#I definitely think they got that from orin when she tried to kill them

[sashthesloth]

Love drawing my durge going thru situations

[rawrsatthetree]

Idk how people can make dedicated content for their tav. I have a new Tav every month that I focus on and make a whole story for and ultimately drop for the next Tav to infect my mind.

Anyways my current Tav of the month is a human oath of devotion Paladin with an urchin background who’s an AU version of my dark urge where they aren’t a Bhaalspawn and got to grow up with their foster family instead.

Ala'onna (An Elven name that means keeper of harmony). 26 years old.

They were adopted by their dads, a 300 year old retired paladin dwarf and a 650 year old retired ranger elf, who run a bakery on the outskirts of Riften. They always dreamed of growing up to be an adventurer like their dads, inspired by their many bedtime tales. They spent their childhood running around the lower city and exploring the sewers getting into trouble while their Vul (dwarf dad) would sell baked goods from his cart. They got mixed up with some ruff kids and learned how to swindle and steal. One day a strange pale girl with even paler eyes joined their little group of would be thieves. Everything was fun and games until this strange girl killed one of their friends, pushing him from one of the high city walls and watching with glee as he splattered on the cobblestone below. They watched in anger as flaming fists just shrugged it off and refused to even acknowledge those most in need of protection. They vowed to work hard to become a real hero that would protect everyone who was in need, even those others deem unworthy of protection.

They were on their way back to the city after an adventure to check on their Vul and Ada when they got snatched up by the mindflayers.

When the party got to Baldur’s Gate they were super excited to introduce all the companions to their fathers however they had both decided come out of retirement and went off to fight the Absolute’s army.

They don’t recognize that the pale girl from their childhood was Orin but they do admit she seems hauntingly familiar. They were a bit too young to run around in the same circle as Karlach and a little too low-class to play with Wyll. They had bumped into Astarion before, on a night they were out far later than they were supposed to be, they were dared to pick pocket him since he looked wealthy and stupid. He frightened them off flashing his fangs and glowing red eyes threatening to drain them dry if they didn’t piss off. They refused to sleep alone for the next month waking up from nightmares of a vampire trying to bite them in their sleep. Astarion doesn't remember, but they do. They don't just recognize he's a vampire that night when he tried to bite them, but specifically the vampire that haunted their nightmares as a child.

They think they tread the line of an oath breaker but, for all their grey morality, they always stand up to evil. Even if their definition of evil is a little more fluid and grey. They try not to judge creatures based on what they are or people based on their background. "Stealing is ok, the real evil is the rich that let you starve"; "maybe goblins wouldn't be like that if people treated them with kindness and respect" that sort of thing. This does make them very naive, they're open mind getting in the way when they really shouldn't trust or give people a chance. They fight with themselves to see the good in the world, for them it's a choice they make, in spite of everything. They tend to shoulder too much, when bad things happen it's their fault. They should have been stronger, they should have been quicker, they should have known better.

They actually have a really low constitution for a paladin, it's only 11. Yes they still always use compel duel, yes they go down every other fight, yes Astarion is loosing his mind over his knight in shining armor with a death wish. They also have laughably low wisdom (8) and intelligence (9).

Growing up everyone thought they were actually half dwarf because they're 5'3" and kind of stocky. They're not really self conscious or anything, they know they're muscular (18 strength) and their chubbiness is just proof of being raised in a loving home with good food and lots of bread (their Vul taught them this).

They're Ada was a little more distant from them than their Vul that dotted on them constantly. Not that he didn't love them as much, but being 660 years old will make you a little distant or so their Vul told them. They wouldn't say they have daddy issues since their Vul is also their dad, more specifically they Elf daddy issues. They are embarrassingly desperate for attention and validation from specifically Elven men. Astarion is blissfully unaware of this, of course they want his approval that's what he's manipulating them for. Halsin however knows.

They're not fluent but they can speak and understand a bit of Elvish and Dwarfish as well as some thieves chant.

Their second highest stat is charisma and they love to sing. They swear they should have been a Bard but the schooling is much more expensive than some starter armor, a sword, and an oath.

[edelblau]

marz said they love my durgey so im gonna use that as an excuse to infodump about them (and try to put it under a readmore but readmores always break for me now so who knows if itll post properly) (spoilers for baldurs gate 3 dark urge playthrough to follow)

my main dark urge is named naught (like zero/nothingness ^_^). he's a tiefling monk with they/him pronouns. below is a lazy reference for his more 'unique' features i spent very little time on

his backstory is largely the normal dark urge stuff; wandering and strange from the get go with unsettling mannerisms even as a child, he was adopted by a poor family. he actually bore a lot of affection for them, and tried very very hard to be 'normal'. when he realized his family was displeased with the way he sort of romanticized violence and death, he tried to tamp it down. however, given the nature of the urge, he was eventually overcome and killed them (second heal memory)

after that incident, he fled his home, and tried unsuccessfully to resist; but as his body count even unintentionally rose he fully gave in. in his time as the leader of the bhaal cult, a lot of his 'personality' outside of the urge was utterly erased and dead.

interestingly, however, he regained some sense of 'self' as the plans for the absolute took place, though perhaps in a way that was worse for everyone. the tldr of this being that because the plan required he interact with and 'bond', so to speak, with gortash, leader of the banites, he was able to have conversations with someone. the issue here being of course that gortash is a terrible person, but so was he, so it was sort of a net 0 for humanity and only really 'good' for him (and maybe gortash, i guess) since it let him retain a hint of personhood outside of bhaal; personhood that would serve him after orin's betrayal at moonrise.

