#adventures in dice making

[flashhwing]

this time tomorrow I will have cotton candy dice!

[chimchiri]

Poll Adventure: Rarijack Dinner

Index | [prev] - Part 03 - [next] Special thanks to @babydarkstar for putting out great writing

Previous Poll:

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“Rarity…”

Deep down, AJ knows she doesn’t want there to be any uncertainty about what this means to her. She doesn’t want to have to read Rarity for romantic feelings during dinner. It has to be a proper date or nothing at all. Though it might sting in the end, she’s going to have to rip the bandaid off. Inside her has lived a deep longing for this moment, long enough that she’s not sure what it’ll feel like once it’s gone. But at least she’ll never have to live with the guilt of a “what if,” and the pain of the unknown. She’ll be able to say she gave it a shot.

If it does end up badly, she knows at some point she’ll get over it. Hell, if the answer’s a no, maybe Rarity will just find the offer flattering and move on. Surely she’s used to turning plenty of suitors away.

“I’m callin’ because I wanted to ask you somethin’.”

She can feel the blood pumping in her veins.

“Anything, darling,” Rarity says, and the energy between them grows serious.

“I’ve been meanin’ to ask you for a while now,” she begins, taking a huge breath to make sure she’s still alive. Here goes nothing. “Would you…wanna have dinner with me? Just us, I mean.”

There’s a moment of silence. Then—

Rarity’s elegant laughter sparkles like bells in AJ’s ears—and she can’t decide if that’s good or bad.

“Is that what the fuss was about, dear? Of course I’d love to have dinner with you! Dining is much more pleasant with friends.”

…oof. Maybe she should have said it differently. Is it so unusual to Rarity that AJ would mean it romantically?

Though she can’t help but notice the slight tremor in Rarity’s voice, the brimming question of diffidence just beneath her perfectly curated tone. She has to know that AJ wouldn’t call so randomly and sound so nervous just to ask for bonding time between friends.

Well. AJ has to say it—loud and clear. She doesn’t want there to be any misunderstanding.

Her hands are shaking now; she feels like even a weak gust of wind could knock her over.

The voice that comes out of her own mouth—trembling, pitchy, almost timid—doesn’t even sound like her own.

“I meant”—AJ pauses; it feels like the room is spinning—“as a date.”

“Oh…!”

Adrenaline washes over her upon hearing that single reaction. Nothing matters right now except the voice on the line. Try as she might to stay focused, the pounding in her ears makes everything feel muffled. She feels like she does after finishing a rodeo.

Another sound on the phone, barely a murmur.

“Applejack, I—”

But Rarity doesn’t end AJ’s suffering.

Her grip on the counter tightens and she leans into it for support, the weight of her work-toned body causing the old wood to squeak.

The silence on the line is what kills her.

She feels like a lamb backed into a dark corner, timberwolf-shadows cast on the walls of her doubt-addled mind. This is certain death.

Seconds pass, each one growing longer and more painful than the last. She doesn’t know how to react; she doesn’t know what to say—or if she should say anything. All she knows is that with each passing second, fear and doubt cloud her mind until she’s blind with anxiety.

She shouldn’t have done this. This was a horrible idea. Why couldn’t she have just been happy as friends? Is friendship off the table now? What if Rarity thinks she’s a creep now, with all those times they went to the spa together?

Great, now she’s gonna be known as the stereotypical lesbian friend that hits on her straight friends—it’s a fucking myth anyways, but that won’t matter. Has Rarity ever even shown interest in a woman? Now that she thinks about it…

Hell.

AJ’s seconds away from telling her it’s a joke and just backing off. But before she can, she finally hears a response from her longtime crush, the heart-heavy ache that beats in her chest and haunts her dreams with a silver tongue and soft curls.

“Absolutely, I will,” comes the response, and AJ feels like she can breathe again, “I would love to go on a date with you.”

Rarity, however, sounds breathless, like a feather wisp floating on a breeze. The usual high-pitch, energetic frenzy of her cadence has been replaced with a certain poise and composure that’s hard to place. Maybe reverence is the word AJ’s looking for?

