?

4, if i get the motivation, could i try write fics based on this au?? i love it so much and really wanna explore the pm!dazai and ada!chuuya dynamic!!

HIIII hello, tysm for enjoying the au :))) and no worries you asked a couple of repeat questions that have been sitting in my inbox for a while so i can hash them out now.

1. this one’s been a q that many ppl were asking about :,)) not to worry i’m working on actually drawing both the events and the fight afterwards once i finally flesh out the details

2. YES THE HAT!! also another one that has ppl curious. i’ve been wracking my brains on how the hat situation plays out (not a sentence i ever thought i’d say) since i’ve only recently started diving into stormbringer events. i do really like the idea you brought up of fukuzawa’s ability actually being able to offer that control he needs while the hat just remains a normal hat.

3. veraline, my love,,,,, he probably went bonkers for a bit. (“you left the port mafia for THESE guys??”) i will definitely try to draw him more in the au bc i’m realizing the comedy potential he has lol

4. absolutely! anyone is free to write fics for the au (i would shed tears /pos) i was also thinking of whipping up a fic for the switch au if only to help me keep track of events—though it may just be smth i keep for my eyes only lmao. TLDR, go for it and plz do send me the finished products! i would love to read what you guys write!

i hope i was able to answer your questions sufficiently!! thanks for asking!!

#ask #soukoku switch au

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emeraldstorms · 1 year

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Hi! I'm pretty new to the DD fandom. I saw your post about Matt making up Mike. But people talk about him like he is real? Is this fanon? Is Mike made up or not? I feel kind of stupid to ask because everyone else seems to know what's going on lmao

Please, don’t feel stupid for not knowing 6 decades of comic books by heart.

I’ll try my best to summarize the “Tale of Mike Murdock” as far as my recollection of things allows. I’m sorry I can’t keep it super short because sometimes I need to point out how silly Matt is. Like, I love him, but what a dumbass.

(DD fans feel free to correct me if I misremember something).

Okay, here it comes(dialogue paraphrased lol)

Not to sound like J. Jonah Jameson, but… this is all Spiderman’s fault.

In the beginning, Spidey and DD had a rivalry going on. While both acknowledged that they were on the same side, they weren’t exactly fans of one another.

Spidey finds out Matt is DD. Of course, he isn’t gonna out him, but he also apparently can’t just do nothing, but has to let Matt know he knows. So he writes Matt a letter, basically saying “I know you’re DD, but your secret is safe with me” and sends said letter not to Matt’s house or something. No, he mails it to the law firm “Nelson and Murdock”.

In a not so surprising turn of events, Karen Page opens the letter. You know, managing her bosses’ mail as secretaries do. She reads it and tells Foggy about it. Foggy and Karen confront Matt.

Matt is then like “haha, stupid Spiderman! Confused me with my… um… twin brother Mike!”. He says this not only to Karen. No, he also says it to Foggy, who is his best friend since law school, has been to Matt’s childhood home and to his Dad's funeral without seeing hide or hair of a twin brother.

So Foggy says, “You don’t have a twin brother.”

Matt says, “Do too! He’s just a loner and also Daredevil.”

Karen and Foggy remain skeptical. But Matt has the advantage that his friends don’t know about his super senses yet. So when a man, looking like Matt but interacting with the world like a sighted person, appears, they do buy it. (It’s a 1960s comic book after all).

For a while Matt juggles his three identities, but at one point it becomes too much (especially the Matt-Karen-Mike triangle getting out of hand). So he fakes DD’s and thus Mike’s death. Then he’s like “Very sad. But my brother trained a successor to be DD in case of his death.” So he can go on being Daredevil, but no longer having to play Mike as well. And that was that for a while.

Anyway, since Matt is not only a dumbass but also a dork, he had a dossier about Mike. For reasons, the dossier got in the hands of Reader, a blind inhuman who has an ability called “Literary Manifestation” aka what he reads (in braille) becomes real. This works three times between two resting phases (with kind regards to DnD xD). So he reads the dossier about Mike and Mike manifests. For emergency cases, Reader has a braille note on his belt, spelling “erase”, but Mike senses the danger and flees before Reader can use the note.

Mike then kidnaps Foggy to get Matt to meet and talk to him. Afterwards, Matt feels it would be wrong to “kill” Mike and lets him go.

Mike becomes a criminal - I’m not sure if because Matt created him as a “roguelike character” or because he has no other choice with not having any papers. So he joins a group of burglars at one point whose leader has a Norn stone. The burglars use it to open doors, make walls disappear etc, but Mike steals it and uses it to change reality.

So far he is real only for himself, but he changes the world so people remember him, his mother, his brother, childhood friends etc.

TLDR: Mike was just a fake identity of Matt, but now he is real because of inhuman power and a norn stone

I hope this helps and you’re a bit less confused. <3

#ask #anon ask #daredevil #mike murdock #matt murdock #foggy nelson #karen page

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myheartissetinmotion · 1 year

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THE NEW GHOSTS PICTURES OH MY GOD.

