#basically the entire time and often BECAUSE she was so impulsive and emotional and reckless and not afraid to wear her heart on her sleeve

[13eyond13]

you ever think about how Misa's lack of intelligence and the way she lets her emotions impulsively dictate her actions was kinda constantly made the butt of the joke in DN, yet she genuinely outlived all the dudes and dudettes who were always scoffing at her stupidity. Somehow this is even better to me in that she wasn't even trying to outlive Light and didn't have any particularly high regard for her own life, so it's not due to her secretly being the best strategist of them all intentionally either... Regardless of the author's intent behind it I like that it pokes some holes in their constant smug assertions that you must have the very highest IQ to be the last guy standing in the murder notebook game

[cringecompanionapologist]

The Cradle of the Snake: Something I Just Now Realized

So, every TARDIS team has its Dynamic. If there's only one companion then all possible Companion Roles have to be them, but if there's more than one, these get split up.

INCOMING SORT-OF RELATED TANGENT:

When it came the three companion teams, no one did it better than the first two seasons. Ian/Barbara/Susan or Vicki. Ian was the most physically capable and often took the leadership role in the Doctor's absence. Barbara tended to be the more level-headed, rational thinker who could also take charge in certain situations. She was also the emotional core of the team, the one who could get the Doctor to be a better person. Ian sometimes played this role as well, but Barbara tended to be more successful.

Susan and Vicki, as the youngest party members, tended to be more emotional and impulsive. In Susan's case, she tended to get frightened more quickly and more often than the others. Vicki was sort of the opposite, adventurous and eager to be involved to the point of recklessness.

These different personalities, as well as Susan's unique status as the Doctor's granddaughter also give them separate roles. The Doctor was responsible for Susan as her guardian. Other companions are friends. The Doctor is somewhat responsible for them, but they're a bit more independent. Protecting Susan tended to be a priority because of this. Most of the other younger companions aren't treated this way. Victoria is really the only other one who comes to mind.

But, you can see a wide variety of things companions can do here: Handle more physically demanding tasks when the Doctor can't, take charge in the Doctor's absence, be a voice of reason in a chaotic situation, push the Doctor to be a hero/act as a moral compass, have more emotional and reckless reactions to danger than the Doctor might, as well as the obvious "ask questions, scream, and get captured" stuff.

Three companion TARDIS teams began to work less over time due to usually occurring at the last minute. Ben and Polly were planned companions, but Jamie was thrown in at the last minute. When Adric was already there and Tegan was about to be introduced, Nyssa was included at the last minute. This led to some difficulty as the last minute companion tended to overlap with one of the established ones. Ben and Jamie are both young action heroes. Adric and Nyssa are both teenage alien geniuses without any home or family outside of the TARDIS. The differences in these characters' origins and personalities could be used to balance the team out, so these TARDIS teams could work, but the writers often struggled with them.

That brings us back to Nyssa, Tegan, and Turlough. This team barely existed in the show, so their group dynamic in the Big Finish audios comes almost entirely from the audios alone. Nyssa and Tegan are more established co-companions, as are Tegan and Turlough, but you're either adding Turlough into the the former team, or adding Nyssa into the latter team, so the character dynamics have to shift to accommodate three.

Nyssa and Tegan's roles are pretty easy to figure out. Nyssa is the rational, level-headed one. Tegan is more impulsive, as well as being the emotional core who can act as a back-up moral compass to the Doctor when he forgets his. They're basically two halves of Barbara's role, with Tegan also getting a less childish version of the Susan/Vicki role. Nyssa can fall into the Susan/Victoria "needs to be protected" category, but she's competent enough that the protectiveness from the others feels more like them overreacting.

Turlough is tricky. He is one of the most unique companions in the show's history and he usually doesn't fit the traditional companion roles. His cowardice and tendency towards melodrama prevents him from being the rational one, but he's usually too cautious to be impulsive. He isn't an action hero type and the Fifth Doctor can play that role on his own. He's morally ambiguous, so he can't be the emotional core. He could be "needs to be protected", but the others aren't really all that protective of him. So, Turlough's role is usually "whatever isn't taken". His character works best when he's being focused on, not acting as a sidekick.

