#2 Plus 2 equals 4 Carry the 7

[dykeomania]

i just need this to be on my blog for when the ellie and riley episode comes out probably like 2nd to last episode of the season: ellie probably shot riley because riley didn't want to turn / had to shoot her because she turned and we're all gonna throw the fuck up

[silverwhittlingknife]

So you're a go to source for all things Dick&Tim bros and you tend to write primarily from Dick's POV. So, odd question, but if you were to summarize their relationship from his POV in FIVE panels which panels would you pick? Keeping in mind that one specific aspect of their relationship that you love needs to be clearly represented by each panel (loyalty, trust etc). I hope this is a fun challenge and not an annoying question so if you don't want to answer that's cool! Have a wonderful day!

No more talk. The same thoughts run through two minds... (SotB 29) / You're my equal. My closest ally. (RR 1) / I can't stop thinking how much I rely on him. (GoG 3)

25 Feelings Dick Has About Tim

This was such a kind ask & a cool challenge which I totally failed; here are TWENTY-five panels of Dick's POV on Tim sdfdsfds Look, I got carried away! Marcia and Cindy! The boys!!

OKAY SO BEFORE I GET TO THE PANELS A FEW NOTES:

WARNING THAT THERE ARE SOME NEGATIVE EMOTIONS IN HERE because I love conflict but but but you gotta remember those are not the final word!! They are complicated people and sometimes they get mad at each other BUT ultimately their relationship is so hugely important in both their lives & they love each other and rely on each other so much -!!! <3

Also I have CONCLUDING THOUGHTS at the end about what Dick's POV leaves out (mostly: a lot of Dick defending & protecting & supporting Tim, which Dick does instinctively but isn't very self-aware about most of the time)

I have loosely organized my list into 5^5 format (5 categories with 5 examples each!), so if you want to skip to a relevant one, here are the categories!!

Below the cut:

I hate him and find him infuriating (#1-5)

On second thought, he's endearing & fun (#6-10)

Grief is complicated & he's all tangled up in mine (#11-15)

I love him & think highly of him (#16-20)

I rely on him & though it's hard for me, I trust him (#21-25)

I hate him and find him infuriating (#1 - 5)

1) He thinks he’s so smart and can psychoanalyze me and Bruce, but he doesn’t know me at all, he should get lost (New Titans 61)

2) He thinks he’s so smart and can psychoanalyze Bruce but he doesn’t know Bruce at all, he should get lost (Gotham Knights 26)

3) He is so nosy about stuff that is MY business (Robin 0)

4) He sounds like an insincere suck-up half the time... but okay, fine, if you push him he's got a sense of humor about it (New Titans 65)

5) I'm sure he's a better vigilante than me. It's my fault for being a failure, but I resent him anyway. (Nightwing 9 - Dick's having a nightmare)

On second thought, he's kinda endearing (#6-10)

6) He worries too much and gets anxious so easily, but it makes him fun to tease (Robin 67)

7) I'm not that competitive - okay, so maybe I'm a little competitive, I gotta make sure he doesn't get a swelled head (Prodigal)

8) I'm supposed to be his favorite! It is not cool for him to be fanboying over my not-girlfriend's not-boyfriend!! (Birds of Prey 19)

9) We have fun together. I can kick back and relax when it's just the two of us. Plus I get to boss him around a bit. (Prodigal)

10) He’s always trying to reassure me, and I guess it's a little comforting, but also he doesn’t really get it. Or me. He makes excuses that he shouldn't, because he doesn't understand that I suck. (Nightwing 64)

Grief is complicated and he's all tangled up in mine (#11 - 15)

11) He reminds me of everything I try not to think about. Sometimes the memories are so strong it hurts to look at him. (Batman 441)

12) WHY IS HE BEING IMPOSSIBLE ALL OF A SUDDEN??? THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING (Nightwing 139)

13) We're the same. He says all the things I don't let myself think about. It's like arguing with myself. (Nightwing 139)

14) He thinks he gets to tell me what to do but he doesn’t, fuck him (Battle for the Cowl)

15) Life sucks, so what. I sucked it up so he should too (RR 1)

I love him and think highly of him (#16 - 20)

16) He’s the closest thing to a brother I’ll ever have.  If someone hurts him I will hurt them harder. (Nightwing 6)

17) I can't handle the idea of losing him. (Nightwing 97)

17) He’s so good and I’m not. I'm afraid I’m bad for him. (Nightwing 110)

18) He’s better than me, and it’s kind of a relief because I know no matter what he’ll be okay. (Gates of Gotham 3)

19) In my head he’s the responsible one.  (Gotham Knights 10)

I rely on him, and though it's hard for me, I trust him (#20-25)

20) I know I have to trust him but I'm afraid he'll make the wrong choices and get hurt (Nightwing 139)

21) I'm sure I know what he should do because I see myself in him - not that I can take my own advice, but he should (Blackest Night 3)

22) I trust him.  When I’m losing my grip on things, he pulls me back. (Gotham Knights 10)

23) I want him to trust me (Red Robin 12)

24) He can tell when I'm lying. Sometimes he sees my weaknesses better than I wish he did. (Detective Comics 874)

25) He’s always there when I need him. (Teen Titans / Outsiders Secret Files)

Final rambling thoughts:

TIM: Uhh, okay, so I'm just skimming this list - do you really trust me? you're not just saying that? - but anyway, I'm confused because you left some stuff out? Like some stuff that's kinda important? DICK: No? I think I got everything? TIM (starts counting on his fingers): The time I was having a bad day but then I called you. The time I got captured by Two-Face but then you saved me. The time I fell off a train but then you saved me. The time I fell off a building but then you saved me. The time I fell off a different building - DICK: I feel like you're trying to make some kind of point but I'm not sure what it could be.

SO THE THING IS, I put 25 panels in here and not a single one has Dick catching Tim when he’s falling!!! But I think that's a central motif of their relationship from Tim’s POV, not Dick’s. I love Dick, but in some ways I think he is spectacularly un-self-aware.

And I think he especially has a lot of blind spots about Tim. He kinda intermittently gets that Tim admires him, and he enjoys it in a playful I-get-to-boss-you-around way. But Dick tends to consistently underestimate all of his own good qualities & skills, and he meets Tim at a point in his life when he's especially down on himself & his abilities. And so he's unable to see his own influence on Tim, & therefore unable to fully understand a lot of Tim's priorities and loyalties and motivations, because you can't actually understand Tim without understanding Dick's impact on him. There's a fascinating moment in Bruce Wayne: Murderer when Dick's completely blindsided & upset to discover that Tim doesn't entirely trust Bruce, even though this has been a definitive fact of Tim's whole thing ever since he showed up with his Batman needs Robin theory, and Barbara has to actively remind Dick of the obvious-to-everyone-except-Dick fact that a lot of Tim's loyalty is to Dick, and Tim loves Bruce but feels free to be more wary of him. (And to give Bruce credit: this is not something he ever begrudges.) But anyway Babs points this out, and Dick manages to sorta process it for about five seconds, but he cannot actually accept it into his worldview so instead he discards it at the speed of light and goes off and has an argument with Tim instead sdfsfdsf

All of Dick's virtues - Dick's kindness at the circus and Dick's determination to fight through grief and Dick's rigid sense of morals and Dick's vigilante skills and every time Dick has ever backed Tim up or listened to him or protected him or saved him from something or just been casually kind to a stranger in Tim's presence etc etc etc - all these things loom really large in Tim's mental story of Who Dick Is, and What Dick And Tim's Relationship Is. Tim meets Dick before he meets Bruce, trusts Dick more than Bruce, aspires to be Robin instead of Batman. And so in Tim's default version of the story, Dick is the super-special and admirable hero and Tim is... nobody in particular, a tagalong outsider who's barely managing to be a hero, not part of Dick and Bruce's family and not part of their story, who, if he's VERY LUCKY and tries REALLY HARD, might be able to fight his way to proving himself and offering something to Dick that Dick will value, if Dick doesn't get fed up with him first.

But that's not Dick's version of the story!!!

Dick's version of the story is almost the exact opposite, a story where Dick's an outcast failure black sheep who's screwing up everything he tries, and meanwhile Tim is The Sudden New Perfect Robin Who's Better Than Me And Probably Bruce Loves Him More And Probably They Gossip About What A Loser I Am, mixed with a complicated edge of Tim Thinks He's So Smart But He Doesn't Know Me/Us At All. Dick gets much more attached to Tim over time, and Tim gets unnervingly better at the know-it-all psychoanalysis so then Dick gets to have complicated feelings about him being right instead of just annoyance at him for being wrong, plus Dick's relationship with Bruce improves a lot, so Tim stops feeling so threatening. But Dick never fundamentally changes his basic theory of their relationship in which Tim is highly impressive and capable, and Dick is not so much.

And so asking Dick about Tim is kinda like if you asked George Bailey to tell you about Harry Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life; like, you'll be there for five hours while he tells you how great Harry is, and how accomplished Harry is, and how he doesn't really get how or why Harry does the things he does, and maybe George does feel a little resentful or jealous sometimes, but that pales in comparison to all his admiration and trust for Harry who he loves so much, who's better than him in so many ways, and he's not gonna openly gripe but secretly he can't help but feel sometimes like he's such a failure in comparison to Harry, a perfect person who emerged fully formed from Zeus's head with all the virtues and also all the accomplishments, etc. etc. etc. --

-- and he will not actually remember the part where he changed and saved Harry's whole entire life unless you literally send him to an alternate timeline in order to force him to remember it. <3

[healix17]

MegOp fanfiction recommendation :D

1. "A Flowering Recognition" by unami_20.

