#High School stage combat

[rakstagecombat]

Banting Memorial HS (SCDSB)

"We are so happy we hired Chris James to teach a 2-day Stage Combat workshop! Having a change of voice is always great for the students, and Chris knew his stuff! He was very kind and approachable, knowledgeable, engaging and fun! Chris was professional and clear on instructions. He was communicative, affordable and easy to book. Banting Memorial HS would be happy to have him back in future years and highly recommend him for other's looking to book an in-class workshop!" ~ Julie Robertson

[wordswithkittywitch]

Not to go off on a tangent, but I'm about to. I want to pull this video back in time nineteen years, wow everyone with the smartphone I just pulled out of my pocket to watch it on, and then tell my health class, "See? See?! THIS is what I'm talking about! When I say 'renfaire actors are attractive', I'm talking about the skinny young whippets like this who do the fight scenes, so you can admire agile young men and women in swooshy cloaks waving around swords with their hair going all fluttery like an anime character. Come on! Lord of the Rings just came out, and we all want Legolas!" As an adult, I can look back on that conversation and realise that when they said "The most attractive profession is a construction worker." and I said "The most attractive profession is a renfair actor." we were both picturing a young fit man as the attractive person and a strongly built but older and probably badly groomed person as the unnattractive person. In any case, we were all horrified. Also, I want to ask my health teacher what he thought putting the boys and girls into groups and getting them to describe the most attractive person possible was going to accomplish, especially since at least one of them (me) turned out to be queer. Wait, no, he showed the video he got the idea from when we reached a completely different conclusion than he expected, and in the video they said, "Describe the manliest man and the womanliest woman." and he instructed us to "describe the most ATTRACTIVE man/woman". Anyway, he wasn't a competant health teacher to begin with, this is the same man who I asked, when he was describing mental illnesses, "So if schizophenia is hearing people talking when they aren't there and MPD (it's been reclassified, but this was 2004) is being other people, what is it when you're trying to fall asleep and hear people you've talked to over the course of the day whispering all around you?" and he said, "That doesn't happen." and I said, "Of course it does, it happens to me almost every night." and I got to deal with the entire class thinking I had a new and special mental illness that hadn't even been classified yet for the rest of the year. (I mean, I did turn out mentally ill, but that's not a symptom, night whispers is just what your brain putting conversations you had that day into long-term memory sounds like to some people. In case you have that and wonder if you're losing your mind.) ...I feel like there's that picture of a horrified McDonald's worker in my future. Sorry about the tangents.

I had a fantastic time working with Jack Stockdale-Haley of Jack of All Blades! It’s a huge testament to his skill and patience that we were able to get these clips despite my complete lack of stage combat experience!

For more clips from these sessions, art references, archery tutorials, and more, please consider supporting my Patreon

[fear-is-truth]

i can imagine singer reader. her origin story is dating rodrick in hs, and for a few of their gigs, they let her sing on stage which led to them gaining much more traction (obvi a girl with a gorg voice!!!).

loded diper never made it past highschool, and honestly they never intended it to. but, now !reader has a band. and i can just see it all so clearly, and i fear i am not making this ask clear at all but i can't think of how to word it.

INTRODUCING… SINGER!READER

faded loded diper shirt, sleeves torn off. flannel shirts (stolen from her boyfriend), chunky rings, silver. nails painted blacked or chipped, depending on the day. torn fishnets, combat boots and converse. black eyeliner, done by rodrick (she insists he does a better job than her). monster energy in hand. hole, bikini kill, joan jett—riot grrrl anthems. keychains hanging from her bag.

it all started in his parents’ basement. sticky floors, tangled cords, and amps turned up way too loud. rodrick let her sing one night as a joke, but the second her voice hit the mic, everyone stopped laughing. even him.

they started letting her on stage for a few gigs. she was known as “the girl” in the band. the reason loded diper started pulling bigger crowds. the guys teased her about it, but they all knew the truth—people weren’t coming for the music. they came for her.

they stayed together, even after loded diper fell apart. high school ended, rodrick got into college and even managed to get a part-time job—something she never thought he’d actually do. the bandmates drifted off.

but she didn’t stop. couldn’t stop.

she still has the loded diper shirt he gave her, the sharpie had faded, but she never got rid of it. keeps it folded in a drawer with her other relics from high school—the setlists scribbled on notebook paper, a few grainy photos, the drumstick he broke during one of their best shows.

now, she has a band of her own. inspired by hole, bikini kill, avril lavigne and joan jett. monster energy cans scattered across their shared apartment. a lipstick-stained coffee mug on the amp. her guitar case is covered in stickers, but her favourite says, “don’t be a groupie, be a rockstar”

she’s the one chasing her dream now, playing shows in sweaty little venues while he works and drums in his free time. her boyfriend shows up to every gig, leaning against the back wall with his arms crossed, pretending he isn’t as proud as he is. sometimes, rodrick still misses being on stage with her. watching her take over the crowd while he kept the beat behind her. but he knows this is her moment, and he wouldn’t trade it for anything.

 fear-is-truth — all rights reserved. do not modify, repost, translate, or plagiarise my content.

[thelikesofus]

Buddie Fic Recs

This is my 5th Buddie Rec List! I started compiling this list last April and omg looking back through them now I desperately need to reread them all. Highly recommend all of these fics, also please show the authors some love in their comments xx Happy Easter lovelies <3 REMINDER TO CHECK THE TAGS AND TRIGGER WARNINGS

where our eyes are never closing by @rewritetheending | T | 6k

After the lightning strike, Buck asks Eddie to take candid photos of him to help prove to Buck that he still exists. Absolute PEAK Softness. Buck through Eddie's eyes! I was a mushy puddle by the end. 10/10 would recommend. 

i got all my sisters with me by @useramor | T | 6k

Established relationship Buddie. Eddie’s sister has a baby and they travel down to Texas to meet the baby. DIAZ SIBLINGS UNITE! Seriously though the sibling dynamic in this is off the charts and Buck and Eddie are sickeningly in love, it is quite beautiful.

meet me where the tide comes in by @iinryer | G | 4k

A 3+1 fic about Eddie getting kissed on the head. FOREHEAD KISSES PTSD MORE HEAD KISSES AND BOYS IN LOVE!! Need I say anything more??

The one where Buck gets turned into a dog by @911onabc | G | 9k

Law Suit era BUT WAIT WAIT….DOG BUCK!! I am a sucker for fic where one of them gets turned into an animal. They are much more free with their affection when they think it's just a dog, or just a cat, and the bond between Eddie and "Boy" is so so wonderful. And I do love a happy ending xx

can't do this anymore (do it anyway) by @chronicowboy | T | 2k

Short and sweet but GOD this packs a punch. Eddie starts dating after the lightning strike and Buck is feeling Big Bad about it. He is so sad it truly breaks my heart but all works itself out in the end and Eddie proves Buck’s fears wrong.

We Found Each Other (Over There)  by @thekristen999 | T | 46k

Buddie WWII AU. A combat medic and a G.I. meet during one of the world’s greatest battles. This fic is a legitimate masterpiece. I cannot describe to you the quality of this fic because it is beyond words but I will tell you I stayed up until 3:30 am to finish it in one sitting and was left broken but made so so whole again. 

the mortifying ordeal of being known by @the-amber-raven | G | 60k

AU where Bobby is Buck’s adoptive Dad and Eddie is dating Buck but Eddie and Bobby think they are talking about two different people. Buck is training at the fire academy but hiding it from Bobby. This fic is the most beautiful tangle of miscommunication, love and family. 

like all good things are by @try-set-me-on-fire | T | 7k

Perfect, amazing, soul-destroying, magical, healing Fic. This literally covers all the bases. Chim and Bobby both get injured. OH! and Buck and Eddie were secretly dating all along. READ THIS FIC PEEPS!

find a way to you (if it kills me) by @eddiediazes  | M | 19k

The one where Eddie decides to start dating again, Buck figures out his own feelings just a minute too late, and then he spends a week going through the five stages of grief. BUCK PINING LV.10000000!

and i’d choose you (in a hundred lifetimes) by @monsterrae1 | E | 16k

Amnesia Exes fic by the wonderful Rae. Buck and Eddie fall in love via a penpal program and then Buck vanishes. This fic is set four years later. I literally could not put it down. I was reading it in class and then sat in my car for who knows how long just to finish it because I could not continue my day without knowing how it ended.

he never thinks of me (except when i'm on TV) by @loserdiaz | M | 18k 

APRIL'S FAMOUS!BUCK AND ARMY!EDDIE FIC!! In which Eddie finds out years later that his unrequited feelings for his high school best friend were not actually unrequited, Buck is stupidly famous now and they pine. OH THEY PINNNEEEEE! It’s delicious. 

