#a story where hes a creation by someone else would also be really interesting

[sweet-potato-42]

personally hope qtubbo and creation arent just pure mechancial robots and are some weird combo of biological and robotic. it would explain how people dont realise they are machines immediatelly and why qtubbo behaves like a human mostly

it could be part of the federation experiments and it could explain fed workers as well since they kinda act like human machines.

maybe qtubbo worked as one making machines? maybe he was an early prototype with too much emotion? Maybe he was not made by the fed but by whoever invented the technology?

[nerdranttheories]

Watching Two Heroes again reminded me of something I haven’t really seen talked about a lot, but

All Might Keeping Secrets and Self-Isolating Led to His Downfall

Obviously, right? Everyone and their mother’s said this, and it’s clearly meant by the story. But I think David Shield is the best example of this, and I haven’t really seen the Two Heroes movie mentioned when having this conversation. This is my explanation of this movie being the epitome of this idea, and the time where I believe All Might learns from his mistake — even if it’s too late for him to change the course of his narrative.

The movie clearly indicates early on, by All Might himself, that David Shield, his “best friend” and sidekick from his college days has not been informed of One for All, and All Might intends to keep it that way. Deku, ever the audience lens character for the world of My Hero, questions it, to which All Might answers it’s to keep his friend safe.

This is shown to not be the case. In fact, by not telling his friend about One for All, David, someone who is good and concerned about his friend, turns to villainy out of desperation to save him. If All Might had simply told him about how his power works, and that he’s passed the torch on to Deku, then David wouldn’t have had as much need to worry. And this is something that All Might had several opportunities to reveal, even over the course of the movie itself. Most especially when David’s checking Toshinori’s vitals and his quirk levels. (Which, I have no idea how you would even trace something like that, but I digress.)

Then, to add salt to the wound, All for One targets David regardless of his knowledge of One for All. Just his connection to All Might as a former sidekick was enough to put him in the line of fire. All Might’s secret-keeping didn’t protect him from anything, and instead turned an already bad situation worse. In the end, presumably David Shield is put away in prison, because when we see Iron Might in the manga, only Melissa is pictured, not her father, and if David had been available I refuse to believe that he wouldn’t have had a hand in the suit’s creation. All Might’s time limit in his muscle form is also shortened once again.

Ultimately I believe this specific situation is what led to him eventually urging Deku to not make the same mistake he did, in not telling anyone about One for All.

Also, the specificity of Wolfram being drawn this way after being defeated, gaunt and steaming, paralleling someone else we all know and love, felt very intentional. I don’t have more to say about it at the moment, I just thought it was interesting and that I’d point it out.

[eriexplosion]

Okay so. I cannot take it seriously when people say that we weren't led to think CX-2 was Tech. Because no we were not just having foreshadowing of the creation of an Evil Bad Batch. The clues led directly to Tech.

We have to start with the fact that they didn't kill him off definitively. Start with his survival being debated (and there's no way they didn't know it would be debated because I choose to believe they are not stupid) then introduce a character that lasts suspiciously long and has weirdly intense beef with Crosshair and you already are inclining people towards believing this is Tech.

CX-2 goes through a speedrun of Tech scenarios with 1. the leg crushed by a heavy falling object, similar to Ruins of War 2. knocked over by an explosion leaving him dangling above the abyss from a line like Plan 99 3. going over a waterfall and crawling out in a shot that completely matches the scene from The Crossing.

One or two of these is a coincidence, all three together less so.

Plan 99 notes mixed into The Battle of the Snipers. Which the Kiners only explained as the notes 'sounding good in brass' and nothing else.

He gets distinctly Tech like dialogue and no I don't just mean 'domicile' though we do have to acknowledge that no one else in Star Wars uses this word on the regular. We also have the exact match of 'Who are you' to Decomissioned, and the matching of 'I have simply cut off her means of escape' to Tech regularly saying 'I am simply-' when explaining himself, which again is something no one else in the show shares. Tech has a distinct way of speaking that matches CX-2, especially as of Point of No Return. (And CX-2 doesn't really sound like Crosshair, because Crosshair is just straight up not as chatty as CX-2 and never has been.)

He gets a long, unnecessary scene with Phee where he suddenly forgets how to be a murder assassin and starts playing soft.

He doesn't shoot Hunter when he has a chance and chooses to instead shoot his own man, he doesn't blow up the Marauder while Wrecker is inside, and when Omega surrenders he opts to just wait for her to hand him her communicator. He doesn't even shoot Shep when Shep starts talking back to him, all of which indicated that maybe for whatever reason he didn't want to, bolstering the Tech theories.

Getting into an opinion rather than analysis here but: Evil Bad Batch is a stupid fucking idea, it serves no purpose whatsoever other than a cool boss fight that adds nothing to the story. Having a CX be someone, anyone they actually cared about would have been interesting and actually played into the themes of family and forgiveness that were set up earlier in the season. Instead it's just more people to kill off to zero interesting payoff. It's stupid.

Every person I spoke to offline thought that this was Tech. All of them. People that have never looked on social media, watched a theory video, anything. All thought CX-2 was Tech and were confused when he was speared. This was not terminally online theorizing gone wild, this was a very widespread thought and assumption.

So, if they didn't mean to do any of that and at no point intended to imply this was Tech and were solely trying to foreshadow their 5 minutes of Evil Batch fight? They did it poorly. When the majority of your audience actively believes you are leading to one direction only for it to be some other direction that you meant to lead them to, the problem is not The Audience Didn't Read It Right, the problem is you wrote it badly.

[kommandonuovidiavoli]

A little reflection on lore and AUs

This is something that's been roaming in my mind for a while, I just want to put it down on "paper".

All of us have their main AU. And with AU, I mean a universe where their characters are canon in the KND lore and live their own adventures. All of us have a main timeline with the main characters that will go on living their lives and adventures.

This AU can generate more AUs within it, where little things change, and these will be labeled as "AUs" by the creator since they derive from the main plot but then develop into something else. And these kinds of AUs are fun because you can explore different possibilities within your own story!

Now, that being said, let's talk about "adding someone else's OC into your story". I see it can have 4 main situations:

The OCs and their lore are now fused with your own, and you accept the existence of said OCs in your story since they don't change the end result, if anything they make it funnier to achieve;

The OCs are a different AU and you know it, and you just play it as a different AU from your plot, it's just for fun;

This is a "different universes meeting" kind of deal, a portal opened somewhere, and now the AUs are interacting. They won't change their final story, but this is a fun little moment that can be canon or not;

You acknowledge these OCs may exist in your own universe but also specify that, even if they might have the same story and personalities, they also might be a different experience from the main AU the creator invented for them. They just exist in your universe, but they are not the same exact people.

I love the 3rd plotline a lot, I find myself doing that but with past and future, having them meet for the lolz (even if it's just an AU into my story). I am also up for RPing AUs meeting because I find the concept really funny and interesting, with characters explaining their deal and then going on adventures together (also because let's be real, Penny ain't gonna meet anyone's OC anytime soon since there's age difference).

But when I introduced the idea that @artsygirl0315's Sector PHP meets Irwin I started diving into the 4th case: these OCs might exist in my universe but they are not the exact same.

As an example, still using Sector PHP: let's say I will have them show up for the Nightmare War and help others win it. They will be canon in that part of the lore (if the creator wants), but of course, in their main story the Nightmare War never happened and they will never experience it, and I won't force them to add it to their canon, since this is completely my creation and *I* only know how to develop and end.

Another example (sorry for dragging you in but this is relevant lol), is @roguephenon, who has the plan to make Penny canon in his AU story, but she's gonna be a different version of Penny, even if they might end up having the same main traits. He can have Penny do what he wants, and he can modify her a bit, but still, Penny is now canon in my AU and his AU too! Maybe one day these two will also meet and tbh I LIVE to see that moment!

Honestly, usually, the fandoms I was in were canon-oriented, there weren't too many OCs, and if there were, I and other creators would go the 3rd route and have AUs somehow meet.

This is the first time I find myself actually wondering if I can make it somehow canon that someone else's OC exists in my AU. And I like it!

Of course, if you don't like the idea just hit me up (literally, with a bat) and say you don't want your OC into my lore but you're up for AUs meeting or whatever you prefer!

So far, I am just playing around with OCs meeting and having fun but... well, I do need people for the Nightmare War LMAO.

