#and now I am stuck on it

[therosefrontier]

TWST Five-Man Band

Something I was thinking about with @pencilofawesomeness a while back, partially inspired by Idia in book 6 giving the overblotters MMO classes, imagining what their roles in the classic Five-Man Band trope might be, if the overblot kiddos from the first five books were an adventuring team or something like that. Like, an AU in which for some reason, they’re together and they’re off on some fantasy quest or being vigilantes or doing a heist or living just another day as part of the local adventurer’s/mage’s guild. Something of the sort.

In my delineation of these roles, I am largely inspired by Overly Sarcastic Productions’ videos on the topic (link is to the first video in the series). I absolutely love their channel, and so, naturally, they are who I think about with stuff like this. So, without further ado...

LEADER: Vil 

—so naturally, this is a bit of a tough call since four out of the five members of this theoretical team are acting as leaders in canon, and one might as well be, and since it is a bit of a vague definition to begin with, but I feel that Vil may be the one who gravitates towards this role the most. He has a vested interest in the advancement, well-being, and excellence of the people under him, whether they want his interest or not (see Epel, and also all the NRC Tribe fun times). He just naturally acts as something between an instructor, an agent, and a parent, seeing to it that no one lags behind.

—He is the one who cares the most about image. He is the face of the team, the diplomatic one, the one who has it all together, more or less. Especially in the case of some vigilante or DnD party kind of action, he will actively try to paint their public image to be a positive one, so everyone sees them as the “heroes.” Of course, given his track record in canon, ten guesses as to how well that turns out. He blames Leona.

—Naturally, he’s going to get on the nerves of pretty much everybody on this team except maybe Riddle with his excessive standards he likes to subject everyone to, so he’s going to have to dial it down pretty early into this adventure to keep this ship from falling apart. At least, canonically, he is not completely allergic to apologizing. 

—However, he also is good at keeping a level head, most of the time. He’d be the one consistently giving orders to the rest of the team, keeping his own stress levels at bay. Which is great, as long as he doesn’t go, say, repressing his feelings into a box until one day he inevitably explodes. Sure that won’t happen :) 

—Also, he’s got a versatile skillset, probably, which tends to fit well into this role. He’s a skill type with a knack for potions, but he also can judo-flip a man no sweat. He fills the role of whatever part he has to play to get the job done.

LANCER: Leona

—by definition, a lancer acts as a foil to the leader, and I’d say Leona would be pretty much exactly that for Vil. Where Vil sees an emphasis on keeping up appearances, Leona simply does not care. Where Vil focuses on proper form, Leona focuses on practicality. He’s not the type to just roll with a plan that’s inefficient, or which ties their hands in some way. And he’s not about to put as much effort as Vil in his physical appearance, either. He focuses on getting the job done, which is, in a way, a lot like Vil! (Also, according to Idia, they’re both tanks, sooo...dual leadering?) But they will absolutely argue until the end of time on how they should go about it.

—like many a lancer, Leona actively pretends that he does not care about anyone here. He comes across as lazy, which is certainly not wrong, but he also will look out for everyone in subtle ways. Also, foes will be very ill-advised to underestimate him based on his deposition. He is very much a powerhouse, and he will not hesitate to step up to the plate when things go down. Plus, he has very keen senses and is mindful of his surroundings, besides also having good reflexes, which he will definitely use to protect his teammates when danger comes knocking (see, shielding Ruggie in a heartbeat from falling shattered glass, among other things). 

—on certain occasions, he could step up as leader for the team. He just usually chooses not to. Again, he acts like a loner. He wins the ‘most likely to up and leave the team one day because he got in a fight with someone’ (probably Vil) award. Classic lancer.

—people-smart in, naturally, the most aggravating of ways. He’ll be the one who, less than midway through some job, figures out that their client is actually some bad character who is definitely going to betray them later, so he will propose with a tired groan turning a whole 180 on their entire plan in spite of all the time and resources they already put into this and in spite of the fact that they probably need the money from this job. Cue more arguing with Vil, and also Azul.

