#and when the *hero* declares that they're a god i know that this is when everything's about to get very bad very quickly! for everyone!

[nostalgia-tblr]

but i don't actually want to unlearn the lesson from watching dr who that aliens with seemingly magical powers who tell you that they're gods are almost certainly the baddies

[eris-snow]

𝐈𝐜𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐝

Tags: bakugou x fem!reader, bakugou x ochaco, angst

Your first love felt as warm as the sunshine, and as welcoming as a fireplace.

Bakugou was your first love.

As warm as the sunshine, and as welcoming as a fireplace, that's exactly what first love was like for you.

The wind picks up speed whenever you see him again, as if guiding you to him...or pulling him away.

Awkward silence engulfs the two of you when you see each other again. He has Ochaco now, and he has a familiar large, protective hand snug around her waist, right where it used to be around yours.

You wish Ochaco's meaner. Wish she was cruel, unkind or even taunting just so it'd be easier to hate her. She's the opposite though. Bubbly, beautiful, strong, all encapsulated in her being displayed like she was an angel from heaven.

You can see what Bakugou sees in her.

You remember the feeling of your heart breaking all too well when you see him dipping her into a kiss at their wedding. You wish you hadn't been invited.

You do your best to feign smiles to ensure the couple that you're over him, over them, but it reaches the breaking point when they start with speeches.

You're not over Bakugou, the wound is still so fresh, and it never really set in for you until you see that dazzling ring on his finger, an identical band around Ochako's on the same hand.

Perfect, smiley Ochako.

It feels a little chilly in here, don't you think?

"I don't deserve you, Ochaco," God, her name sounds so fond when it comes out of Bakugou's mouth. A gentle caress contrasts his gruff, raspy voice that makes everyone coo. "No one here knows what shit we've gone through, the war, the damn PRESS THAT WON'T LEAVE US ALONE!" He emphasises this by throwing a withering glare at the cameraman as if daring him to sell the photos to the internet.

Everyone laughs good-naturedly, and you're the only one that feels a sting to the heart at every sentence he utters. "I'm not good with words, but I mean what I fucking say. I love you, Ochaco," There's a pause, not an ounce of doubt and it's ripping you apart as everyone around 'awws!' at his bold declaration.

"I'm not gonna elaborate about how I'll catch every star in the universe for you, or whatever poetic Shakespear equivalent you're expecting. I love you. Those words, those three simple words? They prove my fucking point."

He just had to say it again.

Your heart is shattering with every word while you gather up the shards with gloveless hands. Each fragment cuts deep, and it feels like there's a messy trail of blood trickling behind as you hug the splintered memories close to your chest.

"Izuku," You whisper, catching his eyes with a pained gaze. "I can't do this anymore. Could you tell them that I'm sorry for leaving so early? I-I just...don't want to ruin their best night and-"

Izuku cuts you off with a tight embrace. "Go," The hero says, smiling gently in understanding. "I'll explain it to Kacchan."

You thank him profusely, saying that you'd do anything to make it up to him for the trouble but Izuku just waves you off, telling you to have a safe trip home.

You hastily grab your coat from the rack, finding a bench to take your high heels off and exchange them for comfortable sneakers.

"Leaving so soon?"

Your head snaps up so fast you thought you'd dislocate something, and your eyes meet red.

Bakugou.

Your guard flies up immediately, expression guarded. You're not faking happiness, simply a void of emotion, neutral and defeated.

It fucking hurts.

"Izuku told me," He said, raising an eyebrow. "Mind if I join you?"

"No, yes, maybe." You laugh at yourself. "It's been quite a night."

Bakugou never meant to hurt you, and never, ever to this extent. He sits down. "Congratulations." His eyes meet yours, and they're so fucking blank like it's your only way to stop yourself from crying. "Ochaco's a wonderful person. I couldn't think of anyone better suited for you."

Bakugou studies you carefully and watches out for a lie but never finds one. Oh, God, you mean it. Bakugou sees what you're doing. Your self-esteem has crashed into the negatives because you don't even believe you were even worth it.

Bakugou can't help but cave.

"L/n, you know that it wasn't you, right?" He insists. There's an arm's length between both of you like you're afraid he gets too close. "It was me, fuck, I wasn't ready for a relationship. Not when I wanted to be the number 1 hero-"

"I get that." You interrupt calmly. You don't smile, you don't frown, simply keep that dumb sangfroid mask on your face. You've always been too fucking respectful. "I know everything, that's why I need to go tonight. It's painful knowing."

Bakugou wishes you'd show him something. You used to be an open book, full of life whether it was large, overexaggerated reactions or the energetic person that'd always make time for him, but now you look...tired. Subdued, if you will, as if the life got sucked out of you. You're so tensed that it makes Bakugou's eyes furrow because, gosh you seem so quiet now.

Just a sign...a tear forming, eyes misting, a bottom lip quivering perhaps? Or maybe he'd get a hearty laugh and a smack to his shoulder for him being so concerned.

Any second now.

The blank look stays in your eyes. There's nothing.

"You were great out there." You continue, finally averting your gaze to slip off your shoes. "Ochaco's lucky to have someone like you. Your speech spoke volumes. I think she'd like those bentos you make for her on the daily. I remember seeing them on her desk when I got the same patrol shift as her-"

"L/n, listen, I-"

"Your skills really improved," You power through, tying your laces on the sneakers now. "You should keep doing them, you know?" your laugh sounds more like a wheeze, like there's glass stabbing your lungs. "Bet they tasted heavenly-"

"Y/n, stop-"

"Her face lights up every time she sees you, y'know?" You stand up, eyes staring up at the stars. "She loves it when you surprise her, I remember that one time-"

"Sunshine!" yells Bakugou.

Your eyes flicker back to his, finally pausing your rant. "That's playing dirty, Bakugou, I thought you'd never call me that again." You frown.

You're like a different person now, so rational and collected it throws him off. "I just..." He runs a hand down his face, and you look at him curiously, guard higher than ever. You fully expect him to do say something worse, and he hates it.

He was young and cruel back then, he should have handled the breaking-up process better, not just...tell you so out of the blue as if he simply wanted to tell you his hero schedule for the month.

"I'm sorry," Bakugou apologises, soft and genuine. You look as if he just grew another head. "I never got to...apologise. You didn't-you never deserved to be let down like that, I should have done it better. I should have done..." Bakugou's eyes drop down to his ring, shiny and beautiful, just like his life ahead. "a lot of things better."

You catch him staring, and shake your head. "You shouldn't dwell on things so far back in the past," You chide. "What's done is done. I forgive you."

Stop.

Show him something, anything. Bakugou knows, he knows you're breaking inside, knows you want to slap him, laugh at him...he doesn't know but just anything!

Instead, you make your way to the door. "I'll be going now," You bow towards him, the corners of your mouth upturning into a small smile. "Have a good night."

Bakugou's eyes trail to your face, but you've already turned your back onto him. His eyes fall on your shoes, the same, battered sneakers he'd gotten you close to a decade ago back when you were together.

"Good night," He whispers softly, staring at your back a little longer before closing the door.

Your high heels dangle on your fingers as you use another to wrap your hands around yourself, a bitter laugh escaping you as your tears overflow.

