#When it comes to fights that I'd like to see just because I think it's interesting I'd end up making a whole essay

[barblaz-arts]

Hey, I was reading one of you're post and you said that you love Charlie as a protagonist. Can you elaborate why that is?

I've just always loved sweet-hearted protagonists. Steven Universe, Aang, Luz Noceda, you name it. It might be a cliche, but I'll always be a sucker for the optimistic protag who kills with kindness. They may not be realistic in some ways, because it's so much easier to remember all the shitty people out there, but truly kind people do exist and they are so strong for choosing to be kind and I love to see protagonists who have the strength to stay kind and extend that kindness to others despite all the shit the plot throws at them.

I already mentioned in that previous ask the reason why I like Charlie in particular a lot:

"... I think Emily is too sweet for Vaggie in a way that even Charlie isn't. Like, obviously Charlie's got a kind heart, but her demonic nature and her general hard-headedness and explosive temper are all things that separate her from Emily and other typical non-Exorcist angels that I can see is what really pulls Vaggie to her"

Ok so let me just elaborate on this a bit.

There's a lot of surface level reasons why I love Charlie. Her design is adorbs. Her archetype (ray of sunshine with a sad family background) is one of my favorites. Her VA is someone I've liked in a previous project(Mean Girls The Musical) and her performance as Charlie whether she's speaking or singing is just impressive and incredibly charming.

If we wanna dig deeper, I like her for the same reason I like characters like Enid Sinclair from Netflix's Wednesday; she's an amalgamation of contradictions that somehow works.

So just a quick disclaimer: I still don't think the writing for this show is "smart" nor do I think I will ever feel this way. But I do have to say that what I do like about this show is that characters were written with a lot of love, and despite the majority of the fans' claims that the creator and writers somehow dont give a shit about their main character(*cough*PROJECTION*cough) I think a lot of care and thought was put into Charlie as a character. Not a lot of WISE decisions necessarily, but the thought was there.

So if you were to ask people to describe Charlie with a few words, words that would probably come up are stuff like Happy or Energetic or Determined or Righteous or Gay or whatever. I would think those too. But other words I'd use to describe her are Stubborn and Temperamental and Prideful and REBELLIOUS, that last one being the most I think about when it comes to her.

It comes back to me seeing her as a walking contradiction. Charlie's always one thing that defies what you'd think she's supposed to be. She's a demon but she's kind. She's patient but she's irritable. She's a pushover but she's stubborn. She's no good in a fight but she has a lot of raw power. There's more to her than meets the eye and one of my favorite things about her that a lot of people may overlook is that despite the fact that she's a sweetheart is that she's rebellious and isn't afraid of standing up against authority.

Nurture-wise, being royalty very likely helped cultivate her hard-headed rebellious phase. She had a snarky emo phase for goodness sake. That spoiled rich girl definitely gave the king and queen of hell a hard time during puberty. Fortunately, she grew up to use that hard-headedness for a good cause. She's not afraid to stare down a goddamn Seraphim and tell her off on her hypocrisy because she's probably done the same to Lucifer when she was still prepubescent.

Nature-wise, the rebel in her comes from her parents, of course. Lucifer was a troublemaker who constantly tried to break away from Heaven's rigid system, while Lilith was a Strong Independent Woman who would rather leave Paradise than be objectified by the husband she didn't even choose. Freewill is a huge thing for Lucifer and Lilith, and because of this Charlie is also strong-willed, determined to do what she wants to do, even if it means getting ridiculed and disrespected for it.

Also. Don't you just love when the sweet character has another side to them that awakens when people they care about is hurt or when injustice happens? Righteous anger paired with a super power just never fails to be super cool. If you wanna know more about my thoughts regarding Charlie's temper, you can read it here

So yeah. I love Charlie a whole lot. She's cute, she's hot, she's kind, and she's cool. The whole shebang. There's a lot about her to dissect and I'm sad that people dont see that and constantly write her off as JUST the naive optimist because she's so much more than that.

[five-rivers]

Last week you asked about Phandom tropes people would like to see you write, so I figured I'd send an ask.

I would love to see your take on Danny as a dad. Since you tend to write Danny as an eternal child, I think it would be interesting to see your version of him as an adult with a career and family, while still dealing with ghosts.

A college!Danny fic would be fun too if dad!Danny isn't your thing.

"Daddy."

"Nmmhhnh?" said Danny.

"Daddy." Something patted insistently against his cheek.

"Wha-- Wha's wrong, sweetie?" mumbled Danny, opening his eyes enough to see the colorful blur of Phoebe's pajamas.

"Daddy," said Phoebe, very seriously, her eyes reflecting light like silver coins, "I fthrew up."

"Oh no," said Danny, coming more awake. "Do you have a fever? Do you feel sick?" He levered himself up so he could reach out to touch her forehead. Her temperature seemed alright...

She batted his hand away, making a face. "No."

Well, that was good, at least. "Do you need a shower? Clean up? Toothbrush?"

"No," said Phoebe more forcefully. She hugged her teddy bear to her chest and glared at him the way she always did when he failed to guess what she wanted to say.

Which left... "Where did you throw up?" It was probably her bed. She had a sensitive stomach, so she did have a plastic liner under her fitted sheet. It made it easier to clean up, but she still couldn't sleep there if it was full of vomit.

"Baftroom," said Phoebe.

"Toilet? Sink? bathtub? Flo--"

"Toilet," said Phoebe. Ah, she'd definitely gotten that tone from her mother.

Holy ghosts, she was so cute.

"That's good then," said Danny, sitting up. He should probably check, of course, and get himself a little more awake to make sure that Phoebe was just having sensitive stomach troubles, and wasn't really sick. And make sure she brushed her teeth, because she definitely did need to do that if she threw up. "Let's go flush."

"It moved," said Phoebe.

"What?" asked Danny.

"It moved," repeated Phoebe.

There was a crash from the vicinity of the kitchen.

"Aw, man," said Danny. He looked at the clock. It was two twenty-four. "Phoebe, am I going to have to fight a vomit monster that was born in the toilet? In the kitchen?"

Phoebe patted Danny's knee with one hand. "Fight? Fwoom? Pleeeeeeeease?"

There was another crash. Danny cringed. So much for being a full adult who was able to take care of a three year old by himself for one night without wrecking the house.

"Daddy?" Phoebe patted his leg again. "Fwoom fwoom? Ghost?"

"Yup," said Danny, scooping her up. "We're going to go fight a ghost."

"Eeeee!" squealed Phoebe in excitement. She waved her teddy bear around, and it hit Danny squarely in the face. "Fwoom fwoom!"

"Fwoom fwoom," agreed Danny. He went ghost, and the rings sweeping over him did indeed make a soft fwoom sound.

Phoebe shrieked and giggled. She couldn't transform on her own yet - something that everyone was glad of - but she had her own ghost form: long hair that always covered her face, eerie, glowing white eyes, and a full set of adult teeth in a mouth that could open much too wide.

She was, by any standards but especially Danny's, extremely cute.

Danny checked to make sure he was holding her securely, then powered up an ectoblast. "Let's show that vomit monster what's what, huh?"

"Whatswah!"

[copper-caster]

TF Failsafe Coding AU

The concept of this continuity soup AU is that Warframes, particularly warframes with slave coding can trigger a heat/rut through submitting to a stronger opponent in battle.

It makes them limp and pathetic, unable to activate their weapon systems, just about able to string a sentence together between chirrups of binary, the only hard part of them is their spike so it's easier for the victor to cart them off. They'll just mewl and roll around on their back to present their spikes, a failsafe to deter the victor from just killing them. However, if a mech has been on a winning streak & suddenly looses it forcibly activates.

This is inspired by a Tokyo Ghoul Fanfic Series I've been reading particularly the fic ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/48210463/chapters/121576942 ) I recommend reading that entry even if you're unfamiliar with the source material it's absolutely fantastic. Also this is somewhat inspired by my love of the X-Men & Ajin: Demi-human.

Maybe it was something conjured up by the Quintessons during their occupation to deter more violent troops from killing their coworkers because if they lost they'd become docile for a time & if they won they'd end up sparked, harder to cause trouble that way. The quints also found it's excellent entertainment at parties.

Anyway in the modern day Gladiators have to wear chastity devices because there's no way that the arena masters are giving people a free show, instead if a bot drops into heat they'll be carted out of the arena to a private afterparty for the high society bots to attend.

The managers don't want their star champions to end up sparked & have to take a break from performing.

