#FICTIONAL CHARACTERS AS WINE

[soffsketches]

Wines Inspired by Characters Henry Oak from Dungeons and Daddies [FULL EXPLANATION]

Starting off the series with one of my favorite characters from the podcast here's some notes I've written down for the wine.

Grape Type: So Henry having a vegetarian/vegan diet I wanted something that would pair nicely with this. There were mentions of foods like Trail Mix, Nuts, Mushrooms and dried oats and a few wines fit perfectly with this but since Chardonnay is known for it's buttery taste due to it's fermentation in OAK Barrels the choice was a bit obvious.

Dry or Sweet? Plus, this type of wine is known for being either sweet or dry depending on the temperature it was grown in. I feel like this reflects Henry's personality as he's both super sweet caring and very much a pacifist but also dry, angry and stressed.

Body So, the body reflects not only on the amount of alcohol the wine has but also, it's acidity, color and tannins.

Acidity is sour and makes your mouth water but tannins dry your mouth. That being said, medium body just means that there is a balance between both tannins and acidity and that it's within a 12.5%-13.5% alcohol level. Oaked Chardonnays are known for this.

The alcohol level is reflected on the amount of natural sugar the grapes have which can vary by the soil type, climate and variant. This does NOT reflect on the overall sweetness of the wine. Sweet wines usually have lower alcohol levels than bold wine since most of the glucose is broken up and fermented during the process there for making more alcohol.

Flavors and Aromas: Several sommeliers have explained that flavors and Aromas AND will vary depending on the pallet. There are a few that are more noticeable to several but others that aren't. That is part of the magic and art of wine tasting. That being said for Henry's Inspired wine I did use some fruits mentioned in his dialog during season 1. More specifically this quote:

What the freakin ding dang, gosh darn, dilly willy, heckin' shark tooth, banana chicanery, rootin' tootin', raspberry freaking FUCK are you two doing here?! -Henry Oak (Dungeons and Daddies Season 1)

Although banana and shark tooth aren't main notes for this wine, I feel like Henry would use these terms to describe it. Raspberry on the other hand WOULD be a nice main note, alongside the classic vanilla and Oak combo from classic chardonnay with a hint of green apple, Jazmin and general minerals. Those last three I feel reflect Oakville a lot beside the obvious OAK.

Bottle Design The main label reflects the physical appearance of the character both in its podcast cover and in the character's intro from Will Campos.

"Henry Oak is the Birkenstock rocking, crunchy, munchy, hippie, nature druid dad of the group."

Wanted to stick with the colors from the Cover art but with a more neutral tone so that it matches the colors and hue of this hypothetical wine.

Having the iconic Berkenstocks in the background on a rocky stone grown with vines growing around it, just felt like the perfect vision for Henry. And as a little homage to on of the several dadfacts I added a Trilobite insignia on the top of the wine cap.

Finally, I added the important info such as where it would have been produced, by what bodega and when. Obviously, Oakville in the Forgotten Realms would have been an interesting place to grow grapes. Bodega Daddies because it sounds both funny and well fitted and finally it's from 2019 because that's when Henry Oak first appeared in the first episode of that same year.

And I think that just about does it!!!

Thank you so much for reading and I'll be following up with the next wine of the series. Which character should I make a wine for next?

[rainbowpopeworld]

I found some pins that remind me of our ineffable motherfuckers 😈😇 Because I can’t do anything without thinking of them 🥹😅

Cat Edition:

[not-poignant]

Birthday Spotlight - Dr Gary Konowalous

[13th January - Capricorn]

Known first and foremost as the MVP of Falling Falling Stars, Dr Gary was a runaway hit even though he was never meant to be in anything more than a handful of reminiscences re: Efnisien's sessions with a psychologist who specialised in criminal juvenile behaviour, especially those who leaned towards murder, rape, arson and animal cruelty.

The Director of Hillview eventually came to be featured in the Underline the Rainbow alternate universe, an omegaverse where he is the Director of Hillview Omega Rehabilitation, a peak alpha, and the unlikely partner of Efnisien ap Wledig in an unusual m/m romance. Going from psychologist in one serial to lover and main character in another is a pretty big glow up!

‘You touch the lives of the people around you, Efnisien. In the past, all you saw was the negative ways you influenced them. I’m sure that will be the main way you orient to the world going into the future, though as I always say – we’ll work on it. But you do have an influence on the lives of the people around you. Sometimes it’s fleeting. But sometimes it’s meaningful, and important, and quite a remarkable thing. ‘I enjoy you as a client, not only because I enjoy the work we do together as a professional, but also because I enjoy the young man you are. You’re kind and compassionate, funny, and sometimes possessed with a very wicked sense of humour which I frankly find quite relatable. You’re insightful and courageous.’

Falling Falling Stars

Spoils of the Spoiled - A minor character referred to by name only, and the diagnostician of Efnisien ap Wledig, formally diagnosing him with Pure O (a form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).

Falling Falling Stars - Intended to only be a side character with minor cameos, Dr Gary quickly became the MVP of this long running serial, and was as much a star of this story as Efnisien and Arden!