It's really cold out tonight, isn't it?

---

End notes:

I don't really know why, but I started to tear up while I was writing Y/n talking about bentos. I was really feeling this story, so I hope it came out well.

[thequeervampiric]

imagine the Voices and Princesses playing among us. Paranoid would try to play but he'd get too freaked out while Big Brain-ing things and the others would have to be like, "I promise it's not that serious. maybe you should sit this one out"

the Beast as an imposter. the Beast as an imposter. none of them would know what hit them. she also likes to follow people around to make them nervous even if she's not imposter.

Contrarian is so down to third imposter it's insane. (if you don't know what third imposter-ing is, it's when a regular crewmate decides to go along with the imposters and defend them for shits and giggles.) also quick to throw whoever's making an accusation under the bus.

Hero, of course, is a truth seeker, and if he gets imposter he's so anxious it's hilarious.

Cold is also super down for third impostering, or, offering the imposter the chance to kill him.

Hunted always wants to use the buddy system. sus of everyone at every point. slinks around the map by himself, nervous in large groups. is the one to say "nonono!" when someone enters the room while he's in the middle of a task.

Smitten is always dedicated to Damsel, whether she's imposter or not, whether she wants to kill him or not. ...god, Damsel would be bad at imposter-ing. Smitten admires when the others say that they've been together all round, so they can attest to each other's innocence. could they both be imposter? who cares! the romance of it all! it's just the two of them against the world!

Princess trusts no bitch. only rarely offers to buddy up with someone. cold blooded when it comes to voting off someone that she thinks is imposter. mischievous when she's imposter, always speaking to someone or having a friendly conversation with them before killing them. careful when deciding to let someone live while they're alone with her, for a future voucher of her innocence.

sdfgjlk I don't know if Broken could do it. he'd offer himself to be voted out as imposter if things got heated. just accepts his fate every time he finds himself alone with someone else. he gets imposter? I think he'd just give up and couldn't bring himself to kill anyone. if he did, he'd beat himself up over it.

Adversary is so bright and snarky with anyone who says she's sus. likes to taunt and insult the others whether she's imposter or not.

Specter dies first sdfgjlk. jk, mostly. also sus of everyone, but more deadpan snarky about it. also surprisingly down to third imposter. she just wants to watch the world burn.

Tower is the Leader. she always declares in meetings who she thinks is sus and who she thinks is innocent. people tend to go along with her ideas. goes up to 1-2 people alone in a room and asks them what they're doing. a ruthless imposter.

again, Damsel. I just think she'd be a disaster as imposter. either that, or she's a quiet one; the last person you'd suspect before she kills you in cold blood. tends to partner up with Smitten, sometimes with a third person as well, and go along with whoever they're voting for or whoever they sus out.

Wraith is sharp-tongued, throwing anyone who she perceives to have been rude or betrayed her in a past round under the bus. has a soft spot for Damsel. waits for the middle/end of a full conversation with someone before fucking slaughtering them.

[duskforged]

artblr intro 3.0

Hello there, it's me again. This is the third iteration of my writeblr/artblr intro. Consistency is ridiculous and I have never made a choice in my life if procrastination was an option.

I'm tentatively going by Ezra, but you can call me Dusk as well! My pronouns are exclusively they/them, and I am trans/non-binary. This is more of a catch-all artblr, though it was originally made as a writeblr.

All my links can be found here.

Projects, past and present, under the cut, but I will be marking down the ones I intend to be putting most of my attention on at this time. This time I will organize them by world and then by type. As I said, I'm not the best when it comes to consistency, but I'm always up to answering questions!

I mostly prioritize fantasy and some sci-fi but I do love a good speculative story whether or not it's historically accurate. Though I'm not actively writing at the moment, I really would like to hear more from y'all.

AHVAN

Sanctuary inactive | fantasy novel | wip intro

After becoming a war hero in New Ánasezan Movement, Lady Alessámira Nasánza Solsinat is a knight who has retired from fighting. Three years have passed since the old monarchy was overthrown, and Ánaseza has finally returned to something resembling contentment and peace. Unfortunately for Alessa, darkness still lurks underneath the veneer of this new nation…

Amid Wisteria inactive | fantasy novel | wip intro

Having grown up on the isolated western coast of Aeros, Arêllan ve Povunra Aelisâm is only 29 years old when their mother, the Lady Matriarch Povunra, declares they will be adopted into the esteemed Llanaere family and live in the distant capital of Maêla…

URATHLA

Unto Summer Kings hiatus | fantasy novel | wip intronote: this is originally based on Arthurian legends, but I eventually intend to move it into its own fantasy world, which is tentatively called Urathla.

Arthur lives in a lull period between greater moments in history - the fall of the Roman Empire came before he was born and the future is yet unwritten…

Wolf In Shepherd's Clothing hiatus | fantasy comic note: takes place many many many MANY years before USK and in a very different place. Mesopotamian-inspired.

What's happening isn't their fault, Lahar thinks. But there's no explanation for why it keeps happening. Sheep stolen from rival herds - blood on their hands - and no memory of the full moon at night. Just dreams - nightmares - of hunger and pain. Only they can venture to find what is causing all of this.

MOIA

The Vespertine active? | fantasy novel | wip intro

Aselhi is one orphan among many on the streets of Kestramore, eking out a living as a servant in a minor household. Unlike other orphans, they’re one of the vespertine, an alien people who ate through the cosmic Weft separating Moia from the other realms and setting the Causeways alight.

These Absent Gods hiatus | fantasy comic note: TAG might move from Moia to a different world, depending on how I feel about it

Malachi was built for battle - all war demons are. But they certainly weren’t built for cleaving to a pact, much less one written by an idiot and enforced by the blood of an innocent. But here’s what that idiot doesn’t know: the one who bleeds is the one who owns the pact. Albae is just unfortunate enough to be that sacrifice.

EARTH note: unless otherwise stated, all these stories take place in different "save states" of Earth.

Lodestar active? | speculative, near-future sci-fi | wip intro

When Lieve was young, they used to dream of visiting Earth. Now an adult, they know that is but a wish made by a foolish child. Now, they toil on the inner asteroid belt, alongside most of their peers. But when one A.I. goes rogue and their own starts developing her own independent thoughts, they're not sure they can stand idly by.

Loveless active | visual novel | developed by nightlotus studios

Loveless is a dating sim through the eyes of an aromantic. Get to know seven different characters, their stories and their interests, and watch them get to know each other too! Grapple with amatonormativity in a world built for romantic relationships, make wise choices to garner affection, and figure out if partnering is really best for you.

[tigerrsmn]

"Many decades ago, I transitioned and I have not one single regret. And here's what I can tell you from that perspective. Cultivate your strength. And when you don't feel strong any longer, turn to your loved ones and your community and find more strength with them and cultivate your resilience. And when you feel like you can't go on any longer, find someone's hand to hold and go on together. Cultivate your joy, because living well indeed is a good revenge. But cultivate your joy. And when it seems to have fled, throw a party and let other people bring trans and queer and non-binary and two spirit joy to you, and lend your brilliant strength and resilience and joy to everyone else who needs it."