Sometimes Gladiators can even be rented out to private arenas in Senator's homes or high end nightclubs for Fight & Spike parties where the fight is just an appetizer for the main event of watching some hulking warframe present themselves begging to be touched. Ridden or pounded by the victor, often pumped up on aggression inducing drugs, then turned over to the guests. That's all perfectly legal, in the gladiatorial contracts even, ignore that little detail about most of them signing said contracts under duress. What isn't legal is using these Gladiators as studs for the breeding of trafficked unregistered Outliers.

Which is where our intrepid undercover investigative journalist Orion Pax comes in. He's gotten into one of these parties to investigate the possible links to the disappearances of prominent Outliers & civil rights activists on behalf of Senator Shockwave. His cover is that he's some arm candy secretary picked up from the archives for (senator of your choice who Shockwave is blackmailing to go along with it). Orion sometimes works with fellow independent journalists Jazz & Blaster who primarily travel from city to city, event to event, interviewing interesting people with a political bent (think all gas no breaks / channel 5 the youtube channels if you're familiar but Jazz & Blaster aren't sex pests like the hosts of those channels 💀 if you're not familiar I'd recommend looking up someone reacting to one of their videos don't give the og channels views). They're helping him, monitoring the situation & relating his wire to their police contact Prowl who's been kicked off the missing Outliers case for getting too close to the truth.

Thus sets the scene for Orion to meet Megatron. He's aware of the gladiator of course who wouldn't know the face of the reigning champion of the pit, but seeing clips of his fights is not the same as seeing the mech sprawled back on the dancefloor, hazey optic'd & undulating to show off his spike. Whirring & beeping like a mechanimal. Orion has never seen something so hot before in his life & he hates himself for it. Which is about when the host of the party brings out Starscream who's been legally registered as dead for several months. Makes him ride Megatron until he's sparked up. Of course to make sure he's carrying an Outlier spark that's inherited his abilities the host blows a hole through his processor mid second round. After a few seconds Star jerks back into action, this isn't his first rodeo & he wants to get it over with asap before the host gets bored of boasting about his sales pitch, already starting bidding on Star's unborn bitty, & decides to shoot him again for the spectacle of it all.

Megatron is Distressed his heat partner just died, without any fight response he's working himself into hysterics. His processor is mush, energon & fragments of processor boards splashed across his face, whimpering he can't understand it His Mate just died he felt the death flare in his EM field but he can also feel the body is still moving.

Star absolutely loathes those noises & Megatron's expression because it breaks the immersion of all the training he's been through to see himself as an object because this bot is treating him like a person asking if he's hurt in base binary chirps & it makes him hate himself more. Maybe he's got a scold's bridle on so that he can't speak, he's not nicknamed Screamer for no reason.

Orion attends a few of these parties. He also goes to interview Megatron while he's sober after winning a match. Officially it's because Orion is writing a puff piece about Megatron so they have a conversation dancing around the subject, aware they're being monitored. Orion doesn't realise he's been found out as a mole until he's being dragged into the arena ring at a party. Thrown down in front of a drugged up Megatron, he's completely berserk, unable to be reasoned with, going to rip Orion to pieces. So thinking quickly Orion just surrenders mimicking a warframe's defeat induced heat driven to a fever pitch Megatron frags him until the drugs are out of his system. The party goers love it & want an oncore meanwhile Megs is coming back to his senses, an absolutely wrecked civilian mech underneath him. His handler is screaming at him over internal comms to give the ppl what they want & frag his throat open like he just did to that medalling journalist's valve. Orion just tells him " I'm sorry they're making you do this, I will endure it, don't blame yourself for what they're forcing you to do"

Of course they don't just let Orion go afterwards so now he's a missing person. Jazz, Blaster, & Prowl were tapped into Orion's audio visual feed & saw the whole thing up until Megatron crushed his Audials & Optics while fucking his face until it falls apart.

Orion is now being trafficed with the Outliers, his sensors are limited to tactial & olfactory only, luckily most of the trafficked bots know Sign language & Chirolinguistics so they teach him. Both Star & Orion are sparked up so they're housed together. Being moved from safehouse to safehouse. Star decides to use his own parts to try and repair Orion since even if he ripps out an optic it'll just grow back when he resets. His owner doesn't intervene because he finds it funny & it is keeping Starscream occupied. They are planning to repair Orion after the sparkling is born so they can get a repeat performance. But maybe they subject him to empurata since his face is already smashed.

Not sure what happens from here, maybe Jazz, Blaster, & Co decide to break Megatron out of the arena to help them track down Orion & the missing Outliers via his fledgling Sire bond.

I'm making Blurr an Outlier also, quicksilver type shit. He's fairly well-known by the general public as his disqualification from participating in any sporting events was highly publicised. With his fellow Velocitronians finding it to be highly offensive that he's barred, some more zealous individuals believe Blurr's speed to have been a blessing by their colony's patron Amalgamous Prime. He's lapping up being the civil rights movements' poster child. I'm also making Senator Shockwave Velocitronian royalty, rumoured to be a direct descendant of Amalgamous Prime. It's traditional that the royalty of Velocitron are Conjunx to the winner of the race celebrating their coming of age ceremony, whenever they choose to have that celebration after they reach adulthood is up to them, so Shockwave has postponed his in protest until the cybertronian government would recognise Blurr as the winner. They decide to do some fake dating 'the government is forbidding our love from being recognized in the traditional manner of our people' type shit for the tabloids to lap up & sway public opinion. They're a real celebrity couple.

This makes both of them frequent targets for assassinations & kidnappings. Starscream was a hired guard for Blurr & 'died' in one of these attacks, with the traffickers realising that Star was an Outlier & taking him after watching him wake up from a decapitation. Shockwave goes missing during one of these attempts, carted off to be subjected to empurata, the surgery triggers a mass/shape shifting mutation in him. He breaks out & returns to office hiding the fact that he's now an Outlier himself, maintaining his original form for long periods of time stressing out his body to the point of seizures. Blurr caring for him & helping him hide himself leads them to develop genuine feelings for eachother.

Please send me asks about this au or reblog & add comments please 🥺👉👈

Signed

_ Cu 🐗

[bluiela]

Hey, hi, hello uhm, I'm a bit new to the ACOTAR fandom and have been lurking around for the past two months looking through tags -- Elucien shipper for the most part -- and I see you keep getting troll anons from people who dislike you for just shipping something and I'm super sorry that's happening! 😭 I don't entirely understand this 'ship war' cause it's been a hot minute since I was around tumblr fandoms (like 2016), but I don't remember them being this openly toxic/hostile about a different opion.

Anyways! Thought I'd pop in with a nice anon about why I think Elucien works/could be endgame -- from the view of a casual reader!

At the start of most romance novels, the two who get together don't like each other, and the book is about them either figuring out they DO like each other, or getting over their disdain and discovering love instead; and over the course of ACOTAR, it really reads like SJM has been sprinkling that around, setting up Lucien and Elain to not act like themselves around the other or appear perfectly ammicable. It doesn't matter if they get together or don't together, either way this awkwardness is going to be resolved, else it wouldn't have been introduced.

Elain and Lucien are the perfect dichotomy of compatible opposites from an aesthetic view. The fawn and the fox -- which if you've ever been around are both timid but highly playful creatures. The gardener who (presumably) wants to fight, and the warrior who wants to never fight again. The lady with secret snark, and the lord who snarks to mask . But when you look at their similar vibes: the blatant cottagecore, the love for socializing/parties, the dancing, the vapid quips (that Elain, subtextually, seems to want to partake in), the love of flowers, of nature, of sun? It all falls together so perfectly.

Lucien going on a voyage adventure with Elain's father and then we NEVER hear much about it? Yeah, SJM's gonna talk about it. I can just sense that coming. Lucien went and bonded with a father figure to his mate, the father figure then died, and Elain's closure is never talked of in full. There is much, much much much, for SJM to write about there between this ship.

At the moment, neither of them want to accept they are mated. THIS is a point that has always intrigued me but I never see many other Eluciens talk about it. Lucien in book one made fun of humans and spoke cruelly of them. Elain in book one was terrified of fairies and presumably held the same opinion of Graysen. Lucien in book two reveals Jesminda and how he very much so is still not over her and is up in turmoil over the mating bond because of this. Elain in book two is very much so not over Graysen and loathes the bond even more for what it's done to her old life. Then for Elain to be horrifically thrown into being a fairy, and for Lucien to be horrifically stripped from his second home, thrown into a war, and venturing to the human lands to work with humans -- combined with them both having a mate they didn't ask for allthewhile being lovers (as in the type of person) at heart -- talk about poetic whiplash.