every time we stop talking (the universe starts screaming) by @chronicowboy | M | 21k 

Alternative S7, Buddie Divorce Era Pt.2. Buck does something reckless and Eddie gets angry about it but these boys cannot communicate effectively to save their lives! This fic is peak angst to a happy ending and I felt like I had a hole in my chest OMG.

left your mark on this heart by @chronicowboy | G | 5k

Buck gets medically diagnosed with butterflies and the doctor makes him write in a notebook every time it happens. Surprise, surprise, the cause and effect is Eddie-related. The notebook entries kill me in the best way, the happiest happy ending

ALSO, YES THIS IS THE THIRD FIC BY THE SAME AUTHOR ON THIS LIST WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT?? READ IT IS WHAT! COS THEY'RE SO DAMN GOOD. 

endless numbered days by @cal-daisies-and-briars | G | 13k 

Buck and Eddie's wedding but from Bobby's POV as Bobby reflects on the family he lost and the one he gained. Absolutely beautiful, I cried.

don’t wanna let you love somebody else but me by @shitouttabuck | T | 14k

Chris wants dating advice so obviously Buck and Eddie decide to Fake Date for research purposes. This fic is PEAK adorable, sappy, and awkward Buddie. They’re idiots but we love them and the certainly love each other. READ THIS FIC! 

[sleepisoverrated]

My headcanons about Dick Grayson

Dick Grayson is smart.

Like I hate it when they make him a dumb bimbo, he's hot yes he knows it, but he also has been hacking into the Pentagon for fun since he was ten, survived Spyral and several almost apocalypses. I know it's cannon since no Bat is dumb, but some fics, SOME FICS, make him look like he never went to school.

Dick Grayson knows so many languages.

I assume due to the fact that he grew up in a traveling circus he already knew a lot of languages(even if his english was bad when his parents died), but due to being robin and Bruce Wayne's ward he learned basically all major languages on Earth( and some alien) like Romani, German, French, Russian, English, Italian, Greek, Spanish, Irish, Finish, Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Indian, Latin, backwards speech(Zatara), Tamoranian(i think that's how you spell it), Kryptonian, speedster(when speedsters talk super fast) and so on.

Dick Grayson has at least some immunity against Fear toxin(Ft), Joker venom(Jv).

And most of the other poisons due to constant exposure since he was 9, also when he was younger there were no antidotes for Ft and Jv so he learned how to ride them out without a sound. (You can't tell me it hasn't fucked him up somehow, like a 9 y/o being constantly exposed to these things HAS to have some consequences and while he has his immunity I also think he has extreme anxiety( like all the bats a.k.a. Bat paranoia) and constant panic attacks(next headcanon))

Dick Grayson is a master at controlling his body.

Besides the fact that he probably learned acrobatics before he could walk and was a stage performer(always smiled even if the performance got off the rails) I also think he has taught himself complete control of his body due to far too many close calls. He learned to control each muscle individually for combat under high-stress situations(where he most needs that control). This had a side effect of him being able to control his face muscle/expressions and body language. He became the best actor there will ever be, because he can keep a smile on his face even if he is in excruciating pain, he can look completely calm and relaxed even though he is having a panic attack and the opposite is true as well he can look completely terrified even though he is amused. Because of this you need to know him extremely well to tell if he's in distress(the only people so far are Alfred, Damian and Slade(he's obsessed))

Anyway if you want more of the headcanon's just say, Nightwing is one of my favourite characters I can rant about him much longer.

[burstfoot]

which Operator in your opinion has the biggest disparity between game performance and lore strength?

Weak in-lore, strong in-game: Goldenglow is a hairdresser who has never once experienced combat, takes elementary-school level arts classes to control her (admittedly uniquely powerful, but uncontrolled and wild) arts, and generally has no desire to be on the battlefield, to the point that multiple of her lines are about her panicking or being baffled you select her for combat. In game, she's a 6-star caster who can directly target any enemy from anywhere on the map with pinpoint precision, and is one of the best casters in the entire game. Strong-in-lore, weak in game: Santalla, who many people thought would be a 6-star before Black Forest came out, with a reputation for a legendarily strong control over snow and ice, and a kill count on trained Ursus soldiers potentially in the dozens - is a 5 star splash caster, who, while she has an admittedly strong S2 if you know how to use it, suffers from all of the drawbacks other splash casters do - long attack interval, unreasonably high DP cost, etc.

Honorable Mentions: Weak-in-lore, strong in-game: Upcoming Zuo Le, who is a very young Yanese soldier and not particularly strong as of Vernal Winds: The strongest Musha in the entire game, powercreeping the hell out of Hellagur, who is a very experienced and trained war-veteran

Ch'en the Holungday: Ch'en is very experienced in combat. However, I don't think her putting on a bikini and getting a pressurized water gun would logically make her an infamously overpowered unit Penance: Just a judge with no combat experience, incredibly tanky and able to solo the Patriot stage all by herself in-game. U-Official: Her self-stun ability sounds silly, but being able to stun enemies for that long at 3dp and 0 deployment cost is actually one of the strongest abilities in the game and has saved me from leaking on multiple IS stages. In lore she is a stupid streamer who's money hungry and can't do fucking anything, but she's probably the strongest 1 star unit.

Strong-in-lore, weak-in-game: Rosmontis is an extremely powerful telekinetic caster who can tear buildings apart with her arts, but in-game, her subclasses mechanics mean she's handicapped by basically any enemy with above-average defense, on top of being entirely incapable of hitting aerial units.

Scavenger & Projekt Red: Both members of Kal'tsits personal special execution squad - neither are particularly bad units, but being a member of S.W.E.E.P. should probably realistically put you above 4 and 5 stars respectively. Dusk: A fragment of Sui, able to create pocket dimensions to trap people for extended periods of time within her art, a ridiculously powerful ability: Suffers from many of the same problems as Santalla being a splash caster, but at least her module and being a 6-star makes her better. Most accurately powerful unit: Logos, who in-game is the King of the Banshees and has legendarily powerful arts, is probably the strongest caster in the entire game on CN right now.

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

*steps on stage nervously*

Uhh.. umm. Uhhhhh

Spidey Academy AU!!

Like Xavier's School for Gifted Children, Miguel - a Spider-person fond of kids, opened a Spidey-Science Academy, for the Spidey-people of the universe

It's not like a high school. There's five years and the years are not really sorted by age - but by experience.

So Hobie would be a year 3 - a middleclass-man

Pavitr is a year 1 - a freshman

And the classes, are all based on honing your Spider-powers and senses.

There's assignments, things you have to take home and do.

They're give you a fake evil Doc Ock chip and have you decode it and make it good again (like Peter in No Way Home).

Or they ask you to stop a petty robbery without using your webs. You have to bring in the Daily Bugles article on you the next day and they grade you on that.

(Hey say what you want but Jonah reports the facts he just talks a lot of shit)

Any class a Spider-person needs, they have.

You name it-

Home Ec? No. Sewing and Suit Repair Class

Gym? No. Swinging & Strength Endurance

Science? ALL ADVANCED. Freshmen's take Advanced Spider-biology and have to learn ALL the different Spider-variations and illnesses Spider-people can get. Multiversal Physics.

All of the honor classes are FULL.

There's also other helpful ones like Firefighting Training and Sign Language (both mandatory), hence how Insomniac!Miles is completely fluent in ASL.

Oh - also. Because Miguel is such a tight-ass -

UNIFORMS. Sweater vests over pants or shorts. (No skirts cause they still be upsidedown and shit)

You have to bring your mask everyday. It's like your ID card

y'all ever had that? Like y'all needed an ID to get into school and if you didn't have it they charged you? Like money? My school did that we also had metal detectors like the airport I'm so deadass this was just a normal public school - I'm getting distracted, anyway-

Of COURSE Ms.Jessica Drew is Assistant Principal. OF COURSE she also teaches Advanced Combat and Strategies class.

And YES she's a hard-ass grader. Has never given a 100% in her life. On some 'This was the best thing I've read in my entire teaching career but you forgot to indent on paragraph 5 so 99%'

She doesn't give a fuck about your GPA!!!

Unlike Mr.Peter B. Parker.

He makes people call him 'Professor PB'. He wants to be the cool teacher.

His classroom is SO FUN during lunch time. Probably runs the anime and manga club. He's that really nerdy teacher that you don't expect to be like "I know what anime is! I grew up on Dragon Ball 😁

His class are always fun but SO chaotic. Still wears sweatpants sometimes. He's the Science teacher.