POWERHOUSE: Jamil

(or as per the classic trope, the “big guy” role of the team, kind of, but “powerhouse” runs by a slightly different definition which I think fits him better. Leona and Vil are already the tanks; they got that covered)

—He’s the reliable one, or rather, the one that everyone relies on. He’s keeping this ship afloat by sheer stubborn will, against his better judgment that says he should have walked away from this circus act long ago. He keeps track of all of the little things and makes sure that everybody is fed and not doing anything dumb, while also being the one who ends up at the crux of every operation, trusted to keep a level head and not diverge from the plan on a whim or do anything too risky. And when things do go wrong, he steps in and fixes things like a pro. 

—On that note, he is also, indeed, quite strong. He has a ton of power with raw skill to back it up (also in game being the only one of these five to make us fight him in OB form twice since he yeeted us into next tomorrow the first time), even though he tends to be low-key about it. He’s this particular brand of powerhouse that gets habitually overlooked, in part by his own design. He doesn’t have the same commanding presence as Vil or Leona, or so he thinks. 

—so yeah, definitely going to be a problem later: he gets underappreciated. People just expect him to do things, and he does them. Doing things is in his instincts, born from his background of probably still being attached to the Asims in this AU. Whatever’s up with that. So yes, could absolutely snap one day. Maybe he’ll join Leona in running off and having a solo arc somewhere else before he inevitably crosses paths with everyone again and maybe bails them out of some situation in the process. Or maybe it would be more thematically impactful if he’s the one getting rescued for once... 

—However, all that aside, he probably would low-key enjoy the adventuring. He gets to actually go out and travel, and get a bit of the freedom that comes with being a rogue (which is what I’ve decided these guys are, at this point, much to Vil’s chagrin. They are absolutely operating on ‘rogue’ vibes, whatever they’re doing). He’s just...not exactly on vacation because he’s dealing with an increasingly high pile of problems along the way. He should have a vacation, though. He deserves it.

SMART GUY / THE BRAIN: Azul

—he takes on the smart guy role of being planner *supreme*. He involves himself the least in open fights out of the five, instead relying more on his wits to get through situations as if his life were a heavy Euro board game actually. He’s all about collecting as much data as possible to formulate strategies, and tricking making deals with people to get them to do things and cough up information. He has few qualms about using whatever means necessary to get what he wants. Also, he’s the one to actually pay attention to things like finances and the sustainable logistics of what they’re doing, probably alongside Jamil.

—that said, the theoretical team he belongs to here is actually quite adept at scheming overall, so it wouldn’t all fall to him to strategize. I’m imagining that his role here would be the gatherer of information as well as the manager of the playing board during whatever mission they’re on, seeing to it that everything and everyone is in place and that all of their foes and neutral characters alike are right where they need them to be. He’s the people-hacker. Did the randos trust him? Probably not. But he works with it anyways.

—so with that, he would definitely be prone to way too much stress if things don’t go as planned, which with these guys, is probably often. As much skill as they collectively have, I cannot imagine life treating these guys so kindly. Things will absolutely go wrong. And Azul is going to have to learn to roll with that. He’s also going to have to learn to stop trying to scam his own teammates.

—if the team needs to do reconnaissance work, I think that Azul and probably also Jamil would be the go-to ones for the job. The two of them argue a lot in general, but the two of them work way better together than either would care to admit.

—And lastly, Azul could fall into that sometimes smart-guy trope of being very much underestimated in a fight. Since he stays in the background, people assume that he is weak, and that is true to an extent, as he is certainly not athletic, but he is very strong, actually. He’ll crush your wrist with the grip strength of an octopus. Do not try him.