AJ blinks twice, trying to form some sort of a coherent sentence. Her brain feels fried. And. She’s kind of in shock? It takes her a few seconds to process that this is a yes, and not the blatant rejection she was expecting.

While it’s not quite the answer she usually fantasizes about in her daydreams, it still pricks the back of her neck with chills—and a wave of relief washes over her.

“I…Really?”

“Yes. Really.”

Okay. This is happening.

���That’s…that’s great news! Okay, well, uh, I’ll see you then and—”

She’s interrupted by a heartfelt giggle from Rarity.

“Slow down, darling,” she laughs, light amusement clear in her tone, “Where will we go? And when?”

Oh. Right.

AJ lets out an embarrassed chuckle. “Oh, yeah—sorry.”

“You must let me know what you have in mind. A lady needs to properly prepare herself…for a date.”

Rarity sounds a bit giddy now, and much more like her usual self again.

But. Shit. AJ hasn’t planned anything out yet. In her nervousness, she didn’t even consider what would happen after if Rarity said yes.

Hmm...

She could invite Rarity over. Cook something for her. Pinkie may do it more often, but cooking and baking are skills AJ takes pride in having. She knows she’s a good cook. Besides the obvious benefit of getting to show off, cooking for Rarity feels personal. It’s more work to do, but cooking can be very romantic. Plus, there are plenty of romantic spots on the farm. Though she doesn’t plan on dining on the floor of the barn, it’s still a farm (and a farmhouse) and she knows how Rarity can be. AJ would hate for one of her dresses to get dirty as a consequence. Even worse, get blamed for it.

There’s also the option of a more traditional romantic evening. A nice restaurant would mean less prep for AJ, and it shows Rarity that she knows what she likes. It would also give Rarity permission to go all out with her outfit, unlike the farm. (Though AJ has a feeling she’ll do that regardless.) She could put on a fancy getup herself and show Rarity she cares about the impression she makes when she’s not toiling in the fields. Oh, but the thought of leaving the fashionista unimpressed by her attempts at an outfit…it makes her itchy. She’d have to ask someone for help besides Miss Haute Couture herself. It’d feel a little taboo to have her pick it out for their date. While dining out means AJ gets to stare unashamedly at Rarity the whole night, it could also be…awkward to sit opposite to each other if it ends up being stiff. Hopefully it won’t be. It’s Rarity; she couldn’t be boring if she tried. And besides—they always find something to joke about, even if it’s themselves.

Then there’s the financial aspect of going out. AJ doesn’t splurge on anything. Ever. She would for Rarity, though. She’s got enough saved for that. Still, she gets annoyed at people trying to nickel and dime her on every little thing. If it comes to that, she hopes she can keep her annoyance to herself. For Rarity.

Ugh. What to say…

---

Tag List: @mrrrpmeow @babydarkstar @butwerebothmares @chaosdraconequus @chrysaliswife

[punkforkos]

Hello!!! What's an OC you haven't had the chance to talk about in a while but want to? :D

Hi!!! Omg... there are so many ocs I'd love to blab about.

But you know what-- I think I have some interesting, unconventional ocs I'd like to discuss! A bit of context: I plan on DMing a campaign set in a homebrew world called Dice Adventure! For this world, I created a whole new pantheon of deities that are integral to the worldbuilding... and they've become something like ocs to me!! <3

My pantheon revolves around concepts. They're abstract, ephemeral, ever-changing. The deities and their chosen emissaries are the embodiment of these concepts and are shaped by perception. They are nuanced, inherently, because of how many different interpretations and associations these concepts naturally have. As such, these gods are not forces of inherent good nor evil, they are simply that: forces that work to continue the flow of the world.

>> Here's a moodboard I made for all of my gods!! <<

And here are some silhouettes for 7/9 of my prime deities! :3

You can look under the cut for more info on my gods and their different domains!