(pictured: real canon shit the durge writes about gortash)

of course, dark urge and gortash's murderous funtimes had to end when orin got tired of the family drama and decided to end it the only way she knew how.

this left naught at the beginning of the game in a position where they knew intuitively that they enjoy others company, they didnt remember how resisting was 'futile', and they were surrounded by people who could definitely kill them if they acted out too harshly. not that naught didn't 'act out'-- he has a very Broken sense of morality and whats 'too far' after everything, and definitely partook of some torture and senseless violence a few times. nothing especially severe (he didn't get arabella killed or the rest of the grove, for instance), but he definitely was... bad. not normal.

these lapses would slowly die down, however, the closer naught came to the others around him. their sense of morality rubbing off on him and making him desire their approval. where he once welcomed his butler, he started fighting back; still bound to his urge, still not entirely 'there', but constantly thrashing against the current-- until the orin battle, which went Great, by the way

even after withers resurrection, though, i dont think hed ever truly be 'normal'. even if his nightmares no longer stem from bhaal, i dont think theyd ever go away fully. and i dont think hed ever fully gain a normal moral compass (hes dating astarion, by the way. so good luck faerun.) nor do i think hed ever fully come to remember his past; though i dont think hed ever fully care to, either. hed always remain this unnerving, somewhat 'immoral' person; always a bit more brutal than he should be, a bit more direct, a bit too stiff and strange. full of love and care that hes learned from his journey, but still with a hint of violence; no longer bhaal's, but wholly his own. always a step away from a 'normal' person even without bhaal's black blood in his veins.

but at least minsc is his uncle. thats nice.

[lesbianbreastmilk]

Still thinking about the Emperor's romance and how it spans across the three acts in such a subtle but strong way. Like with Badri, she definitely didn't know what to believe at first, didn't immediately start using the tadpoles. Every time they met in the Astral Prism, she felt drawn to the guardian in a way that went beyond her understanding. No one had ever wanted to protect her; she has a pretty conflicted past in which she has sought to help others to the point of her own suffering. And I think the martyr pov comes from the fact she's a half-aasimar with an enstranged connection to cosmic divinity. That's why she sought to learn magic often, even the magic looked down by others, like necromancy and its uses for medicine and investigation. (The murder mystery in the Act 3 is her jam because she's good at it with Speak with the Dead lol and technically her job if you take away the tadpole mess.)

BUT what I'm trying to say is that she knew the guardian was lying to her. Plainly. She can tell. She went the crèche path just because she wanted to know more about the prism and test the waters with the guardian. As much as their conversations were pleasant and her presence was warm, Badri lived a life that she got to know the minds of the strangest people you could find; being a private investigator does that to you. In the prism, when the Emperor thinks you're about to kill her, it really dawned on Badri that this was a situation where she had to trust this guardian she knew little about because despite all subterfuge she really seemed to want to protect her and her companions. I think this is where the similarities between the Emperor and Badri start because they're both pretty strange people in their own way. Both sacrifice a lot for others with a goal in mind - and sometimes their good intentions fall short because they can't anticipate every angle. No matter how much they claim they might.

With Badri, she had a strange-ass friendship with my durge, and they met while she was investigating murder sprees in BG; Badri tried her best to try and bring my durge out of her pact with Bhaal. She could see the person beneath the reigns of a bloody god. But never managed, especially since Orin is particularly nasty and obessesive. And to her, Badri's meddling was annoying even if it proved to be an opportunity to get Solemn and Equinox (my durge's name) captured and tadpole'd. I envision they travel together, but Badri never tells Solemn and Equinox about her past because she believes this is her break to make a change. So you get why I think the Emperor and Badri are alike. Both omit things because they believe it'll help in the long run; given Badri is a beacon of shiny light with mostly noble intentions and the Emperor is a shady little shadow with personal goals. They make the whole puzzle fit.

The first time the guardian/Emperor is vulnerable with Badri, she hugs her without a second thought. Because Badri has made up her mind, that whatever her secret is, she'll have a good reason to keep it hidden for now. When they touch, it feels so serene for a second and stirs a connection between them that was already taking shape, like a cord made of gold among a starry realm. Every time they meet the scent of vanilla and garlic is present which is a smell she attributes only to the guardian's presence. And that's when she tells the guardian: "You protect me, I protect you." It's almost like sealing their destiny as intertwined. I know the companions often wonder why she is such a jovial soul, but a bit of a loner, and it's really because she seldom connects with others. But when she does? It's until the end.

When it's finally revealed that the guardian is a mind flayer, she is surprised, but not in a bad way. Because finally, everything made sense. She had humored the hypothesis in her mind, but it seemed so far-fetched. But now standing next to it, helping it, and hearing its voice as they are, she understands the visage. She sees how it mirrors each other; the glowing eye and scar, the purple and red tones of her make-up. The guardian is as much as part of the Emperor as anything else. But this form is its essence. Where the warmth and care come from. So Badri does stare, but unlike the Emperor's self-conscious comment, "stop looking at me like that," it's just because she gets it now. And it excites her. She wants to know everything it may be willing to share.

The Emperor is squid over heels with Badri and it is very evident when it shares everything they were in their past life. It wants her to know, it wants her to be its star amidst the darkness of thoughts and tiresome loneliness. I firmly believe it seeks companionship because it wants to love so badly, but mind flayers have no blueprint for it. Enslaved by an Elder Brain and driven to enslave others, so to the Emperor, freedom is everything. And Badri is as free as they come, with an insane background and species. She is as weird as it comes in a package of humanoid. Star-like eyes, always topless, wings of celestial nature, and a job unfit for her kind. At least in the eyes of the gods.

She likes mortality and people. And the Emperor does too, albeit it sucks at connecting with others while Badri is pretty good at it. It is madly in love with her because she is so accepting of who they were, who they became, and who they are now.

I think the romance/sex scene is the first time the Emperor got intimate with another person while being a mind flayer (those desperate squid moans are sub-mode sorry 🫵🏻🦑), and it holds probably a meaning beyond words. That's why their mind connection fills the gap of words. They mean the world to each other. And the pleasure they derive from this love is endless.

Badri is not scared of its predator nature, and the Emperor can fully embrace itself in Badri's arms. Tentacles in the pussy and all.