What do you think? What is your favorite thing to play?

[egg-emperor]

Often I see a lot of art of Eggman taking care of Sage. Whenever I see that I can't help but think it should be the other way around. Sage should taking care of HIM. She should be the one feeding him. She should be the one doing heavy lifting for him. She should be the one tucking him into bed at night and reading him a story where he wins and Sonic dies! That's the much more accurate dynamic in my eyes. Hopefully one day more people realize this.

LITERALLY you fucking get it!!! Eggman is a selfish, bratty, short-tempered manchild, the one with interests commonly considered childish like amusement parks, carnivals, circuses, toys etc, he created Sage to protect him in his own words, and he specifically values her for her loyalty and efficiency and how she serves him. Eggman is a father only by title and having a creation he calls a daughter and not by the actual traditional roles, duties, and responsibilities. It's anything but a traditional guardian and child dynamic, a complete subversion

And Sage is far from a typical daughter, she's a servant and protector first as that's what Eggman created her for and specifically values in her first and foremost and it doesn't change because it's what his whole appeal for the dynamic even is for him. Sage doesn't have anything in common with regular children, she's far from a dumb baby toddler that needs coddling and protection. Eggman doesn't want her to be like that, it's the opposite of everything he asks of her and doesn't coddle or protect her in the game, he literally lets her sacrifice herself for him even

Sage is the guardian and protector while Eggman gets behind her for protection like the final Horizon teaser (not that he can't defend himself but she was made to protect him and he'd rather someone else take the shot lol). Eggman isn't the overprotective father type when he literally lets her sacrifice herself, he's only possessive in a "you should be giving ME attention" way like when he's jealous and pissy when he notices Sage admiring Super Sonic. Eggman also has tantrums like a stubborn, selfish, bratty kid while Sage is the more level-headed one in such situations and tries to reason with him

With those all canon examples, Sage is really taking on the parental protective guardian roles, positions, and behaviors. So we can definitely assume it applies to everything else too. He's the one who would be indulging in things considered childish like amusement parks/carnivals/circuses/toys etc most as he always has- Sage could possibly show less enthusiasm unless he gets her into them as a selfish way to do more 'family activities" like she asked him for/she takes interest to make him happy/to take only chance for those types of activities to happen between them

Sage would be the one feeding Eggman instead (she doesn't even need to eat anyway and Eggman likes how he's free from the responsibility along with everything else lol), and the one cleaning up his mess, giving him all the affection, attention, support and comfort he wants, prioritizing his needs and desires, and doing all the heavy lifting to make his life easier on top of being his protector. The roles are completely reversed as in her programming and by Eggman's desire for her to serve him and she loves him so much and is eager for his approval so she'll take it all on for him

And YES to HER tucking HIM in and reading HIM bedtime stories, where he defeats Sonic and rules the world agksbakgbsmg I love it. He'd probably encourage her to make up the stories and get happy when she says exactly what he wants to hear but if there's a plot beat he doesn't like he's like "NO, *THIS* happens!" and she immediately changes it like "yes of course father, actually *that* happens" to keep him happy. And how giddy he gets when someone else entertains his dreams and how it cheers him up after a bad day makes it worth her time hehe 💜

I love how much of a total subversion their dynamic is in the game and I'd love if fandom embraced it with fun scenarios like that!

[progamer27]

EPIC: The Musical - Character Growth

I like it when characters aren't one-dimensional, especially main characters.

Sure, it's fine and fun to have characters who are solely evil or solely good from time to time.

But I vastly prefer characters that go thru some sort of development - that takes its time -, and then come out changed by the experience.

Enter: Odysseus and Athena (and also Eurylychous)

I think it's pretty safe to say that, at least at the start of the musical, a lot of people didn't like Athena and Eurylychous too much - and were quick to label them as, at the very least, "villain-adjecent".

But now that we have had 6 out of 8 Sagas released, we can understand them better. And same for Odysseus.

Eurylychous: In the Odyssey, he is a minor character whose only role is to be a plot device (killing and eating Helios's cattle). In EPIC, Eurylychous is shown as someone more focused on the crew than anything else. Brash and Hot-headed, he is the opposite of Odysseus.

So, why is he interesting? Because we SEE (or HEAR) how he grows from just; a soldier whose first instinct is to murder (Lotus Eaters) or flee (After blinding Polypheamus), to a desperate man who wants to get back home as fast as possible - even if it means leaving his comrades behind (Circe), to a man who needs to confess his guilt (Scylla, as a follow up to Keep Your Friends Close and Puppeteer), to someone who's desperate and has given up entirely (Mutiny and Thunder Bringer).

In conclusion: Eury isn't a villain, but Just a Man. He made mistakes and was abrasive, but so would many people in his place.

ATHENA: In Greek Mythology, Athena is one of the most Hubris-Filled (Prideful) Goddesses out there. In EPIC, she is much of the same... at the Start.

Because Remember, prior to the Wisdom Saga, we only really saw/heard Athena 3 times. And in those 3 times, we get presented with who she is at the moment; A Goddess who views Odysseus as a "project/creation" (Warrior of the Mind and Remember Them), and as the less rose-tinted Goddess who lost her friend because of the circumstances (My Goodbye).

Now, at this point in time, most people would simply label Athena as a "typical greek goddess" - that is to say, a deity who doesn't really view humans as equal to her, and who lacks Humanity.

....until she meets Telemachus.

Then, the characterization... matures; she becomes less closed-off (We'll Be Fine), admits that she was pushing too hard (Little Wolf), realizes that what she did to Ody was HORRIBLE - and, if I may interject, she will probably be a bit shocked/traumatized at seeing Ody trying to kill himself (Love in Paradise), and finally as someone who realized they STILL CARE for their friend, and that tried to do everything to save them (God Games)

In Short: Athena went from being an unlikable cold goddess - one who refused to comprehend human emotions -, to being much more "human".

(And please, if you are a fanfic writer, try to write a story where Athena just... realizes how shitty her life was, and how badly she treated others, and let her have an home with the Itachan Family. She needs her friends, and she probably needs to express her emotions in an healtier way)

ODYSSEUS:....

....

....

What is there to say? The musical is ABOUT HIM, and about how the line between man and monster (good and evil) is incredibly thin... but also about how you CAN come back from the brink, how you can "Become Yourself" again.

In the Odyssey - even if the story is a banger -, I didn't get the impression that Odysseus changed too much. Sure, he may have some trauma and suicidial thoughts, but he didn't do a 180°, then another one, and finally got a better understanding of life. He was still just... Odysseus, the King of Itacha and Father of Telemachus. Odysseus, the Silver-Tounged Liar. Odysseus the sacker of cities.

In Epic....

...Well, I think you know where I'm going with this..

In Conclusion: The EPIC versions of the characters feel like Actual Characters - almost actual humans - who make mistakes and aren't wholly "pure villainy" or "goodie two-shoes".

Sure, we have example of both of these things (Goodie = Polites, Penelope, Astynax; Villains = Poseidon, Polyphemus, Scylla, Zeus, The Suitors), as well as some morally-grey ones (Dark Grey/Leaning toward Evil = Calypso; Light Gray/Leaning towards Good= Circee, Aeolus, Tiresias)

But i think that I've said enough.

[villiedoom]

Hi, I love, love, love your art! It so beautiful and natural that I sometimes wonder why I don’t see your creatures on the drive to my parents through a wildlife refuge.

I would like to ask, if you have time (because it looks like your creatures have names), are they creations or individuals? Do they have stories? Where can I find those stories?

Thank you again for the beauty and wonder.

Thank you! I'm glad that you like my art <3

They are individuals of course, and I know few of them "personally", as dear inhabitants of my headworld. I don't really percieve them as "creations", rather as persons. Even as people, just in the bodies of fantasy felines.

My closest ones are Vewis and Atram, and they are also kind of guides for me, as I mostly learn about their world and species from them. They do have a story (which is forever WIP), and bits of it sometimes appear in my illustrations and short descriptions. I don't post full stories though, I don't feel ready to this.

In short, for everyone who are interested in knowing what is the story behind them, it is mainly about Atram, who appears an ambitious and passionate researcher, being obsessed with the Black Pyramid - a mysterious and dangerous Tower (usually appering as Obelisks and Pyramids, these are mysterious entities that form a large-scale energy sources and networks), that others see as a global threat and want to destroy, but Atram sees it from a completely different perspective.