App: Wattpad and AO3

Franchise: Transformers Prime

My review: It's angst, but it's so professionally written, like the talent is amazing. Plus Orion comes back to life.

Link:

Wattpad: "A Flowering Recognition"

AO3: "A Flowering Recognition"

2. "Tell Me What You want", "Love Me instead" and "Kiss Promise" by @Honey_Brewed_Rose.

App: Wattpad and AO3

Franchise: Transformers Prime

My review:

• "Tell Me What You Want" Is amazing! Oh my Primus, the storyline! The smut scenes just 😩👌. I've read it so many times I've practically memorised the entire thing.

• "Love Me instead" Is also amazing, jealous orion is just so adorable.

• "Kiss Promise" Is so...FLUFFY! I swear there's no better MegOp fanfiction writer than Honey.

Link(s):

"Tell Me What You Want"

"Love Me instead"

"Kiss Promise"

Her user because she's the QUEEN 👑

@honey-brewed-rose

3. "I'm still here" by Black_Paladin

App: Wattpad

Franchise: Transformers Prime

My review:

9.5/ 10 it's good not great, and that's me acting as if I could do better. But there's alot, like ALOT of potential.

Link:

"I'm Still Here."

4. "A Kingdom Apart (Tfa MegOp/ BlitzBee fic)" by Inky_Duvklings

App: Wattpad

Franchise: Transformers Animated

My review:

Although the grammar's not really good, the storylines UNIQUE!

Link:

"A Kingdom Apart"

5. "Addicted to you" by lord_squiggletits (megatrons_mouth_laser)

App: AO3 (FINALLY MOVING AWAY FROM WATTPAD!)

Franchise: IDW

My review:

Megatron and Optimus drinking aphrodisiac and being horny as hell is soo them 💅.

Link:

"Addicted To You"

6."Barepede And Carrying" by Sheila_Snow?

App: AO3

Franchise: Transformers Prime

My review:

It's an absolute 100/10 perfect, hilarious, fluffy and smut equally laid out and the definition of the perfect megop fanfiction.

Link:

"Barepede And Carrying"

7. "The Sword and the Pylon" by CosmicSparks and neveralarch.

App: Ao3

My review:

I'm speechless, it's perfect. I envy their writing skills like bro teach me 😭👌

Link:

The Sword and the Pylon.

That's all for now, if y'all know more to add to this list, please tell me.

[talonabraxas]

The Tree of Life Diagram Talon Abraxas

The Archetype referred to as the Tree of Life is most generally known in the form of the key diagram used in Cabala, a word that is spelt variously in Hebrew, from which it is derived, as Kabala, Kabbalah, Qabala, Qabalah, Qabbalah. The word means ‘the Received Wisdom’. It can also mean ‘the Great Knowledge’, a term used in other wisdom traditions.

The wisdom is said to have been taught first by God to a school of angels before the fall of man. After the fall God sent the archangel Raziel to teach it to Adam and Eve, so that mankind might find redemption. But it was Enoch, the great Atlantean king (otherwise known as Atlas), who became the first human soul to fully understand and successfully practice the teachings, thereby attaining the fullest state of illumination and godliness known as the Messiah (Christ), and who then became the great teacher and friend of mankind.

The Four Worlds

The geometric form of the Tree of Life is based on four intersecting circles of equal size, comprised of three circles descending (or unfolding) from the initial one, with the centre of one circle being on the circumference of the next.

The first circle represents the transcendent Absolute, the source of all. It is known as the World of Emanation. The other three circles are referred to, in descending order, as the World of Creation, the World of Formation and the World of Fact or Action. These four Worlds represent our divinity, spirit, soul and body respectively, and that of the universe, and relate to the four stages of the life-process as signified by the four quarters of the Wheel of Life.

The Ten Divine Attributes

The geometry of the Tree of Life is formed by joining the centres and intersecting points of the circles, as shown in the diagram. These centres and intersecting points signify the Ten Divine Attributes (Sephiroth, ‘Ciphers’), the fundamental principles of life which, like the ten Hindu Pragâpatis, are but One Supreme Unity. The connecting lines between them are known as pathways, numbering twenty-two in total. For a profound reason that forms part of the mystery of Cabala, or of life itself, the eleventh point, the centre of the second circle, is left unnumbered and with no pathways connecting with it.

In order to be manifest, the One appears as Three—a polarity plus the relationship between the two poles. This is the Holy Trinity, numbered 1-2-3, which is the basis of all manifestation. From the Three come the Seven, the latter signifying the seven fundamental ways that the Holy Trinity can be manifested and made known (e.g. as represented by the seven major colours of the spectrum of white light, or the seven major notes of the octave of sound).

Besides a number, each Sephira has a god-name and a word or set of words to describe what it is and means. The most common words for the first three Sephiroth (the Holy Trinity) are: (1) Crown (Power), (2) Wisdom (Word), and (3) Intelligence (Holy Breath, Spirit or Ghost).

However, since God is the All-Good, and the divine nature or expression of Good is Goodness or Love, therefore all the Sephiroth are attributes of Divine Love. The Intelligence is the receptive and formative aspect of that Love, whilst the Wisdom is the active and creative aspect. The former carries or bears the latter, just as our breath carries the words we speak. The Crown is at one and the same time the Source that is all Potential and the First Impulse or Cause.

The next set of six numbers signifies the Holy Trinity as it unfolds itself in further manifestation. It is sometimes called the Throne or Chariot (Merkabah). Whereas the first Trinity (nos. 1-2-3) represents the absolute realm or World of Emanation, the second Trinity (nos. 4-5-6) represents the spiritual realm or World of Creation, and the third Trinity (nos. 7-8-9) represents the soul or psychological realm, the World of Formation. The names given to the second Trinity are Mercy (4), Judgment (5) and Beauty (6), whilst the names given to the third Trinity are Victory (7), Glory ( 8 ) and Foundation (9).

Last, but not least, the tenth Sephira (10), called the Kingdom, represents the physical universe and all that is in it. One of its symbols is a pot or chalice (the Holy Grail) into which the other nine Sephiroth are poured (i.e. incarnated).

The names given to Sephiroth 7, 8 and 9 are not very explanatory. In effect, Victory refers to good emotion or desire—our goodwill and affection for each other. Glory, on the other hand, refers to the witty mind and good thought. Foundation refers to generation or procreation—the ability to procreate and put desire and thought into action in a good way. These three constitute the natural life-process of desire, thought and action which, when expressing the highest principles, are loving kindness, understanding and service—or, put another way, goodwill, good thought and good action; for God, Who is Love, is the All-Good, whose nature is goodness.

Victory, Glory and Foundation are the lower, psychological counterparts of the higher, spiritual principles of Mercy, Judgment and Beauty. The latter, in turn, are the spiritual counterparts or manifestations of Wisdom, Intelligence and Power.

Mercy is also known as Compassion and includes Generosity. It is associated with freedom. Judgment is the same as Perception but is also known as Severity, Strength, Rigour, Righteousness and Justice. It is associated with discipline. Both mercy and judgment, or freedom and discipline, are needed in balance with each other. The generosity of mercy can be indulgent, self-defeating, blind and powerless without the strength given it by clear judgment and right discipline. Judgment, on the other hand, can be cold, harsh and altogether too severe without the warmth and generosity of compassion. Heart and mind need to act together in harmony, and then beauty ensues. Beauty lies at the centre of the Tree of Life and signifies the manifest heart of God, the balance and harmony point of all things.

The Great Pillars

This balancing of the opposites is represented by what are known as the Great Pillars, signified by the three vertical lines of the Tree of Life. The right-hand pillar is headed by Wisdom, the creative Light, symbolised by the Sun as the giver of light and with Mercy being known as the right hand of God. The left-hand pillar is headed by Intelligence, the sensitive Mind, symbolised by the Moon as the receiver and reflector of light and with Judgment being known as the left hand of God. The middle pillar is crowned by the Crown, with Beauty at its centre, symbolised by the Star of David.

As the giver of light, symbolised by the Sun, the right-hand pillar is called the ‘pillar of fire’; whilst the left-hand pillar as the receiver of light, symbolised by the Moon, is known as the ‘pillar of water’. The former is represented by the upward- pointing equilateral triangle, the latter by the downward- pointing equilateral triangle. Their balance, harmony and union is signified by Solomon’s Seal, which produces the ‘fire- water’ or ‘ether’ of perfect, revealed Light, symbolised by the Star of David (the Christ Star).

The Divine Family

To help explain the Tree of Life and the meaning of the Holy Trinity, human models or stories have been employed down the ages. Thus, for instance, the Wisdom of the right-hand pillar is referred to as Ab (‘Father’), whilst the Intelligence of the left-hand pillar is referred to as Aima (‘Mother’). These two, Wisdom and Intelligence, are thus the Divine Father and Mother. They are the polarity of existence yet completely One in love, for they are Love. They and their love-relationship comprise the Holy Trinity—the ‘Three in One and One in Three’.

Knowledge

The unnumbered point, the centre of the World of Creation, is referred to as Daath (‘Knowledge’). This represents the conscious knowledge or realisation of the whole Tree of Life as it is acquired step by step, path by path, Sephira by Sephira. This knowledge is also known as illumination, which grows from dark ignorance to the light of full universal knowledge.

Sacred Planets

Besides the more universal use of the Sun and Moon to represent the Divine Parents or Polarity of life, the Sephiroth are individually symbolised by the octave of ‘sacred planets’, from which is derived the idea of each planet having its own divine intelligence or spirit or god/goddess.

