#apparently gold pig is also a thing bc

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Ginger Rogers (Swing Time, Top Hat)—Look I’ll level with you, I’ve never seen her in a musical and I know that she’s an amazing dancer and she’ll be even hotter when I finally watch Top Hat but I’m not submitting her as a dancer I’m submitting her as an ACTRESS. Her comic timing is impeccable!!!!! She’s full to bursting with life and in every role she seems to be having FUN, you can practically feel the twinkle in her eye. With her natural warmth it’s like she’s letting you in on the joke, y’all get to have this fun together! Making me laugh is hot!!! [If you'd like to see Ginger dance, videos below the cut]

Dorothy Lamour (The Jungle Princess, Road to… movies)—Ok, to be honest, I get if no one wants to vote for her--she's kind of like my ~problematic fave~ because she started in the Road (Singapore, Bali, Hong Kong, etc) movies with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, which are full of all sorts of exoticism tropes and usually have her playing very side-eye type roles..island princesses and things...yeah. also she banged J. Edgar Hoover. not very hot. but your honor i still think she's pretty despite all that she's pretty please look at her and tell me she's prettyyy

This is round 1 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Dorothy Lamour propaganda:

She started in jungle and South Seas movies and became famous in the Road series. She learned quickly to improvise when facing Bob and Bing. Road to Bali almost has her character marrying both of theirs, since she's island royalty and nobody had a problem with it - a nearly poly relationship, an epiphany for a viewer who didn't even know that that could happen! She was a popular pinup girl during World War 2, and was the first singer for the popular standard "It Could Happen to You". She sang often in her movies and has a lovely voice!

Ginger Rogers propaganda:

She needs no introduction! An undeniable powerhouse on the dancefloor, and no less talented an actress. I once watched a compilation of cinema's greatest dance scenes and one of her and Fred Astaire's dances was featured, and one of the talking heads said he pitied her for 'having to keep up with him' - or something to that effect. Bullshit, I cry. Ginger Rogers was his absolute equal, and underplaying her incredible skill is downright criminal. I want the 'Cheek to Cheek' sequence from Top Hat to be permanently burned into my memory.

"Backwards in high heels", as the saying goes (though the pedant in me must point out that she in fact spent her fair share of time leading or dancing side-by-side). One of the earliest twinkle-toed ladies of the silver screen, and in terms of acting/persona, her balance of wide-eyed cuteness and movie-star glamour has never quite been replicated.

we all know her beloved string of musicals with fred but ginger also has an extensive and varied non-fred filmography that she's great in! a few ginger moments that are important 2 me personally ginger singing “we’re in the money” in gold diggers of 1933, complete with a verse in pig latin bc this whole movie is kinda mocking the concept of anyone actually being in the money in 1933; ginger and una merkel singing a verse of “shuffle off to buffalo” in 42nd street, providing some statler & waldorf-esque commentary on newlyweds from the upper berth of a railway car (interesting that belly was apparently a risque word in 1933 - maybe its bc the lyric is innuendo-ing about out of wedlock pregnancies - and that panties was a term for men’s underthings!); a favorite fred & ginger number

Ginger Rogers could do everything! She could sing, dance and act. She was hilarious in comedies, moving in dramatic roles (she won an Oscar for Kitty Foyle in 1940) and absolutely gorgeous!

Listen, no shade to Fred Astaire at all, but she both kept up with him step for step and then later went on to WIN AN OSCAR FOR ACTING. (which he did not.) truly a double threat!!!

One of the best dancers in Hollywood! Her work with Fred Astaire is just incredible.

ONE LINE: "Everything Fred did, Ginger did backwards and in heels" AND THEYRE RIGHT! Rogers was a total dance badass, and a lot of movie buffs know the story, but the Never Gonna Dance number from Swing Time took almost 50 takes, and allegedly by the end of filming it her white shoes had been stained pink because her feet were bleeding. As a note, she looks crazy gorgeous in this number. Watching these two dance is insane. They match up to each other in a way my mom describes as "divine" and she's right. DANCE NUMBERS!

Let's Call The Whole Thing Off (Shall We Dance, 1937, dancing starts at 3:14, they're in ROLLERSKATES)

(Ginger Rogers is the hottest woman ever to live in this number. seeing this as a teenager altered my brain chemistry)

(also watch her feet and how she moves opposite Astaire in this one. We all know our boy Freddie had that precision demon but jesus christ Miss Rogers, let a girl live!)

Pick Yourself Up, Swing Time 1936 (Everyone's seen this one but by god you are going to see it AGAIN!)

Shall We Dance, 1937 (duet begins at 2:34)

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, Roberta 1935 (There's just something about Ginger Rogers in a slick black dress man)

The Continental, The Gay Divorcee 1934 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjv6nmF7wdk God she's MAGIC in this one.

Gay Divorcee's Ending Montage 1934The infamous table and chairs spin happens at about 0:49. Pay CLOSE attention to her in this bc it looks like witchcraft and I feel lightheaded whenever I watch this movie bc shes THAT awesome.

She is a miracle to watch. Sorry for the sheer amount of clips. My entire family is like madly in love with Ginger Rogers.

[twoa-plus]

part 3 of turning everyone in gravity falls into Creatures !!

(part 1) (part 2)

manly dan is a flannel shirt sasquatch. i don’t even have to explain this one

since gideon is a kitsune my bestie suggested a kappa for bud to stick with the “little bastards from japanese folklore” theme and i think it works :D also did u guys know that according to The Lore the soul is stored in the ass. there’s like a whole organ for it it’s called the shirikodama which literally means “small anus ball” i am not lying look it up. go tell ur friends this and speculate on how whoever came up with this did so it is guaranteed to be an entertaining conversation

couldn’t find any cute pig creatures so i just gave him more whimsy and covered him in glitter. is the glitter part of his skin or did mabel dump it on him? the world may never know

this one is actually non-canon to the au’s lore BUT im having fun so whatever :D time baby is an ouroboros bc cycles or whatever. also he has a little clock to play with :3

priscilla is a harpy bc of the vibes (terraria harpies i will never forgive u). also apparently “harpy” is also used as a derogatory term for like ?? a gold digger ?? which is hilarious given the context here

free pizza guy. my to-do list of characters comes from tt comments and someone actually said this guy. he has like 2 character traits and neither of them are helpful in figuring out what he would be so he’s a free space to me. get sidehill gougered

PYRONICA !!! i don’t even know what to call the aesthetic i ended up on but hopefully it suits her ?? also apparently she’s the personification of bill’s blue fire so i gave her some blue :3

preston northwest. stupid loser. anyways he’s a blue dragon - they’re lawful evil, very territorial, follow rigid social hierarchies, etc etc, so i think it fits :D also now i kinda wanna see him & stan fight

abuelita is a naga !!! wanted to do smth a little unexpected with her :) they have an association with death/the afterlife which i thought was funny for the “no… he is not there” line, and are often depicted as guardians - usually this is of treasure or rivers but i think we can extend it to soos :D petition to have more good snake creatures snakes are Silly and i Like Them

made gompers a jersey devil :) it’s not the same kind of depiction as the one in lost legends but i thought it was a fun reference regardless, and it fits with the goat thing

slowed down a bit with progress on this thing but i have like 34 of these now i’m too deep i gotta do all of them. whenever i get around to part 4 i’ll link it here (assuming i remember lol)

[phoibos-querella]

i see someone already gave an analysis on the color theory transition for both characters and i have nothing to add abt ctommy but I'd like to entertain u with the history of cq's blue to red transition bc im kindaaa obsessed. im going to put it under the cut bc it ended up p long 💀

cquackity had his iconic navy blue tracksuit jacket. it represented his innocence, youth and confidence, and even when he wore a suit for the elections he'd wear a navy blue tie because navy blue also represents authority and importance. he believed he had a place to be competing for president and that he could be a good voice of authority for the people.

then schlatt comes in with his business suit with a red tie. with his anger and spite riling up his audience he ends up getting a good chance of winning the elections, and Quackity makes a coalition. as schlatt's vice president, he also had a change of suit. a power black suit with a red tie but a hint of dark navy blue in the cuffs(I can't find a pic atm but i swear this was a thing intentional or not 😭)

post november 16 he still had a place in the new lmaberg cabinet but he returned to his original skin. when he proposed capturing techno to execute him for treason, he made the concept of it being a butcher army because they'd xp farm mobs, particularly cows or pigs, to buff for the battle, and wore uncleaned butcher aprons to wear their bloodshed as an intimidation tactic. this is the start of a visible taste for blood from him, but in a more literal sense, it was way sooner after nov 16 when he wore schlatt's red-tied suit to his funeral and then ate his heart.

for a while he would move between his normal skin and his elections suit when he was doing business. las nevadas was his huge rebrand, he now had his red tie and a white dress shirt with bloodstains he can't completely wash out. In his Las Nevadas finale he also had other las nevadas outfits. His slime laboratory outfit, where he had a lab coat over a dress shirt with a gold tie, and then red tinted golden aviator shades, and his second canon death outfit where he wears a wine red dress shirt and black tie.

red represents power, bloodshed, anger and danger. cquackity is a morally complex character who was victim to many characters in positions of power and then took their traits to become more powerful than them, that's the most literal representation of his red redesign we can get, bc schlatt was defined by red, cwilbur in fandom was defined by red in the pogtopia arc and even his revival arc, and technoblade is technoblade. cquackity tried to get into a position of leadership and authority thru authenticity and pure values, but he became a character who took the example given by great figures of the dsmp before him and decided power is gained through fear and violence.

but I also think that him taking on these clothes is partially a mask, he still doesn't have the dominating power that schlatt and techno eminated. schlatt had internal toxic masculine rage and techno and dream had power in physical skill. cquackity has never been good at any of these and was in fact, emasculated a lot by schlatt, and even by the las nevadas arc he was filled less with anger and more with sorrow over unresolved conflict with his fiances, feeling like he messed up so much in the past and had this need to be in power more by fear than anything else like exhibited with him lashing out at sam when techno and dream disappeared from their cell. how he was a mess for 2 weeks after slime's apparent death. Navy blue takes on the meaning of deep sorrow that you can't escape, something that's deeply repressed but will always be part of him.

if there was actually a proper ending where we saw q post las nevadas finale, i wouldve rlly liked to see a regression of the red colour palette or at least bringing more blue into his design, since he seemed to have been on his way to being more honest with himself and not using his past experiences as an exchse anymore as he tries to heal and make up for his actions. :]

Hey hey can someone give me an analysis on the change from blue to red for c!Quackity and red to blue for c!Tommy. I saw a post on this like ages ago, and it’s been haunting me.

