#a friend used this for fight music in a d&d session and color me surprised when I found out is was from *sonic*

[akirakirxaa]

For the song poses: 35?

𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝐼𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑒 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝐼 𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑐𝑟𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔'𝑠 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎 𝑔ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑟

'𝐶𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑛 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠 '𝐶𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒

𝐼'𝑚 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑢𝑝 '𝑡𝑖𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑒 𝐼'𝑚 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑁𝑜𝑤 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑡, 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑚𝑦

-- Undefeatable, FamilyJules cover

[[Spotify Gpose Ask Game]]

[codename-adler]

Kevin Day and his Oblivious Literature Lover, pt.IV

In times of college finals, aftg is my coping mechanism of predilection. hope it helps some :)

>> Table of Contents,TW and other parts here!

i’ll let you guess what Kevin and Juliet chose for their project

oh, yes

the letters of Hamilton, Eliza and John + Hamilton: The Musical

i will fight you on this

at first, when Juliet suggests it, Kevin stares at her so hard bc really?? a musical??

but then she lends him the 50$ leatherbound official book of the musical (you know the navy blue and beige one? you know what i’m talking about, right?) and reads it all in one evening and wow

lin-manuel miranda? genius. ron chernow? Genius. alexander hamilton? Dumb Genius.

oh yeah and Juliet? Absolutely mind-blowing genius.

as Andrew & Neil grow closer and the match agaisnt the Ravens rounds the corner, Kevin finds himself looking more and more forward to the time spent at the library with Juliet

she is just so focused on their project and so oblivious as who he really is and doesn’t really care if sometimes he is more anxious, if freaks over everything to be perfect, if he babbles on&on&on&on about any bit of history he discovered

she’s just there, smirking, stiffling her laughs and asking for more

they’ve exhanged phone numbers and she installed snapchat on his, and although he never sends her anything, she always has a short video and a funny caption that pop up from time to time; they’re that little reminder that the world goes on outside of exy and that he exists outside of exy

she introduces him to funny videos and he didn’t know absolute dumb shit could make him snort??

his favorite is the peanut butter baby

at first the Foxes give him this judgemental look when he ugly-snorts in the locker room or at Eden’s, but eventually they just get that glint in their eyes as if they were in on the jokes

sometimes, Juliet’s so focused on writing down bullet points in her notebook, peeling the skin off her lips, so unaware of Kevin’s personal hell of a life, that he just wants to spill out everything

although he’s not sure if it’s because he wants her to know him and stay, or because he wants her to reject him and therefore spare himself the trouble of getting attached...

she takes the decision for him

on a Thursday afternoon, on their planned study session, she doesn’t show up

she doesn’t answer her phone either

he even tries out a completely blacked out snap with “r u alive?” in caption

no answer

he gives her space, sending her occasional cat videos he thoroughly researches

if she watches them, she doesn’t say anything

on Monday afternoon, she doesn’t come to class

that’s when the panic Kevin’s been reigning in just... bursts

what if it’s Riko? 

what if it’s the Master?

what if it’s Ichirou?

what if, somehow, it’s the Butcher’s people?

that afternoon’s practice is hell for the Foxes, Kevin is ruthless and an asshole and very agressive

Dan waits for him outside the boys’ locker room as all the other Foxes leave (not even Andrew and Neil want to wait for him)

“Spit out your goddamn problem before I tell Coach to bench you next game”

oh, how Kevin wants to cuss her out

and then he looks  at her face, ready to vomit words, when he sees her worrying her lips

just like Juliet

it shouldn’t be enough to make him tear up, but it does

he still manages to keep as much of the truth to himself as he possibly can

“My EAL partner isn’t responding to my messages or my calls and she didn’t even come to class today and it stresses me the fuck out and what if it’s like with Neil, Dan?” he says in one breath, trying to tear out the net of his racket

Dan recomposes her face and gets that very serious look, the one she usually gets when someone touches her family

“It’s not, Kevin. That’s over. We got Neil back, we got you back, you got Jean back. The team didn’t even know who that person was. The most info we’ve gathered is what you just told me now. Yeah there are some bets but it’s mostly for funsies, nothing even remotely serious. You wanna look for her?” she soothes him.

“I don’t even know...”

“She lives on campus?” she asks.

“I don’t- I don’t know, Dan. I spent months with her and I can’t even vaguely say where she lives! How fucked up is that?” Kevin yells.

“It’s not even remotely fucked up, Kevin. You should know that. Does she have instagram? twitter? Or like, facebook?” she questions some more.

“God, I don’t know. She only sends me stupid fucking videos and I never even respond like the goddamn asshole I am...”

“Shut up. We’re all assholes at the end of the road, ‘kay? You ain’t better or worse than others. Now she sends them to you in text or somewhere else?”

“Sometimes texts... Sometimes the yellow app, the chat one. Why.”

“Oh great, that’s great. We can locate her, with snapchat, if she forgot to turn off the sharing. And if you’re comfortable with that, too. I know you’re not a creep like that. You’re creepy sometimes, don’t get me wrong. But, not a creep.”

“Gee, thanks, Dan.”

“Hey, shush. You down or what?” she says, arching an eyebrow.

“Okay,” he answers, unable to make the fear go away without knowing for sure.

And so it turns out Juliet’s location is, in fact, knowable. Dan grabs one of Kevin’s shoulders as he leaves the court, squeezing her affection into her grip; he nods emotionally in her direction, as far as emotions can translate unto his face.

he doesn’t even know what he’ll do once he finds her, his brain is solely focused on the animated map that brings him closer and closer to Juliet

the more he progresses, the more he realizes he is far from Fox Tower, on a campus area he has never even seen

he stops before a decrepit building, old and moldy-looking

Jackie Kennedy Hall

student dorms? this shabby? she can’t possibly live-

except that she can, because there isn’t another building close and the map has brought him here, and he doesn’t really know her...

so Kevin straightens his shoulders, inhales deeply, and goes inside

he could go on and on and on about everything that is just wrong with the place, from the smell to the decoration, but he makes a beeline for the front desk (he’s lucky there’s even one)

he asks for a way to contact someone, flashes his press smile at the women behind the desk, gives up his ID in exchange for the room number

Juliet Grier, 418

stairs, stairs, stairs, stairs

heavy door, right, 412, 414, 416...

418

what, now?

Kevin hesitantly knocks once, twice

no answer

he knocks again and decides to speak up, in case she didn’t hear

“Juliet? It’s Kevin. Day. From EAL? Can I speak with you?”

still nothing

maybe she isn’t home... no, the map says she’s here. maybe she’s sleeping...

he decides to try one last time

“We really should finish that project, you know? I think we could both use the free time...” he says without his heart into it.

without surprise, no response still

he decides to take a loose paper from his sachel and writes down some words

Greetings Hi,

My friend Dan helped me look for you, but you don’t have to worry about your privacy; it’s because of the yellow app. You should turn that off if you don’t want other people to be nosy. 

You weren’t in class today. I’ll share my notes if you want them. But, you should come to class, it’s better. For learning. 

I’ll wait a few in case you’re asleep. 

Text me or call me or whatever when you’re ready.

- Kevin D. (your partner from EAL)

quick, efficient, to the point

Kevin slips the paper under the door, and waits

he refreshes the map too many times, to see if her location changed or if somehow there was a glitch

it stays put

he ends up sitting on the hallway floor, his back sliding down the wall

he catches up on a book for another class, checks exy stats and watches many, many videos of Jeremy Knox on the court and in interview

some students pass him with a nasty look, eyeing the lack of earphones on his phone

some other students walk by him and will themselves to keep going, because holy shit it’s Kevin Day in Jackie Hall

it’s at least an hour and a half before the doorknob slowly and quietly starts to click

Kevin was absorbed deep into whatever move Knox was making before scoring

the 418 door opens

Kevin gets up in one move, all things Jeremy Knox and exy forgotten

she’s loosely holding Kevin’s paper in one hand, the other clutching a large scarf that covers up the majority of her body

from what he can see, though, she’s wearing sweats from head to toe; her hair’s tied on the top of her head, but most of the curls escaped and it looks unwashed and her curls, dry

her skin’s turned pale, dark circles under her eyes, a haggard look in them, her cheeks stained with dry tears

Juliet looks terrible

“Hi...” Kevin attempts

she finally looks up from the paper and gives him a bored look that could rival Andrew’s

with a rough voice strained from cries and many days without speaking, she asks, “My EAL partner?”