Note: Despite these deities being indicated by God or Goddess or having any specific pronouns used with them, they're all completely genderless! They may present more masc or fem or androgynous, but there's no wrong way to really address any of em. What is gender to an abstract being, yanno!!

💚 The Matriarch: Goddess of Nature and Rebirth

Alt names: The Wild, The Untamed, Mother of Beasts, Mother Nature, Our Lady of Nurture, Mother Wilderness

Domains: Light, Life, Nature, Death, Cycles, Growth, Healing

Note: Loves The Everglow; The Matriarch evolved from the archaic spirit of the Earth and became what she is now over time.

🧡 The Everglow: Goddess of Death and Rest

Alt names: Our Lady of Wax, The Candlemaker, The Gravemother

Domains: Life, Death, Grave, Peace, Order, Loss / Mourning, Memory

Note: Loves The Matriarch

💜 The Merrymaker: God of Revelry and Tricks

Alt names: The Matchmaker, Father of Union, Guide of the Cunning, The Beguiler

Domains: Trickery, Lies, Beauty, Marriage & Union, Camaraderie, Performances, Entertainment, Celebration, Relaxation

Note: Child of The Radiant and The Shade

💖 The Seeker: God of Knowledge and Mystique

Alt names: The Allsight, The Pursuit, The Magician, The Curious, The Patron of Discovery

Domains: Knowledge, Arcana, Fate, Mystery / Discovery, Investigation, Truth, Exploration

Note: Loves [REDACTED]

💙 The Tempest: God of the Sea and Storm

Alt names: The Stormbringer, The Lord of the Elements, The Soulspeaker, The Heart of the Sea, The Unbridled, Our Father of Free Spirits

Domains: Tempest, Storm, Sea, War, Rage, Temperament / Emotions, Change, Freedom

Note: The Tempest is a fusion between the archaic spirits of the Air and the Sea. This is the reason why he is so temperamental... because two voices speak within him at any given point.

💛 The Radiant: Goddess of The Sun

Alt names: Mistress of the Light, The Radiant Soul, The Lasting Light, Our Lady of Bountiful Harvest, Matron of the Sun, The Sun Keeper

Domains: Light, Life, Healing, Family, Growth, Harvest, Labor, Beauty

Note: Married to The Shade, parent of The Merrymaker

🤍 The Shade: God of The Moon

Alt names: God of Many Faces, Mistress of The Unknown, Our Keeper of Night, The Eventide, Patron of the Twilight, The Moonbringer

Domains: Twilight, Night, Mystery / Doubt, Secrets, Illusions, Change, Trickery

Note: Married to The Radiant, parent of The Merrymaker

🖤 The Forge: God of Invention and Creation

Alt Names: The Ingenious, The Patron of Creation, The Blessing of Inspiration, Our Divine Crafter, The Master of Artists

Domains: Forge, Invention, Creation, Discovery, Art & Crafts (Metalwork, Woodwork, Knitting/Weaving, Sculpture, Pottery, Painting, Cooking, Baking, etc)

❤️‍🩹 The Glorious: God of Battle and Strategy

Alt names: The Battlemaster, The Righteous, The Patron of Martyrs, The Endeavor, The Hero’s Light

Domains: War, Justice, Order, Peace, Knowledge, Forge, Weapons, Combat, Strategy, Champions

These spirits were not included in the moodboards, nor are they necessarily part of the main pantheon but I'll write abt em anyways:

🔥 The Fire Spirit: This is the only archaic elemental spirit that has been completely unchanged since her conception (in the sense of like.. not fusing with other spirits or evolving into a main deity).

🔥 ^^ No one really "prays" to her as a concept anymore, ever since The Forge gave her flames to the mortals (like Prometheus), but she is still around because fire has such an important part to play in all matters of life. Her energy can be felt in any flame, she is the mother of all fire.

❓[REDACTED] !!! because of reasons :3 I deeply wish to be able to speak about them here but,,, my players follow me!!! ;w; If anyone did wanna know more abt any hidden lore, feel free to message me abt it hehe

Also if anyone has any more general questions about these guys, I would be happy to answer them!!