In The Cradle of the Snake (yes, we're finally back on-topic), Turlough can just be himself when he's alone with the Doctor, but once he's reunited with Nyssa and Tegan, things get a bit confused. With the Doctor possessed, he has to act as Nyssa's protector, a role that would probably have better suited Tegan. I guess nobody thought of having a female companion in the "if you want to hurt her you'll have to go through me" role.

Then you have the bit with the Mara!Doctor towards the end, where Turlough is possessed after running towards who he thinks is the Real Doctor, too happy to see him to make sure it's really him first. As adorable as this is, it's usually not the role given to Turlough. When he does have a stand-out role, it's as a Voice of Caution. Nyssa is the Voice of Reason, since Turlough's sense of caution is often irrational, based on fear.

Earlier on, when Turlough is alone with the Mara!Doctor and falls for a similar trick, he's the only companion there, so there's no one else to do that scene with. But, with all three companions present, it's usually Tegan who would act impulsively. Think of Warriors of the Deep. The infamous "Face it, Tegan! He's drowned!" cliffhanger is funny, but Turlough says that line in response to Tegan trying to go into the water after the Doctor to rescue him, something that would probably just lead to them both drowning. Or maybe those signs around the water warning of radiation might mean something. Perhaps the only way Turlough could stop Tegan from getting herself killed was to convince her that it was too late for her to help the Doctor.

But, in The Cradle of the Snake, it actually makes sense why Tegan isn't the impulsive one. She's had enough experience with the Mara to know to be very afraid. She's more afraid of the Mara than anyone else there. She won't take risks in this context. So, that role has to go to someone else. Nyssa has to be the rational one, so it can't be her. That leaves Turlough. Since there's an earlier scene showing Turlough behaving the same way regarding the Mara!Doctor, it feels like part of his character when it happens again.

Basically, since Tegan is too afraid of the Mara to be Recklessly Loyal, as in Warriors of the Deep, this trait is added to Turlough's character. But, he's usually cautious and, though he likes the Doctor, he's still more loyal to himself at this point. His behavior regarding the Doctor stands out here. The Doctor has clearly become special to Turlough since he can't be normal about him.

So that's why The Cradle of the Snake is Like That. It's the most beautiful mess I've ever seen and I love it.

[petite-ely]

Afraid // JJ Maybank

five - but what if?

Pairing: JJ Maybank x fem routledge! reader

Warnings: bad language (don’t swear kids), mention of drowning, mention of death, nightmares, mention of guns, mention of fight, did I miss something.

Description: after his reckless actions at the party, JJ is unable to sleep but he isn’t the only one still awake.

A/n : I don’t want to make this longer than it already is, I think I’ve talked enough lol. If for some reason you want to know why I’ve been gone for so long I’ve written a post regarding it. Sorry again for not posting in so long. If you want to chat, feel free to reach out. I’m friendly. :) please kindly tell me if I’ve made some mistakes, I’ve reread this like a hundred times but its possible some mistakes slipped.

Previously next

Afraid masterlist

Gif by @cobrazkai

Song recommendation

JJ Maybank was 14 years old when he first realized that he had feelings for one of his best friends. The thing is he didn’t know what the hell those feelings were. He had always thought that y/n was really pretty and he considered her to be one of her closest friends and that was it. Friends- that’s what they were.

But after years of friendship and wild adventures and basically hanging out 24/7, something felt different. And boy, did that scare him.

JJ was not the kind of person to be really in touch with his emotions. Being abandoned by his own mother and living with an abusive alcoholic father didn’t really help either. If anything, his past traumas only made him more disconnected from his emotions and feelings.

He might’ve been hot headed and impulsive but that didn’t stop him from feeling things, often even too deeply. The issue was naming the emotions he was feeling. He didn’t know what he was feeling like half of the time. So when it came to y/n, his feelings for her were so intense and unknown. He had never felt this way for anyone before. He was so confused.

Being around her felt weirdly homely and yet, he never really had a real home to come to. For him, it was only a house. It was a building with things he wasn’t really attached to and a man he couldn’t really call a father, despite DNA saying otherwise. Being with her felt warm and golden and it was like a drug he couldn’t say no to. He was constantly looking for ways to feel this specific way. It was euphoric. But he only felt this way when he was around her. And it felt like home.

