#I didn't specify in this one so read it how you see fit! :D
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I just finished rewatching the chimera ant arc recently, so could I request “why the long face?” with ler knuckle and lee shoot? I like to imagine knuckle tickling shoot anytime he feels insecure :)
*sobs* I love these two so much! Okay so- full disclosure, I haven't watched HxH in a MINUTE- especially the Chimera arc. If these two aren't 100% accurate, I apologize in advance! I hope you like it all the same, friend! :D
“Hey.” Knuckle lightly kicked Shoot in the ankle, gaining his attention. “Why the long face?”
Silence. Shoot gave him such a stare. Knuckle blinked a few times before puffing his cheeks, realizing his mistake. “S-Shoot! Wa-wait I dihihidn��t meahahan lihike that!”
“I know that. And yet you’re still laughing.” The other man shook his head, fighting down a smile as Knuckle doubled over, holding his belly. “Besides genetics- I’m just having a low day.”
Knuckle's laughter died down, his smile dropping some at the remark. “Oh, Shoot..”
“Don’t worry- it’s nothing I can’t handle.” Despite his strong sounding words, his lip quivered some, making Shoot’s worries skyrocket. In a matter of moments, he had him in a tight embrace, squeezing the life out of the taller man. “K-Knuckle! Far to tihiihhght!”
“Why are you laughing? Surely you don’t think my hugs are that funny, do you?” Knuckle sounded offended, but his fingers were currently working a mile a minute, scratching and drawing random shapes against Shoot’s back as the taller man twitched and squirmed in his embrace. “Or are you now just realizing how amazing my pun was earlier? Can’t blame you- it was rather funny!”
“Thahat’s not why I’m lahahaughing! Yoohohur hahahnds!” Shoot cried, trying his best to break free. Sure- he could use his nen ability to do so; maybe even get some well-deserved revenge tickles on the pompadoured man.
But then the game would end. And he would be lying if he said the idea didn’t disappoint him.
“Do you feel better? No longer feeling down on yourself?” Knuckle cooed at him, grinning when he felt Shoot’s legs give out. He supported his weight as they crashed to the ground, one hand still tickling while the other held him close. “Do I have to keep tickling you?”
“Nohohoho, I’m ohohoaky now! I ahahaham- gehahhahahaha! Stahhahap, stahhahap!” He cried out, tapping out against Knuckle’s arm. Gasping for air, the taller man slumped as he collected himself, more amused now than anything. “Yohohou always do thahat when I’m upsehehet..”
“Of course! It’s my go-to method to bring back my partner in crime!” Knuckle puffed his chest with pride, earning a small laugh from his victim. “Ready to try again, pal?”
“Yeheahah..yeah, that sounds good.” Nodding, Shoot let himself be pulled to his feet, smiling gently at the other man. “Thanks, Knuckle. You’re a great guy.”
“Grhk! Y-You can’t go and say that to a man so suddenly!” Knuckle sniffed as he turned away, trying not to cry. It was so like him, it made Shoot properly smile. “I’m not crying by the way! Say anything and I’ll bury you!”
“I gotcha bud.”
Send me a sentence starter and I'll write a dabble for you! :D
#Puffs#sentence starters#tickle#tickle dabble#hxh#knuckle bine#shoot mcmahon#are they lovers?#I feel like they are#I didn't specify in this one so read it how you see fit! :D#apologies if this is a bit OOC I haven't watched them in a minute TwT'
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Reading to Each Other 🪻
day one of tuna tober y'all!! i'm SO fricking excited! :D
Ship: Duke Leopold Mountbatten x f!Reader
Rating: 13+
Wordcount: 1.3k
Warnings: lots of LOTR, tobacco mention, riddles, kissing, cuddles
Series: Leg's Tuna Tober
It was a quiet Sunday afternoon. Rain pattered on your apartment's windows, the occasional roll of thunder booming outside. The spiced scent of your pumpkin candle floated through the living room air. Warm light shone from shaded lamps positioned on either end of your green-clothed sofa. A thick, soft blanket was draped over your lap.
You held your worn copy of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Images of a dark cave filled with still water and an eerie sense of calm floated from the yellowed pages. Sounds of whispered riddles and shaking hands holding shining jewelry bounced around inside your head. It was nearly impossible to read Tolkien and not get entirely engrossed.
"How's your book?" Leo asked from the other end of the couch.
You nearly jumped out of your skin. Your head snapped up from where you'd been hunched over your book, eyes wide, as you met Leo's amused gaze. A light laugh filtered through his bright smile.
"Sorry! Didn't mean to alarm you," he said, amusement clearly indicating that he wasn't sorry in the slightest. You shook your head and sighed at his antics.
"Uh huh. Sure," you groused with a growing smile.
Leo was equally curled up on his side of the sofa. Fluffy blanket draped across his lap, glasses fitted over his thin nose, copy of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen balanced in one of his hands. Hazel eyes trailed over the "grumpy" expression you'd forced over your face.
"Anything interesting standing out so far?" he asked, nodding to the book still clutched in your hands.
"I'm at one of my favorite parts, if that's what you mean," you replied as you burrowed deeper into the couch cushions. Leo tucked his bookmark into his novel, then set the book and his glasses on the end table nearest him.
"Care to elaborate?" he pressed with a cocked eyebrow. You bit your lip as you scanned over the pages again. Hisses and riddles and splashes of ground water leapt from the ink. Hmm. Riddles.
"Well, this part is about Bilbo bargaining, with a creature named Gollum, for his life. They're exchanging riddles as a sort of game," you explained, trying your best to not confuse a man who'd never heard of the Lord of the Rings.
"And what riddles are they?" Leo asked with a growing smile. He crossed his legs under his blanket to give you his undivided attention. You glanced between him and the book in your hands.
"You want to try and solve the riddles, or do you want me to read the whole part?"
"Just the riddles," he specified. You hummed in response.
"Alright, just know that they can get pretty tricky," you said in a singsong manner. Leo stared at you with apt interest as you turned to the correct page in your book. Inked words flew past your eyes, descriptions of swords and hobbits and tobacco and goblins filling your mind, nearly sucking you back into the story, before you found the first riddle. You cleared your throat and read, "What has roots as nobody sees, is taller than trees, up, up it goes, and yet never grows?"
"Has to be a mountain, isn't it?" Leo guessed almost immediately. He seemed rather confident in his answer, dimples digging into his cheeks with how wide his smile had stretched.
"Yup. Mountain," you answered, already thinking of which riddle to do next. Do you be nice and keep giving him the easier ones, or kick it up a notch? He did invent the elevator, after all.
"Give us a harder one, love," he said. That decides it for you, then.
"It cannot be seen, cannot be felt. Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills, and empty holes it fills. It comes first and follows after, ends life, kills laughter."
Leo blew out a long stream of air, "When I said hard, I didn't mean that hard!"
You refrained from making the obvious joke brewing at the back of your throat. An involuntary giggle leaked from your lips. You tried to play it off by resting your chin in your hand, fingers digging into your lips, to keep yourself quiet.
The room was quiet for a few moments as Leo considered the riddle. Raindrops trailed down the window, rivulets chasing each other and creating long tails that winded up the glass. This Sunday, utterly serene in its quality, was one of many you'd gotten to experience with Leo. Something about him just garnered peace in your life.
"Do I get a hint?" he asked with a sigh. You grinned at him from under your fingers.
"If Bilbo doesn't get a hint, neither do you," you said. Leo groaned, leaning back on the sofa and throwing an arm over his face. You couldn't help the laugh that breezed between your fingers.
"You are undeniably cruel," he grumbled under his arm.
"You wanted a harder riddle," you replied with a shrug. Leo grunted in return, making you laugh again. You waited a few more moments, letting him agonize over the riddle, before you decided to take pity, "What is it when your eyes are closed?"
"The hell are you on about? Is this a part two to the riddle?" Leo groused.
The blanket in your lap pooled into a pile on the floor as you crawled across the couch. Your sweatpants-clad legs framed Leo's hips, your hands running up his sides, as you sat in his lap. He begrudgingly lowered his arm and met your eyes.
"That was a clue. What do you see when you close your eyes?" you repeated as you ran your palms up and down his forearms. Leo's expression softened slightly.
"A spot of mercy," he said, smile returning, "I was wrong in labeling you cruel."
"Yeah yeah, Mr.1876. Just answer the damn riddle," you said as you rolled your eyes. Leo's warm palms found their usual place on your hips.
"You can't see it, feel it, hear it, or smell it. And closing my eyes has something to do with it," he listed, tongue darting across his bottom lip. A few more moments filled with pondering passed.
"For god's sake," you breathed as you clapped your hand over his eyes. The two of you had been together for so long that the action had hardly surprised him. You waited for a moment in hope that this obvious clue would help. Being met with only silence, you said, "What do you see right now?"
"Your hand, for one," Leo quipped back. He flinched with a laugh when you pinched him with your free hand.
"Close your frickin' eyes, Leo."
Silence settled over the two of you. Warm, comfortable, charged with amusement at your situation. Only Leo's smile could be seen from under your hand. His thumbs tucked under the hem of your t-shirt.
"It's dark," he finally said. You gave him a few moments to connect the dots. A gasp shook his chest, "Dark! That's the answer!"
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!" you exclaimed as you dropped your hand from his eyes.
Pure elation crinkled in the corners of his hazel eyes. He hugged you closer to his chest, a laugh shaking where your bodies met. You couldn't help but join in. Your arms wrapped around his shoulders to steady yourself.
"Do I get a prize for so effortlessly solving the riddle?" Leo asked with a hint of sarcasm after the two of you had calmed a bit.
"I'm deducting points for the use of a hint," you hummed, feigning consideration at his question.
"And those points, will they affect the prize I know I've earned?"
You answered his question by pressing your lips to his. Both smiling, both clinging to the other with absolute adoration, the occasional giggle buzzing between you.