And every year they take class photos and there's a Spidey homecoming where everyone parties on the walls in cute outfits.

CAN YOU SEE IT?

Swinging Team instead of Track and Field???

CAN YOU IMAGINE IT?

MIGUEL AS PRINCIPAL???

LYLA BEING THE LOUD SPEAKER ANNOUNCER?

[vee1021]

The Sekai Association,

a Project Sekai x Project Moon au

Info on the Association and Miku under the cut

The Sekai Association

Run by Hatsune Miku, a Color fixer, the Association deals in all around work, from policing backstreets to stopping Distortions.

The Associations five Directors are all close friends of Miku, but are also respected Fixers in there own right.

Director of the North Section, KAITO

Director of the South Section, MEIKO

Directors of the West Section, Kagemine Rin and Kagemine Len

Director of the East Section, Megurine Luka

They have five main subsidiary Offices under them, being the Shooting Star Office, Leaping Office, Vivid Office, Showtime Office, and Midnight Office

Head of Sekai Association, The Turquoise Melody, Hatsune Miku

Mikus body is completely mechanical, and she owns multiple bodies for each situation, such as policing and long range battles, as well as the other other 5 directors

Her main body, named Original, is designed to be both thin and sturdy, though it is really meant for daily tasks,this body is not as fit for as the others. She wields a sword and microphone, both able to release debilitating sounds to deafen and confused opponents, though only used when needed.

Her long ranged combat body, named Empty, is designed to be able to move fast and withstand hard shocks, as this body's main weapon is a high-caliber sniper rifle that produces a deafening bang, at the detriment of an immense kickback when fired.

The body meant for policing areas, named Street, is designed to be able to take a beating and damage, and is thus much taller and broader than the other bodies. This body wields a riot shield and spear, and the shield is able to emit a loud screech to disable and immobilize opponents, basically creating a wall of sound.

The body meant for large groups, called Stage, was created for crowd control, and is built tall and broad, but not as much as Street, she wields a large poleaxe, meant sweeping opponents out of the way and to create loud crashes when hitting stone and concrete.

The Wonderland body, created to deal with escaped Abnormalities and rampaging Distortions, is built incredibly dense and strong, but also incredibly thin and lithe, meant to be able to take them on single handedly. This body wields a large battle ax, meant to carve chunks of flesh and break bones when attacking

The final body, the Starlight body, was created to deal with small groups, was built neither lithe or broad, but average sized, meant to be able to fight and adapt in situations, Miku fights with the same sword and microphone of the Original body.

(I am not going to call the last one the School body, because it doesn't make as much sense as the others and it sounds weird.)

(I need a better name for MMJs Office please)

[anim-ttrpgs]

"All our projects" so there's other ANIM projects in production? anything you're able to talk about?

Yes, we plan to have a long-running career in the TTRPG space, and have several backburnered!

I’m just gonna rapid-fire these off the top of my head. We don’t know exactly which one of these is coming after Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is fully released, because it is actually our patreon subscribers that vote on that.

Mastadon(title pending)

Yes, this is intentionally misspelled though we might change that in the future in case it hinders search results and stuff. This is a world where dark fantasy and 90s retro-futurism collide, literally. Think of knights with machine guns, space marines with enchanted swords, high-calibre rounds leaving dents in mythril breastplates, and men-at-arms on cybernetic horses. In the distant future of 2016, a scientific experiment on a lunar research station opened a portal to another world. At the same time, in a dimension of sorcery and feudalism, a council of wizards opened a portal to another world, and explorers from each land found themselves in the same mysterious place.

Cultures and technologies have clashed and mixed in these mysterious lands since. The PCs are mercenaries, taking odd, usually violent, jobs to get by.

Gameplay-wise it’s largely a combat-focused dungeon crawler emulating retro-FPS combat in TTRPG form, with an emphasis on making every type of gun feel totally unique by tying them to entirely different dice mechanics, which in turn makes warriors using these guns strategize entirely differently.

Bone Grinder

Bone Grinder is a “dumber” game, but still with an emphasis on combat. It has a notably more punk and metal aesthetic. Imagine a rocker with a mohawk and leather jacket killing a demon with an axe guitar that is also actually an axe. One of the core mechanics is that players will “bone” the game master by “throwing the bones” at them, which means literally trying to hit them with dice. A successful hit will add a bonus to whatever dice roll comes up when the thrown die lands. When it is the monsters’ turns, the game master will throw that same die right back at them. So if you throw a D6, that’s a D6 attack coming back at your PC next turn. If you throw a D20, that’s a D20 attack coming back at your character next right, so you better make it count, better kill ‘em in one shot!

(We recommend using plastic dice for this one, no metal dice!)

Death Bed

This is another working title, and it is a very serious attempt to emulate Dark Souls and Dark Souls style combat in a turn-based TTRPG in response to the abysmal Dark Souls: The Role-Playing Game that was just a lazy D&D5e book.

This game will be a bit more OSR-y, with D20 roll-under mechanics like old-school D&D for skill checks, and very simple attack determinants. It will have an emphasis on predicting enemy movement, stamina management, and choice between blocking or dodging attacks. It will also feature a system whereby the PCs are not permanently dead after being killed, but do “hollow” after each death. There are several stages of hollowing, each with downsides and upsides. Fully alive PCs will be more nimble, alert, and powerful, but stand out more to mindless hollow enemies, drawing more aggro. More hollowed PCs will have stat debuffs, but hollows are less likely to attack other hollows, giving them less aggro priority. Of course, if a PC dies too many times without restoring their life force, they will become a mindless hollow themselves, becoming an enemy that the party must slay if they want to recover that PC’s equipment.

Untitled Mushroom Game

A working title of course. This game takes a lot of inspiration from the earlier Paper Mario games, and like Bone Grinder, it will have actual physical things you can do with the dice to gain bonuses to your characters’ attacks, which is meant to emulate the “action commands” from Paper Mario in TTRPG format. One example would be building a larger dice pool for an attack based on how many D6s you can stack into a tower before they fall down, with the tower falling down constituting the rolling of the dice.

Eureka Adventure Modules Vol. 2

(Vol. 1 is the set of adventure modules that are coming with the Kickstarter.) Eureka fully releasing won’t mean we’re done with it. We plan to support all of our games for as long a time as possible with new adventure modules and other supplements. (But expect the other supplements to be very cheap if not outright free. We don’t want to make Eureka a game where you have to buy 15 $50 books just to have the full experience.) This will be a set of 5, 10, maybe more pre-written adventure modules for use with Eureka. For a few teasers, one of our ideas features the PCs getting stranded in the Mojave desert, one of them features the PCs getting trapped in underground drainage tunnels with a mysterious creature stalking them, and more horrifying mysteries.

The Eureka Mobster Manual

Another working title, but it’s pretty catchy. This will act as a “monster manual” for Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, featuring prémisse stats and GMing advice mundane NPCs like cops, mafia enforcers, hapless bystanders, etc. and also actual monsters, both human and inhuman. One of the monsters I am most excited about introducing is actual demons. Not just some red guy with horns, in fact they’re likely to be completely invisible. I know this term gets thrown around a lot by people who don’t know what it means, but in Eureka demons will be more “biblically accurate.” Think more The Exorcist and less DOOM. A demon doesn’t want to go “blahrarawa!” and kill you, a demon wants to gradually talk you into killing yourself. This also may feature additional playable monsters, such as the gorgon and dullahan(Kickstarter stretch goals for the main rulebook that I don’t think we’re going to meet unfortunately), plus others if we can come up with more.

Overdose

A working title again. This will be a large collection of “drag-and-drop” tactical combat encounters for Eureka, for when a GM needs a fleshed out and challenging final showdown between the PCs and the bad guy goons. These will feature plenty of cover, alternate routes, and “woo roll elements”(stuff that can get knocked over, exploded, destroyed, etc. by stray bullets, thereby changing the environment in exciting and unexpected ways.). All of this is so that the GM doesn’t have to come up with all the complexities of a good Eureka combat encounter on the fly.

That’s about all I can think of right now. After Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is fully released and the dust is settled, we will hold a vote with out patreon subscribers to find out what the fans most want us to work on next.

However, all of these things that I have mentioned are in a very raw state of completion, or even just in the idea stage. If you want to see all these projects, and more, release in the coming years, then RPG-making needs to be a long-term viable career for us. I, personally, am disabled and have a very hard time finding regular, sustainable work at “real jobs,” so this is especially important for my financial future. It’s about the only (marketable) skill I’m good at, and it’s something I enjoy doing, so I’m making this push now for my future.