Atram goes through his difficult journey from idea and passion, terrifying break and almost death, many years between suffering and peaceful life with Vewis, being someone who could never let go of his goal, idea and passion, even despite how crazy it seemed and how much suffering and grief it brought both to him and others.

Vewis appears as a bit of a different perspective, and in part he is a storyteller, for whom the story of Atram is something that he keeps close to his heart, knowing some deep, personal and intimate sides of Atram and his journey that no one else knows.

The story is meant to be quite symbolic and metaphorical, having a lot of connection with my own mental/spiritual/symbolic journey, so it is very personal and there are always new details and perspectives for me to see. This is not a project, but rather just my journey and impressions, so I don’t know if this story will ever have any finished form...

There is also another story, Eclipse, which is about Vaerafes, but it is really dark and heavy, and I don't want to touch it for now... :')

Hope this clears things up a bit!

[redfluffz]

hi it’s mean again, I just have lots of questions bouncing around my head when I read your comic. This questions relates to God and creating the universe, if God knew that Heaven and the universe in general would eventually turn against Lucifer why did he continue to create the universe this way. Like why not change the concept of angels or not have angels at all and make something else to govern Heaven. It just feels weird considering if God cared so much about Lucifer why would he continue to make the world that would eventually cause his downfall.

I also wanna ask, do you plan on giving God a type of redemption at some point in the future. I feel like it would be really interesting to see Lucifer call him out forcing him to look back at his past actions and realize that he really was a pretty bad father and creator.

God we see in the comics = the avatar => he is the one I'm talking about in this answer.

God as this omniscient being = simply everything => I'm not talking about him.

That's important to understand my answer here - so I'm linking your question where I explained their differences.

Okay let's start when creation was born. When the avatar created itself it also created the base of the universe/world/creation. With that he has already chosen how the universe will work and the possible paths he could enter.

So the avatar felt lonely - he wanted someone to accompany him. But he wanted his friend to be like him. And even with knowing that this being will have trouble, he created him.

The problem with creation and Luc is, that God wanted Luc to be special and way more important/valuable. Luc was supposed to be like God while creation is just a playground for him.

And God actually never wanted to create more beings. Not only because he knew what would happen, he simply doesn't need more. Luc was all he wanted and that's why Luc was perfect in kinda every way without any problems.

But Luc didn't want to be alone. He has much love (you know general love) to share and he really likes the company of many around him. He is interested in what others doing. What they like, how they live, their culture, ... And God gave in to his wish ...

He was so in stress to activate the right path when creating Michael, that he was causing the worse one. You know? You wanted to do something right so badly that you actually make it worse.

So at this point God wasn't able to stop it anymore. Not because he can't, it's because Luc always tries to stop him. Luc loved (and maybe still loves) creation as it is. So God is waiting for Luc to give in.

But "waiting" means for God to "help" Luc to understand that creation is no good. And that's why he is making Luc life a nightmare.

I also made a post about this problematic.

I wouldn't say God is evil, but I agree to the word "bad". Cause that what he is. He was a very good father when being with Luc alone, but his character really changed with Michael and he was getting crazy/mad. I'm not sure if there is redemption for him, but I like the idea of Charlie being the main one who is fixing/healing Gods and her fathers relationship so God may have redemption.

I hope I could answer your question.

Thanks for asking! ✨️

[gloryundimmed]

Get to know the mun ! repost, don’t reblog .

——— BASICS.

NICK NAME : Gray/Grayson

PRONOUNS : He/him

ZODIAC SIGN : Aquarius— fits me, right?

TAKEN OR SINGLE : Single, but a flirt and I'm sorry

ANYTHING ELSE ? : Nah I'm just chillin'

——— THREE SERIOUS FACTS.

I currently make money off of freelancing in web design and graphic design. I've worked for four literary journals now in some capacity, and I usually take the roll of web editor/graphic designer plus a reader. I'm also the web editor for my school's newspaper. My hands are always full, but that's the way I like it. I like commotion and stimulation.

I tend to keep people at an arms length even if I don't mean to, so if I ever feel distant, I apologize. I can just get weird when I'm too attached to someone, and I hate that feeling. Though it comes back to bite me in the ass because sometimes I feel like I have a ton of friends and I'm very social and love people, but I've got no "best friends."

I've got ADHD, which in my case means that I say yes to anything new and shiny despite how busy I may be. Sometimes I can be bad at gauging how much I can do at once, which leads to things slipping off my plate. Plus, the executive dysfunction is real af and I sometimes need a kick in the ass to get things done. Sorryyyy but you love me, right?

——— THREE RANDOM FACTS.

I have a dog named Romeo and I love him soooooo much

Death and knowing I'll die one day doesn't really scare me. Not that I want to die or anything, but letting people down scares me much, much more. It's my worst fear yet I feel like it happens all the time.

I love attending concerts, and music is a big inspiration for my writing. I'm always listening to something!

——— EXPERIENCE.

I've been into creative writing since I was at least 12, and at that age I began rp on a website called wetpaint.com with an elf OC because I was so into LOTR back then. Shortly after, I made an OC named Jake who I wrote with a lot. Wetpaint was like wordpress, a service where you could create little privately owned websites that could be made for any purpose with a forum/comment-like setup on most pages, and I would write with my in-person friends. I took a bit of a break from rp in my first three years of high school, but still wrote short stories. During my senior year, I got back into the rp scene, but that time here on tumblr. I've been writing here on and off ever since, with the creation of Kai in July 2014. Currently, I'm getting my bachelors in creative writing, so I guess that might count as experience, too. Sometimes I even write fanfiction lmao.

——— MUSE PREFERENCE.

Gosh, idk. I tend to go for a lot of different types of muses as long as they are written well and don't feel empty. I do lean toward more action/fantasy/romance than regular slice of life or platonic stuff, though. The muses I find most interesting have a lot of depth. I tend to find people with 20+ muses on their blog a little intimidating because I can't imagine having so many and it's hard to choose between them all. Also, it may not be true, but sometimes I can't help but think if they have so many, they can't possibly be at the depth that I'm looking for, but I'm probably just wrong on that. I barely have my 6 guys and write Kai the most of all, so it's hard for me to understand.

——— FLUFF / ANGST / SMUT.

FLUFF : I think I like cute stuff as much as the next guy. Sometimes I can find it a little boring, though. LMAO

ANGST : I LOVE angst. I love two characters who don't get along or have some sort of friction between them. It's my lifeblood, and that's probably obvious to see since I have a muse like Kai as my main. Conflict, heartbreak, violence, despair— I love it all.

SMUT : Can you guess? Again, with a muse like Kai, I think its clear that writing sex and sexuality is a big part of my journey as a writer. It's not a must-have for me in any rp, but it certainly spices things up and goes hand in hand with angst. Anything you catch me writing solo is bound to have smut in it somewhere, and I'm not afraid to admit it. Sex is such a huge part of life for a lot of people, and I think the Puritan guilt of society has caused many to shy away from it. I strive to be a sex-positive writer. If it's not your bag, though, I can certainly understand that as well.

——— PLOT / MEMES : They don't call me the idea guy for nothing! I love plotting, even if it doesn't always come to fruition or never comes to fruition. Plotting sustains me. It has the thrill of imagining scenes without having to go through the slog of writing them. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy writing, but I don't always have the energy to roll up my sleeves and get to it. I also love memes! Any meme someone sends feels like a love letter to me and my muses. They're great because they can start things off with no plotting required. I send them in as often as I can, but sometimes I'm not around and don't see them.

TAGGED BY : @shishitoren-vc tyvm!! love u

TAGGING: @lured-into-wonderland @incandescentia @eraba-reta-unmei and anyone else who wants to. I chose some people I don't know as well but would like to!