She was the home he wanted to come to every freaking night. And he wanted to dance with her and have night long discussion and caress her cheeks tenderly. He wanted to kiss her more than anything else, his lips on hers staying that way until one of them needed to take a breath - oh what heavenly feeling that must be. He wanted to proclaim his feelings to the entire island - the entire world even.

Only he couldn’t. There was this rule, and he couldn’t break it. Usually, he wasn’t the kind of person to let rules determine what he should and shouldn’t do. But it was the pogue rules, he couldn’t break them. He couldn’t do that to his friends, regardless of his own feelings.

Love. That’s what his feelings were. It took him some time to realize it, but yeah, it was love. He was certain of it (which was rare for JJ). A first love, innocent, deep and one sided. At least that’s what he thought. How could she love him? How could anyone love him when even his own father didn’t? Who would want him?

Now, JJ had messed, big time.

He was sitting beneath a tree, at the edge of the yard whims the château, a few feet away from where the water started. His gaze was turned towards the sunrise though he wasn’t really looking at the magnificent show of colours that nature was offering him. He was thinking or more like regretting.

He kept replaying the event that had happened just a few hours ago on the boneyard again and again in his mind. The arrogance on John B’s face while he taunted the kooks, the empty, psychotic look on Topper’s face while he was holding J.B’s head underwater, his own hand holding the gun against Topper’s head. It felt so powerful at the moment and yet in retrospect he felt so stupid. What would he have done if something had actually happened, if someone had gotten hurt because of him?

In the spur of the moment, he hadn’t thought about it really much. How crazy it actually was. He saw his friend in a situation where he could actually die and only thought about helping him. He had this thing with him that could help save him, an object that take could take someone’s life in the matter of seconds. So he used it at his advantage. He had only wanted to help, but at what cost.

He kept picturing the expression on y/n’s face when he got the gun out. It wasn’t anger, no it was much worse, she was terrified. She had actually been scared of him. How could he ever make up for that. How he could he ever admit what he was feeling for her after he had brought her such terror. He had ruined everything.

What if she never forgot that moment? What if she never forgave him?

A branch cracked somewhere in the distance, and JJ turned to face whoever, or whatever, was lurking in the dark. He was blinded by the bright artificial light of a flashlight. “JJ?” A voice spoke and the blond immediately recognized it. Y/n.

“Can you please turn it off, I don’t think it’s necessary,” he responded, motioning to the clarity that brought the sunrise. It was light enough for them to fully see one another.

“Oh, yeah, sorry, “-she sat down beside him- “Couldn’t sleep?” JJ stared at her for a moment before taking his eyes away.

“Yeah, you could say that. What about you? John B snoring too loud?” Y/n gave a small laugh.

“Um, no, not this time.” Her smile went down. “I had a nightmare.” JJ’s brows furrowed.

“Not about um, not about tonight right?” He asked, guilt hidden in the tremors of his voice.

Images of the past night filled y/n’s mind. Her brother being held under water, JJ pulling the gun out, the loud echoing sound of the firearm as it shot in the air. She could still hear it ringing slightly in her ears.

A small moment went by before she finally shook her head in denial, earning a small sigh of relief from the blond (at least that wasn’t his fault, he already felt guilty for so many things). “No, uh, no it wasn’t that,” she said, her voice barely audible.

JJ stared at her face in the golden light of this early morning. He noticed the blank stare in her eyes and frowned. Nightmares, although worrying for most people, were pretty common for y/n. JJ of course knew this, yet something felt odd.

He rested his hand on the small part of her back between her shoulder blades. “Do you want to talk about it?” She turned her head to meet his eyes, the feeling of his skin, warm and soft against hers sending small tingles at the base of her neck.

She didn’t want to bother him with her problems, she knew how horrible his home life was compared to what she was living. She didn’t want to remind him of this not make him feel bad about her small problems when he was facing such violence on a daily basis. Still, she knew JJ and talking about his dad was the last thing he wanted to do. And his eyes, his beautiful ocean blue eyes, it’s like they could see through her. How could she lie to him?

“I, uh I-I-“ his hand went to her shoulder and he squeezed it reassuringly. “You don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want to.” Y/n felt her cheeks burning (hopefully he didn’t notice it). She took a moment to breathe in deeply the fresh air, calming herself slightly before putting her hand on his.

“No, I-I want to. I think it’ll help, in a way.” JJ cracked a sweet smile. “Alright then.”