The best way you can make this a viable long-term career for us is to support the Eureka Kickstarter (only 24-hours left at the time of posting this), buy our games, and subscribe to our Patreon.

The more successful the Kickstarter is, not only does more art and stuff get added to the Eureka rulebook and adventure modules, but the more buzz it generates, and the more buzz it generates the more journalistic support and more financial support we get. Even if it’s just for charity purposes to help me pay future bills when I can’t hold a normal job, pledging $10 is enough to get your name in the Eureka rulebook, and if you can’t give anything, we totally understand—we’d rather you put food on your table than go broke supporting our dreams. If you can share the Kickstarter to discord servers and the like in the last 24 hours of its crowdfunding window, or just share news of the game with people after the Kickstarter closes, that is a huge huge help on its own.

We, and especially I, am thankful beyond my ability to express in words for how much support the Kickstarter has already gotten, and the patreon subscribers whose support paid for all of our advertising budget to get Eureka as well-known as it is. This is a project of extremely professional scope and calibre, and I’m proud to say that we probably shouldn’t have been able to pull it off with as small a team as we are, we’re just that talented and persistent, but no matter how talented or persistent we are, it is the fans and supporters that make it possible for us to pursue a creative career. Thank you all.

24 hours left on the Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy Kickstarter, crowdfunding closes at 2:00 PM CST on Friday, May 10th! That’s mid-day tomorrow! Please support it while you still can! If you’re reading this after the Kickstarter has closed, you can support us through ko-fi or patreon, and if you’re a $5 subscriber or more to our patreon, you will get regular PDFs of increasingly finished beta versions of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy and its adventure modules as we continue to work on finishing it using the Kickstarter money.

You can also help us by checking out our merchandise!

If you just want to play, you don’t have to pay. You can get a beta PDF of the Eureka rulebook plus character sheets and adventure modules FOR FREE from our website or itch.io page.

Join our TTRPG Book Club We nominate, vote on, and split into groups (based on schedule compatibility) differnt indie games, then discuss, just like a book club! Plus it’s just a great place to discuss and play new TTRPGs you might not be able to otherwise!

We hope to see you there, and that you will help our dreams come true and launch our careers as indie TTRPG developers with a bang by getting us to our base goal and blowing those stretch goals out of the water, and fight back against WotC's monopoly on the entire hobby. Wish us luck.

[applesaucesims]

The sun had started setting behind the clouds, as Emma and Niall finally made their way up the frosty path leading to the Brindleton Ballet School. It was a pompous building by the sea, standing near the edge of a cliff, and despite its name, it was also home to one of the biggest theatres in the country.

To combat the cold, Emma had thrown on a new fur shawl over her golden evening gown, but she still much preferred leaning on Niall's body heat to warm up. Once inside, she would rid herself of the fur along with her hat, keeping them safe at the wardrobe, while her and her husband would enjoy the show.

The ballet was a new rendition of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Emma and Niall loved every second of it. It was as if the dancers were floating across the stage, making the entire scene come to life, even watching from loge seats high above the stage.

Of course, Emma particularly enjoyed the set design. The carefully painted backgrounds and props seemed to work in perfect harmony with the movement of the dancers, which made the whole show appear all the more magical.

Huge shoutout to @thegrimalldis and @theroyalthornoliachronicles for the ballet dancers!

[rakstagecombat]

Silverthorn CI (TDSB)

"Chris is a true professional. My drama classes LOVED having him! He did a great job holding their attention, and is clearly an expert stage fighter. I highly recommend him for your class! Excellent person to work with."  ~ Tyler Rizzuto

[summeringminor]

𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙

rhaenicent | E

Alicent takes Helaena to a goth-metal concert. The androgynous singer more than catches Alicent's eye.

read on AO3

or under the cut:

“Are you sure they are not satanists?”

"Mom, please." Helaena looks at her with her smudgy black eyeshadow and white painted face.

When have her children started being embarrassed of her? Alicent clutches her purse to her chest as the queue moves forward. The night air is still pleasant enough, the early September days carry the last remnants of summer. The hall is only about a hundred metres away and they are right behind the VIP-ticket crowd. Helaena had demanded they be at the hall by 9am and it being a Saturday, Alicent had succumbed to the incessant pleas of her only daughter. She had packed them sandwiches, water, thermos bottle tea, and a tupperware full of snacks. Helaena had barely touched the food, which had made Alicent all the more nervous. But her daughter would not be swayed. Between that and the crowd—all teenagers and some girls in their 20s, wearing torn black clothes, spike collars, platform- and combat boots, staring Alicent down from black and red painted eyes—it all had spawned more doubt in her to really let her fourteen year old daughter into this concert. She’s never seen this many strange people, teenagers or no, in their little town. It seems impossible that a band such as SYRAX would garner so many people. From what Helaena has shown her (and her daughter only deemed it pleasant the once) an androgynous blonde man leads the band screeching into the microphone like a banshee, face painted white like Helaena’s is now, and the rest of the band shreds guitars and bass guitar in an infernal clash of rhythm and noise the likes of which Alicent has never heard before. No such concert could have ever taken place when Alicent had gone to school, the same catholic private school that her four children now attend as well, with its praying each morning before class and monthly Wednesday church service. Or perhaps Alicent had simply not known. As she had not many things. She sighs and draws her jacket closer around herself.

Helaena smoothes her shirt, her favourite of a Goliath beetle print, and puts on her headphones, lips forming around words she is reading off her phone screen. Lyrics of SYRAX it seems. Alicent recognises the chorus, has seen it scribbled all over Helaena’s homework. The crudeness of the words had left Alicent breathless the first time she read them, and the talk she’d had with Helaena had ended in her daughter slamming the door in her face and not speaking to Alicent until Aemond had brokered peace between them two days later.

God, is she losing Helaena too? Is it not bad enough that Aegon gets home drunk and smelling of cigarettes and marihuana despite curfew, despite Alicent going through his cupboards once a week and throwing away the plastic bags of crushed green and vodka bottles? She is yet more lax than her own father had been, but Aegon only curses or cries and then does it all over again a week later. Now, Helaena has fixed her unwavering attention on this horrid band and Alicent will be damned if she lets Helaena walk into this gutter of queer looking teenagers on her own. What if they hurt her? Give her drugs? Pull her into some kind of sataníc cult—

The doors open.

Pushing, shoving, high-pitched voices cry out. Alicent grabs Helaena’s shoulder, the next second the people behind them drive them forward.

A few steps further four unimpressed security guards check tickets and let in the enthusiastic crowd.

“Come on, mom!” Helaena hisses, brows drawn together as she rushes into the hall. The VIP-ticket mob already presses against the stage. No metal barricade. Security only on the sides. Breath stutters in Alicent’s lungs. What if they have to leave? What if they fall and get trampled?

Helaena unwinds herself from her grip, angling away.

She’s embarrassed of me, Alicent thinks. Oh god. Indeed she could not be farther from the audience in her green Chanel jacket, pressed skirt and sensible heels. People fill in behind them and Alicent realises how big of a crowd it has actually become in the hours they’ve been waiting since this morning.

Perhaps three rows are between them and the stage and this at least makes Helaena bounce on her feet and smile. An ache pinches Alicent’s heart and she cannot but smile as well. This is all she wants. Just to see Helaena happy—

The lights cut out.

Murmurs rush through the hall in its sudden darkness.

People move over the stage and the crowd cheers, but it is only two girls in torn band shirts testing the instruments. The guitars blast through the hall, and Alicent hurries to slip in her earplugs, handing the second pair to Helaena who throws them on the floor instead. Alicent bites her lip.

The girls disappear. White smoke gushes from all around and veils the stage like some old cemetery in a horror movie. A strange noise cuts through the darkness. A shiver runs down Alicent’s spine. Guitars and bass pick up. Drums follow in ritualistic repetition. The strange sound swells, heightens. With a shock Alicent realises it’s a voice.

Light strobes from the ceiling, red lasers cut through the gloom and against the smoke five silhouettes move in the fog.

A second of silence.

Then guitars and drums crash into noise and on it rides a growl so inhuman Alicent takes a step back just to be pushed forward again by whoever’s behind her.

The growl turns into a scream, shattering the dark. The singer steps forward, black torn latex coat, leather belts and strips of fabric hanging off it, and red splattered over it in acrylic brightness. The singer’s face is painted white too, thick vinyl black eyeliner, black lipstick smeared into red on the right corner of the shapely mouth, strong jaw, slicked back blond hair that curls in the singer’s neck. He steps forward, rips off the coat and Alicent realises that he is a—

–she.