It was a quiet Sunday afternoon. It was raining outside, your candle had burnt down to the wick, and you were cradled in Leo's lap as you both read your respective books. Your back to his chest, blanket draped over both of your laps, his cheek rested on the crown of your head. Every now and then you'd read a part of your book aloud, garnering the same in return from Leo.
AHHHHHHHHH this is so frickin cute i might CRY!!! happy tuna tober everyone!!!
taglist: @just-a-nightdreamer @venomqueen2002 @c1eepypas1a @www-interludeshadow-com
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#hugh jackman#duke leopold mountbatten#kate and leopold#meg ryan#tuna-tober#tuna tober prompt challenge 2024#promptober#murdock tuna team#duke leopold mountbatten fanfic#duke leopold mountbatten x reader
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Heya! Never written an ask before but I love this story and the snippets so much that I decided to give it a go! Genuinely, this is the only blog where I read every ask. So! I actually have two burning questions, but it seems like it's better to send them as separate asks so I'll probably do that. Hope that's alright! Anyway, the first question is:
Say MC somehow gains a vague understanding of what Mama and Papa mean- how would Lexia and Havard react to being called Mama and Papa respectively?
Hi! Glad to be your first ask! And thank you for all the kind words!
So this is a hard one... kudos for not pulling any punches on your first ask :D Going straight for the big stuff, I like it and dread it in equal measure.
Since this seems like something that could easily happen in game, I will put the snippets below the line. I suppose I am calling spoilers, though I don't think I reveal anything that was not in the demo though people might have missed it.
And I reserve the right to change anything I want later, as always :D But let's call this a thank you for 10 k browser plays :D
------------HAVARD-----------
"Papa?" You asked one evening as Havard was tucking you into bed. It was phrased a bit like a question but you think you understand what it means. You saw children out in the city use the word.
There was only one person you knew that the word fit, and that was Havard.
Havard froze in place, and paled.
Why? What did you do?
He was staring at you with wide eyes, and a range of expressions passed across his face.
Joy, sorrow, anger, pain...
So many expressions.
So much pain.
Then you saw the tears falling down his cheeks.
You sat up in bed, alarmed and panicked. This was not like the Havard you knew... Havard was the one who helped you not hurt! This was all wrong. He smiled at you, and helped you eat, and took care of you. This wasn't what you wanted.
What did you do? Why is he hurting?
Havard did not give you the chance to ask. He knelt by your bed and wrapped you up in a hug. It was warm and snug. Yet, he held onto you for dear life with a desperation, as if afraid you would disappear... and you had no idea why.
"I... I never thought... Thank you." He whispered. You could feel the wetness against your cheek.
You think you misheard him at first. Why is he thanking you? You made him hurt?
Then he repeats it. Twice, thrice. He keeps repeating it, and hugging you tighter, and tighter. Yet, never too hard. He would never hurt you. You know this.
You are confused... but you hug him back as hard as you can.
"Thank you, papa." You whispered back to him. You did not need to specify what you were thankful for.
It was for everything.
------------LEXIA-----------
"Mama?" You said, phrasing it as a question. You think you understand what it means. You saw children out in the city use the word.
Lexia froze, face going very blank. She stared at you with wide eyes, uncertain about what to do.
Then she knelt down in front of you.
"You sure kid? That you wanna use such a big and important word on me?" She asked, voice oddly soft... and a little choked up? It didn't suit her usual style... but you thought this was Lexia too. Uncertain behind all her smiles, but usually hiding it well. That slightly awkward person who was afraid of being scolded by Alessa as much as the twins were. Lexia who loved teasing Havard, and testing his patience.
Lexia who sometimes used bad words, and let you get away with eating cookies before dinner. Lexia who was always there, Protecting you. From others and yourself.
"Mama." You repeated, a bit more certainly. It felt right.
Lexia inspected your face for a long time. Then she hugged you. Much more gently than usual, yet just as firmly. She was wearing her armor, but somehow the hug was warm. She even trapped your hands by accident.
"Ok... if you are sure..." She whispered to your ear. "I... I don't know if I am worthy of it, but I will try to be."
You could not see her face... You wondered what kind of a face she was making right now. You however could nuzzle her cheek.
It made her laugh.
That was all you wanted.
#tales of wocdes#the silver protector#interactive fiction#wip#twine game#twine wip#fantasy#interactive novel#twine story#snippet#Havard#Lexia
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Starved
*materializes into existence*
Hey :D
[beware, this is long]
Idk if you're doing prompts rn (if not, that's okay; remember to take care of yourself). But if you are, may I request some Creativitwins h/c? – oatmeal-stans-the-trash-rat [i'm not putting the whole req here just cause she LONG]
Read on Ao3
Warnings: starvation, intrusive thoughts, panic attacks, body horror (sort of), nightmares
Pairings: none
Word Count: 4250
For Remus, tending to the nightmare realm is just another chore. Eldritch monstrosities, terrifying landscapes, that's just how it is.
But when a new destination appears one night as he's going about his rounds, well, he has to stop in to investigate. What he finds is a horrifying town that has an almost cult-like relationship with hunger. One of the Sides, clearly, suffers from a particularly terrible strain of intrusive thoughts, but who?
"I mean, it just makes sense, really."
Roman snarls, throwing himself against the invisible barrier, but it shimmers mockingly as he's forced to claw and screech in vain, soundless behind its impassable force. On the other side, close enough that he could reach out and touch him—so close, so fucking close—Remus smiles.
"Of course," Logan says softly, reaching out to cup Remus's face as though he's precious, "the Creativity unbound by the shackles of expectation, what else could we hope for?"
"And the passion!" Patton claps his hands, each one making the barrier thunder against Roman's palms. "Where else are we going to find someone with this much drive and motivation?"
"I know, maybe we'll actually see finished products once in a while," Virgil snickers, playfully elbowing Remus in the ribs as a dagger lodges itself in Roman's side.
He howls in pain, still scrabbling at the wall, but it's no use; Remus isn't even looking at him anymore, no one is, they're all too focused on each other, on how perfect Remus fits in now that they're stopping to look at it, and that's what he wants, that's good, he missed his brother so much, he wants him back, he wants him back, he just wants—he wants—
But he's a fool, and he didn't specify that he's selfish enough to want to keep both things.
And now, as he watches Remus pulled into Patton's arms, as he watches Logan smile gently and ruffle his hair, as he watches Virgil grin and rub his hands together gleefully, as he watches Janus turn to look at him—
Janus stares at him through the barrier, a smirk playing on his lips. But it's not a cruel smirk, not a malicious smile, it's the crooked smile every hero has just as they deliver the last quip of the movie.
"Oh, Roman," he whispers, even as his words ring in Roman's ears, "thank god you don't have a mustache."
Roman wakes up.
He's shaking. He's burning under the sheet. He's panting like he's run for his life. He's frozen. He can't move. Why should he move? The barrier will stop him. Wait, no, that's when he's asleep. He's not asleep anymore. He's not, is he? He's so cold. He's so hot. He's so scared.
God, he's so scared.
But why is he so scared? Is it the fact that Remus was accepted? How awful is he, to be scared of that? To be scared that if they find out how wonderful Remus truly is—and he is, Remus is so, so, so wonderful, he is and Roman loves him—that they'll want to keep Remus and get rid of him? That's awful of him! He's not supposed to be scared of his brother being accepted, he's supposed to look forward to it! He's not—he's not—
He's crying, isn't he? That's why he's still shaking. He's scared. He's scared and he's awful and he's crying, why is he crying? What right does he have to cry? Crying is for people who are hurting and deserve comfort. What comfort does he deserve? Because his Imagination conjured up some horrifying reality for him, so horrifying that he got to watch his brother finally get the love and acceptance he deserves and the natural consequences of it? What right does he have to demand comfort after that? He doesn't. He should stop crying. He should stop. Right now.
Oh, god, he can't stop crying.
He's still hurting. His chest is still burning. Why can't he breathe properly? This is stupid; if he's going to be as selfish and needy as he is, he should at least be breathing properly. He can't pretend to be anything other than helpless, can he, that he would steal the air from others' lungs and then not have the decency to breathe it properly? How cruel of him. How unjust of him. How awful he must be.
He should be locked behind a barrier. He should be pushed far away from everyone else. Then he couldn't hurt them. Then his hurt would only hurt him. Then he could be as messy and needy and selfish as he had to be and he would only cause himself pain. That was right. That was better. He should—he should have—should he have realized this years ago? How awful he is, how much he deserves to be put behind a barrier?
The room is closing in. The walls are getting closer. His bed is shrinking. The blankets are pressing him down into the floor, he can't breathe, he can't breathe, he can't breathe—
He can't hear anything. Oh, god, has it happened already? No, no, he wasn't ready—he was just thinking about it, that didn't mean he wanted to go right now—no, he wants one last chance to say goodbye, he's sorry, he's sorry, he's so sorry—
It's so cold.
It's so cold.
***
Remus whistles under his breath as he steers the little rudder on the wooden dinghy, around the desecrated shell of some great eldritch beast. He gives the scale an absentminded pat as he drifts by, resolving to come back and check on it later. Perusing his nightmare gallery never did get old, but as far as dreams went, there were certainly better ones to be had. After all, hardly anyone wants to go to work as soon as they fall asleep.
"Win some, lose some," he remarks to the bear cub sitting in the bottom of the boat next to him. The bear cub growls low in its throat and gnaws on a spare bone. "Atta boy."
As he turns to go back towards the mainland, he catches sight of something rising up out of the water to his left. Looking over, he blinks in surprise to see a skeletal forest framing a new mouth of the river, long and jagged shadows reaching out over the water's surface. Frowning, he steers the boat over there, watching as the trees coalesce to form the silhouette of a starving bear. His bear cub lets out a low snuffling noise and shifts closer to his leg. He rubs its head and frowns as they drift under the bear's snarling mouth.