DISCLAIMER TO THE ABOVE POINT (for any elriels reading this): I am not saying I enjoy their pain or want them to suffer more, or be around someone they hate -- but this is a fictional book, and as someone with a degree in Creeative Writing I am of the opinion that SJM is significantly utilizing the tropes at her disposal to set up a very slow burn/painful connection/healing story filled with growth and acceptance, not just for them to accept being mates, but for them to accept this new world they now occupy and learn to love it, together. Is it possible Elain could do that with Az? I am certain SJM would be perfectly able to write a story doing so, but I personally don't see it happening as much as I see her with Lucien.

And as a last point: the sun thing has always, always, been the gold touch of this ship for me: Lucien being the heir to the Day Court and Elain "needing sunshine" and being a gardener in a land favouring night. This is not to say -- as people will berate Eluciens on -- that the Night Court is awful for Elain and that Eluciens want her to leave it all and never look back or be stripped away from her family or something horrid. People can live away from home and still, ykno, visit home. And the Day Court is right next door! Though I have this horrid inkling that Helion's gonna d*e for Lucien to "discover the bit" (if he hasn't already).

Their ship is balanced in ways I could only ever dream of writing, and its a unique balance. Often nowadays I see Persephone/Hades aethetic rewrites more than anything else, and I'm not saying those are bad (I love them too!), but they, perhaps, oversaturate the world of literature -- and I think Elucien is the Eros/Psyche that people often forget about.

Thank you so much for sending this, reading sensible posts that align with the books and does such a good job at elucien analysis was so good and refreshing after all the e/riel arguments in my inbox.

All the points are such beautifully written. It just reminds me how much I love lucien.

[messrsrarchives]

sending you so much love and so many hugs Robyn!! i can’t really contribute to the conversation because i’m cis, but i’m so glad you’re speaking out about how trans people are being treated and, as much as you’ll be missed on tiktok, doing what’s best for your wellbeing. i think i speak for everyone that follows you on here when i say that we’re so, so proud of you 🫶🫶🫶

i've been thinking about this since it came through and im prefacing by saying that when i say "you", i don't necessarily mean You in particular, just the general you.

I MEAN FIRST OF ALL !!! thank you 🫂🫂🫂 so much <333 it truly means so so so much, but this ask is a good opportunity for me to yap here about it so i hope you don't mind <3

because this is 10000% a discussion for cis people to weigh in on!

i mean not necessarily to the same extent. trans people - and those from other communities that jkr has harmed, but i can't speak for those - will be more educated on it, we'll have more to say about the repercussions etc, but the fact this is a very trans-centric discussion is why people are upset.

because yes, we know more but also,,, we're more at risk. see here: deadname leaked. these discussions are ones that we are more adept at having (because we have to have them daily with people irl) but when those unharmed stand to the side and let us take the reigns, that's where issues arise - that's where the complacency stems from.

because trans rights isn't something for trans people to fight for alone, it's something for Everyone Who Cares to fight for. and in this space, when we're having anti-jkr discussions, if it's just thsoe harmed talking about it? that's where the negative comments i've received come in. the ones calling me dramatic or over the top or making it seem as if this is a Robyn issue rather than a general issue, yk??? because when support isn't widespread and instead concentrated on a few accounts, yes it's going to seem dramatic.

i'm thinking here about when i spoke about how people engage with celebrities (specifically ben barnes) and i got SO many negative comments. i said that the way people engage with them and force the universe on them will result in their engagement, and i got called over the top and told that i was "taking it too far",,,,, and then. three days later. he says he would take part because if he Didn't? it would "be a disservice to the millions of people that have messaged me". yk like,,, Yes. we know more. we spotted that risk before those unharmed did, but we were also ignored because i know that i and other trans creators spoke about the treatment of fancasts last year,,,, and here we are.

we (and by we i mean all communities that jkr has harmed) need Everybody to stand With us. not just nod when we speak, but be unapologetic in it. listen to us. have discussions with us, and have discussions in your own spaces. open yourself up to the prospect that, hey, maybe trans people can point the way because they know more, and then we can participate, yk?

i think one of the now deleted videos spoke about this but i get tagged a lot in comment sections. i get tagged a lot By Creators as a "@/messrsrobyn has a lot of videos about this" and whilst on one hand! that's great! i'm so so so glad to be a source of information. but on the other,,, isn't it sad that rather than having the discussions themselves, it gets handed over to someone harmed by it??? like if the people tagging me had One video about jkr, i'd be less upset. it's the fact that they Don't have ANY information about it, they never speak on it despite having (in some cases) bigger platforms with more influence, yet the reigns just get handed over, so more people come to me, and then when i talk about it again for the new people, i'm over the top and dramatic and i never shut up.

which is where education comes into it:

those harmed will be able to talk about more in depth, absolutely. but those unharmed should also be speaking about it too. it shouldn't be down to those that are harmed both inside and outside of this space to take on that full responsibility, it should be a general discussion. because if only we are fighting for it,,,, our voice is systematically weaker, and it just seems like a Personal issue when really,,, trans or cis, jkr is a threat. and more people should be receptive to acknowledging and discussing that. (again, maybe not as in depth, but it's the constantly watching to see who is safe and who isn't that's tiring)

and there's a lot of factors. i'm not ignorant to that. but i'm also abundantlyyyy aware that this (mainly over on tiktok) has been a very trans-centric fight with a small minority of us speaking about it, when really, the fandom as a whole should stand strong in their anti-jkr stance and should be combating the massiveeee rise of complacency that we're seeing with all of the hype for the reboot.

cis people might not have as much information as us, but that's because they are not harmed directly by her transphobia.

they don't have to watch headlines. they don't have to watch donations. they don't have to see where her money is going. or what her voice is saying.

We Do.

and it sounds theoretical (not to just trauma dump lol sorry) but the Cass Report??? an incredibly transphobic medical report that jkr pushed for and publicly endorsed? that report was SO baseless, full of misinformation and transphobia and it was meant to restrict trans healthcare. instead it's stripped me of All healthcare. i am not on the medical database. i don't Exist in the medical world, despite having many medical issues that need medication lest i literally potentially Drop one day. that's not a hyperbole - i need that medication, and i don't have access to it because of a report she pushed for, and then said she was "proud" of.

it's not theoretical if you're living it, and it's tiring to fight in your own corner when so much more could be done if others did the bare minimum, which is standing with us, not nodding on the sidelines.

and again, this isn't an attack on you specifically anon! you've just given me the opportunity to yap about it here <33 this is a discussion Everybody should be a part of, because when it's just trans people expected to speak on it? deadnames get leaked for being "too dramatic"

when really, all we want, is for people to Proudly Stand With Us.

[rook-specter]

Ranking Voices and Vessels (and also the Narrator) on how good they'd do as a coworker

Explanation under cut

S Tier:

Damsel: I think she could do very well with the tasks if that makes you like her more, which is pretty sad, but she gets the job done. She's also really good with customer service! I mean, you get her from the "gentle" princess, so why wouldn't she be good with customers?

Hero: he's like a real breath of fresh air compared to the others on this list. like, he's good with tasks, he's good with customer service, and if some crazy shit is happening, you know that Hero shares your disbelief.

Spectre: even though she's dead, she's literally one of the nicest vessels, and I think she's pretty good at tasks as well. I have a feeling she's able to Ghost Trick (/ref) her way into doing whatever task is needed. also, she's good with customer service! even the angriest of customers are amicable with Spectre, because even though she may be annoyed with the customer, she's courteous enough to calm down their rage.

Thorn: she's got a lot of guilt and regret from when she was Witch, and I think she could show that she's changed by having a job at a grocery store or whatever. she does well with tasks, and oddly enough, the customers like her. so yeah!

Stranger: so, Stranger is a bunch of Princesses mashed into one, due to mind-perception shenanigans and the fact that we never really got to meet her in the first cycle and only saw an infinite amount of cabins, but I feel like she could use the amount of Princesses inside of her to give you whatever you want out of a coworker. if you want some kind encouragement, she's got your back! if you want some tough love, she's got your back!

A Tier:

Prisoner: she's mostly standard as a coworker. she gets tasks done well, and despite her deadpan attitude and monotone voice, she does well with customers as well. she's also one of those workers that is patient with customers, but if she's pushed to the edge, she won't take any bullshit.

Skeptic: I took a food handling class, so I kinda wanna implement that into why I think Skeptic is a pretty good coworker. Skeptic is very analytical, and is always seeing the flaws in things, so I think he'd be good at finding food hazards like cross-contamination and unwanted chemicals in the food. he'd also be rather good with customer service, though I feel like he'd judge people for what they bought. not in a JUDGING way, but he'd be pretty skeptical about whatever they bought and the fact that they don't seem like the type to buy something like that. but all in all, he's pretty good.