“Well, yes. In case.”

“In case of what.”

“I-”

“I know who you are, Kevin.”

and isn’t that both his most ardent wish and his worse fear?

with that, she turns around and goes back to her dark room, leaving the door open behind her

is that... an invitation?

Kevin’s never been to another person’s place, apart from the Columbia house, Abby’s and Wymack’s

he reminds himself why he came in the first place and decides it would be a waste to leave now, right?

the small studio is a mess, much like its occupant

there are clothes everywhere, on the floor, on a chair, on the bed, on the desk

all the curtains are drawn, no light is on, the only source coming from Juliet’s laptop somewhere amongst her bedsheets

it’s like she made herself a nest and hasn’t moved from there for a long time

maybe even since last Monday, the last time he saw her

Kevin doesn’t understand the scene he has before his eyes

he’s never seen such apathy in someone that is not Andrew

and at this point, apathy is pretty much Andrew’s default state of being

not Juliet’s

Juliet is a soft glow, toothy grins, wild curls, countless jumpers, dumb jokes and references, color-coded notes, an organized mind, unwavering focus and determination, flowing words and warm, kind eyes...

so what is this?

then Kevin realizes he spoke aloud

and Juliet can only chuckle sadly, almost mockingly

“This? This is why I don’t have friends. This is why I don’t mix with people. This is why I’ll never amount to anything in life. This is my dirty laundry, both metaphorically and literally. This is it. That’s... That’s it. This is what I get,” she answers flatly

Kevin’s mind is spinning

he doesn’t understand

he needs to understand, though

“Explain it to me,” he says

Juliet looks at him like a brick just hit him on the head and made him speak Swedish

“Why.”

“Because, surely there’s a way to work with it.”

she laughs

it doesn’t reach her eyes, nor her lips or her cheeks

it’s just a desperate sound

it makes him think of Andrew again

and that gives him an idea, a gut feeling, if you will

“Can I try something out?” he asks

“Kevin... I can’t- I’m tired... It’s not a good idea... I’m tired, Kevin,” Juliet responds, pain noticeable in her voice and her movements slow

“I know, I- I know. Someone I know... He plays this game. It’s really not a game, it’s more like a communication thing. He calls it “A Truth for a Truth”.  In exchange for something I tell you, you tell me something. And in exchange for something you tell me, I’ll tell you something else. It’s made me... work through some things... before,” Kevin explains calmly

Juliet keeps on observing him from her bed, silent

“Look, can I just stay here to do homework? I have nowhere to go right now,” Kevin asks, almost blurting out “Please” before Andrew’s ghost caught it in his throat

she lies back down, burries herself in her covers, a silent “yes”

Kevin ends up falling asleep sitting on the floor, books open, head resting at the end of Juliet’s bed

he wakes up around 2 AM

he’s got multiple texts from Aaron and Nicky, one from Andrew, and one from Dan

“told everybody you spent the night at Coach’s. take care.”

he silently vows to thank her later

now he either really goes to Wymack’s to finish his night there, or... he stays exactly where he is

Juliet is still sleeping soundly

in a haze, he palms for a pillow or cushion, pulls his hoodie on and lies back down on the carpeted floor

he’s only awaken in the late morning when he brutally gets stepped on

“What the shit?? Kevin! How...???” Juliet yells

“Um, ow? No, no, don’t apologize so quickly. You just, you know, crushed my lungs and a couple of ribs, no worries, Jules!” Kevin groans

“Ju- you know what? I’m not sorry. Right now I gotta pee, so you better have a damn good explanation when I get back,” she replies and leaves her room to go to the bathroom at the end of the hall

instead of dread, Kevin feels calm about the upcoming conversation

he doesn’t prepare lies, doesn’t run away, doesn’t resort to assholery

he just stays put where he is on the floor, snuggles deeper into his hoodie, and waits for relief, for the truth

he waits for Juliet

[killjoytigermom]

Chapter 5 - Pillars Of Sand

“A musical one, huh?” "Apparently," I replied to Jet's grinning stature at my wit's end as I shuffled through the now quickly cooling diner. The sun had set and the incoming darkness quickly covered the desert with a chilly wind. As the five of us began to hermetically close up the building, I started to realize how weird, hectic, and utterly tiring this day had been, with the Battery City trip and everything else.

Eventually I grabbed one of the blankets we had and walked around the bar of the diner, retreating into the old fashioned kitchen where I opened a few aligned cupboards, revealing the insides that I'd made into a makeshift bedroom over the past couple of years. I always kept the doors open, but liked the reclusiveness of it. I crawled in, on top of the few blankets that already laid there, and curled up underneath the one I'd just grabbed, sighing again and looking at the bread basket I'd put right next to the cupboards- there hadn't been any space left inside next to me. The nameless girl was still vast asleep after my karaoke session, and I was glad of it as I looked at her.

Before I could try and fall asleep myself however, one of the guys walked into the now quickly darkening kitchen. "Ty?," Party questioned quietly. I scoffed; "Yeah, what's up?" "I think we should go to Dr. D tomorrow, tell him the good news." "You think he'd be invested?" "Well, for one, he's a firm believer in the Phoenix Witch, so there's a start," the redhead said as he quietly slid down the drawer section I slept next to, before plopping down onto the tiled floor next to the basket with the girl. He stared at her solemnly before he spoke again. "If there's anyone who might maybe have some answers," he mumbled," it's him."

"I suppose you're right," I sighted, really not wanting to have this conversation at this time. "But I'm sleeping in tomorrow." "You're going to sleep through the morning cold?," Party chuckled, legitimately surprised. "Not just wait for the afternoon slur? Have a little siesta?" "Nope," I said, before shuffling myself further down my cupboard, hoping he'd pick up on my hints. “Not today.”

╔═══.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.═══╗

tumblr removed line breaks this is fine :)

╚═══.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.═══╝

“You think they’ll be okay out there?” I snorted as the guys walked out of Dr. Death’s radio station, laughing at something one of them had muttered on their way out. “Ah, they’ll be fine,” Death chuckled amusedly. “Show Pony knows how to keep people entertained alright,” he continued, turning his wheelchair to me and leaning back with a deep sigh. His build was reminiscent of my dad’s, whom I hadn’t been able to contact since the Analog Wars, and I wasn’t sure if I found it comforting or distressing.

His smile faded as his glare went down to the girl in my arms, sleeping soundly. “What to do with you…,” he said quietly, dragging out each word as if questioning himself. He quickly gathered himself however and faced me again. “Party said you wanted to talk to me specifically?” “Oh, uh, yeah,” I stumbled over my words awkwardly. “I always knew you were a spiritual one,” I continued, “but when Party mentioned you were invested in my suicide mission of getting her out of Battery City I was a bit surprised.”

“Well it’s not every day a Killjoy puts their life on the line by walking down Battery City’s streets,” the large man chuckled. “Party told me you had some vision or something, said that he thought it would be good if you and I sat down and had a talk.” “Oh, well…” I thought for a bit. “Then he and I had the same idea. ‘Cuz that’s why I wanted to talk to you alone.” He hummed and adjusted himself in his seat. When he didn’t speak up after that I decided to just rant and get it over with.