(spoilers ahead obvi)

so of course I’m excited about the Pat storyline and all that but WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KITTY RIGHT NOW.

she’s playing Cinderella DO YALL KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?!?!?!?!?

there are about to be some PARALLELS drawn between the panto and her own stepsister’s cruelty. in that flashback, she wanted desperately to go to the ball, and it was Eleanor’s scheming that stopped her. another facet usually focused on in adaptations of the story is Cinderella’s grief for her mother, which is also touched upon in Kitty’s backstory

I’m guessing this might start out as the other ghosts thinking she just wants to be the center of attention and humoring her as they cast it, but as they rehearse, it’ll start bringing some of that trauma back up for her. and maybe this time the others, instead of shutting down her realizations about her past to maintain her cheeriness, will actually help her work through it.

according to Kiell’s tweet, Lolly’s work in this ep is going to be especially incredible, so I bet we’re going to get to see some SERIOUS growth, and, as self-appointed #1 Kitty Fan, I am ridiculously excited

like. she’s gonna be facing the same situation, except this time, she will triumph. she’ll be seen as the lovely one she truly is. the help and support she’s longed for will finally come to her (oh my god PLEASE let Cap play the fairy godmother that would be pure gold). she’ll dance with the prince-

-WHICH GETS A PARAGRAPH OF ITS OWN because there have been hints of her having a crush on Thomas since THE FIRST DAMN EPISODE. as someone who’s utterly obsessed with picking apart subtle little nuances in camera acting, I’m telling you, seriously, watch her during the whole show. watch her face after he thinks she’s Alison, goes in to kiss her, and then is led off by Pat. watch the way she’s so nervous during the sorry song but almost starts to smile when he goes off script with the rap verse. take it from someone with plenty of experience being in love with a friend and trying to keep it under the radar, THESE ARE THE SIGNS. of course it’s vital for Thomas’ development for him to somehow realize, despite the whole stay-how-you-died thing, that there’s more to life than romance; once that happens, series 4’s genuine friendship and banter laid a really nice foundation for the writers to eventually go in that direction later with them if they so choose (“burgundy, big time”, the WAY he LOOKS at her in that post-poetry-reading scene holy SHIT, etcetera). and now they’re gonna combine their Melodramatic Theatre Kid Powers™️ to play the best fairytale romance Button House has ever SEEN.

ANYWAY. after nearly three centuries of just longing to feel like part of something, to matter, to be seen, especially in the context of a party (watching her follow Alison’s friends around during that one episode was fucking devastating as someone who’s experienced something like that many a time), my beloved girl is finally gonna get to be the belle of the ball. and to that I say, GOOD 👏 FOR 👏 HER👏.

tldr; GO KITTY GO.

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genesisxlivia · 6 months

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Here's an interesting thought. How did the CY au versions of Xenophanes and Sonic start out when they began living together? What was it like for Sonic?

LENGTHY RESPONSE I GET TO TALK ABOUT MY AUS YIPPEEE okay

Xen originally stayed with Sonic because Tails lived with him, and he wanted to run studies on Xen to figure out what he was. Because of this Sonic was basically tasked with taking care of him, and at the time Xen was completely new to Earth and had no idea of what anything was. Needed Sonic to show him how to eat, how clothes work, how to wash himself, everything. Dude was just a feral little alien so Sonic had to train him like a dog 😭Sonic never found this annoying or as a hinderance though, he was happy to show someone new to Earth how beautiful it is!

For Xen when he first started out he definitely wasn't intending on playing nice either, he was curious thus was docile with Sonic and Tails at first but he eventually just wanted Sonic's soul. Except he had no idea how to control a soul as powerful as Sonic's so any attempts at "attack" were him just standing and staring at Sonic (or poking him/grabbing him/shaking him which didn't get him far either) most of the time and it freaked him out 💀 So anytime Xen did that Sonic assumed he was bored and tried to teach him how to do something (like play a game or read or take him somewhere).

Over time Sonic's personality and kindness rubbed off on Xen, and he either started mimicking things Sonic did or just choosing to follow him around for comfort and company. Also started actually getting interested in what Sonic was showing him and grew to start learning things on his own. Then the curiousity he had turned towards Sonic specifically (he learned he likes men specifically that blue hedgehog guy). Sonic grew an attachment back and was the one to explain to Xen what falling in love feels like ❣️

SHORT RESPONSE/tldr

Xen started out living with Sonic so Sonic taught him everything he needed to know about Earth. For the first few months it was dealing with a goofy clueless alien who didn't know a thing about how to person, and Sonic was happy to help even though Xen definitely was off. Eventually his kindness was paid back and Xen's priorities shifted from getting souls to companionship ❤️

bonuses heres 2 comics i made of new-to-earth cy!xen (note these use his original design before i made my own but theyre still canon) that better show what he and sonic were like!

When Sonic first brought Xen back to Tails (and a prequel to that if ur interested), and then after the two started falling in love

Another bonus, when Xen's mind changed he still very much had doubts about how safe he was to be around others

#asks #comforting yourself #comforting yourself au

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tikal-the-echidna · 3 months

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No because why out of all their characters is it Sonic and Shadow that mirror each other the most? They’re the only ones who get matching skins in games? Promotion material is mainly them facing each other and posing in a complementary way to one another? Like SEGA what are you playing at??

Okay to be fair to that, shadow DID originate as a character meant to mirror/oppose sonic, with the entire marketing around SA2 being about duality and choosing whether to be good or evil with the opposition being embodied through sonic and shadow.