Cold: in my opinion, low empathy doesn't make you any less of a good coworker. I'd say that Cold will do whatever it takes to get the tasks done, without a second thought, and though customers might see him as unsettling, they don't really have a problem with him.

Stubborn: his vigor and zeal would make him a really great manager. he'd tell me that even though we're working at a grocery store or whatever, he's still fighting on my side. however, I think that he'd be... a bit too much. I tiredly get to work, and Stubborn's like "Chop chop, let's go, let's go! We've got work to do!" and it would wake me up, but it would be. quite a lot. he needs to simmer down

Paranoid: Paranoid's very observant, and even though that observing mostly consists of watching out for threats, I'd say that it also helps out with tasks as well, and he could be with Skeptic in the "looks out for food hazards club". and with customers, he doesn't trust the customers that come in, but that doesn't mean he won't mask his fear in front of them. he just needs a little bit of that "heart, lungs, liver, nerves" and he'll be mostly fine with customer service

Contrarian: first of all, he's a personality hire. he's not very good with math, and he doesn't really learn that easily, he'll mess up tasks on purpose, and if given a knife, he will throw it out a window, but with customers? he's oddly pretty good! he's a silly little guy! customers weirdly love him! even though he might take a very winded route with a lot of loopty-loops to get an item that a customer needs. but as long as he's good with the customers, that doesn't matter!

Adversary: another personality hire, but unlike Contra, she just doesn't really have a grasp on how to do the tasks assigned, and she's a pretty slow learner as well, but she knows how to stand her ground when it comes to customers! her booming voice is able to get customers excited. she's got an infectious energy. and she's like Prisoner where she's able to stay invigorated when it comes to customers, but she doesn't take any shit from any mean-spirited customers.

B Tier:

Fury: considering the personality switch given (only counting when Cold or Broken are involved cuz they're the ones that help her), I'd say at first, she'd be like "I can unwind you into the shape of a shoe. Do you really think you're above me?" and I'm like "no, not at all! this isn't a superiority-inferiority thing, I'm just aware that you don't really know the ins and outs of working here, and I'm just trying to teach you how to use a cash register!" and then a few days later she'll come to me and say "Listen. I'm sorry about how I acted earlier. I'm just... severely troubled, and I took it out on a bird man, and I unwound him in various different ways. I think I'll be fine working here now." and I'd be worried about the unwinding part but for the most part I'll accept the apology. also, I think that even taking the personality shift into account, Fury has zero social skills, so she might screw up a few times when it comes to customer service, but otherwise, she's fine now

Cheated: Cheated is probably the most efficient of the voices, wanting to get things done quickly, and I admire that work ethic, but he also gets very upset when he's screwed over by things he can't control, so if a customer is fairly mean to him, he'll just snap back at the customer, which really shouldn't happen all the time.

Broken: explaining what Broken is like as a coworker is pretty hard. he's pretty unmotivated due to his... sadness, but if I'm able to get him to believe I'm above him (which I don't think should be needed but whatever) he definitely could get the tasks done. he's also very willing to submit to angry customers, to the point that it's concerning. if a customer comes up to him and is even the slightest bit upset, Broken would just submit to them, and admit that he's wrong, and whatever stuff, and that makes the customer uncomfortable. it's not a fireable offense, but it's something that HR will have to speak to him about.

Hunted: Hunted's got a lot of animal in him. I'd say that he's a quick learner when it comes to tasks, but when it comes to customers, if any customer is ever so slightly upset with him, he'll hide away like a prey animal. HR's gotta have a word with him about that.

Princess: her personality is based around how you perceive her, so having her as a coworker is a bit of a tossup. if you perceive her to be a good coworker, she'll be a good coworker. if you perceive her to be a bad coworker, she'll be a bad coworker. that's why I put her in the middle of the road.

C Tier:

Beast: bitch, that's a talking animal. but as a coworker, she'd. be a lot. I'd say that she's a quick learner like Hunted, but with customer service? ehhh, she'll definitely say some crazy cannibalism shit, which. is definitely worrying.

The Greys: I believe that they only have a grudge on one person (that being the LQ) but it's hard to say what they'd be like as coworkers, considering that there's not a lot going for them, but their appearances are enough to scare customers, so that's why they're there.

Opportunist: this guy wants to screw you over, but also has no spine. he'll try to shirk his work, but when somebody tells him to work, he'll be like "Okay!" and work as if he wants to. and do I even need to tell you about how he is with customers? he would definitely get on the customers' nerves. it's not fireable, but he's pretty bad.

Witch: THIS slimeball of a catgirl will comply with getting work done, but then do the bare minimum, or not do all of it, leaving some poor sap to do the rest instead. and with customers, the customers definitely feel like something is off with her. sketchy.

Narrator: the Narrator is ALSO a huge slimeball, but not only that, he's also a huge jackass! he may seem unassuming, but trust me, he's an absolute asshole, and I don't want him working at my grocery store.

D Tier:

Eye of the Needle: I barely need to explain anything with these guys. Needle would get fired on day one for physically assaulting a customer.

Nightmare: she doesn't give a crap about doing the tasks, and with customers, she's absolutely unhelpful. I just want my pistachios, man.

Smitten: if you don't understand why he's here, have you even SEEN the Happily Ever After route? he gets fired on day one for sexual harassment.

Razor: OUGGHH another obvious one. she not only gets fired on the first day for killing a man, she also gets sent to jail.

Wraith: do I even need to explain this one just look at her

Disqualified:

Dagger: that's an inanimate object

Den: that's literally just an animal

Wild: literally how

Shifting Mound: too big

Apotheosis: too big

Tower: too big

[laura1633]

I've made my piece that this year is probably the year Max' run is going to end. He's had such a good run and I'm grateful that RBR provided him a good car for most of the time.

However, I'm still of the opinion that it's time to jump ship. RBR is sinking quite fast. Horner's head got way too big. Waché and his team clearly lost key figures and they are not able to compensate and actually build a decent car that can take the fight to McLaren and Ferrari. Max should not fulfill his contract and what I've heard he thankfully has performance clauses in his contract which could mean he could leave.

I'd love to see Max in a different car. I'd love to see him in red. I'd love to see him beside Charles. Eternal rivals finally united in one team, terrorizing the other drivers.

(I could also imagine Max taking revenge and joining Mercedes just so George loses his seat, because let's be honest: if Toto got the chance, George would be out of this seat faster than he could say yabadabadoo).

I think going into this season I have just assumed that Red Bull will not be competitive and so if they do end up being so then it's a bonus. I know Max can do amazing things in a car and will get the absolute maximum out of it but there comes a point where the car performance doesn’t allow you to compete for the championship and this may or may not be the year. 

It’s been amazing that he has won four in a row and if this run did stop at four I truly think that if he wanted to stick around long enough then he could easily go on another run and get another four. Overall though he has already proven that he is one of the greatest of all time. That’s not to say he won’t be in the fight, I am just setting my expectations low and then I can only be pleasantly surprised, unlike last year when I set my expectations high and the RB20 happened! 

I think a big test of whether Max will want to stay long term at RBR will be whether they can identify and fix the issues and develop in the right direction.  If they can’t then surely you start losing faith in the longer term. I also Max will have knowledge of how their engine development is going so it will be interesting to see what he does. 

I would love to see Max at Ferrari, even knowing the history of world champions who go there haha! I think him and Charles would be a really exciting team and Ferrari don’t seem to have any issues with having two ‘No1’ drivers. (Also on a non racing related note I think the PR videos of the two of them would be insanely embarrassing in the best possible way) It would be interesting if Charles wins the world championship to see if Ferrari then want to revert to getting a ‘2nd driver’ in to support their champion or if they continue with the two lead drivers.

I know a lot of people hate the idea of Max going to Mercedes and I completely understand why because I remember the things said about Max during 2021 but I do feel like if Max believed Mercedes could delver him a more competitive car then there is a chance of him going there. Kimi and Max in a team would be great too! It will be interesting to see what happens with George's contract negotiations and if he does re-sign then how long for.

I suppose Aston Martin is also an option. Honda have said they would like to work with Max again and I believe Newey would welcome Max going there. 

It’s going to be an interesting 1 or 2 seasons… I hope that if it is the case that Red Bull are not strong at the start of the season they can at least get on top of their development.  

[evecolourshock]

Wyn, your art is amazing!!! I love your older Beck, he's such an Unit of a guy, but your Cyrus!!!! Holy hells your Cyrus, where to even begin. He's long and lanky and has clearly been through hell. He's bunched up and defensive but radiates the vibes of a feral cat about to fight the whole world so it can't hurt him again. Leaves claw marks in everything he knows, clinging so tight because he doesn't know what he'll be if he lets go. He's desperate, and... damn. You've really figured out how to invoke sympathy for this chaotic wreck of a person, and I love your version of him so much.