Rev. Justin Sabia-Tanis, associate professor at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, speaking at the Twin Cities vigil for Nex Benedict, organized by Thomas Edison High Gender and Sexuality Alliance. (transcript below)

[As a trans man standing before you today, I declare to you, you are standing on holy ground. This is holy ground because we remember Nex Benedict. It is holy ground because we gather as non-binary, as two-spirit, as trans people, and as those who support and love us. You are in a sacred place tonight. There is so much living and loving art and beauty from Nex that the world will miss, because Nex is no longer among us. And we grieve in this circle tonight.

And I worked teaching ethics and justice, and I see people out there who are perpetuating lies about us, saying that we are a danger when we are the ones in danger, that we are a threat when we are threatened. In order to get more votes or make more talking points, they lie and say that they are protecting vulnerable young people from extremism when it is their extreme laws that force children and teens and young people into increasingly violent circumstances. We know they are lying because if they genuinely cared about us, they would be outraged at every incident that happens in the bathroom. Every child bullied and beaten would be a cause for outrage as it is for us. But they are silent.

If they cared, they would stand up each and every time one of us is hurled threats or fists against us. And they do not. And worst of all, they're using their religion and faith to justify their lies and their silence and their bias. Those who make anti-trans laws and encourage their passage are complicit in the deaths and the acts of violence that occur because of what they say and because of the laws that they pass. And we must--

(Crowd) Say it again!

Those who make anti-trans laws and encourage their passage are complicit in each act of violence that occurs because of what they say against us and the laws they pass. We must and will hold them accountable for their actions. So let me tell you the truth. The Bible they cite is filled with calls to love your neighbor as yourself and to care for those who are different and those who are vulnerable. I won't go into it, but there are story after story in which eunuch people who live outside the binary are the heroes of the story, the ones who are included. And the Bible says that all of creation, including each and every one of us, is good and very good. Never believe anyone who tells you otherwise. Whether or not you're a person of faith, I hope you hear this message that you are good, very, very good at the core of your being. I believe that God calls each of us to discover our authentic self and our very heart, and that living that truth, living that authenticity, is being faithful to the holy voice that you hear within you.

Many decades ago, I transitioned and I have not one single regret. And here's what I can tell you from that perspective. Cultivate your strength. And when you don't feel strong any longer, turn to your loved ones and your community and find more strength with them and cultivate your resilience. And when you feel like you can't go on any longer, find someone's hand to hold and go on together. Cultivate your joy, because living well indeed is a good revenge. But cultivate your joy. And when it seems to have fled, throw a party and let other people bring trans and queer and non-binary and two spirit joy to you, and lend your brilliant strength and resilience and joy to everyone else who needs it. This is holy ground tonight. It is holy because we gather here to remember Nex Benedict. It is holy because you and I are here and we are sacred, holy people. Thank you.]

[tae-rambles]

since this is the end of the Egghead arc and we're heading to Elbaf, here are some of my predictions, hopes, expectations and just general thoughts and feelings i have for the next arc:

firstly, i'm not sure what exactly to expect for Usopp during the Elbaf arc but i have very high hopes for it

next, something that is pretty much guaranteed is Robin's reunion with Saul and her seeing the books from Ohara. i'm so hyped for it and i expect it to hit me in the feels. i also wonder if Robin chooses to read some of the books. on one hand, her reading them would be like paying respect to the scholars' efforts to save them. on the other, however, Robin wants to discover the truth by sailing with the Strawhats ( - she rejected Rayleigh's offer to tell her in Sabaody). yes, the scholars' research isn't complete and so she would still have to reach Laugh Tale to learn the whole truth, but we also know that perspective matters ( - Rayleigh said she might arrive at a different conclusion than the Roger Pirates did) and learning incomplete truths might affect it. so what i think she's going to do is only look into the legends about Nika since she heard Vegapunk declare that Luffy's new form resembles the Sun God and she wants to help her captain. which leads me to my other prediction:

Luffy will learn about Nika and the truth about his devil fruit. he will be opposed to it at first because he's Monkey D Luffy, the man who will become the King of the Pirates, he's not a god nor a hero, dammit! but will relent in favor of learning more about his abilities to become stronger. he may also undergo a mini training arc similar to his time in the Udon prison in Wano.

next, what i hope to see is the dumbass captain trio reunion. i loved their dynamic in Wano, it was so fun! but this time, the atmosphere will be much different. (yes, i believe Kid is alive, this is One Piece we're talking about.) i have some thoughts about that:

the answer to how Bepo and Law would end up on Elbaf is simple - it's the closest location to Winner Island that the log pose points to. (my other theory is Bepo took them to Zou since Zunesha was last seen at Wano and i wouldn't be surprised if they left in the direction to Laugh Tale to prepare for the final war or something idk) they would be welcomed and taken care of at Elbaf since Law was said to be one of the two who defeated Big Mom, the Elbafians' sworn enemy. when he sees Luffy again, Law can ask him to team up against Blackbeard and to get his crew back if they were captured. i'm hoping he simply asks for help instead of forming a formal alliance because it would imply that Law officially accepts Luffy as his friend ( - which Luffy realizes because he's observant like that). but it would also make sense for Law to not demand they call it an alliance since, from Law's perspective, as Blackbeard put it, he can't call himself a pirate captain without a ship and a crew so he's not in a position to form alliances. Luffy will of course agree because they're friends and he will do anything for his friends.

there are two options for how Kid gets onto the island. either Dive turns out to be a half-fishman (a theory i believe) and it's her who saves the crew but it would be hard for her to do it alone, especially with her small stature. the second option, is that a/some giant(s) take pity on the Kid Pirates and save them in secret as a thank you for defeating Big Mom. however, i'm not sure how the interaction with Luffy would go. Kid will be even more pissed at Shanks and surely desire revenge (on Dorry and Broggy, too). and although Luffy did express his desire to fight Shanks, there are no bad feelings between them - quite the opposite. so yeah, i'm nervous to see how that's gonna go

other than that, i'm hoping for all the Strawhats to do some battling since Elbaf is the land of warriors which is a great opportunity to train

i'm also hoping we get a flashback to the night on Egghead so we get to know what happened and how Robin got so injured (my guess is she fought a seraphim but i want to know the details!)

i also want to know where's Stussy but i hope that will be covered in ch 1124

and just to cover all my bases: Bonney will join the Straw Hat Pirates (trust me, Oda told me so)

that's all that comes to mind right now. sorry if it's too incoherent and rambly but that's the nature of this blog (tae-rambles) so... eh?

[screwzara]

"You've been doing this since you were younger than me, haven't you abang?"

Only years of fighting literal aliens in battle kept Boboiboy from flinching. He turned around to come face to face with one of his oldest friends, well turned his head down. Ali was at least 15cm shorter, a fact that he forever loved to tease the younger boy about.

"Doing what?" Boboiboy asked sarcastically. They've know each other for more than half their lives-he knows Ali well enough to know that the conversation they're about to have is going to be emotionally taxing. Even if it's unhealthy or unproductive (Yaya's words not his) there's a part of him that wants to delay it as much as possible.