Oh, and also Badri didn't particularly care the Emperor didn't tell her it was Balduran before becoming a mind flayer. It's something that clearly brings him mixed emotions, so she respects that it didn't want to share such painful aspect of its past and who they were (and no longer are). Also, she thinks Ansur is kind of an ass for trying to kill his friend because it was a "mercy death" instead of becoming a ""monster."" She tries to be neutral, but it's the same thing with Lae'zel where she's like "that's not a ""ghaik"" it's my beautiful purple wife 💜 🥰🫶🏻"

[thenugking]

29, 14, 44, 20, 78

29. Did they ever attend a ball or banquet? Run me through their typical evening at one of these 'parties’ and tell me whether they hated or reveled in it.

Lee generally tried to steer clear of patriars--killing too many of them could cause trouble and they didn’t have much use for them beyond that. Plus they liked to stay incognito, which generally didn’t give them many opportunities to hobnob with anyone hosting big parties.

I think Gortash probably convinced them to go along to a couple of balls. They used a fake name, put together an entirely new costume (Lee considered pretty much all their outfits costumes, for whatever part they wished to play at that particular moment), and lied about nearly every aspect of their identity. They enjoyed the look they got into various patriar’s psyches and found it a fun new experience, but not one they’d want to repeat too often.

14. Favourite body part? And of whom?

Big fan of hearts, due to the romantic connotations, and feeling fun to squeeze in her palm! Also necks! Very intimate and easy to damage!

Pre-amnesia, her favourite neck was Orin’s. They liked her heart too, but for some reason she didn’t give Lee many chances to squeeze it. :c

44. Abdirak my baby girl, what would their interactions have looked like? Did they ever meet pre tadpole? What is the gore baby thinking about the lady of pain’s priest?

Lee happily did Abdirak’s “ritual” during game, but I can’t see them having any interest in him pre-amnesia. They have their own people to do sadomasochism with, and don’t need some guy who’s making it all about a god they don’t worship. I don’t think they have any particular issues with Loviatar, but they don’t care to hear about her when they’re trying to get off.

20. Did they maybe even leave the Gate in the past? Why or why not? What kept them there or drove them away?

She’s definitely left Baldur’s Gate before, but never for long. I feel like she might have gone to nearby cities to create/support cults of Bhaal there. But she has a perfectly pleasant home in Baldur’s Gate, so what would possibly be the point in leaving that?

78. Do they wear accessories (earrings count)? Which one is their favourite?

They sometimes wear jewellery as part of their costumes, although their most common accessories are decorating their hair in a similar style to Orin’s. Lee loves the little flail plait the two of them do. It’s hot and scary and definitely doesn’t strain their neck whenever they have a large piece of metal hanging from their hair. This is fine actually.

[yjwhatif]

YJ NOTES FOR EPISODE 15… (spoilers)

The timeline intertwines with Zatanna’s arc — nice touch.

It’s interesting that the Legion refer to everyone by their hero identity even when they’re not in costume- differing from Bart who outed Tim and Dicks real identities when he arrived in the present.

Does Ghosty react to the rock or is it Conner pulling her closer? Either way, what’s going on with her? Why does she remain unconscious? Is the phantom zone another type of ghost dimension and when she tried to save Conner she accidentally phased them both out of reality? We know phasing more than one person wasn’t easy for her back on M’arzz - so maybe the stress of phasing Conner plus the explosion and the environment is what knocked her so out of sync she can’t pull out of it?

I love how protective Conner is of Ghosty

What if the events of the prophecy aren’t quite what they seem - they probably are but this has been in my head and I wanna say it… what if the three that rise is because someone gets injured or killed turning the water red with blood - someone did point out that all the grouping keep turning into fours instead of threes. Also I’m convinced something very bad is gonna happen to someone close to Kaldur to cause him to reach breaking point - and that’s all I can think about.

I’ve heard this suggest a few times but I don’t like the idea that Kaldur’s the one true king - it could happen - but I don’t like it. Kaldur’s got enough to deal with. Boy needs rest - not royal duties. Though it could be a miss direct - if Vandal’s behind Arion and clone!Orm showing up - maybe he wants payback on Kaldur for causing him so much trouble in s2 ??

Wyynde and Delphis have a really sweet bond with each other and I can’t get enough of it

Kaldur listen to your mother!!

“My friend Clark said you wanted to see me” Superman is adorable and stubborn to the very end. Also he has such dad vibes in this interaction

What happened outside the UN a year ago?!

Bioship always there to help when needed - who needs retirement when you’re wanted by superhero time travellers from the future who need a lift back to earth from M’arzz. Also this explains why we haven’t seen them since the supermartian arc - they’ve literally been stranded on M’arzz then travelling at bioship speed… and I realise now that the credits of them watching space trek was them still in the present and not back in the future— that does make more sense not I think about…

I’ve done a post on this already (here) but Kaldur does not look happy to see Zatanna & company coming and immediately leaving as Atlantis is in chaos - that’s definitely coming back to haunt Zatanna. I love all the little references back to Zatanna’s arc - also is the connecting of their arcs a hint that Kaldur and Zatanna will be sharing a connection through the rest of the season - is this the birth of a rift between the two.

“Mother of Goat!” I love how this show uses languages - the writing is honestly unlike anything I’ve ever seen

La’gaan’s character development since S2 is so great. I was never a hater of his - his annoying behaviour was well written and you could see it all rooted in his insecurities - I’ve always been intrigued to see him again - to see how he might have grown - and boy has he grown since S2. He’s so much more mature and cool headed - but there’s still that fight in him to help those he cares about when they’re in trouble.

I think Orin’s feeling a bit useless at the moment and maybe a little jealous. He’s a hero at heart - not a king. He clearly misses living the action life over his current political one.

SWIM BLUBBER! SWIM!!

I really liked the shot of Wyynde and Delphis physically having to hold La’gaan back to stop him trying to help Blubber ~ there’s an objectivity post in there somewhere… we’ll see what happens

Orin saving Blubber!! 🧡 He’s truly a hero at heart - will this season end with Orin retaking the Aquaman mantle in some form?

What if the great inspiration the legion speak of was actually a tragic sacrifice - Chameleon boy and Saturn girls faces seem more guilty/saddened than inspired/enthusiastic when telling superman about the event — maybe this is why they ask him and don’t mention anything of Jonny who may have taken up the superboy identity by then?