The Moon is Down - A oneshot between Dr Gary and Mika from Falling Falling Stars.

Constellations - A Gwyn + Efnisien reconciliation story in the Falling Falling Stars universe.

Underline the Black - Main POV character alongside Efnisien ap Wledig. An enemies-to-lovers, alpha/alpha romance, with very unconventional dynamics and a significant (20+ year) age gap!

Underline the Gold - Cameo role

Underline the Blue - Cameo role

Underline the Red - More significant character here, and the unlikely antagonist

PhD of Psychology

Specialises in niche psychology (juvenile criminals/sociopaths in Falling Falling Stars, omega rehabilitation in Underline the Black)

Has a golden retriever - Polly - who is the goodest girl ever

He is dry, witty, dominating, a top, compassionate, insightful, bullish, heavy-handed, can be ruthless, and quick to apologise (though he has to be!)

Older. Age undisclosed in Falling Falling Stars, but he's 44 in Underline the Black.

The scene where he dropped absolutely everything to save Efnisien's life in Falling Falling Stars

Every time he's made Efnisien cry

Being so extra in an omegaverse that he's a literal "peak alpha."

Workaholic!

Consistently helping Efnisien realise the world can be a better place, usually after upsetting him a lot beforehand.

Dumping Efnisien into the ocean (just about) to snap him out of a dissociative episode.

The blue cup

His espresso + wine habit in Underline the Black

Chain-smoking his dead lover's cigarettes while moodily staring at the beach, in Underline the Black, like a 44 year old emo kid.

That good old PhD in psychology

He keeps his wry sense of humour

He always owns Hillview!

He cares deeply for Efnisien

Good dresser! Likes suits.

He pushes too hard

He has a strong sense of inner justice and equality

Needs a holiday

His appearance was intentionally never described in Falling Falling Stars so that people could imagine their own safe version of a psychologist! That's nearly 780k of never telling you his hair or eye colour, for example! Many people swear they know what he looks like, and are surprised to realise I never said a word about what he looks like in this story. Much to the rage and chagrin of fanartists (I'm sorry!)

Dr Gary's therapy sessions have inspired multiple readers to seek therapists of their own, and some people have described him as being the therapy they needed. Sometimes fiction just hits right, especially when Dr Gary's in the room. (He's a pretty annoying therapist though!)

I started shipping Efnisien and Dr Gary in the first 3 chapters of Falling Falling Stars, and then had to stop myself for the rest of the story to maintain their professional relationship. But in a way, the seeds for Underline the Black were sown a long time ago!

After typing 'Dr Gary' for so long in Falling Falling Stars, it took ages to train myself to write 'Gary' in Underline the Black! Thankfully it took Efnisien a while to get on board with saying 'Gary' instead of 'Dr Gary' as well. :D

‘Did you fuck me?’ Efnisien croaked, thinking he should be presenting a more macho image right now, but waking up to that dog touching him – and feeling a bit like he might be dying – was making it hard to manage much at all. ‘You would know if I’d fucked you,’ Dr Gary said, voice wry.

Underline the Black

[amphibious-thing]

we need more queer time travel stories actually

[pseudosaprophyte]

wasn’t gonna drink tonight but started thinking about helaena targaryen #yousldeservebetterbabygirl

[defiledtomb]

I have some time to kill before my friend arrives and I want to celebrate pride here too, SO, first to comment a gay ouroboros pairing gets a short drabble, posted within the hour!

GO!

[sunshowersanddandelionwine]

watching Jacob gellar’s analysis of cod’s inherent flaws and its use as a propaganda vehicle to keep myself from falling victim to said propaganda o7

[itstimetodrew]

Alright who is this man you keep reblogging

He is haunting my dash

Niles Time 😏

[jazajas]

do NOT go on a date with a Lady you met ON A CALL who's only interest in you is that you DIED and came back that is such a monumentally BAD idea buck 😮‍💨

[ofweave]

periodic disclaimer that any mystra bashing on this blog is a joke and as far as forgotten realms lore goes i find her an interesting and enjoyable character. i would go as far as classify myself as a mystra enjoyer (although i do find her portrayal and presence in bg3 weak but thats not here nor there).

she is, still, the villain of gale's (back)story very specifically. i find it annoying that people who view it that way or who are critical of the relationship between her and gale (in a 'it was not a healthy good relationship' sense not in the sense that it shouldnt exist in the text because what) are labelled as hysterical and jealous mystra-hating fangirls ??? i mean ????? huh ????? whuh ????

[vikkicomics]

Major Isenstein (when not wearing his 'everything is fine' smile). Character from my original Ww1 fiction Ottoway. Once Ottoway is complete he will be getting his own spin-off called 'Moth'. Lighting was inspired by Andrew Wyeth, particularly the Helga Cycle. Used David Bowie as a reference for the pose. Print on Red Bubble.

[bapydemonprincess]

Lau is very wine drunk best friend core

[vspin]

..

[zhoufeis]

I think we should make a distinction between those characters whom you've come to love due to their depiction, their writing, their development... and those characters whom you love the minute they walk onto your screen because they just entirely capture your heart with they way they talk, laugh, move. First loves on TV happen so rarely.