But Ali, strong, brave, stubborn-far too much like him Ali bin Ghazali doesn't let that happen. "Being a hero," Ali's voice is hard in a way that reminds him too much of the way his Dad's would shake after waking up screaming in the night, while speaking in hushed voices with his Mom and Mechabot when they think he's sleeping. The walls of their house were never that thick.

"Why," he asks, and stupidly he feels his eyes burn and throat tighten, "Why would you do this? It's not a game, Ali. You could get hurt."

"Of course I know it's not a game," Ali declares, voice cracking in the middle like boys on the cusp of puberty do, the same way his voice did just a few years ago, "I'm not a little kid, okay? Abang please I'm not stupid, you know I'm not. I know what you do is just as dangerous and scary. How do you think I felt whenever you got hurt? Don't ask, don't tell. We promised each other that after Mama died, but I feel like we should break it."

Boboiboy feel his heart break even more when he sees the tears building in the younger boys eyes. They did promise each other that. If you won't tell, I won't ask. It was unconventional with every other adult preaching honesty is the best policy, but they both knew somethings were just too awful to speak about. With parents that were the space version of ambassadors/soldiers, and a newly widowed dad and Uncle pulling away farther and farther each year. They both needed to talk about things that weren't stressful.

It would be hypocritical to be angry at Ali for doing the same thing he did when he was even younger. Didn't mean he almost didn't go into heart failure at the thought of his adik fighting with bloody weapons.

"If you're going to do this," Boboiboy says, voice somehow both resigned and hopeful, "Just promise me something, okay?"

Ali eyes are wide and shining while he nods, but not without the same weight his hold. He looks so young that it makes finding out he's a spy-a child soldier even more heartbreaking. But what can he say when he is but the same just doing it in space, with superpowers.

He can only hope Ali stays safer than him.

"Promise me," Boboiboy says, voice taut with the fact he knows Ali can't keep this promise, no matter how much he wants him too, "You won't die before me." A tear falls down his pale face as he says it.

Ali rears back, shocked. Before a sad look appears on his too young to be fighting, to be killing face. "You know I can't, abang."

He knows, God he knows. Just like he couldn’t promise Ali that he wouldn't get hurt while on his "job". He's not naive enough to think simple words from a mildly traumatised teenager can keep someone safe, as if casting a protective spell over them.

But....

Boboiboy crosses the barely 1m distance between him and Ali in barely a minute. Then engulfs him in a hug only the hecking apocalypse could tear apart. Ali holds just as tight.

"I can still dream, adik."

*sobs into my arms* omg omg omg-

This is.. i... i can't.. *screams*

I can just hear the pain in their voices as they have this conversation(and i see what you did there, taking full advantage of my mention of them seeing each other as their brothers)

I'm loving these, thank you *cries my heart out as i reread it*

[hippielittlemetalhead]

I should be working on my Punk!Steve thingy and I will but first I am running on enough caffeine to stop an elephant's heart and 3 hours of sleep and I had a ✨thought✨.

Son of Hades Steve but more Bianca di Angelo than Nico. He's charming and charismatic but even if people like him there's still that sense of Other and people fear what he's capable of (King Steve) and the stereotype that he's bad luck and not like other demigods and almost less human than them (relationship with Nancy and the bullshit scene). His parents know and his stepdad refuses to acknowledge him more than he needs to and his mom resents him for ruining her marriage even though she's the one who revenge cheated in retaliation for her husband sleeping with another secretary. So they send him to Camp Half Blood as soon as possible and he is there the majority of the year.

And

Son of Artemis Eddie. BECAUSE in many ancient civilizations the words/phrases we translate to virgin would be closer to unwed young woman rather than never slept with someone. Because Artemis has a lover, Orion but upon his death vows to never wed and declares herself a maiden/virgin goddess. So either like copying Athena in PJO or via the occasional ONS she has a handful of kids. We'll say for easiness sake she 99.9999% of the time has girls that she keeps as part of her hunters. The occasional .0001% that's a boy she sends to the father or the camp. Eddie was left on his father's doorstep in a soft grey woven bassinet and swaddled in silver cloth that seemed to glow with the light of the full moon. His dad isn't the best but once he was delivered Artemis didn't really check in with him and only finds out he'd been sent to his Uncle Wayne (who can see through the Mist) when one of her hunters who was working with CHB sees and recognizes him as a child of her Lady and reports back to Artemis. She claims him at the campfire the next full moon and he immediately starts calling only the Apollo kids cousins and they sort of adopt him as one of their own right back when he proves to be terrible at anything related to either his mother or uncle except taking care of kids (he is great at helping with little ones who are new to the camp or have to visit the infirmary) and/or animals, being the type to take little lost campers under his wing and a talent for music that would rival the most gifted of Apollo's cabin.

A la PJO style we meet our heroes around the ages 11-12, Steve had been in and out of the camp routinely since he was literally a toddler. He was found at daycare by a kind nymph who went by Claudia and her satyr toddler (Dustin 😏) and told the Harringtons about the camp. She did not expect them to basically send their 3 year old to boarding school most of the summer.

Dustin later found Eddie on his own since he was now technically 9 to Eddie's 12 but still physically pretty toddler looking it took some effort and Claudia had to intervene when she finally found her son and explain to the nice mortal man and his demigod nephew about Eddie being of Greek god descent and that with the rise of monsters trying to get at him already he should go to the camp for a bit to train. Dustin would stay at the camp with Eddie partially as punishment for running off and partially to help him acclimate and make sure Eddie was on time for when Claudia helped Wayne Iris message Eddie. Eddie is maybe 13 and been at camp for about a year when he gets claimed.

That's all I've got really besides Steve and Eddie try being friends cause they're both odd kids out w/who their parents are but it's a little out of nowhere after a year knowing of each other rather than knowing each other but also Steve has powers and charisma and that makes him worth hanging out with to majority of campers where Eddie can get kids to stop crying and is a Disney princess with how much animals like him. There's some animosity cause Steve is jealous Dustin is spending so much time with Eddie, especially when they and some of the other campers and younger satyrs discover DND and Eddie feels rejected cause they didn't click at all and his emotionally traumatized little ass made that Steve's fault. Till they're 16 and 17 and assigned a quest with Dustin as their satyr and third and they have to learn to get along and realize how much they have in common like the fear of what comes next when they age out of being campers and yeah Steddie happens and Dustin is smug.

Also Eddie learns completely by accident he can basically use music as a weapon DND bard style and he is way too happy about it and so pissed he didn't think of that sooner.