[wonofwoo]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNdrV1gF79X/

[speechlessxx]

invisible string (Steve Rogers x Reader)

Summary:  there was always been a single thread of gold tying you to Steve Rogers.

This was also a request from an anon! But I planned to write an imagine ever since folklore came out haha...

Based on Taylor Swift - invisible string (highly recommend you to listen bc this is my favorite song off of folklore!)

Warnings: a lot of Taylor Swift references, language!, wordy (oops)

Word Count: ~3k

Love was quite a challenge – a never-ending struggle. You found it was more rejection than acceptance – more heartbreak and angst than romance and fluff. The romantic comedies you loved gave you so much hope and high expectations, leading you to believe you’d meet the love of your life whilst reading in the park or at an art museum where you’d be admiring paintings while he admired you.

It was all wrong.

Love wasn’t straight and narrow – black and white or even red. It was complex – full of twists and turns. You didn’t know this, but you were meant to get tangled up in the strings of love… Instead, you sought to straighten it out – to unravel the ball of yarn that love felt like.

You never stopped believing in true love despite the heartaches and the horrible men you’ve encountered. You often joked that you met the wrong ones at – what felt like – the right times.

But that’s the wondrous thing about timing – about fate, even…

Because the right one was always there … you weren’t ready for him just yet.

New to the city, your friends often set you up on numerous blind dates. They were their boyfriends’ friends, or coworkers, or their own friends. Most of the time, you had nothing in common with these men, but they’d tell you, “you gotta kiss a couple frogs to find your prince.” When you’d bring up your fantasizes of finding true love yourself, they’d snark and tell you, “true love’s a thing of the past.” You didn’t like to believe that, but maybe they were right…

Perhaps with the modern age of dating – Tinder and online sugar daddies and what not – that was true. Many blind dates ended with a confession – that they just wanted to hookup. You often found yourself a victim of mind games – pathetically drinking alone in the late nights wondering if he’d call (and when he did, it was always at his convenience and would chastise you if you weren’t available or in the mood).

However, one man seemingly put all your past relationships to shame. He was everything you ever wanted – tall, dark, handsome. Although it wasn’t a criterion for you, he had a great job and a promising career – one he was immensely proud of and often boasted about. That was one con about James – that and the aloofness, narcissism, and all too flirty personality though you always found yourself overlooking all of that.

Many of your friends didn’t quite approve. They found him a bit too arrogant and often called him out for taking advantage of your too kind and naïve heart. But you often found yourself brushing them off. You thought that perhaps they didn’t quite approve because they didn’t choose him for you.

Unlike the other men, you met him spontaneously at a Broadway show. You were gifted tickets for your birthday, and he happened to be sitting right next to your seat. He introduced himself to you, giddy with excitement – apparently, this was his favorite show. You thought his shameless excitement for Broadway was endearing and you hit it off instantly. It felt like destiny and months later, you were falling in love with James (ignoring all the red flags).

-=+=-

You smiled as you entered the bar. James, whom – as he says – has exquisite taste, picked out a bar in Brooklyn. It was quite unusual, really. He was an Upper East Side trust fund baby – although he claims that his career is self-made – and wasn’t too fond of the outer boroughs. But you welcomed the change in scenery. You found the five-star restaurants too flashy with food portions that were much too small for the huge price tags.

You quickly found him in the crowded bar and rushed over to give him a hug. He didn’t welcome you with an equally tight embrace. In fact, you didn’t feel his arms go around you at all.

“You okay?” You asked him as you settled into the seat next to him.

“Look, we gotta talk,” his voice was hushed. James scratched his head with his eyes glancing around. He looked tense – uncomfortable. His hands were shoved into his coat’s pockets, clutching onto his wallet as if he were afraid someone would just snatch it from him.

“Okay…” You nodded. You felt your heart begin to race. His tone, his composure – hell, he himself – radiated an all too familiar feeling. You felt the breakup speech coming before he even said the words.

“I think we gotta breakup,” he muttered. He refused to look at you. His eyes staring at your feet. You straightened up in your seat, rolling your shoulders back and picking at your dress’s skirt nervously.

“Is… is there something I did?” You asked, your voice breaking at the end. Although you felt the breakup happening, it still caught you off guard. Three months into dating, you were already falling so hard for him. Everything felt perfect up until now.

“No,” James shook his head. His eyes finally met yours, but it was your turn to look away. “I just think we’re not meant for each other.”

“Okay,” you nodded. A tear rolled down your cheek, but you quickly wiped it away with the back of your hand.

“Yeah… Um… I gotta go – “

“Is there someone else?” You don’t know why you asked. You weren’t sure if you even wanted the answer. James coughed, awkwardly. You caught him nod in the corner of your eye. You exhaled a shaky breath before feeling your heart harden. “Fine. Have a good life.” He said your name and leaned over to hug you, but you shrugged him off. “Go fuck, yourself,” you spat. The words surprised you. You were never so vulgar, but you had enough.

Without another word, James retreated from the bar – disappearing out the door and out of your life. As soon as the door shut, the dam broke, and quickly came the tears.

Unbeknownst to you, there was an especially trained ear listening in to the short yet very heartbreaking conversation. Steve wasn’t much of an eavesdropping, but he couldn’t help if his enhanced hearing – thanks to the serum – picked up on distress. And you were chock full of it.

Steve stared on as you tried to compose yourself to no avail. You were shaking with anger, with sorrow, with heartbreak. His own heart broke for you.

What an asshole, Steve thought to himself.

Steve noticed James the moment the rich prick walked into the bar. He hated how the man snapped his fingers at the waitress and the bartender and how he talked down to those who were just doing their job. He remembered the man get on the phone, talking to – what sounded like – a woman, telling her that he was “handling it”. Steve didn’t need to have Bruce’s intelligence to know that James was a two-timing pig and he thought about the poor woman whom he was “handling”.

Then, you walked into the bar. A teal colored sundress. The color bringing him back to simpler times when he was sixteen and Bucky had hooked him up with a job at a yogurt place. He noticed how you gleamed in the dark room. He thought you were like daylight and cursed James even more – he didn’t deserve his own personal sun.

“Hey,” Steve called to the waitress. The young woman smiled at him, recognizing him as the regular who drank so much yet never stumbled out drunk. “Do me a favor and get that young lady a glass of your finest. On me.” He pointed over to you – the pretty girl in the teal sundress with tears rolling down her cheeks.

The waitress nodded. “Anything in particular you want me to tell her?”

Steve shook his head. “Just tell her that a man like that asshole ain’t worth her time nor her tears.”

“Gotcha,” the waitress winked before walking off.

Steve, knowing how a simple glass of alcohol can make or break a young woman’s evening, stayed to ensure that the drink was brought to you safely. His eyes were trained on the glass – from the moment the drink was poured up until the moment it was brought over to you.

“I … I didn’t order this,” you told the waitress.

“Yeah,” she smiled and nodded over to Steve though you didn’t follow her eyes, “that man did. Told me to tell you that that asshole you were with ain’t worth your time nor your tears and I agree.”

You gave her a little chuckle and a gracious nod as she walked away. You turned your head, craning over the many patrons of the bar to catch a glimpse of the man… but all you got was the back of his head as he walked out of the bar.

Tall. Blonde. Broad.

Those were the only thing you knew about this mystery man.

-=+=-

Months after James and several failed attempts to rebound, you decided to give up on your quest for love. Opting to love yourself, instead. Your friends supported the notion.  

“I’m tired of trying to find love. Let love find me,” you rose a glass up on the night before your trip and your friends cheered in support.

The trip was two weeks well spent. A reprieve from the suffocating city of millions. Your friends found your sudden glowing, tanned skin, and bright smile suspicious. Chalking this “glow up” to you finding a new man and didn’t quite believe when you attributed it to self-love rather than romantic love.

But nevertheless, they were simply excited to have you back in the city. They wanted to celebrate your return – and you knew the perfect bar to do so.

“You’re staring,” Sam muttered over to Steve as Steve tore his eyes away from the familiar woman.

“’m not,” Steve chuckled. “You gonna ice that eye?” He pointed over to the dark bruise beneath Sam’s right eye. The pair had just returned from a successful mission and Sam, who clearly took a couple hits, wanted to go out and be “normal” – Steve knew the perfect place.

The waitress laughed as she brought over a Ziplock bag filled with ice wrapped with a paper towel. “Thought he might need this.” She joked. Sam thanked her as he took the bag and pressed it onto his eye. “Your girl’s here,” she teased Steve.

“Not my girl,” Steve laughed, glancing over his shoulder at you again.

She hummed teasingly. “Heard she just came back from a trip.”

“Wait, what do you mean his girl?” Sam asked.

The waitress shrugged. “She was here a few months ago and got broken up with. Stevie boy, here, bought her a drink but left right after. She came back a lot, saying she’d always see her asshole ex in the city and how he’d never come to Brooklyn, so she kinda made this place her safe place.” She laughed. “Funny thing is… She comes, Stevie’s not here. Stevie comes, she’s gone.”

“And tonight, they’re both here? Hm…” Sam narrowed his good eye at Steve. “I think that’s fate, pal.” Steve shook his head. “Oh, c’mon… I’ll even introduce ya.”

“Sam. No.”

The man caught your eye – not because he was handsome (you didn’t even see his face) but because the back of his head was just familiar. It looked similar to the mystery man that bought you a drink all those months ago. Tall. Blonde. Broad. You couldn’t help but stare.

“Why are you staring at that guy’s head?” One of your friends nudged you, shaking you from your thoughts. “You know him?”

“Uh… No.” You shook your head, laughing a little. “He just looks familiar, ‘s all.”

“Okay…” She nodded before taking a swig of her drink. “I think you should go talk to him.”

You scoffed. “Why?”

“Because he seems to have your attention.” She giggled.