The ascriptions are: (10) Earth; (9) Moon; ( 8 ) Mercury; (7) Venus; (6) Sun; (5) Mars; (4) Jupiter; (3) the Stars; (2) the Zodiac; (1) the Primum Mobile (First Movement).

Saturn is used to denote the unnumbered Sephira, Knowledge, referring to knowledge of the whole Tree of Life, which is Truth. Knowledge of Truth is also known as illumination, for our minds or souls are illumined by knowledge of truth, which knowledge is obtained only by practising truth. Such practice is called "living in truth". It is also referred to as "Truth Revealed".

Saturn is also used to represent the Holy Intelligence (3), in the sense that our own individual illumination shines as a star within the divine Mind or Intelligence, together with all the other stars of individual soul illuminations. Truth is essentially the divine Wisdom (2) that is held in the divine Intelligence (3), which, when known by the intelligence or mind, shines as a star. Such stars are represented as the six-pointed Hexalpha or Christ Star, also known as the Star of David ('David' means 'Dove', emblematic of the divine Intelligence or Holy Spirit).

All these ascriptions relate to and lie behind the science of astrology as well as the cosmology of various cultures.

[b-else-writes]

The Great CLAMP Re-Read Part 8: Legend of Chunhyang

Part 1 (RG Veda) | Part 2 (Man of Many Faces) | Part 3 (Tokyo Babylon) | Part 4 (Duklyon) | Part 5 (Clamp Detectives)| Part 6 (Shirahime)| Part 7 (X)| Part 9 (Miyuki-chan)

The RG Veda historical epic that never was, or better off cancelled? While X is widely cited as CLAMP's first unfinished work, there is actually another 1992 stillborn CLAMP work, before we can finally move onto 1993 in the CLAMP timeline. To be a broken record, I had no idea this existed! It’s unsurprising: only 3 chapters were ever published (plus 1 drama CD), before the magazine folded and CLAMP decided to cancel the project (yeah yeah they said they’d love to finish it. They’re liars).

Unlike many of their other discontinued early works, this one actually got a tankoban release, and Tokyopop did the now out-of-print English translation in a single volume with no extra art. Plus, I was hesitant about approaching a work of Korean folklore written by 4 Japanese women, given the history, and my fears were not unfounded. So I’m content that I put off getting the physical release for my collection. Spoilers (?) ahead.

Synopsis: In Ancient Korea, a brave young maiden called Chunhyang, opposes the injustices of the corrupt governing Yangbans. When her mother, a magic-wielding mudang, is kidnapped by their town's Yangban, Chunhyang is aided by the lecherous Mongryong, the Amhaeng’eosa, a secret government agent. Together, the two set off on adventure that will take them across Korea to liberate towns and discover the truth of Chunhyang's father.

The Story: I wrote all of that out, but the reality is what actually exists of Legend of Chunhyang is two chapters and a flashback. It's very hard to judge a story that hasn't settled in or moved further than the set up for the adventure. What we got is entertaining enough - chapter 1 is the inciting incident where Chunhyang’s mother dies and she teams up with Mongryong, 2 has them liberate a mystical flower village with the help of a rain god and twin mudang, and 3 is a flashback that reveals Chunhyang’s dead father was important and killed for defying the Yangban. It’s very Robin Hood, and moves at a good pace despite being pretty standard YA fantasy. Speaking of, I don’t think CLAMP realises most Korean towns back then would have been agricultural. Why does Chunhyang live in a huge villa doing nothing all day? I want my peasant hero, not a disgruntled pseudo noble.

The skeleton for the entire story is pretty obvious (bring revolution to Korea) and I’d definitely be curious to see more of it. But I’m also not sad we got nothing more. It’s a pleasant afternoon distraction.

The Themes: Don’t be a bully and tyrannical governments are bad and must be resisted - as long as they’re Korean (side-eyes that Rising Sun flag in CLAMP Campus Detectives. Ah, Japanese nationalism). It’s 3 chapters, that’s all I can glean.

The Characters: Chunhyang fits heavily into the CLAMP stock heroine: young, spunky, strong, pure-hearted, and athletic, shojo ingenue. Still, while she’s nothing new, I enjoyed Chunhyang. CLAMP has the formula for the fun, palatable heroine we love to see win, and I’m hardly immune. Mongryong was more bland to me, falling hard into that 90s era shojo hero who gets comically beaten up by his love interest, but always suavely swoops in to save her. It’s nostalgic, he’s hot, but that’s it. Maybe with time they would have defined themselves like RG Veda’s cast did (also archetypes), but there’s just so little!

The crumbs of minor characters are equally stock - one dimensional cackling villains, and pure beyond belief good guys. Mongryong’s tiger spirit was my favourite because I love all cats. It’s really the charm of Chunhyang that carries us above - she’s a good balance of fierce and endearing.

The Art: Legend of Chunhyang is interesting in that chapter 1 was brush inked due to their experience on Shirahime, but the remaining art was done with marker pen. The result is chapter 1 feels a bit unpolished, with backgrounds being mostly chunky blobs and quick lines in a way I found distracting. 2 and 3 work much better, with thick swirls of soft magic and flowers, giving Chunhyang a slight distinction from their other early 90s work. The panel work is quite conservative unlike RG Veda, very rarely having dynamic spreads, but satisfactory and readable. Chapter 2 is a standout of circling dragons and flowers. Everyone is gorgeously dressed and pretty. It’s not the best of CLAMP, but it’s nice and elevates the material.

Questionable Elements: While certain CLAMP podcasts have praised CLAMP for essentially rewriting the folktale to make Chunhyang more active - why would you even choose to adapt that Korean folklore then, if your intention is to make a generic Robin Hood sword and fantasy series that has zero to do with the original culture? You could just set it in feudal Japan! It feels very distasteful to deliberately choose Korea as a setting of barbaric unending tyranny that needs correcting. Especially given Japan’s history in “modernising” Korea.

On top of that, there’s a clear lack of research done - a lot of the outfits and hair accessories are inaccurate. Chunhyang’s mother’s decision to kill herself than risk dishonour is also incredibly Japanese (and notably doesn’t exist in the original). I have to cry foul because if you’re going to actually set this in a real ancient Korea, you should do your research. I’m not saying CLAMP are anti-Korean but they show a disappointing lack of care and bias.

Also. How old is Mongryong if Chunhyang is 14. Answer quickly, CLAMP.

Overall: Listen, RG Veda 2.0 this is not. Rather than an imaginative, fantastical, sweeping epic, Legend of Chunhyang is built on very familiar tropes and stock characters with a dose of cultural insensitivity and bias. It doesn’t even have a proper narrative arc, existing more as a “what if” than an almost masterpiece. It’s alleviated by the sheer charm of Chunhyang herself, its brisk, entertaining pace, and the enjoyable art. But it’s no great literary tragedy that it was never finished, and I’d really only recommend it to diehard CLAMP fans who want a quick, pleasant escape on a fantasy adventure.

[mothdotz]

Marinette Cheng

… is quite the busybody, jumping at any chance to experiment and make new things. Though his eagerness to create has gotten him recognized for their talents, it also leads to many unfinished (or destructive) products.

Normally you’d find him tinkering away at her latest invention, but as of a recent it seems that her creative spirit has died down. No one knows why.

( And at school, you’d typically find them in the laboratory, but just like her recent willingness to create, his visits have dwindled. )

Older versions:

Equally important additions:

1. Gifted Kid Burnout, Baby!! (That’s possibly triggered by seeing your mentor get snatched into the shadow realm. Who knows? Marinette sure doesn’t).

2. Methinks that most of the headcanons from my old art-dump still applies here (though I have to double-check to be sure).

3. Mar’s inventions tend to (ironically) end in disaster.. but it’s the ingenuity that counts, right?

4. Yes, the suit design was inspired by Spider-Man.

5. I could spew more about Mar’s character but yknow. Mar tends to be a lone wolf in situations, not that they do it consciously! But it’s more like they’ve gotten used to having to solve problems on their own due to the people (and adults) that are in her life. While this is a great(ish) thing because of her classmates dependency on him, it also leads to Chat Noir feeling very frustrated in the midst of battle when Spots run off to do their own plan without consulting the other hero on it.

6. Mar’s creative soul is the one thing that gets her in trouble most of the time! He learns to not be afraid to step over boundaries, but that unwillingness to back down when they should can be terrible in a lot of situations. (Though, beware because Marinette’s personality may be due to change. I’m still figuring out how I want it to be).

7. Spots’/Red’s backpack (which I now realize is hardly visible) has wings giving Red the ability to fly. Spots’ backpack can also be taken apart and turn into almost any invention they want, having its only disadvantage being that they no longer have a means of transportation. The Fanny pack? I just thought it was funny… plus I think they would store candy and water in there to give to any shaken kids (or to anyone who needs it).

8. Yeah, Marinette wears a compression shirt under their hoodie + Carries around headphones in their bag bc overstimulation. (ADHD/Autism as always).

[cagemasterfantasy]

Aasimar (5.5e)

Aasimar (pronounced AH-sih-mar) are mortals who carry a spark of the Upper Planes within their souls. Whether descended from an angelic being or infused with celestial power they can fan that spark to bring light healing and heavenly fury.

Aasimar can arise among any population of mortals. They resemble their parents but they live for up to 160 years and have features that hint at their celestial heritage such as metallic freckles luminous eyes a halo or the skin color of an angel (silver, opalescent green, or coppery red). These features start subtle and become obvious when the Aasimar learns to reveal their full celestial nature.