Alicent stares up at the woman’s bound chest, more a leather belt than a top and latex trousers with strips fluttering from it just like the coat. All this time Alicent had thought… Her head whips to Helaena who is squished tight against the girl in front of her, arm raised and shouting along as the woman, Rhaenyra, Alicent remembers, sings before she screams again. The crowd surges around her like a creature of its own, voices rise to meet the singer’s howl like the sea rises to the sky in a storm. Alicent cannot stop staring as Rhaenyra walks across the stage, not at all human with her starkly painted face, the dark of her lipstick and eyeliner etched into her skin, gleam of spit on her straight white teeth, how her muscles move under the strobe light like some fresh blood-hungry creature in the old forests Alicent visited as a child. Heat claws at Alicent, sweat pours where the jacket restricts her movements, she takes it off and folds it into her bag as though in a trance, watches the singer’s throat move, the shine of the latex where it hugs her tight strong body.

Rhaenyra prowls closer until she stands right before them on the stage. Helaena’s voice screeches within a thousand others.

And Rhaenyra’s eyes find Alicent’s.

Sound drones into far-away silence. Heat strokes over Alicent’s throat, her chest, between her thighs as Rhaenyra smiles, wicked like a man and yet so different: free. Rhaenyra raises her hand, fingers splitting into a peace sign before she leans and licks into the V-shape of her index and middle-finger.

Shame pumps blood into Alicent’s face, embarrassment searing through her. It must be embarrassment. The crowd shoves forward in a wave, arms reaching out towards Rhaenyra. Rhaenyra laughs, crouches down—and reaches back. She slides her fingers across the hands of those close enough, almost touches Helaena’s as the audience rushes forward again, pressing the air from Alicent’s lungs as she is caught between the girls in front and behind her. Panic pricks her for a moment, looking for Helaena, but Helaena stares up at the stage in joyous abandon, fingertips touching the dark just before Rhaenyra.

The song ends. Rhaenyra stands and moves to the left side of the stage, the crowd relaxing just enough for Alicent to catch her breath.

It all happens in a haze, the music thunders around them, the people move and Alicent gives in to their sway and press and cannot but stare at Rhaenyra as she screams and howls and sings in her androgynous voice, brutal, haunting, sensual, the way she moves and bares her throat and finds Alicent’s gaze again and again until Alicent believes she must be imagining it. Her stockings rip when she is forced forward, her heels ground into the uneven concrete floor, hair all tousled, and on the stage, Rhaenyra sweats and gleams until she is more monster than man or woman, just muscles cording over bones, her shoulders broad, her hair slick and wet and loose by the end of it as applause shatters the quickly approaching night.

An encore follows, three songs that pass in a heartbeat. Breath evades Alicent, her lungs cord up, her palms sweat like the rest of her, she’s drenched the skirt and shirt and she feels with two fingers where her stockings have ripped by her inner thigh.

It’s over. The band leaves the stage. The roaring applause drowns out all else. Helaena elated beside her.

Rhaenyra leaves first. She does not turn around. Of course not.

The next minutes pass like in a fog. People clear out slowly, queuing at the merchandise stands in other parts of the venue, everyone sweaty with messed up makeup and hair, chattering with hoarse happy voices.

Helaena rushes to queue as well to spend her allowance on some gorey band shirt, saying she’ll catch her outside in a bit. Alicent only nods, cannot muster the energy to dispute Helaena and on unsteady legs makes her way outside. She slips her jacket back on, cards a hand through her thick hair, it’s all wet with sweat at her neck and temples, she must look horrendous. She rounds a corner and her fingers tremble where she holds on to her bag. It’s only now she realises how much her shoulder aches from the weight of it and having clutched it against her throughout the concert.

Teenagers loiter outside, smoking, drinking.

The sudden need to have a cigarette overwhelms Alicent. She’s not had one in years. The last one must have been in the hospital after the accident, the night Aemond had had the surgery on his eye. She shakes her head, cannot think of it without feeling tears well up in her eyes. She rounds a corner, leans against the wall. The voices are quieter here, shrouded from the remaining crowd. Somewhere a heavy door falls shut. She bites at her cuticles, checks her phone to see if Helaena has texted her. She hasn’t.

“Cigarette?”

Alicent looks up. And freezes.

Rhaenyra leans against the wall beside her, towel around her shoulders, hair tousled and wet, makeup wiped from her face but remnants of white foundation and black eyeliner still smear on her skin. She’s wearing a shirt and a man's jacket, cargo trousers, heavy platform boots. She smells of woody, masculine shower gel. Her lips close around a cigarette and she flips open a zippo lighter, eyes on Alicent as she does, and kindles the cigarette. The flame reflects in her pale blue eyes.

Alicent stutters a reply, unable to recall what she says just a second later. Rhaenyra laughs, lips stretching enough to show a gummy smile, soft and handsome all at once and Alicent takes the cigarette before she can think better of it.

“Not your usual venue, huh?”

“No,” Alicent says and takes a drag. Smoke and nicotine rush into her and she exhales the smoke slowly. “Oh god, that’s good,” she says.

Rhaenyra smiles again. “Tried to kick the habit?”

“Yeah.”

“Me too. But I don’t last more than a week.”

They both laugh and warmth spreads through Alicent despite the now cooler night air. Rhaenyra lights a second cigarette, inhales, exhales smoke through her nose and mouth, and something shudders in Alicent at the sight of it.

“You, umn…you were…magnetic up there.” Alicent feels her cheeks heat up. God, she must sound idiotic.

“You liked the show.” It’s not so much a question but a statement and the boldness of it makes Alicent take another deep drag of the cigarette.

“I thought you were a man,” she says without thinking.

Rhaenyra brightens, a slight blush fills her cheeks.

“Oh yeah?”

“I meant no–”

“Who says I’m not?” Rhaenyra grins, leans closer.

“W-what?” Alicent swallows at the sudden proximity, inhales Rhaenyra’s wood-fresh scent, somehow more drawn to it than to whenever she’s smelled it on a man a million times before.

“Don’t really feel like a woman, you know?”

Alicent does not know. She can barely think with how Rhaenyra looks her in the eyes, a mischievous grin on her lips. She should get back, check on Helaena—

Rhaenyra steals the cigarette from Alicent’s lips, takes a drag and holds it in front of Alicent’s mouth, gaze burning into Alicent. Alicent can’t look away. She closes her lips around the cigarette in Rhaenyra’s fingers.

“Good,” Rhaenyra’s voice is low, and it feels like a fever-dream, how close she is, the warmth that radiates from her in the September air. Rhaenyra’s gaze sinks down Alicent’s throat, her chest, her skirt, stills where her stockings have ripped at her inner thigh. Without meaning to, Alicent spreads her legs a little wider, and watches how breath catches in Rhaenyra’s throat. The next moment, Rhaenyra steps in front of her, one hand on the wall behind Alicent, the other barely grazes against the hem of her jacket. Fingertips slowly drag over Alicent’s side, her hip bone, and as though hypnotised she watches Rhaenyra’s square elegant hand stroke down her skirt and then move inward until her fingertips slide beneath where the stockings have torn open. Her touch is hot on hotter skin. A gasp catches in Alicent’s throat.

Rhaenyra steps closer. Her breath fans over Alicent’s face. Her hand slowly grabs Alicent’s thigh.

A curse escapes Alicent.

Rhaenyra’s bright blue gaze, inescapable, a pull like the tide that drags young fishermen’s wives out to sea. Rhaenyra’s fingers spread under the stocking. It tears more. Alicent can’t think. Head tilted against the wall, feels her brows creasing, her heart hammering in her skull.

“You’re so hot,” Rhaenyra whispers. Rhaenyra’s hand glides upwards, confident, and rubs between Alicent’s thighs. A gasp escapes her. Rhaenyra rubs harder, and it feels so good that for a moment Alicent forgets all around her. It’s never felt this good before—- Heat surges through her. She can barely look at Rhaenyra, can’t believe she has her hand on her cunt in a back alley at night, a stranger— Rhaenyra’s thumb presses down on her clit, Rhaenyra’s breath on her mouth. God, she wants her.

“Kiss me,” Alicent says without meaning to.

A blush turns Rhaenyra’s cheeks pink. Alicent can’t believe it. Her fingers fist in Rhaenyra’s shirt and she yanks her in. Rhaenyra’s hot tongue presses into her mouth. Like a fever, she wishes she could feel Rhaenyra’s tongue in other places, too, gasps and whimpers into their kiss at the thought of it on her clit, inside her. A strong hand grabs the back of her knee, pulls her leg up until it rests around Rhaenyra’s hip.