"Do you know what this is?" The bear cub huffs. "Huh. Me neither."
Surprisingly enough, the river ends at a seemingly normal dock. Well, normal for everyone else, in here, that's a little strange. Crowds mill about, each talking gruffly to their immediate neighbor, and someone throws Remus a small rope to tie off his dinghy. He does, the bear cub lingering close to his heels as he starts to walk into the town. Thankfully, he's not in his costume, but a set of plainclothes that he quickly shuffles around to hide the eldritch goo.
The air swirls with a strange miasma, not quite visible enough to put his finger on, but—there's something here. A feeling, almost, a terrible energy that permeates everything he can see. Most wear some sort of face covering, a scarf pulled up over their mouths, or hats worn so low he can only see glimpses of their chin. Those that don't are haggard, bone-weary, with eyes sunken and pulsating deep within their sockets. He can see what should be market stalls hanging their striped banners, but nothing looks to be on sale.
"Good thinking," he hears a raspy voice to his side, and he turns to see a crew of urchins smirking and huffing at him, "having a cub for you, or you for the cub."
His cub—he looks down to see where the cub should've been only to see it's wandered off, sniffing at something, and now whining and growling as a group of long-fingered strangers inch towards it, their mouths open. He whistles sharply and the cub turns tail and runs back to him, gnawing gently on his pants leg.
"Stay close," he bids under his breath as they keep walking, "I don't know what's going on here."
He keeps walking. The bustling streets fade quickly into tiny alleyways, each blocked off by a different makeshift wall that looks like it's designed to be lifted back and forth, a strange gate of sorts. Big, bulky things, the kind that would take at least two strong people to lift. He glances around at the twig-thin limbs and skeletal muscles he can see of the few people that aren't wearing big coats and proper clothes. As he nears one, he frowns. It's made of what looks to be old hide, bound and lashed together with something, but what could possibly be—
A low moaning and the murmur of a crowd.
He turns again, his cub at his side, looking for the source of the commotion. Down the main street a ways, at the mouth of presumably another alley, he sees a group of people peering at something. With one hand tangled in the fur at the cub's neck, he walks over and shoulders his way in to see what's so fascinating.
His eyes widen.
An old man, an old man, who looks barely alive save for the hysterical zeal in his eyes, is hobbling after something rolling along the ground. Every time he's about to pick it up, one of the men in some sort of uniform comes up and kicks it further away from him. The thing rolls through all manner of filth and still the old man hobbles after it. A sick sort of fascination takes hold of Remus's stomach—he should put a stop to this, shouldn't he?—but he finds himself paralyzed, only able to hold his bear cub close.
As the man continues to hobble, he lets go of his cloak. His ribs stand out starkly, each vertebra of his spine clearly visible, and someone in the crowd quickly snatches it up, hoarding it to their chest as a few squabble for it until the uniformed man barks at them to settle down. The man hobbles on, undeterred.
Another shadow lengthens on the ground.
Remus is one of the few that turn to look.
Another man, tall and whip-thin, with an ashen-gray face and monstrous dignity, walks slowly after the pair. His coat, fasted together with large gold buttons down the length of him, flutters in the breeze as though he would blow away at any moment. His hands, the same ashen color as his face, clasp in front of him. A gold signet ring gleams from his finger.
Who, Remus thinks as he clutches the bear cub, who has the sense to be utterly silent, the fuck do you think you are?
"Do you see," the man whispers, his voice picking through the crowd as a centipede picks through the undergrowth on the forest floor, "how desperate we become if we are slaves to our hunger?"
The man in uniform kicks the thing through a puddle that Remus is going to believe is water. The older man still hobbles after it.
"How low our standards become, how quickly we become nothing but beasts, savage and primitive? And how unhappy we are…" The gold signet ring catches another flash of light. "And we are never sated once we give into the need to feed."
The old man finally catches the thing. It drips and cracks with who knows what and still he shoves it in his mouth as though it were the finest feast in all the land. As the crumbs and sludge drip down his face, Remus realizes that it once might have passed for bread.
"And look," says the man as the old figure lets out a howl of despair, "it is never worth the price it takes to feed it."
For even that short hobble seems to have sapped the last of the life force from the old man's wheezing lungs and he keels over right there, still moaning and twitching as the bread rolls limply away from his hands. The uniformed man stands over the corpse and raises a whistle to his lips.
"We are the masters of our own hunger," drones that fucking whisper as many-limbed shadows materialize from the other end of the alley, "until it becomes master of us."
The crowd turns away in shocked horror as the spider-shadow-demon beasts fall upon the corpse. Remus watches the man impassively observing it, idly toying with that fucking golden ring. Then, as if Remus were invisible, he turns and walks back into the crowd, the beasts scuttling after him.
"So," Remus murmurs to the bear cub who was thankfully too short to see any of that, "that was fucking weird."
This isn't one of his. Obviously, because then he would've known what the fuck to expect. As it stands, he can only drift to a somewhat abandoned corner and stare around, trying to discern who this might belong to.
Hunger, that was clearly a theme here. Starvation, almost, given how little food there seems to be and how everyone keeps looking at his bear cub. But a culturally enforced starvation, given by the weird cult vibes of the creepy dude with the ring—a religious figure, maybe? And some nonsense about being masters of hunger, so clearly there was prestige given to being hungry but not giving into it. Those who outwardly expressed their hunger being shamed—well, shamed and humiliated and executed for it.
The bear cub whimpers and Remus crouches down, letting it snuffle into his neck as he strokes its shoulder. A cart drives by with a fancy-looking crest on one side and he squints to make out 'By the Grace of N. Schaumburg' as it passes.
"That must be creepy dude," he murmurs as the bear cub growls, "yeah? What do we think, who's hungry?"
He looks around again. Despite the fact that it's pretty mild weather, everyone's bundled up as though it were the dead of winter. Those that don't wear thick heavy coats huddle together, shivering, mindless mumbling coming from the groups. If he listens closely enough, he can just make out the words, but they don't make any sense.
The bear cub whuffs and tugs on his sleeve.
"What?"
The cub sniffs at a piece of paper blown closer to them. Remus picks it up. It's a pamphlet of some sort with the same crest, announcing an earlier enforced curfew. On the back is a short verse.
Selfishly feed and forever go hungry.
Free and unshackled by hunger are we.
Feeding the beast is an endless task.
Embrace the hunger and be free at last.
"Free from what," Remus whispers to the cub as he finishes reading, "having a body with needs?"
The cub just whines. Remus rubs its head and pockets the pamphlet, standing up slowly and looking around. Okay, so definitely shame associated with needing to feed, something about trying and failing to sate the hunger only leading to it growing, okay…definitely more guilt flying around here than he'd like but they were raised Catholic, so that's not completely unbelievable…
"You there." The uniformed man from before jerks his head at the cub. "What's with the animal?"
"'S my emotional support bear."
The man frowns. "Your what?"
"Nasty business," Remus says instead, nodding toward where the corpse used to be, "does that happen often in this part of town?"
"Not as often as it used to, population's getting better. Since Schaumburg came out with the pills instead of the rations it's been easier to keep the worst of them down." The man glances behind him. "Still. There'll always be a few of them."
"Is that why the new curfew's been enacted?"
"Well, it always gets worse at night, you know. That's when all the rational thought leaves these people and they start scrabbling about for something to feed on. Makes it easier to manage if they're all already indoors, you see."
Okay, so something about not being around others at night, okay, who do we know that's been skipping out of things lately?
"And I've never seen him around either," Remus says, lowering his voice a bit as he nods toward the direction that creepy dude went off in, "is that normal around here too?"
"Oh, Schaumburg doesn't normally come out—" bingo— "but with all the panic about that cold front last night, well…I guess he thought it was necessary."
Cold front last night, cold front last night…what happened last night?
It was movie night last night. Did someone get freaked out by the movie? But it was The Sea Beast, it had cleared everyone's trigger list, everyone had enjoyed it, was that the problem? Or was it something else?
"Now, you seem like a nice enough man—" Remus tries not to take offense, this seems like a good thing in this case— "so I'll just let you off with a word to the wise: get that bear of yours registered with an approved tag or someone's liable to tear it apart, you hear?"
Remus just nods as the official turns away. He looks down at his cub, who's all but cuddling his leg, and glances around.
Several people hug their cloaks or bags close to their chests. A few more stand so close their arms are near around each other as the carts and wagons drive by. A parent tucks their child into a fold of their coat. He remembers the feeling of being snuggled on the couch and how cold it had been when he got up to get a drink. He pulls out the pamphlet and looks closely at the crest, fingers tracing an upside-down crown with teeth mangling the metal.
As if on cue, he hears Roman scream.
***
Virgil huffs, turning over in bed. Remus must be busy tonight; his mouth's been filled with bitter-tasting grossness all evening. Every now and again he gets this awful roaring emptiness in his stomach and he just wants to sleep. He's almost ready to storm down there and tell him to knock whatever he's doing off, it can wait until tomorrow, when he suddenly hears someone scream.
That's…not what Remus's screams sound like.
***
Remus shakes himself awake, grabs his trusty teddy bear, and sinks right into Roman's room. Immediately he's prying Roman's hands away from his face, letting out these soothing little noises and trying to get his attention.
"Hey, hey, Roro, shh, shh, it's okay, c'mere." Roman gasps and shakes and Remus leans in to kiss his forehead. "Hey, hey, c'mon, Ro-Bro, it's just me. It's just me, hey, can you look at me?"
"Re?"
"Yeah, Roro, it's just me, it's just me. Hey, you're doing so good, can you listen to my voice? Just listen to me, I'm right here, we're in your room, we're safe, you're safe, we're all okay." He nudges the teddy bear into Roman's lap and nuzzles it under Roman's chin. "See? All good."