Traits:

Creature Type: Humanoid

Size: Medium (about 4–7 feet tall) or Small (about 2–4 feet tall), chosen when you select this species

Speed: 30 feet

As an Aasimar, you have the following special traits.

Celestial Resistance. You have Resistance to Necrotic damage and Radiant damage.

Darkvision. You have Darkvision with a range of 60 feet.

Healing Hands. As a Magic action, you touch a creature and roll a number of d4s equal to your Proficiency Bonus. The creature regains a number of Hit Points equal to the total rolled. Once you use this trait you can’t use it again until you finish a Long Rest.

Light Bearer. You know the Light Cantrip (Described at the end). Charisma is your spellcasting ability for it.

Celestial Revelation. When you reach character level 3 you can transform as a Bonus Action. The transformation lasts for 1 minute or until you end it (no action required). Once you transform, you can’t do so again until you finish a Long Rest. Additionally once on each of your turns before the transformation ends you can deal extra damage to a target when you deal damage to it with an attack or a spell. The extra damage equals your Proficiency Bonus and the extra damage’s type is either Necrotic for Necrotic Shroud or Radiant for Heavenly Wings and Inner Radiance. The transformation options are as follows:

Heavenly Wings. Two spectral wings sprout from your back temporarily. Until the transformation ends you have a Flying Speed equal to your Speed.

Inner Radiance. Searing light temporarily radiates from your eyes and mouth. For the duration you shed Bright Light in a 10-foot radius and Dim Light for an additional 10 feet and at the end of each of your turns each creature within 10 feet of you takes Radiant damage equal to your Proficiency Bonus.

Necrotic Shroud. Your eyes briefly become pools of darkness and flightless wings sprout from your back temporarily. Creatures other than your allies within 10 feet of you must succeed on a Charisma saving throw (DC 8 plus your Charisma modifier and Proficiency Bonus) or have the Frightened condition until the end of your next turn. (The Frightened condition is as such: A frightened creature has Disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls while the source of fear is within line of sight and the Frightened creature can't willingly move closer to the source of fear.)

Light

Light is a Evocation Cantrip that can normally only be learned by Bard, Cleric, Sorcerer and Wizard. It is an action. Range is Touch. It does require a Verbal Component and the ingredient for it is a firefly or Phosphorescent Moss and the duration is 1 hour. (Though you don't need to worry about ingredients if you can innately cast it.)

You touch 1 large or smaller object that isn't being worn or carried by someone else. Until the spell ends the object sheds Bright Light in a 20 foot radius and Dim Light for an additional 20 feet. The light can be colored as you like. Covering the object with something opaque blocks the light. The spell ends if you cast it again.

[soylent-crocodile]

War Medic (Prestige Class)

(art by Rialll on deviantart)

(This is the first in what ended up being a trio of prestige classes for martial characters that fulfil the Healer-Tank-DPS roles of MMORPGs. It's old, but I'm quite proud of it!)

Healing is, generally, considered the role of clerics and similar faithful. These specialized healers are premier methods of keeping one's heart beating, but sometimes they are simply not available, or could simply use some backup. This is the job of the war medic, a soldier or warrior who is trained to patch up his allies in the thick of battle.

Role: War medics are invaluable both on and off the battlefield, wielding a deadly weapon in one hand and keeping their allies alive with the other. Alignment: War medics can be any alignment HD: d10

Prerequisites

Skills: Heal 5 Feats: Combat Medic Ability Scores: Wis 13 Other: Proficiency with all Martial Weapons, Possession of a Medical Kit

Skills A war medic gains 6+int mod skill ranks per level A war medic’s skill list is Bluff (Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha,) Heal (Wis), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Sleight of Hand (Dex), and Survival (Wis)

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies A war medic gains no weapon and armor proficiencies.

Surgical Precision (Ex)

A war medic’s doctoral training lets him heal as well as harm. As long as he is wielding a light or one handed melee weapon and has a free hand, he deals an extra 1d8 precision damage, as a rogue’s Sneak Attack ability. Unlike a rogue’s Sneak Attack, this damage does not increase as the War Medic levels up.

Med Kit (Ex)

A war medic’s greatest tool is his med kit- he carries within it supplies needed to heal ailments of all types, from mundane wounds to magical curses. His med kit contains a number of supply points equal to his wisdom modifier+his level in war medic. At the start of his day he may spend an hour cleaning and salvaging his supplies. If he does, he regains a number of supply points equal to his wisdom modifier. Additionally, at any settlement sized large town or larger he may fully refresh his supply points by shopping for one hour and spending 10g. These supply points can also be spent as uses of a healer’s kit.

As a standard action, a war medic with a free hand may spend 1 supply point to give any creature within touch range 2d6 temporary hit points plus his wisdom modifier. These hit points wear off after 2 hours. At levels 4, 7, and 10, he adds 1d6 to his temporary hit points. This does not trigger an attack of opportunity.

Trained Healer (Ex)

A war medic is as much a healer as he is a warrior; he adds his level in war medic to his heal skill. Additionally, he halves the required time taken to perform any heal action that takes longer than a full round.

First Responder (Ex)

At level 2 a war medic adds his wisdom modifier to his initiative.

Medic’s Trick

At level 2, then at level 3 and every two levels thereafter, a war medic gains access to a medic’s trick chosen from a list. A war medic can only apply one trick to his surgical precision damage at a time, and these abilities do not stack with themself unless stated otherwise. The DC of a medic’s trick is equal to 10+his level in war medic+his wisdom modifier. All penalties applied with medic’s trick can be ended early with a successful Heal check with the same DC as a standard action.

Heal Thyself (Ex) A war medic with this trick may spend a swift action and a supply point to give himself temporary hit points as with his med kit. 

Immediate Care (Ex) A war medic with this trick may choose to use one of his attacks in a full attack action to grant temporary hit points with his med kit, rather than a standard action.

Hobble (Ex) A war medic may apply this trick to his surgical precision. If he successfully lands a hit that deals surgical precision damage, that creature must make a fortitude save or have its movement speeds reduced by 10, to a minimum of 5, for 1 minute.

Worsening Condition (Ex) A war medic may apply this trick to his surgical precision. If he successfully lands a hit that deals surgical precision damage, that creature must make a fortitude save. If they fail, they take a -2 penalty to saves for 1 minute.

Myopia (Ex) A war medic may apply this trick to surgical precision. If he successfully lands a hit that deals surgical precision damage, that creature must make a fortitude save. If they fail, they treat all creatures including willing targets as though they had partial concealment for 1 minute. Blind creatures and creatures with blindsight are immune to this effect, but creatures that can see through fog or similar concealment are not.

Break Fantasies (Ex) A war medic may apply this trick to surgical precision. If he successfully lands a hit that deals surgical precision damage, that creature must make a fortitude save. If they fail, they must make a concentration check with DC equal to 10+the war medic’s level in war medic+his wisdom modifier in order to cast a spell during the next 1 minute.

Strike the Vein (Ex) A war medic may apply this trick to surgical precision. If he successfully lands a hit that deals surgical precision damage, it inflicts bleed 1. This ability stacks with itself.

Blue Shield (Ex) A war medic with this trick gains proficiency with light and medium shields if he does not already have them, and may apply his surgical precision damage if he is wielding a shield in his free hand.

Bedside Manners (Ex) A war medic with this trick may use his wisdom in place of charisma for Bluff and Diplomacy and gets a +2 bonus to those skills.

Alternative Medicine (Ex) A war medic with this trick treats Use Magic Device as a class skill and may use his wisdom in place of charisma for Use Magic Device. He may apply his surgical precision damage if he is wielding a wand or scroll in his free hand.

Supernatural Healing (Su) A war medic with this trick may choose to heal damage with his med kit rather than give temporary hit points.

Extra Mercy (Ex) A war medic with this trick gains an additional Mercy from those available to him.

Combat Feat (Ex) A war medic with this trick gains a feat chosen from the combat feat list.

Mercy (Ex)

At level 2 and every two thereafter until level 8, a war medic chooses a mercy from the paladin’s mercy list, although he gains it at a heightened pace. At level 2, he gains access to the paladin’s level 3 mercies, at level 4, he gains access to the paladin’s level 6 mercies, at level 6, he gains access to the paladin’s level 9 mercies, and at level 8, he gains access to the paladin’s level 12 mercies. Saves related to mercies instead have a DC equal to 10+the war medic’s Wisdom modifier+his level in War Medic. This ability functions like the paladin ability of the same name, except it applies to temporary hit points granted by his med kit, rather than his lay on hands, and as noted above.

Floating Mercy (Ex)

At level 10, a war medic gains a floating mercy. At the start of each day, while refreshing his med kit, a war medic may choose one mercy from among those available to him. That mercy applies to his med kit for the rest of the day.

[kart0]

I was looking for a job. And then I found a job. And heaven knows I'm miserable now. So I quit after two days

So... I've been meaning to get an internship. And my friend just quit one so I applied to the same job ( teaching children 1-3 year old ). And I didn't get any reply. But then suddenly, on Sunday, they send me a message asking me to come on Monday and work there.

Not even an interview.

Alright I guess. Lucky me ! Their intern suddenly quit after one week. My friend quit previously after working for a month there.

And then I go on Monday, it's alright, I meet the kids, there were only 7 kids but one didn't go cuz he was sick so ok 6 kids only.

Its alright I can work with that, 30 days only

And then today, Tuesday, I talk with the owner of the school and. Ah. That's the catch. She wants me to work til December. Plus I have the shittiest day ever. Good thing I got to experience hell on the second day. Also, I got peed on twice yesterday and it was still fine.