So the duality of Sonic and Shadow is kind of baked into their relationship and , through the nature of Shadow’s introduction, rather baked into Shadow’s character.

Conversely, Silver’s addition into this sort of trinary of hedgehogs by 06 is neat and very popular in fan stories and AUs but textually not super relevant, especially as 06 retcons this by itself and then silver never quite reaches such a highly positioned state again, being relegated to just “rival” similar to metal sonic, who also fills an important rival role but is held back by lack of appearances and inability to talk (most of the time.)

But Shadow has a lot of narrative and philosophical opposition to Sonic that most characters simply can’t achieve. Sonic worries about the now, Shadow is very attached to the past. Sonic is fluid where Shadow is more rigid. Sonic’s main motivation is for himself, Shadow is purpose built for the needs and wants of others, be that the military, Maria’s health problems, Black Doom’s need for a servant or even Geralt Robotnik’s desire for vengeance.

This has become less prominent post Shadow the Hedgehog as Sonic has become a lot more about the power of friendship (while he has always had friends, the sort of power of friendship messaging common in modern games wasn’t really much of a thing during the time of the adventure games) and Shadow has unfortunately fallen into a pit of being Sonic’s edgy rival that just shows up occasionally to broodily oppose Sonic for no reason, but still is a fundamental aspect of the popularity of their dynamic.

But since their characterisation has drifted away from this strong duality, their continued standing as being paired together becomes less of “these 2 characters embody opposite philosophies and world views” and more just “these 2 characters are paired up because they’re popular”. Thus creating quite a lot of shipping fodder!

Plus Sega is. Very aware of what the fandom is like and I must assume at least SOME people at SEGA know about how ship names work, so calling this game Sonic x Shadow is just really fucking funny

Tldr:

Shadow started out very deliberately as a foil to several elements of Sonic’s character for a more narrative and philosophical reason but since that narrative isn’t as relevant anymore, them being paired up just activates the fandom “2 characters together, gotta ship them” response! So putting “Sonic x Shadow” in a game title is really funny

Disclaimer: none of this is to belittle people who ship sonadow, I think it can work at times! Mainly an analysis of how Sonic and Shadow’s opposition devolved over time through characterisation drift and the way that affects the perception of fans

#friendly visitors #sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #apologies for the long ass ramble anon lmao #i just had a lot of thoughts about SA2 Shadow

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sonnysonder · 8 months

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here are my Fit ramblings, hope you enjoy!

Ramón loves tinkering and upgrading Fit's mechanical hand

Ramón still has the nautilus shell and the slime ball Fit gave him on the first day

Fit is the only [player] human on the Quesadilla, it's just really funny to me

he was a "radio broadcaster" on 2b, like just rambling into the radio to keep his sanity and keep records on things, therefore his title of self-proclaimed historian. this is also how Tazercraft discovered him :3c

he simply CANNOT stand still, especially when stressed or brainstorming, he also talks with his hands

he's partially blind and deaf in one eye and ear, due to an end crystal incident

Fit likes to teleport first or last to ensure everyone's safety

he is also often babysit Chats; shapeshifting hiveminds that follow players around

more of a theory, but Fit's contractors are people responsible for NOCOM

Fit is a reality bender, a term used for people using hacks, usually an item that is capable of distorting reality. perception of time and space of benders gets warped, only becoming worse the longer/more they use hacks

okay so worldbuilding and i have a hc that there are few stages of godhood in the qsmp universe, but important here are only Astral Beings, entities that ascended beyond godhood, capable of creating and controlling realms; like Hausemaster who Fit one met, and was promptly told to "fuck off"

also in the light of recent events, the night Ramón disappeared, Fit had a breakdown, cried for the first time in years, and have not slept for like 2 days doing manual labour and gaslighting himself :D

sorry there's a lot to read! i clearly have a favourite qsmp blorbo and i have so many thoughts about him :DD

Don't be ridiculous, it's a joy to have long asks where I have a lot to say back, and boy, do I have a LOT to say. Get ready. I'm gonna explain my thoughts on some of my favs from here :D (Even though they're all fantastic)

For the only human one, I haven't really sorted out what I think all the other players are species-wise, but it's fun to have lots of non-humans to explore cool powers and stuff. Fit has always been a human to me personally. Very cool.

I've seen you talk about the radio one before, and I'm honestly tempted to yoink it for myself. It's such a fun way to tie in his 2b history videos to the server itself, and I get this really cool image of him playing through an old radio in the middle of a scorched wasteland Fallout-style. I imagine it was of vital importance in keeping his sanity, especially while he was grappling with the effects of using hacked clients. Imagine how cool it would be for tazercraft to finally meet him in person too lol.

"OH MY GOD!!!! ITS THE GUY FROM THE RADIO!!!!!!"

For the teleport one, yeah, Fit definitely likes taking the lead, looking out for people, keeping them safe however he can. His friends and family are his world, they're who he lives for, and he's making sure no one gets left behind. And if he can have any semblance of control over their safety, he's gonna take it for sure. He's ALL about control. He's had so little of it for so long.