Roman's hands are shaking and in the distance, Remus hears the echo of Schaumburg's voice. He growls and reaches out, taking Roman's hands and looping them around his neck, pulling his brother into a cuddle.
"Hey, Roro, you stay right here with me. Can you do that? Can you hold onto me?"
"It's so cold, Re—it's so—so cold—"
"Shh, it's okay, you can be warm now. I'm warm, right?"
"You're so warm—how are you so warm—"
"Come steal all my warmth, okay? Come steal all of it, it's all for you, I'm gonna give it to you." Remus tucks Roman's head under his chin and rocks him slightly back and forth. "There, there you go, shh, shh, it's okay, Roro."
"I'm sorry," Roman gasps out and Remus's chest aches, "I'm sorry, I'm awful, I'm so sorry!"
"You're not awful, Roro. Nope, no disagreeing," he says softly as Roman opens his mouth to protest, "you're not awful. You had a really fucked up nightmare and your intrusive thoughts are way too loud but you're not awful."
Roman freezes. "You—you saw it?"
"I didn't see your nightmare, no, but I—your intrusive thoughts made a place in my nightmare realm and I saw that."
"I'm so sorry—"
"Hey," Remus murmurs, pulling him back enough to cup his face and make him look at his eyes, "don't apologize for the shit your brain does, okay? You're safe here with me. I'm gonna be right here, okay? I got you."
To his dismay, Roman's lower lip trembles and big tears bubble at the corners of his eyes again. "B-but I—"
"Roman?" That's Virgil's voice, why the fuck is he—oh, right, panic. "Princey?"
"Hey, shh," Remus soothes as Roman tries to hide in the lea of him, "hey, it's okay. I won't let him hurt you."
"Remus? Is that you?"
"Yeah. What do you want?"
"I heard the scream, I've been feeling his panic—look, I don't wanna shout through the door, can I come in?"
"Can he?" Roman takes a little too long to nod but he does. "Yeah, Virgil, get in here."
Virgil slips through the door and takes one look at Remus hovering protectively over his brother and immediately changes into the softest hoodie and sweatpants he has. He crouches down so it's easier for Roman to look at him and his voice drops to a low rumble.
"Hey, Princey," he says gently as Roman turns to look at him, "seems like you're having a real rough time right now, can I come help?"
"S-sorry."
"It's okay, bud, I'm not mad. You're gonna be okay. I just wanna help."
"I won't let him hurt you," Remus whispers, rubbing his back, "you're safe here."
It takes another long moment, but Roman slowly reaches out a hand and Virgil takes it, letting Roman draw him onto the bed. He joins Remus in rubbing up and down Roman's back, gently carding his fingers through his hair.
"Hey, Princey," he murmurs, still speaking softly, "you have a bad dream? Yeah? You wanna talk about it?"
Roman shakes his head.
"Can I ask Remus what's going on? Yeah? Thanks, bud."
Remus sighs, letting Roman cuddle into him. "He's not been having a good time recently, what with…everything going on. I think Patton and Janus blowing up about selfish stuff got into his head and Logan's whole…deal about rising above what he calls 'base' needs isn't helping."
"…yeah, shit, that sounds—that's not great."
"And, you know, being insulted and belittled every time he opens his mouth isn't helping either," Remus adds, glaring at Virgil as he winces.
"I know. I—fuck."
"Yeah. So be really fucking careful right now."
"Hey, Roman," Virgil calls softly, giving Roman the gentlest shake to get his attention, "hey, Princey, can you look at me for a second?"
Roman's head peeks out and Virgil smiles, reaching out to wipe a tear from his cheek.
"Hey, there, bud. You're okay. Was what Remus said right, are you—is shit a little too much right now?" Roman nods. "You want some reassurance, or do you just want us to be here?"
"'M sorry," Roman mumbles, "'m not—'m not trying to be needy."
"You're not being needy, Princey, you're upset and you want to be comforted. That's not needy."
"Or selfish either," Remus says when fucking Schaumburg starts whispering again, "you're allowed to want things and have them. That's not something to be ashamed of or feel guilty for."
"Shit," he hears Virgil mutter under his breath before there's another set of arms around Roman, "no, Princey, you're not bad for wanting things. Is this—I'm sorry I didn't realize it sooner. I shouldn't have left you alone for movie night last night either."
Right. Right, everyone else had cuddled up on the couch and Roman had arrived later when there was no room—fuck, Roro, I'm so sorry.
"It's okay, bud, you're okay. You're okay, you're safe, we're not going anywhere."
"I'm sorry," Roman cries out, hiding his face in the teddy bear, "I'm not—I'm trying, I'm trying, but it's so cold, I'm sorry—"
"Don't be sorry for wanting," Remus scolds lightly, glancing at Virgil who nods and starts gathering the blankets, "you're allowed to want things. And you just had a nightmare, that's an automatic you-get-cuddles-now. We can figure everything else out tomorrow, okay?"
Finally, finally Roman sniffles and looks up at both of them. "You guys really don't mind?"
"Nope!"
"Nah," Virgil says, ruffling his hair, "come cuddle, Princey."
As they all start to get ready to fall back asleep, Remus makes eye contact with Virgil. Virgil nods as Roman starts to doze—poor Roro, he must be so tired—and they close their eyes together.
***
Remus's bear cub growls lightly at Virgil as they reappear in the abandoned corner, but he pats its head. "He's a friend, it's okay."
"Yeesh," Virgil mutters, looking around, "this whole place feels like panic attack, is it always like this?"
"Roman's just really not having a good time right now. Just be glad you weren't here earlier."
"You know what, I'm not even gonna ask." Virgil takes a deep breath and tugs a little on his jacket, glancing around. "So! What's the plan?"
"I'm feeling like some anti-government arson and a side of political assassination, how about you?"
"Let's go start a riot."
The bear cub growls, swelling and growing until it's the size of a nearby wagon and Remus grins.
We gotcha, Roro. Sweet dreams.
General Taglist: @frxgprince@potereregina@gattonero17@iamhereforthegayshit@thefingergunsgirl@awkwardandanxiousfander@creative-lampd-liberties@djpurple3@winterswrandomness@sanders-sides-uncorrect-quotes@iminyourfandom@bullet-tothefeels@full-of-roman-angst-trash @ask-elsalvador @ramdomthingsfrommymind@demoniccheese83@pattonsandershugs @el-does-photography @princeanxious@firefinch-ember@fandomssaremysoul@im-an-anxious-wreck@crazy-multifandomfangirl @punk-academian-witch@enby-ralsei@unicornssunflowersandstuff@wildhorsewolf @thetruthaboutthesun @stubbornness-and-spite @princedarkandstormv @your-local-fookin-deadmeme @angels-and-dreams@averykedavra @a-ghostlight-for-roman @treasurechestininterweb @cricketanne @queerly-fluid-fan @compactdiscdraws@cecil-but-gayer@i-am-overly-complicated@annytheseal@alias290@tranquil-space-ninja @arxticandy @mychemically-imbalanced-romance@whyiask@crows-ace @emilythezeldafan@frida0043 @ieatspinalcords @snowyfires@cyanide-violence@oonagh2@xxpanic-at-the-everywherexx@rabbitsartcorner @percy-07734@triflingassailantofmyemotions @virgil-sanders-the-gay-emo@cerulean-watermelon@puffed-up-bees@meltheromanstan@joyrose-fandomer@insanitori@mavenmush@justablah65@10paradox10@uhhh-hi-there-i-am-nervous@cutebisexualmess@bella-bugatti-frogetti-baguetti@ultrageekygirl
#sanders sides#roman sanders#roman angst#virgil sanders#remus sanders#sympathetic remus#dragonbabbles#fic
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Hello there! I was wondering if you have any Aziraphale/Crowley whump fanfics, but mostly about Aziraphale? I’ve seen the masterpost, but I was looking for something maybe set in an au? If you don’t that’s cool. Thanks!
( I love ur blog btw )
Hi! We do have plenty of fics on our #aziraphale whump, #crowley whump, #hurt aziraphale, and #hurt crowley tags. You didn't specify what kind of AU you wanted, so here are some human AUs...
Angel With the Book by Eigon (T)
This is loosely based on the CJ Cherryh novel Angel with the Sword, in that there is a 'canalrat' (Crowley) who sees an 'uptowner' (Aziraphale) thrown into the canal, and rescuing him changes Crowley's life. I've followed the CJ Cherryh plot, more or less, with the necessary changes to fit Our Heroes (and supporting cast of angels and demons).
The Long Night by Adzeisval (T)
Anthony Crowley meets Aziraphale Fell while waiting for a plane. They hit it off and are planning to go out for a drink when their plane lands, but sometimes things don't go as planned, and the two find themselves trying to survive instead.
Between Sand and Stars by Dashicra1 (M)
Aziraphale has been wounded while defending innocent civilians and summarily sentenced to death via wandering in the desert for his actions, but when he stumbles upon Crowley’s house by chance, his luck changes rapidly.
Crowley is a strange and skittish man who lives alone, tucked in amongst a collection of medicinal herbs, broken pottery, and torn blankets.
When the reason for Crowley’s caution and odd behaviour is revealed, Aziraphale can think of nothing he’d rather do than try to help him free himself from his tragedy, and the two embark upon a tender romance which will change both of their lives for the better.
A Treatise on Pinnipeds by CandyQueenAO3 (T)
Anthony J. Crowley has left his adulterous ex-fiance and uprooted his old life to purchase a seaside cabin to start fresh and get away from it all. One night, he stumbles across a man sitting on the beach with eyes the color of the sea and a soft, white coat over his shoulders to match...
Imagine how the world could be by HolRose (T)
Salesman Crowley is driving home when he sees a man in obvious distress at the side of the road. He stops and offers him a lift. Little does he know that this compassionate action will change his life forever.
This is a human AU that can be read as a stand-alone story without reference to the other works in the series.