There are literally so many wrong things with this place, they dare to call it a school. Not kidding I felt like dying today. I really considered killing myself or getting ran over just so I wouldn't be able to physically go.

List of wrong things:

1- The school opened this year. It was inaugurated on January.

2- Theres only one class, with 7 children. The youngest is 1 and a half. The oldest is FIVE. Yes they're in the same class.

3- Unused classroom ( big waste of space and resources for the children ) bc there's not enough children of that age enrolled ( they're supposed to be 5yo )

4- Toys of the unused classroom are sized for babies 2-3yo

5- One teacher only

6- No structure at all

7- The school owner is an English teacher, wanted to make a bilingual school for children. Doesn't speak English well - her pronunciation SUCKS ( she bragged about going to England when younger )

8- School owner is a zootechnician.

9- School owner said her classrooms were always "domesticated" instead of peaceful her words not mine

10- School owner has never taught children before

11- School owner brags about making kids independent and having more autonomy, but won't teach any of them on how to properly use stairs ( we have to carry them up and down instead of letting them use the properly sized handrail specifically made for them )

12- No documentation shown to me

13- No certificates anywhere to be seen

14- Purely disgusting behaviours allowed, not a care in the world about germs, or hygiene

15- No documentation for the internship program - they would just deposit money ( which is not much but it was fine for me ) as a salary

16- Kids clearly struggling with lack of attention and care ( again, only one teacher )

17- The oldest one not being stimulated enough, activities are boring and he just doesn't fit the class

18- Me having no specific job and having to do everything ( this is ok bc I'm more of an assistant ) but then them expecting me to be a second teacher ? I have no experience with teaching, specially 1-3 YEAR OLDS. We still need to change their diapers ?????

19- School owner saying gen z is lazy ( she's 53yo ) and there's a reason why they don't get hired

20- School owner saying it takes around 3 months to get used to the job ( conventionally the period I would work there)

21- School owner wanting a bilingual school but having no method of teaching specially young kids ( children don't understand us plus they're so young a lot of them don't even speak properly so we have to use Portuguese anyways )

22- School owner saying she doesn't believe in gender equality

23- School owner only working there on Tuesdays and Thursdays

24- Teacher not being able to control the class - School owner said that she wants people with authority ( I don't blame the teacher she's actually really nice but you can see she's struggling to make this work. Clearly she's the only one who cares and I think she feels like she's trapped there )

25- School owner not properly changing a kids diaper ( with poop ) ( somehow poop got smeared on the clean diaper and now there's poop everywhere )

26- School owner harassing my friend who worked there ( biggest reason why she quit )

27- Me getting hired without an interview

28- Me getting hired with a terrible terrible and empty curriculum

29- Me getting hired to work and care for 1-3 year olds when I am an art student. And was supposed to focus on art activities.

I'm not getting paid enough for this, and I don't care enough because they don't care enough

Like, I'm not upset or anything. I'm just. Gobsmacked. It's so bad. Everything is wrong. I didn't even list everything. I just worked there for two days.

I care about children, I like children, but I specially like when children are able to go to the bathroom alone and be able to communicate with me. I like when they can speak. I want to be a person who can be there for them, and hear them. I like when they try to explain their thought process to me.

How am I supposed to figure out how to deal with literal toddlers and babies.

Like. This school clearly has problems.

It doesn't surprise me every intern keeps quitting, it's just absurd.

So after two days of working, I sent them my three days notice. I said I'm only going til Friday and then that's it, thanked them for the opportunity and everything. I should've said I wouldn't go there anymore and period but part of me felt bad for the teacher so I said I could finsih this week so that they have time to organize and try to search for someone else. But I was too stupid I should've just said bye. I can't believe I still have more three days. I want to die.

I even said I didn't have to get paid I don't care. like whatever man I just don't want to be there anymore.

Ugh. I feel defeated. Nothing ever goes right with me how am I this unlucky. But I should've seen all the red flags .. I should've listened to my friend, I feel bad that I underestimated what she told me. I thought I could ignore everything. I just wanted hours for my graduation. And I won't even get any hours even after working for barely a week. Which makes sense logically

I feel so weak too. But I can't stand seeing what's going on. Because unfortunately I actually do care and it's just absurd. I can't. And I know there's nothing I can do to change and im powerless and basically going to get harassed and exploited. I don't think I care enough about the children.

Ugh. And worst thing, I will never find an internship. This was my only option and my only chance and even if I changed my mind I can't just say "oop nevermind School Owners Name I actually want to work here" and then quit after a month 😭

I need to sleep anyways, I need to wake up early for tomorrow's class. I'm kinda ashamed of going how am I supposed to look anyone in the eye. I let them down. Like hell me I have to put me first but like. Damn. They just know I'm gonna quit.

But like dude I'm not trained for this I don't want to learn with actual babies when there's no structure at all can you imagine how am I supposed to make mistakes what's going to happen if I actually make a mistake which is inevitable ? Since I have no experience no training no knowledge and I'm basically having to guess

Anyways. Wish me luck for the rest of the week.

[paperanddice]

A herald of the end of summer, the knight of autumn gate is a dream that manifests only on the border between the seasons. As the harvest ends, the nights grow longer and colder, the dreams of the population turn to the harvest celebrations and the knight may appear. Unfortunately, when one appears it always demands a sacrifice, and what exactly each one demands is highly unpredictable. Some merely call for some livestock, but others will demand humanoid life. If satisfied, the knight will stand protection over the settlement and people who dreamed it into being for a fortnight, before making a new demand for sacrifice. If provided its second sacrifice, it then vanishes. If either sacrifice is refused, the knight will go on a rampage, destroying as much as it can for a short time before vanishing. Sometimes it may rampage for mere moments, sometimes its rampage will last for hours, it depends on how offended the knight is by the refusal of its demands.

In other settings, the knight could be a fey guardian of sorts. It remains a manifestation of the season's change, but its actions are guided by fey logic instead of dream logic. Unfortunately for the creatures it approaches, those two kinds of logic are quite similar and the poor folk will still be left trying to parse out what particular demands the knight will make of them, and how to refuse them without causing offense. Originally from the Dreamblade base set. This post came out a week ago on my Patreon. If you want to get access to all my monster conversions early, as well as access to my premade adventures and other material I’m working on, consider backing me there!

5th Edition

Knight of Autumn Gate Large aberration, unaligned Armor Class 18 (plate) Hit Points 168 (16d10 + 80) Speed 30 ft. Str 22 (+6) Dex 15 (+2) Con 20 (+5) Int 13 (+1) Wis 12 (+1) Cha 17 (+3) Saving Throws Str +10, Wis +5, Cha +7 Skills Athletics +10, Intimidation +7, Stealth +6 Condition Immunities frightened, unconscious Senses passive Perception 11 Languages any two languages Challenge 11 (7200 XP) Silent Armor. The knight doesn't have disadvantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks even though it wears heavy armor. Sleepless Guardian. The knight doesn't require food, drink, or sleep. Variable Illumination. The knight sheds bright light in a 5- to 30- foot cone and dim light for an additional number of feet equal to the chosen distance. The knight can alter the distance, or turn the light off completely, as a bonus action. At the start of each of its turns, the knight decides which way the cone faces. A creature inside the light created by this trait has disadvantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws. Actions Multiattack. The knight of autumn gate makes two Longsword attacks, or 1d4 Spit Spark attacks. Longsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d8+6) slashing damage or 17 (2d10+6) slashing damage if used with two hands, plus 4 (1d8) fire damage. Spit Spark. Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, range 30 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d6+2) fire damage. Fire Light (Recharge 5-6). The bright light shed by the knight's Variable Illumination brightens and heats up to a painful temperature. Flammable objects in the area that aren't being worn or carried ignite. Each creature in that area must make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the target takes 44 (8d10) fire damage and catches fire; until someone takes an action to douse the fire, the creature takes 5 (1d10) fire damage at the start of each of its turns. If the saving throw is successful, the target takes half the fire damage and doesn't catch fire. Spellcasting. The knight casts one of the following spells, requiring no material components and using Charisma as the spellcasting ability: (spell save DC 15): At will: disguise self, fear, hideous laughter, knock, suggestion 1/day each: hallucinatory terrain Legendary Actions The knight of autumn gate can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The knight of autumn gate regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn. Look Around. The knight can change the distance and direction of its Variable Illumination. Spit. The knight makes a Spit Spark attack. Cast Spell (Costs 2 Actions). The knight can cast an at will spell using its Spellcasting. Longsword (Costs 2 Actions). The knight makes one longsword attack.

13th Age

Knight of Autumn Gate  Large 8th level troop [aberration]  Initiative: +11 Burning Blade +13 vs. AC (2 attacks) - 30 damage. Natural Even Hit: The target also takes 15 fire damage. R: Spit Sparks +13 vs. PD (1d4 attacks against nearby enemies) - 15 fire damage. Natural 16+: The target also takes 5 ongoing fire damage. C: Fire Light +13 vs. PD (1d3+1 creatures in a group) - 35 fire damage. Natural 14+: The target also takes 10 ongoing fire damage. Limited Use: 1/battle, when the escalation die is 2+. The knight has a -2 penalty to spit spark attacks after it uses this attack. Fear: When engaged with the knight, enemies that have 48 hit points or fewer are dazed and do not add the escalation die to their attacks. Jack-o-Lantern: At the start of each of its turns the knight can choose 1d3 nearby enemies in a group. Until these enemies move to a different location, any invisibility on them ends, they take a -1 penalty to MD, and they are affected by the knight’s fear aura if they have 60 hit points or fewer. Seasonal Scares: 1/round, as an interrupt action when a nearby enemy attacks the knight and rolls a natural odd attack roll, the knight can make an autumnal fantasms attack against the attacker as a free action. [Special trigger] C: Autumnal Fanatasms +13 vs. MD - Roll a d4 to determine the effect of the attack: 1: The target is dazed until the end of its next turn. 2: The target is stuck until the end of its next turn. 3: The target pops free from each enemy and moves away from the knight. 4: The target is confused until the end of its next turn. AC 25 PD 21 MD 19 HP 262

[withoutyouimsaskia]

Remember Me, Special Dreams

Part V.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25

GIF: Originally posted by @asleepinawell

Summary: Self-insert. You're having trouble with recurring night terrors and Morpheus pays you a visit. (Title from the lyrics of Placebo’s Special Needs)

Warnings: language, angst, mentions of night terrors.