“You know how her mum and I were friends, right? Me and Bandit’s Grace? I mean I didn’t see her that much ‘cuz she operated in a different part of the Zones but when she got pregnant I was so ready to become the ‘aunt’ of this kid… And then our two groups met up and they had that ambush lying there, those Scarecrows? She was mere weeks away from delivery so when they’d shot her down instead of dusting her they put one of their Drac masks on her, and I saw them do that and as that happened, everything around me just sorta seemed to slow down, you know how they used to do that in movies? Like the sounds would be like you’re underwater and everything becomes slow motion? It was kinda like that and as they put that mask on her I feel these long, sharp nails in my shoulders, pinching, and I smelled birds - I know that sounds weird but birds DO have a smell, it’s kinda muffy and dusty? - anyway this raspy voice whispered in my ear and I knew I shouldn’t turn around to see who it was and I really didn’t need to ‘cuz when they started talking I knew who she was, and she goes and calls me by my real name and goes ‘you see what’s happening there’ as she points at Grace and as she’s pointing, Grace’s chest starts glowing but like, from the inside? It looked like when you take an old flashlight that had those yellow light bulbs and hold them against the palm of your hand and this little orb became smaller and smaller and moved from her chest to her stomach and the Witch just went ‘that’s what you’ve got to protect. At all costs. Tell them. There won’t be a next time’, and then everything just went back to normal.”

I was quiet for a moment and looked up at Dr. Death, who didn’t seem to have moved a muscle. “After that I got the worst headache and felt my knees shake and before I knew it I was lying in the dirt, limp.” Death remained silent. I waited for a bit but then plainly said: “That’s it, I’m done now.” Still nothing. He almost seemed lost in thought but the direct eye contact he was making suggested otherwise. “I don’t know why she chose me, honestly. Probably because she wanted someone to stand in for her mom, and she wanted to give me some good motivation for it instead of being all cryptic about it? I don’t know Doc., I truly don’t.” “And you didn’t tell anyone else besides the rest of the Fab Five,” Dr. Death suddenly asked. I shook my head, still holding the tiny human in my arms as it slept. “I didn’t feel comfortable telling anyone else.”

Death sighed once more and leaned back in his chair again. He was quiet for a moment before he spoke. “Y’know kid, I hate to admit this but even I don’t know all about the Phoenix Witch. I do know what she does: she helps those who got dusted in the fight to find some peace, and for that we should be thankful, but stuff like this?” He gestured with his hand and made a face. “This is beyond me too kiddo.” I sighed. “I know, and I don’t blame you, I just wish I could know why me? Or maybe there even isn’t a why, maybe it was just a roll of the dice….”

When we both remained silent I continued rambling. “And next to that it’s like, why is she being so cryptid about this kid,” I said while nodding at the baby in my arms. “I mean I’m not against getting as many people out of BL/ind.’s clutches as possible but why is THIS ONE so special? ‘Cuz she’s making it sound like this one is going to wake Destroya one day or something!” “Isn’t that android belief?” Death asked, an eyebrow raised. I shrugged annoyedly. “I don’t know what to believe at this point anymore man, but the Witch is sure making it sound like this is the new Messiah or something like that.”

Dr. Death chuckled at that. “Wouldn’t that be somethin’... then again, a Killjoy, born from someone who’s turned into a Draculoid? You never know,” he winked. I blinked a couple of times, registering what he’d said. “I mean yeah, when you put it like that…”

Then suddenly, Death briskly turned his wheelchair around and made his way to the minifridge across the room. “I’m sure the Phoenix Witch knows what she’s doing, I have faith in that. All advice I can give is follow her instructions,” he said as he opened the door and the blue light illuminated his face. “Soda?” “Sure.” He grabbed two brightly colored cans from the fridge and closed the door. “Well, either way, whatever happens, you know me and my crew are on your side. That includes Cherri and Pony,” he assured me as he handed me the can.

“If there’s ever something you need that you can’t get at Tommy’s, or just need someone to help out, you know where to find us,” he said with a smile before opening the sizzling can in his hands. “Which reminds me,” he said after taking a big swig, “how did you guys even manage to get that deep into Battery City? The place is sprawling with BL/ind. forces, they should’ve spotted you immediately!”

I opened my own can and took a small swig as well before explaining. “There’s a group called The Undead, they operate from within Battery City, even before it was called ‘Battery City’. While they’re not the biggest believers, they’ll support anything that can possibly help them bring back the city that they lost. Ghoul once got in touch when them when he needed materials for his explosives, that’s how we were able to get their help - Party probably mentioned it would help their cause if they helped us. They mainly operate from The Lobby, but have mastered making their way through town unnoticed.”

Dr. Death hummed approvingly. “Maybe Battery City’s built on more pillars of sand than we thought,” he mumbled with a small smile.

[four-swords-dub]

Next up we have our Green bean blooper machine! Riley!  (Karen: Riley couldn’t record his answers so I’ve included one of my fav lines of his) Name: rockriled Character(s) you voice: Green Link, Deku Scrub #2, Sound Director/Editor of the FS Dub Project Are you in any way like those characters? I think we’re similar in terms of wanting to help/protect the people we love.  As for Green’s personality…probably not? Green is confident, independent, and hardworking while I’m a bag of nerves and anxiety.  I could fit into the hardworking area, though. As for the Deku Scrub…we’re both short, squeaky, and flammable?  (I’m probably not gonna refer to the Deku Scrub for the rest of this since they only got…four lines, I think?)

Favourite/least favourite thing about voicing your character? My favorite thing about voicing Green is that I can just let loose.  I don’t talk much outside of the project due to shyness and how most of my friends live a long ways away, but when I play Green, I can feel powerful and confident even if it’s just for a few minutes.Least favorite thing about voicing Green is that depending on the chapter, he has the most lines.  I blame this on my lack of voice-acting experience, but both actor-me and sound-editor-me look through the script and think “dangit, Green, stop hogging the spotlight and let someone else speak!” Which characters did you audition for? I auditioned for Vio first, but I got nervous that auditioning for only one role was rude.  I figured I wasn’t cute enough for Red or tough enough for Blue, so I went with Green. How did you react when you got the part(s)? Hoo boy, um…settle in, this is a bit of a story.My self-esteem has always been in the pits—and combining that with my perfectionist needs didn’t help, either.  Whenever something cool came up, my brain would go “why bother, you’re gonna fail” and I’d do just that: give up without trying.So when posts about the Four Swords Dub Project started floating around, the same thing happened all over again.  Best way I can describe it… Brain: “Don’t even try it.  You know you’re not gonna get a part.” Me: “But it’s Four Swords, my favorite part of the Zelda manga series.” Brain: “And?  Your voice sucks.  Your acting sucks.  You won’t even get a minor role.  Do you really want to add another failure to your life?”   Me: “…look.  I’m really interested in this.  I don’t know if I’ll actually get a part, but I still want to send in an audition so I can say that I tried.” Brain: “…two main characters?  Really? Don’t get your hopes up.”(some time later) FS Dub Email: “Congratulations, you’re going to be our Green Link!” Me & Brain: “WAIT, WHAT?!” It was a total shock.  I was so convinced I wasn’t going to get in that it never occurred to me that I could get in.  Heck, it’s been a little over two years and I still can’t believe I got a leading role. As for the part of Sound Director/Editor…I can’t remember how, but I somehow got a hold of all the voice lines for all the characters in Chapter 1-1.  Even though I have zero experience in editing, I suddenly got curious and started mixing the files with background music and sound effects. I sent a copy of what I put together to Karen (our voice and project director) for fun. Next thing I knew, I was the BGM/SFX guy for the rest of the project! Long story short: this dub’s been full of surprises. ^_^ Who do you wish you could voice? Oof, that’s a tough one. @_@  It’s so hard to pick because everyone’s already perfect as their current roles...   Had you read the manga before taking part in the dub? Yep! :D It was around the time the internet became a big thing and when YouTube was first made.  Middle-school me spent HOURS scouring Google for Yu-Gi-Oh! content (fell in love with the show in sixth grade) when I stumbled across a website with Legend of Zelda comics  It had the manga versions of Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, the Oracle games, and—my top favorite—Four Swords.