Sea Foam on Golden Sand by ShesAKillerQueen98 (M)
It has been 270 years since Sirens were cursed to live under the sea and tensions have only been rising like steam from a boiling pot.
Crowley, a Siren in his late two hundreds, has felt out of place his entire life and wonders where he is meant to be. He figures he'll never find that answer until one day he meets a human, the prince Aziraphale. He'll do anything to stay with him, even make a deal with the notorious Sea Witch, Lucifer. Will he be able to keep his end of the deal or will Lucifer claim his life? Will he be able to stay with the man he loves or will he live the rest of his life under the sea?
- Mod D
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3.5 Cantrip/Spell: Thunderhead
The Problematic Marriage of Spell Design, Power, and Purpose
A little while back while perusing D&D Tools for other matters, I stumbled upon this fun little spell. And got to thinking.
Thunderhead (Spell Compendium, pg. 219) Evocation [Electricity] Level: Druid 1, Sor/Wiz 1 Components: V, S, M (a small piece of copper wire) Casting Time: 1 Standard Action Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 caster levels¹) Target: One Creature Duration: 1 round/caster level Saving Throw: Reflex (5e: Dex) negates (see text) Spell Resistance: Yes (5e: Complicated) You conjure a small thundercloud over the target's head, which stays with the target unerringly. Each round, it strikes the target for one point of electricity damage (a successful Reflex save negates the damage).
Now, after reading the spell, what exactly is the point of this spell?
It's a weak DoT. Damage-over-Time effects weren't new in 3.5, but they were rare. There are three other 1st-level DoTs (burning rage, fiery eyes, and power word pain) and all of them deal more damage.
It's an unavoidable (and thus broken) spell. The save doesn't prevent the spell from affecting the target, it just negates the spell's damage. There are a lot of ways to exploit that.
It's a case of mistaken identity. The spell's mechanics don't reflect the intention behind it.
If you picked #3, you're correct. Thunderhead first debuted on page 49 of Dragon #302 in the article "A Clutch of Cantrips." In that version, it lasted three rounds, didn't specify if you could escape the cloud, was available to Bards, and (obvs.) was a cantrip.
Obviously, this is meant to be a spell form of the personal raincloud trope. However, that in itself has some variety.
First, a personal raincloud as a purely visual trope (as with Eeyore) is a subtrope of the personal weather system and just conveys mood (in the case of rain, some form of sadness). This much can be done with prestidigitation.
The next most common form is for a raincloud (or other seasonally-appropriate precipitation) to follow a character around and affect them; this is meant to illustrate unusually targeted bad luck (as with Charlie Brown).
3. The final form mixes the second with a Bolt of Divine Retribution (rarely other really bad weather) to hammer home the point that the luck is just that bad or inexplicable.
There are rules for weather and other environmental effects that could be made to fit a spell, but they are a little harsh for a cantrip. There are also two design problems with this spell. First, cantrips are supposed to be so weak and simple that they do not need to take up more than a couple of sentences to convey their effect. If the spell is balanced by having a lot of drawbacks, chances are the main effect is too powerful. Second, I know of no other cantrip in 3.x (even in Pathfinder) that applies a DoT. There is a caltrops cantrip, but that's only a DoT if as long as an opponent occupies a space; it's fairly easy to avoid.
This is where the trouble starts.
In writing the article, what designers Kieran Turley and S. Deniz Bucak probably realized is that making a spell that creates actual weather conditions, however comically, might be too much. Thus, they chose the next best thing: use existing mechanics. In 3.x, the standard for cantrip balance is the Elemental Ray: fire a projectile (that ignores Armor and Natural Armor bonuses to AC) at a target within Close range, deal 1d3 damage of a specified type. Since it's not an attack, it can be a DoT; it'll go off of a saving throw instead of an attack roll, which will make magic items of it much worse, but hey, it's a cantrip. It'll last three rounds, which won't matter for anything, and they left it at that.
Then it came time to make Spell Compendium. We had several problems here. First, the design team was so engrossed in 4e for so much of the tail end of 3.5 that they no longer knew nor cared how 3.5 worked. Second, this spell comes with numerous questions it didn't explain (specifically the following bit: the original spell didn't say under what conditions the spell could fail). Third, the spell's duration is highly unusual and demands standardization; however, doing so screws with its balance. This created the perfect storm for our little point of exploitation.
How should this spell work? Well, it needs a few changes:
It shouldn't be Evocation. It should be Conjuration (Creation) -- a la fog cloud -- or maybe Transmutation -- a la control weather. It absolutely should have the [Air] descriptor and maybe a few others, depending.
There should be numerous ways to get rid of this spell, just from precedent: wind effects, going submerged in liquid (or a solid, like meld with stone), entering a vacuum, teleportation, otherwise crossing planar boundaries, possibly various wards or magical forms of concealment, and of course an initial Will save to avoid being affected by it at all.
The spell's primary effect should be to conjure a localized precipitation system over the target, providing similar penalties (and situational utility) to such weather conditions as described in the DMG. The penalties should be lessened to be comparable to other cantrips and make sense with the volume and duration of precipitation. (You could give the spell variants based on precipitation: rain, snow, least sleet storm, etc.)
Any damage the spell could do (via lightning bolts or maybe hail) should work like produce flame and reduce the remaining duration of the spell for each time the cloud "attacks."
Now, all that said, this fits the tone of a cantrip, but it might not be able to fit the power of a cantrip ever. That's kinda why Reserve Feats exist: the least powerful are somewhere between cantrip and low-powered 1st-level spell. Even the next tier trades some power from replicating a 1st-level spell in exchange for being usable at-will, though I'm not entirely keen on that. Point being, this spell would work well as a Reserve feat and be less difficult to balance, but at the cost of being a Reserve feat -- and a relatively weak one at that.
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I didn't vote in the poll because it very much depends on the game. The more often you expect to make characters, the easier it needs to be to reference the Character Creation section. The further your setting differentiates itself from other settings, the more you may have to explain before your Character Creation rules. And yes, those two goals are in conflict with each other.
I know this is literally the "break WotC's monopoly" post, but D&D 3.5 has a reasonable layout because of D&D's cultural dominance. The opening of the Player's Handbook is as follows: 1. Table of Contents 2. 2-page introduction to RPGs and the fundamentals of D&D 3.5's rules 3. 1-page character creation overview 4. Chapters on everything you need to make a character in the order the cheat sheet specifies.
D&D can get away with that because D&D-esque dungeon games currently dominate the marketplace. A new player probably has to read the specific rules text for a Fighters or Elves to know how they work in this particular edition, but they can already conceive of what an Elf Fighter might look like and the kind of things they can likely do.
The only text needed for character creation that isn't at the front of the book is the spell list, and that's because spells have been put at the end for ease of reference instead. Checking what is on your spell list to pick a new spell is assumed to be a less common operation than looking up a particular spell by name to see how it works, and so the layout is optimized for the latter use case.
By contrast, Jenna Moran's Glitch: A Story of the Not has fourteen pages of introduction and setting information before the first rule. Character Creation doesn't show up until Page 97, by which point we've seen half of the example of play and multiple chapters of setting information.
On one hand this makes the character creation rules comparatively difficult to find. Even with the table of contents page 97 out of 417 is not the easiest point in the rulebook to find!
On the other hand, the setting is deeply divorced from 'typical' setting. A large amount of context is needed to even begin making a character. Especially with a conceit as specific as "you are a bleak divinity of the void beyond all that exists, and you have recently retired from being a world-destroying supervillain."
All of that context is needed to have any idea who your character might be and what they might do because 95% of first time players will not have heard the phrase Excrucian Strategist.
Fortunately you won't have to reference the character generation rules very often. The actual rules are short enough to fit in memory, or on half a sheet of paper. Also, you don't "go through" characters like D&D or other dungeon games - your characters can innately respawn. It is OK to put character generation after all that context because character generation is rarely referenced and the context is very important before making a character.
The type of game and assumed familiarity with your setting therefore dictate where the character creation rules ought to go.
My general preference is to either have the character generation rules up front or put a character creation cheat sheet at the very front or very back of the book.
A new video about Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy!
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Curtesy of @talenlee!
This video isn’t so much a review of Eureka’s mechanics as it is an overview and analysis of some of Eureka’s goals, such as how Eureka differs from many other RPGs in that it isn’t just a story about detectives solving a mystery, it’s a story about detectives confronting the unique challenge of solving a mystery which has a set solution. The culprit doesn’t change in reaction to who the players thing it is, which goes against a lot of conventional GMing advice.
Which brings us to a related point he made, which is that the default state of a Eureka mystery is “failed,” and that is very much true. If the PCs simply do nothing and wait for the solution to fall into their lap, they will fail, every time. The party must take initiative and work to overcome this puzzle, and how the characters and players react to the challenge of overcoming this puzzle is something Eureka is there to study.
Also, he likes the Wealth mechanic.
To turn this post into something additive that creates an actual discussion, however, we’d like to address one of @talenlee's criticisms of Eureka. Namely, that character creation is the second chapter, while most of the core rules are the first chapter.
@talenlee argues that character creation rules should come as early as possible in a rulebook, which helps a reader get hooked in, because it puts all the rules that come after in the context of “this is what your character can do.” You can watch the video above, and some of his other videos, for a better and deeper explanation.
That may be true for some people, but we argue that putting the character creation rules after the core rules leads to a smoother gameplay and character creation experience, which is why we structured the book the way we did.
Even though character creation in Eureka has been praised quite a lot for being very easy, there are quite a lot of choices to be made, all of which are very impactful. There is almost zero randomization as well, meaning every choice in character creation is one that you must manually make yourself.