For the magic one, I have similar ideas on how magic works. I will make another post talking about it in more detail, but tldr; there's a lot of godly magic permeating 2b2t, it's what gives it a lot of it's weirdness. People can choose to focus and wield it (Hack clients) but at a great cost. The gods don't want mortals using magic, and so they turn their backs on them. These people often devolve, and lose any and all morality. Only few have managed to master it, one being Fit.

I have a lot of thoughts surrounding worldbuilding and the nature of Hausemaster + surrounding "gods" but i'm gonna leave those for a big post cause this answer is already too long.

Same thing for the last hc on ur ask. If I went in detail about my thoughts now we'd be here for hours :,)

(Oh my god I need to make a q!Fit character analysis. He's such a complex character)

This isn't even a quarter of everything I have to say about q!Fit I am in NECK DEEP.

#qsmp #fitmc #qsmp fitmc #qfit

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violetjedisylveon · 2 years

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Collector and King Brothers AU Anyone?

AU where King's dad saw the Collector and went; 'Is anyone gonna be that god kid's parental figure?' And didn't wait for an answer. The Collector gets traumatized and manipulated by Philip. Then Eda finds the Collector and King and went; 'is anyone gonna take care of these kids?' And also didn't wait for an answer.

First chapter here

Why? I dunno, I have a lot of AUs already so here's another.

Long summary of AU the cut ⬇

So the Collector gets a dad and he teaches them how to be gentle because everyone else is fragile and easily breakable.

After being adopted, the Collector did catch the Owl Beast, because it was hurt and they helped it get better and the Owl Beast kinda just stuck around cause this funky little star child is pretty cool.

The Titan Trappers don't have the Collector helping them kill the Titans but they still somehow managed to kill a lot of the Titans, probably by manipulating the Collector into it.

The Owl Beast got really badly hurt in a fight so the Collector transformed it into a curse to allow it to recover but then lost it. They were really upset their friend was gone.

King's dad hides the Collector with King's egg and tells them to watch after King.

Now you can interoperate the drawing as the Collector actually talking to King's dad, but they're really talking to one of the murals of him on King's island.

Why? because angst :)

So King's dad dies and the Collector is alone with King's egg and the gooy guard thing(I forgot it's name) for centuries.

The Collector left the island a few times over the course of King's incubation period, mostly cause they got a little bored and needed something to do/eat, but he always came back to watch their lil bro.

On their last time out, they ran into Philip and, because they were taught stranger danger, they wanted nothing to do with him at first. Philip ended up lying/manipulating the Collector into trusting him and teaching him some things, like sigils and some stronger magic.

The Collector was really lonely and upset and blaming themself because it was partly their fault that the Titans died even if King's dad told him it was really their fault, so they were easier to manipulate than he normally would've been.

So Philip added another child to his 'Children I've manipulated/traumatized' list, he betrayed them when he found out that he was hiding something powerful, the Collector got hurt by Philip, which is where that scars from, so now the Collector doesn't trust him and is a little scared of him.

After the Philip situation, The Collector didn't leave King's island again and they were very distrusting of humans and witches.

Then King hatched and the Collector was super happy that his little brother was okay and safe and they could play with someone again. The Collector is very protective of King.

Eda still gets cursed by Lilith, she still finds the hidden island with King and the Collector on it later, partly because the Owl Beast sorta guided her there.

The Collector didn't like Eda on their island, and attacked her at first because they're traumatized and distrusting of everyone now.

Eda got them to calm down and talk a bit, they don't talk much now, they told her that he was protecting their baby brother from the bad witches and that they would like it if Eda left and didn't tell anyone.

Eda left but, she got worried about this kid living alone on a remote, uncharted island with a baby apparently, and the Owl Beast went into mom mode and kept trying to get back to the island with dead animals to feed the kids.

Eda went back to the island a few times and slowly built up trust with the Collector, enough that when Eda discovered little baby King, the Collector wasn't super mad cause King was a little sick and they sorta trusted Eda enough to let her help.

Tldr:

Eda slowly befriended the Collector and then brought them and King to the Owl House. Oh, and Eda calls the Collector Enzo.

So Eda unknowingly adopted two gods, and the Owl Beast decided, these are my kids even though one is older than me.

King gets his name, and Eda begrudgingly accepts that she is now a mom, then decided to be a better mom than hers was cause things still aren't good between them.

The Collector is scared of Philip/Belos, Eda didn't know why cause the Collector doesn't talk much and she's not going to pry into this clearly traumatized child, so she just does what she can for them. He gets some therapy, their therapist comes to the Owl House cause he doesn't like going out much.

Eda gives the Collector an illusion disguise with a concealment stone so they can feel more safe when they go out and less scared of getting spotted by Belos. The disguise just makes them look like a witch.

By the time Luz shows up, the Collector is still a very shy child but they warm up to Luz and then Luz has 2 little siblings now.

That's all I've got for now, there will probably be some fic about this cause I ping pong between everything I'm doing.

Have a nice day!

VJS out!