[s1ithers]

stolen throne screed. trying to reserve judgment in case this is going somewhere, but good god why'd they make maric such a dweeb. it's killing me. i have to talk shit.

this is such a bizarre character introduction, i can't tell how we're meant to take it. he's the son of a rebel queen growing up on the run with this guerilla army, but he treats it like his mom's boring job. he knows fuckall. when people declare fealty to him he doesn't know what to say. this guy who's been a prince all his life doesn't have (1) appropriate stock response drilled into him. he barely remembers how to knight a guy. he can't ride a horse. ask him anything about the war he's like wuhhh idk, mom does all that. sucks we have to march so much :(

like i hate him? his (mother's) followers are described as ragged & starving for this cause. our man cannot be bothered. i hate him so much

sure, 'hapless idiot = Relatable(tm)' is....a school....of protagonist design. 'naive young hero grows into leadership role' is a time-honored arc. but what hits so weird is the lack of splashover from this to the rest of the world, fine & good to make your protag a spoiled little shit but where's the in-universe logic for why he's like this?

moira is set up as a great queen and so far it seems like we're meant to take this description at face value. so this great ruler, whose goal is specifically the restoration of her bloodline to the throne, just couldn't be bothered to train her heir to even the most basic level. so the queen's characterization starts to fall apart. which makes the dedication of her followers less convincing. so you get this chain reaction of characterization issues that hollows out the whole thing

or maybe the queen intentionally sheltered her son to the point of uselessness for (???) reasons, which you'd think would take serious effort considering he grew up literally in army camps shoulder to shoulder with hardened guerrillas who're suffering all these hardships & risking their lives & apparently cool with the grownass adult prince mooning around just like, plugged into his gameboy in the back seat. which would set up an interesting dynamic! if it felt like the book was doing it on purpose. if that turns out to be the case i'll eat this post lol

but it's like, 'feckless princeling' is a type, and 'beloved warrior queen' is a type, and 'scrappy rebel army,' and they're all just sort of plucked out of the genre bag without much thought for how they interact or what meaning they create when juxtaposed yknow. and i feel like so often when the writing in DA falls down for me, it's because of this, the narrative locks into treating a character as the type or genre figure they represent, rather than respond to what they actually do or how they're situated in diegetic context

gamlen might be the ur-example of this to me. he absolutely got shafted by their parents. it's 100% fair to ask your relatives who've been crashing in your shitty apartment for a year to help out with rent and food. but he's designated Surly Deadbeat Uncle so he's not allowed to have a point. anders is the healer, what does he do in his free time? eh, he heals. running a nonprofit clinic for 7 years has no bearing on his role as the Preachy SJW Friend. it's writ large in da:i

it breaks the illusion of a living world bc background characters aren't allowed to react authentically. they have to look at this dipshit and be like ~ yay our beloved prince :) ~ they're just narrative puppets. it cheapens the MCs for obvious reasons

it's interesting bc da:o is so consciously built around inverting genre tropes and how that carries forward or doesn't as the series goes on. what gets identified as a Trope for that treatment and what seems to go unexamined

i think TST is suffering from the franchise's awkward genre transition. it sets up a story about rebellion & occupation, i went in wanting/expecting... obviously not realism, but at least as heavy stakes as da:o mostly tried to orient itself around. but maric (& rowan) feel more like characters from d&d-type light fantasy where that kind of thing really is meant to be a backdrop for the player characters to romp around in

AND. also from the series' long-running weirdness about what it is exactly the nobility are and do. but i think i've hit my daily word limit for bitching about DA lol

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for committing treason and betraying my friends before I even met them?

"Committing treason" is perhaps too strong, for I (120M) have no love for my country. We have access to several extremely powerful magical artifacts and instead of fully studying them and uncovering their mysteries, my people decided to treat them as religious relics. These artifacts have already given us access to reincarnation and to a unique kind of magic. What we could accomplish with a deep study of at least one of them is unimaginable.

I decided to dedicate myself to the study of magic and rose through our political ranks. I have a lot of prestige in my field for someone so young and I'm considered a prodigy. So I thought that this would be enough to gain full access to the artifacts, to finally get my people to see what they're missing. But no matter how important I get and how strong the name of my family is, nothing changes. The artifact is still seen solely as part of our god instead of what it truly is.

That is why when magicians of our enemy country, scholars like I am, reached out for me to smuggle two of them... I did not spend much time pondering. The tensions between our countries got even higher, but the artifacts were in the hands of scholars as they always should have been. I'm aware that their goals are possibly not good, but what truly matters is that the information gets to me, that I finally get to understand all the secrets they hold.

Even though I feel they've not been sharing what they're actually finding...

But I digress. After some years searching for their whereabouts, my country finally leads an assault on our enemy to get these artifacts back. Our agents failed to retrieve them, but that was enough to make our cold war hot. I understand that my actions led to this, but I think that war would have happened anyway. Our countries were already enemies, they just needed an excuse.

One day, while the war preoccupied everyone's thoughts, a random bunch showed up to have an audience with our Queen. I was in attendance, but I did not pay them much mind (although two members were clearly from our enemy country) until one of them pulled an artifact, the same one I had stolen, from their bags. Our Queen declared them heroes and that's when things truly started to go wrong.

They were deadset on ending the war and soon they started believing a treator had handed the relics over to the other side. I was keeping an eye on them to conver all my tracks, but they started to ask me favors all the time. They kept calling me to ask questions and to transport them everywhere, wasting my time and magic. However... They also were genuinely interested in getting to know me. They kept inviting me over for dinner, sharing their knowledge and one of them even hugged me. I do not remember the last time I was shown this much kindness and even though I tried my best to prevent it... I started to care about them.

And that's where the real problem lies. All their caring about people is starting to rub off on me and now I'm questioning everything I did. I've betrayed their trust, but that was before I even knew who they were! My actions led to a war, but that was not my intention and that war was set to happen even if I hadn't done anything! My motives were never good, but they were important. I can not be blamed for all this.

...right?

I feel like a few months ago I wouldn't care about the answer, but now I can't help but wonder if I am, how you say, "the asshole".

[beevean]

ooh, are we making fun of NFCV again? i wanna add to the pile re: how all the so-called "diversity" and "representation" it gets praised for goes overwhelmingly, if not entirely to the bad guys - and half of them don't even have a speaking role or even names, or at least we don't learn about them anywhere else besides the supplementary material, like in the case of drac's vampire generals (except godbrand, of course). even the two PoC good guys i can think of, zamfir and greta, aren't that great considering zamfir is portrayed as hopelessly and delusionally devoted to the deceased targoviste royalty, to the point of forsaking the wellbeing of both the underground and aboveground survivors, and then dies anyway in service of that delusion. and greta's just a last-minute newcomer to allegedly address grant's conspicuous absence that fans were complaining about from the start.

We never stop making fun of NFCV lol, there's always something new to point out 🥰

I can see how fans would respond to this that representation doesn't need to be relegated to heroes only, and you can have minority villains as long as they're not stereotyped. But yeah, the representation in NFCV is shallow at best and offensive at worst.

Most Generals in Dracula's army don't have a speaking role. Cho, the Japanese vampire who goes down in less than a minute in S2, gets a flashback after she died, because storytelling.mp4, and even then she doesn't talk. I only remember Raman's name because Carmilla says something like "there are only 4 women in this castle" nope it's just 3 of them lmao

Sumi and Taka look identical despite not being related according to Word of God, which is hysterical to me because you know they said that to divert the accusations of incest. my pal. you really think your GoT-inspired show is above twin siblings having a threesome? Also, you know, they immediately jump to rape by deception without a hint that they'd do that through all season, and then their corpses get graphically mutilated and pissed on (contrast this with the white, most likely French Lenore who gets to flirt and be cute with her victim)

Isaac is gay! How do we know that? He "jokes" out of nowhere about kissing Hector, a guy he has zero respect for. This line has no follow-up and is OOC with how serious the character is always portrayed. And that's not counting his declaration of love made to his abusive master when he was a boy.