But an uninformed decision is not a decision at all. Anyone who has played an old CRPG from the 90s will know what I’m talking about. Those are famous for giving you detailed character creation right there in the first 2 minutes after you launch the game, before you know how to play or really what any of the numbers mean. It will say things like “Strength dictates how much damage you do with melee weapons, how much inventory you can carry, and how much heavy armor you can wear.” Okay, well, how much damage do I need to do with melee weapons to be able to kill the rats in the first area of the game? How thick does my armor need to be for me to survive in mandatory battles, and how much Strength do I need to wear that armor?
“Accuracy determines how likely you are to hit an enemy?” Okay, how much Accuracy do I need to hit my enemies? I can select Accuracy 1-10, but without knowing how much Dodge an average enemy has, or how a Hit is calculated, this knowledge is useless. You have to play the game first to learn any of that, and then start over to make a new character. That’s no fun.
While it is very difficult to accidentally make a totally unviable PC in Eureka, it is very possible to end up making a character whose stats and traits do not represent exactly who you want them to be if you don’t know what the numbers mean, and who your character is is very important in Eureka.
And that’s why we tell you all the core rules before we tell you to start making a character. That isn’t to say that the other way around is wrong, just that that’s how we prefer it.
Comment below if you have any more insight on this! Discussion is great!
And don't forget, we are in the last week of the kickstarter! The Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy kickstarter ends at 2:00PM CST on Friday May 10th! Get in and support it before it's too late to get custom artwork in the rulebook and the option to write your own entry in one of the tables that determines who playable monsters will have the opportunity to eat!
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If you want to try before you buy, you can download a free demo of the prerelease version from our website or our itch.io page!
If you’re interested in a more updated and improved version of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy than the free demo you got from our website, subscribe to our Patreon where we frequently roll our new updates for the prerelease version!
You can also support us on Ko-fi, or by checking out our merchandise!
Join our TTRPG Book Club At the time of writng this, Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is the current game being played in the book club, and anyone who wants to participate in discussion, but can’t afford to make a contribution, will be given the most updated prerelease version for free! 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.
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being luke’s sister and dating reggie! please :)
A/N: I’m just gonna assume you want headcanons because this request doesn’t fit in any other category :D But please specify it the next time, it reads in my rules so we'd avoid misunderstandings for sure. Also include the fandom next time please (it reads in my rules too), in this case I could connect the dots but I have several Lukes on my fandom list and if you, for example, had requested just Luke’s sister headcanons, I wouldn’t have known which Luke do you mean. But I hope you like it!
Warnings: angst at the end, but with a hopeful tone
BEING LUKE PATTERSON'S SISTER AND DATING REGGIE PETERS:
- Luke is the best brother ever.
- Of course you had your fights and teasing each other to the brink of getting angry, but that’s normal for siblings.
- Luke never neglected you and always showed you how much he loves you.
- You and Reggie meet as kids when Luke befriended him at daycare.
- Growing up as best friends and making child-like promises to marry each other as adults.
- And as teenagers those promises evolved into dating.
- Luke is protective of you, but he knows Reggie would never let you down so he’s happy.
- Being there when the boys want to have a rock band.
- Being the biggest supporter of Sunset Curve ever.
- Your parents didn’t approve though, and Luke ran away.
- You tried to get him to return home, and you could tell he wanted to, but was too stubborn so you decided to give Luke time.
- You visited their studio regularly though, hanging out with the boys and cuddling with Reggie.
- The boys “accidentally” cook "too much" and leave it for you two and leave candles lit, leaving the studio when you’re returning from a walk.
- You watch a lot of movies together.
- Star Wars mainly
- Literally jumping up and down when they get a gig at the Orpheum.
- Marketing it around to make sure the place will be full.
- Being slightly jealous when other girls scream after Reggie.
- But you get used to it and Reggie always says that he doesn’t need anyone else when he has you.
- Everything was perfect.
- Until that night came.
- You had to be the one who told about them to your parents.
- Feeling empty and helpless, but you had to carry on.
- You knew that losing you would be too much for your parents, and Reggie or Luke surely wouldn’t want to you give up.
- Being devastated but at the same time so, so angry when "Trevor" steps into the picture, claiming that songs Luke wrote are his.
- He avoids you masterfully when you try to call him out.
- Bobby claims that you're his bitter ex to get you off and you realize that you'd better stop before your reputation is ruined as Bobby would have resources to ruin your life if he wanted.
- And before you know it, he's a world famous superstar, riding with Luke's work. Even the press wouldn't listen when you tried to write them to remind them of Sunset Curve, everyone was enchanted about this new superstar genius Trevor Wilson.
- You never forgive him for what he did though and never cease to tell the truth about him to everyone who cares to listen once they learn that you were his friend once.
- Reggie sees you 25 years later on Luke’s birthday, and he’s a little taken aback, for some reason not expecting you to be there.
“You’re as beautiful as I remembered you to be.” -Reggie
“What?” -Julie
*Reggie just stares at you in daze*
“That’s Y/N, Luke’s sister. Reggie was dating her when...” -Alex
“Oh...” -Julie
- Luke stares at you too as you lift Luke's favorite chocolate cake off the counter and sit down at the table, lighting a single candle on it, which Luke immediately blows out.
- He smiles a little when you and your parents look around, and for a moment it looks like you take a direct eye contact with him.
- You felt Luke's presence even though you didn't say anything.
- Julie gets a reminder that the boys had been through just as much as she had been.
- And she understands them better because of that.
- Who knows, maybe you meet Reggie and Luke someday again...
Tags: @noncannonships @amirahiddleston @multifandomlover121 @bravelittlesunflower
#reggie peters#reggie peters imagine#luke patterson#luke patterson imagine#jatp#jatp imagine#julie and the phantoms imagine#julie and the phantoms#imagine#imagines#headcanons#my works#female reader
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Match up for The Quarry, please? :D I had to rewrite this again because my app rebooted from me being scared of pressing the ask button, so.. This is technically still my first time requesting for something like this, so I hope I don't seem like an asshole 'cause I usually do seem like one with how I write and how I'll describe myself right about now.
I'm a 5'5 omnisexual fanfic and video game addict, with shoulder length hair and normal dark brown eyes. I have pierced ears and it's sensitive to loud sounds, I like wearing clothes that are the right amount of bright and dark, and soft, I like to write my own songs in my head and leave it forgotten until someone asks me what it was, and write stories whenever I have the chance to. I will never confront someone seriously when it's a 'BS topic-ed' argument and will reply with plain voiced sarcasm until someone tells me it's a serious topic, then I will apologize a lot for how insensitive I was with my sarcasm... I will apologize for anything I do and say because of my normally sarcastic voice. My love language for any type of relationship is writing poems and act of service. I'd rather act than talk, and hate it whenever people start shouting at each other. I hate any arguments and will remember an argument I regret participating until the day I die.
Is this too long? Should I have specified more? Did I use too many words? I'm so sorry I got too carried away because I described myself for the first time since kindergarten 😭
Hi hun! this I perfect, don't stress! thank you for your request :)
I match you with... Nick!! You guys got along immediately because of how chill he is, he's not very argument inducing and doesn't like drama too much so he understands your problem with loud noises and people arguing. because you guys spend a lot of time with each other he can usually tell your tone of message even with your sort of monotone voice, so he's kind of like your translator lmao. he loves to listen to your thoughts and he likes to hear all of the literature you create. when he decides to confess to you he tries to create a poem of his love for you but.. its not really good lmao. but you love it anyway. when you guys start to date he notices how anxious you get over your actions and loves to reassure you on how perfect he thinks everything about you is. with every letter, poem, song idea, ect. you make for him he always keeps them and end up putting all of them on his wall when he gets home. he makes sure to keep your hatred for arguments in mind so whenever he confronts you about a problem he always mentions that its serious and remains in a calm voice. you guys love to read together and just sit and take in scenery. during the werewolf incident he will always have you in his sight. when he gets bit he immediately makes sure you're safe. when he sees that you react weird to his behavior and he feels different he makes everyone get you away from him, he absolutely does not want to ruin anything with you or cause any harm to you. when the night is over you guys literally don't leave either of yalls side, you will definitely have to comfort him through his trauma and reassure him that he didn't hurt you. he feels bad that he couldn't help you throughout the night but reassures you that he's here now.
I think you guys would fit each other nicely, so I hope you liked this! have a great day love bug :)
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Unusual RPG combinations
I like to tinker with mixing and matching rpg settings and systems. I will try to collect the ones I'm most fascinated with. I haven't found the opportunity to actually try any of these combinations, but I guess it doesn't hurt to put them out there in case someone finds any of them interesting.
Shadowrun redux
Setting: Shadowrun
System: Blades in the Dark
I adore Shadowrun. It takes all the bleakness of reality, amplifies it, but also mixes it with a lot of magic and wonder. And if you read the books selectively, even with hope.
But playing it can get convoluted, especially if your group is prone to overplan. And we know that plans always go sideways. There's no such thing as a milk run. Spending an hour on planning can be annoying in itself. But it's extra painful if it has to be thrown out the window in the first five minutes of execution.
Enter Blades in the Dark that instead of planning ahead encourages to use flashbacks on the spot to reveal how you prepared in advance to get past an obstacle. That makes pulling off daring heists a lot more easier for the players. Infiltration is way less stressful on the player if they can make up any forged backstory on the go, and do a flashback to make sure it's believable. There's still some minimal planning, but it's practically just setting the starting scene of the run. You don't have to specify anything beyond that.
The concept of crew from Blades also fits nicely with Shadowrun. It can tell the GM what kind of runs the players prefer, and gives the players the ability tospecialize their team. Blades was created for a different level of technology and magic. But it mainly focuses on the hierarchy of the criminal underground, and that translates easily even to a modern world. So I expect the same crews to work with Shadowrun, but more thematic options could be added to tie it closer to the sixth world.
The concept of hunting grounds should be reconsidered. In Blades it means a specific neighbourhood the characters are more familiar with and usually target. In Shadowrun it makes more sense to make it a specific scenery they usually operate in. For example it could be a specific megacorporation they often go up against, or a type of gang that's common in the sprawls they operate in.