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thebeetleball · 1 year

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sorry need to be abnormal over my favorite horror game rq since its the sixth anniversary. the first little nightmares' ending is the opposite of the prequel's but it's still just as grim and i'll die on this hill.

specifically, i'm thinking about what tarsier posted in celebration of the anniversary and how they captioned it;

getting thus out of the way right now i do Not think six is the lady, i think that theory only ever came to be because of the thin man and mono's situation and if you hold it up to any scrutiny it falls apart, but i do think they're deeply tied to each other in a more . symbolic way? i do not think six takes the lady's place at the end of LN1, i think she escapes from the maw and leaves it to rot, as it deserves, but she doesn't really leave it.

as the game progresses, six's hunger drives her to eat more and more disturbing things; bread, raw meat, a rat, a child, and finally the lady herself. not only that, but her musical cues changes over the game as well. there's multiple different tracks for hunger and six's own theme undergoes a dramatic shift, with part I being droning instrumental and quiet, nervous humming, and part II having a more upbeat hum contrasted against overbearing an brass instrumental, in both tracks the humming is eventually either cut off or drowned out by the music. in the comics, there's a repeated theme about six not knowing who she is, most notably the hunchback girl's line about how you don't know what you'll see if you look in a mirror.

there's an emphasis on change and not knowing yourself when it comes to six, and it confirms for me that despite their endings being tonal opposites, both of the little nightmares games are about cycles; just in different ways.

LN2 is about a little boy who wasn't able to escape a cruel, abusive environment, and eventually grows up to be another bitter adult, another cog in the machine. LN1 is about a little girl who was able to escape the environment that harmed her, but not without taking a piece with her. childhood trauma changes you, you're not the same person you were before it, you can leave your house but your house doesn't leave you.

the six who held mono's hand and hugged nomes, or played with toys at the playground, is not the six who lashed out and left him behind or the six who devoured other people just to survive. the six who was running from the adults that operate the maw is not the six who took the lady's powers. at the end of the story, six sits exactly where the people who hurt her did, she wasn't able to remove herself from the maw's food chain, only scale it and become the apex predator. she changed, the maw changed her, like all trauma does.

which isn't her fault at all, full stop the obsession some people have with portraying six as evil or malicious, or even worse, deserving of what happens to her in LN1, is appalling to me. i genuinely can't fathom how you can play a game so clearly about childhood trauma and abuse and come out of it putting her and mono in "bad victim vs good victim" roles. there's no right or wrong way to be a victim, there's literally only just victims, the real villains of the story are the adults who put them in this situation in the first place.

six isn't wrong for killing the workers aboard the maw, but it's still deeply sad to me that the story plays out the way it does, that the circumstances are what they are. LN1 ends with her going up, out into the sun where everything is bright and golden, but she's all alone and she's taking apart of the lady with her, she couldn't survive without taking from the lady, she couldn't survive without having to become someone else.

tldr; you know that scene at the end of chirin's bell? "what they saw was neither wolf nor sheep but some unknown creature that made their blood run cold?" yeah.

#SORRY TO EVERYONE WHO FOLLOWS ME FOR LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE I'M ILL ABOUT THESE GAMES #and I'm Sick of acting like all those ''I love characters who are romanticize victims'' aren't six she's not evil she's nine #🐝.txt #little nightmares #child abuse/#ask me to tag #long post #you spend so long in the dark.......you're neck deep in the cycle of trauma and abuse and even though you've made it into the light #you brought some of that darkness with you #s/o to sidney for fueling this the discord convo made me cuh-razy

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boyfridged · 1 year

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Do you agree that Jason, as written by Winnick in UTRH and Lost Days, acts out of character post-resurrection if we take into account his post-crisis robin days? If yes, how would you have him act/react to stuff after he comes back from the dead?

tldr: i definitely agree. moreover, classism plays a huge role in it, and i don’t think that at this point the storyline could lose these implications, which makes trying to conceive what an “in character” (for robin jay) version of these events would be quite difficult.

let’s just start from saying that i don't think it's a secret that i don't really like winick in general. despite his work being mad interesting on a conceptual level (and style-wise, genuinely well written!), he has no love for the characters he writes about.

imo utrh shouldn't even ever make it into the mainstream batman timeline. i am aware that this is a radical opinion, but my take is that it would do best as an elseworld story (and in this version too it would need some tweaks here and there), because it made damage both to the mythos of batman and jason's legacy that can never be undone. the very premise of the story is so deeply disconnected from jay's original place in the narrative, and so classist at its roots, that there's not much room to truly fix it.

(i want to say, preemptively, that i am aware that there are people who read utrh as a story of a revolutionary and a victim – and they have the right to do so, but ngl, my view has always been that it was never written as that. utrh reinforces so many stereotypes that it overshadows the revenge tragedy spirit of it all.)

another disclaimer is that, to be honest, jay doesn't have a very consistent characterization even in his 80s run, and it also has some classist implications that ideally should be either erased or addressed in the text (that winick instead exaggerated and put at the very front of his storytelling.) starlin's writing is, at the end of the day and very much ironically, more sympathetic and gentler in evaluating jay (simply because at the time he would not get away with changes too blatant) but details such as jay saying that "all life is game" and his random nonchalant behaviour that has its origin in the very beginning of starlin’s run are already signs of it. some readers will trace jason's arrogance prevalent in his red hood era to these issues and say that his actions post-res are therefore a logical extension of his robin days, but i don't buy it. even if you want to lean into starlin-esque characterisation, if you consider the core problem of the garzonas plotline – which is power, jay shouldn’t look into the solution of anything in climbing to the top. and if he did, it would have to be written as a “becoming what you feared/hated most” kind of story, which i can see a certain appeal in (and which would at least acknowledge that it was not his initial personality), but which would go back to its classist assumption of cycles of violence and doomed fates.