“I keep having this one dream about my dad and I see him on his boat wandering. He’s lost in the middle of the ocean and he’s calling my name.” Saying those words, she really felt as though she could hear her father calling her name in the far distance, as if he was right beside her. Sadly, it was only her imagination playing tricks on her.

“And it keeps turning to this nightmare, where he dies in various horrible ways. Either drowned or starved or eaten by sharks.” JJ’s gaze softened, his eyes admiring her lips forming each words one after the other. “But tonight-“ she let go of his hand, shifting her body to face him completely, “-tonight, for a reason, I didn’t see him.”

“The boat was empty.”

Flashes of her nightmare came back to her like waves crashing on the beach. Her dad on his boat, a smile sketched on his lips. The sky is clear blue, not a cloud is in sight. There’s a warm breeze, she can almost feel it on her skin, and the sun is shining. It’s almost utopian, the perfect day to spend out in the sea.

Then the scene changes. The sky darkens to a deeper shade of blue, grey clouds towering the ocean. The wind is stronger, much stronger. It whistles as it makes its way in the crevices between each tree and threatens to tear the sails down. And the boat, she can see it floating hauntingly on the wild waves the same way a ghost would in abandoned castle. And there’s no trace of her father. Not even a feeling, that would tell her he’s there, trying to survive this storm.

“What if he really is gone J? What if my dad-“ she stopped her sentence to look at the horizon, somehow hoping to see a sign that would prove she was wrong. “I’m trying so hard to be positive and optimistic, but it’s been so long. What if he never comes back?”

The look in her eyes was heart-wrenching. JJ didn’t know what to say or do. He never really thought about it. What would happen if Big John was gone. To be honest he didn’t want to, that man was more of father to him than his own ever was. And losing him would be... he preferred not to think about it.

“I disagree,” he finally said. “What?” “Your dad is like one of the smartest person I’ve ever known. I think that, he, of all people would know how to get out of any situation, especially if it seems impossible to everyone else. I don’t think that you should give up on him yet.”

“You really think so?”

“Yes, I do,” he smiled. “So fuck everyone who tells you otherwise,“ y/n giggled. “Fuck all of them! You’re allowed to have hope, y/n, even after this much time. They can’t take that from you.”

“In the meantime, we’ll there’s us,” us, “the pogues, our own family. We can get through anything, right?”

“Yeah, we can.” Y/n’s head fell on his shoulder. “We’re the pogues.”

JJ admired her carefully. How her face looked, basked in the golden rays of the sun, looking so terribly tired and yet so beautiful. He could stay like this forever, losing himself completely in her smile. God she was so wonderful.

“Hey y/n/n?” “Yeah?” “Are you mad at me?” “Huh?”

“Why would I be ma- oh, oh.” The gun. He thought she was mad at him for what he did. Though he saved her brother, didn’t he? So, she didn’t understand why he would think she could hate him.

“It’s just that you looked so terrified when-” “You saved him JJ, that’s what matters most.” Y/n interrupted the boy mid sentence, placing her hand on his arm in gratitude. “If you hadn’t done anything, he could have...” she didn’t finish her sentence.

When she saw JJ holding the firearm against Topper’s head just a few hours ago, she had first been incredibly shocked. She didn’t recognize the JJ she knew. But now, she completely understood. It was his way of protecting his friends, his way of showing he cared. And that, she admired him for it. Though he could’ve shown it in a less dangerous way.

“I admit,” she added, “it was dangerous and a bit scary to see and we’re probably gonna get some kind of revenge from the kooks soon, but no one got hurt. And J.B, well he’s okay! We’re all okay!”

“Also, I’m pretty sure I did some very, very stupid things last night, so I can’t really be mad at you,” she cringed remembering the amount of alcohol influenced things she had said and done during the party. “God, I must have looked so ridiculous.”

JJ laughed at her comment. “Yes, yes you did.” “Man, John B was right, I can’t believe I’m saying this.”

“Can you just promise me something?” Asked y/n, once their laughter had died. “Depends what?”

“Promise me you’ll never hurt yourself with that thing, or anyone else for that matter.”

“I promise, y/n. ”

“Thank you.”