[hakusins]

Very important question from someone you may or may not know:

Are you interested in Greek Mythology? If so, do you have any favourite gods, goddesses, creatures, and myths? Can we also know why you like them? 🎤

yeah i like greek mythology a normal amount. bjhEBRJHFBHJERBFJJEBRHF

BUT IN ALL HONESTY, anon - this ask had me running around clawing at my walls screeching and IT DEFINITELY WOKE UP A LOT OF DEMONS THAT WERE SLEEPING IN MY HEAD HJERBFBJHERF i actually had to take the whole day to just calm myself down.

no i don't like greek mythology i LOVE IT. I ALSO LOVE EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY, NORSE MYTHOLOGY, RIGHT NOW DABBLING INTO EAST ASIAN MYTHOLOGY LIKE KOREAN, JAPANESE AND CHINESE BUT IM GETTING THERE !!!!!! BHJTGBHJRHJHERFHBERFJ GRRRRRGRGGRHETGGRER. !!!!!!!!! IM SUCH A NERD, I LOVE LEARNING ABOUT MYTHS, I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT MYTHS !!!!!!!!!! its why I love the BL series ENNEAD and I LOVE LOVE LOVE xianxia danmei novels because ANYTHING WITH MYTHS WILL HAVE MY HEART!!!!!!

okay now onto your questions! In all honesty, from my very very deep and in depth knowledge of all of them, it is safe to say I can't say i think of any of them as cool or anything. i think they're all assholes one way or another. but i do quite like {oseidon because myths involving him are always the funniest to me JBHREFBJHREF but for goddesses... hm, there's not much but i quite like athena :DDD I honestly don't really have favourite goddesses/gods, but I do have favourite creatures!!!

THE MINOTAUR, ASTERION, IS DEFINITELY MY FAVOURITE !!!! HIS STORY TO ME IS SO TRAGIC, like he was always destined to be a monster - there was no moment since his conception that he could be anything BUT a monster and its just so utterly heartbreaking because this perversion of nature was created just by the gods, so by that principle, shouldn't he be something to be revered? something to be respected? or is it because his mom fucked the sacred bull gifted by Poseidon in order to conceive him that dictates that he is nothing more than a stain on his family, that he was an abomination that shouldn't have been born? bUT NOT ONLY THAT, his creation is the results of the gods' intending to punish King Minos for his arrogance and greed, but they made Queen Pasiphae, his wife, to bear the brunt of the humiliation? Like she's an innocent party in this matter, but she's the one who is forced to bear a half bull child and her husband just gets humiliation? I DONT KNOW ITS JUST, the creature of the Minotaur just fascinates me deeply that I want to nitpick the author or just the person who begun this myth because what was the cultural environment that inspired this myth? Was there a real life event that inspired this? Or was this just a cruel and sick imagination of how mortals think the gods dole out their punishments?

I CAN HONESTLY YAP THE SAME WITH MEDUSA, but Medusa had so many chances to not BECOME the gorgon Medusa. Like there could be timelines where Medusa was not a priestess in Athena's temple, where her tragedy began. Medusa could've chosen to be something or someone else and there's a chance she could've escaped her fate. THE MINOTAUR NEVER GOT THAT CHANCE, hell if you asked anyone with a mild knowledge of Greek mythology, no one would know that the Minotaur's name is Asterion! They only know him as the Minotaur, the beast of the Labyrinth.

but for myths, I honestly can't choose - Helen of Troy? Odysseus? Arachne? King Midas? Ixion? Sisyphus? Tantalus? Lycaon? Europa? The foundation of Athens? The birth of Peresphone? Hades and Persephone? Eros and Psyche? Adonis? Narcissus? Jason and the Argonauts? Perseus? Theseus? Heracles? The Titanomachy? The birth of Aphrodite? The Gigantomachy? Atalante? Typhon and Echidna? The birth of Dionysus? The several renditions of the birth of Zagreus? The birth of Hermes? Achilles and Patroclus? The women of the Amazon? The Titans? Pandora's Box? I CAN GO ON BUT THERE'S JUST TOO MUCH FOR ME TO TALK ABOUT !!! I HONESTLY HAVE SO MUCH FUN AND IM LOVING SO MUCH BERJFJBHERJBFEJHRF URHGRGHT please come back to talk to me about greek mythology anon please please please please, i swear i'm normal.

[sparklingdemon]

not sure if this is where i deposit the opinions but hacker cody is interesting. as of now, i interact with them as a topic harshly to get a reaction+make a show. i know ive done that at least once, hopefully. but aside from that, i think hacker cody was just….

kinda an ass, but was reasonable. not sure. they sound familiar to someone i have had. deeply unpleasant experiences with, given that they apparently went bitter for no reason, put the blame on everyone else, and was planning to ghost their friends with no warning, at least according to Cody. They seemed deeply combative at the least, and very snarky. I hesitate to take the 3 ghosts’ personalities and cody’s as a basis for what the hacker was like, given the ghosts are just. extreme for emotions, and Cody isn’t hacker cody, despite how much the 3 ghosts think they’re similar. this may be bias, but i’m just running off info Cody provided + their actions+ …very minimal sprinkling of my biased experience. admittedly, if i factor in the ghosts, they seem more like someone else who was equally bitter that i had a more pleasant experience with. both people cody remind me off though…they weren’t actually that nice, were still combative, and easily turned to anger.

I believe hacker cody was unaware of the sentience of Cody and the ghosts, and the possibility that it WAS probably crossed thier mind when red/leaf went off script, but ultimately, it was just a game. I don’t really blame hacker cody for not knowing, and even then, we don’t exactly…know. because then there’s thier unknown death to factor in. so thier game was finished, but was it irreversible to what thier had wanted it to be? was it sudden? was it tied to what red/leaf had said? depending on how you view it, hacker cody DID have a reaction to red/leaf and CODY, since CODY learnt they could turn off the game because of what they saw.

In general, i’m not even sure if this is right but Hacker Cody as of now, is just. someone who died, they were combative, possibly depressed and lashed out at everyone for it, and did not take accountability for things their fault. they are innocent in terms of the creation of pkmn monochrome, and the thought it was real was never fully realized, though we dont know if thier death is tied to red/leaf’s plea and cody, and if they had a true reaction. I mean, people write dark stories and bad things happen to characters. you’d be strange to throttle the author for that. and if was explicitly stated red/leaf kept thier sentience a secret UP until the end. i dont blame hacker cody, i’d probably brush them off but it’d probably unsettle me. but aside them that, they’re just a person who died, and what mostly matters are the other characters’ pov and feelings towards them. i interact with hacker cody as a topic..like hitting a hive’s nest. carelessly (as one would because who hits a nest without planning) and painfully. again, puts on a show.

as a asker on the blog, i put a persona of a inuniverse person caring about cody MOSTLY because it’s “practical”(firmly believing the game shouldn’t be reset since cody is interesting with or w/o the ghosts) and using the chance to basically demean + antagonize whoever can be affected the most. mostly blastoise, since he’s the only one aside from cody who gets upset. the persona used in pkmn monochrome also tries to despite and argue with almost any topic without regard. cody’s feelings do factor into how they act, so hacker cody is a topic they cant throw out willy nilly. so that’s my opinion on hacker cody + how i generally interact with them as a. topic. for the long post+ derailing hope this was the right spot/okay.

👀

(i can't say much abt hacker cody bc spoilers but i am eating this. thank you for sharing.)

[howlingday]

Oh ok so I'm about lore dump one of the most important for my Rwby world. So

I have seen all of Rwby and don't know everything so I'm gonna step over real Canon lore.

I'm not good with power balancing in stuff.

A lot stuff my be understanding which you might see differently.

Feel free to call anything out you think could be better also I'm not asking to write anything if want to use my ideas I give you permission but I'm asking you to?

Without further ado let's talk about The Keep and it's Keeper.

Long ago when the brothers still wandered the Rement with their creations a women would follow and worship them. The women was mighty curious about the gods. She would flatter them, bring them gifts and talk about how the world was. Inreturn they would sparly talk of a relam they lived before. The women wonder if they were born their or if it was another world they made. As she grew old and Time neared its end she would build a magic mask to keep her memories and a piece of soul so her apprentice would have all the tools he needed.

As time pasted the mask would gather more soul pieces and memories. Soon a women named Salem would gather the armies of Humanity to fight the gods. The current holder of the mask thought she was insane with how much he knew of the gods.

So he gathered a small group of people and ran far away from the battle and prayed for mercy. It is not know if the gods listen or were seemingly so egotistical that they missed the spot. With population they would try to reproduce but it was quickly show 2 generations they would end up inbreeding with how little they were. So the current holder tried to slice human and animal DNA to fix the problem and it worked.