Blades also offers a nice subsystem for handling reputation, growth, notoriety, and even stress and trauma between runs. Incorporating a specific vice for each PC also seems completely in line with Shadowrun's concept.
The biggest difference will be in character creation. Blades' system is more abstract than Shadowrun's. In Blades you have to pick a specific playbook for your character. I think that's OK. While Shadowrun allowed building characters skill by skill, it always encouraged working toward specific archetypes like face, rigger, or adept. Your playbook determines your starting stats, but you can still somewhat specialize it. Blades also allows crossing from a playbook to a new one, but that's long term character advancement.
Adding some elements of Shadowrun might not be trivial. Spirits could be more or less handled as the ghosts in Blades. But magic and technology would have to be specifically addressed. Some of it could be treated like fluff, making it mechanically irrelevant whether your efforts are more effective because of training, because of an implant, or because you are infusing them with magic. But at least mages, riggers and deckers would probably need their own playbooks.
Twisted Houses of the Drow
Setting: any fantasy setting with drows, but I have a specific campaign idea for Spelljammer
System: Houses of the Blooded
This is a re-skin of Houses of the Blooded. The ven and the drow have different values and cultures, but I think they share a similar style. Decadence and intrigue runs deep in their societies. I'd replace the virtues (attributes) of the original game with corresponding vices. And each vice would be linked to a drow god instead of the totem animals of the original game.
Instead of the romance mechanic there would be rivalry. It would work the same way, just with a different flavour. Drows could pick someone as a rival, driving each other to greater feats. Instead of creating art drows could develop schemes. Same as the art mechanic. The scheme could give a bonus to those it was shared with. Seasons, regions, holdings, and blessings would have to be reworked, but I think renaming them would be enough in most cases.
My campaign idea is for a group of drow renegades employed by the elven admiralty as covert agents. They would be sent for long term infiltration missions to places where surface elves are not welcome. Each of them would have an affiliation with a drow god as well, and each would have their own hidden agenda. It might even work if not all characters are drows. I could imagine one or two elf, half-elf, or shapeshifter mixed in.
If I ever got to it seasons of the campaign would include: Building up a career of piracy in space (remember, Spelljammer) to get on the good side of a notorious and elusive pirate king, and lead the elven navy to its hideout. Instead of holdings the players could manage trade routes they raid, and their ships. Another would be infiltrating a drow city to stop an invasion. I think this would be the closest to the original Houses game. And finally I'd drop them in a mission to arrive as inmates to Elfcatraz, the secret prison of the admiralty (named by one of my players) to find out who's really in control there.
Around Cerilia in 80 days
Setting: Birthright
System: Primetime adventures
This one is kind of cheating, because Primetime adventures is quite setting-independent. So I rather mean it's a better fit for the kind of stories I'd like to run in this setting.
Birthright's setting works on a comprehensible scale for me. Most fantasy worlds have gigantic continents with dozens of large countries. They are too large for me, and I end up with a vast countryside where everything's the same for weeks to go. But Birthright has a small continent, maybe more like a large island with five distinct cultural regions. And each of those regions have a dozen provinces, each province described with its own flavor. It's not complicated, but colorful.
I guess it was done this way to accomodate the strategy aspect of Birthright that was one of its main features. While the concept of ruling provinces sounds great, the setting really makes me want to have a game about just travelling through this world. Not with adventurers, but rather with tourists, merchants, travelers who are going there to see a foreign place, or do business with the locals, and not just to explore a dungeon that happens to be there.
Ever since I saw the Roman Mysteries TV series I've been particularly fascinated with the idea of having a bunch of kids as player characters who are brought along by one's aunt/uncle on business trips to foreign lands, and get into trouble there. For example a trip from a frontier barony to the capital city, traveling through the woods of wary elves, then sailing down the river, stopping in a few more interesting port. Or a journey to the magnificent kingdoms in the east, although there are many perils both natural, and man-made on the way.
Thinking in Primetime adventures terms each province or city could be a separate episode. And the peculiarities of the place could be used to decide which character's spotlight episode should happen there.
Even domains of awnshegh (people and animals infected by the power of a dead god of darkness, becoming "monsters") don't have to be off limits. Some of them were quite sociable, and even more ruled over people whose perspective could be interesting.
Crown of Wings
Setting: Council of Wyrms
System: Birthright's domain management
Council of Wyrms focuses on playing dragons from various clans who work together. Despite the central role of the council, and the politics between the dragon clans, Council of Wyrms didn't touch much on the actual politics and realm management. It was the same AD&D, just scaled up to dragon PCs.
But I think there's so much more potential in the setting. I could easily imagine dragons ruling the land, managing guilds, and churches, and building out ley line networks to cast spells affecting whole realms. So everything that Birthright's system offered.
The setting isn't fully fleshed out, but it lets us fill in the land with fantastic locations. Some cities and towns were mentioned at unusual places, full of various races. So players could run wild with ideas when they create their own domain. Should their be trade routes with a merfolk city, and underwater ley lines? Absolutely. Could there be a church based on promoting the halfling lifestyle? Why not?
And then there's the Council. Domain Power could determine the character's status in it. Regency Points, and Gold Bars could be used as bargaining chips.
But what should be its purpose? I have seen enough of the trope of warring factions who have to be unified against some common threat, maybe with a traitorous faction thrown in the mix. I mean it makes for a fine story, but I'm getting a little tired of it. This time I'd rather see a council as a way to trade, to exchange ideas, and to help everybody improve their own clan. It doesn't make for a strong narrative, but I think it's a more positive message overall.
I think the biggest restriction in the setting is that dragon clans are too homogenic. Like, each clan consists of just one kind of dragon. That doesn't help in putting together a game with diverse characters. The original game concept solved that by making the PCs agents of the Council who may come from various clans.
For a more political game we could introduce mixed clans. So the characters could be part of the same clan, while still coming from various places. Maybe they are outcasts or survivors who created their own clan. Or maybe their clan was open minded, and was located in a central place, so it naturally lead to it becoming more diverse.
Or we could say that they are from different clans, but their clans are neighbours and allies of each other. At least if you're like me, and you don't want to set the players up for PvP by putting them to opposing sides of a clan feud.
Custom Quest
Setting: Your long-running campaign
System: Fiasco
I think any campaign that went on for a while should be an easy source for creating a Fiasco playset for a one-time play. Fiasco is about nobodies trying to pull off something bigger than they are. It's about petty people, and half-baked ideas going wrong. And while that might still sound like your average adventurer party, here we know they can't win. They will be lucky if they don't end up in a lot worse situation they started in.
For convenience I will refer to the PCs of the original campaign as heroes. It's okay if they are not actual heroes. That happens pretty often. But they had the greatest influence on the campaign this one shot is based on, so we have to heavily rely on them.
So the player characters in this one-shot are probably just background noise in the original campaign. I think this is a great way to explore how the actions of the heroes might affect the common people in unexpected ways. Objects driving the character dynamics could be things the heroes brought back, created, or just used in a memorable moment. Maybe an artifact they sold off is making its rounds on the blackmarket, and someone sees an opportunity in it. Or evidence surfaced that could incriminate one of the heroes.
And it's not just Objects. Their shenanigans might have brought the unwanted attention of a powerful cult to the city. Or the local barkeep loathes the heroes because they trashed his place one too many times. And he's just looking for some idiots to exact his revenge. Really, just look for whomever the heroes might have ever slighted or aided to get a plethora of petty plots and strange driving forces in the community. This can give you the Needs and Relationships between the player characters.
Locations could be places well known by the players, preferably close to a place the heroes frequent. The heroes, and the more memorable NPCs could give some enjoyable cameos. And finally they could become part of the Tilt table to turn a bad situation worse in the middle of the game.
#tabletop rpg#fiasco#drow#Houses of the Blooded#Birthright#shadowrun#spelljammer#Blades in the Dark#Primetime Adventures#Council of Wyrms#rpg#rpg combos
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(this is a long cringey vent post about being annoyed w/ tumblr specific d*scourse so im putting it all under a readmore lol)
when someone you follow rbs from a blog whose entire blog presence is centered around hating endogenic systems..
I just think telling a person they don't exist because they weren't born from trauma is Immensely rude? Like, I don't see anyone telling singlets "You weren't born in a hospital, so you're not real".
It's wild, too, cause this person had a weird definition of what "endo" even means.
Apparently some people think it means being a system without any neurodivergency, but if you literally just read https://pluralpedia.org/w/Endogenic it says it means a system whose origin isn't 100% trauma?? When I was checking over the blog, there was a post saying "don't call yourself endo if you have trauma"?? But if said trauma wasn't the cause of a system forming, then that system can be called endogenic by definition.
I'm getting immensely tired of discourse based on words that no one can agree on the definition of. I swear, if a popular blog said "People who splorple are bad" and didn't specify what splorpling is, there would still be discourse about it.
And also, like, putting someone's mental health/diagnoses in your DNI is fucked up in general. Saying "if you don't have trauma, DNI" in general is bad because you're basically asking people to out themselves as trauma survivors to you and setting a precedent that their mental health is subject to your approval (not to mention, trauma can be an incredibly broad thing, and the reader has no way of knowing what you define as trauma), so how can specifying it to "systems who were not formed solely because of trauma DNI" possibly be okay???
Maybe people have this opinion because psychiatric diagnoses regarding plurality are based around trauma, but like, surely no one claiming to care about people who don't fit societies' ideal models of mental health thinks psychiatry is the be-all end-all of how human brains can exist??
#hoping and praying that tumblr's search algo doesn't read text under a readmore#i do NOT want random people to find this and yell at me gbfjhdgf#sorry for ranting but i am just So Tired
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DuckTales 2017 - “The Golden Lagoon of White Agony Plains!”