I don't know enough about Islam to have a solid opinion on how it was treated in Isaac's case, and in a vacuum having a "complex" Muslim anti-villain is more original than usual. But I don't like how his self-flagellating habit was first treated as a result of his traumatic past, then as a religious practice, then completely dropped. Using Mohammed's own words about Hell being emptied, which from what I've read mean that in Islam hell is transitory, and twisting them to justify his necromancy is... certainly a delicate choice, but again, he doesn't really reflect on this in S4, he just jumps to "wow I sure love having agency!"

Also, in retrospect, it would have been much better if Isaac hailed from the Emirate of Granada instead of being a slave, a backstory more befitting for N!Annette for her origins and time period. In his case, it would have been more original, and expanded the world a little more. What's that? He wouldn't have a reason to hate humankind? Then how come game!Isaac can do it just fine? :) You know, since he was persecuted (maybe even by the Spanish Inquisition!) for his cursed powers? :) maybe you can have more reasons to hate humans than "former slave"? maybe black people can be depicted as something different than slaves? :)

Striga and Morana are cute together, but are non-entities who begin and end with each other. Also, funny how Morana, the lesbian of color (triple minority!), is literally the most useless and wasted of the four :) and even then the most characterization she gets is "she loves to torture people". nice

Alucard was made bi by Word of God and I don't need to repeat how appalling it is. I hate that most "antis" have a problem with him being attracted to men in the first place, and not that the declaration was made to downplay his sexual assault.

(meanwhile Carmilla, inspired by the literal archetype of the lesbian vampire, to the point that you can even see her game version as being a lesbian thanks to Laura, gets reduced to joke that she'd only sleep with Godbrand if all the men, half of the women and some of the animals died. but hey, she's a radfem, I guess that's enough)

Apparently I have... controversial opinions on the choice of darkening Hector's skin and the ethnicity he is in this version. But I will say that there is something weird in deliberately giving him bronze skin, I suppose to emphasize his Greek heritage, and then spending two seasons literally dehumanizing him and lowering him to the level of a dog and pet.

Also something about the Speakers, nomadic people whose oral traditions get made fun of, by Sypha in particular who calls them idiots, is... hm. The wiki even points out: "They are also similar to the Jews (especially due to their reverence for knowledge and their tradition of oral history) and, to a lesser extent, to the Romani."

I skipped Zamfir's plotline because by S4 I had burnout, but yeah, Greta is probably the best character of color and even then she's little more than a generic badass woman with attitude. Also she's even more ambiguously brown than Hector, I would say on the same level as Casca from Berserk - you can tell she's not white, but she's not really anything else.

(btw no, she has no relation with Grant :) )

tl;dr: the only good representation in nfcv are the tunisi people isaac speaks to and this is why i do not trust them with black annette, and i hate the fucking discourse on twitter from people who just don't like the design change

[duskforged]

artblr/writeblr (re)intro

edit 9/24/23: updated game list

hello, one and all, to my artblr/writeblr, duskforged. my interests are massively widespread and i swear i pick up more hobbies than i care to count, so this will be my catchall art blog.

my name is hesperos wingrove, i am trans + nonbinary (they/them), and i am an artist, writer, and worldbuilder, among other things.

my preferred genre is fantasy but i sometimes dabble in historical fiction and sci-fi. i also write fanfic, draw blorbos, and try my best to not cry while learning how to code python.

i am a security guard for my day job (don't ask), and studied graphic arts at a vocational center.

my links!

more about my WIPs/projects under the cut! this includes: novels, comics, fanfics, and video games. there is quite a few of them.

For color coding: purple is considered priority within the category; red is 'stuck' or 'back burner', i enjoy the idea but am not currently working on it; green is finished (rare); blue is pre-planning/plot bunny stage/not yet posted.

NOVELS

Unto Summer Kings | wip intro | arthurian legend, fantasy, historical (ish)

Arthur lives in a lull period between greater moments in history - the fall of the Roman Empire came before he was born and the future is yet unwritten...

The Vespertine | wip intro | fantasy

Aselhi is one orphan among many on the streets of Kestramore, eking out a living as a servant in a minor household. Unlike other orphans, they're one of the vespertine, an alien people who ate through the cosmic Weft separating Moia from the other realms and setting the Causeways alight....

Lodestar | wip intro | sci-fi, speculative fiction

When Lieve was young, they used to dream of visiting Earth. Now an adult, they know that is but a wish made by a foolish child. Now, they toil on the inner asteroid belt, alongside most of their peers...

Amid Wisteria | wip intro | fantasy

Having grown up on the isolated western coast of Aeros, Arêllan ve Povunra Aelisâm is only 29 years old when their mother, the Lady Matriarch Povunra, declares they will be adopted into the esteemed Llanaere family and live in the distant capital of Maêla...

Sanctuary | wip intro | fantasy

After becoming a war hero in New Ánasezan Movement, Lady Alessámira Nasánza Solsinat is a knight who has retired from fighting. Three years have passed since the old monarchy was overthrown, and Ánaseza has finally returned to something resembling contentment and peace. Unfortunately for Alessa, darkness still lurks underneath the veneer of this new nation...

COMICS

These Absent Gods (title WIP) | fantasy

Malachi was built for war - all war demons are. But they certainly weren't built for cleaving to a pact, much less one written by an idiot and enforced by the blood of an innocent. But here's what that idiot doesn't know: the one who bleeds is the one who owns the pact. Albae is just unfortunate enough to be that sacrifice.

Cracked Prophecy (title WIP) | fantasy

It was an accident, honestly! Grand Duke Hektor was supposed to be unkillable by any man, and here's Corbin, ruining the prophecy in that final battle. Now he has the enraged chosen one, Nirsaa, on his tail, and as he is lifted to new heights within their society, he realizes something about himself that no one saw coming. (or did they?)

FANFICTION

The Hanged Man | Naruto | SI/OC-insert as Hatake Sakumo

Waking up in the body of a man the day before he's supposed to die isn't the greatest thing. Especially when I know what's going to happen to his son.

The Ever-Growing Gloaming | Baldur's Gate 3 | SI/OC-insert

It all started when Vespere tripped inelegantly through the fabric between realities directly into an illithid's vessel as it split the Planes into Baldur's Gate. On one hand, they're lucky enough to survive the experience. On the other… they have a tadpole in their head, a dream visitor they don't trust, and have somehow ended up being the face of a party of absolute fucking weirdos. Oh, and what's worse, they don't even know how to get home from here. Joy.

hope is a weapon / hope is a skill | Star Wars | SI/OC-insert, outsider POV

With the addition of the small planet of Edhen to the Republic, Senator Bryn Laverne is a new player on the field. The Clone Wars have just begun, and no one is quite sure what to make of it. Except the new senator, of course.

the stars that listen | Star Wars | AU, crack-y

Tiring of the Order's treatment of his padawan, Obi-Wan takes Anakin back to Tattooine with every intention of freeing first Shmi, and then the planet as a whole. This snowballs into a desire to free the entire galaxy from slavery and other systemic woes. Obi-Wan just didn't anticipate all but stealing half the Jedi Order doing it.