THE HEART: Riddle

—because his name is Rosehearts no, really, he’d be the heart, by the definition that he is the emotional center of the team. It’s because he’s the passionate one. Whatever he’s doing, he does it for its own sake, not necessarily for some specific self-serving goal. He has the determination to see things through to the end, because that’s the thing to do, regardless of whether or not the act is actually in his best interest. In this way, I think he’d be the least pragmatic of the team. Especially in the heat of the moment, he’s not out there running cost-benefit analyses on whether he should or shouldn’t. If he gets hit by a high-voltage paralyzing energy beam, he gets back up again and sets the whole field on fire like a maniac, before they strike him down yet again. He is absolutely the reckless one out of the five, which will certainly give some of the others grief, but also, in the sense of team dynamics, he balances them out, as the heart does. Sometimes, they need a little bit of reckless.

—But at the core of it, he sticks to his principles and has a strong moral code (the ‘moral compass’ brand of heart rather than one of the peacekeeping varieties, for sure). The heart is the emotional center because they have a strong conviction in why they’re doing what they’re doing, and that conviction spreads to those around them, becoming the reason why they’re choosing to stick together at all. In this case, it would definitely be more subtle, with perhaps no one, Riddle included, realizing that he has that kind of effect at all, but he’s just...very steadily always there. He’s consistent, in his resolve and in his quirks alike. However annoying those quirks may sometimes be, they all know what to expect from him, and that kind of stability could be very good for the team, again with balancing out the others.

—So, I said he’d do what he does for its own sake ultimately, but also, I could absolutely see him having some strong overarching personal mission driving him to be here at all. Maybe he has some task given to him by someone else to complete, like searching out an important artifact or getting a very important sword from point A to point B, or maybe something earth-shaking happened to him to get him to go rogue. Maybe in this AU, he was actually friends with the other four Heartslabyul peoples first, but something happened to them, and now he’s out on a mission to ‘get his card soldiers back’ because that’s the rules he cares about them. (Sorry this is just where my brain goes haha). There are many possibilities!

—On that end, there really could be so much conflict in that scenario. He abides by the rules religiously, but if he goes rogue, then he’s kind of...well...not doing that. He’ll try hard to stick to a very specific standard, even if it doesn’t make practical sense actually, and when that doesn’t work out for him or when other people don’t have interest in the same rules that he does, he goes into a rage. Maybe he gets to have some character development before the onset of this team-up so things don’t completely fall apart on day one, but still, issues to work through.

—And....all of that aside, he fits nicely into this role because the heart is traditionally often the ‘mage’ class type, or in other words, the glass cannon! Riddle has high power but a very poor constitution, naturally making him very reliant on his teammates, although he often does not particularly see it that way. When he gets his sights set on something, he’ll do it with or without them, and to an extent, he can handle himself, but he really is best off in a group.

++++++++++++++

Anyways that turned into a long post but saying all that to say, these five would absolutely be a disaster of a team, but I think they would also have the potentially to be pretty dang cool as a squad. I want to see them do a heist now. Which, maybe I will...? I’m writing this literally right before the release of book 6 part two on the English server, and I have a feeling that we’re about to actually see these guys work together maybe, so I’d be curious to see how well the headcanons hold up. So yeah, what do y’all think? Would you assign their roles differently? 

[bookwyrminspiration]

god I would be UNSTOPPABLE if I was capable of consistently initiating tasks. just you wait. you'll be waiting a while but just you wait

[joshuamj]

Hero.

[hinamie]

unconditionally

[thekaiserroll]

Hug

It's nearly impossible to have a quiet and peaceful day with the crew, like the strawhats. Nami is mostly used to the noise on Going Merry but one day she gets fed up with Zoro and Sanji arguing. Not only are they extremely loud, but they've also already broken way too many things during their fights.

She decides that If they want to act like brats, then she's going to treat them as such. So she makes them apologize and hug each other in silence for an hour. None of them are happy about this punishment, but Nami threatened to raise Zoro's debt, and Sanji couldn't say no to her. It could be worse.

It's awkward enough for them to not incite any fight for a long time and Nami is quite proud of herself. She knows it won't last forever but at least now she knows how to handle them. It inevitably happens again. And again. And again.