FS holds a special place in my heart for not only giving the Links such diverse eyes/expressions, but destroying typical color-personality associations.  I’d seen fan-comics of Four Swords with Red as the angry one, Blue as the smart one, and Purple as the newbie or the…um…stereotypically-gay one.  Akira Himekawa’s version of the Links blew my freaking mind and I LOVED IT. <3     Any past voice acting experience? At best, the only voice-acting experience I had prior to the FS dub was watching tons of anime and re-enacting scenes via talking to myself.  I still do this with anime, TV shows, movies, books, and video games. @_@ I’m not sure if this counts, but I…kinda got voice training in other areas?  I yelled my lungs out in Tae Kwon Do for two years, sang alto in a chorus for three years, was moved to soprano for one year, yelled my lungs out again in Judo for one year, and learned classical/opera singing techniques for a few months (a friend’s friend was studying to be a music teacher and they needed a volunteer to practice their teaching skills).  They might not count for this question, though… Who is your favourite FS character (if any)? Oh boy...I know younger-me’s favorite was Vio (I blame the eyes and ability to side with both Shadow and the other Links), but these days?  It’s hard to pick, thanks to the dub. @_@ How do you warm up/get in character before recording? Big thing for me is how I’m feeling.  Currently, I work six days a week (it sucks but I need the money/insurance DX) and I use the commute from work to where I live to figure out my mood.  If I’m down in the dumps to the point that music can’t help, I won’t be able to deliver as Green.  If I have some energy or so much energy that I can belt/rap to my music, I’m all set.  It means I’m all loose and confident to record. As for days when I don’t have work like days-off or holidays, I try to relax and get myself in a Green-y mindset. 

Little something I picked up from YouTube is gargling a mouthful of water.  I’m not too sure how it works, but I do this right before a recording session and it helps a lot. Favourite chapter to voice so far? Favourite scene? Um…it’s kinda hard to pick a favorite chapter or scene I liked voicing since I had fun with all of them.  Can I make this into favorite scene/chapter to do sound stuff for instead?  And can I pick multiples instead? >_>;; Favorite Chapter for Sound Editing: Chapter 4.  I had to compile different sounds that reflected Green’s desert, Blue’s snowstorm, Red’s forest fire, and Vio’s night in the woods. It was both challenging and fun. :D  Favorite Scene for Sound Editing: Every comedic scene, scenes where the background music slowed to a halt, and scenes where I had to improvise sound effects.

The slowed-down songs are in the scenes where Blue and Green fight on the boat, and when Red admits he lost his weapons to Blue in the Ice Cave.  Those were tough to do in Audacity (had to slow down the music piece by piece), but it was SO worth it.

As for scenes where I had to use nearby stuff for sounds…there’s a bunch of ‘em.

The door slamming while Erune talks about the missing children = me slamming my bedroom door.

The Gerudo Masseuse’ movements and the Gerudo Elder’s staff = me shaking my wrist while wearing my old belly-dance bracelets.

Deku Scrubs popping out of the ground = me smacking my lips mixed with the deku sound effect from Ocarina of Time.

Green’s sword hitting the labyrinth wall = me hitting a pot lid with a wooden spoon.

Green falling and sliding down the labyrinth wall = me falling and sliding down a bedroom wall.

Eerie shadow raising their sword to attack Green as the moon rises = me sliding a knife sharpener over a kitchen knife.

Shadow walking on clouds = me blowing into the mic mixed with footstep sounds from Ocarina of Time.

Big Poe screaming at Red and Blue = me banging pots, pans, and piano keys mixed with chaotic sound effects I found online.

Big Poe taking Blue’s soul = me breathing into the mic along with heavy editing.

Red clapping at Big Poe = me clapping my hands.

The Four Swords pulsing = me playing a four-note harmony (one for each Link) on the piano mixed with heavy editing and a wind chime effect.

(Karen: This guy is a genius when it comes to sound effects and the dub wouldn’t be half as good without him!)

Lines you dread voicing the most (screaming, crying, etc): As much as I love battle cries, my microphone and its inconvenient ability to make stuff clip bothers me.

And even though the chapter’s long gone, the part where Green remembers when he playing with Zelda as a toddler.  I’M NEVER VOICING SMALL CHILDREN AGAIN. DX

What are your biggest worries when it comes to voicing your character? *pulls in with a giant dump truck* um…

#1 – Is my voice too high or too low? Green’s age would be around early teens or so, and with my weird vocal range, I can’t tell if I make him sound younger or older than he is. #2 – Am I getting the personality right? Because of my shy-as-hell nature, it’s hard for me to pick up if my confident-Green-persona sounds genuine or fake. #3 – Is it bad that I can only voice Green with my natural voice? Many voice actors have a HUGE variety of voices they can do (ex. Tara Strong).  It’s likely because I’m still new to this, but part of me gets nervous that me voicing Green with my normal speaking voice is a sign that I lack voice acting talent. #4 – (Personal worry but it still bothers me sometimes) How will I sound as Green in the future?  I’m a pre-HRT transmale who hates how high his voice is. This year, I’ll be moving out and if I play my cards right, I can start the process to either get testosterone, top surgery, or both.  I love this dub to death, but after voicing Green in my non-HRT voice for so long, I get nervous that I could accidentally lower the quality of the dub if my voice changes if/when I start HRT (assuming the editing process for videos will be the same as it’s been). (Karen: i figure I should add this since people might be wondering how we’re going to handle it. As Green is right now I feel his voice wouldn’t hurt if it went a little deeper. However, if Riley’s voice becomes too deep, I’m going to edit the pitch of his lines. Don’t worry Riley, you aren’t going anywhere!) #5 – Do I make too many bloopers?  During recording, I either screw up or my mind wanders a lot, and I save ‘em for the blooper reel.  When the reel comes out, however, I’ll sometimes see my segment is a little longer than everyone else’s and I get nervous.  ESPECIALLY if Green only had two lines and I had nearly an extra 30 seconds worth of bloopers. Would you date your character (if they were of age)?I’m gonna sound horrible, but…I don’t think Green’s personality would stand out enough to me as a possible date.  If anything, I think we’d just end up being a weird duo of friends: the strong, confident soldier and the socially-awkward weirdo. *laughs*

Do you have a favourite voice actor on the dub?I don’t have a favorite voice actor, but I do have favorite lines/sounds from some of the cast (this is likely to change as more chapters are released).  The way the VAs say these lines, I LOVE ‘EM.  For now, I’m only going to list a few of them so this Q&A doesn’t go too long.

Favorite Carrottheluvmachine/Red line: “Oh!  And it [footprint] looks like mine!” Favorite Ashe/Blue line: “so that’s how you want to do this, huh?!” Favorite Swiss/Vio line: “Losing confidence? …it’s because I’m you too, remember?” Favorite Kaenith/Shadow line: “Shadow saying “you’re a creature of darkness now, don’t forget that.”

Asked by Anon: Riley, how do you come up with so many awesome bloopers? Aww, thank you. ^///^ Most of them are accidental, like me not saying a word correctly. Others happen when I try and fail to memorize the script: if I’m struggling with a line, I’ll have a physical copy of the manga and match Green’s facial expression. This helps me get into the mindset, but it does draw my attention away from the script and I’ll end up flubbing a line because I tried to say it off the top of my head. 

The mistakes where I either notice something weird either pop up on the fly or something I noticed a while back, and then suddenly remember during recording.  The part where I noticed the Four Sword “thrumming” happened when I couldn’t get Green’s “the four sword is pulsing!” line right and I had to keep looking at the manga for the proper face.  It was at that point I noticed the weird sound effect drawn in.  Also, the blooper where I sang a song from The Heathers as Green flees the Eerie Shadow? That was in my head long before the script for Chapter 5 was out and when the time came to record, I remembered that bit. 

Asked by Anon What was the funniest/most humorous line you guys have had to say? Not sure if this counts, but Kaenith had a blooper where they screwed up as Shadow, saying “you’re pretty—UM PRETTY SMART!”  They shared it with the staff and it was so funny, Swiss made a joke response as Vio going “I prefer handsome.”  I was given the two lines to put together and as a joke, I added some audio of a guy screaming “MAKE OUT!” 