Taglist

@deionswannabegirl @kaelyn-lobrutto24 @poguestyle17 @im-a-stranger-thing @lasnaro @thoughtsofthestars @briandaflores19 @lunaposey @allycat449-blog @ifilwtmfc @kitty084 @coloradogirl07 @ponyboys-sunsets @chaoticbisous @p0gue420 @sloaneemily

If I forgot you or if you wanna be added/removed just tell me! Also I’m sorry if your name didn’t work :/

[chocowhomps]

@amazingspace-22

I have a couple of questions. First of all, what’s going on here? I dare say that the child decided to make a prank and it got out of control. Or it’s a kidnapping. Secondly, why does it happen at night? Well, at least I think these crazy hide-and-seek things happen at night.

And what happens if the uncle finds the girl? Would he really kill her??

Hey! I wanted to give this it’s own text post to answer your questions since the explanation is a bit long. I hope you don’t mind! I put it under a read more since it’s some very intense stuff.

(For context to other people seeing this, this is about my Keveddy fankid Nicole and this picture I drew recently.) 

Trigger warnings for mentions of abuse both emotional and physical  (eddy’s brother to eddy, eddy’s brother to nicole and nicoles past life by implication)

Basically the scenario revolves around Nicole’s (the child’s) initial strained relationship with Eddy. Eddy struggles a lot with his mental health and learned behaviors he still gets help with, and has developed new habits that cause him to communicate poorly at times. Eddy as an adult is not a really angry person, but he is quick to shouting and says things impulsively which can be hurtful because he has control issues.

Nicole is also quick to anger but because she’s a child (11 in the picture’s instance) she isn’t able to keep herself in control and rationalize her behavior is hurtful. She gets into a fight with Eddy at some point because she has a tendency to be reckless for attention. Eddy and her often don’t see eye to eye because she’s acting just like he did as a child, while she simply thinks it’s him not thinking she’s mature to make her own decisions or control her. Kevin is usually the mediator in these situations, since he’s a really mellow person. But there’s only so much he can do when they get into an argument.

After a particular fight she ends up running away from the home. Her parents and the original cul-de-sac kids, who are now also adults (some with their own families as well) help to search for her. Police also get involved.

Nicole has never properly met her uncle one on one. She’s seen him on two prior occasions to this, and each time he’s acted pretty alright. Because she is so stubborn, she thinks Eddy insisting his brother is a bad person is just him trying to put a lock on her behavior. So because she has nowhere to go, she seeks him out as if to stick it to her father and show shes mature enough to make her own decisions.

This, obviously, goes horribly wrong. Because at first her uncle pretends to be rather inviting. Though after a while his tendencies become much more obvious, and she begins to get nervous. She only realizes after he’s retelling one of his experiences with Eddy as a child that he is definitely not a good person, but by this point she’s been there for the entire day getting to know him and the company he keeps, so it’s the middle of the night as seen in the picture.

I don’t think he would kill. While I don’t speak for knowing how far he’d go with someone, I don’t think he’d kill. That being said, obviously he is a viscerally toxic person and inherently abusive, so while she manages to avoid getting hurt she is in danger of being so. She’s hiding because he wants to cause her harm since he realized he can’t continue to pretend to be her nice approachable uncle anymore. 

However, he doesn’t end up able to hurt her in the end, since Eddy puts it together where she must have gone and goes there himself. He gets into a physical confrontation with him and Eddy knocks him unconscious. The entire ordeal brings Eddy and his daughter closer.

I feel like  Eddy’s brother, in this instance, is lashing out because he’s bitter Eddy doesn’t look up to him anymore. Eddy has totally excommunicated him from his life and his family, and keeps him at a distance. Eddy has also taken their parents home since their parents bought a place in Hawaii, so they had an additional confrontation at an earlier time where he made him come get his things. That was when he found out about Nicole, since he wanted to turn his brother’s old room into something useful for their kid.

He’s angry Eddy won’t talk to him and is in complete denial he’s done anything wrong, like any toxic person would be. He’s using Nicole by proxy to ‘get back’ at Eddy for shunning him, while in some very morbid way, wanting to genuinely get close to her because she reminds him of his little brother.

Too long didn’t read: Eddy’s brother is a really fucked up person.