Much to her surprise, those fights became more and more frequent. And what's even weirder is that she could see the way both Zoro and Sanji occasionally glanced at her to make sure she was nearby. It's almost as if they wanted someone to make them hug each other. As if they needed an excuse.... these idiots.

Soon, they don't even need Nami's help. When they aren't busy training, cooking or fighting, they cuddle together. Sometimes Luffy or Chopper would join them, but most of the crew knew it was their time.

After two years spent separately, they became extremely clingy. It's no surprise when they start sleeping in the same bed. What is surprising is that despite them behaving like a lovey-dovey couple, those oblivious idiots are STILL unaware of each other's feelings.

[tapakah0]

Little animation based on breathtaking Mystic Mikey animatic by @yeye23 inspired by @somerandomdudelmao 's mindblowing Cass Apocalyptic Series based on rottmnt based on mutateddd turtlesss based on mutation experiments based on based on based on basing *cough* sorry

Wish I could animate it all it's just *slams paws* you saw it, if you didn't, go watch it again and again, and then go reread comic, and then be happy, it's enough fuel for life

In case there will be questions, software : Clip Studio Paint

[thatswhatsushesaid]

huaisang, do you have spurs that jingle jangle jingle as you go ridin' merrily along--

[starkspi]

From "Unadulterated Loathing" in which Charlie chains these two idiots accidentally together by @otsmosis (who made this comment at the end of the last chapter and inspired me to do whatever this is above)

[canonkiller]

Hi, I'm Canon. I'm a disabled artist with some kind of gender and homosexual tendencies. You might have seen my usernames around in posts about loving OCs, or complaining about video game inaccessibility, or attached to one of the worm-centric comics I made, like these ones:

I hate having to ask for help when there's already so much going on, but I am also At My Limit.

To make a long story short, I am very disabled in multiple ways and I am living in a very inaccessible (and often directly disability-hostile) home. While I live with family, they do not provide assistance (financial or otherwise) and our rural location and the glacial pace of Canada's social services have left me A Bit Fucked. (Whatever you think Canada's health care provides, either it doesn't, or it takes half a year to even book an appointment.)

I've asked for help in the past with smaller goals, but costs continue to add up - and this time, finally, I may be able to actually make permanent accessibility changes to the household... if I can fund it myself. On the amount I get from the disability support program in my province, I can't do that; I would have to stop eating for months to afford even one of the major renovations in that time, and, obviously, I can't do that.

What kind of accessibility updates would this be going towards?:

A wheelchair ramp at at least one exit of the house; there are four potential exits, and all of them are currently multiple sets of stairs without railings.

A stair lift (for upstairs access) or a walk in tub (for downstairs access), depending on what my family will agree to

Dressers / storage that I am physically capable of opening

HRT (guess what isn't covered by Canada's health care, apparently!)

A whole mess of medical appointments (vision, prescriptions, dental, infinite various symptom testings) and transportation to and from those appointments (guess what else isn't covered!!)

A functional freezer

Physiotherapy 👍

Food 👍👍👍

And how can you donate?:

Donate directly to my Ko-fi page

Pledge monthly to my Ko-fi membership tiers

Order a commission from me (you'll be added to a queue; I can't provide completion time estimates right now)

Buy my premade digital goods (TTRPG resources, bases, tattoo tickets, etc) through Ko-fi or itch.io

Buy my art on physical goods through Redbubble or INPRNT

Buy designs / adoptables I've made through Toyhouse

Buy things off of my Amazon accessibility wishlist

I'm trying to buy used and second-hand / go through free stuff groups where I can to save costs, so I don't have a fixed goal and genuinely every bit helps. I really want to be able to get back to functioning somewhat normally, and due to Circumstances - as embarrassing as it is - I can't do that on my own, and I can't keep struggling with it the way I have been.

Thank you for your time, and any help you're able to provide. Reblogs are welcome and appreciated.

[obsob]

happy and proud!!