Winter Wakes The Wolves | Game of Thrones | OC-insert (sorta), crack-y

They don't know how they ended up here, but each one of them knows what will happen at Harrenhal. They're desperate to change the timeline, and clearly the best way to do that... is to bring an industrial revolution to the North. (Four random people get inserted into the bodies of Brandon, Eddard, Lyanna, and Benjen Stark a month before Eddard goes to foster at the Eyrie.) Inspired by Red Pill, Blue Pill (Falling Into Wonderland) by writing_as_tracey

Trickling | MCU/Thor | time-travel, genderbending

Loki dies on the Statesman and awakes in their childhood bedroom on Asgard, centuries before the Avengers would be born. Alas, this timeline is one step to the left, and they're left in the body of a little girl - not a little boy. Inspired by the Song of the Yggdrasill by Valerie_Vancollie.

(more TBD)

GAMES

WORDLORE | fantasy/ISEKAI?

You don't know how you ended up here, but you do know that wherever this is, it isn't Earth. You suppose you're lucky you haven't died of some sort of alien disease or exploded into hives from an allergic reaction. But now you have a new cellmate, and they seem hellbent on teaching you a language you've no context for...

[coolcattime]

Heyo it's the usual anon here with a bit of an angst mianite au.

I kinda have given up on this idea but i was working on it as a fic called "the man that would be king" where not long after andor was taken to the prison, helgrind very suddenly dies and andor is left either comatose from the trauma of having his wings ripped off or dies. Suddenly dagrun has no king. With this sudden vacuum of power the worshippers of mianite and mianite himself wants to put lieutenant al as regent, however sparklez is has a shockingly legitimate claim to the throne. Considering he is kinda the same person who built the kingdom. Mianite decides to hide in the shadows for now and acts through lt. al. He doesnt want to do it but is convinced by farmer steve to not abdicate his rights to the throne. Meanwhile along with tom they plan on ruling the kingdom from the shadows as dianitees by offering a future king sparklez their council (in this au sparklez never learns that steve is actually a dianitee instead of an ianitee) of course mianite can just try to take over the town by force but he doesnt want to confront a younger much more feral version of sparkplug. So he has to play around trying to slowly manipulate things to put pressure on sparklez as a leader to make him give up his claim to the throne. [Namely increasing the frequency of blood moons, stalling trade with the kingdom and even highering pirates.] While using al to try and convince him away from his faith in ianite.

Spirit dianite still shows up in this au and decides to lay low not openly declaring his presence to the heroes other than tom. Using his power he helps provide tom and steve with extra supplies and might to be worthwhile allies to sparklez.

Sonja is checked out during all this falling deeper and deeper into madness exploring thaumcraft leaving one of the few solid allies sparklez had essentially a gone.

Tucker starts snooping around and sees mianite is the one behind alot of the recent tragedy and attacks surrounding dagrun and decides to track down and confront the god.

All the while the death and the turmoil of the city causes ianite and her taint monster to stir.

And that's as far as i got. I had some plans for martha to show up during the next few parts. For tucker to confront mianite, and for more focus on sonja but i realized i dont love writing political dramas as much as love reading them

This idea story is intriguing. I think the idea of Jordan taking the throne after Helgrind dies. I think either version of Andor's fate is pretty interesting for how the story could develop as if he's in a coma then it does make sense that Jordan could be pressed into taking the throne as regent as it's unlikely Al would want to help Andor. Meanwhile, if he died then there's the point of view that could be had that Mianite is purposefully killing off people so he can do a hostile takeover of the town.

I think Steve manipulating Jordan to rule for Dianite's interests from the shadows is pretty interesting, especially with Tom helping. Though I do think maybe Tom should be a little less opening to manipulating Jordan from the shadows just because like they're friends and that's a bit of a dick move to do to your friends.

Obviously Mianite putting pressure on Jordan by basically putting siege on the town is very in character. Though trying to persuade Jordan away from Ianite I doubt will work out well for him.

I don't have too many opinions on Dianite and Sonja's side stories other than this is very funny if in the background of this political drama is the story you've earlier sent of Sonja going slightly mad from trying to revive Capsize. But I do really love the idea of Tucker going to confront Mianite because I love the idea of him actually turning against Mianite when he realises all the harm Jordan is doing.

I do think the story idea is really interesting though obviously I do see why writing this would be difficult as like this sort of story is so reliant of knowing what everyone thinks and is actually doing compared to what other characters think they're doing.

[rhokisb]

Dragonlance Session 6 Results

Writing DnD Campaign notes/story is so much different from just writing. Every time I think I've planned for everything, I am proven wrong.

Our session started with trying to get all the players together again. One of the missing party members was in a room next to where they woke up. He's a bard so I said, "A familiar tune underscores the yelling coming from the room to your left." 3 PCs go to the room, 2 ask to go chill with BlipBlup, an NPC my PCs love. The three who find the missing member, well he wants to wait for them to be back before he says what happened. 3 PCs chase after missing 2, while found (A) stays in the room. Alriiiight.

1 of the 3 walks into a shop where the person working there actually saved them as a child. They listen to the story, purchase rope and a grappling hook and leave. Wicked aha.

The 2 who left with the NPC, they go to a blacksmith to dull some daggers so they can continue to teach BlipBlup how to juggle. BlipBlup asks if they can teach him to fight so he can stop being a burden. 1 of them teaches him archery and gives him their short bow. BlipBlup is super happy and tells them he's gonna be the hero of the city one day, "just you watch".

They eventually are found by the 3, so then all 5 plus BlipBlup are back together again. As they go back to where their missing friend was it was TIME TO INTRODUCE A NEW PLAYER (which would have worked better if friend had gone with them but he wanted to stay). Insert mishmash of what happened to A while introducing new player B. Admittedly could have been organized better but I didn't expect A to want to stay in a random ass room.

All 7 PCs and BlipBlup talk to the king of the ruined city who tells them about a secret tunnel under the dragons lair. Oh yeah BTW this is the BBEG of the campaign so far, 1 Ancient Black Dragon. Cool, they head off over there. While walking they all agree that when they beat the dragon they're GONNA TELL THE KING BLIPBLUP DID IT SO HE CAN BE A HERO. *my heart*

They get to the Dragon. Epic fight. There was plot armor for this fight. I whisper on roll20 to ONE PLAYER that a God is whispering in their ear to hit the dragon with their staff. They say...

And attempt to just keep fighting the dragon. After some COAXING (PC was drunk irl so it was more me shouting YOU WILL 100% DIE) they do it.

Dragon is killed instantly; PC who hit the dragon disappears, but the cave they're in begins to collapse. Insert DEX checks to avoid falling rocks here. Chaos. They watch the city they just left be crushed knowing a large number of the new friends they just made are probably dead. BlipBlup is shrieking in terror to the point one of them needs to carry him.

They get out and as more survivors make their way from the destruction the party finds their PC who killed it beneath a statue in a temple. She gets a new mission and they rest above the ruins of the city for the evening.

DURING WHICH TIME: one of them makes BlipBlup a crown out of broken iron chains, one of them polishes it and gives him a "How to Be a King for Dummies 101" lesson AND makes a new emblem for the city they just destroyed, one of them attempts to find him a BF/GF (we stan representation so he provided options) both of which refuse (their entire city and all of their friends and family just died 2 hours ago bro) so he gets a rock and draws a smiley face on it and presents it as BlipBlups partner. Also gives him a childhood trinket. Another PC gives BlipBlup his short sword, a set of fine clothes, and the insignia of the secret order they're a part of.