“Right…” you laughed, awkwardly. “Well… I’m hitting the ladies.”

You got up from your seat. As you were making your way across the bar, your phone began to buzz. Thinking it was strange, considering everyone you spoke to daily was in that bar, you pulled your phone out to investigate. You rolled your eyes when you saw James’s name on the caller ID. You scoffed and sent him straight to voicemail.

Distracted with your phone, you didn’t notice the wall of a man pushing himself out of his seat to stand. You ran straight into him, dropping your phone in the process.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Steve apologized.

“It’s my fault, really,” you laughed. You awkwardly combed through your hair with your fingers when you noticed it was the man you were staring at earlier.

“I doubt it. I’m pretty clumsy sometimes,” he chuckled. (Sam scoffed… like you’re not Captain America throwing that shield around with expert precision? Right…)

“You’d be surprised at my skill. If there’s an Olympics for clumsiness, I’d be the Michael Phelps.” You joked. You pushed down your shyness and offered him your hand, introducing yourself to the incredibly handsome man (thank you slight buzz).

Steve couldn’t find his words, suddenly becoming shy. It felt as if he were a skinny, stupid, sixteen-year-old again. “uh…”

“Steve Rogers.” The man Steve was sitting next to cut in. You frowned curiously at him seeing as he was holding a makeshift icepack to his face. “His name’s Steve Rogers.”

“Wait… like…” You found the name familiar as if you read it in a textbook or a museum. “Like Captain America?” You brought your voice down low, not wanting to draw attention to the man.

He smiled bashfully as he shook your hand. “Yeah…”

“It’s nice to meet you.” You smiled. You weren’t sure if you were supposed to salute, but your slowly sobering mind decided against it.

Just as he expected… to be smiled at by you was like being graced by daylight.

“You mean finally,” the waitress, the one who seemed to always work whenever you were there, butt in. “He’s the man who bought you the drink, by the way.” She told you just before walking off with a tray of drinks.

“Oh… that was you?”

Steve’s ears heated up and he felt himself flush, looking away. “Yeah… I just thought it might cheer you up a little… that guy was an ass.”

“Agreed.” You chuckled. “Thank you, Steve… and it’s nice to finally meet you, I guess.”

“Right back at you.” He nodded. He watched you turn and retreat to your table with your friends. He tried not to listen in on your conversation, distracting himself with Sam as your friends buzzed in excitement, badgering you with questions.

“Hey…” the waitress said, bending down and grabbing a phone off the hardwood floor. “You drop this, Stevie?” Steve checked his pockets and sure enough, his phone was there. “Sammy?” Sam did the same and shook his head. The waitress cocked her head to the side as she pressed the power button. The phone lit up and a mischievous smirk formed on her face as she turned the screen to show a photo of you and your friends. “I wonder who this belongs to?”

“Should probably give it back to her,” Steve suggested.

“Yeah, you should.” Sam encouraged, bumping Steve’s shoulder with his. “While you’re at it, get her number, you idiot! Girl was giving you ‘em eyes.”

“What eyes?” Steve frowned, obviously confused. Sam groaned, snatching the phone, and thrusting it into Steve’s hands.

“Go!” He said, pushing Steve away in your direction.

“Oh, my god, dreamy man is coming over!” Your friends muttered in excitement as you heard the faint footsteps near.

You heard Steve say your name and you turned around with a smile. “Hello again, Steve.”

“Hi…” he scratched his head awkwardly. “You lose your phone?”

“Oh shit…” you muttered, suddenly noticing your empty pockets. “Thank you so much!” You said as he handed it to you.

“Yeah, it’s no problem.” Steve nodded before turning.

“Wait!” You called out. He stopped and turned to give you another shy smile. “How about I buy you a drink as a thank you?” He didn’t have the heart to tell you that alcohol had no affect on him, but he also didn’t like the idea of a lady spending her own money on him.

“No, it’s alright.” Steve shook his head. “Mom raised me to never let a woman spend money on me.”

You laughed. “No, please… call it a payback.”

“I don’t know …” He chuckled. He saw how your smile faltered, just a bit. You took his reluctance as rejection and he noticed you slowly retreat into yourself. “Not that I’m not interested in you,” he cringed at his words. “That sounds horrible, but umm… How about I buy you a drink, instead? Helps with my moral code.” He cringed at his joke. “Is it too forward if I say I just wanna get to know you?”

“Not at all.” You shook your head; your smile returning.

“You look like Captain America,” your friend, boldly stated.

Steve nodded. “I get that a lot.” He glanced over to you and winked.

“We’ll leave you guys to it, then…” One of your other friends coughed. “Let’s go, girls?” She made a telephone gesture with her hands and mouthed the words call me before pulling your friends away, leaving you and Steve alone.

Leaving you to entangle yourself in the invisible string that tied you and Steve Rogers together.

[strangeandforlornbooks]

best books with morally ambiguous narrators!

all y’all’s problematic faves and villains! :) also included are third person narrators but in books with morally ambiguous leads/themes 

Sci-fi

Scythe by Neal Shusterman: in a future free from pain, disease, and war, people can live forever. ‘scythes’ are given the power to decide who lives and who dies to preserve the balance. sad and kinda gives of hunger games vibes, if you like that.

Neuromancer by William Gibson: basically invented the cyberpunk genre. strange and removed protagonists. (a team of computer hackers have to face off against an evil AI). you kind of dislike everyone and suddenly you’re crying over them. one of those trippy sci-fi classics.

The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut: very beautiful and very very sad (same author as slaughterhouse five). the richest man in america has to face a martian invasion. more about free will and bad people doing good things than a plot that makes any kind of sense.

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick: set in an alternate universe where the germans and japanese won world war two. not really like the tv show at all- it’s not an action story, and there’s not really the hope to somehow fix the world that drives a lot of dystopia stories. instead its about how people survive and connect to one another in a hopeless society.

The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow: a supercomputer convinces the leaders of the world to keep the peace for hundreds of years by taking their children hostage and obliterating any city that disobeys. what happens to the hostage protagonists when war seems inevitable? lots of morally fraught decisions and characters slowly losing their identity. (plus a fun lesbian romance)

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson: a brilliant mathematician and a dedicated marine fight to keep the ultra secret in world war two. fifty years later,  a tech company discovers what remains of their story. one of the most memorable sequences in the book is a japanese soldier slowly becoming disillusioned with his nation and horrified by the war even as he continues to fight.

Blade Runner by Philip K. Dick: another one of those sci-fi classics that’s not at all like the movie. there is a bounty hunter for robots, though, as well as a weird religion that probably is referencing catholicism and a decaying society with a shortage of pets. kind of a trip.

Wilder Girls by Rory Power: girls trapped in a boarding school on an isolated island must face a creeping rot that affects the animals and plants on the island as well as their own bodies. the protagonists will do anything to survive and keep each other safe. very tense (and bonus lesbian romance whoo)

The Fifth Season by N K Jemisin: three women are gifted with the ability to control the earth’s energy in a world where those who can do so are forced into hiding or slavery. some veryyyy dark choices here but lots of strong female characters.

Historical Fiction

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters: two victorian lesbians fall in love as they plot to betray each other in horrific ways. lots of plot twists, plucky thieves, gothic settings, and a great romance.

Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiwicz: a powerful roman soldier in the time of Nero plots to kidnap a young woman after he falls in love with her, only to learn more about the mysterious christian religion she follows. very melodramatic but some terrific prose. 

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr: a blind girl in France and a brilliant German boy recruited by the military struggle through the chaos of the second world war. ends with a bang (iykyk.) very sad, reads like poetry.

Boxers by Gene Luen Yang: graphic novel reveals the story of a young boy fighting in the boxer rebellion in early twentieth century china. the sequel, saints, is also excellent. beautifully and sympathetically shows the protagonist’s descent into evil- the reader really understands each step along the way.

Fantasy

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake: three triplets separated at birth, each with their own magical powers, have to fight to the death to gain the throne. lots of fun honestly

Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo: everyone in these books is highly problematic but you love them all anyway. a ragtag game of criminals plan a heist on a magical fortress. some terrific tragic back stories, repressed feelings, and revenge schemes.

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King: idk how to describe these frankly but if you can put up with King’s appalling writing of female characters they’re pretty interesting. fantasy epic about saving the world/universe, sort of. cowboys and prophecies and overlapping dimensions and drug addicts galore.

The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud: lots of fun! a twelve year old decides to summon a demon for his cute lil revenge scheme. sarcastic demon narrator. lighthearted until s*** gets real suddenly.

Elegy and Swansong by Vale Aida: fantasy epic with machiavellian lesbians and enemies to lovers to enemies to ??? to lovers. charming and exciting and lovely characters.

The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen: an orphan boy must compete with a few others for the chance to impersonate a dead prince. really dark but very tense and exciting and good twists.

The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu: fantasy epic. heroes overthrow an evil empire and then struggle as the revolution dissolves into warring factions. interesting world building and three dimensional characters, even if they only have a small part.

Circe by Madeline Miller: the story behind the witch who turns men into pigs in the odyssey. madeline miller really said, i just used my classics degree to write a beautiful gay love story and now im going to write a powerful feminist retelling because i can. queen. an amazing and satisfying book that kills me a lil bit because of the two lines referencing the song of achilles.

Heartless by Marissa Meyer: the tragic backstory for the queen of hearts in alice in wonderland. a little predictable but very fun with a compelling protagonist

A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) by George RR Martin: ok I know we all hate GRRM and rightfully so but admittedly these books do have some great characters and great scenes. they deserve better than GRRM though. also he will probably never finish the books anyway....

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket: not really fantasy but not really anything else either. plucky, intelligent, and kind children fight off evil plots for thirteen books until suddenly you realize the world is not nearly as black and white as you thought. 

Classics

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier: gothic romance!! a new wife is curious about the mysterious death of her predecessor in a creepy old house in the British countryside...good twists and lovely prose.

A Separate Peace by John Knowles: not really morally ambiguous but one awful decision suddenly has awful consequences and certain people are haunted by guilt forever.... really really really beautiful and really really really sad. boys in a boarding school grow up together under the shadow of world war two.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: while imperial russia slowly decays a beautiful young woman begins a destructive affair. a long book. very russian. the ending is incredibly tense and well written.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding: I think you know the plot to this one. the prose is better than you remember and the last scene is always exciting.