Pain spikes through her lip when Rhaenyra bites it, her hot mouth dragging along her cheek to her neck and she sucks and bites at her skin there, too, will leave a mark like they are goddamn teenagers and where before it had made Alicent uncomfortable when men had pressed their teeth into her like this, she now feels a strange forbidden thrill.

A moan against her neck. Rhaenyra pushes herself closer, her fingers alternating between rubbing Alicent’s clit and lower, and with a shiver of shame, Alicent realises how fucking wet she’s gotten. As if reading her thoughts, Rhaenyra retrieves her hand, puts index- and middle finger to her lips where they leave a liquid sheen, and she sucks the wetness from them. The sight is almost too much. The blush on Rhaenyra’s cheeks deepens, her hand falls to Alicent’s hip.

“Can I finger you?” Rhaenyra’s voice is low and rough and shy all at once.

Words stick in Alicent’s throat. She just glares, lets out an embarrassing sound and nods, once, twice, and Rhaenyra’s kissing her again as her hand is slipping into her skirt. With shaking fingers, Alicent unbuttons it to allow Rhaenyra more movement. The next second, Rhaenyra’s fingertips are on her sweaty skin, down her stomach and all at once on her clit.

“Oh god,” Alicent gasps.

“Yeah,” Rhaenyra moans, moans from touching Alicent.

Thoughts meld, heat and want takes all. Rhaenyra’s palm presses against her clit. A finger slides against her wetness and slowly pushes inside her. Her other hand comes to cup Alicent’s breast, gently, almost reverently before she squeezes, thumb pressing against Alicent’s nipple. Tears prick at Alicent’s lashes. It feels too good. She should not be doing this. The finger inside her moves slowly.

“You can—” Alicent babbles, “You can put in more—”

“Fuck,” Rhaenyra growls, pushes her middle finger in as well and hotly, blissfully, her ring finger.

Alicent gasps, feels herself stretched around Rhaenyra’s fingers, Rhaenyra’s palm hard against her clit. She’s so full. Sweat beads on her forehead, under her arms, the back of her knee. She grinds herself against Rhaenyra’s fingers, the angle making them feel even bigger inside her.

“You’re so good,” Rhaenyra whispers into her ear, her voice roughened, almost desperate. Lips drag over her jaw to her mouth. “I want to fuck you so badly.” Rhaenyra is kissing her again, starting to thrust her fingers into her, pressing the heel of her palm into Alicent’s clit in a way that makes Alicent see red heat pulsate behind her eyelids. She moans into their kiss, hands grabbing Rhaenyra’s shirt, clutching her as close as she can, cannot think—

“I want to make you come,” Rhaenyra says and curls her fingers inside her.

Alicent bites her own lip until she can taste blood.

“More on my—on my clit,” Alicent gasps and Rhaenyra follows.

“Like that?”

“Yes,” Alicent moans, grabbing Rhaenyra’s hand to position it how she needs it, and she tilts her head back, sliver of black night sky above then pulsating dark as her eyes squeeze shut. Her mouth opens and suddenly a hand presses over it. Rhaenyra grins at her, ravenous, pupils blown, and it is both the look and the hand keeping her silent that drives Alicent to the brink. Rhaenyra’s fingers slip out of her and shove in roughly again, her thumb pressing to the side of her clit, rubbing circles into it. It builds inside Alicent, builds and builds and she is quaking around Rhaenyra’s fingers, moaning against Rhaenyra’s palm and she is coming. Tears blur her gaze.

She falls forward against Rhaenyra’s shoulder, breathing heavily.

For a moment neither of them moves.

Slowly, Rhaenyra slips her fingers out of Alicent. A soft kiss against Alicent’s cheek. Another.

“So good,” Rhaenyra says, breathless.

Hot wetness leaks from between Alicent’s thighs. She’s rarely been this wet. Rhaenyra’s made her—

Her chest heaves.

The back alley and the night reshape around them.

“Oh god…” Alicent gasps in horror, looking around, but Rhaenyra kisses her again, a soft and sweet kiss and Alicent cannot but kiss her back. Desperation mixes between them. The need to touch Rhaenyra crashes over her like a wave, but Rhaenyra catches her wrist when she moves her hand to Rhaenyra’s hip.

A grin stretches Rhaenyra’s lips. What might be rue glints in her eyes.

“Don’t have time,” she says. “Gotta get back.”

Cold cords up Alicent’s throat.

“Oh…”

Rhaenyra laughs shily, kisses her again. “But,” she intones, “I’d like to give you my number.”

Rhaenyra sucks her wet fingers into her mouth, eyes on Alicent. Alicent swallows hard, watches Rhaenyra suck her slickness from her fingers, imagines Rhaenyra’s mouth on her there—

Rhaenyra cocks an eyebrow.

“Well?”

“Y-yes.” With shaking fingers, Alicent fishes her phone out, unlocks it and hands it to Rhaenyra. Her heartbeat still pounds against her ribs. Rhaenyra types in her number, her first name, adds the dragon emoji next to it.

“Will you call me?” Rhaenyra hands the phone back, fingers sliding over Alicent’s when Alicent takes it. A soft noise escapes Alicent instead of a reply and once more she can feel heat push into her cheeks.

Rhaenyra pushes her back against the wall, gaze sweltering, dark.

“Promise it.”

“I do.” Alicent tilts her chin up and Rhaenyra kisses her, tongue slipping into Alicent’s mouth, shooting little sparks through Alicent’s whole body, wanting Rhaenyra again, wanting her more—

Rhaenyra steps back.

“We’re on tour for a month more, but I’ll be back in town after.” Rhaenyra grins. “Let me take you to…dinner.”

Alicent swallows.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’d like that.”

Rhaenyra’s grin widens. She cards a hand through her short wet hair, then darts forward and kisses Alicent again before turning on her heel, opening the heavy metal door with an ease that makes Alicent’s knees weak and—and she is gone.

Alicent stares at the door, at her phone with Rhaenyra’s contact. A pling echoes in the street and a message pops up. Helaena.

MOM!! Where are u?

Alicent’s heart almost jumps out of her chest, she rights her clothes, checks her make-up in her Chanel powder-compact mirror, she looks awful, but no more so than the girls she passed on her way out.

Good god. Helaena must never know. Though perhaps if she knew Rhaenyra was her friend, she might look at Alicent with less embarrassment.

Yes, Alicent thinks with a hammering heart, wouldn’t it be nice if Rhaenyra were her friend?

She hurries back, clutching her phone to her chest, smiling not unlike one of the teenagers at the concert.

[qingxinnies]

SHALL WE DANCE? — 5WIRL (in the making)

an otome styled genshin smau

START? MASTERLIST. profiles 2.

aether - the group’s bassist and your childhood friend. being an ace student in all of his classes (and extracurriculars), it is a wonder how he’s able to make time to be in 5WIRL — moreover, the glue that brings everyone together. the both of you drifted in high school after he made new friends. wouldn’t it be nice to rekindle that bond again?

venti - the group’s lead vocalist. he’s the oldest in 5WIRL and one of the more popular seniors in TVU. a passionate performer and natural at wooing the crowd, Venti is ‘a breath of fresh air’ in the industry! however, despite his popularity, he always seemed so distant and out of reach.

xiao - the group’s guitarist. 5WIRL’s ‘bodyguard’ due to his intimidating appearance and combat capabilities. he keeps a low profile in public but absolutely shreds it on stage! that, along with his handsome face, makes him pretty president #2. Xiao is cold and blunt with his words, it’s no wonder why many admire and fear him at the same time. wouldn’t it be interesting to break down his walls?

kazuha - the group’s keyboardist. he’s 5WIRL’s pretty president (as graciously labelled by their fandom). blessed with an irresistible charm and an angelic aura, he glows! he’s the mature one, always so calm and composed. Kazuha has never lost sight of that persona — despite the incident, that happened almost 3 years ago.

scaramouche - the group’s drummer. he tends to get a little rough on stage, but fans love him anyway for his strong stage presence! very little information is known about him, not even the other members know where in the world he came from.. Scaramouche has gained popularity among the students because of his mysteriously alluring past — is Scaramouche even his real name..?

taglist @blue-b3rries @mhiieee @hiraethhv @the-ghost-0f-t0m0 @urdads @alhaitie @meidnightrain @danhenglovebot @n3r0-1417 @lxkeeeee @ryuryuryuyurboat @chaoffee

[lauriemarch]

i want to believe it that i could be loved that i could love someone and they will love me just as much and for just as long but i’m a lone wave crashing against the empty thoughtless shore. a girl i loved showed the slightest bit of interest and i became sick with desire, i threw up and dreamt of her and her alone, i joke at every dinner table i lay my head at that i will feast on the women before me, emboldened by my body and the shield it grants me, who can take the fat lesbian with a hunch and cackled laughter seriously? who could love the monster in the mirror? i want a masc a butch a punk girl with blunt hair a pretty masc with a mullet and perfect teeth i want blue hair pink hair purple hair green hair i want lithe limbs or stubby knees i want the sound of combat boots against linoleum or maybe the patter of flats against hard wood blonde hair that glints in the sun a perfect pout stained berry and gloss a button up rolled up to the elbows i want to be famous and gay i want women throwing themselves at me with a speed unknowable. i am a double chin and a flubby stomach. i am puffy and big. you scared me once by tilting a bench i was on and i freaked because you would know how heavy i was, not because i would hit the ground. girls are perfect, all of them that i meet, and i am the perfect exception. the division, not the rule. the singularity. i’m going to write a play about lesbians so i can see myself be loved on stage. fiction sweeter than reality.