Word Count: 1.2k

A/N: Hello there, hope you are all well. It’s been a while again but I have a very good reason, I promise. My partner and I have just bought a house and we’ve been very busy doing all those ‘adult’ things! I’ll try and get the next part out sooner. Have a great day, Saskia.

Sandman Masterlist

---------------

The ascent up the gloomy staircase was devoid of conversation. The single sound that carries through the narrow passage is a footstep ricochet, though these only appear to be generated by you.

It’s funny, you think, out the two of you it would have been more probable that Morpheus’ lace up boots would cause such a noise, rather than your bare feet.

Morpheus lets you lead the way. You are hyper aware of him maintaining a two-step distance behind you despite the fact that he moves soundlessly.

It is like he is a transmission and you are a receiver. Something keeps calling to you, prickling the outer layers of your mind, thrumming in your bones.

It's a heady, intoxicating sensation. One that tricks every neuron into thinking it's alive. You worry that it’s the kind of thing you could become dependent on, especially since it was infinitely better than the guilt ridden state you had been in for so many days now.

You are grateful when you complete your climb and have something to take away such consuming thoughts.

You push the door to your bedroom open and immediately take up residence on the bed. You drag the covers up to your hips and drink in the feeling of freshly washed linen on your skin.

Morpheus stands a polite distance from you.

You turn on the lamp and gesture for him to use the chair.

He sits gracefully, straightening up and staring at you with his transcendent eyes.

“May I ask you some questions?” You ask timidly.

“You may.”

"You're not a human, are you? Not really, even though you look like one."

"You are correct. I am not human."

"Are you a God, like in Norse or Greek mythology?"

"I am part of a family of entities known as the Endless. Seven siblings, all with different functions that serve humanity. I am the third sibling, Dream."

“Dream of the Endless.” You realise out loud, making sense of one of the monikers he told you yesterday.

"Yes."

“And your function is to create dreams and nightmares?”

He nods an affirmation before adding, “I provide a place for dreamers to explore their wants, forge their hopes and to face their fears.”

You decide right then that you love the way he constructs his prose. It sounds like a lullaby and a poem got married in a storm cloud.

Images of him sheltering in your porch after getting caught in a rain shower pop into your mind. Beads of water are dislodged from his dark, tousled locks as you pull him across the threshold and bring your lips-

You force yourself back out of your head again, distinctly hoping that he doesn’t see day dreams as well as night ones.

“Thank you for clearing that up, I really tried to listen last night but I couldn’t remember everything.”

“You are welcome.”

“One final question: Do you do this often? You know, come to people who are struggling to sleep.”

“I do not.”

You don't know whether to feel special or even more afraid than before.

“I’m going to be honest with you, I’m not even sure if there’s anything you can do to help me. I know exactly why I get like this and what causes it. Emotional overload plus moving from one stage of sleep to another equals parasomnia.”

“No, this is something else entirely.”

His intense response makes your mouth turn dry.

"I acknowledge that moving between sleep stages can cause abnormal activity in the nervous system often resulting in symptoms like sleep paralysis or confusion upon waking. In all these cases, the bodies remain here in the waking world and the minds are roaming the Dreaming. You, however, do not present in the same way.”

You shiver and pull your duvet further up to warm your torso.

Morpheus continues speaking.

“I have observed you several times during the state you call parasomnia and each time, I was unable to see you clearly. You were faded, flickering. Straddling the line between your realm and my own.”

“Have you ever seen anything like it before?”

“I have not.”

“Oh,” you say, feeling disquieted by his revelation.

You can tell by his body language that there is more he wants to divulge.

“There have been incidences in the past where dreamers have become so over stimulated by their dreamscapes that they have created seismic disturbances in the Dreaming. These have always been low level, anomalous and no cause for concern. You have been creating regular and impactful disturbances, gaining magnitude with each occurrence.”

You shake your head, feeling foolish. “Here was me thinking that you were just here because I was having bad dreams.”

“I apologise for my subterfuge. You were in pain and that needed to be addressed first.”

Your chagrin fades a little. “I forgive you... I think.”

A moment of silence passes between you as you digest everything he has said.

“Do you know why all this is happening, with the earthquakes and me glitching in and out of your realm?”

“You have a very high sense of lucidity when you dream. I suspected it from the very first moment we spoke, when you instantly rationalised that I was part of a dream. This was confirmed when I used my sand. You knew you were dreaming and you could remember details from our prior conversation very clearly.”

“Is that the purpose you mentioned on the mountain?”

“And to prove to you that I was real. I knew this would not work if you believed me to be a hallucination.”

You nod. Morpheus begins to talk again.

“I believe that your lucidity is allowing your mind to simultaneously occupy two planes thus creating the tremors, fuelling the severity of your reaction to the nightmares and convincing you that they have followed you into the waking world.” 

“So what now, what do you need to see to prove your hypothesis?”

“Now I need to see you in a nightmare.”

You close your eyes. You should have seen this coming. All the parasomnia episodes had involved nightmares.

Morpheus sees your hesitation but you jump in before he has a chance to respond.

“Couldn’t it just be a really bad bout of nightmares? I’m not exactly in the best headspace right now and I’ve always had nightmares when I’m feeling like this. Maybe they’ll just go away with time?” 

“Your abilities may be exacerbated by your emotional state but it does not guarantee that the stabilisation of one will lead the stabilisation of the other. I cannot risk this escalating any further for the sake of my realm.”

He says your name when a scared frown squeezes your forehead.

“I do not wish to force you to do this. I could use the sand but I would much prefer your consent.”

You take a breath, mouth opening in readiness to reply.

The answer dies in your throat.

“Please, Y/N?”

You stare at his perfect face.

This was such a bad idea.

“I consent.”

---------------------

"Flash that angle grinder smile. Gasp and roll your eyes."

Taglist: @pinkcyclewitch @layla2-49 @shoidy-cat @silverhart93 @boofy1998 @dotieeee

[pathfinderunlocked]

Mad Mallard - CR4 Monstrous Humanoid

Also known as Duck GI and Captain Duck.

Artwork is official art from Children of Mana, copyright Square Enix.

This is a recurring enemy from the Series of Mana video games. That's a flail in the artwork, not a ball and chain fettered to the duck's leg.

Mad mallards are angry, not insane. They're demihumans, and tend to live in small settlements on the shores of rivers and lakes, where they build only simple fragile wooden structures to live in, but spend far more time and effort building defensive siege weaponry and other military defenses. Their extremely militaristic and xenophobic nature makes them dangerous, but their appearance makes them hard for many people to take seriously. Mad mallards instinctively coordinate with each other very well, quacking orders and working in tandem like organized military units without requiring any actual training.

I included descriptions here of its teamwork feats, for ease of running the monster. Because there are so many of them, I separated them out into their own section in the stat block.

Mad Mallard - CR 4

This oversized duck-like creature walks on land and stands about waist-high to a human. It carries a heavy ball and chain that it swings menacingly with its wings, and it wears a metal helmet that covers most of its head, though its large duck bill sticks out from underneath.

XP 1,200 LN Small monstrous humanoid Init +2 Senses darkvision 60 ft; Perception +5

DEFENSE

AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 14 (+3 armor, +2 Dex, +1 size) hp 37 (5d10+10) Fort +3, Ref +6, Will +4 Defensive Abilities evasion, mallard helmet

OFFENSE

Speed 15 ft., swim 30 ft., fly 10 ft. (clumsy) Melee heavy flail +9 (1d8+4/19-20) Ranged pumpkin bomb +8 ranged touch (3d6+1 (+1d6+1 on crit) plus 4 splash fire damage, DC 13) (20 ft. range increment) Special Attacks pumpkin bomb (6/day)

STATISTICS

Str 16, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 8 Base Atk +5; CMB +7; CMD 19 Feats Broken Wing Gambit, Coordinated Defense, Coordinated Distraction, Duck and Cover, Improved Duck and Cover, Splash Volley Skills Acrobatics +5, Diplomacy -1 (+1 vs. mad mallards), Fly -4, Intimidate +5 (+7 vs. mad mallards, +1 vs. humanoids), Perception +5, Swim +15, Stealth +13; Racial Modifiers -4 Intimidate vs. humanoids Languages Aquatic SQ tandem tactics Gear Small-sized heavy flail, mallard helmet

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Mallard Helmet (Ex) A mad mallard's helmet functions as metal parade armor that is specially designed to fit a mad mallard, granting it a +3 armor bonus. Like most parade armor, it grants a +2 circumstance bonus on Diplomacy and Intimidate checks against members of the group that the armor is the uniform of; in this case, against mad mallards. This armor only fits Small humanoid-shaped creatures with avian heads.