so – how to make his post-res era more accurate to his post-crisis robin days (and least classist in the process)?

if we were to follow my fav iterations of his characterisation (barr’s detective comics and the ntt appearances) tbh I don’t think a lot would happen, because his personality is quite mild, and just so hopeful there that i wouldn’t expect any extreme actions from him – but then again, the circumstances that he finds himself in post-res, the trauma, and his sensitivity do warrant grief that should become a driving force in his life from now on. the question is, what to do with this grief as a plot device?

i know that plenty of jason fans hate this take but I actually think the concept of jason trying to be detached and cruel but being bad at it might be one of the least offensive to his 80s characterisation. it’s def not accurate to pre-52 canon (apart from countdown perhaps) but imo for jay to be authentic and nuanced he should be conflicted about his own actions. his overconfident behaviour should be a pose – just as his frantic acts in his origin story as robin were. (again, something that many readers don't take notice of – but reading the rest of collins' writing wherein jay quickly settles into being easy-going and even a bit shy is proof of it.)

these two points lead to the “no good deed” narrative that I often talk about - the reading that jason saw his intuitive and self-sacrificial kind tendencies as something that brought him pain and that never was quite efficient, and that post-res he intentionally tried training himself out of. there are some flashes of it here and there throughout the years of the red hood publishing history, but it never got a true spotlight. and if i were to write lost days, jason flinching at his own violence would be a focal point of the story.

moving on to utrh; i have spoken about it at length before but I think if he were written 1. with more political sensitivity 2. to have retained the same maturity re: the social order 3. to have the same idea of morality, he should have followed more of actual revolutionary tracks and the whole “drug lord” authoritarian figure schtick along with the idiotic idea of “controlling crime” would have to be thrown out of the window.

and, later on, forgiveness should play a big role in his story. he's so quick to forgive and justify everyone in his robin run – this is also why i reckon his team up with harvey in tfz was a wasted opportunity.

so, in conclusion – perhaps not that much would have to change re: his actions but definitely a lot should change regarding his emotional journey and his position. i would def throw out a lot of mindless violence and power posturing out of it though. and perhaps make him a bit more polite just for the sake of more consistency (this is not me taking a moral stance btw nor tone policing a fictional character. i just think it would be more faithful to his 80s writing unless you want to make him explicitly scared. and it would be funnier tbh.)

#i think i have written some about it on my old blog #but i'm too lazy to look it up and also i got a lot of hate because of that #i also had a longer post talking about how it can be fixed *now*#anyway i want to say.#i do enjoy jason acting feral i do.#and i do want to allow people to enjoy whatever they do #but you simply can't look at jason's characterisation post-res and lie and say it's not a classist caricature #so maybe i am judging people who don't see any problem with it a bit <3 #and despite my love for cyclic narratives #i do want better for him. and i do want him softer and more mild-mannered #not because i am tone policing people nor because i think anger is not warranted #but because i think it's clear that the source of it in his writing #is not anything revolutionary. it's the opposite #like idk make helena more full of rage or whatever #this was not jay's original place in the narrative.#it was the opposite actually. and i miss him so bad dear god i do:(#anyway i think it's hard to think of him post-res in character also because when i think of what is in-character #i also consider what (as i said) the place in the wider narrative was #and jay's death already ruined it mostly #for it to be regained he would have to start anew as a civilian OR as better batman in crime alley i think #sorry for so many tags.#this is such a delightful ask thank you <3 #dc #jason todd #jay.zip #jay.txt #outbox

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thermitetermite · 2 years

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Prompt #11 - Dream Manipulation

Tldr: Villain breaks into a top secret lab looking for something or someone. They reminisce about what brought them here and their life so far. Chaos obsessed Villain x Conspiracy theorist Hero

CW: Non-con drugging, kidnapping, restraints, mind control, sedation, slight murder talk (no actual murder), obsessive behavior (like how a detective obsesses over a case), muscle atrophy, hospitals (sorry for the long list but I want to cover all of the bases)

The laboratory burned as Villain plunged deeper into it's expanses. Villain was impressed at how a facility this big stayed off their radar until now.

The darkness of hallways and stairwells swirled when illuminated by Villain's flashlight. A devilish smirk plastered itself on Villain's face as the sounds of alarms blared in the background.

This was their element. The chaos, the madness, and the overwhelming sense that everything is falling apart around them.

They couldn't get enough of it.

It was soothing in a way. Knowing that they were the cause of all this chaos. That they were in control here. It wasn't offen they felt this way in the real world.

They typically left all this chaos in the dreams they controlled. Sick and sadistic machinations far beyond their wildest fantasies. Being paid by the memories they took, the dreams they brought to life, and the people they left trapped in their own minds.

Villain would describe themselves as the gentlest assassin for hire. A silencer with no gun.

Why worry your head about murder plans when you could simply hire Villain. No body to hide, just one permanently asleep. No weapon to trace and no mark on the target. Perhaps best of all is the fact that there is no convoluted escape plans or need to learn your target's schedule. Sleep comes for all. Where sleep comes a long dream will follow.