[iguessyouregonnamissthepantyraid]

Bestie, have you not played/seen Ace Attorney? Gumshoe is a dumbass, goofy detective that follows around the main antagonist prosecutor like a puppy and calls everyone pal. I feel like you'd enjoy him.

oh this explains SO much

[finleycannotdraw]

Oh I have read your opinion on Dettlaff and I agree. But I disagree on Syanna. Dettlaff is very unfairly treated by the creators. Game almost force us to kill him. Both main paths lead to killing vampire. Sparing him by not taking some ribbon is hard to achieve. Who knew how this ribbon works.Just look at the titles of endings. 'good' is when both sisters survives 'neutral' is when only one of the them dies, and 'bad' is with both sisters dead. What about Dettlaff. Creators treated him like connon fodder completely disregarding his character. Syanna is the real beast in this story. Only person out of mind would use a higher vampire who is like god compared to people. Syanna knew exactly how dangerous Dettlaff is and what he is capable of doing but she decided to use him anyway. This makes her even more idiot. Not to mention she is the reason Roderik of Dun tynn killed his own brother. she was responsible for bloodshed in Dun tynne.You cant blame gunpowder for exploding if you are the one playing with matches. But no she is poor and hurt because they threw her out from palace, its normal that in this situation you set beast on people. I let her die and felt no mercy. And I could never understand why according to Cdpr she is the one who should survive in this dlc. Moral of this story? You can commit the worst crime but if you have contacts you can get away with it. It's shame that Cdpr promotes such thing

Okay, I totally and completely respect your stance, and I agree with you on most points! Thank you for sharing. I appreciate you.

Dettlaff deserved better, there’s no two ways about it. He’s villainized for being blackmailed and manipulated, which I hate. Should he have killed people? No. There are a lot of factors that make this complicated, but the answer is no. But does he deserve to be killed? ALSO NO. I adore Dettlaff. The reason I started to like him was because Regis is so adamant that he’s a good person, and after reading the books and playing b&w I don’t trust anyone more than Regis. I feel like a lot of people are wary about Dettlaff because of how reckless/emotional he is, and because his main story dynamic is with Syanna, who is an abuse survivor and a young woman. His feelings were justified but his actions were inexcusable.

On the topic of Syanna now. I understand your reasoning for hating her and wishing her dead, but I just can’t agree that the ideal ending is for her to die. Was there an excuse or even a good reason for what she did? No. She crossed so many lines you could call her hatching practice. But. Does she deserve to be killed? I don’t think so either! In my opinion (this is just my opinion; you are not obligated to agree with me), she deserves consequences for her actions, but she also deserves to learn how her actions affected people, and she deserves closure, and being killed by Dettlaff is not a good or satisfying ending for her character. She wasn’t just thrown out of the palace, she was mistreated for her whole childhood and blamed for all of her family’s problems! That’s a lot of weight on a kid. She is acting out of a trauma response and likely has no grasp on what healthy coping looks like. Some of my friends have more sympathy for her because she’s a woman in a misogynistic, witch-hunting society, which I do understand, but it’s not enough for me to forgive her. Her feelings were justified but her actions were inexcusable.

Do you see the dilemma here?

I don’t think either of them deserve death. Dettlaff deserves to heal and remove himself from the horrible situation, and Syanna deserves the chance to be held accountable for what she’s done. Anna Henrietta is valid in her desire to see her sister heal as well, especially because she was one of the perpetrators of Syanna’s horrible upbringing. We also get to interact with Dettlaff and Syanna more personably than we do with Eredin or even Gaunter O’Dimm and Olgierd von Everec! Dettlaff comes to talk to Geralt and apologizes to him, as directly as he can in the present company, and we spend time with Syanna in the Land of a Thousand Fables. They’re both very flawed, human characters, and we get to see multiple sides of them, which is one of the things I love about their storyline.

But again. They’re coming from entirely different places here. Syanna was abused as a child and decided to get a higher vampire to fall in love with her, then staged her own kidnapping to manipulate him into killing people who’d wronged her in the past, even though they weren’t her original abusers and we know Dettlaff wouldn’t kill anyone if he had a choice in the matter. Dettlaff? Well, he killed five men. And then he apologized for it, and said that he was just doing what he was told in order to ensure his lover’s safety. Dettlaff did way less direct harm than Syanna, and was much quicker to take responsibility for it. As far as I remember, Syanna hasn’t apologized for anything she did. So basically, I don’t think she deserves to die, but you’re totally valid in thinking that she does.

However, I will say without a doubt that the ending I will ALWAYS go for is the one where Syanna dies and you let Dettlaff go. It’s the best one in my opinion, but I still don’t like it. Someone else has said before that the point is that none of the endings were actually “good,” but this felt different to me. I wouldn’t say that CDPR is promoting that message, but I do wish that you as the player had more agency in what happens, and I wish there was an ending that actually felt good to get.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about this! It’s one of the things I’m very passionate about in this game, and the reason I’ve started to write a fix-it fic.

If anyone disagrees with what I’ve said, feel free to say so! Just remember to be respectful. :)

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.