So, with that in mind, have a fic ♡ you figured out how to break my heart with this guy, and I have no words to describe how happy I am you did.

Cyrus doesn't know why his feet take him here. He staked claim to Purgos, haunting the streets and bringing pain to any of Clu's forces trying to do the same. He's no Tron, and it burns still, but the Wraith is whispered about in every dark corner and satisfaction curls through him at each mention of his new name.

And yet.

And yet if he lets himself wander, he always comes back to Argon.

To a Garage in Argon.

Or maybe to the "mechanic" in it. He's not sure.

Beck... Cyrus doesn't know how he feels about Beck, any more. It used to be jealousy and rage and hate, for an upstart taking what was his and bringing hope instead of fear-

Now it's all muzzy. Complicated. The hate is easy, but it doesn't bite the way it used to. Jealousy and rage, much the same, blunted by the new emotions running alongside them.

Pride, even though he doesn't like admitting it. Beck's strategy worked. Even the refusing to kill part - Cyrus doesn't know if he should be irritated by or admire Beck's dedication to a cause similar and yet executed so differently to his own. Argon loves Beck's Renegade, even after Cyrus' attempts to take the title back by force. Cyrus can, at least grudgingly, appreciate that.

Respect. He's fine with admitting that. Beck's a good fighter and even better strategist, especially now he has all that height and bulk to back his presence up with. Doesn't need to get scrappy any more, when just showing up from nowhere can get whole squads to flee from Tron's white-clad spectre of an apprentice.

Longing Other things. Cyrus doesn't want to explore them.

Cyrus does his best to stay in the shadows. Even discounting his dulled, wild circuits, he doesn't belong here and it shows. He's thin. Lanky. Pushing the limits on how little energy a Program needs to survive. Purgos has so little resources compared to Argon, and Cyrus would attempt to steal as much as he could if he didn't know just how guarded it was.

He doesn't have the energy for that. Not any more.

Beck steps into the street, and Cyrus tries to muster up some envy. The Renegade looks good. Healthy and strong, confident and assured, completely unlike the awkward insecure youth he'd once been.

Brown eyes spot him, harden with the steel Cyrus knows hides deep in Beck's core. And yet-

Beck's still so damn soft, once he properly takes in the sight of Cyrus leaning against the wall of the Garage. Cyrus knows he doesn't look all that great, thin and tired and dull, but he tries to twist his lips into a cocky grin anyway. "No hug?"

Never mind a hug from Beck could probably crush his chest. Never mind he's almost hoping for a hug, just to interact with someone and for it not to hurt.

"Didn't think I'd see you again." Beck comments, and sure there's sharp wariness to his tone but the recognition - and dare he say relief? Cyrus feels his grin get more natural, even if it shrinks.

"Found something to do." Cyrus inspects his nails, irritated by their chips and brittleness but resigned to them staying that way. "Something better." He purrs, though it doesn't curve his words the way it used to. "Though I see you've been busy in my suit." The lie falls off his tongue instead of rolling, bitter and sharp instead of smooth - that suit was never his, not really, and in watching Beck he knows that.

Not least because Beck's made it his own, adding long panels and a better collar and even a damn sash until it's something wholly unique and fluid. Cyrus isn't sure what style the Renegade armour now follows, but it suits Beck.

"Not yours any more." Beck retorts swiftly, still lacking the bite to make it land properly.

Cyrus inclines his head slightly, and the acquiescence doesn't hurt like he thought it would. "No, I don't suppose it is." He murmurs, voice raw and weary.

Beck's still looking at him, all soft and caution and-

"I don't want your pity." Cyrus snaps, forcing hinself to dredge up some of that rage and hate keeping him going. He reaches for Beck, sees the Renegade stiffen - a flash of old fear, good-

Drops his hand. He's too tired for a fight, even if he wants one just to feel something. "Don't pity me." He repeats, trying to hold on to the energy his temper provides. "You won." His lip curls in a sneer, though it's not aimed at Beck. "Be glad about it."

"Why?" Beck asks him, and Cyrus stalls. "What good would it do?" Beck steps closer, and Cyrus hates himself for backing up. One hit and he's done for-

Beck pulls him in. It's half-pin, half-hug, and Cyrus feels his knees buckle. "It's not winning if everything's still broken." Beck tells him, and Cyrus doesn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"You think you can fix this?" Cyrus chokes out, words grinding in his throat. "Look at me."

"I'm a mechanic." Beck tells him dryly. "And you of all Programs know how stubborn I am." He backs off a little, hands still on Cyrus' shoulders. "And I've been getting bored lately anyway."

Cyrus wants to tell him off, to snap and snarl about not needing Beck's charity, about how he's not a glitching project-

But Beck's voice is light and teasing. His eyes are glowing, looking forward to a new challenge. His hands are warm and steady, firm yet gentle with Cyrus (brittle, fragile Cyrus, treated like he means something even though he feels like "Cyrus" means nothing at all).

"Can't have that." Cyrus mutters, trying to keep the swell of emotion he doesn't dare name held in his chest instead of leaking into his voice. "...I'm kidnapping you." He announces. "Just so you know."

"Ah, yes. For the reputation." Beck agrees far too easily. "Of course. I'll put together a convenient collection of supplies to grab at the same time, then. It'd be a shame to leave behind such a tempting bundle, especially when it's all packed ready to go and just sitting there." He grins broadly, itching for something to do.

Cyrus bursts out laughing. This giant idiot, got him feeling all soft and happy.

"Bring your suit." He advises. "Think we could use a bit of your hope."

At the end of the cycle, we’re still the same… right?

[noneatnonedotcom]

demi xander au episode ideas

season 1, while xander has kept his name out of the papers for the most part it should be noted that he's been a vampire hunter for effectively 5 years and his curse of living in interesting times plus his stronger scent means that until buffy showed up he was the center of a lot of bullshit going on in sunnydale. for season 1 i'd probably have the revilation that xander's been fighting vamps since he was about ten be slowly revealed with willow and Giles doing the uncovering as they see some of the more mundane things he's done. recovering stolen items for museums tracking down thieves dealing with "violent gangs" it should paint the picture of a vet of dealing with vampires but still being limited in his abilities.

beyond that i think you'd get like 2 episodes extra focusing on the "tragic backstory TM" of xander perfectly normal human vampire hunter. with the mystery of what he was doing and why deaths pre buffy were so low being a background thing.

i'd also probably add in an episode showing xander's taking over buffy's "shift" so she has more time to hang with willow and be a normal teenaged girl. overall with xander hiding aspects of himself in season 1 it's more about the mystery surrounding him happening in the background.

season two

with the death of the master normal vampires are kinda missing, xander's going insane with peace and is starting to get twitchy. episode where xander is revealed to be sleeping with several older women in sunnydale buffy and willow are jealous for some strange reason except willow she knows why she's jealous. xander almost gets eaten by the mantis demon, but since he's not a virgin buffy and willow save him before he has to reveal his skills. Giles and Xander bond in a father son moment, something rare after the issue with the hyena spirit being fought off by him. Giles poor choice of words when trying to figure out how xander did that made xander worried Giles was going to dig too deep and decide xander was close enough to a demon. because Giles is under the impression that Xander was just a normal human child going though the whole vampire hunter thing they actually have a heart to heart about how difficult it was for both of them to be warriors when no one around them could really know.

xander is seen around town with a gaggle of preteen and younger girls. buffy and willow assume the worst but are even more confused when they find out that these kids he's been hanging around with are his "half siblings" and xander tells them that he's a bastard

xander's siblings really like buffy and willow and wanna get them hooked up, they might have used some love mojo and conspired to have xander actually dress nicely for once right when the girls come by. xander has to explain to the other demigods that he's trying to find people who like him independent of his divine blessings. they head back to camp half blood after this.

xander starts dating cordelia and it's right when buffy needed his support with the whole angel thing. angle keeps taunting buffy saying that xander isn't what she thinks he is.

while trying to get buffy's mind off of angel willow takes the group to the beach for a day, a little mini vacation that xander manages to get the okay for from Giles, by explaining that he can have some "co workers" keep things safe for a weekend. giles doesn't know that his co workers are kids of Ares who are spoiling for a fight and needed an enemy they could blow steam off on. but the news that a patrol of demigods is on the hunt keeps angelus and co laying low till the slayer comes back.

meanwhile at the beach buffy catches xander shirtless and realizes that while he's built like a greek god he's also more scars than skin. giles and willow tell their version of xander's backstory and we get an over the top story about normal vampire hunter xander in a gritty urban fantasy setting with neo noir vibes.

that's all i got for now. any suggestions for xander focused episodes or background plots? keep in mind my goal is to keep buffy as the main character, xander's just the goofy best friend who seems to have a history

@weatherman667 beyond ideas for episodes i never decided what greek or roman god would be after xander and causing problems for him in an attempt to make xander theirs. suggestions would be helpful :) @heliosthegriffin i know you haven't watched buffy but still let me know what you'd do for episodes

[brainmuncher]

So I've been thinking about DC heroes and what ghosts from Danny Phantom would be the worst ones for them to fight. (Or maybe just someone that would give them a hard time.) Like if there were a ghost that they were fighting, who would be the worst one for them?