Pumpkin Bomb (Su) A mad mallard has a stash of 6 pumpkin bombs per day which it can hurl at enemies, similar to an alchemist's bombs. Drawing the components of, creating, and throwing a pumpkin bomb requires a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity. Thrown pumpkin bombs have a range of 20 feet and use the Throw Splash Weapon special attack. On a direct hit, a pumpkin bomb inflicts 3d6+1 points of fire damage (although only 1d6+1 of this damage is multiplied on a critical hit or by using feats such as Vital Strike). Splash damage from a pumpkin bomb is always equal to the bomb's minimum damage (typically 4 damage). Those caught in the splash damage can attempt a DC 13 Reflex save for half damage. The number of bombs per day, damage, and save DC are Intelligence-based, and each include a +2 racial bonus.

Tandem Tactics (Ex) A mad mallard gains Broken Wing Gambit, Duck and Cover, and Improved Duck and Cover as bonus teamwork feats. Additionally, a mad mallard is treated as if it possesses the teamwork feats of its allies, even if it doesn't meet the prerequisites of those teamwork feats, as long as an ally who actually possesses the feat is taking part in the teamwork. (For example, if an ally has the Back to Back feat, a mad mallard and that ally gain the benefits of Back to Back as long as they are adjacent to each other, but two mad mallards adjacent to each other do not benefit from Back to Back while that ally is not adjacent to them.)

TEAMWORK FEATS

Broken Wing Gambit Whenever you make a melee attack and hit your opponent, you can use a free action to grant that opponent a +2 bonus on attack and damage rolls against you until the end of your next turn or until your opponent attacks you, whichever happens first. If that opponent attacks you with this bonus, it provokes attacks of opportunity from your allies who have this feat.

Coordinated Defense Whenever you are adjacent to an ally who also has this feat, you receive a +2 competence bonus to your Combat Maneuver Defense. This bonus increases to +4 if the creature attempting the maneuver is larger than both you and your ally.

Coordinated Distraction When you and at least one ally with this feat threaten the same enemy, the enemy treats the DC to cast spells defensively as 2 higher for each threatening character with this feat. If you or your allies are incapable of taking an attack of opportunity against the target for any reason, the effects of this feat do not apply.

Duck and Cover Whenever you are adjacent to an ally who also has this feat, and both of you are required to make a reflex saving throw against a spell or effect, you may take the result of your die roll or that of your ally (your modifiers still apply to the roll, regardless of which result you take). If you take your ally’s result, you are knocked prone (or staggered on your next turn, if you are already prone or cannot be knocked prone). In addition, you receive a +2 cover bonus to your AC against ranged attacks as long as your ally is wielding a shield.

Improved Duck and Cover Whenever you use Duck and Cover, your ally has evasion or improved evasion, and your ally’s saving throw roll succeeds, half of the damage you would have taken is transferred to your ally. (This damage is not reduced by the ally’s evasion or improved evasion.)

Splash Volley You initiate this feat whenever you throw a splash weapon into a square within the reach of an ally who also has this feat and miss your target. Rather than you rolling to see where the weapon lands, the abettor can try to redirect it as an immediate action by making a melee touch attack against any adjacent foe. If the abettor’s attack hits that foe, the splash weapon impacts in the nearest square the targeted foe occupies.

[awildofnothing]

Hades 2 continued thoughts (spoilers under cut)

Okay I got real carried away describing my first winning run below. It was ridiculous luck with boons though.

Anyone else finding themselves humming “I am gonna claw out your eyes and drown you to death” at work or out at bars? Lol. I feel little crazy whenever I catch myself.

I predicted in my earlier post after like 10 hours of play that Hades / Zag / other OG characters would become playable each time you defeated Chronos (as in, you’d get to free one member of the house of Hades for each defeat, and they’d then be playable for surface runs). This was obviously far fetched because it would multiply the work needed when developing the game, but I’m taking the brief moment where you pilot Hades in the flashback to Chronos’ takeover as confirmation and claiming I was right 🤷

I still think it would be cool if you did get to free one trapped family member at a time once you got to a certain number of defeats against Chronos- it would be a cool narrative way to justify repeated runs.

I’m still in love with Nemesis but I think I might be equally enamored with Moros. What a beautiful antlered man. I feel like him and Melinoe would relate so much with the constraints and expectations of their fated upbringings and distance from any actual closeness with family.

I was feeling super dejected after losing run #24 to Chronos when I had a frankly amazing setup. I imagined Melinoe would also feel dejected. Moros was so sweet and immediately lifted my spirits. Nemesis stomped on them extra and then continued to insult me even after winning. Perfect duo ❤️

Okay winning run thoughts:

1. Finally beat Chronos on run 27. Was pretty surprised it took me that long because around run 15 (with sprint and death defiance arcana unlocked and a good amount of grasp) it really felt like it should happen any run. There were a good number of surface runs mixed in there too so that made it take a little longer.

2. I think the biggest factor in me finally winning the Chronos fight, outside of getting the exact boons I wanted (more below), was realizing I do not actually want to be distant from him all the time in phase 1. Same as Hades, there are some attacks that are really only dodgeable if you dart through him.

2a. Also for phase 2, I made a rule for myself that I mostly shouldn’t be sprinting and it helped. Phase 2 is just about not panicking and planning your dashes to safety. Chronos himself does not do crazy damage in Phase 2, so if you stay safe from the moving terrain you are basically good.

3. I had only two boons at the end of second biome on this run (Hephaestus blast on attack and Apollo sprint- these alone carried my run). By the time I got to Chronos I had 7 poms on the attack blast and it was triggering for 200 damage in a small aoe every 3 seconds 🤯. Plus, using Melinoe staff, omega attack would trigger the blast and aoe on each mob that was hit.

4. This was mostly accidental lol. I had an epic cast boon in Erebus but Nemesis offered me a deal to trade it for 3 poms. I only had attack and cast so this seemed like a bad deal at the time; however I want her to destroy me romantically and physically so I was never going to say no to her. Then I realized my attack, which I’d aimed for with Heph’s trinket, was triggering more often instead of just for more damage and was like hold on… I can work with this.

5. Avoided all other boons except Zeus after that because I wanted blitz on special (the first chaos trial I’d just unlocked the run prior to this helped solidify this strategy in my mind because of the basically unlimited magic - blitz and blast on special and attack, 1-2 punch where special sets blitz and then omega attack blast triggers it) and just aimed for poms otherwise to see how quick I could make the attack cooldown for giggles mostly. Ended up being rewarded with a rare special blitz in the Mourning Fields after choosing a Zeus boss room over a normal Selene and hammer room, which felt amazing.

6. Idk why I’m typing all this out really, I don’t expect anyone to actually read through it. I don’t have anyone in real life to discuss it with so I’m shouting at the void I guess. It was very satisfying to struggle for a good 10 runs with Chronos and then have a few aha moments and basically beat him with full health and all death defiances the next run.

7. I understand better how to build high damage builds in hades 2 now. I feel like I had to actively avoid gods I wasn’t aiming for, sometimes choosing bones or grasp over boons. I used two god trinkets that run in the first two biomes and was intentional about what I wanted.

8. Forgot to even mention my girl Selene and the healing hex, which let me bank 11 charges of +35 healing going into the Chronos fight 😇. Also got Demeter’s freeze cast at the very end, and I could be wrong, but it seems to me like that one CCs even armored enemies??? Not just reduces movement speed to approaching zero like the cast, but stopping attack and other actions as well??? Seems OP and like either a big or something I misinterpreted in the frenzy of play, but I’ll test more later in a surface run.

[krowbby]

Hogfather footnotes poll, Part 2!

Since it's Hogswatch season, I'm back with another footnote poll! Hogfather has a ton of footnotes, so this has to be split into 2 parts :P Part 1 linked here!

Full text of each footnote plus a little context for each is below the readmore so this post isn't a mile long. Enjoy!

There had been people dressed up as pixies, and a picket outside the shop by the Campaign for Equal Heights.* *The CEH was always ready to fight for the rights of the differently tall, and was not put off by the fact that most pixies and gnomes weren’t the least interested in dressing up in little pointy hats with bells on when there were other far more interesting things to do. All that tinklywee stuff was for the old folks back home in the forest—when a tiny man hit Ankh-Morpork he preferred to get drunk, kick some serious ankle and search for tiny women. In fact the CEH now had to spend so much time explaining to people that they hadn’t got enough rights that they barely had any time left to fight for them.

Wizards didn’t go to bed early in any case,* *Often they lived to a time scale to suit themselves. Many of the senior ones, of course, lived entirely in the past, but several were like the Professor of Anthropics, who had invented an entire temporal system based on the belief that all the other ones were a mere illusion. Many people are aware of the Weak and Strong Anthropic Principles. The Weak One says, basically, that it was jolly amazing of the universe to be constructed in such a way that humans could evolve to a point where they make a living in, for example, universities, while the Strong One says that, on the contrary, the whole point of the universe was that humans should not only work in universities but also write for huge sums books with words like “Cosmic” and “Chaos” in the titles. †The UU Professor of Anthropics had developed the Special and Inevitable Anthropic Principle, which was that the entire reason for the existence of the universe was the eventual evolution of the UU Professor of Anthropics. But this was only a formal statement of the theory which absolutely everyone, with only some minor details of a “Fill in name here” nature, secretly believes to be true. †And they are correct. The universe clearly operates for the benefit of humanity. This can be readily seen from the convenient way the sun comes up in the morning, when people are ready to start the day.