The staff liked it so much, they asked me to add Green shouting “NOW KISS!”  It took a while to get perfectly, but I had SO much fun with it. ^_^

[notthetoothfairy]

KLAINE ADVENT 2017: LoveSick (11/24)

Summary: Kurt has SCID and can’t leave his house. Ever. Luckily, Blaine moves in next door.

A/N: A fic?!?!?! Yes, my dears, after what feels like an eternity, I finally wrote a new thing. I was going to do just one prompt for @klaineadventbut - ha ha ha, and ho ho ho - never mind, I’m writing an entire story. And I’m late. Sorry about that!

The plot is loosely based on “Everything Everything”. Saw it on the plane, didn’t end up liking it all that much but I loooved the premise for Klaine, so here it is. :D It’s not all that realistic, sorry about that, but I tried to make it as accurate as possible!

Beta: @a-simple-rainbow (who’s surprised? not us - we’re basically fandom wives)

Read: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24

Read on: AO3 (to be added later)

KEY

“Dad, stop fussing and leave for work.” Kurt sighs. “I’ll be fine, like all other 364 days of the year.”

“Kurt.” His dad’s face changes from worried to stern.

Kurt briefly indulges his dad and stares back. “Dad.”

“Take a moment for yourself today, okay?” Burt asks. “That’s all I ask.” He smiles at Kurt. “And now I’m going. I love you, bud.”

Kurt returns the smile. “Love you too, dad. And take a moment for yourself as well.”

“Always do. By the way, that shirt you designed looks great on you.”

Kurt fumbles with the dark green material. He’s really proud of it – especially the v-neck that none of his other, more medical-looking shirts have.

“Thanks, dad,” he says.

“You should make me one.”

“Way to spoil my Christmas surprise.” Kurt rolls his eyes. “Would you leave already?”

“Jeez, bossy. You’re so much like your grandma sometimes. I feel like I’m a kid again, being told off for stealing her cookies.”

“Dad, you’re going to be late.”

“Alright, alright.” Burt holds up his hands in apology. “I’m going.”

With that, his dad leaves the kitchen. Kurt follows him to the foyer, a series of rooms separated from the rest of the house – from Kurt, to be precise – by glass doors, where Burt leaves most of his outside belongings and puts on his streetwear over the decontaminated clothes.

He watches his dad get into the car and pull out of the driveway. As soon as there is no chance for him to see Kurt anymore, Kurt sprints up to his room and waves to Blaine.

“Go time!” he adds, smiling widely. Blaine sends a beam his way that makes Kurt’s spine tingle.

The night before, when Kurt was getting ready for bed, Blaine asked whether they could talk. For a moment, Kurt thought he was going to tell him some sort of bed news, but then Blaine spent about five minutes stumbling his way through asking Kurt whether he would like to ‘meet’ him sometime. He wasn’t even finished actually asking when Kurt said, “Tomorrow, 8.15 in the morning, by the living room.”

Never having been more excited that his dad works Saturdays, Kurt wills away his nerves as he goes down to the living room and heads straight toward the window that faces the backyard. Blaine shows up a minute later, clad in a dark blue coat, a scarf and a beanie hat that makes him look more hipster than he usually looks with his bowties and cardigans. His face is a bit flushed, like he ran downstairs and crossed both of their yards to get to Kurt. Maybe he did. The thought makes Kurt smile grow even more.

“Hi, Blaine,” he says when Blaine’s finally in front of him, only the glass and a few steps between them.

“Hi, Kurt.” Blaine looks Kurt up and down in wonder. “You’re… wow, you’re taller than me.”

Kurt suppresses a grin. “Sorry?” he tries.

Blaine laughs. “I like it.” Kurt can only make out the words through the glass if he’s very quiet but it helps having Blaine so near that he can read his lips as well. They’re getting better at that. Two months of window conversations are paying off.

“You do?” he asks happily. “And you… you look cozy.”

“It’s actually not as cold outside as I thought. I feel a bit hot,” Blaine admits.

Kurt’s not going to tell him to lose some layers, obviously, but he can’t help but remark, “Good thing you’re not actually stepping inside, then.”

“I want to, though,” Blaine says. “Sometime else.”

“It’s a date,” Kurt breathes out, nervously noting that he just called it a date. They never specified what… this… was. But Blaine was fumbling so badly on the phone, it just-

“Another one,” Blaine confirms with a smile. Kurt swears he feels his heart jump a little. “Even if it’s a bit weird to go on a date at 8.15 in the morning.”

“8.20,” Kurt corrects, just to have something to say, given that all his nerves are screaming, You’re on a date! “My dad just wouldn’t leave.”

“Does he have a sixth sense for sons who schedule secret get-aways to the living room?” Blaine asks, grinning brightly.

“No, he’s just-” Kurt wants to make an offhand comment, explain the day away like it’s nothing, but he can’t. It’s Blaine, for one, and it’s also his mother. “My mom died on this day nine years ago.”

Blaine’s eyes widen. “Oh, Kurt… I had no idea. I mean.” Blaine gulps. “Of course I didn’t. But- I’m sorry, Kurt. If you need to be alone…”

“No,” Kurt says firmly, fighting against the pressure behind his eyes. “I miss her, of course, and I usually cry my eyes out on this day, but I told you to come over so I wouldn’t be alone. At least for like two hours before Carole comes over.” He rolls his eyes. “I’m sorry we’re on a schedule.”

“Don’t be silly,” Blaine says. “It’s nice to… well.” Kurt watches as he attempts a formal bow. “Nice to meet you. You know, officially. Kind of.”

Kurt laughs, eyes watering. “Likewise. My mom would have totally gone for your sense of humor, you know?”

“Awkward but weirdly adorable?” Blaine tilts his head and gives him puppy-dog eyes, driving the point home.

Kurt bites his lip, fails to hold in a grin, and says, “Something along those lines, yeah.”

“Is that her?” Blaine asks, pointing behind Kurt. Kurt follows the line of his finger to the urn on the fireplace.

He turns back around and nods. “Mom, meet Blaine. Blaine, meet mom.”

“Hi, Mrs. Hummel,” Blaine says at once. “This is weird.”

“It is,” Kurt agrees. “And she would like you to call her Elizabeth, I’m sure.”

“I’ll reconsider after our third date or so,” Blaine replies.

“Smooth.” Kurt laughs. “Planning the third date while still on the first. You’re very thorough. Do you have cue cards as well?”

“Uhm, no. For some weird reason I was convinced we could manage to hold a conversation,” Blaine says, pretending to frown. Kurt thinks back to their long talks at the window, on the phone or texting, how Blaine probably knows more about Kurt than Rachel at this point.

“You’re definitely right.”

“Well, I want to hear all about Rachel’s newest plans for your future Broadway Bubble Babies career.”

“Oh god, you won’t believe how detailed her thoughts on this are. We’re both taking online singing classes already but now she wants to enter this career prospects mentoring program and see if they can get us mentors over Skype. And she wants us to co-produce a YouTube version of The Last Five Years, since it’s a musical for two.”

“Uhm, I need to meet her already!” Blaine gushes. Kurt loves how much he loves Rachel from Kurt’s stories alone. “That sounds like the greatest idea ever!”

The two hours pass in a flash. Kurt basks in Blaine’s focused and passionate attention, listens to Blaine talk animatedly about the New Directions’ madness during competition season and they make plans for a Skype session with both of their best friends so that Blaine can meet Rachel and Wes, Blaine’s best friend at Dalton, can meet Kurt.

Blaine’s in the middle of telling Kurt about his family’s Christmas plans when Kurt hears the key to the front door turn in the lock, and then the unmistakable sliding sound of the front door opening.

“Sorry for interrupting,” he says with a sad smile. “But it’s Carole. It’ll take her about five minutes to actually get in and change and all that, but you should probably get going.”

Blaine’s sad face matches his.

“It’s not that I don’t want my family to know about you,” he tries to reassure Blaine. “But today, I kind of wanted to take this moment for myself.”