Parallels with Bloodlines - questioning if the timeline changed or if they’ll ever know if they succeed or not

Villains helping to fix the chaos ties in with Wizard helping in Zatanna’s arc - highlights that it wasn’t an isolated event and perhaps other villains will be revealed to have helped?

Tranquil Conner is the best and it calls back to ‘Schooled’ whilst showing his growth since s1

What if the phantom zone is some kind of microscopic dimension/realm - the rocks look like shards of something??

Is Arion protecting Kaldur?

Orms reaction to being arrested again reminds me of Arsenal’s reaction to almost getting captured again in s2

Orin: Orm of Posidonis, you are under arrest.

Orm: No. no, not again. NEVER AGAIN!

Vs

Arsenal: No. No, not again… I will not be taken again!

This moment reminds me of Conner asking about M’gann after the Reds attacked in s1

Conner: Kaldur! How’s M’gann?

Kaldur: She breathes. I believe she will recover.

There’s a running theme of questioning - one answer leads to infinitely more questions — Violet questioning their faith & identity - Atlantis questioning their origins

BART IS BACK 🎉 & I’M STILL BUZZING ABOUT IT!! I’ve already done two posts on him - (1) & (2) - I’m sure there will be more to come. I love him so much!! Look at his shocked little face - future boy didn’t see this coming did he. Also random thought but… what if Bart disappears/something happens to him and that’s why Jays getting involved in what looks like Rockets arc — maybe he’s out of retirement looking for his boy — he did say he didn’t want anymore holograms??

Vandal sounds tired with all these inconveniences - why must world domination be so difficult?!

What is Project Threnos? The only definition I could track down was for THRENODY - a song/poem of memorial to someone who’s died… what if vandals plan is to implant a clone of someone the heroes have lost - like Conner or Wally?? I only think that because of the credits scene with the legion watching space trek - in it Tork says they’ll take down that “zombie cyborg Ensign Valiant” and I’m sure the shows characters and plots are supposed to play off the yj characters and plots. (right?) so who does Valiant represent and are they coming back to cause trouble for the heroes? 🤷‍♀️

Another great episode - I love seeing more from the Legion and the promise of some interesting time shenanigans with our favourite time travelling speedster. Notes for the last episode should be posted soon…

See you there…

LB

[dndfuckhouse]

session 10 - old and new twisted faces

> 🎵  Darkening Developments / Kevin Macleod 

Picking up right again after a harrowing scream echoes throughout the alleys of the withered bone, Psalm and Rokka look to one another to decide their next course of action. 

Psalm: it's not really our problem, is what i'd like to say but i get the feeling that you want to go help them anyways Rokka: you are correct my dear roommate. lets go! Psalm: wait wait wait

Psalm advises Rokka to go wake the others to go check it out, him staying and watching over ‘greenie’ in the meantime. Rokka runs over to the room with Keva, Han, Ezra and Plum inside and kicks up a big fuss that Plum and Ezra aggressively sleep through as the others each rouse tired and groggy. Keva throws a pillow at Ezra to rouse him out of nowhere and the four make their way over to the room where Psalm is to ask him why the hell he woke them up.

Han: psalm, why can we not sleep in peace :) Psalm: why are you asking me? you think i'm responsible for this? Han: i do not consider rokka responsible yes, i do consider u responsible Psalm: seems a bit unfair, we're both on watch here..... not really appreciating the bias

He explains the flash of light and the scream he heard to he group, everyone but Rokka decide they definitely are not getting involved even if a dude is dying but will accompany him to check it out on his insistence. The four heard downstairs while Psalm keeps watch over ‘greenie’ like a hawk. 

Psalm: AN OCELOT NEVER LETS HIS PREY ESCAPE Plum: psalm meow like ocelot or no balls psalm by himself with greenie: MEWOOOOOWW ghester:

The four make their way outside the bar’s sturdy front door and listen about and hear sounds of someone moving a body, Rokka tries to pinpoint it but cant tell where its coming from. Han and Keva manage to figure it out while pulling on his ears, they creep around a corner and see a cloaked figure laying on the ground, someone standing over them.

Psalm: Ghester im thinking of a number between 1 and 2 decimals are allowed Ghester: 1.6 Psalm: Oh u got me...

The three recognise the figure over the body to be that of Vorde’s bodyguard from the ball. However Keva recognises him as her old friend Orin, seemingly appearing here from out of nowhere.

Psalm: and can you believe she thinks it's my fault ghester? after all i try to do to keep these idiots alive and she thinks it's my fault i was doing my job on watch duty properly Ghester: honestly it can be a little frustrating at times but you must make with what you have Psalm: i'm not about this bonds shit big boss has me doing but who am  i to disobey

Orin looks to be staring intently at something in his hand, in his other he holds a bloodied sword, Keva stands frozen stock still watching him. Han makes to leave waving it off but Rokka shouts out into the quiet a YOU THERE immediately alerting him to their presence down the alley. Han quickly moves around the other side of the building in an attempt to flank him while Rokka continues to yell at him. Keva soon broken out of her shock pulls down her facemask and calls Orin’s name out. In the meantime Plum finally wakes and makes their way over to where Psalm is on guard, asking where everyone suddenly went.

> 🎵  What We Could Have Become / Vampyr OST 

Keva: “don't hurt him" i say like out of breath Ezra: ezra looks at you out of the corner of his eye as you say that keva

Keva: i take down my hood and take a step towards him "orin...?" Rokka: orin? you know them? Keva: i don't respond to rokka and tap another step towards orin

His eyes seem to scan you for a moment before he seems to relax slightly. He mumbles something under his breath before throwing up a quick mock salute with a lazy smile and turning, running off down the opposite end of the alley flicking something onto the corpse

Han in her attempt to sneak around ends up walking into a wall in the dark and licking a wet cave wall for a moment. Keva and Ezra give chase after Orin but seem to lose him quickly in the dark and twisting turns of the alleys. Han eventually finds her way back to the group where they stand about frustrated and empty handed. Plum upon hearing the commotion outside decides to head outside to check it out while Psalm continues watching.