But would one see humans came back so the host now called the Keeper would return and learn of Salem and Ozma using the relics he would learn Salem,Omza, and even the Ever After story and mangne to get a single leaf of the Tree. The next Keeper would become one of Salem's handmaidens. Which would go terribly so as the castle burned the Keeper would shove a child away causing the child to knock out but seen by someone else and saved.(A story for another time)

Salem and Omza were locked in battle so the Keeper would hide away. The Keep would soon develop fully as it's own entity. As magic started to die out the Keep and it's current Keeper were able to grow a small tree from the preserved leaf. Using the tree they were able to make a Potion that would awaken magic in people without magic but kill those unable to handle it. So the Keeper title would be passed down all the way to morden day always staying out of Ozpin and Salem sight even giving people Magic or making Magic tools to keep them of its tail.

I think that's enough for origin. Many of his actions will effect my Rwby world. Feel free to ask any questions or critique anything.

This sounds like a really interesting idea. I'm kinda curious to see where this story goes. Though I do have some questions about the story, too.

First off is the mask the Keeper wore, and how it would store the memories of the previous keeper, as well as their soul. Does the mask still do that? What happens when someone wear the mask? Does it ever come off?

Next is the topic of the inbreeding group who were able to solve their problem thanks to splicing animal DNA. How exactly did they do that, and were there any ramifications to the inbreeding?

Last is the tree growing in Remnant. Is it sentient? How is it decided whether or not a person is worthy? And if these people are granted magic, how are they kept out of sight by the rest of Remnant?

[lildoodlenoodle]

How I would have personally wrote the villains in Marvel Spider Noir

First my bias (that’s a little controversial), didn’t enjoy the carney gimmick. Now don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of critiques they could’ve made of the 1920-30s treatment of disabled people and ‘carney culture’ that they didn’t do that would have made me like it more. I could get into the ‘why’ more but for now I’ll just say I didn’t like it.

Black Cat/White Widow - not a villain, but she’s here. Honestly I just wish we got more of her, she is such an interesting character and unlike the majority of Felicia’s we’ve met. I would have definitely leaned more into the White Widow thing AND given her a storyline with Daredevil and Electra(Eliza).

Chameleon - No notes really. The like melting face scene was awesome, just wish we saw more of it.

Doc Ock - Let’s get it out of the way: Making the two disabled villains also nazis was very ableist, and very much villainized the disability.(I’m making a post going more in depth dw) And to be quite honest, dude did not need to be disabled. You could change very little and still have the same story with him not being disabled, the only thing is we’re less likely to get the multiple arms. So I also would have had him come back. I would’ve had his boat go down and him have a ‘transformation’. I’d probably keep it in the same mystical eldritch god vein, but like an octopus god so we get freaky octopus Octavious.

Goblin - The fake skin thing was kinda a stretch for me(of all things ik lol) but whatever. Again, leaning away from the carney stuff and leaning into curses and eldritch god horror. I think him making a deal makes the most amount of sense, cause in other comics HE HAS! I’d still keep him a freak and I’d consider not killing him off and actually sending him to jail in the first run. It just feels like a cop out by the narrative so Peter can avoid truly exploring his morality and the consequences of working with a corrupt system(sending Norman to jail). Would I also have Peter eventually kill him when he gets out of jail? Yes.

Huma - she’s an interesting character, not one of the typical Spider-Man villains… but that whole comic was kinda a mess so it’s kinda hard to pick apart what she actually was and what her relationship towards Peter was supposed to be. The concept of someone else who is embodying a god but using it for evil is a nice contrast to Peter and the spider god.

Kraven - honestly I feel like they kind of wasted the character. Like I do get what they were going for but there is sooo much potential there. I would have had him come in after Peter felt established as the Spider to hunt him. Maybe he was after the spider statue and came across The Spider instead? There’s just a lot you could do there with the whole mystical aspect too. Like he could’ve been a monster hunter and Peter is just another monster to him.

Lizard - Again with the disabled Nazi thing but whatever. His appearance was very much blink and you’ll miss it in EWAF. And I believe he’s one of the scientists who gets apprehended(?). I saw in a fic recently the idea that the US gov. cuts a deal with him where he can still do science but for them, and I agree with that a lot. It makes sense, cause the US actually did that A LOT before and after WW2 with Nazi scientists. And I could see an interesting Lizard story line coming from that, where he gets to be a freak of his own creation.

Mysterio - Making him a two bit magician who stumbles across actual magic and immediately uses it for evil is so funny to me.

Sandman - I liked this more than I thought I would. Making him just a condensed hulk of a man is so funny to me but absolutely brutal.

Shocker - again hard to judge but whatever, dude’s kinda meh. His steroid version tho was crazy.

Venom - We’ve gotten 1/5 of a comic of this guy but I do not care. I think what the comics have set up is super interesting, because this a symbiote that didn’t contact Peter before Eddie, AND Eddie is a priest. One who fully believes all the bad things he does, including his gambling addiction, is in service of god and the greater holy good. AND WE’RE EXPOSING A SYMBIOTE TO THAT? As it’s FIRST HOST? Not going to end well. Ik I’ve been saying symbiote but we don’t actually know if that’s what this is. With the things we’ve seen in this universe it is very possible that this is some form of mythical or eldritch creature rather than extraterrestrial. And personally I’d go with the former.

Vulture - … it’s weird in how many universes he’s a cannibal. But anyways, again I would have moved away from the carney thing and more into the mystical thing. We have god like creatures chilling in the wings in this universe, USE THEM. Maybe he was chosen, more likely he cut a deal of some sort and became a monster from that. I also would have made him more of a monster, not just the teeth but also vulture eyes and talons/scales, maybe even some patchy feathers on his shoulders and arms.

[marimayscarlett]

Can someone please translate into English? 🙏

Hello dear anon, here's a translation of the interview. I used deepl as usual and made some changes to fit the messages Richard wanted to convey better. The interview was published on the 2nd of December, 2018.

Here's the german link again as the interview source and comparison for the german-speaking folks:

Richard Z. Kruspe presents his third album as part of the band project - Till Lindemann contributes vocal part

On November 30, Rammstein guitarist Richard Z. Kruspe released his third solo album "A Million Degrees" (Universal) as part of the band project Emigrate. Among others, Till Lindemann, Ben Kowalewicz (Billy Talent) and Cardinal Copia (Ghost) are represented with vocal contributions on it. Christiane Wohlhaupter spoke with the 51-year-old about the collaboration with the singers, his daughter and the interaction with Rammstein. They say all good things come in threes. Do you have this thought in mind for your third album as well?

I used to say that I would make three albums with Emigrate. But in the meantime I can also imagine a fourth one. Maybe in a different constellation, maybe in a completely different musical environment. I've been thinking about how it would be if I were to write a purely electronic album. Or an album with a completely different singer. As long as the world of Rammstein exists, there will probably also be the world of Emigrate. Emigrate puts me in a good balance to let off steam musically. From the age of 50, you also generally think about: Where does life still want to take me? Is there something else that could inspire me? Or just music? I think to myself, maybe there is also a completely different challenge. Creation can also be found elsewhere - perhaps in film. I'm a cineaste who watches two or three films a day. What was the last film that really excited you? So about a year ago, "Fences" with Denzel Washington. I went to the movies last week and saw "Bohemian Rhapsody" and was a little disappointed because I thought it was a Queen movie.

But then it was more like a Freddy Mercury movie ... Yes, the others came a bit too short. If I had known that from the beginning, I might have gone in with a different expectation. What's the story behind "A Million Degrees"? The basic idea comes from 2015, from the time when I was completely burned out for the first time in my life. Hence this text "A Million Degrees." This state then changed when I rewrote the album. I thought about how "A Million Degrees" could be represented visually and came up with the idea that you can also understand it geometrically with the degrees. This versatility, these "Million Degrees" - exaggerated - is what Emigrate is all about.

One of your guest vocalists on the album is Cardinal Copia from Ghost. How did this collaboration come about in the first place? The meeting came about for a completely different reason. We were looking for a producer at Rammstein. I actually wanted to ask Cardinal Copia about a producer. He then said, "I'll be in Berlin next week, let's meet." I asked him if he was interested in a collaboration, and he said he didn't do that on principle. I asked him anyway if he wanted to hear the song I was thinking for his voice. And then when he heard it, he was like, "I'm in, I'm in." He was completely influenced by the music. That's what makes it fun for me, to work with so many artists. I don't have that in my Rammstein world.