Blaine waves it off. “Don’t worry about it. I know it’s easier this way. You don’t have to tell them at all if you don’t want.”

Kurt smiles knowingly at Blaine’s quick agreement. “You’re scared of my dad, aren’t you?”

“Terrified.”

Kurt’s cheeks are hurting from smiling so much. “You don’t have to be,” he promises. “Well, I guess this is goodbye for now.”

“Goodbye for now,” Blaine echoes. He pulls off his left glove and lets the hand come to rest on the window. “This was nice, I had fun.”

Kurt’s right hand shakes slightly as he lays it on the glass to mirror Blaine’s. If he pretends hard enough, it’ll feel like they’re touching.

“I had fun, too,” he whispers, locking eyes with Blaine. “You’re fun.”

Blaine’s face is so close to the window now Kurt feels like he could count all his eyelashes (an ambitious endeavor), name a new color after Blaine’s eyes (smouldering honey gold) and remember the shape of Blaine’s lips well enough to draw a picture of them later (to have something to kiss at least).

“Kurt…” Blaine blinks at him, visibly intrigued by Kurt’s intense stare.

Kurt breaks out of his little fantasy world with a big sigh.

“To be continued,” he says firmly.

“I know.” Blaine huffs out a laugh. “But I really don’t want to go right now.”

“I’ll text you as soon as I’m upstairs.” Kurt rolls his eyes when Blaine stays rooted to the spot. For the second time today, if a bit more reluctantly this time, he says, “Would you leave already?”

He watches as Blaine retreats to his house, fumbling with the key to his front door before pulling it wide open and slipping inside.

It feels like the perfect metaphor for what he’s doing with Kurt’s heart.

[newsiegirlscout]

Beep Beep! Special Delivery for @crispcomet: the requested prompt “Captain Underpants trying to cheer the boys up” for an art/fic swap! Hope you enjoy it!

“Hey man, at..at least we’re still in Elementary! No one cares about one stupid C-plus!”

Harold sobbed, burying his face in his hands. “My mom will care, George! It was a D-plus, I’m going to be grounded until I go to college!”

Truth be told, George didn’t have much in the way of encouragement for his friend, having earned a C-minus for the semester’s Mathematics grade on his report card to take home. Normally, both of the boys thought of themselves as optimists, always carrying a cheerful attitude no matter the circumstances. After all, wasn’t it Albert Einstein who said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge”?

Despite their general principals, George and Harold still did put effort into their schoolwork, though it would come as a surprise to many people.  Once they received the slips at the door on the way out, they forged a plan to open them as soon as possible, (without a grown-up), practically vibrating from the anxiety of the single letters that would sum up the value of the hours they spent studying together, the lucky charms they folded their fingers over in their pockets when taking a test, and the number of endless, dry tutoring sessions they ticked away in the Homework club with Melvin Sneedly.

But when they steamed open the creamy white envelopes against their better judgement, only to find failing grades for both of them, they felt their universe drain away to be replaced by a grayscale world of extra work, solitary confinement in their bedrooms, and harsh lectures from their parents waiting for them at every turn. 

Though they hadn’t ever expected their last hours together to be full of despair and silky red-rimmed eyes, neither of them could bring themselves to go home, not just yet. That was, until dusk fell and they each decided in their own way that they’d get in bigger trouble if they didn’t take the long walk back at some point, final grades crumpled in their pockets as fireflies danced in the air around them, a symbol of their lost freedom.

############################################################

“Now, usually when you write a persuasive essay, you want to state around three interlocking claims in your introduction. The first sentence introduces the topic with a hook, the second gives some exposition, and by the third, the audience should have your point of view on the topic-after that, you state your claims and move onto the body paragraphs-so, how do you feel about the proposal of lengthening the school day by an extra hour Tuesday through Friday, then getting Mondays off?” 

“Huh? Oh, yeah, that sounds great.” He said, absently sketching a penny-sized mandala. 

“Alright, so you should probably start with a surprising fact or a question to grab the reader’s attention, so they can...buy rocket packs, and fly to the moon...” Melvin digressed softly, annoyance lilting in his tone, “Hutchins, are you paying attention at all?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah! I got it, Melvin!” Harold replied, flapping his hand dismissively, “And my name is Harold, man. Nobody calls me by my last name except the Starbucks guy.” His eyes, devoid of all their usual troublemaking sparkle, flickered down to his paper. The boy’s pencil, scarred with his bite marks, scratched across the paper, writing the introduction under his tutor’s smug gaze.

Somehow, his hero made it into the composition, the trademark catchphrase-”Tra-la-laaaaaaaaaaa!”-dancing between the blue lines. 

###########################################

In another classroom, Stephanie Wykoff flicked flashcards between her fingers, calling out the questions at lightning-speed.

“Three times seven!”

“Twenty-one.” George answered.

“Thirty-six divy four!”

“Nine..wait, did you just say ‘Divy’?”

“Divided by. Divy. Four cubed!”

“Sixty-four.”

“Correct! What’s the square root of 121?” She said. 

Seventeen? If ten-squared is a hundred, then eleven times eleven would be like...111, right? So maybe twelve? No, that’s 144...maybe she was tricky this time and did like, ten and a half. That’s such a Melvin thing to do....maybe she could be his sidekick in another issue of Captain Underpants! Aw, wait, we’re not allowed to do those anymore..that’s terrible, Captain would know how to get us out of a mess like this. George thought, his coffee-colored eyes glossing over as they pinpointed to a certain spot on the floor. Wait, why was Stephanie so frustrated all of a sudden?

“-rge? George!” Stephanie said sharply, snapping her fingers several times in front of his face. “Are you paying attention?”

“Honestly, I wasn’t. Sorry, Steph.” he started to say when he heard a ceramic mug crash to the floor behind him, and a musical cry fill the clear air. 

“Tra-la-LAAAAAAA!” Captain Underpants trilled, hovering slightly above shards of Mr. Krupp’s favorite coffee mugs. “Sidekick! How are you this lovely Summer’s day?”

“I’m, uh, doing fine, Captain..” George stuttered, watching the perky cheerleader’s eyes widen in surprise. “But it’s not summer yet on Earth. It’s winter. And you shouldn’t bother with Harold and I, we’re probably too dumb to be your sidekicks now.” The dark-skinned girl fell to the ground behind them, giggling wildly for a minute before she fainted.

“Why do you say that, mighty sidekick? I don’t fight with the power of wit, you know! I fight for truth, justice, and all that is pre-shrunk and cottony!”

“Yeah, and the school board cares a whole lot about underwear.” he grumbled, tears coming to his eyes. “Captain Underpants, you’re better off without us. We’re STUPID, okay? See this C here? Harold and I busted our butts for it, and this was what we got anyway. It means if we were left on our own, we’d probably walk into traffic and order a cheeseburger at the shoe store.”

“Ah, sidekick! Why do you let a single letter define who you are, or the depth of your personality? You and the yellow-haired boy are both brave, creative, kind, and willing to throw yourself into peril at any time! You have heart and spirit, and neither of you should ever think your value should be measured by someone else’s standards.”

George wiped the saltwater from his eyes, a wan smile brightening his features. 

“Wow. That was..surprisingly profound.”

“But why did you say you weren’t supposed to order a cheeseburger at the shoe store? Where else do you get them?” he said, fixing him with a puzzled look, “And does the yellow-haired child know?”

“Yes. Yeah, I think he does.”

“Good, I’m starving! And Earth food is so deliciously unnatural!”

Captain Underpants ran into the adjacent room, then returned a second later carrying Harold on his shoulders, a cry of “I’m TELLING!!!” ringing forth. 

“Let’s go, young and valuable sidekicks! Cheeseburgers await us in the non-shoe store!” He cheered marching out of the school. Harold’s hand clasped George’s in his, and they both seemed to see color in their world again.