Rokka: i follow behind keva and check up on her "what just happened--are you crying? oh my go-are you ok?" Keva: when i hear someone coming i try to force my breathing to calm and pull my hood up,  @ rokka i just mumble "shut up" Rokka: < : (

Han: did all 3 of u lose him. i tried to go around and cut him off but u guys did a bang up job of that Ezra: you sure cut him off alright coming in about a minute later

Plum make their way outside to where the rest of the group is and ask about whats happened, the group then decide to go check the body that has been left in the alley in Orin’s wake. Keva is informed by the rest of the party that they saw Orin earlier during the ball and says he looked like Vorde’s servant, she seems utterly confused.

Plum: wow this is such a small fuckin town Han: you tellin me!!!! Plum: he seemed like a complete wimp when i saw him at the party, no offense Han: he did look like a wimp

The body appears to have been stabbed twice through the chest, blood staining he front of what looks to be somewhat fancy clothing. His pockets appear picked clean aside from a knife in its sheath Han pockets, the only other thing on him being the symbol Orin flipped onto his front, the group recognise it as the same one greenie had, a symbol of the Red Letterheads.

Han:  ... why would the servant of a man who owns land be here Plum: ...owns land? Han: doesnt he? he said he owned a village Psalm: yknow ghester i feel like that vorde guy is definitely responsible for all that shit that happened at the ball Ghester: jumping to conclusions can make you blind to other things Han: SHUT UP GHESTER ME AND PSALM WE GOT THIS BITCH

Rokka:  im just behind everyone watching them loot a dead body

Ezra inquires into how Keva knows Orin, she says she does but she didnt know he was still alive. She explains that Orin stole something back for a paladin that helped him before, but he got chased and hurt in the process. He gave the sword to her and told her to run and so she did and now she is here and so is he “i guess!”.

Han: well, congrats i guess, u didnt check the corpse well enough Rokka: so you........ran with a sword some dying dude gave you? Keva: he’s, an old friend

Plum: plums head working a mile a minute they are so confused

She explains she doesn't know what happened after she ran but swears he’d never do or hurt anyone like this for no reason. Rokka questions this but she doubles down on her statement. The group begin questioning if Vorde has some stake in this or is planning some kind of coup as they decide to head back upstairs, upstairs Psalm notices ‘greenie’ finally waking up again. Keva asks the group to try and not hurt Orin the next they see him and Han singles herself out as the only one who doesn't go ‘eh sure i guess’ but shrugs eventually. She also states she has a plan and picks up the body from the alley to take upstairs.

Han: smiles at keva with a corpse dripping all over me Ezra: renny is gonna be pissed if you track blood inside Han: ;asdflkwefd

Psalm and greenie have a impromptu staring contest while Han rips off her fancy shirt to wrap around the body and a bedroll to keep it from dripping all oer the floorboards. As they shuffle their way back upstairs Psalm hears them come and Cimmorro finally seems to hear them and wake up. He moves to check on Vinny before heading out to see what the group is up too.

Cimmorro: aight i go scout with everyone else and be like wuss poppin cimmorro shuffles through the door and sees han holding a dead guy in a bedroll and everyone standing around the small room  Rokka: i point at dead body "thats poppin" Cimmorro: jesus, what did you guys do

Han attempts to interrogate greenie using the corpse by dropping it on the ground next to her which causes her to twitch slightly. She asks her if she knows a man named Vorde to confused response. While this goes on Ezra moves over and explains the current situation in Cimmorro’s ear to catch him up.  

Rokka:  

Cimmorro moves to say a prayer over the corpse while the rest of the group feel like they're getting nowhere with the questioning, leading to Psalm to get fed up and cast a suggestion spell on her.

you ask her what her connection is to a man named vorde, her face shifts back to that of a neutral one "i dont know anyone by this name"

Han: what is the goal of the red letterheads Greenie: kill the prideful, to kill the deceitful, to topple those in power, for him Han: and who might him be? Greenie: our leader, his grace Theyord Han: what does your grace look like? Greenie: he is holy, wise and aged, unmatched in his serenity and his anger, he wears it all upon himself for us to see Han: more physical features this time, greenie? Greenie: grey, old, standing tall

Psalm: kinda vampirish? red eyes? pointy ears Han: maybe a dilf? Rokka: hes got a nephew about ye high

Han: where might your boss be, greenie? you got a hideout? Greenie: he only shows up when he summons us for communion, i dont see him otherwise it is against the rules. I only meet where he asks me too Han: where does he ask you to meet? Greenie: across the city, all manner of places, but its rarely, he merely speaks to me at times, it is lonely Han: how does he communicate with you? Greenie: he speaks to me in my mind

Han: cool cool cool cool cool cool cool cool Psalm: what's that like? ^__^?

Han: whats the talking like greenie? Greenie: its soothing, angelic, he tells me what to do Han: what were your plans after you murdered your target? any meet up spot? Greenie: we were supposed to run and then he'd tell us what do do, but i haven't heard anything, maybe because we messed up, he must be angry at us

> 🎵  Controlled Chaos / Kevin Macleod 

Partway through their questioning as he says his prayers over the corpse off to the side Cimmorro sees one of its fingers twitch slightly underneath the fabrics. As he inspects it further he feels an air of unease begin to radiate from it as the rest of the body begins to twitch slightly. He informs the group of whats happening and they all watch as the body begins moving unatelry on the floor of the room.

Cimmorro: i hate this bc i was abt to like bother the whole interrogation by making a prayer dialogue going like "can i sing for you 😏 " at the corpse but ok Han: hey now is ur partner supposed to come back from the dead? 😬 Rokka: is this............a zombie attack

The group debate on whether they should just stab it again or tie it up or what as the body continues shifting until its moved to fully standing in the room, its head shaking at a inhuman erratic pace, arms twitching. Rokka moves to bodyslam the body soon after it stands, attempting to pin it to the ground but the corpse seems to push him off slamming him against an opposite wall. Han soon moves after to grab it into some kinda chokehold as it stands on twitching legs. 