Someone who was also influenced by the music was Serj Tankian. He said about "War", the song you thought of for him, that your voice would fit much better. Will you write another song that fits his voice better?

No, I don't work that way. I write first, and then the song tells me where it wants to go. The song takes on a life of its own. It's like cooking. You have to taste it. And with the song, you have to listen very carefully. So you didn't think of Till Lindemann when you wrote "Let's Go"?

That's another story. This song was already created at the time when Till and I wanted to do something together - ages ago. The original idea of Emigrate was, Till and Richard want to do this together. The other bandmates didn't like that, so we put it on hold. But there was the idea of this song - with a different lyrical statement. I then rewrote it again, because this very, very intense time after the fall of the Wall came in mind, when we commuted between Berlin and Schwerin. That was such a wild time.

You dedicated the song "You Are So Beautiful" to your daughter Maxime. What does she think about it? She doesn't take it so seriously at seven years old - maybe that will come later. We shot a video for the song together in Los Angeles. That was a risk, of course, and there was some thought about shooting it with another child. But she did a great job. With Emigrate, I also live out the personal-emotional part. Something I don't do at all with Rammstein. How well can you reconcile rock star life and father duties?

I think the majority of artists generally struggle with themselves. And the majority of artists realize at some point that they can write better under the influence of pain. Of course, there are moments when you enter that zone as an artist. I don't think you can cut that out completely, and a child always feels that, too. My daughter is with me one week and then with her mother the next week. So I live that out in the week that she's not with me. I'm a very moody person, my mood changes sometimes by the hour. But she has such a fun character - it just melts you. I became a father for the first time at 23, and I'm a father now at 50. That's when I gained a certain maturity and experience. Taking the family on tour - we don't do that with Rammstein as a matter of principle. That would be another experience. To what extent does your musical work with Emigrate affect Rammstein? In the past, it was completely separate. Now things are merging - and I think "War" would have fit Rammstein as well. A lot of ideas that come out on Rammstein now were Emigrate ideas - although I actually make sure that Emigrate sounds different. But, of course, you can't split yourself completely. But because there are also five other strong individuals in Rammstein, it's not that noticeable.

[theladysherlock]

talk shop tuesday! incredible coincidence - i wanted to ask you more about your dnd OCs, and you posted a new art piece with one of them! continuing the theme: could you tell more about your dnd OCs and how they came to be?

Ohhhh you have opened Pandora's Box my friend!! I could talk about this topic all day.

Basically there's two parts to this: my approach to DnD in general, and in-depth explanations of the characters. I'm going to put this under a Read More to save everyone's Dash.

Part One: Dungeons and Dragons

So the thing I love most about DnD (and other TTRPGs) is that it's a collaborative game. I'm not responsible for the entirety of the story, I bring my character to the table and everyone else brings their characters and between us, the DM, and the dice, we figure out where the story is going. I enjoy it so much more than trying to come up with everything on my own. And I love that people can surprise me!! @mothmansbigfatass and @ahawkmet (my irl friends and in most of the campaigns I play) can attest, apparently I'm a lot of fun to watch during revelations because I always have a big reaction.

So when making a dnd character, it's important for me to know 1. What the world we'll be playing in is like, and 2. What everyone else is doing. Again, it's a collaborative game, so I want to make sure that I'm playing nice with the DM's world. AND often the setting itself will give me an idea (see Ethan: the game is set at a community college. What's a college stereotype that would be fun to play?). Ideally, the character I make would have a really hard time being plopped into a different campaign and have it still make sense. Secondly, it's more fun for me to play a class that will fill out the party. For example, if we already have a cleric, I don't also need to play a religious character. Those story beats are covered by someone else, I don't want to be competing with another person for cool moments.

Once those two things are settled, character creation is determined by what seems fun to play and what would be interesting aesthetically. I like to keep the backstory light to see what happens as we start playing, and then I can fill it in bit by bit later. Sometimes that bites me in the ass, though (see Ethan: I didn't give him birth parents and then they were incredibly important to the plot). I tend to have a general idea about who they are and what they're like, and then I always get surprised by what they actually end up acting like once we start playing. It's fun for me to figure them out along the way!

The last thing I wanna say about DnD (for now) is that I love everyone else's characters just as much. I just draw mine more because, well, they're mine. I feel weird putting their guys in situations and guessing how they'd react because they aren't my little guys. I much prefer working collaboratively with the other players (like an RP thread) to just writing a story on my own.

Part Two: Ethan

Where to even start with my boy. A bunch of my work friends got together to start a DnD game, and I hadn't played with most of them before so I wasn't sure what to expect. I also did not think the game would last very long, since most campaigns tend to fizzle out after a few sessions. So I made kind of a joke character with extremely little backstory: He's a half-orc, since I hadn't played that race before, he's a bard who is the captain of the local community college's Improv Team, he's "the kind of guy to play wonderwall at a party but you're not mad about it", and I said he's adopted by two men, neither of whom were his biological parents, and he wasn't particularly interested in tracking down his bio parents. This last point is for two reasons: one, I was trying to avoid just duplicating a Dimension 20's Gorgug, a half-orc who was adopted by gnomes and spent the whole first season trying to find his dad; and two, I was pushing an "Adopted parents are not less than biological parents" agenda.

My DM took this personally (affectionate). First session, I was given a clue about his birth parents' identities. From then on, Ethan was dragged kicking and screaming into being the unofficial main character of the campaign. His mom was one of our favorite NPCs, a kickass pirate with a truly tragic backstory who would always jump to help us out of a scrape. His biological dad was the human embodiment of Pride who had took on the form of Fantasy Harrison Ford and was an extremely famous actor in-world. Our BBEG was his uncle, the embodiment of Greed. Every plot point became very personal and it was a lot of fun. I also loved putting him through the wringer, so between me and the DM the poor guy couldn't catch a break.

Part of the dice telling the story, I rolled so bad all the time when I played Ethan. It didn't matter which dice I used, I just rolled really bad, which was not something that normally happened with me. So that was fun to incorporate into his character as we played-- he was insecure about his own abilities compared to the extremely powerful characters he was surrounded by (we had a 20 ft Earth Titan who was an extremely powerful Druid, Emeshka you will always be famous). So he became a more three-dimensional and actualized character the more we played.

He's extremely easy to put in situations and his character design is pretty solid, so I end up drawing him the most. My perfect little guy.

(Anything about him I've tagged either "Ethan" or "Big Yarr Energy" if you want to find more)

Part Three: Mina

After the campaign with Ethan wrapped up, we started a new one in a Cthulhu-inspired setting. My goal with making Mina was to do as close to a 180 as I could from Ethan. While Ethan was a friendly and charming but bad at most things, Mina is a competent and intelligent Druid who's blunt and overworked and doesn't quite know how to meaningfully engage with her party members (but she tries, bless her). Druid was one of the classes I hadn't played yet and I've been making my way through the list of available classes. The One-With-Nature stuff isn't super interesting to me as a player, but I found a homebrew subclass that was based more in Big Cities and as an Architecture Nerd that was much more my speed. Also, I hadn't played an Aasimar before, so that seemed like fun. From all that, I pulled together her whole deal: She was from a bloodline of guardian angels who were sent to protect different villages and towns, and she's gone from her mother's small town to being the guardian of a city of several million people and it's overwhelming. She's lonely and she's jaded and she's got severe Gifted Kid Syndrome and she's got her head on a swivel to make sure her party members are okay even if they don't like her very much and I love her.

I didn't give her a lot of tragic backstory because there are a lot of us playing and I wanted to have a character who could push the plot forward with her actions, instead of having a "now let's stop and talk about my life!!" moment every session that seemed to happen with Ethan. Give everyone else some time to have cool moments, you know? And by GOD are there some cool moments. My fellow players are so good at making compelling characters. Ask @mothmansbigfatass about Nelly if you get a chance.

We're still playing this campaign, although we're nearing the end of it. There's still space for some big moments for Mina in the game, though I'm hoping our DM lets me save hers for last. She's the kind of character to make sure everyone else is okay before taking care of herself, so it feels appropriate. I'm excited to see where Mina ends up. She's definitely a character I'll go back and write/draw a lot afterwards, though. Part of being in a group this size means there's a lot of stuff that just won't get covered. I'll have a lot of material to play with for my own work once we get to the next campaign.