Night was their domain and perhaps that's why they were so captivated by this lab. It was equally dark and vast as the night they call home. In fact, one could argue that this lab could be home! At least, that's what Villain told themselves to ease their nerves.

They had never done something like this before. They worked alone, kept a low profile, and stayed out of the spotlight. No one knew or could know about them. Any police agency or heroing department could easily ambush them if their existence became widespread knowledge. Worse still, literally anyone could avoid them and prevent them from doing their work if they discovered their weakness.

But at the same time they couldn't help but think of the mayhem they would cause the first few weeks people learned they existed. Panic would run amok in the hearts of every being who heard their name. But they digress.

They had work to do.

The guards were still sleeping at their posts, put to bed long ago by Villain. One pesky officer escaped earlier and sounded the alarm but it was no matter Villain couldn't handle. They had knockout gas and a baseball bat so any reinforcement would be put to sleep one way or another. However, to try and keep under the radar they set a fire to make it seem like an accident. That and they figured everyone would be worried about the obvious fire versus the possibility of someone breaking in.

With the stolen key cards from the guards, they finally made it deep enough in the lab to reach what they were looking for.

Ok, so they might have fibbed a little when they said no one knew of their existence. Of course their parents knew (they think Villain does accounting), their older sister knew (she's been teasing them for years), and their pet lop rabbit Clair knew (you'd be surprised to know they taught Clair to play dead). Only one other person knew they existed and was the only one to know the full extent of their abilities.

Hero.

Some conspiracy theorist small town Hero had somehow put all the pieces together and figured out Villain existed. Villain thought that maybe being unnoticed was another of their powers until Hero swooped in. Or rather, clicked in.

Villain advertised their services on the dark web and whenever they were hired they'd just fly out to the location under the guise of a business trip. When Villain flew to Hero's house expecting payment half upfront they instead got shown all of those corkboards with the pins in them. All of them tying all of Villain's crimes back to them.

Weirdly enough Hero didn't turn them in despite the evidence, claiming they enjoyed being right and that the other agents would laugh off their crackpot theories.

Even stranger, Villain found themselves becoming endeared to Hero (once it was obvious that Hero wasn't planning on turning them in. They might have punched Hero in the face when they confronted them though). It wasn't everyday that you found someone who dedicated their time to learning all about you. Or someone who noticed you at all really.

Maybe it was the fact that Hero and Villain were similar. Hero was also rejected by the world and was an equally weird obsessive nerd. Some people go crazy over chaos while others geek out about conspiracies. That's life. Or maybe it's the fact that Hero lives in such a state of chaos constantly.

Pushpins thrown everywhere, lengths of yarn draped over corkboards, the sound of a printer chugging away at full speed somewhere behind the reems of paper and boxes full of printer ink. The only thing Villain could smell in Hero's studio apartment was rich coffee.

Villain was sure if anyone else walked into this apartment they'd immediately be overstimulated and shut down as a defense mechanism. Villain however found themselves instantly at peace.

When offered they crashed at Hero's place and on that first night they had arguably the best sleep of their life. An actual dreamless sleep. A full night of actual sleep. It was glorious. They were sure Hero appreciated their company too considering how lonely they seemed (they tried showing Villain how they played Monopoly by themselves. It was the saddest thing Villain had ever seen).

Eventually it became a habit. Whenever Villain felt a little dissociated they'd book a flight and visit Hero. They wanted to extend the offer back to Hero but they were in the process of moving out of their parents basement (they were saving up for a house cut 'em some slack) and figured Hero wasn't ready to "meet the parents".

In fact, they were closing on a house offer this week and couldn't wait to offer a room to Hero rent free. Then they could both get what they wanted out of life. Organized chaos for Villain and endless sleuthing time for Hero.

A smaller and more mushy goal for Villain was to make it up to Hero. To thank them for being their friend. For all those peaceful dreamless nights and all those coffee filled mornings.

So when Hero reached out to Villain via dream saying they had been sedated and kidnapped by their own agency Villain saw their opportunity.

Villain opened the door to a room that looked like it belonged in a hospital. Monitors hooked up to their Hero softly beat to the thuds of their heart. The mask over Hero's face kept them sleeping while the restraints on the bed kept them from fighting it. The familiar smell of Hero's roasted coffee was nearly gone like it was coffee La Croix.

The room was so quiet. So blindingly white and sterile. Villain hated it. They knew Hero would hate it too. They wiped the tears from their eyes before walking to the bed. Villain unplugged all the machines, lifted the mask off Hero's face, and picked Hero up. Were they always this light? Villain didn't want to think about how much Hero had likely atrophied.

They couldn't help but shed a few more tears while cradling Hero close to their chest. Hero moved, leaning into Villain shoulder. Villain gently rested their head on Hero's, entering their dream to make it one of the most pleasant Hero would ever have.

"Let's go home." Villain whispered barely audible, carrying Hero out of the room while Hero dreamed of coming home to Villain.

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cannibalistic-cucumber · 2 months

Text

Okay so

For various reasons, Sonic Adventure (SA1) is among my dead favorite games. The two relevant to this rant are the characters and the gorgeous soundtrack (in fact, I might go on a tangent about individual songs at the end of this).