THEN THEY ALL DECLARE BLIPBLUP THE NEW KING OF THE GULLY DWARVES AND JUST LEAVE HIM STANDING THERE WEARING HIS CROWN AND CARRYING EVERYTHING THEY JUST GAVE HIM. *my heart again because they love him*

They didn't want the session to end so they end up traveling for 3 days back to their hometown which has been destroyed, get into a bar fight, and immediately are captured by the invading army of Draconians.

But WAIT: when they killed the dragon I gave them one opportunity to search the hoarde during the collapse. On the road they found out what they pulled. One of them pulled a cloak of invisibility.

So at the start of next session, 6 of the 7 are prisoners and one of them is running around like Harry in God damn Hogwarts in an invisibility cloak.

You can never predict your PCs. Don't even try.

[messyo5]

Dude I just finished watching Black Panther Wakanda Forever and I am going to share my freshly baked scattered thoughts with any unlucky onlookers that might pass by.

⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️SPOILERS⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️

⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️turn back now⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️

First and foremost.. Oh my god. That end fight scene. I couldn't tell who I wanted on top of me more. I mean. Like, Shuri and Namor were beating the shit out of eachother which isn't ideal but can they like beat the shit out of me?

With the previous point being made, I think its notable that Namor/Kukulkan's thunder thighs had me in a chokehold the whole movie. This is important information to the plot.

On a more serious tone, I wish they would've displayed more political conflict within the movie and elders. I feel like given how much their politics were involved with the previous movie, we should've seen more conflict. I mean like, Shuri basically dropped down from the sky at one point and decided to declare war on Talokan and with the exception of whats-his-name, everyone seemed pretty damn chill with it. You'd think that after the last guy they'd show some resistance. But I suppose that would take up too much screen time? Idk man I feel like that was one of my biggest qualms with the realism of the writing.

Personally I don't have a problem with it, but my brother is like rlly upset and feels like it was poor writing to put Riri in an Ironman like suit. I actually liked it. I liked how they introduced the idea of her wearing a suit like that WITH Ironman actually. When we saw the suit in the garage, I can't remember if it was mentioned that Riri took inspiration from Stark or not, but I feel like it was implied bc of the studies she had been doing on Stark tech. And I think that was so cool to throw in there! It makes sense for a second generation of heroes to be inspired and making their own suits and stuff out of the previous Avengers. Think about all the scenes and headcannons we used to see of Thor or smth waving to a little girl on the bus. Those kids are going to start being the next generation of heroes so I'm really excited to see how Marvel incorporates the inspiration factor. Think like Peter Parker interning for Stark, I can't wait to see some other young hero who is just like oddly obsessed with Banner or smth bc they had a Hulk Stretch Armstrong toy or smth when they were six.

The costume design!! Oh God! Loved it!! I'm kind of a nerd for Art History and as many know, Hollywood usually does not get it right. I'll admit, I had high standards for Marvel on this one because they did so good with the first Black Panther design of masks and materials used for costuming, incorporating bits and pieces from other various individual African or Sub Saharan art styles, even researching into color meaning and representation. And I was overjoyed to see that Marvel had met my standard in the design of mourning garments and masks among other details. Not to mention the research done into hair styles and material use when they designed the Talokans (Talokanians? Idk dude I can't remember.) I also loved the war headdress Namor addressed everyone with, and I'm infinitely more glad that he didn't wear it into battle. I do think that given the Mayan roots of Talokan, the place they had Namor standing over did look uncannily like the Aztec Templo Mayor but yknow it still looked cool ig. Anyways. Kudos to Marvel, they're clearly doing their research and have an Art Historian somewhere on the team. I really can't wait to see what they do next keeping up the good work.

Kay. I think I've officially hit the two hour after mark. So my thoughts are not so freshly baked. They're cooled. Might edit on more later might not-

[yuuana]

Music Monday #229: aespa - Better Things release: August 2023 genre: Kpop cw: little bit of flashing, an "it's complicated" body image warning *

Oh I know, it's been a hot minute since I did one of these, hasn't it? You know you missed me and my Kpop nonsense. ;)

Sure, it's way too late to declare a song of the summer, at least up here in the northern hemisphere, but if you were looking for a light summer bop, you could do worse than this light late-summer release from aespa. That up-tempo beat combined with fairly simple lyrics offered in mellow 2-4-part harmony means this requires an earworm warning - gods know I've caught myself humming this at all hours and often can't resist singing along when it comes up on my stations and playlists.

The official music video has a definite tropical vibes flare, even when they're swallowed by the giant fish. The whole thing is a bit lush - from tropical plants to decorative costumes to special effects to fun dance moves, every watch-through I find myself getting caught by something else. The short skirts, the long nails, the acrylic puzzle Ningning's playing with and that we've seen before, the whale sounds at the end. How any of them are supposed to seriously do anything with those decora nails is a whole ass thing all right. XD

From the start, aespa has been a lore group, although this video feels less like story and more like rest. The song is self-referential rather than anything to do with the hero version of aespa or their virtual world counterparts, although considering they step through their fridge into another world, one could perhaps argue the fact that the video is indeed about their hero personas. It's a dream, of course, complete with being swallowed by a giant fish whose insides are ... a ball pit? Well, no one's ever said dreams have to make a whole lot of sense. A fancy goldfish is perhaps a strange choice of avatar to call the girls back to work, but then again....

In addition to the music video, there are also two official performance versions (performance video and performance stage), the latter of which in particular puts me in my gender feels. And then, if that wasn't enough, last week they released an animated version which is drawn in a different style than previous animations, but just as full of magic or maybe just virtual reality.

"Better Things" and its remixes are out now wherever you like to get your Kpop fix! This is no longer their most recent release, but ZOOM ZOOM is going to have to wait a bit. ;)

* here's the thing - body image is a huge problem in Kpop as idols are held to sometimes ridiculous beauty standards. Women especially must be beautiful - slender body lines, long hair, flawless skin - but it's an incredibly thin line between acceptable and not. Aespa in general and Karina in particular have a history of getting a lot of shit from fans for being on the wrong sides of the line and while I feel a certain way about warning about body image when the girls are just being themselves, Karina feels especially tiny in this video. Believe me, I'm well aware that outward appearance is not a way to measure health, but I also know body image is a whole tangled Thing, so do what you need to do to take care of yourself, lovelies. Want to see Music Monday deep dives more often? Sponsor a song selection! For the low, low price of one (1) KoFi, I'll write up the song of your choice. ANY song of your choice. Yes, even that one that's been played to death. Yes, your obscure faves too. With sponsors, I can stop skipping weeks and falling further and further behind in the releases! Sponsor a current CB for the next open Music Monday slot or sponsor a throwback for a Thursday feature! But seriously, if you've been enjoying my selections and analyses, we (me and the foster kittens) would love a KoFi in thanks. DW | Twitter | Mastodon | Bluesky | Ko-fi | Patreon | Discord | Twitch