[roomwithanopenfire]

have added a random number generator to my writing tracker google sheets so if idk which one of my many wips to work on, I can generate number

[stardustedknuckles]

See now that I have my tattoo I understand why nobody gets just one. First, it looks lonely out here on my otherwise blank leg. Second, perhaps even more important, is that I spent years looking up anecdotes of how much it hurts and trying to prepare myself and now I've done it and it's just. Huh! Yep that hurt. No I didn't really mind. And now I know what's possible.

[ilovettrpgs]

What's ttrpgs?

I just stared at my screen like this

[orchideae]

Also, for whoever didn't catch this when it was originally released, I highly recommend it. I'm still absolutely feral about the nine tailed fox for Yelan. But they're all magnificent in this.

[chirp-featherfowl]

rolled four fucking sixes for one of buddy dawn's ability scores. what the fuck. what the fucik. what the fuck. what the fuck. what are the statistics of that. how does that work.

[flashhwing]

like I said definitely not a successful petri pour but I can't even be disappointed because holy shit look at these. they're so gorgeous. they look like an algae pond. I wanna get tiny little manatees and stick them in here

also they're so clear???? they're not perfect obviously (who can afford a pressure pot lmao) but I've made so much progress for only my fourth set!

these are the next three sets I want to try out, and I'll do them in order of votes! not making another set until tomorrow due to the Horrors so that's plenty of time for a poll I think

[nyalternatehellkitten]

((Sometimes, Nyalter might be like Star Baker or Sky Baker from 100% Orange Juice's Bounty Hunt mode. Quest? Sure, she'll give you a quest. A quest to go to some godforsaken hole for rare baking materials-))

[artificer-dice]

Guess who gets to move two states away within the next month?

Like I know I've been pretty spotty with posting but I'm hoping once we're out of this waiting mode we seem to be in, and at the latest settled in, I'll hopefully have more motivation to keep y'all updated.

[ophexis]

After days of travel, you finally arrive at the small town of Royal Mount, so named after the sacred hill resting at its center. Your contact asked you to meet them at the local inn, where they would impart delicious culinary secrets upon you.

You quickly notice a sign advertising a place called Tym Hort's inn. This must be the place. As you enter, a hooded figure wearing a strange billed hat waves at you. They lower their hood as you approach, looking up through shining glasses. "Greetings my friend! You may call me Phex. I believe you are here to discuss a most delicious topic, are you not?"

You find nothing odd about them, save for your inability to settle on any pronoun to refer to them. They regard you with an amused look despite their clear sleep deprivation and as they invite you to sit, they open a large grimoire, surely full of secrets each more delicious than the last...

The first dnd cookbook! Winner of the last poll!

This is a book I hadn't planned on getting initially. I watched misohungrie's review, and it seemed like a really nice book, but despite the fact that I've played in a few campaigns using dnd, I've never actually played in the Forgotten Realms settings (or any other of their settings) and always in homebrews. So I wasn't that yet interested in the lore or references.

And then I played Baldur's Gate 3.

So I now have this book, and it's one of my favorites of my collection lmao. I haven't gotten the second book yet but I intend to eventually!

The book separates its recipes by "cultures", basically most of the basic playable races in dnd. Uncommon has a mix of stuff, from dragonborn, gnomes, tieflings. And then drinks have their own chapter. Between each chapter there's also a nice menu reproduction for various inns, which I love.

I'm only really familiar with forgotten realms now that I've consumed the entire wiki for Baldur's Gate purposes and finetuning my oc's backstories lmao but there are references to many others, like Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Ravenloft and a few more. My good friends, who are much more powerful nerds than I am, gave me a brief summary of all of them so that was also pretty cool. There's also at least one obligatory Drizzt reference, which I have to mention bc I'm about to get into that shit to indulge in the drow obsession I could never have in high school.

ANYWAY.