✷(print shop)✷

[tea-cat-arts]

Shen Yuan getting transported into pidw isn't "the system punishing him for being a lazy internet hater," but instead representative of "step 1 of the creative process: getting so mad at something you decide to go write your own fucking book" in this essay I will

[timethehobo]

Hearing news that he’s confirmed romanceable (and described as intimate and sensual) got me so giddy I might just expire.

[samus-arans-sweaty-pits-n-balls]

[furiousgoldfish]

I don't get why there are no resources for healthy expressions of anger. Are we as a society fundamentally opposed to people feeling anger? Are we afraid that if people get angry they're going to cause destruction so as an alternative we want anger to just not exist? Anger will go somewhere regardless of whether we want it to exist or not, and if a person who has good reasons to be angry, is not allowed to feel angry, they'll get eaten by self hatred and depression because that's what internalizing anger does.

It's also interesting that when abusers and people in power are angry, they can pretty much do whatever they like. Say no to them, they're having crazy revenges, they're tearing apart your stuff, they're starting wars, they're telling you how they're going to kill you in detail, no self restraint, no consequences, nothing. Anger is theirs to do as they please with and in response the society is just, too scared to do anything, so they assume that this specific anger is 'justified' and 'cannot be helped'. However when victims of something are angry, then they're labelled as 'unreasonable' and 'dangerous' and 'unable to move on from things'. Their anger is a problem that needs to be squashed, erased, there's apparently no justifications for these people to be angry, nothing that is reasonable or okay for them to do about it, they just get demonized and shamed for having a completely rational response to injustice.

Is that it then? Those who are able to act out on their anger, get justifications and obedience, but those who are helpless but angry for very good reasons, are just to be suffocated? Anger is allowed only for some parts of human society and it's the most violent, destructive and dangerous part of it too? Where is this getting us? Is the amount of injustice ever going to decrease if we defend injustice, and fight for it to keep going on?

If I look up ways to express anger, I get stuff like 'anger management steps', and 'letting go and moving on from anger', like excuse me. I didn't even get to express 1% of my anger and I need anger management? I have never had problems with controlling my anger, the struggle is to get it out at all! To integrate it into my personality, to hold people accountable without having to think about it, to show resistance when I'm being stepped on! What anger management? Why am I pushed to move away from anger, I haven't even arrived to anger!

Why is it assumed that every person who struggles with expressing anger is a maniac breaking things, enacting revenges, trying to injure or murder people, lashing out and doing harm to everyone around themselves. I can guess why. Because all of the resources are created for people who are letting their anger run wild without a cap and who use anger to get their way. The world is adjusted for people who are allowed to be angry, who were never pushed to the point where getting angry meant loss of survival, where expressions of anger would lead to torture. I am apparently not even considered to exist. I'm either a maniac or not a target audience for anger resources.

If someone's been traumatized out of being able to feel angry, people don't think it's worth having this person angry. It's very obvious this person has giant reasons for anger, so if we let them feel it, they could become 'dangerous', or 'just like their abuser'. You know, being angry at the abuser does not make anyone like the abuser, it makes them Normal. Rational. Having Self Worth. Human. Logical. Reasonable. Engaging in everyone's best fucking interest because you know that abuser is going wreck havoc forever and if nobody is even angry at them, it's giving them an even easier time. Anger is scary when it's in hands of abusers, in the hands of victims it is liberating, just, it puts things into perspective and back where they belong.

Now give me the fucking resources to get angry. I'm sick and tired of hating myself.

[pixlatedvampire]

hi the literal whole entire reason i made these was bc i watched this 10 sec clip on youtube pls watch

[justaz]

im a slut for post magic reveal arthur (& knights) thinking merlin has like. a smidge of magic. like he can get stains out of clothes or warm food and baths but OBVIOUSLY merlin can’t fight. that’s ridiculous. merlin doesn’t correct this notion for whatever reason - perhaps it’s best that people think that so when they’re all in danger, he isn’t registered as a threat so he can protect his silly lil guys. ofc his silly lil guys realize that they were wrong bc the bad guys get a lil too close to hurting arthur and merlin is like “nope! fights over!!” and annihilates them