[contrarian-grammarian]

Kanthony Sorting Hat

Ok, I’ve been thinking way too much about this so I finally wanted to put my thoughts down about the Bridgerton mains and their Sorting. Warning: I do have very specific thoughts about Sorting habits that may not follow your ideas, but I use the Houses mostly as personality references.) See below:

Anthony—I genuinely made this post because of him. I usually start under the assumption that most protagonists are Gryffindors because it’s true 95% of the time, but for Anthony, it was actually easier for me to start with what he was not. He’s not a Ravenclaw. (Boy’s an idiot.) Eventually, I managed to piece together what was happening, but it required looking past several personas that he has built up. Essentially, the key to Anthony was Kate.

Anthony Bridgerton has spent his entire adult life trying to think of his duty. But when he’s around Kate, he shifts out of that persona and becomes this competitive, emotional, reckless person that is his true self. That person has honor, too (just see the Pall Mall scene where Kate dares him to cheat and he says “But I would know.”) but it’s a different type of honor than what he associates with his familial responsibilities.

Essentially, what I think happened after Edmund died was that Anthony adopted a Hufflepuff model (based on his father, who I think was a Gryffinpuff, and his mother, who is a pure Hufflepuff). His hard work with the bills and clannishness around his family is I think a typical example of this. Unfortunately, due to his Gryffindor instincts, he is not a very good Hufflepuff—it is a serious source of strain on him and he often overcompensates. In short, by the time Kate arrives on the scene, he’s basically Slytherined himself (the natural result of Gryffindor drive and Hufflepuff duty). This is fascinating because…

Kate—Kate has literally done the same thing, except she has a Ravenclaw model instead of a Hufflepuff (given that the only thing we know about her dad is that he was a secretary, I wonder if she got that from him). She performs a Ravenclaw role (teaching Edwina, managing the finances) but still feels out of place in her Hufflepuff family (Edwina is not actually a Hufflepuff, but I will get to that later). This is why it feels so odd to us as viewers when Mary says that Kate has always valued an independent life, and when Kate keeps talking about being fulfilled as a teacher in India. We keep seeing the free, emotional Kate who goes for impulsive morning rides and loves beating the Viscount fair and  square. (God, their Pall Mall mud scene is so great at revealing their characters. Just the most unhinged Gryffindor lunacy.)

However, Kate in London is operating on a different level, since she’s got so many opposing forces to deal with (Lady D., the Sheffields, Anthony). So she also starts resorting to her Gryffindor instincts, particularly when Anthony emerges as such a threat (as she sees) to Edwina. Mary and Edwina act like Kate is not being her typical sensible self when it comes to Anthony, and I think that’s true—I think she’s also Slytherined herself accidentally.

Which is why all of their scenes are so crazy. Ostensibly, to their families, this should be a reasonable Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw interaction, which is why everyone is kinda nonplussed that they hate each other so much. They are trying to Slytherin each other, but because both of them are NOT Slytherins, they keep failing miserably until their Gryffindor side emerges. The poetry reading—Anthony tries to cheat until a look from Kate makes him bare his intentions! Kate’s manipulations constantly come crashing down because she doesn’t actually know how to manipulate people at all—she’s just built enough of a reputation in her family as “the smart one” that nobody realizes what an idiot she’s being until it’s almost too late! 

Just look at their gazebo scene—that is both of them throwing away their models and being pure feral Gryffindors for one night. They both have to be their true brave selves to get what they want! -is emotional-

Kanthony TLDR: Both insane Gryffindors trying so hard to be anything else that they almost forgot who they were. Except around each other.

Note: I said Edwina is not a Hufflepuff. She’s actually a Gryffindor who got Hufflepuffed so hard by Kate and her mom for so long that I think she thought she was a Hufflepuff. That’s basically the point of her scene with Kate where she tells her they don’t know who they are. I think she also almost Slytherined herself given how betrayed she felt (again, Hufflepuff + Gryffindor can make for an ugly mix) but sorts it out by the final scene. But real Edwina is so brave! (Just look at their dance scene at the Featherington ball, or any of her confrontations with Kate and Anthony after the wedding). 

This got insanely long but I can keep going for other characters (I have a ton of Benedict/Eloise/Colin/Pen thoughts as well.) I can also expand on this. Please let me know if you’re interested!

[scarlettaagni]

Kandore (Lancer)

Kandore is the current clan leader of the Half-Heart Clan. He was named for his proficiency with the combistick as his signature weapon, as well as general skill with pole-like weapons.