The recipes are varied, and there are a LOT in there that interest me ngl. I've already cooked two! I've made Dwarven Flatbread (easy and delicious!) and Halfling Chili which I believe I've posted about before. It is also very delicious (I remade this week! I didn't post about it bc I'm supposed to be cooking something new lmao). It uses cocoa powder and cinnamon amongst others in the spices. And delicious bacon.

Human recipes have variety, are pretty hearthy and generally go for a "comforting" vibe, I would say. They go from hand pies to seafood bouillabaisse or ribs to candied apples! Very fun chapter.

The Elven chapter unsurprisingly has a lot of light recipes, a ton of veggies, with some seafood! But for the most part it's a lotta veggies and fruits, and the one drow recipe, mushroom steak!

The Dwarven chapter, by contrast, has a lot of meaty recipes. You've got potatoes, sausages, beer, bread, rich desserts. (kinda my favorite chapter I think lmao)

The Halfling chapter is all about hearthy, homely(?) recipes that can be shared with many people, and many soups. This one is also very good.

Uncommon cuisine has a wide range of recipes. This is the chapter that has the halfling chili. Because normally it's made of...well you know. But you can make it with turkey, if you're not a dragonborn of very specific taste.

And finally the drinks are about half and half alcoholic and not, which I think is nice as someone who doesn't drink. It also has the second drow "recipe" which is like a mushroom "tea" (or like a stew?).

Now, there is one major problem with this book.

So many recipe photos missing!! So many!!

And it's particularely frustrating for this book because sometimes a page will have an environmental photo of like trees or whatever. But why not put food photo there instead?? Bummer.

This is a pretty village and all but do I really need it? I don't think so lmao.

Now after agonising over the meal choice (and over my mental health) for the last 10 weeks, I finally decided to make the Vedbread, a cheesy, mushroomy bread roll that sounds delicious. I just gotta go out and buy some shiitake mushrooms soon. Misohungrie happens to have made that one too (kinda the reason I chose it lmao it looks delicious) so you should check out his video too if you're interested in the book! He's also kinda the reason I bought the book in the first place, and he brings up the weird photo issue too.

Overall I really like this book, because I like ordinary daily life lore and you get a pretty good amount in that one, on top of having delicious recipes to try out. The recipes aren't super crazy in terms of trying to make them weird or unique, but they all seem pretty solid. They all have a little flavor/lore blurb before every recipe, and it's fun to get some tidbits like "tieflings love spicy food" or whatever yknow lol.

My tab crashed and I can't remember what I was following up with, but I wish y'all success in your culinary adventures and campaigns! I'll make a post for the vedbread when I get around to making it!

[orchideae]

ᴍᴜꜱᴇ ᴅᴇᴍᴇᴀɴᴏʀ ᴀɴᴅ ᴍᴀɴɴᴇʀɪꜱᴍꜱ ɢᴜɪᴅᴇ.

ᴇʏᴇꜱ. Avoids eye contact when nervous, maintains eye contact when agitated, avoids eye contact due to being neurodivergent, enjoys eye contact as a means to read and convey emotion, looks down when emotional, looks up when emotional, cries openly, wipes tears quickly, suppresses tears, wandering gaze when lost in thought, holds gaze while thinking, seeks out eye contact for reassurance, seeks out eye contact to gauge enthusiasm during conversations, eyes constantly move during conversation, expressive eyes, emotions only evident through eyes, uses eye contact to intimidate, looks up while thinking, looks down while thinking.

ʜᴀɴᴅꜱ. Clasps behind back, rest in lap, fidgets with clothes, twiddles thumbs, chews at nails, pushes back cuticles, draws patterns on table/counter surfaces, makes animated gestures while speaking, only gestures to emphasize, utilizes sign language, speaks only through sign, callouses, scars, smooth, wrinkled, worn, soft, delicate, bone-y, slender, thick, vein-y, touches others while speaking, reaches out while laughing, reaches out to comfort others, reaches out to seek comfort, places face in hands when exasperated , places palms over eyes to hide when overwhelmed, rests chin in hands, taps fingers when impatient, taps fingers when nervous, taps fingers while thinking, scratches scalp,  strokes chin, rubs back of head, toys with objects around them, runs fingers over surfaces while walking by.