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie: one by one, the guests on an island are slowly picked off. one of Christie’s darkest mysteries- no happy ending here! very tense and great twists.

Contemporary

The Secret History by Donna Tartt: inspired the whole dark academia aesthetic. college students get a little too into ancient greece and it does not end very well. lovely prose but I found the characters unlikable.

Honorable Mentions

The Dublin Saga by Edward Rutherford: has literally a billion protagonists, but some of them are morally ambiguous ig? follows a few families stories’ from the 400s ad to irish independence in the 20s. beautifully captures the weight and movement of irish history.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer: how morally ambiguous can you be if you’re, like, eleven? a lot if you’re a criminal genius who wants to kidnap a fairy for your evil-ish plan apparently!

Redemption by Leon Uris: literally my favorite novel ever. the sequel to Trinity but can stand alone. various irish families struggle through the horrors of world war one. the hero isn’t really morally ambiguous, but the main theme of the novel is extremely bad people suddenly questioning their choices and eventually redeeming themselves. sweeping themes of love, screwed up families, redemption, and patriotism.

The Lymond Chronicles and House of Niccolo by Dorothy Dunnett: heroes redeem themselves/try to get rich/try to save their country in early renaissance Europe. if I actually knew what happened in these books I'm sure it would be morally ambiguous but its too confusing for me. in each book you spend at least a third convinced the protagonist is evil, though. lots of exciting sword fights, tragic romances, plot twists, and kicking english butt.

Bonus: Protagonist is less morally ambiguous and more very screwed up and sad all the time

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt: you know this one bc its quoted in all those quote compilations. basically the story of how one horrible event traumatizes a young man and how he develops a connection to a painting. really really really good.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro: hard to describe but strange... not an action novel or a dystopia really but sort of along those lines. very hopeless.

[renaer-is-allegedly-hot]

session 14 notes

TO CLARIFY IN THIS SESSION AERANA DID N O T TOUCH ADAM’S BUTT SHE SLAPPED HIM AT THE NOTION AND IT’S A GOOD THING HE TOOK 11 DAMAGE AERANA HAS NO REGRETS also am i sorry for this format ? eh not really anymore

• Sylvia's siblings r screaming 

• Dom broke his brother's headphones

•  oh god we're starting but I'm still trying to fROST MY CAKE

• Yava I think her name is is like ok gonna join y'all

• Adam's racist

• GUESS EVERYONE HATES DROWS LMFAO

• Yava hates drows?

• Yava's gonna help protect the house

• I currently cannot breathe because there is a dirty diaper being changed around me and it is

• Aerana theo and asyna r downstairs

• Adam busts down the door and tells asyna to cook

○ Pushing yava into our house

○ "hi everyone this is yava this is my bard teacher she's gonna b basically our security for tonight"

○ Yava tugs on adam's shoulder and gestures to the pile of bodies

§ "yava remember when I said I got attacked last night . This was our self defense pile"

§ Yava apologizes to us for the nature of our circumstances

§ "if any of my friends - or you - " ok a/n: adam has put a suspicious amount of trust in yava given the amount of time and I'm shook

• Outside entrance doors

• Door opened by someone not a member of adam's party or by yava after dark, then spell set off

• All of our windows have been blown up but were boarded up

• Adam puts glyphs on doors and windows they used to get in last time and on basement hatchet and one on kitchen entrance

○ Making them all cold

○ Den on the second floor?

○ I wanna eat my cake

○ Glyphs will unspell around 8 a.m. the next day

○ I !! Wanna eat my cake :)

○ "when u wake up tmrw morning can u deactivate all the spells"

§ She would not b able to reactivate it if we did that

○ It won't dispel until the three days r over

• Jacob forgot celandine's name

• There r street vendors

• There's no ice box like no place to keep drinks cool in the house and apparently that's weird

• We need to feed yava

• "if asyna ,,, turned into a pig" marguerite, 2020

• Dom brings up lotr count: 1

○ Specifically namedrops "the fellowship of the ring" count: 2

• We're going grocery shopping

• Adam and asyna and theo r gonna go grocery shopping ? 18 for investigation

○ Not rlly grocery stores but ppl selling food everywhere

○ I want . Grilled chicken

○ Or like fried chicken

○ chicken

§ Maybe I'll microwave the pasta I made for dinner w some extra cheese on top

• Adam gets pork loins, potatoes, green beans, butter, bread, garlic, salt and pepper (which we have), strawberry sponge cake, heavy cream, chardonnay

○ Cel is making way back to house

○ Perception check, aerana 6

○ Aerana is looking around, sees yava making rounds; yava doesn't seem to treat aerana any differently

○ Eventually aerana sees cel arrive

○ Cel gets back

§ The bodies r not there anymore

□ IT SMELLS LIKE MISTLETOE

□ There is no mistletoe

• "heh. That could be scary" dom, 2020

• I'M H U N G R Y

• "tuesdays are pork loin nights" adam 2020

• Theo works on potatoes

• Cel pops in

• "adam did you make the garlic bread like I asked you to" theo, 2020

• Adam makes cooking intelligence check, 15

• Dinner is done

• Yava is done with one of the spells

• Something's happening I tuned out for two seconds

• Yava no longer considers self as one who goes on adventures but is now asking for our motivation for seeking this treasure

• Yava asks us for our motivations

○ Adam: revenge on bingbong

○ I don't remember the rest but it's not for the money

• Yava says she admirers the nobler goal of keeping the gold out of the hands of the xanathar guild

○ We don't know what we'll do w gold; cel is on team chuck-it-into-the-ocean

○ Could throw it into typ pit

• Oh my god. My cake slaps.

○ I want to focus on what yava is saying rn basically she's proposing we return the money if/when we get it but MY C A K E S L A P S

○ I N C R E D I B L E

○ Yava thinks there's a need for the money

• We don't know if yava is gonna report us

• Adam is gonna feed ot

○ Adam scoots the food back

○ Adam walks upstairs and says he's gonna b gone for five minutes and doesn't come back

• Cel asks yava abt her adventuring days

○ Was part of a nobles court years ago

○ Pirates too ig

○ I want cheese I want pasta with cheese

○ Has been to island of chault

○ Am I microwaving my pasta uh yes

○ Bet my fbi agent is judging me for how I'm reaching for my pasta from the microwave to avoid unplugging my earbuds

• Theo asks for advice from yava

○ Advises us to be safe but also to seek adventure where we can

○ Can get in over our head tho

○ MAN THIS PASTA IS G O O D I PUT MOZZARELLA ON TOP BRUHHHH

○ Yava is spending the rest of her time still guarding our house

• Never have I ever

○ Adam

○ Aerana

○ Theo

○ Cel 

○ Asyna

§ Been in a relationship

§ Been outside of waterdeep

§ Had drugs

§ A good relationship w parents

§ Not had Pets

§ Worn pajamas

§ Thrown up on someone

§ Education

§ Talked to a god or deity

§ Eaten meat

□ Asyna is a vegetarian but made the best pork loin

§ Met my mom

§ Swallowed a key

○ Asyna wins

§ Adam has to kiss ot

□ "this is super important the xanathar r upstairs" tells him to whisper kisses him on the forehead then runs upstairs

§ Cel and theo have to be one big person, go find yava and have a short chat as one person

□ Takes aerana's cloak

□ "do you want to be the top or bottom"

□ Theo is legs cel is heads and arms

○ Aerana has to hug everyone

§ Slaps adam when he accuses her of touching his butt; 11 damage

§ It's canon aerana can't hug

○ Cel sits on theo's shoulders (doing this bc yava is back)

§ Adam gives them a mustache w the purple wig

§ Gave up on walking in coordination

§ Yava is in kitchen standing near entrance, eyes closed kneeling, focusing on spell

§ Plans change cel and theo r gonna go to fallah's shop

§ They're gonna do it the next day w yava actually

• It's abt 11

○ Before yava leaves n during theo's shift, hear a knock at front door

○ Theo looks through peephole

§ Dwarf at the door wearing a guild uniform

§ Two other ppl w her

§ Gnome w them, one appears to b taller

□ Female dwarf, male gnome, somebody taller

□ Yava looks through the peephole and says they don't look to b armed

□ Theo opens the door a crack; the ppl had been repeatedly knocking

□ "female dwarf woman"

□ Half moon spectacles n long ponytail + taller human woman w cropped hair

□ They're all wearing a uniform

□ Utilitarian brown clothes

§ "hello there my name is kalima n these r mertram and harriet; members of one of the city guilds the plumbers guild"

□ Informed by city watch of magical explosion

□ Theo says to reschedule their inspection

□ Theo roasts n says they should've come earlier

® 5 persuasion check

□ They'll come back in two days

□ Lmao lavinia we learning

□ They step down the stairs and confer on the doorstep as leaving

® Look around house and discussing + carrying out informal measurements

® Can't hear anything then they walk away

□ Tells whoever has next watch what happened

□ Yava leaves during adam's watch

® Before she leaves adam thanks her for her work + says he's glad she's become a relevant character in this campaign

® "don't thank me yet adam"

• That's it

• Lord of the rings mention counter: 2

[hermannsthumb]

Can we have bad boy! Newt loving the shit out of geek! Hermann? Like a grease au?

and this ask i got a liiiiittle while ago…

Anonymous said: Greaser!Newt is so perfect because Hermann is a shy, sensitive sweetheart with a horrible, horrible father, and greaser!Newt is a bad boy rebel with a heart of gold who will rescue Hermann from his terrible father

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ask and ye shall receive…..takin another little study break to write this….. for @newts-geiszler bc i love her and also we were talking about this in our dms earlier……have some “50s but they dont suck” au where newt and hermann are like in community college or something in a Small Town (so grease but not high school lol)

Hermann’s not sure what he did to gain the attentions of someone like Newton Geiszler–to be cursed with the attentions of someone like Newton Geiszler–but for the first time in his life, Hermann is grateful for them. Newton is obnoxious. He’s loud. He’s grimy. He’s tattooed. When he’s not pestering Hermann while they’re meant to be doing lab work, he’s tinkering on that ridiculous motorcycle of his, or he’s terrorizing the streets with it, or he’s screeching along to his guitar, or he’s kicking his muddy boots up on tabletops or tossing his leather jacket over chairs or–generally, making an undesirable nuisance of himself. He’s everything Hermann hates, wrapped up in one convenient scruffy, stocky little package.