For Cyborg I immediately thought of Technus. Technus is the ghost of technology, so surely he would have some kind of control over Cyborg, right? Depending on the origin, Cyborg was either made entirely of machines from Earth or has alien technology in him. Would Technus be able to manipulate alien tech? Would Cyborg end up adding Fenton tech to what he already has? It's interesting to think about.

For Flash, I was thinking about one of the cold ghosts since he'd have a hard time with the cold. Honestly, I was thinking of Klemper. Klemper is used as comic relief in DP, always shown desperately wanting a friend. I feel like Flash (And I'm going to leave it up to interpretation of which one.) would be sympathetic to it but would also realize that Klemper is harming him, no matter that it's not on purpose. That dynamic is something I'd love to see explored sometime.

For Green Lanterns I was thinking of Spectra. At first, I considered Fright Knight since he's the ghost of Halloween and has the soul shredder. But then I realized that unless GL got stabbed by the sword and was sent to the dimension that shows them their greatest fears, it really wouldn't be much of a fight. Spectra though, she is a pretty emotion based villain. She purposefully tries to bring out the pain and suffering within a person to feed on their misery. She would try to get into their minds and break their willpower from the inside out... and isn't that a terrifying thought?

Despite not knowing too much about Shazam yet, I'd really enjoy a battle between him and Youngblood. Youngblood is a ghost that looks and acts like a child and can only be seen by other kids. He's a prankster who gets really into different roleplays (Like pretending to be a cowboy or pirate.) but tends to take it too far. I just think the idea of Billy trying to take down someone he can only see when he is Billy Batson, and not Shazam, to be intriguing. How would he handle that?

I'm not sure if this one counts really but another one is Poison Ivy and Undergrowth. A lot of people think of them and think that they'd get along really well but I feel like that would end up being short lived. Eventually, Ivy finds out that Undergrowth is a lot more into plants than even she is and recognizes that those she cares about would be killed. Undergrowth only cares about the lives of plants, nothing else. (And unfortunately, people like Harley don't fall into that category.) I think she'd become a begrudging hero at that point. And how is she supposed to fight with plants against a ghost that controls plants?

I'm sure there's more that I haven't thought of, and if I have any I'll be sure to share. If y'all have an idea don't be afraid to add on. Even if it's just a pairing that seems intriguing I'm all ears.

[danwhobrowses]

5 Underrated Things or Tactics That May Aid Bell's Hells to Victory

Spoilers up to Campaign 3 Episode 116 below

Well Critters, it all comes down to this.

Vox Machina dismantled the Malleus Keep, killed Ozo (the Bozo) Kruft, and freed the Champion of Ravens which removed the tidal lock on Ruidus, and now the Mighty Nein have disintegrated the Weave Mind, completing essentially a full dismantling of the Kreviris Imperium, all of which quicker than I anticipated. All that's left is the Hallowed Cage, where Ludinus Da'leth and his inner circle are using his harness to try and fully destroy Liliana Temult. Bell's Hells begin a race against time to save her, but also a race to defeat Ludinus before he unleashes his intentions unto Exandria and its Pantheon with Predathos, and then decide for themselves what they do with the God Eater.

Suffice to say, and I dunno about everyone else but, I am terrified. I believe they can win but Ludinus is not to be underestimated, this second harness means he may be stronger - and he was already the strongest wizard alive - and have access to more powers compared to his simulacra, plus Predathos may come during or after this battle, which can put the Hells in a weakened state. Matt has likely prepared his best and worst for this final battle too, but the Hells aren't Lv. 20 combatants like the other groups; there's no 9th level spells, no Divine Intervention, and the group lost their cleric ~20 episodes back, so even though VM and the Nein were ultimately successful within 1-2 episodes having to use both of their auto-succeed Divine Interventions from their two clerics in the process, this is the battle. And with that is a ridiculous amount of tension for Ludinus and for what comes after. For all we know, the cast may've already recorded ahead enough to have finished the final fight, maybe even finished the campaign (though I hope not, partly because I don't want it to end yet but also I feel like the dawn of the new era should be explored regardless of what choice the Hells make, plus some characters could use a bit more resolution after the big fight and the pressure of stakes and time sensitivity have been alleviated) but for us it's a nervous wait, and a wonder of what can be done to win and what choice will be made to determine the future of Exandria, Ruidus, their faith and their people. So, this is my indulging into that first part, 5 lower-key things or tactics that might not have been initially thought of that could make things easier to defeat Ludinus.

Liliana, the Inner Circle, and the Arcane Battery Provided that the Hells make it in time to stop Liliana from being totally destroyed by the harness (which is very possible since Laudna does have that tracking spell on him since Aeor, it's all about speed and not running into enemies) she will still be without her magic to fight. Ludinus' inner circle holding her down is comprised of Reilorans but also other Ruidusborns, and that's something the Hells can expose. Liliana cannot fight, but Ruidusborns can take spell slots from each other, so Liliana and any KO'd Ruidusborns from the inner circle can be used as spell slot fuel for Imogen and Fearne. Ludinus also gave a 9-slot fully-charged Arcane Battery to the Hells in order to trigger Delilah within Laudna for his escape, the battery can help recharge Laudna's slots too which makes this tactic handy for the witches of the group.

Dunamancy One of Ludinus' most important tools for his plan has been Luxon Beacons, a device able to unravel even divine magic, but much like the Harness it can prove his undoing. Dunamancy hasn't been touched upon as much as early C3 hinted it could have, but for lack of a better phrase, the possibilities are still endless. The Hells have multiple Potions of Possibility at their disposal to aid with rolls, but they also were given a Sphere of Dunamantic Restoration by the Kryn, which will trigger the effects of a Short Rest and a health and spell slot recharge - which can be handy in a pinch and to reuse some once per short rest abilities. Ashton is the key factor though, I've mentioned it a few times already but we don't know if these items will behave differently with them, via their own internal dunamancy abilities. Given the unknown factor, that's why it's not deemed as much of a tactic as it is a Hail Mary, but it is one that could lead to Ludinus' own magic unraveling, and maybe even Predathos' too

The Whirling Dervish & Conditional Advantages In Vassalheim, Dorian received his family sword: Gambolcleft, the Vortex Blade. One of its yet to be used abilities involves a once a day repetitive use of striking an enemy, similar to how Ozo killed Vex, provided that they attack with Disadvantage. Dorian is already looking at a high attack roll given Gambolcleft's +3 to attack and hit rolls, and Master's Flourish means he doesn't have to use a Bardic Inspiration to stack a Blade Flourish (Defensive Flourish is probably best, the damage is also doubled by Gambolcleft), the only quibble is the disadvantage. Fortunately, most of the Hells have skills that can force Ludinus into conditions where attacks would do advantage on him: stunning and rendering him prone being most likely, but paralysis is possible if a Hold Person is successful. It would of course require his Legendary Resistances to be used up first, but if Ludinus gets stunned or knocked prone within Dorian's range, Gambolcleft could easily carve its way through him with continual hits, stacked potentially by Bless and Mark of the Messy End, for perpetual damage and make Dorian himself impossible to hit on his next turn. Stunning or Proning Ludinus also leaves Ludinus at the vicious mercy of the martial players, especially for conditions that auto-crit when hit.

The Hole (or the Bag of Holding) Occam's Razor. An old but gold tactic of the Hells could very easily be used against Ludinus too. The portable hole or the bag of holding are devoid of air, left in one long enough with it sealed would mean suffocation as have been the fate of many of the Hells' past opponents that they didn't have time to deal with. The Hole's downside is that a Strength check can lead to a creature forcing their way out, but the Hells do have plenty of skills that can impose disadvantage on Strength rolls and the aforementioned conditions could help that, Ashton's Hammer may also make it more difficult to unfold the Hole if its Immovable Rod is propped atop of it - but that'd be down to Matt's discretion. The Bag of Holding doesn't have the strength save, but it is smaller so it may not be able to fit him in it. I'm not sure if Ludinus can use Gate to escape either, dunno if that leads to the whole extradimensional rip thing that happens if you open one while in the other, but if he does it's a concentration spell so the Hells could just keep knocking him back from the other side, a bigger group of enemies in either also reduces the time needed before they suffocate.