ᴍᴏᴜᴛʜ. Chews lip, chews at inside of cheek, licks lips, bites tongue, chews on straws,  resting frown, resting smile, neutral resting expression, resting pout, grinds teeth, flexes jaw, covers mouth when laughing, covers mouth when shocked, covers mouth when concerned, hands to lips while thinking, covers mouth when chewing, chews with mouth closed, chews with mouth open, smirks, grins, subtle smiles, wide smiles, sad smiles,  intimidating smiles, menacing grins, openly smiles, tries to suppress smiles, bares teeth when angry, lips quiver when emotional, stutters, speaks quickly, speaks slowly, good pronunciation, poor pronunciation, moderate pronunciation, purses lips, sucks in lips, holds mouth open when shocked or confused.

ʟᴇɢꜱ. Bounces leg when nervous, draws knees to chest when sitting, draws knees to chest as a means of comfort, sits on knees, sits with legs criss-crossed, sits with legs spread open in chairs, crosses legs when sitting in chairs, sits with one leg folded under the other, places feet on furniture, never places feet on furniture, sits on counters, sits on desks, sits on tables, sits on edge of seat, sits hunched over with forearms on knees, arches one knee up, sits on the arm of chairs/couches, feet on dashboard, swings legs back and forth when sitting somewhere elevated,  wiggles toes when nervous,  wiggles toes as a general tick, shuffles feet, kicks foot into ground, stomps feet, loud footsteps, quiet footsteps, silent footsteps.

ʜᴀɪʀ. Runs fingers through hair, tugs at hair, picks at scalp, chews on hair, twists locks of hair while thinking or nervous, smooths out locks of hair while thinking or nervous, prefers hair out of face, prefers long hair, prefers short hair, wears hair back, keeps hair down, smooths back hair, plays with other’s hair while talking, plays with own hair while talking, strokes hair to comfort others, likes having hair stroked for their own comfort, braids others’ hair while talking, braids own hair while talking, flips hair out of face, pushes hair out of face, leaves hair alone even when falling into face.

Tagged by: I stole it on the dash, but I forgot who, I thiiiiink it may have been @arlquin  Tagging: @delusionaid (Wriothesley) @immobiliter (Beidou first, and if you want to do it for Navia and/or Furina too, go ahead 💙) @feilyne @maquiscursed (Kazuha!) @infernaliscor @spiderwarden @avaere (Kaveh or Itto) @lunaetis (Hu Tao!) @sortilegii (Give me that Blade food!) @electrohunter @shrineofprophecy (Ningguang) @nivuruheim — gosh, who else, @narvvhal and whoever else wants to: steal it and tag me!

[psychopomp-namine]

I think I might... actually enjoy being a dm as much as being a player. my friends had fun, which is really the main thing I need to achieve as a dm

I ran a oneshot heist adventure and then we did a session zero for a longer campaign. but I do miss being a player and having a blorbo to run. fortunately, a miracle happened:

when I asked if anybody wanted to try being the dm, I was prepared for them to say no, but amazingly one of them said they wanted to try!! it was their first time playing dnd and they already wanted to dm a oneshot!! huzzah, I am not cursed to be a forever gm.

anyway, I'm running two tables, which is wild because I didn't think I knew that many people who wanted to play lol. and they're going in different directions too. one table wanted magicpunk and I think there will be themes of magitech's relationship with society + the accessibility/science-ification of magic. meanwhile the other table will be more fantasy based with a soft(-er) magic system based on intention/self-mastery, and themes of coming-of-age/building your identity/finding yourself/etc. mechanically they're both still rooted in 5e mechanics, just with different flavor text (the magicpunk one relies heavily on the rules of spellcasting components, for example, and was even directly inspired from it).

it's kinda interesting to work on two different campaigns. it feels like I'm really stretching my creativity and its limits but like... in a fun way?

[flashhwing]

inkssssss