More importantly, he’s everything Hermann’s father hates.

Which is why he’s perfect.

Hermann finds Newton lounging at a booth in the back of the diner–boots kicked up like usual, hair slicked back, shirtsleeves rolled up–and staring off into space as he downs a milkshake. When Hermann slams his cane on the linoleum floor and says “Newton,” Newton jumps and chokes on the milkshake and nearly knocks his glass over.

“Hermann?” he says, coughing, and blinking in bewilderment. He scrambles into a proper sitting position and adjusts his thick eyeglasses, as if he can’t believe Hermann’s really standing in front of him. 

“Last week,” Hermann says, “you invited me out to go dancing.” Multiple times, in fact. Hermann can admire his persistence.

Newton adjusts his glasses again. “Uh,” he says. “Yeah. I did.”

Hermann grits his teeth a moment before he continues. “If you’re amenable, and the offer still stands–”

“Yes!” Newton blurts out, face splitting into a wide grin, and–in his excitement–upends a salt shaker into his lap. “I mean,” he says, clumsily picking it up and brushing himself off, “yeah, that’s–” He runs his fingers through his greased hair. A little curl falls forward. He shrugs. “Sure.”

Hermann doesn’t buy Newton’s indifference for one second, but he doesn’t say anything, lets him have his little act. (That morning, Newton was almost begging Hermann to let him carry his books to his next class.) “This Friday,” Hermann says. “Come over to my house at six exactly. We’ll have dinner first.”

Newton’s smile returns, considerably…dopier. “Dinner,” he repeats. “You sure you don’t just wanna come here? I’ll buy you whatever–”

“No,” Hermann says quickly. Newton shuts his mouth. “It has to be my house.”

Newton nods.

“Six exactly, Newton.”

“Should I–” Newton runs his fingers through his hair again, considerably more nervous. “Should I wear something nice? If I’m meeting your folks and all.”

Hermann looks over Newton’s messy hair, his week-old stubble, his crooked (partially broken) eyeglasses, his creased leather jacket, his cuffed and stained jeans, the outrageous ink that swirls over his forearms, the smudges of motor grease on his shirt and neck. Hermann shakes his head and smiles serenely. “No,” he says. “As you are is perfect, Newton.”

“Keen,” Newton says, beaming away back at him.

Hermann has ulterior motives, of course. There are no other circumstances in which he would willingly invite Newton Geiszler into his household. Lately, Hermann’s father has been even more controlling and infuriating than usual, and–it’s juvenile to want revenge, Hermann knows, he’s freshly done with his teenage years, his time for rebellion has come and gone–but Newton’s just the type to get perfectly under Father’s skin. Especially if Father thinks they’re dating. He’ll take one look at Newton’s tattoos and his motorcycle–when Newton shows up half an hour late to their routine five-thirty dinner–and–well–Hermann can’t wait to see his expression.

And it’s not dishonest to Newton. He gets a date with Hermann out of it, something he’s been begging for for months. Years. Since Hermann moved to America and they got paired together as lab partners and Newton took an odd shine to him. He’s doing Newton just as much of a favor, even if he doesn’t remotely intend to put out. (Which is what he’s sure Newton’s after. That’s what all his type–loud, rebellious, swaggering–are only ever after.)

To Hermann’s dismay, on Friday evening Newton shows up on his front porch at five-thirty exactly in significantly less filthy jeans, bearing a bouquet of flowers that he thrusts at Hermann the moment he opens the door. “I’m sorry, man,” he leads with. “I know I’m early–”

“No,” Hermann sighs, and accepts the flowers glumly. They’re beautiful, unfortunately. “You’re right on time, damn you.” Newton didn’t even ride the motorcycle. He just walked.

To Hermann’s further dismay, dinner doesn’t go anywhere nearly as badly as he hoped. It doesn’t go smoothly, not by any means–Father blanches wonderfully when he sees the tattoos and the state of Newton’s hair, and even further when Hermann explains that Newton lives on the other (“bad”) side of town, and things become tense when Newton talks about the possibility of space aliens for five solid minutes and follows it up with a rousing endorsement of socialism–but there’s no yelling, no chairs thrown halfway across the room, no demands that Newton leave the house at once and never return. Newton does not leap from the table and call Father a capitalist fascist pig. He doesn’t talk about his latest dissections in excruciating detail. He deflects all of Hermann’s desperate attempts to ignite one of their usual petty arguments. He doesn’t even put his boots up on the table (and Hermann even made sure to set out the good tablecloth). 

When he and Newton set off, Hermann makes sure, at least, to inform his father he hasn’t the slightest idea of when they’ll be getting home and that they shouldn’t bother waiting up for them, and hopes that the implications of debauchery and Newton ravishing him in the backseat of some car on lover’s lane haven’t gone right over his head. Newton holds tight to Hermann’s arm the entire walk to the dance hall and blabbers on endlessly, about how good dinner was and how he can’t cook “for shit”, how cool the evening’s gotten, some probably-illicit experiments he’s doing in his uncle’s garage, if Hermann saw that new film about the giant insects from outer space (or something along those lines), how excited he is that Hermann finally agreed to go on a date with him, how nice Hermann looks, how handsome he is, how his sweater brings out his eyes, how he hopes he likes the flowers (he grew them himself, in his uncle’s backyard), and not once does he mention how dreadful Hermann’s father is, not once does he try to get fresh with Hermann like Hermann expected, not once does he appear anything less than entirely enthusiastic to simply walk next to Hermann.

Hermann…does not know what to think.

When they reach the dance hall, Hermann finds a spot against the wall on the outskirts where he intends to wait until Newton’s decided he’s had his fill and takes Hermann back home. (Hermann can dance, but it can be difficult and strenuous on his leg, so he prefers not to.) But rather than separating from Hermann immediately to dance and mingle with the rest of the young and stylish and hip (and probably find someone easier to score with than Hermann), Newton follows him and sticks tight at his side. “You don’t have to,” Hermann assures him. “Really, Newton. Go off. Enjoy yourself.”

“I am enjoying myself,” Newton says, smiling. “Anyway, what kind of a lousy date would I be if I ditched you?” He starts swaying along to the music of the band on the stage, hands shoved in the pockets of his leather jacket. “So you really didn’t see Them?”

Hermann shakes his head slowly.

“It’s playing at the drive-in this weekend,” Newton says. “I could take you tomorrow night.” He goes pink. “Only if you want to, I mean.”

Something strange stirs in Hermann’s chest. He evades the question. “On your bike?”

“My old man’ll let me borrow his car,” Newton says. “He knows how I–that you–” He blushes harder. Hermann stares at the floor. “Nevermind. Uh.”

To Hermann’s utter surprise, he has a good time with Newton. Newton’s running commentary on everything from his experiments (which Hermann has decided are absolutely illicit) to the music (which Newton enjoys, even if it is a bit slow) eventually becomes entertaining rather than merely bearable. He fetches Hermann drinks whenever he wants. He keeps complimenting Hermann, too, as he had on the walk over. He even manages to coerce Hermann out onto the dance floor during a particularly slow song, and if Hermann settles his head against Newton’s sturdy chest and allows Newton to wrap his arms round his waist as they sway together, it’s only because it’s the proper way to dance with one’s date.

Newton lends him his jacket for the walk back home, since Hermann looked cold, apparently, and it’s both too-short and too-big at the same time. It smells like Newton, hair grease and sweat and cologne that Newton, earlier, confessed he stole from his father for the night, and Hermann draws it tight around himself as he listens to Newton chat away happily.

Guilt builds steadily in his gut. 

“Did you have fun?” Newton suddenly says. “I had so much fun.”

They’ve reached Hermann’s front gate, and they come to a stop just outside it. He supposes he’ll have to say goodnight to Newton, now. That’s the proper date procedure. Will Newton ask him on another one? Will he try to kiss Hermann? Will he ask to come inside? But Newton does none of those things; he simply stands there, watching Hermann. Waiting for him to make a move. Hermann chews his lip. “Newton,” he says.

“Yeah?” Newton looks so happy, damn him.

“I didn’t–” Hermann taps his finger on the head of his cane nervously. “I haven’t been entirely fair to you. You should know–”

“–that you only asked me out to piss off your old man?” Newton finishes, not losing his smile. “Hermann. I’m not an idiot.”

Hermann supposes he should be embarrassed about being found out that easily, or mortified, or ashamed, or a whole host of other entirely appropriate emotions, but instead he just feels irritated. “If you knew, then why in the hell didn’t you play along?” he exclaims. Newton can pick fights with Hermann every day of the week, but not the one time it really matters. “You were positively civil!” 

“Look, don’t get me wrong,” Newton says, and snorts derisively. “He’s a total fucking square, man, and I would’ve loved to, but–” He shrugs, and grins a little sheepishly. “It was nice pretending that you wanted to be my guy and go dancing with me, even for just a night. I’ve never gone on a date before or anything like that. I really did have fun.”

Hermann’s irritation fades back into guilt, with a healthy dose of embarrassment and mortification and shame this time. “I’m sorry,” he sighs. “I’ve misjudged you very badly, Newton.”

Newton waves his hand. “And I screwed up your plan. We’re even.”

They stare at each other. Hermann’s not sure why he’s not yet opened his front gate–Newton, obviously, does not expect another date, nor a kiss, certainly not an invitation inside. Hermann reaches for the gate. Then he stops, pulls away. “Er,” he says. “There’s that film tomorrow night. The one you like. With the–ah–the insects. We could always…”

He does not finish his proposal, but he does not need to. Newton is beaming, and it’s shy, and sweet, and–it’s hard to tell for certain, in just the moonlight, but–his blush has returned. (Newton is loud, and messy, and obnoxious, but he is also intelligent, and funny, and very, very good-looking.) “I’ll lay on the horn for five minutes when I pick you up,” Newton says. “Stomp through your front garden, too. I’ll be a regular delinquent, Hermann, your old man’ll be forbidding you to see me by next Tuesday.” 