Keva: oh fuck yall what of the red letterheads symbol Orin left wasn’t a calling card or smth but smth that turns people into zombies Han: PLEASE KILL ME NOW

Han: greenie WHAT is happening to your friend holy fuck Greenie: he’s returning, he's coming back, he's been chosen

Ghester: hmm....kind of unpleasant Psalm: what is? if you know what's happening i'd love some insight Ghester: the corpse, i thought that was obvious that who sees Psalm: i hate you so much Ghester: appreciate it Psalm: anytime

Han & Keva: how does someone get chosen? Greenie: its blissfull, he decides who to choose himself Keva: WAIT IF VINNY WAS STABBED WAS HE ALSO CHOSEN Han: OH goD PLEASE DONT SAY THAT Psalm: oh, hmmm. we've been keeping an eye on him though right?

As they speak Han holds the twitching body down and asks the others to tie it up, Ezra suggests sitting on it as well to keep it down which Han does. The body starts making groaning noises out of its mouth that sounds like a weird guttural gurgling. Han continues frantically questioning greenie as the group are all utterly creeped out and on edge.

Han: what are you chosen for? Greenie: for a great purpose, to stand by him and do his work Han: what does that BLOODY mean!!!!!!! Rokka: i cover my ears "make it stop make it stop make it stop make it sto"

Cimmorro moves to inspect the body as Han sits on it to discern what in the hell is going on. He figures something is binding the soul to this corpse in some unnatural way, the twitching being especially unnerving. Psalm begins asking the group if they should chop its head off to stop the sounds. 

Han: was the man you stabbed  at the party also chosen?? Greenie: i dont know i can only hope if i am killed i will come back, at least then i can stand with him, i dont know what it takes only that it happens, Frello....i am glad he was given this purpose

Plum: i'm really hoping we don't trap this guy in some kind of painful existence by doing that Psalm: why would you say that now i'm faltering

Han: what is this purpose?? is your lord gonna pop up and talk thru him?  why was vinny stabbed at the party Greenie: i told you already, "kill the prideful, to kill the deceitful, to topple those in power, for him. Sometimes he speaks through others, he is a symbol of pride, he was chosen for that reason

Han asks what would happen if they hacked this dudes head off and greenie responds that her grace would become very angry. Han birefly asks if greenie recognises the name ‘Ullr’ but gets confusion back similar to when she asked Vorde’s name. Cimmorro moves to inspect the body closer and the unnatural rolling of the eyes and gurgling almost make the body look conscious, through the back of the shirt though he spots something. a faint orange light shining through. The group move to quickly rip off part of the shirt and see an old brand on his back of the red letterheads symbol, glowing a faint orange. As they do this head’s next almost twists a full 180 to watch them.

Psalm: heres what i think. that vorde motherfucker is reviving people and had his little servant, keva's friend, revive this guy for that purpose. Whether or not he's affiliated with greenie is unknown to her but it seems incredibly likely, and we should probably kill this guy before he becomes more of an issue

While the group debate Cimmorro notices that the corpses gurgling is beginning to form small words and actual sounds as if he were learning how to speak.

Psalm: WOW GOOD THING I HAVEN'T CUT HIS HEAD OFF

Cimmorro makes out the words “hello” “you” and “see” he moves to tell the group that the corpse seems like its trying to communicate with them, han keeps it pinned by its forehead on the floor. Cimmorro says hello back and gets the words ‘greetings” ‘thank you” and “accomplice”. 

Cimmorro: oh okay, you're welcome i guess.. who's the accomplice ??:  cimmy you hear a "yourselves" and a garbled sounding noise as the corpse lifts up the edges of his cheeks in a smile

Plum attempts to identify the symbol while they speak and understands that an animate dead spell is affecting it, as they do this the eyes of the corpse swivel over in their direction. Han asks if this is Theyord and gets a ‘your grace is i’ back from the body, she asks what the fuck hes planning to do and gets "much work" and a "will see" and a "take yourselves" and a "watching". After that final communication the body seems to twitch erratically and convulse in upon itself. the glow of the mark fading leaving the corpse unmoving and silent once again.

The group debate with one another on whether or not he knows if they're here or not or if they're being kept alive for some purpose or not. Cimmorro getting somewhat paranoid from the experience leaves the room to check on Vinny and Cole, seeing them fine and asleep in their beds. He waits in their room as they others continue to discuss the state of things, watching over them for the time being. The group decide the plan hasn't changed, gather information and move afterwards, find the letterheads first and if they cant find anything they decide they’ll head to Vargonia.

Psalm: who is orin anyways? friend? family? Keva: i'm quiet for a bit "what i have left of a family" Psalm: i see

The group minus Cimmorro think on what to do with greenie now and come to the decision its better if they kill her and burn her body along with the other corpses so they dont come back again somehow. They try and figure out how to off her in the most painless way possible, Plum giving Han the petals of a plant to feed her after she knocks her unconscious. Keva goes to join Cimmorro in the room watching Vinny and Cole as the rest take the two downstairs and burn them, the smell its pretty putrid.

Han: i was doing so good on my no killing streak until this job came up Psalm: yknow i'm realising kind of belatedly we could also just bring her to the authorities Han: ............

Cimmorro: this is gonna be a long day huh kev... what are they doign out there Keva: i'm like face down on the extra bed and i say, muffled "fuck if i know"

The two discuss if Vinny will be okay to which Cimmorro says he seems to be getting better but he defintely wants to keep a close eye on him. 

Keva: i turn my face to the side "...can you teach me some time? to idk, help fix people i guess, since it looks like we're stuck together" Cimmorro: oh??? well, i could. since i'm also learning and looks like that will be the case huh" i shrug "you're gonna owe me though >:) Keva: i shrug "i already owe you for the time in the basement so whatever i guess" Cimmorro: i lift my brow and start doing a thinking for a while before i go "ohhhhhhhhh yeah wow you remembered that? i didn't even think about it, it's sort of just habit to me so...it's fine but i'll be keepin tabs now hakhak" Keva: i do that like kinda laugh where you just expel some air out your nose before turning back to facedown in my pillow Cimmorro: i sigh and say "you're not so bad kevster. get some rest... you're gonna need a lot lol" Han: t poses into the room

The rest of the group make their way back up to the room post burning and rouse cole from her slumber bleary eyed telling Cimmorro what they did. Han goes to shake Vinny awake to Cimmorro’s huffing over rousing his patient as he slaps her arm away. Vinny grumbles awake and upon seeing Cimmorro sits up ramrod straight in bed grabbing him with a shout.