-

“political lesbianism.” what if i’m tired. what if i’m fighting a battle different than the girls behind my screen, the girls who pitch and rage against labels and nonlabels and “you are bisexual. hope this helps.” and transmisogyny and evil in 240 characters? what if my battle is slight– it’s a mother and a daughter on a couch, the daughter’s hands scrabble for the solids of her mother’s hands, and i’m crying for the millions of girls i’ll never be. i’m crying for my dad’s death (it hasn’t happened yet) or the fatal car crash that will kill me (i have no way of confirming this) or the eternal hell that awaits me (i love the Lord Jesus Christ). political lesbianism. i am so tired. lesbianism is political and i know this but i want for one moment for my existence to not matter so goddamn much. i want to cry here on this couch with my mama and i want to sleep assured that the sun will rise on my tender skin. i don’t want to argue with you, stranger on the internet, i don’t want to be mean and angry and so fucking bitter!!!! lesbianism is political. i walk around and feel love, bright and hot, from all directions. my friends love me, lesbianism despite. my family loves me, lesbianism despite. the world will come to love me, lesbianism despite. 

-

this christmas, i feel useless. i sit on the couch and i sleep for endless hours, i watch too much tv and let my phone autoscroll through instagram. i watch beautiful lives flash in front of me and twinkle through my eyes but my body is so heavy and my bank account shouts into a distant void and i’m sinking further and further into these couch cushions that my parents have so graciously afforded me. my dad wanted to reach out and connect with me last night but all i could do was spit angry, thoughtless nonsense. i haven’t been mad at my dad in years. but i feel so useless, so incapable, so like i’ve failed the two people in this world who have given up everything and more for me to be listless and dead from the ground up. my mom wants me to stand with her at the stove and make handmade dinner rolls but i want sleep and dreamland, stars twinkling above me and a world that makes sense. my dreams are stressful but my life is open-ended evil. my brothers are strangers that keep holding up mirrors. my mom holds my hand tighter in prayer and i think she thinks i’m going to kill myself. my dad keeps asking me “how can we fix it” and i keep crying that i don’t k

-

i am the only one of my high school friends with my autocaps still turned off and somehow that feels like a marker of adulthood. i am sitting in the dentist’s chair waiting to get my first cavities filled and i feel so small, like a child in the next room, rough and ugly and unsure of what happens next. marriage is not in my foreseeable future but payton went on and got engaged and married to the best man for her and i keep osculating between lesbian and incredibly unsure and scared of disappointment. my role in this group is the one getting her masters degree and that really doesn’t feel like i’m pulling enough weight, somehow. maybe if it was for something more important or ferocious. maybe if it was a master’s degree in having a child so perfect that the sun shines just for them, or owning a house in a suburb that just makes sense 

-

my dad still opens the car door for me and this year i let a girl treat me like dirt. like a spinning plate or an elastic band, snapping back and forth and unsteady and i never knew what was coming that day, or what she meant when she said that. i sent so many screenshotted texts asking what did she mean? or is she flirting with me? would you let this happen to me? am i destined for dirt? 

-

sitting on my childhood couch. eating tamales straight out of the husk. watching the thanksgiving episode of gossip girl. having the first real fears about growing up and getting out. of all the things i don’t want to outgrow, it’s my father’s embrace, the way my mom holds my hand in prayer, the feeling of my brother’s hair under my gentle ruffle. i want childhood to cling to me like the expensive perfume i put on in the mornings, a too-mature gift for a girl who places desperate wishes on the stagnant moon. 

-

everything i noted down while i was home for christmas this year

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Alice Speri at The Guardian:

In 2020, Donald Trump signed an executive order against “race and sex stereotyping and scapegoating” which would have set the stage for sweeping attacks on diversity initiatives in the public sphere. In January 2021, on his first day in office, Joe Biden rescinded Trump’s anti-DEI order and signed one promoting “racial equity and support for underserved communities”. Now Trump is returning to office, he expected to restore his directive and double down on it. The people that run diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at public and private institutions are expecting mass crackdown. Project 2025 has labeled them “woke culture warriors” and pledged to wield the full force of the federal government against their efforts to create a more equitable society. Trump and his advisers have already threatened the funds and accreditation of universities they have labeled the “enemy”, and pledged to dismantle diversity offices across federal agencies, scrap diversity reporting requirements and use civil rights enforcement mechanisms to combat diversity initiatives they see as “discrimination”.

The multi-pronged attack is certain to be met with major legal challenges, but while they prepare for those, advocates warn about the ripple effects of an administration declaring war on inclusivity efforts. “The concern is the bigger footprint and symbol,” said Nina Ozlu Tunceli, chief counsel of government and public affairs at Americans for the Arts. “Federal policies do have a domino effect on other states, on foundations, on individual donors.” Last week, Walmart became the latest in a series of high-profile companies to announce a rollback of its diversity initiatives following a campaign of legal challenges by conservative groups. Other businesses and institutions small and large are trying to keep a low profile to avoid becoming the target of anti-DEI campaigns, those who work with them say. There are already concerns that institutions fearful of losing funding or facing lawsuits may overcorrect and dial back their programmes before they are required to do so, advocates warn.

A climate of fear

Even before Trump was re-elected, “educational gag orders” seeking to limit discussion of race and LGBTQ+ issues in school classrooms had been introduced in at least 46 states. Last spring, conservative legislators linked campus protests against the war in Gaza to DEI initiatives. Virginia Foxx, the chair of the House committee on education and the workforce, told the presidents of several colleges that her committee would be “steadfast in its dedication to attacking the roots of antisemitic hatred, including anti-Israel DEI bureaucracies”. Questioning by Foxx’s committee ultimately led to several resignations by college presidents.

“That just got everyone terrified, including private university presidents who previously had been pretty brave about these things,” said Jeremy Young, director of the Freedom to Learn programme at the free speech group PEN America. “It was just this sense that, they’re coming, they’re headhunting for leaders, and you just have to do everything they say or they’re going to fire you or they’re going to cut your budget.” Even where no laws have been passed, a broad fear of repercussions has prompted some campus leaders to cut back on DEI initiatives, noted Young. “A number of states have engaged basically in jaw-boning, where the lawmakers will go up to a university president and encourage them or threaten them to close their diversity office while dangling a threat of funding cuts or passing a law the following year,” he said. “So we’re seeing universities trying to comply with these restrictions, or with these threats, even though there’s no law compelling them to do so.”

Young cited the University of Missouri, for instance, where campus leaders in July dissolved its division of inclusion, diversity and equity citing nationwide measures against DEI even though no such law was passed in the state. In Texas, where state law does ban DEI offices but exempts academic course instruction and scholarly research, the University of North Texas system began scrutinising course materials in search for references to DEI, in what Young called an example of overcompliance and a “complete overreaction”. It’s a domino effect that anti-DEI activists are exploiting, for instance by sowing confusion about the 2023 supreme court ruling, which was fairly narrow but is sometimes cited as evidence that all DEI initiatives in higher education are illegal, said Leah Watson, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Racial Justice Programme, where she focuses on classroom censorship. “We are very concerned about the broad chilling effect, and we see conservatives misrepresenting the status of the law in order to further the chilling effect,” Watson said. “Overcorrections are happening, and things are being cut that don’t have to be cut.”

[...]

The new administration

Going forward, the Trump administration is “likely to be the most virulent anti-DEI administration that we’ve seen”, said David Glasgow, the executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging, which helps institutions navigate an array of recent legislative restrictions on diversity work.