The thought excites Hermann more than he anticipated–Newton, the no-good town delinquent, stealing away with Hermann for what can only be scandalous purposes. “I don’t doubt it,” Hermann says. He casts a glance up at his house, and the houses surrounding; all the lights are turned off, meaning everyone’s likely turned in for the night, but… “Kissing me goodnight in full view of the neighbors certainly wouldn’t help our case.”

“Oh,” Newton squeaks, and then he agrees, very enthusiastically.

[umbreeonic]

ummmm purple through black : ^ )

Wljvwpuwv ofc u would… smh

(Purple: 10 facts about my room)1. It’s absolutely a mess ty depression2. I have a loft bed3. I also have a chair that folds out into a bed that I’m lying in rn instead of my actual bed bc I had a sleepover like two weeks ago and I was too lazy to move my sheets to my bed from the chair4. I have a peeling wallpaper border that’s high school musical, however it’s a sticker kind of wallpaper and underneath that is a Disney princess border5. My room is pink. My brothers is also blue. Yes I am ashamed of this6. I have a four story shelf my dad made just for me7. My shutters are fucking weird idk what’s up w them or even how to explain them they’re just. Weird8. There’s like a little mini hallway for a foot and a half at my doorway bc the bathtub juts out too far9. The hatch to the bathtub plumbing is in my closet. Not fun when ur brother messes up the pipes so the plumber is in ur room for hours fixing it :)10. I have two of my great grandmas painting hanging on my wall, they’re both of roses

(Blue: 9 facts about my family)1. Paternal side is almost 100% Dutch and there’s only ~200 people in the world with our last name. It also is a weird Dutch last name because it doesn’t start with a V2. I’m descended from John Alden, the only sailor who stayed behind with the pilgrims and also the one guy to fall overboard on the Mayflower3. My biological great grandfather was a shitty husband and a shittier father but apparently his marriage after my Mimi divorced him really helped him and he managed to stabilize his life4. One of my uncles is ukranian and descended from the woman who brought Christianity to Russia5. One of my ancestors is a character in Macbeth, the dude who has “of Scotland” at the end of his name (since he was also a real person)6. My aunt was in a car crash at 17 and had a year long coma and has lived with severe rain trauma ever since, she actually has a book about it too 7. Another aunt has six kids, three biological and three adopted; she and I will fight anyone who says adopted kids aren’t real family8. My dad and his sisters and brother have a bunch of awesome stories about growing up, my favorite is about the giant tractor their dad brought home that they used as both a trampoline and a pool9. My great uncle ran for congress and only lost by 1k votes, now he’s a lawyer and also runs a buffalo farm with his son

(Green: 8 facts about appearance)1. I’m like a perfect mesh of two of my aunts, I have ones body type and the others features2. My hair is the weirdest shit it’s light blonde from my dads side but curly from my moms and thin from ??? and wiry like my dads. Idk how hair can be curly thin and wiry all at once but my head sure does it3. It’s hard to see when I don’t have a tan but I have white birthmarks right by my eyes that are kinda similar to altean markings4. Once I didn’t wear sunscreen to soak city when I went with a friend and I got bright pink sunburn and once it healed my nose has been darker than the rest of my face5. When I was like 11 this science center close to us had a ripleys believe it or not exhibit and we went and this height predictor said I’d only grow to be 5'1" but today I’m 5'4" so suck it ripleys6. My eyes are green on the outside rim and hazel on the inside rim with tiny gold flecks throughout, and the super cool thing is that it’s literally my mom’s eyes and my dads eyes superimposed together7. I’ve always had super dark eyebrows, they’re extremely dark brown despite me having white blonde then light blonde hair8. I have super thick strong nails so it’s really easy to grow them out past a centimeter and people always point them out and say “how”

(Yellow: 7 facts about my childhood)1. I was able to pronounce words fairly easily however my cousin wasn’t. I looked up to her immensely and upon hearing her say a word wrong I would then start to say it that way too2. I hated getting in trouble in school I can count all the times I got disciplined… two time outs in kindergarten, and warning card in first grade, one warning card in second grade along with losing a teacher dollar, writing lines in fourth grade, a demerit in middle school3. The first word I ever spelt on my own was “hop” but it was completely by accident, I was writing down random letters for fun and it just so happened to spell hop in one spot. My mom bought me a picture book titled “Hop, Hop, Hop!” to celebrate4. When I was little my Mimi had an australian shepherd and every day when I’d get home from school she’d waggle her butt in happiness cause she didn’t have a tail5. Every summer until a couple years ago we’d go as a family to this kiln shop and paint a little statuette, it’s up in idyllwild where we go every summer for a camp we work at6. Said camp is practically my second home holy shit like if I wanna be super nostalgic about my childhood I’m gonna have to go with the two words “Camp Dunamis”7. When my brother was a toddler his favorite thing to do was grab my hair out in clumps. We still aren’t sure if that was a factor in how thin my hair is

(Orange: 6 facts about my home town)1. It’s named cypress because the first school planted cypress trees to shield from the wind2. My house is only a couple hundred yards from the county border so when we turn the corner we’re going from Orange County to LA3. There’s the best Mexican place right across the street that we used to go to all the time and we’re still lowkey friends with the family that owns and runs it4. We live in a homeowners association aka a gated community without a gate and this is why we avoid the crime rate cypress has5. Coyote Season™ aka “take the hiking stick so you can whack them on the nose if they go for the dog”6. The military base has a Fourth of July celebration we usually attend annually

(Red: 5 facts about my best friend)1. To start I’m gonna clarify that I’m gonna do one fact for five best friends; okay my friend emma is a Disney genius she’s forgotten more about Disney than you will ever know2. My friend daisy writes her own songs and they’re divine3. My friend kaleb is super into dnd and even made chain mail Armor for it… out of soda pop tabs4. My friend hannah is absolutely enamored by pigs and last time I checked her stuffed pig collection was over 305. My friend Melanie is fluent in German because she went to continuation school for a year there after she graduated

(Pink: 4 facts about my parents)1. They were set up by a mutual friend and literally met at our churches annual choir performance2. Mom is California born and raised while my dad grew up in both Puerto Rico and Michigan3. They both work at the same school so I’m a double staff kid4. *sighs* republicans

(White: 3 facts about my personality)1. I go from nice and sweet to absolute asshole in .01 seconds2. I am a stubborn mule, hear me bray3. I kinda just absorb certain personality traits from the people I’m close to so looking at my friend group gives a pretty good picture of my personality as well

(Grey: 2 facts about my favorite things)1. Voltron is really the first fandom I’ve /been/ in been in2. Drawing is hard and painful but you improve So Much when you join a fandom it’s ridiculous

(Black: 1 fact about the person I like)1. He’s absolutely amazing and I love him and I squeal into my pillow whenever I remember that we’re together 💚

[gigslist]

Language of Symbols and Symbolism

I am an art historian and my specialty is symbols and symbolism. What great artists have used throughout their work. By tracking old masters and what inspired them, you can find new things to inspire you. Here are snippets of a new book I’m working on to get you started 

The allegory and symbolism of the Grail bloodline go back to pagan times and lore. Chretien de Troyes’ wounded king dinner cabaret. When read as symbolism is a graphic fertility ritual. The beautiful girl represents sexual desire. The chalice represents the womb, because of its shape. The sword represents a penis pursuing desire and a womb for the penis to place his seed. 

Desire leading both the womb and the penis to come together. Medieval pornographic innuendo, popular before freedom of speech. At the same time the story is also talking about a bloodline. A special bloodline worthy of a mystical dinner cabaret and centuries of folklore.

Symbols are a universal language, invented before recorded history began. Like Egyptian hieroglyphs. Symbols give a lot of information in a small amount of imagery. How some art historians can read the symbol language is they track origins. An image or saying and the people and cultures around it. 

Symbols can solve world mysteries. Though they can be a lot to track, not a few centuries, but 5 or more millennia. It requires years and sometimes several lifetimes of compulsive obsessive history geeks.

There are similar symbols of the same primordial gods found all over the world. For example images and figurines of a goddess with her hands up. Found from California, USA, to Bronze age Crete in the Mediterranean Sea. From Egypt in Africa to remote Outback Australia. 

The solar cross was once thought of as a Nazi symbol. It is an ancient symbol of happiness and represents the Sun. The solar cross is all over the world and dates back to the Bronze Age in recorded history.

To me as an art historian, this says all these people at one time shared cultures and beliefs. At some time in history, they were communicating with each other. Trading and living with each other. The same as we live and trade with different cultures today.

In the modern Wiccan and New Age religions the five pointed star has all kinds of meanings. In mythology the five pointed star represents Venus. The primordial goddess of love and fertility. Diana in Rome, Isis in Egypt, Artemis in Greece, Inana in Sumeria, Ashera by the Hebrews, Anu by the Druids and Hindus. Her other symbols include the moon and sea shells. Venus also has a very interesting story, told by her symbols.

Modern Grail Bloodline Symbols

Not all records and ID tags have words and photos. Heraldry is a symbol system that tells us who a royal person is. Their family, social rank, occupation and military rank. 

Heraldry can identify where a royal person comes from and what family they married into. Sometimes heraldry will tell us if they ride a horse in battle or fight on the ground. Privacy isn’t a choice for royals. 

Heraldry in the 21st century has a lot more symbols and needs an expert to translate. 2000 years ago heraldry was simple Egyptian cartouches. 

3,500 years ago a whole bloodline was one person and their god, one avatar, one symbol for the bloodline. The other symbols were for the protection god avatars of their children. 

Some royal bloodline symbols still represent the same royal bloodlines 3500 years later. Often appearing in the decorations surrounding a modern heraldry shield as minor details. It is these minor details that can tell us the ancient origins of a royal family. 

A pearl, a lily, a chrysanthemum leaf, a spiral, a ram’s horn. Each can recall ancient histories of heroic queens and wise kings. Rather than the world wide web and words for search terms. The symbol language uses the human brain. Your brain is the computer and database, and pictures are search keywords. It makes apparent that using written words has dumbed down our brains. 

How Symbols Identify Somebody’s Employer

Old art is a non-digital selfie and photo book. People dress up and play out scenes of history and artists make pictures of it. We idolize celebrities as gods and act out their lives in selfies. Ancients idolized monarchies and acted out their lives in selfies.