Vinny: YOU!! Cimmorro: HELLO? SIR? Vinny: his hair is also a mess, he grabs your shoulders for a moment before moving a little closer "...I THINK..." Cimmorro: whoahhh personal space

Plum: plum is going to go have a stress ulcer in the corner of this room Cimmorro: pet rokka to feel better Plum: why must we remove rokka's humanity Rokka: he would not mind tbh pls rokka needs comfort too

The group catch him up on the events post him getting stabbed up till now along with Cole as the two get ready to head out with the rest of them. The group decide on different groups again since they no longer need a group to stay and watch ‘greenie”. A group to go above ground and sneak into Vinny’s store and another to ask around down in the cove. Vinny decides to join the above ground group listing the laundry list of things left unattended up there, Cim follows wherever Vinny is going for the time being. While they discuss this Rokka briefly asks Vinny if he recognises the Theyord to which he thinks on and says maybe.

The group split becomes  -> Han / Keva / Cole / Vinny / Cimmorro to head aboveground  -> Psalm / Rokka / Plum / Ezra to stay belowground

The aboveground group tell Plum they will also retrieve some of their items for them if they can. They begin discussing and managing their disguises, as they do Cole hands Vinny her hat to replace the one he lost when he was stabbed. 

The group decide to meet back at this point in 24 hours. If they dont see anyone by the meeting time then escape as you are now. Ezra notes if his group wont make it he may have a way to contact them if so but not vice versa. the group also decide to use a special code with one another to make sure they dont get duped by any future clones. 

Rokka: i vote for obama take the wheel Ezra: who is obama Rokka: my great great great grandfather

Psalm: A code is a good idea Ezra: im gonna have to agree with psalms suggestion on this one

Psalm: How about Q: "where were you up to the night of the ball" "A: "i was having a grand old time"

As the group break to head their separate ways Cole moves to give the downstairs team a hug before she leaves but it soon evolves into giving everyone a hug as they leave. The hugging is spread all around. 

Psalm: Ill give you a hug han (: Han: glares at psalm but opens her arms Psalm:  ..........it was a joke Cimmorro: shakes my head towards psalm

They group splits off for the time being after the hug parade pulls into town, they head out to attend to their tasks, mission and goal on the mind. Theories are swarming in their heads and questions left unanswered, starting their day by pushing through the darkness ahead.

---

Notes

🔮 Psalm rolled a 25 on their disguise check

🏹 Han takes the ring and disguises herself as - a half-orcish man as short as she can manage, she also obtains a 「 Poison Dagger✨」 from the 🔪Assassin

🍺 Plum asks for - their large pot of pink potion / the rest of their ingredients in their small bags

🐺 Rokka tears his shirt off when everyone began talking about clothes ( #freethenipple ) and covers himself in a cloak

🗡 Keva and 💎 Cimmorro wear their cloaks over their outfits and 💎 Cimmorro removes most of his jewellery and rolls a 14 on disguise

[takerfoxx]

“Fires of the Sun, Part 6″ Thoughts

I know this is coming late, but i had a busy weekend. Stupid million sport games and most of my coworkers calling out.

I'm going to skim over most of the opening scene, as there's little to add, and just comment on the bit where the Dragons accidentally barbecue the mob. I went back and forth on whether or not to go through with that, as I've been trying to pull away from grimdark plot twists. One possibility was to have them break up out of the ground when Yukari was exploring the ruins of Mugenkan and unknowingly attack her, and have Yuuka reform and go after her with the mordite blade when she was distracted. But in the end, I went with this direction because A, I needed to keep Yukari and co. busy for a little while longer so Rin could wrap things up with Sakuya, and B, Mima's plan needed to succeed in a major way. Thus far, only Patchouli ended up falling victim to her revenge scheme, and with Satori's rescue her dupes actually ended up netting something of a profit. So having her successfully rack up a huge amount of collateral damage and put it on Yukari's shoulders helped cement her as a dangerous antagonist and set up Yukari's attempts to take her down in the future.

Rin and Flandre's cute little celebration helped establish a few points. First, in a callback to her misunderstanding how handshakes work during her meeting with Utsuho, Flandre not getting high fives really is clueless about how to interact with people. Even going beyond her fits of destructive rage, she doesn't know about handshakes, doesn't know how high fives work, and just doesn't get how to function as a normal person. She's never had the opportunity to learn. I personally feel that, once you get past her psychotic episodes, she really is a sweet girl at heart. This is further emphasized by her and Rin's reactions to Yuuka's "death." Rin didn't feel bad one little bit, while Flandre immediately was hit by guilt. Not to say that Rin should have felt bad. Hell, I don't think anyone would claim that Yuuka was someone worth shedding tears over. Still, it does sort of show that, despite their similarities, they're sort of developing in opposite directions. Rin started off as meek and scared and really hesitant to hurt anyone, and now she's finally run out of fucks to give and gladly dishes out beatdowns when the situation calls for it. Flandre was violently unpredictable at best, far more prone to berserker rages before Rin unlocked the Adult personality, but now feels terrible for contributing to anyone's death, even a monster like Yuuka. I don't know if that's going to lead anywhere, but it's interesting to note.

Now, I'm not going to say all of Wriggle and Kogasa's frequent interactions are necessarily leading anywhere, but…well, okay. So maybe I'm just sort of testing the water with that one. Romance is something I've mostly avoided until now, and do sort of want to expand things in the future and try out different things, so…it's a possibility, let's just keep it at that.