(Anything about Mina I've tagged either "Mina" or "Cthulhu Crimes" if you want to find more)

Part Four: Jess

Jess is a character that isn't from DnD but is a TTRPG character of mine, and I like her so I'm going to talk about her too. Jess is a cautionary tale in Knowing Your Audience.

Jess is from a different group of players than Ethan and Mina. Our DM for that game is notorious for wanting to give us Big, Shonen-Style fight scenes and an insane level of power creep. Character interactions are fine, but his true passion is making us look like Goku.

Jess was... not built to look like Goku. In this world you could identify different types of magic users by their focus, and I wanted her whole schtick to be about deception. She looked like a wizard when she was actually a monk, she looked like a dumb blonde girl when she was extremely smart and good at stealing things, she's a dancer but her primary fighting style was based on capoeira, etc. Also part of why Jess sticks with me as a favorite character is the way I had her powers work was so fun and visually interesting that I haven't been able to shake it. Basically her superpower was that she could snatch bits of other people's powers and use them herself, and you could tell which ones she had because they would fill out spectral stained glass wings with specific colors.

Jess was (and still is, frankly) too complicated for the game our DM wanted to run. Immediately any hope of her being a chronic liar was dashed as her powers did not manifest in a way that could possibly pass off as being a wizard. So instead of being sneaky, Jess became very angry. She was quick to point out injustices in the world we were in. She beat up creeps, she yelled at bigots, she stole powers from macho superheroes trying to one-up her. She had to get a lot less complicated for the story we were in, but the complicated version of her still lives in my head and I like to see what she's up to from time to time.

(I don't think I have anything tagged for Jess, unfortunately)

TL; DR:

TTRPG characters are fun because they let me do my favorite thing creatively, which is bounce ideas off of other people. I typically design them based on the setting, party needs, character tropes that I think are interesting, and just general vibes. Most importantly, though, I don't have a fleshed out character without the input of the other players.

[honey-deku]

wasup @fairyvearths ! im your pitch hitter for the @onepiece-blorboexchange thank you for patiently waiting <3

with out further ado, here’s a story of gang AU where reader meets retired gangster Reyleigh! please enjoy!

Title: Lost

CW: Gender neutral reader, SFW, mentions of gang violence, corrupt police, implied open marriage between Reyleigh and Shakky, library setting, later coffee shop setting, dilf crush, flirting from said dilf, heavy rain

Gang/modern AU

Plot: Reader gets to know Rayleigh pretty well after meeting in a library and the two go out for hot coffee on a rainy day. Reyleigh notices reader was looking up books about urban politics and gang violence and reveals himself to be a former gangster of one of the most notable gang in the city.

Word Count: 3239

_____________________________________

It was a freezing winter day, the rain showered any and all who dared to walk without an umbrella, pelting everyone with bullet like droplets and drenching their outfits.

You managed to minimize the damage when you saw the dark clouds heading your way an hour ago, quickly walking towards the nearest library. You were a little irritated as of all the days for a harsh rainstorm to hit your city, it had to be the day you decided to walk instead of drive, equipped with nothing but a flimsy umbrella. The forecast predicted the heavy rainstorm sometime later this week, you knew this well before hand but you didn’t think it would arrive so quickly or at least at this hour.

Now the issue wasn’t about your clothes getting wet, the issue was how you were going to safely get home? The ominous pitter patter coming from the ceiling above you constantly reminded you of that future problem, reminding you of all the bad choices you’ve made so far today.

You decided to put a hold on the issue and drew your focus back to the task before you: you wanted to find a book that described the history of gang violence in your city. Why? Maybe it was because of how movies romanticized the gang life or maybe it was because you always wondered what it would have been like to be a criminal? You always were fascinated by criminal cases and the psychology behind it too so that might’ve been another factor. 

What really drew your interest was one particular gang, an infamous gang that once terrorized the streets of your city decades ago: the Roger Pirates. And lo and behold, you found a book that covered the topic of this crew and their history.

The leader, Gol Roger, was notorious for bringing lots of prosperity the community but also for driving away other gangs from his territory. He was known for many things and was seen as a controversial figure in your city; some criticized his methods and use of violence while others praised him for keeping the community safe from outside powers and police corruption.

However, after some back and forth with the police, he was eventually caught and was given the death sentence almost immediately but not before announcing a hidden “treasure” he had left behind in his wake. 

Unfortunately for the police, this act only further enticed everyone else to find that lost “treasure” that Roger had hidden away, bringing about the creation of small time gangs that riddled the streets you lived on to this day. Perhaps Roger’s legendary tale and the possibility of finding this so called “One Piece” drew you to these things.

You shuffled through the pages when suddenly a voice yanked you out of your bubble.

“You know who those guys are Y/N?” said a deep voice beside you. You nearly jumped out of your skin. How did you not hear someone walk up behind you? You were so caught up in your daydreams to not notice the figure.

You turned around, looking up to find an elderly man smiling down on you; you felt relieved as you recognized this man, this was the same man who frequented this section of the library as much as you. You two knew of each other and would often greet and wave at the other whenever you two crossed paths. 

His white hair strands were lightly coated with water droplets, he must’ve entered the library fairly recently you thought. He wore a thick navy blue coat with beige faux fur on the inside. Beside the expensive looking jacket, he had on him a pair of name brand circle rimmed glasses, from what you gathered from past conversations, this man seemed pretty wealthy, probably that retirement money.

“I…uh…” You stammered. “I have an idea of who they are”. You weren’t sure why you felt so shy all of a sudden, it’s not like you two were complete strangers but this was the first time you two have spoken outside of pleasantries; you were maybe worried of what he would say upon finding out about the dark content you were reading. You’d never admit it publicly but you did find this gentleman attractive as well; he seemed to be in really good shape for someone his age. 

The older man took notice of this internal panic of yours and chuckled, attempting to dispel the tension in the air. 

“I didn’t mean to scare you, my apologies. Are you studying for a class? I’ve seen you around here often”. 

The familiarity made you feel a little better, and even then, he didn’t come across as someone to be wary of, he just seemed like a sweet old man. 

“Oh! Not really, I find this sort of thing interesting.”

“Oh really?” He scanned the page you were on and his eyes lit up.

He quickly pointed to a photograph in the book you held, a black and white photograph of a group of young men running from something or someone out of view, probably the police. 

The old man smiled, “Hey that’s me!”.

“Yeah right!” you giggled.

“No really! You don’t see it?” The gentleman paused. “Well I guess you can’t really tell from this angle, those cops were never the best photographers.” He chuckled, “Mind I see the book?”

“Sure.” you replied, passing the book to him. He flipped through the pages of the book, scanning its contents and finally stopping on one specific page. He looked at you with gleaming eyes and a giddy smile, “Can I show you something?” 

You rolled your eyes; whatever this old man had to show you was probably going to be a mugshot of some young fella and he was gonna make another joke about it being him when he was younger. You still decided to entertain his shenanigans nonetheless as you didn’t see the harm in it. He was just another playful old man.

“Yeah why not? Sure”. you said as you shrugged your shoulders.

“Ok but you have to promise me you’ll be quiet, understand?” He whispered, tapping his lips with this index finger to emphasize his point.

“Yes yes yes I understand.” You responded back in a hushed, whimsical tone.

The older gentleman looked around and over his shoulders first, making sure no one beside them were around. He passed you the book with his thumb on the page, bookmarking it until it was securely placed in your hands. You put your thumb on the page in place of his, you had to admit you respected him more for not folding the corner of the page to save his place. Unbuttoning his coat, he let it fall on the ground, you raised an eyebrow at his behavior but didn’t speak out, you figured this was just some set up for a joke or punchline.

The old man was wearing a tucked in, button up long sleeve shirt and began to undo the buttons on his arm, your smiled disappeared as you gasped: inked into the his arm were the words “Dark King” in the same font as the Rogers pirates gang logo with a small skull and crossbones on his wrist. He smiled, only this time, his smile seemed laced with a mischievous and almost guilty energy.