[...] although no one now knows why, or why an extant bequest pays for one small currant bun and one copper penny to be places on a high stone shield on one wall every second Wednesday.* * The ceremony still carries on, of course. If you left off traditions because you didn’t know why they started you’d be no better than a foreigner. 

What Ponder was worried about was the fear that he was simply engaged in a cargo cult. He’d read about them. Ignorant* and credulous† people, whose island might once have been visited by some itinerant merchant vessel that traded pearls and coconuts for such fruits of civilization as glass beads, mirrors, exes, and sexual diseases, would later make big model ships out of bamboo in the hope of once again attracting this magical cargo. *Ignorant: a state of not knowing what a pronoun is, or how to find the square root of 27.4, and merely knowing childish and useless things like which of the seventy almost identical-looking species of the purple sea snake are the deadly ones, how to treat the poisonous pith of the Sagosago tree to make a nourishing gruel, how to foretell the weather by the movements of the tree-climbing Burglar Crab, how to navigate across a thousand miles of featureless ocean by means of a piece of string and a small clay model of your grandfather, how to get essential vitamins from the liver of the ferocious Ice Bear, and other such trivial matters. It’s a strange thing that when everyone becomes educated, everyone knows about the pronoun but no one knows about the Sago-sago. †Credulous: having views about the world, the universe and humanity’s place in it that are shared only by very unsophisticated people and the most intelligent and advanced mathematicians and physicists.

[...] and there’s this museum I read about where they found a pocket calculator under the altar of this ancient temple, you know what I’m saying? but the government hushed it up…* *It’s amazing how good governments are, given their track record in almost every other field, at hushing up things like alien encounters. One reason may be that the aliens themselves are too embarrassed to talk about it. It’s not known why most of the space-going races of the universe want to undertake rummaging in Earthling underwear as a prelude to formal contact. But representatives of several hundred races have taken to hanging out, unsuspected by one another, in rural corners of the planet and, as a result of this, keep on abducting other would-be abductees. Some have been in fact abducted while waiting to carry out an abduction on a couple of other aliens trying to abduct the aliens who were, as a result of misunderstood instructions, trying to form cattle into circles and mutilate crops. The planet Earth is now banned to all alien races until they can compare notes and find out how many, if any, real humans they have actually got. It is gloomily suspected that there is only one—who is big, hairy and has very large feet. The truth may be out there, but lies are inside your head.

The singers were halfway down Park Lane now, and halfway through “The Red Rosy Hen” in marvelous harmony.* *“The red rosy hen greets the dawn of the day.” In fact the hen is not the bird traditionally associated with heralding a new sunrise, but Mrs. Huggs, while collecting many old folk songs for posterity, has taken care to rewrite them where necessary to avoid, as she put it, “offending those of a refined disposition with unwarranted coarseness.” Much to her surprise, people often couldn’t spot the unwarranted coarseness until it had been pointed out to them. Sometimes a chicken is nothing but a bird.

I’m waiting for the Hogfather, thought Ponder Stibbons. I’m in the dark waiting for the Hogfather. Me. A believer in Natural Philosophy. I can find the square root of 27.4 in my head.* *He’d have to admit that the answer would be “five and a bit,” but at least he could come up with it. 

He’d always promised their mother that he’d look after Banjo,* *It had been Ma Lilywhite’s dying wish, although she hadn’t known it at the time. Her last words to her son were “You try and get to the horses, I’ll try to hold ‘em off on the stairs, and if anything happens to me, take care of the dummy!”

Wizards know when they are going to die.* *They generally know in time to have their best robe cleaned, do some serious damage to the wine cellar and have a really good last mea. It’s a nicer version of Death Row, with the bonus of no lawyers.

The Senior Wrangler hummed cheerfully to himself as he ran a comb through his beard for the second time and liberally sprinkled it with what would turn out to be a preparation of weasel extract for demon removal rather than, as he had assumed, a pleasant masculine scent.* *It was, in fact, a pleasant masculine scent. But only to female weasels.

“A whole sheep!”* *Which had died in its sleep. Of natural causes. At a great age. After a long and happy life, insofar as sheep can be happy. And would probably be quite pleased to know that it could help somebody as it passed away. 

The man went to shut the door but Arnold Sideways was ready for him and had wedged his boot in the crack.* *Arnold had no legs but, since there were many occasions when a boot was handy on the streets, Coffin Henry had affixed one to the end of a pole for him. He was deadly with it, and any muggers hard-pressed enough to try to rob the beggars often found themselves kicked on the top of the head by a man three feet high. 

[sextonsharpwinhalstead]

Top 10 ships of all time?

Of ALL time? Like canon or characters I just shipped regardless if they were written together?

Here are some that were canon in no particular order.

Lucius & Ivy (The Village) You can hate the movie all you want but you cannot deny the performances given by Joaquin and Bryce! They both would put themselves in harms way for other because of how much they loved each other. When he says, "The only time I feel fear is when I think harm may come to you." BIIIITCH and her telling her father if he died "All that is in me will die with him." Your teenage angst ships could never!

2. Matt & Claire (Daredevil) Once again solid acting and performances by Charlie and Rosario helped the ship grow legs but they had something palatable and even though, like Lucius and Ivy above, they only shared one kiss they put themselves in harms way for each other and I HATE the fact that they never properly dated. To this day I haven't seen that kind of mutual pining, and mourning over what they couldn't have as well as natural relaxation with any of the love interests given to either of them in the Marvel universe. When I think about chemistry I think about them A LOT!

3. Max & Helen (New Amsterdam) Speaking of natural chemistry it's hard not to notice what was happening between Max and Helen from the pilot episode of this show. Often their relationship was the only reason to watch, they resonated on and offscreen and the disintegration of that ship has left me extremely bitter.

4. Susan & Joe/Death (Meet Joe Black) Listen, I know people hated this movie and thought they could do better but the whole reason to watch this is to see how Death falls in love with a mortal and what he'd be willing to do to hold onto that. I loved all the scenes with Joe and Susan and even more when Joe became death. The scene by the pool is kind of amazing even though people talk shit about it too. I just love them.

5. Wanda & Vision (WandaVision) This ship doesn't have the same grit shown like the last four. We are told more than we are shown the relationship between Wanda and Vision but I will say anyone who is ends up taking over an entire town and manifests your dead body to be with is a ship I can't ignore. Plus I love Paul and Elizabeth and I do believe them.

6. Fleabag & The Priest (Fleabag) This show is rarely discussed and I hate that it doesn't have a bigger fandom. It's funny, and quirky, and it definitely has heart but nothing compares to season 2 when Fleabag and the priest met at her dad and step-mom's rehearsal dinner. They are doomed from the jump because...he's a priest, but their chemistry and their bond and his ability to get through her veneer of sarcasm is one of my favorite things to watch! Plus he exudes sexiness in his conflict as he rides the line on what's appropriate before ultimately crossing it.

7. Jake & Olivia (Scandal) I know...but their mess lives rent free in my head and is very much an inspiration for many of fics I've written.

8. Anthony & Kate (Bridgerton) They are one of my newest ships and I love the kind of enemies to lovers that they were. They very much felt like equals and although I will say he carries more of the chemistry than she does I still believe them and love them.

9. Rose & Dimitri (Vampire Academy) This ship is going to destroy me and you too if we let it. Another we can't be together because of duty even though it's ripping us apart ship and I signed up for it so now it's time to bleed.

10. Ralph Angel & Darla (Queen Sugar) Clearly I have a thing for ships where there is some torture and angst and unsaid and unspoken shit cause that's all I can say about why I love them. When Ralph Angel found out Blue wasn't his...chile. I still love them together.

[udaberriwrites]

Alright, let's do the headcanon asks for Meg in Hades!

Megaera

1: sexuality headcanon

Zansexual / Thansexual, erm, like all Greek deities in the game, she's above sexual attraction as humans understand it.

2: otp

Megaera/Thanatos/Zagreus, of course! I have zero complains about the way the game handles the relationship. They are equal partners who have learned to compartmentalize their jobs and personal lives; and even if they were to walk away at some point, they know that they'll always be welcomed back.

3: brotp

Megaera & Dusa. Which has nothing to do on Dusa being my fave. No, but seriously, I like this one a lot. We see them talking in the lounge sometimes and I feel like, as different as they are, it does make sense. Dusa has more than proven her loyalty to the House, plus she's very dedicated to her duty, both of which Meg would appreciate; and after some initial confusion, Meg's direct approach and self-confidence would likely register as safe for Dusa. So yep, I really love these two :D

4: notp

Probably Alecto or Tisiphone. Even though it's based on Greek myth, I love the estranged sisters narrative too much to really see this trio or any combination as a viable romantic option.

5: first headcanon that pops into my head

After the end of the game, Zagreus convinces her to go to the Gate once -- not to fight Hades, but just to show her the snow and a glimpse of the Living world as he sees it. Meg of course has gone to the surface before, but only to carry out justice, never just because. She has a pretty good time, even if she'll never admit it to Zag and Than.

6: favorite line from this character

"We may be immortals, but we're older now"

That's what tells me this time their relationship will be different :)

7: one way in which I relate to this character

Maybe how she keeps getting back up and returning to Tartarus to guard the entrance, no matter how many times Zagrwus makes it past. It's her job, so she'll do it to the best of her ability.

8: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character

After having a good enough build with the Mirror of Darkness, finishing the boss battle super fast, and the game still implying that it was an even battle 😅

9: cinnamon roll or problematic fave?

Are those my only options? She's very much not a problematic fave, but she's also too badass to be a proper cinammon roll. Uuuum, somewhere in the middle? xD