Rumia's insomnia problems are interesting on a meta level. I introduced them mainly because of my own time with having chronic insomnia and how much that ended up affecting me. Now I've long gotten over them while Rumia still has them, poor kid. Obviously her problems are way greater than mine. I just messed myself up with unhealthy habits. With her, I think something is definitely screwed up in her brain. I was actually going to take it even further with her frequently hallucinating that she was still in Rin's mind like that one time by the river. This didn't end up happening mainly because when you got a lot of plotlines running around, sometimes interesting ideas just have to get cut.

Smug, incompetent Yukari got a lot of flak early on in this story's run, and admittedly deservingly so. I still feel she got a harsher rap than she should have, but that's just my opinion. I worked pretty hard to soften her up somewhere around the mid-point, and may have overcompensated at points, but here at the end I do feel she's finally settled into a nice groove as a take-charge commander. Hey, I like strong authority figures in my stories. Just don't insinuate anything of my sexual preferences from that.

And I don't know if Kotohime was taking a dump or not, I just hope she found time to wipe if she did.

In other news, I really should have paid more attention to Doremy Sweet's design, as I kept describing her as having a puffball tails instead of a cow tail until the very end. Another reason to go back and just fix all the mistakes. Though interesting to note, I was thinking of including Wriggle in that final climax with Yuuka, to have her attack her from behind with an army of insects and just call her out on all the shit Yuuka had done to her while kicking her in the head over and over. Unfortunately this got cut for the same reason everything else did: no room for it. Which is a shame, because she did deserve that closure. Rin apologizing to her for it was sort of to make up for not including it.

I do like Wriggle's constant concern for Elly, even after everything that had happened. I think the flashbacks to when they were friends were a major part of the decision to start portraying Elly in a more sympathetic light. I was actually kind of tempted to have Rin successfully kidnap Elly and bring her along for a sort of weird forced face turn. Alas, I needed her elsewhere, so instead she got paired off with Yuuka's super-burnt body instead.

While I'm pretty happy with how FotS came out as a whole, there are three parts that stand out in my mind as personal highlights. The first is Utsuho's speech to Rin from earlier. The second is that final mental confrontation between Rin, Flandre, and Yuuka. And the third is the faceoff between Sakuya and Rin, with Rumia's life and Flandre's freedom on the line. Something I've learned from wrestling and various other action-heavy series is that you don't need a bunch of flashy moves and big explosions to craft a memorable showdown. You just need two people with clear motivations who really don't like each other stuck in the same room with something very important on the line that neither of them can afford to lose. Though I actually had to rewrite a couple parts in post, as originally Rin was going to go straight from saving Rumia to threatening Sakuya with the knife without so much as checking up in Rumia. I've mentioned being on the autistic spectrum a couple times, and unfortunately that does mean I often overlook those sort of empathetic details. And no, that doesn't mean I don't have empathy; far from it. It just means that my way of expressing it is often a bit…off from everyone else, and I sometimes have to remember how most people express emotion when writing. So that whole bit had to get changed to have Rin express the emotions she ought be expressing, as well as that short confrontation between Rin and Flandre over Patchouli's death to make Rin more panicky over Rumia's peril. I like the way I am and wouldn't change it even if I could, but it does mean that I sometimes have to consciously remember to do things that most people just do naturally.

Anyway, this scene was also another example of foreseeing logical problems and countering them ahead of time to avoid fridge logic. Why wouldn't Sakuya just stop time to begin with? Well, she needed to force Rin to give up Flandre. Why wouldn't she do it when Flandre was released? Her hands were full and Rin would have killed her the second the pocketwatch appeared. The tricky one was why she wouldn't just stop time after Flandre was out and Rin was otherwise distracted. Thinking of this problem actually led to a pretty cool bit where she tried doing just that and Flandre seeing it and screaming out a warning. I was stumped at how Rin would get to her in time before she pressed down. I mean, she's really fast and all, but she's not that fast. Then I remembered that Flandre's power is instantaneous, and it would be a great symbolic moment to have her be the one to destroy the pocketwatch, followed be her getting defenestrated. Hey, I like Sakuya as much as the next guy, and totally get where she was coming from. But come on. From Rin's point of view, she totally deserved that.

Which was then followed by Mima trying to squish her with rocks (and boy, was it tough to arrange things so that would end up happening after all!) and Meiling comes in with the save! Nothing much to say about that except I thought it was rad. Yeah, I really liked these last couple of chapters.

Now, if anyone is curious, Yuuka's odd look and bizarre babbling are a parody of Broken Matt Hardy, a pro wrestler (and yes, my life does in fact revolve around pro wrestling. Deal with it), whose…unusual reinvention of himself was one of the most talked about stories in 2016. Suffice to say, it's weird, it's indescribable, and it's very, very entertaining. I love the character, and couldn't resist sticking in a little shoutout, mainly to see if anyone would notice. And someone actually did!

Though, on a side note, it was actually originally Sunshu that was supposed to take the hit from the mordite blade. That's why she showed up in that scene where Yukari slapped her and Orin down. I had an idea where she'd break free, storm into the mansion, and go after Yukari again only to get killed by Yuuka. But that was scrapped because I figured that the GPF knew their stuff and would be able to restrain even an oni, especially one that Yukari had already put down. Besides, Shinki taking the hit instead opens things up for some interesting future developments.

Other things that I got a kick out included the fact that the Dragon King's name is Frank. Okay, Francioux, whatever. It made me giggle. As did Rin pretty much lighting Sariel up like a Looney Tunes bomb explosion. BECAUSE I'M AN ADULT!

Another thing I haven't talked much about: Mima and Seiga's role in FotS. Here, they pretty much were the Greek chorus, watching and commenting on the action. With so many moving parts, it was useful to have a sort of outside perspective explaining the various characters motivations and why they would do some things, as well as set up the couple of times Mima interfered. In things like The Storm and The Curious Case of Rin Satsuki, Yuuka filled that role, but since Lady Meika already said that she was going to refrain from doing commentary that role was instead filled by a different set of assholes.

And no, I have no idea how Seiga and Futo got down there so quickly. Use your imaginations. Though I can already tell that Futo's speech patterns are going to be a pain in the ass until I get the hang of this old-timey talk.