Your eyes scanned his tattoo and back down to the book. The page he bookmarked was another photograph with the members of the Roger Pirates gang lined up and posing for the photo and had the older man not saved this page and shown you his arm, you would have missed him in the background, standing tall and proud, surrounded by his crew, his tattoo clearly shown. The second in command, right hand man of the infamous Pirate King Roger, Silvers Reyleigh was standing before you, chuckling at your bewilderment.

Your jaw wanted to drop at this revelation but you needed to remain composed. You weren’t so much as scared but more along the lines of intrigued and captivated at this new information.

You started slowly, “So… you weren’t joking about the guy running in the other photo? That was you?”

Reyleigh laughed, “Oh you thought I was joking? You’re so cute.” You could only blush at his teasing, your face becoming adamantly red. “Is there anything you want to know?” He slowly started rolling down his sleeve and fixing his attire.

Your head was spinning, wondering why Dark King Reyleigh just revealed himself to you of all people? You needed answers first, who you thought was a sweet older gentleman turned out to be one of the city’s former terrors. “Why are you telling me these things?” your voice was shaking slightly.

He let out a little grunt as he picked his coat off the floor, swinging it over his shoulder as he faced your direction. 

“Because I like you.” He smirked, the edges of his grin grew at the sight of your embarrassment. The way he didn’t hesitate and flat out give you his earnest feeling was heartwarming in a weird way. 

“Well…” You coughed. “If it’s alright, could… May I ask you a few questions sir?” Your stance stiffened as you felt you were obligated to respect him, not only as your elder but as a retired gangster. 

Since you dared not look directly into his eyes, you didn’t see Reyleigh's smile turn somber but you could hear it in his tone.

“Come on now, you don’t have to be so formal with me, just talk to me the way you did before.” He patted your back, “How about we get some hot drinks and I’ll tell you more? It’s my treat.”

“Ah.. Right.” You spoke. You didn’t say it out loud but you sort of figured that discussing criminal activities in a government facility like the library was a terrible idea, Reyleigh was trying to take private matters to a more private location, reducing the risk of being overheard by the wrong person.

As you two made your way out of the library, you had to stop all the questions rushing through your head and bring forth the most obvious one: was this man to be trusted?

Yes you met him in a library more than once before, yes you never once felt like you were in any danger around him, and yes he never seemed to stick his nose in anyone else’s business but his own, minus today. But then again, looks can be deceiving.

Reyleigh stopped at the library entrance and turned to face you, swiftly removing his coat and wrapping you with it instead. You tried to refuse the gesture but it was already too late. 

“Reyleigh you don’t have t-“

“Nonsense, I can’t have you walking in the rain like that. I’ll borrow your umbrella if that will make you feel better!” He chirped. Despite your protest, you couldn’t help but smile at his words and actions.

Reyleigh led you to his car, putting his arm around you as he held the umbrella, bringing you two closer. Something about Reyleigh put you at ease, whether it was the fact he was your tiny library crush or the fact that he was a former gangster, you couldn’t tell. Your mind and your heart couldn’t have been more opposite than at this moment.

You hopped into his old car as soon as Reyleigh opened the passenger door for you, closing it firmly. As he made his way around to the driver’s side, you made mental notes of the interior, immediately noticing the impeccable condition of the car despite its age, it truly passed the test of time as you could only conclude that Reyleigh took really good care of the car, keeping up with maintenance and what not.

Reyleigh stepped into the driver's side and started up the engine. He turned to look at you with a sheepish smile on his face.

“We have to wait a while, this old thing takes a few minutes to warm up.” He said, leaning forward to turn down the radio and turn up the heater.

The cabin of the car was silent for a few moments until you spoke up, needing an answer to the most pressing question you had. 

“Why did you start talking to me today?” you asked. “I think there’s more to it than what you said earlier.”

His face became serious as he pondered on how to approach your question, Reyleigh rested his hand on his chin before finally coming up with a response.

“It’s simple, I like you.” he chuckled. “Now here’s a question for you: do you think most people would get into a car with a criminal?” 

“Nope” you answered.

“Exactly. I like people like you, you’re open minded and you’re not afraid of being honest. You were one of the few people who treated me with kindness even after I showed you who I was.” he paused, taking in a deep breath. “Most people who recognize me would treat me like dirt and worse even after all these years passed by. Sometimes I still have to watch my back to make sure someone from a rival gang doesn’t spot me. It’s not a clean or easy life. You know all this but yet, you still saw the humanity in people like me”.

You sat there looking at him, both in awe and with red hues darkening your face at one of the most sincere compliments you’ve ever received. It almost felt undeserved.

“I just…” you started. “I don’t see the point in treating criminals like trash. In your guys' case, I feel like you and Roger did more for our city than what the police could ever hope to do.”

You turned to face Reyleigh, staring deep into his eyes as you uttered your next statement. 

“If anything, I always felt like the cops were a gang of their own.”

The two of you sat in silence, listening to the pitter patter of the rain showering the car. Reyleigh put the car in first gear and started to drive off.

“You see it that way too huh?… Do you want to know why I visit the library so often?”

It hadn’t occurred to you until he mentioned it but now your interest was piqued. 

“Why is that?”

“Well… since my friend was given the death penalty, he doesn’t exactly have a grave, or at least one that I can legally visit…”

“I see…”

“Roger didn’t have any family that would visit his grave or that I knew of besides his son, but their relationship has always been… strained.”

“Roger had a son? Wait… I… A son?!” You had your hands running through your hair, completely baffled by this news. You never once thought Roger the pirate king fucked but it seemed so obvious and silly to think of now. Like of course he did, he was the biggest and baddest gangster in his prime. 

“Oh! You didn’t know?” Reyleigh glanced at you as he drove. “Well I’m not surprised they don’t mention it in the books. Last I heard, that kid is part of a rival gang of his father’s, hanging out with the young bloods doing who knows-what nowadays. Besides that, I don’t know much more. He’s probably around your age or at least part of your generation.”

You mentally shook your head and returned your attention back to Reyleigh, you were going to put Roger’s son on hold.

“So why do you come to the library again?”

“Ah yes! I almost forgot. You said the police are like a gang of their own so I’m sure you can see why I can’t visit my friend, it’d be trespassing since I'm not an immediate family member. As much as I dislike those pigs, I really rather stay on the low and avoid any more trouble.”

“Why? Are you still wanted or something?” You joked.

The car stopped at that one red light that took way too long to turn green, Reyleigh suddenly made a right, flipped a bitch, and then made a right, scaring you half to death from how fast he was driving, almost like he could predict what would happen next.

“What do you think?” He smirked at you, relishing in your shocked expression that reminded him of a scared cat.

“Alright I see your point.” you sighed in exasperation.

Reyleigh continued, “Visiting the library and seeing his face and all my old crew like that is really the only way I can mourn if I can be honest.” He laughed quietly. “You might not believe it, coming from a hard gangster like me, but I used to cry in this car every time after I had visited the library. Today is the first time in a while that I haven’t and it’s thanks to you. For once, I left the library on a good note.”  He pulled over to the side and parked the car, smiling as he looked over to you blushing madly. 

“Are you falling for me Y/N?” His eyebrow raised up comically, clearly enjoying the sight he was seeing. “My my this is only our first date dear.”

“Our first d-?” You put your face in your hands, attempting to hide your embarrassment. 

“Hey I did say I like you, is it really that much of a surprise?”

You opened up a finger to let your eye peep through, looking back at Reyleigh.

“Well no I just thought… you were already with… someone… so…”

Reyleigh paused for a bit before responding. “I see. Tell you what, next time we’re going to my place and I’ll introduce you to my wife. You’ll love her!”

“So you are married then!” You exclaimed.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you two will like each other too! I’ve already told her how cute you are before.”

You let out a small groan, just how did everything fall into place like this? Your only plans for today were to visit the library and go home to lounge about. Now suddenly your library crush is flirting with you in his car and seems to be in an open marriage, a thought that made you flushed with all the naughty mental imagery that flooded your mind. Oh and he was/is a retired gangster too.

He patted your back and caressed it afterwards. “Hey don’t worry about it, let’s just go get our coffee and talk!” He said with an obvious jovial tone. It was really wholesome to see a man like Reyleigh be so happy to have a hot drink with someone who accepted him completely.

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I hope you enjoyed! Sorry to hear that you didn't receive your gift on time but I hope this was worth the wait! ^^ I tried to end things off on a good note for both reader and Reyleigh