With the Trump Administration set to announce a heavy crackdown on diversity initiatives, many colleges are obeying in advance by eliminating or scaling back such initiatives.

[puppiesandnightlock]

LINK: Helpless

Summary: Wally had it good. He was the Track Star of his high school, people fawning over him, anyone he wanted.

The only problem was that now, in his last few years, he'd missed a couple things. Things being credits.

Now he's stuck in theater class. It's not all bad, how could it be when his first day included falling into the arms of the cutest boy he'd ever seen?

Theater Kid Dick x Track Star Wally AU (co written with @daisha-mochizuki)

“West, my office, now. ” 

Wally looked up from his track shoes that he was tying to his feet only to find his coach very pissed off and storming off to his office with a bunch of folders in his hands. He cringed as the door to the office slammed shut, and he sighed as he stood. As he walked, he kept his head tilted downward to try and avert himself from his peers’ gazes, as they either gave him concerned looks or glared at him. 

He stood in front of the desk, fingers tapping against his upper thigh anxiously. 

The coach sat, folding his hands together and leaning his head on them before looking up. 

“Why are you here, West?”

Wally rocked on his tiptoes. “I-uh, I was hoping you could tell me that, sir.”

The coach watched him with an unimpressed look, spreading out the papers from the folders out in front of him. Even from upside down, Wally could see they were charts and grades, as well as tables. He’d always tried to keep his grades afloat because otherwise he wouldn’t be allowed to play.

“Well, according to this, you’re missing your visual and performing arts credits by a huge amount. You have a bit before you graduate, but you’ll only make it out of this school if you start gathering them now.”

Wally sighed to himself. 

This was going to be a long conversation, wasn’t it?  

“Thank you, sir, I-” 

“I’ve already enrolled you into a class myself,” the coach interrupted Wally, sliding a new schedule sheet across his desk over to Wally, who was standing there stiffly. “You’ll start your new class tomorrow. Rest up. We need you for this team.” 

He was shooed out of the office with only a schedule in hand, staring at it without reading the words. The world felt numb as he trudged back into the locker room, the world blurring out his teammates. He re-dressed slowly, before tying his black combat boots and going back outside, unwilling to face his teammates. 

Instead of sitting out on the bleachers to watch the practice, he went to sit under a tree overlooking the field.

Sighing, he unfolded the schedule to look for the highlighted class signifying his new one.

Theater - seventh period. Teacher - Dinah Lance.

Theater? Well, his parents had always told him he was a drama queen…

He walked into the place marked on his schedule, his boots creaking the old wood beneath his feet as he walked along the stage, trying to find someone, anyone, to signal that he was indeed in the right place. 

“Hello…?” he called out tentatively, carefully trying to pull back the deep red velvet curtains that were drawn shut. He screeched and nearly toppled over as a hand was thrust through the curtains and grabbed him by the collar of his T-shirt to yank him back into the curtain-abyss. 

Wally held up his hands, taekwondo style, and quickly looked around for whoever had dragged him through. He was met, however, with the searing stage lights being flipped on and shone directly in his face.

“State the reason for your presence.” A low voice growled.

“Um, this is my seventh period now?” He squeaked, shielding his eyes. “What the hell is this, a cult?”

“Close enough!” A different voice chirped, moving the lights from his eyes and allowing him to look around.

In front of him, a tall, blond woman smiled at him, extending a hand. “Forgive the theatrics, my students like to have a little fun with the transfers. I’m Dinah Lance, I'll be your teacher for the rest of the year.”

“Wally West. Nice to meet you,” Wally murmured weakly as he took his new teacher’s hand, shaking it gingerly. 

“Wally, then? Artemis here will give you the tour.” 

A blonde girl stepped forward, having come from the lights. “Hey. I’m Artemis, and damn, we got you so good!”

Wally grumbled to himself, glowering at the girl, apparently Artemis. He crossed his arms over his chest and turned his face away when the girl held out a hand for him. Artemis rolled her eyes and grabbed Wally, dragging him along despite his annoyed facade. Wally yelped, stumbling.

“You should get used to it, Baywatch, that’s how we work around here.” 

“Baywatch?” Wally looked down at himself, catching a glimpse of his face in his reflection. His black beanie slipped up, allowing for his bangs to float into his face.

“I feel like you watch shitty daytime TV,” Artemis shrugged.

He scowled, following her as she pointed out several different areas and teams with specific names. He wandered after Artemis, his eyes flitting around as he tried to observe and intake all of the information he was quickly learning. 

Wally had always been a trouble magnet, however, and managed to find it in the most random of ways. 

Today, it took the form of a clump of loose wires strewn across the backstage. Artemis stepped over it easily and he moved to do the same, but followed her hand to where she was pointing at the set-builders. A boy was there, outlining a piece for an outdoor scene, and right as he turned, the other boy misstepped, shutting his eyes as his whole body was to inevitably hit the floor face first.

Instead, he landed with a soft whoomph against a warm body. He looked up, blinking up as the brightly shining light above them led him to the most beautiful blue eyes he’d ever seen.

It was a normal day, alright? Playing knight in shining armor for boys in too much black was not something on Dick’s agenda. 

It was the props and stage day and everyone was helping out. He was humming along to one of the broadway soundtracks playing from a nearby speaker on low, and losing himself in the swoops and swerves of the lines, thick strokes of dark color being left behind in the wake of his brush.

He had missed the customary ‘scare the ever-living shit out of the new student’ ritual, but trusted that one of his friends had recorded it. He could hear Artemis’s voice droning on about the theater and turned to wave her over.

The student following her met his gaze, flashing Dick a glimpse of striking green, before the person tripped and ended up promptly falling flat on their face.

Well, they would have, if DIck hadn’t dropped his brush the moment he saw the kid’s foot catch in the wire and bolted forward.

He caught the kid with ease, waiting until they turned to look at him, dark eyeliner making the disoriented green eyes even wider.

On top of being the most dramatic person to grace the school’s theater class, Dick was also known for being a bit of a flirt, and upon seeing the situation, his brain to mouth filter broke completely.

“Well, new kid, looks like you’re already falling for me.”

Wally gaped at him, wondering how the extremely attractive boy who was cradling him in his arms just shot him the most appropriate and horrible pickup to ever grace his ears.

“W-what?” He stammered, unsure if he’d actually heard correctly. 

Pretty boy laughed, embarrassed flush coming over his cheeks. “That was bad, sorry. I’m all about the drama, and a pick-up line or two is always fun, even if I never pick anyone up with them.”

Well, you've sure got me. Wally laughed nervously as the thought popped in his mind. “Thanks for catching me, man.”

“Oh!” He stepped back, placing Wally back on the ground and dusting him off. Wally let himself be manhandled, looking at the boy's full form.

“My pleasure. You got a name, new kid?” His mind blanked at the question, until he realized that the boy in blue was awaiting an answer.

“Oh…um, Wally. Wally West. Well, Wallance if you wanna be formal, but no one callsmethatbut myMomwhenshe'sangry-”

The boy cut him off with a laugh, the sound ringing in his ears like the song of a windchime.

“You’re a rambler, aren't you?”

“M’on the track team, my mouth and my feet move quicker than my brain sometimes.” He then got a mischievous smirk on his face. “What about you, Gorgeous? Got a name?” 

The other boy fumbled in turn, flushing red. “Dick Grayson.”

Wally bit back a joke and grinned. “Nice to meet ya.” 

Artemis clapped Wally on the shoulder as she decided she was finished watching, causing the redhead to jump and squeak in response, the boy snapping out of his stupor. “C’mon, pretty boy, you need to finish the tour. You can get handsy with good ol’ Dick here later.” 

Wally choked on air, Dick doing much the same. “I wasn’t-we weren’t-”

“M’kay.”She smirked at Dick, Wally taking note of the dirty glance from the other boy. “C’mon, Baywatch, we’ve got another half of the theater to discuss.”

Wally looked back at Dick, a sort of hopeful look in his green eyes. “I’ll, uh, see you later?”

His voice raised an octave at the end, causing Dick to chuckle softly. He offered the redhead a small grin and a wave. “I’ll see you later.”

Wally’s grin grew wider, but he was very quickly dragged off by an annoyed Artemis, who was muttering under her breath as she led Wally back on the path they had been on before. He couldn’t help but look back, however, and saw the deep blue eyes still trained on him, following after him. The sight and thought caused a rush of warmth to flood through him, a tingling pleasant sensation setting off flutters at the pit of his stomach.

Maybe theater wouldn’t be so bad after all.