They ancients weren’t into fiction, because a true story is more inspiring. Kings, queens, princes and princesses, heroines and heroes. Each with their own symbol or combination of symbols. How we identify who they are in art is with their symbols. A simple jar on a shelf in the background. A hand resting on a shoulder with a finger directed to a tower. A saint that hangs out with a pig. Each piece of art is a whole book or library of information. 

Self Portrait With Sunflower by Sir Anthony van Dyck, 1663. Gold chain is a gift from his patron, the English monarch Charles I. A gold chain denotes duty. The artist is pointing to a sunflower and holds a chain over his shoulder pointing to himself. The sunflower represents a King and the chain, chained to duty. On the surface the painting is saying that a King is the artist's employer. 

Sir Anthony van Dyck was a court painter for the monarchies of Spain, Flanders and England. At court he learned many stories of Grail history and symbols to include in his court paintings.

Further study of Van Dyck’s Sunflower painting can tell a great many other things. In the background are clouds shaped like a face. Clouds and royals can reference the Olympian gods who lived in the clouds. In modern speak they were ancient peoples who lived in high mountains. The gods are a pre to early Bronze Age tribe who are the ancestors of all civilizations and real royals.

The Van Dyck’s other hand is pointing up is a Johnnite symbol, part of the Holy Grail bloodline story. It can also be pointing to something in the original picture frame. Picture frames and surrounds are also part of the artwork and coded with symbols. When a picture is cut from its frame by an art thief for example. Or cut from wall by museum archeologists. Whole chapters and contexts are sliced from the story and its history.

How Symbols Solve a World Mystery

A real-life identifier of Moses from the Bible and the Exodus is the timing of the mega volcano Thera near Crete. It sent tsunamis as far as Egypt and was the main cause of the Bronze age collapse. 15th to 16th century BC.

The other identifier is Moses’s horns. Moses was the adopted son of an Egyptian pharaoh. Each Pharaoh has their own god avatar or protection god. One of the Egyptian horned gods was the ram god Amun. The other the goat god Khnum.

Moses was an adopted son and by tradition took the name of his adopted family. There is a Pharaoh with Mose in his name and a horned protection God. He lived around the time of the Thera eruption, and his name was Pharaoh Ahmose. But theres a big twist to the story that is not in the Bible, which you can find for yourself. Or wait till this book is published where it has more context and source references.

Rewriting History

One of the most surprising discoveries from tracking Holy Grail and Bible symbols is that none of them are Jewish. They are pre Bronze Age pagan, Greek, Egyptian and Roman. Human remains found near the symbol artifacts were caucasian, not semite. Once you can wrap your head around it, history and the Bible start rewriting themselves.

[severalbakuras]

why did i stay up until past 1am randomly putting rp-style profiles together for my followers.

long-ish post.

note: i used amazing follower tweaks in order to get myself some non-standard followers. some are mods as well.

current followers

farkas. ex-werewolf but he’s happy to call himself part of DB’s pack - she trusts him with protecting her wife and the kids after all. he’s the one in charge of the house when DB is away. he’s not the most confident in himself but he’s improving day by day and the faith and trust DB has in him inspires him to exceed her expectations.

from-deepest-fathoms. DB couldn’t leave a marsh-friend all alone on the docks at riften and invited her to stay. she doesn’t do much fighting and keeps to herself still but she has a knack for keeping the baby dragons who share their massive home in line and acts like an aunt to DB’s kids, especially her eldest son geel’jar. she suffers from night-terrors from time to time, though perhaps someone with experience in calming nightmares will become her friend soon enough... (if i can ever get around to telling vaermina to fuck off lol) 

geel’jar. DB’s oldest son, adopted after he showed up in riften convinced they were biologically related. they aren’t but she was happy to call him hers anyway. currently taking lessons on how to fire his bow from inigo. he takes his status as eldest son of the Dovahkiin Very Seriously and often imitates farkas whenever a situation occurs. scared of skeevers. 

inigo. he insists that he knows DB from a long time ago but she doesn’t really remember him - or what he claims he did. his guilty conscience keeps him from living at her home but she still keeps a bed spare, just in case. maybe they’ll get to the bottom of what really happened someday.

melka. a hagraven who DB assisted while adventuring in markath. she was driven from her tower by stormcloaks and decided to see if she could track down that lovely kind morsel who helped her. once everyone had calmed down following her sudden teleportation inside the main hall, she settled in a deep cave near the main house. she’s content to make her spells in peace so long as DB keeps her well stocked with odds and ends and eyeballs. oddly enough she’s managed to become good friends with ondolemar.

aranea. being abandoned by her god is something DB finds incredibly #relateable with her steadily fading connection to the hist, and if someone says they don’t know what to do with the rest of their life in the middle of a raging blizzard on top of a mountain she sure as all hell isn’t leaving them there.

serana. former immortal “pureblood” vampire princess, now a normal woman living in a house full of baby dragons and children whose hobbies include knife fights in the yard and a ragtag bunch of misfits. she wouldn’t trade it for the world. has become bffs with borgakh - they bonded over their mutual distaste for getting into relationships.

ondolemar. DB needed someone on the inside to stay one step ahead of the thalmor regardless of the result of the civil war, and she might as well save time by going to the top, right? he was surprisingly easy to secure although the answer to ‘do you want to be behind the dragon cavalry or facing it’ probably wasn’t hard for him to figure out. (going from ‘literal villain’ to ‘the tsunnest of tsunderes’ via the power of love is character development right???).

borgakh. DB stole her away in the middle of the night after hearing her woes, leaving enough gold to pay her dowry four times over behind in her bed. granted tho borgakh didn’t exactly turn DB away when she fell through the window and asked if she wanted to see the world. she’s v. happy with her new home being so centrally placed in skyrim bc she can get to almost anywhere in the entire province without much issue. she v. rarely spends the night at the main house and often bunks at DB’s various cottages and houses across the province instead, sometimes taking serana with her.

soon to be followers and followers in name only

gelebor. if DB got her way she’d have welcomed one of the last snow elves of tamriel into her home the moment she first saw him, but he has a duty to fulfill. he knows he has a family out there waiting for him in the wilds of whiterun should he decide he’s had enough, at least. maybe he’d visit on special occasions.

meeko. it v. quickly became apparent that while DB brought the sad old stray home, he was her wife’s dog and would prefer to chew pig snouts by the fire rather than fight trolls out in the mists again. he follows shahvee around all day and likes to drag his fur blankets around so he can sleep under DB’s desk. A Good Dog. 

erandur. i literally just need to do this questline lol it’s been in my journal for W E E K S. hopefully he’ll be able to soothe fathoms during one of her episodes, or at least instruct the others on how to deal with them. is the priest at ondolemar and farkas’ wedding once i actually develop their relationship lol*

verulus. ‘oh my god you saved me from a cannibal cult, how the hell can i repay you for this I KNOW MY ETERNAL SERVITUDE’

alduin, the small and terrible. arkay decides to give the world eater a chance to learn the lessons of paarthurnax, and returns him to life that he might assist his former general in redeeming his kind, or at least treat the death of this world and the birth of the next with appropriate gravitas. he’s still just as angry and noisy as he was before he’s just really small and cute now. he settles down, eventually. yes.

paarthurnax. thanks to a mod that spares his life and tells the blades to fuck off (seriously fuck off blades) paarthurnax became DB’s follower instead. he remains at the throat of the world, telling all the dragons of tamriel to stop being dicks for one goddamn second and that maybe there’s other things they could be doing besides terrorizing humans.

*so ‘my home is your home’ did Something to their AI. even when they had plenty of beds to choose from, ondolemar and farkas always chose to share a bed. i didn’t even set them as being in the same room as each other. also ondolemar frequently plays a lute for his idle animation, and farkas is almost always the only person who sits and listens. so naturally i ship the hell out of it and ondolemar Renounces His Evil Ways By The Power Of Love and forges a special amulet of akatosh that opens up to form a hidden amulet of talos that he can wear.

yes he turns his back on his entire government and religious beliefs and potential godhood depending on who you talk to for the man he loves. what of it.

[renaer-is-allegedly-hot]

actual session 8 notes

• I made a mistake

○ Mistake as in I came in late oops

• Anyways

• They're talking abt hair

• For sneak attack you roll 2d6 just a friendly reminder to yourself

○ oH IT TELLS U IN DNDBEYOND HOW MUCH FOR SNEAK ATTACK OKAY

• Now they're talking abt pranking ppl in the rides

• Now they're talking abt disneyland problems

• Now they're talking abt rollercoasters

• Jacob's fish ate each other

• Ok dnd time

○ "no worries" re: me being late s u r e ok nvm it's not depression time

• Passive perception checks and then we do smth idk

• Last session(s)

○ Downtime and then breakfast was bombed

○ Found out the attack was deliberate

○ Went to the one fancy villa house and got into a few fights

○ A nimblewright ?? Was responsible for the attack ig

○ We dipped and it's rainy

• The city is engulfed in thiccccc fog

○ Walking back to mirt's house

§ Lillian got prankt

• Lillian's sister has a guinea pig

○ Its name is buttercup

○ "buttercup dumpy tho" - jacob, 2020

• We're talking abt china's laws wrt eating dogs

• We're in the fog going to mirt's

○ Mirt's house is in sea ward, we're in north ward (a ward away)

○ If we just walk it's a half mile away

○ But there r streets so like a mile walk

○ Visibility is bad bc spring fog

○ Disadvantage on perception checks, visibility reduced to 30 ft

○ We're walking we get there

• Cel knocks

○ No one answers the door

○ Adam is making an investigation check

§ Does a short tour of the front, nothing out of the ordinary

§ Door is locked

§ Looking into the house there's an occasional candle burning by itself

□ Adam uses thaumaturgy to rapidly change the color of the lights inside to see if he can get anyone's attention

® Lights change color, nothing happens

§ Maybe we'll break in but cel will try the pebble on a window thing first

□ Throws, door opens and floon lets us in

□ Mans just got up

® We're a lil wet

□ It's abt 5am

• Short rest? There's no medium rest

○ I want cake I might make cupcakes after this bc I need cake sugar

§ I'll make cake after this and watch criminal minds bc it had me scream

○ We're taking shifts for keeping watch sleeping in mirt's living room w windows facing out onto the street