[elsewhereuniversity]

The first night his boyfriend didn’t come back to the dorm, Other Red (Red had already been the name of a student when Other Red was a freshman, and changing your nickname too much wasn’t the best idea) didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t unheard of for one or the other of them to spend a night with friends. But when he wasn’t there the next morning, or in their one shared class that day, Other Red started to worry. As spacey as Frankie Lee could be, he was an avid student. Frankie Lee wasn’t his real name, of course. It wasn’t a surprise to those who knew him that his taken name was musically inspired. He wasn’t answering his phone, either. When there was still no sign of him on the third day, Other Red started asking around. He found what he needed to know pretty soon.

“Yeah, the last time I saw him was a couple days ago.”

“Where was he?”

“Over by the track, by that little wooded area. He had his guitar.”

“He was going towards the trees? Sounds like he was looking for a quiet place to write songs.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me.”

“So he went, alone, into the forest, to play music?”

“Looks like.”

“Shit.”

***

Other Red didn’t waste much time. He packed what he needed, knocked on his RA’s door so someone would know where he was going (and so they’d be better prepared to notice if it wasn’t him that came back), and headed for the woods. All this wasn’t strictly necessary, since the RAs would go retrieve Frankie Lee at the end of the semester, but he might be… different by then, and Other Red didn’t want to wait that long to see him again anyway. He walked right into the shade of the trees, and kept going until he couldn’t see the edge of the woods behind him, though the forest he’d walked into was maybe forty feet across. Nowhere on the Elsewhere University campus was a surefire route to danger, if you knew what you were doing, just as nowhere was 100 percent safe if you were reckless enough, but going under the trees to play music? Other Red had to admit that had been stupid. He loved Frankie Lee, but he could be lacking in common sense.

***

As he went, Other Red reminded himself of a story. There was a smith, so the story goes, who made a deal. Who or what he made the deal with changes from telling to telling, but a popular version calls it the Devil. Other Red didn’t know about devils, but any Elsewhere U student knew there were other things you could make deals with. The smith gave up his soul in exchange for supernatural skill at metal work - the ability to weld anything to anything. When the Devil came to collect, though, the smith welded him to a tree and left him there. It’s an old story, one of the oldest, in fact. It’s been told for six thousand years. The story told Other Red a couple of things. One, that metalwork has always been a little bit Else, and two, that it was one way, maybe the first way we ever found, to get a bit of power over the Gentry. At least enough power to get him out of this.

He hoped it was enough to get him out of this.

***

After a while, he could hear music softly through the trees. He walked closer until he could make out the words:

“Then the loud sound did seem to fa-a-ade Came back like a slow voice on a wave of pha-a-ase That weren’t no D.J. that was hazy cosmic jive There’s a starman waiting in the sky He’d like to come and meet us But he thinks he’d blow our minds…”

Other Red could practically see Frankie Lee, eyes closed and head nodding the way he did when he got into his music. He’d smile, and, if he wasn’t playing too, wave his hands slowly like the music was the only thing in the world. Then Other Red reached the clearing where the music was coming from, and he did see Frankie Lee, sitting and playing at the feet of the member of the Court that had taken him.

Less Starman, Other Red thought, and more Thin White Duke. Thin he certainly was, or maybe a better word was long, half again Other Red’s height with his legs - how many knees was that? - stretched out from his seat, which was carved from an enormous tree stump into intricate, disturbing patterns. He was pale, with a human face but a goat’s disdainful eyes, and he wore leather armor with what looked like a bronze sword on his belt. Other Red stepped into the clearing.

The Gentleman held up a hand, and Frankie Lee stopped playing, though his eyes had been closed. When he saw Other Red, he perked up and made eye contact with him, but didn’t speak.

“What brings you here?” asked the Fair One with disinterest.

Other Red indicated Frankie Lee. “I’d like him back.”

“And what will you give me not to simply keep you here as well?”

“I have nothing to give you, but I bring the tokens of my craft.” From his bag, he pulled a welding mask and a handful of nails. “I’m a shop student. If you don’t let me leave, there will be repercussions.” He tried to keep his voice as confident as he could.

The Shining One stared at him for a long moment, then sat back. “You may leave whenever you please, smith, but you cannot command me to give up my musician.”

Other Red had been expecting that. “A game, then?”

“A game. Very well.” said the Good Neighbor instinctively, and then, coming to himself, “What game do you choose?”

Other Red pulled out the other thing he had packed, and tossed it towards the Blessed One. “Fifth Edition, no expansions. One session, seventh-level characters, fight to the character death. I’ll see you a week from today at eight.” He bent down to quickly kiss Frankie Lee, then turned and left.

***

He’d afforded a week because, as much as he wanted Frankie Lee back right now, he needed time to find a DM who was willing to run this fight. Eventually, a girl named Tyto agreed to do it, for approximately a shitton of carefully-specified snacks. This wasn’t the first time someone had played D&D with one of the Gentry. Sometimes, as now, students figured it was the best chance they had of getting something out of them. Other Red’s challenge was a little unusual in that regard - most such games were essentially attempts to impress the Shining Ones with your storytelling talent. They had great respect for storytellers, and a skilled DM could easily get into their good books. Sometimes, They took a liking to the game, and played just for the sake of playing. Other Red had heard of a campaign that met once a month, on the new moon, where students regularly played alongside their Neighbors. Other Red wasn’t making this a storytelling competition, though. He wasn’t a DM, and he wanted a contest he could win.

On the appointed night, they set up in the game room and waited. Other Red wasn’t using his regular character, Ambrose the halfling rogue, for this. It was stupid, but he didn’t want to to let Them know even that fictional real name. Plus, he felt that if he did lose the fight, Ambrose might somehow be dead for good. He’d rolled up a human bard just for the occasion. It seemed appropriate.

At exactly eight, the Duke walked in. He looked more human here, though he was still morning-frost sharp and pale. He was wearing a black suit, and had his hair in a long braid. Tyto shifted in her chair as he walked past her. Other Red offered him a bag of Doritos. Ritual was important, after all. “Given without obligation,” he added.

“Most kind,” said the Visitor, as he took the bag and produced his character sheet. Other Red looked over it briefly. Tiefling druid. Made sense.

“Well then,” said Tyto. “Let’s get started. You’re standing in the street of a small town. You’ve just gotten into a confrontation in a tavern and decided to take it outside. Roll for initiative.”

***

The fight started out slow and cautious. Both characters had swords, and their initial actions were simple. Attack, roll for damage. Attack, roll for damage. Attack, miss. Attack… As they played, they drew an audience. Not students. Any student who knew what was happening tonight had made plans far, far away. There was a man with hair the color of the sea. Two identical-looking girls, neither of their hands quite right. When they walked in, they were followed by a fox that sat quietly and comfortably on a chair. They all watched in silence as the players spoke their battle into being.

Eventually, Other Red’s opponent seemed to get tired of this pattern. “I cast Flame Blade,” he said, “and attack with it.” Now they were playing with magic. Other Red surrounded the druid with a cloud of daggers. The druid turned into an eagle and dive-bombed the bard. The audience began to stir. This was almost as exciting as the real thing. A few of them could remember when Gwion and Ceridwen tried the same routine. The bard cast a spell of fear to send the eagle flying away, and another spell to deal it damage. The eagle became a boar and charged the bard.

That was two. He was out of transformations. This was what Other Red had been waiting for. “I cast Dimension Door,” he announced, “on both of us.”

“O… K,” said Tyto.  “You both move to..?” “500 feet directly above us. And as we start to fall, I cast Feather Fall on myself only.”

Tyto and the Fair One both stopped as they realized what he’d done. “So,” Tyto said to the Gentleman, “You’re falling 500 feet. Do you have anything that might help with that?”

“I do not.”

“Then if you’re alright with it, I don’t think we need to roll to know that you’re pretty dead.” “No.” He stood up and offered Other Red his hand. “How inventive. The musician is yours.” He left the room without another word, and the audience followed behind. After a moment, the door opened again and Frankie Lee stumbled in. He was shivering, with snow melting on his shoulders and water droplets clinging to his tightly curled hair. It was sixty degrees outside.