As a child in the Agoge, he failed many times at stealing under his teachers’ watch and thus was given lashes as punishments for his failures. However, he never cried, no matter how hard the teachers tried to get a plea for mercy out of him. He was rarely given special treatment despite being a son of the clan leader, rather, because he must prepare for a higher position in life, he must work to fulfill the higher expectations. Kandore was only spoiled with the privilege of affording Elites to be his personal tutors and teachers.

His father Kachare had many children before and after Kandore, but noticing the boy’s pragmatism, charisma, confidence, and ability to take command of situations, named Kandore his heir.

In his youth, a local Hunter dominated the local arena through multiple victorious deathmatches in a row. Up to task, Kandore challenged him after observing him from afar. Right before their match, he and Kandore had a traditional good-natured exchange. The undefeated champion put his fist against Kandore’s chest, a common pre-fight goodwill gesture, but proceeded to expand the combistick hidden in his hand, intending on skewering Kandore’s head at the very start of the match. Though this is how he had managed to become the undefeated champion, Kandore had enough foresight to dodge the blow, receiving only a gash up the left side of his head. Half-blinded from the blood gushing out of his wound, Kandore killed the champion, and decided to take the move for himself.

Though named heir, meaning he will inherit the position once Kachare dies, Kandore took it upon himself to speed up the process and challenged his aging father for it instead. He believed he was ready for the job as he was, that Kachare had already grown old and unfit for it, and he did not want to “waste time”. Engaging in a public deathmatch, Kandore fairly slew his own father with a stab through the chest and a cut across the belly, decapitating Kachare as is tradition and received the leadership at an unconventionally young age.

Kandore’s taking of the position was controversial among the Half-Heart Clan, due to the fight being completely fair, honorable, and with legal precedent, but also seen as wholly unnecessary because he was already publicly declared the heir. While it’s happened before, an heir wishing to claim the leadership from their parent is often seen as a sign of impulsivity or impatience, qualities not looked upon favorably. Aware it may not be a popular move or start to his command over the clan, he worked on relations and built a reputation on being a personable and forgiving, but strict when he must be, leader.

Most of the clan have never met him personally, or held more than five conversations with him. As a result, they don’t know that while polite, his niceties are for show, and his forgiveness comes with strings attached. Kandore shows mercy and gives privileges in order to both endear himself to people, but also to hold these favors hostage and threaten taking them away should the other party not play along, or do something he doesn’t like. Though, sometimes, on a whim, he’ll do a nice thing for someone without expecting anything back, usually when it’s at no cost to himself or the clan at large. This is rare as he considers wasting his time and resources as a cost to himself/the clan, but he occasionally thinks better on it.

Kandore is a skilled manipulator, and excellent at reading people. During interactions, Kandore is constantly multitasking by carrying the conversation, observing the other person’s reactions to what he says, and recalling previous knowledge about them. By experimenting with topics during conversation, he easily gleans their berserk buttons and soft spots to take advantage of and use should he feel the need to. He even conducts personal or ordered research on Half-Heart clan members to learn more about them, and even on Yautja from other clans should they be relevant. In all situations, Kandore continually formulates plans to find a way he will benefit from the outcome in some form, no matter what.

He traps his subjects within societal conventions, where he will code his polite words with underlying messages and implications. While he continues to either deliberately passive-aggressively dig at them, or simply say things with a tone that implies something, he will not make an obvious attack or insult. The other person is allowed to make dirty looks all they like, or respond with a tone of hatred, but the instant they voice their disdain for him aloud, no subtext, he will instantly counter with a scathing retort. Kandore has reduced grown men to tears with his sharp tongue in this way.

No one knows what makes Kandore tick, and no one has ever managed to hurt his feelings the way he hurts others’, or scrape his ego in a way he could not recover instantly from. He is seemingly untouchable and almost seems devoid of emotion in a way, only capable of smug amusement. Many conclude you can’t hurt his feelings because he doesn’t have any. In truth, he is just very in control of his emotions.

Often challenged for his position by strangers, as he had challenged Kachare, he uses that hidden combistick move to end the matches quickly. This too, is a controversial action among the clan. Kandore insists it is a valid strategy, as he considers the start of a fight to be when the challenge is issued, not when the first blow is dealt. Even if his opponents know of the infamous move and dodge it, Kandore’s skill and strength as his bite is enough to substantiate his bark, and he is consequently undefeated. Basically, he talks a lot of shit, thinks he’s hot shit, but he fights like it, too.