The Harness and the One-Chance Polymorph Right now Ludinus is using a harness to destroy Liliana, comparing it to the one in Moleasmyr it'll potentially take about an hour to finish the process providing that this factor wasn't improved upon. However, removing magic within a being for a whole day only required a minute of contact in the Hells' one and maybe Ludinus', thus his creation and reason for long life and power can also be the key to his downfall. Holding Ludinus down for a minute is of course not as easy as it sounds but that's where Polymorph can come in. Polymorph lasts at most an hour, so as long as Ludinus is changed into a creature that can easily be restrained they can use the harness on it and remove Ludinus of his entire arsenal in order to finish him off without the risk of his high level spells. The tricky part is getting Polymorph to succeed; Wisdom is after all a Wizard's bread and butter, but there is a single gambit that could make it work. It requires all Legendary Resistances to be gone of course, and for Laudna and Braius to be conscious; Braius has a once per long rest ability to change a Wisdom saving throw to a Charisma one, which he used to allow Dorian to succeed in making the Dominox dance in the live show, Laudna's Void Puppet can force disadvantage on saves to those within 5ft of it, which will negate his magical resistance to just a clean roll. Orym can also use Hex to impose a disadvantage, which may be able to stack, but this would also hinge on Ludinus' charisma not being super high and if the Polymorph fails once it will likely not be able to be tried again.

The fight won't be easy, but there are avenues that can make it less dangerous, a strategy is very much required for such a foe. All the while my strategy remains keeping up the prayer circle. Deep breaths everyone.

[aethersea]

#ooooo now That's a thought #barrayar is already a planet a little hostile to human life (re the plants); suppose there were a handful of terrible monsters as well #so there's a tradition of killing monsters (surefire military promotion if nothing else) but it's not valorized really #there's probably extra pressure to keep the gene pool ''clean'' in this world (in the face of what happens if you don't - monsters) #but the colonists hit a wall at some point during the time of isolation; too many monsters or some new variety that's too hard to kill #so they breed up the first witchers

#time of isolation ends and barrayar thinks it might quietly terminate all its witchers; monsters can be hunted by spaceship now #what need have they of their worst fears bearing silver swords in the dark? and the cetagandans come

#i'm trying to think about how the homegrown witchers interact with the cetagandans and all my brain is giving me is air raid sirens #that's going to be so awful

@thoughtsformtheuniverse oh you and op are both so very onto something here. allow me to ramble a little on your post....

so on the one hand, Barrayar as we know it definitely didn't have the capacity to genetically engineer witchers. on the other hand, they weren't 'Barrayar as we know it' when they first landed, now were they? it seems reasonable to assume those initial settlers did have the equipment and knowledge to do whatever counted as a normal level of science to those first settlers, just maybe not to continue producing & replacing the tools they need to do that. just because you know how to do a little gene-splicing doesn't mean you know how to build a gene-splicer, you know? (taking some inspiration from that book 1632 here)

but they knew that would happen. so they threw everything they had into devising a method that would keep working long after their tools had failed them. and that's how you get the Grasses. no one could devise new Grasses now, not really, but they can keep using the ones they've got, and maybe tinkering with the ingredients a little as they go to see what happens.

and then there's the magic. I don't think you can just drop Chaos magic into the Vorkosigan Saga, I'd say there's quite strictly no room for it, it'd be too much of a disrupting factor in the intergalactic arms race. but we can handwave and say it happens anyway if we want, just only on Barrayar; or we can handwave and say there's something similar that has specifically the effects we need for witchers without having to worry about mages, i.e. it makes impossible monsters. idk maybe Barrayar has weird volcanic vents, or it got the godzilla strain of radiation that turns ants into kikimora, we can make up whatever we want. we can even say Chaos is, like, the Heart Of The Planet somehow and is uniquely found on Barrayar, and it's a form of radiation that got really messed up when the Cetagandans started bombing the place from orbit. anything to make the plot go.

as for the Cetagandans.....oh boy. a witcher alone could take on a whole fleet of Cetagandan bombers, but they cannot be allowed to get even a scrap of his DNA back to Cetaganda. all witchers fighting in that war carry suicide bombs, which burn so hot and fierce as to destroy even bone. for a rebel garrison, getting a witcher assigned to help with your defenses is both blessing and bane, since he'll fight so fiercely that you'll beat back the enemy far more often than not, and with far fewer casualties than usual....until the fight he doesn't think he can survive. at that point, all you can hope is that you're not standing too close.

this assumes, of course, that the Barrayarans realized what Cetaganda could do with a scrap of DNA before Cetaganda realized that witchers weren't just unusually skilled berserkers. I don't remember enough of the books to say how much Barrayar knew about Cetaganda before the invasion, but if they didn't know by then, they weren't about to learn any time soon. whereas Cetaganda will realize eventually that the tales of men as strong as beasts and unkillable as a storm are more than mere battlefield exaggeration.

and then they'll want to capture one alive.

whatever the Chaos is, it's unique to Barrayar. a witcher off of Barrayar is still a witcher, but he grows weaker over time as the Chaos within him is used up and not replenished. eventually he will be nearly an ordinary man. but oh, what an interesting puzzle that near-ordinary man would be to Cetagandan scientists.

all that said, I'd personally want to smash my blorbos together, not just the worlds they're in. let Cordelia subtly champion a cultural shift in how witchers are perceived just as she did with those artificial uterus machines. let Aral and Yennefer have a conversation about power. let Gregor and Ciri meet, and discuss rule. let Miles and Ciri meet and cause chaos together.

and yet...oh, and yet, the destruction of kingdoms, the burning of Ciri's home, the violent instability and painful fear of tomorrow, all of that is so central to that story. and Nilfgaard invading from afar while the northern kingdoms fracture before them does parallel Cetaganda's invasion, in its way. aaargh.

wait wait wait. what about the treason in Cordelia's books. that war, that pretendership, that's a decent parallel, no? and that makes Ciri about Gregor's age. that could work out really nicely, actually. not least because the more I think about Ciri, golden princess of a ravaged kingdom, heir to so many legacies, destined to rise up against all odds and rule....and if we put her on Barrayar, there are no independent kingdoms, but there is an emperor.......

what if they were destined enemies, is what I'm getting at here. what if they're cousins, and his house destroyed hers in that war, and she's the last scion of a royal line that, depending how you read the lineage books, has a much better claim to the throne than Gregor's? and she also has Chaos in her veins, witchers on her side, and oh man we haven't even gotten into how and whether we're adding elves, dwarves, and other non-human races to Barrayar. that prejudice could translate very neatly between canons. oh and we also haven't gotten to the pogroms. "there will never be more witchers" is a pretty big part of the whole Vibe™ I think. so the big question is: did Cetaganda bomb the witcher schools in the invasion, or did the locals do it after the war? or, worse, before, Barryar doesn't just think of quietly terminating their witchers they do it, and then those selfsame witchers have to turn around and decide whether to fight against the invaders or walk into the mountains and let it all fall out as it may.

alright at this point I'm just bouncing haphazardly between ideas, but yeah you get the gist. could be a lot of fun!

/looking at attitudes towards mutations in both verses/

So hey what happens when we combine the Vorkosigan Saga with The Witcher?

[0809sysblings]

the council has spoken

[kalinara]

I suppose I should clarify that I'm really only talking about the Storm-X-Men-X-Factor issues for X-Manhunt. And it may be more of a matter of perception over reality.

I guess for me, I don't really count Uncanny and NYX, because they felt like establishment issues. Xavier passes through, but nothing really lasts beyond that. We don't see the characters chasing him through multiple issues until we see the Adjectiveless X-Men appear in Storm, leading into the three issue long confrontation.

But Storm was a really strong showing, where we get Scott as the relentless pursuer wanting to see Xavier face justice. (I did raise my eyebrow a little at Storm's response since Scott did spend most of Fall of X/Fall of the House of X in captivity, including getting tried and sentenced to death for Krakoa's deeds. But well, she wasn't entirely herself there, I suppose.)

And when she gets Scott in the face, that's the first time we see Xavier have a genuine "what have I done" moment. Scott isn't actively a part of the subsequent X-Men issue, but I feel like it still ties into the pursuit angle, while then we get the bulk of X-Factor as Scott-and-Alex's fight, and more of Scott's anger about Xavier. (I'm still mulling over that, actually. You might be right about it being the virus, but Scott did come, army at the ready, before exposure to it, so I think some of it is probably real.)