My favorite character in the game is E-102 “Gamma” (btw if you derail this post about Omega, you die), a robot built by Eggman, who runs on animal power, as Eggman’s robots usually do. However, Gamma contains a very special animal - it’s a surprise tool the will help us later. Five minutes into being born (and after training, ofc), he is forced to shoot his brother, E-101 “Beta”. Following this, he board’s Eggman’s ship (the Egg Carrier) and is tasked with catching the tailed frog. Upon collecting the frog, he is transported to the past, where he experiences childlike wonder at the chao. Back on the Egg Carrier, the rest of his siblings are cast out because of their failure to get the frog. After that, Gamma is sent to execute a prisoner. On the way, he makes a wrong turn and ends up in the machining room, where he experiences eldritch horror at the sight of his brother being disassembled and reassembled. In the prison, he finds Amy Rose, who has a blue bird flying around with her looking for its parents. She convinces him not to kill her a la Mindy Animaniacs, and protects Sonic out on the deck of the ship, further confusing Gamma. He leaves the crashing ship, now convinced to “rescue” his disowned brothers. After successfully disposing of them, he is ambushed on the Egg Carrier by Beta Mk II, who feigns death in order to shoot Gamma in the back, and they both die as a result. Lo and behold, Gamma and Beta contained the parents of the bird. Reunited, they fly off into the sunset.

TLDR: Gamma is Eggman robot who experiences eldritch horror and compassion and forsakes his master as a result. He “rescues” his siblings before dying himself, and the animal inside him reunites with its family.

Now, a little more background before we get to the main point. SEGA Sound Team popped off for this game. Each character has a theme song that plays during their respective recaps and end credits (each one has an entire storyline with slight variations on who does what (it’s all happening at once)). Side note: I’m like 70% sure SA1 is the origin of Knuckles jazz. It should also be noted that I have a youtube playlist of songs on queue for downloading, and when I run out of ideas I scroll through the recommended additions section.

E-102’s theme is in my top three favorite songs from SA1. You’ll never guess what it’s called! Theme of E-102γ. And that’s my first talking point. I was reading the comments on one of the music videos, and one of them made a connection that his theme doesn’t get a proper name because he’s just another cog in the machine. Even Big the Cat has a greater role in the main story than him. And yet, doomed by the narrative as he is, he gets his own story. As another comment pointed out, each story has its own (literary) theme: Sonic is Adventure, Tails is Independence, Knuckles is Recollection (I’m kinda iffy on that one), Amy is Protection, Big is Friendship, and Gamma? Gamma is heart and soul. Compassion. Morality, something that shouldn’t be possible, and definitely isn’t comprehensible for a robot, especially one of Eggman’s creation.

As a side tangent here, I’ve been putting rescued in quotes when it comes to Gamma and his brothers, but I realized something between the time I started writing this and now. The animals that drop from the E-series robots are birds. They’re all his brothers, inside and out. I had always assumed that Gamma had meant rescue only in the liberation sense. I never realized that he meant it both ways. I just… I’m need a moment.

As a side side tangent, I think this is one of the biggest differences between E-100 ZERO and the rest. To my knowledge, he didn’t have any animals, much less another bird, and that was what led him to the brutish oafishness that we see displayed by him.

Back to the main points, I think that all of this is reflected in the song. It starts out with all of the synth, vague vocals, electro, etc. that would be expected from the theme of a robot, and then you’ve got… PIANO. Oh my god the piano. Piano Man has its harmonica, and this song has its piano. In the midst of the circuits, the wires, the computers, there’s life, a heartbeat, a soul. And with the soul comes that twinge of sadness. Sure he freed the animals, but to do so, he had to kill his brothers with his own two (?)(does the gun count?) hands. Due to this and the cumulation of everything else, hearing the song (or the variation of it) during his final cutscene hits and hits hard.

youtube

THE REPRISE OF THE MAIN THEME PIANO AS HE DIES IN OBSCURITY. THE OTHER BIRDS ARE LIKELY THE ONLY ONES THAT END UP KNOWING ABOUT HIS DEATH

It’s okay I’m okay I’m so normal about this

Now that the main rant is over, it’s time for me to hoot about the other songs

Be Cool, Be Wild, Be Groovy …for Ice Cap

I get that it’s a snowboarding section, but still. THEY BOTHERED TO USE GUITAR IN A SNOW LEVEL. NAME ONE OTHER INSTANCE OF THAT THAT ISN’T LITTLE BIG PLANET’S THE WILDERNESS’S SITAR.

Limestone Cave …for Ice Cap

Ambience plain and simple. Good for falling asleep to

Snowy Mountain …for Ice Cap

Another ambience piece, this time with another guitar (no this doesn’t count for the challenge I posed above). Love the mix of electric and acoustic

Welcome To Station Square

“The train headed for the Mystic Ruins will be departing soon.” Came for the guitar, stayed for the trumpet.

Red Barrage Area …for Hot Shelter

SAX (shout outs to the rest of Hot Shelter’s music btw)

Militant Missionary … Boss Egg Walker & Egg Viper

Hopelessness, despair, DRAMA. Things may not have gone to plan, but Eggman is surely still the one in control.

And finally, shoutouts to Bad Taste Aquarium, Pleasure Castle, and Dilapidated Way for going full throttle right out the gate.

@green-mountain-goose @greetings-inferiors @cue-jay @kimu-dem

#Youtube

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