○ We're taking a long rest

• When cel is on watch she's just watching the door and windows

• Eventually renaer and floon get up n operate on a normal schedule

• Cut straight to wake up

○ Once we're all up it's raining

○ Hi jacob's dad isn't his name frederic ? Oh god I could b v wrong but I'm p sure bc when marguerite named the squirrel someone was like it's jacob's dad

§ "usually what I say should be cut off" - frederic, 2020

§ Aw bye jacob's dad

§ Jacob sounds exactly like his dad

□ Tb to the one time we were playing split the room on jackbox w my cousins and my dad and the choice was trading ur average newborn for an uber smart one or not and all of the cousins and myself said don't trade and mY DAD SAID TRADE

• It's pouring

• Mirt doesn't seem to b here but we can talk to renaer and floon

○ Gonna talk to them abt the mansion n ppl / things at the mansion

○ Oh a nimblewright is the one thing

§ Oops I accidentally googled it and turns out they're employed as bodyguards / assassins / spies

○ "renAer . Do u recognize this symbol"

§ He is indeed familiar w the crest

§ "well to me this looks like the house of grahlund (idk) ?? Or smth"

§ The houses of waterdeep

§ We're suss abt the book

□ We don't see any other black pages tho

§ Adam says the gnome was unfortunately barbecued

□ "trying to deliver the stone of galore" to us probs

□ Y would he deliver it to us

□ "bc mirt is relatively well known ,, this house is probs well watched"

□ The stone of galore v sought after by noble families apparenTly

□ The house ppl r embezzling that's y they want the rock

□ Had their robot blast our door for it

□ But now city watch probably has it

□ Theo remembers the one elven lady having seen someone run off

□ The zents want it, the nobles want it, the citywatch want it

○ So is the plan to go find a zent ??? Or what we'd learn if we went to the robot's location

§ I don't remember any frickin robot I'm just trying to pick up on context clues

§ Oh right grinda in mistshore ? 

§ We're gonna go find grinda

□ It's like around 4 in the afternoon

□ Sun not shining too brightly

□ Renaer not coming

® Ur leaving groot w renaer this time

□ Neither is floon, mirt mentioned he had to go do some business elsewhere

® Adam is currently suspicious of mirt

□ We need a ride

® We all dish out 3 copper for a taxi

® Dom dabbed and no one cares

○ Can u drop a message to the guy ?? Somehow ?? Somewhere ?? Just like ,, keep him in the loop ???? Ur confused

• Ok we pay

○ Adam is playing the uke

§ We're in the cab 

§ Imagine it's raining aggressively

§ A dwarf guild member picks us up

§ Ugh I want cake

§ Could I bake while playing hm

§ Cab driver has a rigging of sorts set up

§ I have to pee too

§ Any interesting looking ppl in the cab w us ?

○ A gnome w a fedora looking p drenched, dragonborn woman half sleeping kinda elderly, human man

§ Adam slaps the gnome, you stare at the gnome, gnome looks at adam and adam runs an insight check adam rolls 23, gnome tries to look surprised but looks like he's overacting

§ "there's not a lot of big ideas here"

§ "well that's obvious enough"

§ Gnome picks up on stare

§ You get the paper you flip it, you roll for insight gets 22

□ Takes the bait, looks at the paper; eventually human gets off

□ We're getting close to outskirts of dock ward, road is mud

□ At some point the gnome tries to start conversation

□ "say what's that you've got there"

□ "well I only saw him at the carnival that shows up every fall"

® Common in the autumn but not nowadays

® Would have to wait another summer

□ "are you a nimblewright fanatic sir"

® "all I'm saying is I like springtime rain as much as the next guy but when the wind season comes in it's kinda unusual"

® Gnome's name is elbridge

◊ Adam rolls for insight

} 25

} Looks like he's used to saying that name but it might not be his name

® "say I have some business to attend to so driver u can keep the tip just don't tell the guild" dwarf nods and slows the horses down, gnome gets off and dips

• Adam wants him to blow a nose

• "did he leave any little hairs" - marguerite, 2020

○ Cab driver shouts and says no stabbing on the cart

• We're in the dock ward, cart stops and dwarf leans over and makes us get out

○ Shakes his head and says we shouldn't go to mistborne

○ "is there any instruction you can give us for how to 'get there get there' because you're not 'taking us taking us'" - adam, 2020

• Aerana's leading

○ Dom sends a map

○ We're not standing on the muddy running water streets but on wooden planking

○ You have your dagger at hand

○ Beached ships but ppl living inside them probably

○ U can see there r some ppl peeking out of various doorways + shifty characters milling abt

○ Cel and adam r holding hands

○ Adam is sweating a lot but cel still holds it

○ At some point a dragonborn that looks like a sailor or smth w lots of battlewounds n tattoos looks p savage w dull brown color to scales, stands in front of u without saying anything

○ Ur like a lil shorter than humans and dragonborn r much taller

§ "I have business in mistborne what are you doing in my way"

§ Not so many city types

§ Adam mumbles smth under his breath

□ Asks adam what kind of business

□ "we're looking for grinda"

® Tries to appear jovial

® Says ah yes she lives here

® Dragon therapy

◊ He takes and puts to temple 

◊ U pay him 3 gold

◊ Grinda garloff

} Strange woman w a shed at the end of the dock

} Take a left here and follow the sounds of the waves

} Throws out a fourth

– Has many visitors w strange visitors

◊ Cel says she likes his tattoos

} "yes these r when I was sailing around the isle of chault"

• We follow his directions and eventually get to d1, we see ppl trying to set a fire

○ Walk down the dock towards d2, door to north of d2 has small assemblage of ppl

○ Can see up to 60 ft away some odd looking ppl

§ Four thugs bearing weapons; three humans w a dwarf barking instructions, attempting to break down the door to d2

§ Might b grinda's house but we really don't know

§ Adam spruces up the one fire of the dock workers

□ Cel lets go of adam's hand

□ They don't notice adam did it

• Adam tries to hear what the dwarf is saying bc it's rainy and doesn't hear anything

○ Lots of shifty ppl around

○ Some of them r watching the scene and also us

○ We approach the audience

§ Adam nudges the friendliest looking person

§ We all go up onto the elevated ship

§ Immediately ppl look at us suss

□ Confrontational almost and eventually a half-elf woman asks us if we're here to watch them string up grinda

® Cel makes persuasion check

® Isn't there another door ?

® Adam goes to cushiest looking person and asks y they're after grinda

◊ Old grizzled halfling answers adam and says grinda took smth she wasn't supposed to have

◊ "we're here to make sure that grinda doesn't escape unharmed"

◊ "we're pretty tough as well" adam says

◊ More ppl come over closer to us

◊ Adam asking how much it would be to outbuy

◊ "that depends on how much you're asking oh wrinkly one"

◊ Halfling confers w fellows

◊ Halfling appears to be a ringleader

} Says 15 dragons

– 19 for insight

w Confident guy, lived a tough life

w Ppl put their trust in him

w Halfling says 15 is bargain price

w Unsuccessful try to push the price down you all cough up 3 dragons

– They start distributing dragons

w Not used to containing excitement

○ After distributing money asks if we have a bone to pick with the xants

§ Adam's gonna play them a song and plays it so hard it casts shatter on the dock the thugs are standing on

□ Constitution saving throws for everything

® Two of the bandits and the dwarf fail their saving throws, other two succeed

® Tl;dr the dock - two of them r shocked so hard they're either dead or unconscious

® Dwarf Is particularly affected

® Dock they're standing on collapses

® Door blasted off inwards

◊ "that's a little trick I learned at bard school"

◊ Ppl on the boat have moved away

® Humans and dwarves screaming

◊ 3 left

} We're not killing them just going into the house

} Go to the side entrance

– V small room w all bare necessary fixtures

– Strange safes n intricate bolted locks

– Hanging talismans from the roof

– Nvm went too fast

w Aerana jumps and runs into a wall but you run into a cabinet

w 3 damage

w Human woman looks unconscious

w Adam casts healing word

w Resuscitates her

w Has mismatched eyes, one yellow other dark green

w V gray hair

w Doesn't look particularly old just has gray hair

w Startles when she wakes up trying to assess our intentions

w Adam tries to convince her the thugs outside tried to blow up her door

w 18 for deception

w Lie works

w "who are you people?"

® Theo asks if she knows anything abt this *pulls out paper*

◊ Affirms we're not w the xants

◊ "I appreciate what you did my name's grinda"

◊ Doesn't look used to talking to this many ppl at once

◊ Stands up and busies herself w putting the room back in order

◊ Looks like she had been barricading the door w stuff before everything was knocked over

◊ "you're telling me you just happened across this place and drove off some xants for some odd purpose"

◊ "actually we were looking for you" - theo

◊ Were told she might have smth to do w the paper

◊ "all the homies hate xanathar" - adam, 2020

} "I've had my dealings w the xanathar before…" admits she was in over her head

} Looking at the paper "so this nimblewright was instructed to drop off an artifact I was supposed to hold for the xanathars

} She got greedy bc she's a treasure-seeker

} The artifact is worth a lot

} "it's just what we do lady" - adam, 2020

} Adam is gonna charm her

– Adam tries to flex "what exactly what was the dangerous item that put a poor, poor, well-facially featured woman like you in danger" what is this jacob

w 17 persuasion

– Her expression changes a little

– It's the stone

w "I was attempting to attune with it but I was unable to in time"

w She put it in a hide hole

w Adam offers to trade hidey-hole locations

w She has a rat familiar and instructed it to take the stone to the city of the dead

w "can you tell the rat to bring it back"

• The city of the dead: mass cemetery where ppl of waterdeep bury their dead within city limits

○ Almost like its own ward

○ In the garlock? Garlof? family mausoleum

○ Adam gets her to pull out some of the items she's collected; some resistance

§ She comes back w a brass ring

□ Once one is attuned to it you are rendered invisible

□ "hold on to that for me hun and I'll come back"

○ Aerana is aware there are guards posted at night but it's a vast open space

• To the cemetery we will go

• Summary

○ Successfully dispatched the thugs

○ Gradually learning more abt the alleged horde of dragons