Maybe it's just because Scott's the one character who's getting to be angry about Xavier for more than one issue. I can buy Storm caring more about her sense of justice than continuing to call Xavier out for past misdeeds, but it's still a missed opportunity. Hank got a bit, but he's mostly disconnected from anything Xavier's done recently. Warren's a missed opportunity who didn't get to interact with Xavier at all.

I might be completely wrong, of course. Maybe the Adjectiveless part does end here, in which case, I've got some hope for something satisfying either with Sage or with Kitty/Bobby/Emma in Exceptional. We'll see, I guess!

(Edited to add: I definitely agree that the women are the much more interesting aspects of X-Factor. But I did think that Alex, at this point, had some interesting potential for growth. (Actually what I'd really hoped was that he and Lorna staged the break up and mutant betrayal - not having forgotten that they're literally wearing cameras, to work against the government. I was so bitterly disappointed to see that no, Alex was just a fucking idiot again.)

X-Factor #8 X-Manhunt highlights

I'm not reviewing any issues of X-Factor ever (unless someone paid me.) It's a weak comic, and not bad good either. However, it follows on directly from X-Men issue #13 (review here) and has moments of interest relating to those characters. X-Manhunt is not meant to be a solveable mystery - it's got late Game of Thrones vibes - putting so much effort into subverting expectations that it forgets to make sense or reward close attention.

So long folks!

The two teams fight, of course, real Looney Tunes shit. The Forget-me-not joke is told again and it's still not funny. They lose Xavier after a minute or two, lol. Poor X-Men spent all this effort being competent, but they stumbled into X-Factor's orbit and become bozos.

Update on Warren! He was in hospital for so long because he was receiving 'upgrades.' Elective procedures. Issue #1 established that he lost his Archangel transformation, though he didn't elaborate on how that happened. This book is cancelled and has other threads to tie up, like 'why is Havok such a loser?' and 'what was the point of this?' so I don't expect much on Warren.

That means Archangel mysteriously disappeared then Warren willingly recreated his worst trauma and the bane of his existence. The upgrade is basically Archangel again plus metal feet and a sword. I'd guess that the next writer to use Warren will ignore this, plus his willing stint in the US military.

After Havok was fired from X-Factor he was moping in his bare apartment, angsting over Lorna. Frenzy came over and recruited him for a Mutant Underground mission. He questioned why they'd trust him after he snitched to the military but went with it anyway. Turns out it was Chuck, who needed allies and went with Frenzy and Havok. Not sure when he had time to do that, but it doesn't matter. 'Twas these two who snatched Chuck.

Havok is being unbearably naive. He's just had his heartbreak and depression manipulated into sheltering the most wanted man in the world. He's really nostalgic because that photo is from the sixties. Not sure if Frenzy is telepathically influenced but she seems really happy to help a dude that joined ORCHIS. Scott knocks her out so I guess we'll never know.

Yeah, Alex. It's Scott.

Scott wants to kill Chuck, maybe? Alex wants to protect Chuck, I guess. I probably wouldn't want to talk to Alex right now either tbh. He asks why Scott is doing this, so I assume they really haven't been talking. The brothers haven't been on page together since Dark Web or thereabouts I think. They were on okay terms then, they'd even just had a good chat.

Err, Scott doesn't answer the question verbally. Surely they're both affected by the woke mind virus here. I could believe everything up to 'why can't you just stay gone?' Alex says mouths some lonely platitudes, which is in character, it's just a drastic escalation in general.

I found it annoying in Raid on Graymalkin that all interpersonal communication has a question mark over it due to psychic influence. It's just as irksome here because I'd like to know their actual feelings. The woke mind virus means it can't be trusted and is kinda pointless. No, it's worse than that - it's ambiguous without hope of clarity.

Even the story doesn't care, as Scott abruptly stops fighting to talk to Chuck. He asks him why, but don't get excited for an answer to that.

Chuck has a fucking Krakoan egg. The last one, apparently. Why here and now? IDK. Chuck says Hope a lot which feels like a red herring.

Sadly, there's no time for any kind of resolution or answers. Chuck has an appointment derailing the next issue of X-Force and the most narratively satisfying way to get there is *checks notes* to have a rando appear out of thin air and teleport Chuck away. Oh, okay. See ya buddy!

They don't take the egg, though it's pretty useless without Cerebro. The X-Men's role in X-Manhunt is over, but at least they have an unknown mindless body to deal with. If we're using Krakoan lore for how they work then that person should be dead. Drowned long ago. Let's double check. Goldballs creates the egg, Proteus makes it viable, someone (usually Hope) injects the DNA, Elixir brings them to life, Tempus ages them to adulthood/desired age. All this is done at the same time - when it's finished they're alive but blank. Requiring Oxygen etc. Last step is using Cerebro to put their memories/personality in, but that can be done before or after they hatch.

Maybe Chuck did his bit before he got snatched and they'll hatch shortly. If not, they'll die very soon. Some mutants don't need Oxygen etc, but they're rare. Like I said, this is not meant to be solvable through clues. One would assume it's related to the Xandra mission, but who knows? My guess is a much younger Xavier who dies immediately lol. Then they have a corpse and some fresh trauma, though no answers. I wonder what Frenzy is doing. Are the two teams still fighting?

For a relaunch that's determined to distance itself from Krakoa as egg is a weird choice. Cool, I guess? What do you think?

[humanityinahandbag]

I'd like to tell you all a story about my grandmother.

My grandparents raised their children, four girls (one of them my mother), to be fighters. My aunts marched in Washington for women's rights with babies strapped to their chests and like to joke that all of the grandchildren who came from that line (including myself) were born with picket signs in their hands.

But it started with my grandparents. They fought hard for what they believed in. They marched against Vietnam. They marched for Martin Luther King. They marched for women's rights. They marched for a better future.

But let's talk specifically about my grandmother for a moment.

My grandmother unfortunately passed away in 2016. She had to watch the first Trump election and did so knowing that it would probably be the last election she'd ever see. And there is some argument there that she could have given in to fear and defeatism. She could have decided none of it was worth it, and she could have decided that fascism had won and the world was over.

But she did something else instead.

To give some context, my grandparents had friends who were Republicans. I say were, because they shifted from the normal Republican towards the MAGA Republican we see today. And despite a very clear message from my family about how we felt, they were more than ready to still come to the funeral as if everything was normal. Like their beliefs were normal. Like they were welcome to celebrate someone who had fought so hard for the rights of other people.

These were people who would have absolutely used their rhetoric to scream and shout if they were left out or disinvited.

And so my grandmother, even past her final moments, pulled the most brilliant, petty move I've ever seen.

She'd decided ahead of time that everyone who had known her was more than welcome to attend but that she wanted everyone attending the funeral to donate money. That was the requirement to be invited. And so everyone did just that. There was no talk about what the donations were for, just that they were appreciated. I want to say that the assumption was the money would help pay for funeral expenses and give the family some support while we grieved.

Except that wasn't the case.

Because in those final moments of the funeral, the rabbi stepped forward to thank everyone, and then very cheerfully announced;

"Arlene was so happy to know just how many people were coming to join us here today. She couldn't have been more proud of her family. And I'm sure she would have been elated to see just how much money you all gave today to Planned Parenthood."

When I say that the faces of those people are enshrined in my memory, I mean it. The anger, the devastation, the rage, the betrayal. It was an absolutely gorgeous display of true defeat at the hands of a boss ass old lady who literally fought with her last breath and threw up both middle fingers all the way out the door.

What I'm saying is this.

It is very easy to feel defeated. It is very easy to think that everything is over, and there's nothing left for us to do. It's very easy to say that fascism won, that fear won, that hate won.

But that's only true if you let it be true.

There is always more that we can do. There is a future that is still worth fighting for. And it's more than possible, even when it doesn't seem like it.

And fighting is going to look different every time.

Some days it will look like picket signs in our hands.

Some days it will look like spending time with friends and family and people you love and knowing that you have a community that supports you and your vision of a brighter future.

And some days, it's pulling absolute natural level 20 petty trickster shit even after you've left the world.

Because you can always make an impact and you can always add a little brightness to life, and if that means tricking a group of MAGA idiots into throwing their money behind Planned Parenthood in the middle of your own goddamn funeral then that's what it means.

Keep fighting. People have done it before you. People will continue to do it after you.

And enjoy the little victories.

(Even the petty ones)

[fettery-fetterie]

(10pm) I wonder if it's too late for me to course correct my behavior towards Him. I feel it is