Story by: Francisco Angones, Madison Bateman, Colleen Evanson, Christian Magalhaes, Bob Snow
Written by: Bob Snow
Directed by: John Aoshima
Storyboard by: Jean-Sebastien Duclos, Mark Garcia, Tanner Johnson, John Ramirez
I wouldn't call this a creek, either.
This episode starts with Scrooge and the boys paying a visit to a Gala dedicated to a newly opened Glomgold Wing at the Natural History Museum. The joke is that all of the exhibits are just whatever he can salvage from Scrooge's past adventures, and some outright falsehoods. Dewey even talks about how he's trying way too hard. Dewey's right...in maybe too many ways.
Scrooge, obviously not a big fan of this duck who tries to murder him any chance he can, is only there to support Duckburg's cultural institutions as an upstanding citizen. Oh, and to steal Glomgold's cocktail weenies and teriyaki skewers. The irony is that it's Louie that calls him out for this. That seems out of character for him, though it might be due to his suit giving him a rash.
As the boys follow Scrooge's lead in taking a bunch of buffet food, one of the guests of honor walks in the room. Scrooge drops his bag and gasps at the sight at this familiar-to-him face. The nephews ask him if his gasp is about a curse, a villain, or a villainous curse, but it's even worse than that.
Scrooge: ...it's my ex! (gulp)
🎵Life is like a hurricane...🎶
Well, that's one way to do a cold open.
Specifically, it's Goldie O'Gilt. He clarifies that she's an ex-rival and ex-partner, but the boys do not buy it. Scrooge gets the boys, and anyone in the audience who hasn't heard of this legacy character, ready by telling them to watch their wallets. They trade insults to each other, Scrooge saying that she has cloven hooves, and Goldie calling him a tightwad. Well, it is a fitting name for someone who takes hors d'oeuvres from a buffet. I learned just now that’s how you spell those words.
While the insults both disturb and intrigue Dewey, Glomgold shows up to tell Scrooge that Goldie happens to be his date. Even before she says anything, her body language clearly indicates he doesn't want anything to do with this man. Once the music starts playing, Scrooge and Goldie start dancing. He tries a second plan: dancing the same kind of dance with Dewey. I don't have a comment for that one.
After that, Glomgold decides to reveal the main attraction: a skeleton of a "Glacial Klondike Monster" his oil crew managed to dig up in the Yukon. Unlike the Glomasaurus Rex, which was clearly made up of random dinosaur bones, this exhibit is legitimate. The lights go out, and the mammoth's head disappears. No, it's not another mystery story, or another ghost story for that matter. Scrooge looks around and finds a certain someone missing, and he hot-tails it out of the gala.
While Launchpad drives Scrooge and the boys to the Mansion, it will make sense to how he would know about where she went later, the boys want to know more about "Scrooge's new old giiirlfriend", while they all make literal duck-lips. Yeah, that's their only real character trait they have for the rest of the episode. While DuckTales 2017 gave the boys far more distinct personalities, this episode is not a good example of that. Wait, Huey, Dewey, and Louie acting identically? No way!
They do get to be the audience of another Scrooge McDuck flashback to a time long before Donald or Della. We’re getting into “The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck”-like material here. From what I've read, it's a very loose adaptation; no Goose Egg Nugget here.
They go into a cave in the White Agony Plains to find the titular Golden Lagoon. Suddenly, Goldie, in her scheming ways, decides to steal the map to find the lagoon for herself. Scrooge manages to catch her, but the map gets torn in half. Suddenly, the "Glacial Monster" shows itself, being what might be the last of the Wooly Mammoths. Goldie’s part of the map ended up stuck in the mammoth’s teeth, and over a century later, that same mammoth's skeleton ended up in Glomgold's Gala. We get a shot of the skeleton with a map sticking out of its teeth, which wasn't shown before when we got a shot of it before, but never mind.
Yes, I really mean a century later. While they don’t specify the exact year, Scrooge is definitely referring to the Klondike Gold Rush in 1896. Huey, in one of the few times he gets to show off his personality, starts counting on his fingers and outright asks how old Scrooge is. He obviously does not answer that question, but this episode gives a rather decent explanation beyond "it's just a cartoon, so just relax".
While running from the Wooly Mammoth, Scrooge and Goldie jumped into a freezing lake, causing them to be stuck in an ice cube for 5 years. In fact, this episode confirms this isn't the only time they've been in situtations that made them age slower. The dance scene from earlier shows them talking about a fountain of youth and several timeless demon dimensions. In an unrelated note, Goldie also offhandedly mentions a necklace that prevents burns, which the camera zooms into for a few seconds. I did not think much of this on my first viewing.
After the story that was captivating that even the driver got too interested in it, Scrooge finally reaches his Manor to find that Goldie barged into his house, and she immediately asks where his half of the map went. One may wonder how she managed to get past Mrs. Beakley, all but shown to be a super spy with great combat abilities, and her trained-in-similar-arts granddaughter.
Well, she did. As the rest of this episode will prove, she's just that awesome. After Scrooge throws a chair at his own nephews after they do the same "Scrooge loves Goldie" shtick, yeah, don't anger Scrooge, Goldie realizes that it must be in Scrooge's top hat. When Scrooge wrestles her down for it, she offers the adventure. Scrooge asks why.
Goldie: Because it's gold, because it's a treasure you never found, and because you're Scrooge McDuck.
Scrooge, Goldie imitating him: You think you know me sooo well!
They decide to go on the adventure. Speaking of the map, we later see it, and it's one of those "dotted line with the X on it" maps. I'd imagine the one that has the X on it could have at least tried to extrapolate the path. I guess I could assume that half was in that skull, but wouldn't Glomgold take it? Whatever.
Goldie puts on her old outfit, and they go into the cave. The entire episode essentially follows a similar path: throughout the adventure, they both accuse each other of trying to sabotage each other. They are totally doing that. Scrooge finds an arrow trap, which he activates by throwing a pebble at it, and accuses Goldie of doing it. Scrooge then stops Goldie from getting stuck in a giant bear trap that he totally didn't set up. Notice the difference there.
They end up at a pulley-controlled elevator, built for one. Not willing to let one person go and get a jump on the lagoon, they have to share the elevator. Of course, this leads to her complaining about his sweat. It's a funny scene.
Not speaking of particularly funny scenes, Glomgold is slowly following them. I'll be honest: his scenes don't really do much for me. All he really does is get hit by all the traps, cuts the rope of the aforementioned elevator, and talks about how Scrooge is taking his girl. He seems to disappear after this scene, because it's better to focus on the scenes with Scrooge and Goldie trying to mess each other up.
One scene has Goldie lighting a trail of gunpowder behind Scrooge, taking both halves of the map with her while he's chasing. In this universe of ducks and dogs that walk upright and talk, this trail of gunpowder leads to a bear. Not a relative of Baloo, but a bear just like in real life. I wonder how that works.
Unlike in real life, Goldie gets cornered by Scrooge riding that same bear. He even reveals that he speaks bear. This show now has just as much talking to non-language-speaking-animals as that other reboot. How can he do this? Because he's Scrooge McDuck. Yeah, that’s a running gag throughout this episode, and it does have a good payoff at the end.
They eventually reach a dead end, which happens to be right next to the frozen lake where they spent 5 years of their lives. This leads to even more backstory. After 5 years of being forced into staring at each other, their frozen scowls slowly turned into smiles. Aw, they really do love each other. While it's certainly romantic to see this, it is a horrifying thought that they were conscious in there.
Of course, there's a caveat: as soon as Goldie's half of the ice melts, she immediately leaves Scrooge behind. Scrooge realized that she loved gold more than him, and Goldie...agrees. Fitting.
They do get to the waterfall made of molten gold, thanks to the help of erosion over a century. Scrooge gets Nanook, the bear, to break the wall they thought was a dead end open in something that would have looked cool in trailers. However, as soon as they bask in the glory, a twist happens. I debated whether or not I should even have these ellipsis, to be honest.
← JAW$! 🦆 Day of the Only Child →
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Big shock, she was going to betray him in the end, just like Scrooge repeatedly accused her of doing! There is one surprise on top of this: Glomgold decides to show up, after stumbling down a hill because he's Glomgold, and reveals that he teamed up with her to do this ruse! Unlike the last time he tried, this turned out to be true.
Scrooge, telling himself he should have expected this, asks Goldie why she did this after all she did for her. He talks about how he untied her from Nanook...which he happened to tie her to himself. Again, fitting. Her response?
Goldie: Because I'm Goldie O'Gilt!
See, good payoff.
Regardless of what I feel about Glomgold’s involvement in this episode, I do like the flashback scene he describes, which is in this 50's romance comic book-like style. It even ends with him smooching the air. He sure loves that Goldie, he even came up with the shipping name: Glomgoldie.
There's a pickaxe fight that mirrors the dance scene down to certain lines, and a rather shocking scene that does give Glomgold a little more purpose in the plot. I don't want to give away everything, but I definitely questioned whether they would really do what they did.
I only have one thing I will say that will add to this review: the necklace I talked about earlier does become a plot point. What necklace? Well, that was my first impression of that ending, too; it took a second viewing for me to realize it didn't just come out of nowhere.
How does it stack up?
Promising a big adventure that happens to be a huge reference to the original comics, and the return of a classic character, DuckTales 2017 took a huge risk with this episode. As someone who hasn't really read the original stories, I can't judge whether or not it's a good adaptation.
I debated what rating I should give this. It's an entertaining adventure, sure, but it's a little repetitive, and Glomgold just became a third wheel that was more tiring than funny. This one slightly misses the mark for me. In a worse reboot, this would be one of the best episodes, but after Jaw$, it's just merely above average, which is a very high neutral for this show.
Next, the return of another classic character...whether you like him or not.
← JAW$! 🦆 Day of the Only Child →
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