Other Red almost knocked his chair back standing up. He held Frankie Lee tightly for a long time, and then pulled away a little.

“What were you thinking?”

“I know, I know. How long was I gone?”

“About a week and a half. How long did you…?”

“Damn. I was only there for a couple of hours. I was starting to run out of Bowie. I tell you what, though, I think I finished that song I was working on.”

“If you finished it while you were There, you should maybe never play that part.”

“Good call.”

 [x]

[sepiadice]

SepiaDice GMs D&D5e (7/20/17): After School Excursion

After much time, I finally return to the GM’s seat, watching and plotting behind my screen!

So, after many months of scheduling conflicts, and playing other games, I got a small band from my Improv Group (mostly different from the cast of the last campaign) to subject themselves to me. Which is charitable on their part, especially since I’ve still haven’t really read the fifth edition rules…[1]

I went in with my favorite amount of preparation: an opening spiel, a vague idea of what I’d like to have happen, and a large swathe of empty, terrifying space to just let the players run rampant with.

I don’t plan sandboxes, just to be clear. Because that would imply I prepare NPCs and locations. I entered with five paragraphs of introduction and a puzzle.

Of course, my players are seasoned comedy improvisers, so I could’ve also come in with nothing, and they would’ve entertained themselves, even if most of them were new to Dungeons and Dragons.

I told them to make characters, stressing that they should have no backstory before we start. Not even a name or alignment. Because I had an opening twist.

The story began with a spooky dream. Disused lighthouse, shadowy figure, and glowing runes.

Then they had a school day. Because, as it turns out, they’re normal High School Juniors. I followed this reveal by letting them dictate what their school is like.

I admit, if my goal was a normal high school with maybe a couple anime-esques tropes, I shouldn’t have allowed greenhorn players with backgrounds in comedy dictate the terms. However, it does accomplish the more important task of getting the players to make the world their own.[2]

So what I got was a giant, wall-less warehouse named after the setting of High School musical.

Sure, at first I thought “I can interpret wall-less as just being a California High School”, but the players then insisted on specifying that, no, it’s literally a building with no classrooms, instead operating off a grid system.

Also, it’s super-cliquey, poorly funded, and originally a mansion that was part of the underground railroad and bootlegging, so there might be secret tunnels.

After establishing there’s been gossip of the shared dream going on in the (nonexistent) hallways, it’s now lunch, and they’re probably just vaguely themselves,[4] I just let my players go.

(Luckily, unlike me, my players have common names, so I’m going to go ahead and just use them.)

The party reveled momentarily at the chance to go back and do it right, before quickly conceding that, no, they’re totally nerds.

Chris, for whatever bloody reason, decided he wanted to be class president. And also a super Christian, but he’s playing a Paladin, so that’s just foreshadowing.[5]

The others then quickly established his crush on a girl named Tiffany, which they built upon for a bit. Then I brought Tiffany over, only to have three of them immediately give her grief and make her leave.

Which was a nice, subtle method of telling me they didn’t need too much NPC work from me. Again, I prepared very little, and they introduced Tiffany, so I’ve got nothing against that. Let the players define the terms of their entertainment, and fill in what needs be filled in while having fun yourself.

So, after I clarified what is known about the lighthouse (it’s always been there, but they’ve never seen it lit, and it’s on an island), they decide to skip class and go to the docks.

I had hoped to dedicate the opening portion of the game with them investigating and trying to figure out how to get to the lighthouse.

Jason,[6] wanting to be helpful, decided to get into an argument over the fact that I gave everyone a different rune in their dream, and used that as inspiration to go to the lighthouse to prove the rune he saw was the correct one. Also, there was optimism that they’d end up as Power Rangers. Which is… fine as a motivation…

It was as they searched for a ride that I realized an easy way to differentiate their high school forms from their future form: use the Adventurer stats, but with disadvantage on everything![7]

Brook wanted to try and skip the dock sequence by establishing her father has a boat. Not wanting them to brush over things too quickly, I subtly killed that and tried to get them to convince a fisherman to take them.

They started with Tim, who, as a compromise, had his shirt both tied off and also just off and draped over his shoulder. Brook tried to flirt with him to get a ride. I decided to play the ‘Ah, no, you’re fifteen, and I’m an adult angle.’

So Jason improvised inexplicable blackmail, because apparently when given enough agency, my friends default to Loony Toons. He also established that Tim’s a furry.

Jason failed the persuasion check, however, so Tim gets to be a proud furry. Little more discussion, and Tim offers to take them to the lighthouse if they could get some dirt on a rival.

Who I named Dave.

So they go to Dave, who casually admits to criminal activity, but also belief in a giant squid cryptid, which the party then spun to get a ride at midnight, forsaking Tim.

They then went to Tiffany’s party, which was made up to handwave time. I made it midnight in case they wanted to do a youth adventure, gearing up sequence, but instead they went to a house party.

Midnight comes, and Dave sails for the lighthouse, since the party told him light attracts the giant squid. The party then enters the lighthouse, where I finally sprung a puzzle on them!

I bought some wood blocks, drew runes on them, and they had to figure out the sequence to open a magic portal.

I colored the runes differently on each of their handouts, and I expected them to share the notes at some point. Once they identified the correct side, it was a simple matter of following the rainbow.

I apparently underestimated the paranoia the last campaign left with Jason, because no one looked at anyone else’s notes. They successfully communicated what the runes look like, but they never picked up on the different colors, even though that was a passing mention in the argument that got them there.

Basically, it was exactly the subtle time killer I hoped the puzzle would be. Even had pull out the ‘roll INT for hints’ trick once or twice.[8]

Like a good pun, a puzzle should be obvious afterwards, but engaging during the set up.

Anyways, go ahead and steal that one for your games, GMs!

Once they solved the puzzle, the portal opened. I described it and gave a little space to let them decide if they’re going in by their own power or if I need to Digimon them.

They walked in. Because who needs self preservation instincts?

Once in, they obviously turned into their Adventurer selves, waking up at the dead end of a dungeon.

‘Do we still have our own minds?’ “No, all this high schooler stuff was just a Shaggy Dog story.”

I had the players introduce what they looked like at this point. By pure coincidence, the one player who made a human went last, describing himself as just looking aged up.

The others were a dragonborn (the Furry Christian), a Tiefling (Jason played this up for the ‘which afterlife did we go to!?’ angle) and a half-elf dressed in leaves (Brook’s playing a druid.)

So, again, sit back and just let the players enjoy themselves. Then, when I got bored, have Kobolds show up and pick a fight.

I surprisingly wasn’t bored. Probably helped that it was an intentionally easy fight just to introduce the mechanics to the players, who mostly one shotted the Kobolds.

After killing six tiny lizard men, and with no clear way out, the players went deeper into the dungeon.

Jason fell into a trap, and they were ambushed by Gnolls, knocking them out.[9]

End of session.

So, lesson? Low expectations and little planning is a good method if you feel your players are fine building off themselves. I probably would never attempt this structure with less improvisational players, but I knew they could take it.

Still, I probably should’ve had a more clear plan for the dock sequence, and maybe a firmer hand on the school environment. However, I had fun, the players tell me they had fun, so it was a success. Hopefully I can manage to get them back for a session 2. Because I have intentions.

Until next time, may your dice make things interesting!

[1] However, I have years of experience in other systems, have played in a couple 5e games, and I principally learn by doing over reading. [2] Besides, if I actually wanted to anime it up, I already have a setting for that.[3] [3] Maybe I’ll let them play in it someday. Maybe. [4] I could’ve pushed them to establish High School Personas, but, again, Improv Club. Just let them do what they want and hope. [5] I can concede that it’s painfully obvious where my set-up was going, but it’s okay to telegraph things to players so they can subtly help the story. [6] Previous roles include Windy Jerk and… other people? [7] I love the Advantage/Disadvantage system. I’m going to houserule it into everything. [8] Well, I gave a freebie by clarifying all the runes are meant to be hexagons. [9] I love gnolls, which is why it’s surprising this is the first time I’ve ever used gnolls.