He inherited his father’s Ancient advisor, Zazin, who he came to understand as a bleeding heart. Respecting his wisdom, Kandore takes his advice seriously, though dismisses his more “soft” suggestions. Though they can both sense hostility or unspoken disagreement between themselves, they do work as a team to govern the Half-Heart Clan, and often stick by one another when questioned.

Kandore keeps his father’s skull in his quarters, to “keep himself humble”, but jokes that it doesn’t work. He talks to the skull, but no one knows what he says to it, or if he’s expecting anything to be said back. When criticized for killing his father, Kandore will coldly state Kachare died because he was already unworthy of the title, thus he had to give it up right then, a sentiment shared by most Yautja. But otherwise, people such as Zazin or Lo’bane note he seems subdued, crestfallen, unusually quiet and lacking a sharp tongue when his father or his father’s death is brought up. Despite this, any attempts to weaponize his father’s death against him fails.

When in situations he cannot control, Kandore tends to spiral via uncontrollable humor as a coping mechanism. Humor normally keeps him in charge by keeping others enraged or distracted, making them easier to manipulate and shows his ease and confidence. It shows that he has so much control of the situation/conversation, he can mess around and still stay on top of things.

When in a pleasant mood, he fidgets with his quills, rubbing a single lock between his fingers or twirling it around his pointer finger.

He does not hate the Odd Crests, only appearing so because he can be much more transparent with them. As a social pariah, the Odd Crests are openly treated with ridicule, contempt, and scrutiny, and as such, he can tease them how he likes. The Odd Crests have glaring sore points and insecurities, thus theoretically malleable, though wise to Kandore’s true nature, they often resist. However, he has shown them more mercy than any other clan leader would. Any other leader would have exiled them, or declared the entire family Bad Blood, but Kandore allows them to stay as they are and does not go out of his way to mess with them. As such, while they are privy to his true nature, they cannot afford to call him out or openly voice their disdain for him. He just likes to get a rise out of them whenever he talks to them.

When Halkrath’s sons died, Kandore and Zazin delivered the news to the Odd Crest household, as well as transporting him back home, and ordering further excavation to recover the sons’ bodies and belongings. The incident landed the Half-Hearts in trouble with some of the other clans, as the Half-Heart’s mistake could have cost the lives of Yautja from other clans that were nearby. Kandore and Zazin defended Halkrath, stating that while he will be named legally responsible for the Xenomorph infestation, it was acknowledged as a freak accident and was quickly dealt with by Half-Heart enforcers. Kandore allowed a personal several-decade embargo on using the incident to his advantage, though did not hide his disdain for/disappointment with Halkrath’s recklessness, besmirching his own family and embarrassing the clan once again.

Kandore is off-put by Luar-ke and Lo’bane, specifically Lo’bane, so he asked that whenever the Odd Crests see him, that only M’hsi or Vosandi attend, with Halkrath’s presence a must. It’s just a preference, and a soft suggestion, not an order. The only one better than Kandore at figuring out people’s deals is Lo’bane, who figures it out via observation and eavesdropping, not conversation. Lo’bane has Kandore’s number, and he deliberately avoids him. When once left alone with the 50 year old, Kandore ran out of the room in tears.

When M’hsi approached him and demanded an opportunity to restore her family’s honor, Kandore thought she intended on just restoring her father’s name on his behalf and planned on allowing her to do so. When she corrected him and stated she wanted to absolve the dishonor of every dishonored member of her family, and not just her father, Kandore was taken aback and found the idea completely ridiculous. Jokingly, he suggested, in a bad faith interpretation of her request, that she go on a Hunt for each disgraced member, do better than they had, complete her Blooding ritual, and then her family’s honor debt will be forgiven.

Shocked she actually accepted this challenge, he examined the outcomes of the situation and decided that if she died, then it’s one less Odd Crest to further disgrace the family (and thus his clan) and one less unworthy Hunter. If she was to succeed, then he can welcome back a courageous Hunter he is responsible for creating.

Despite her parents and Zazin’s pleas to reconsider, Kandore refused as M’hsi had already accepted, and she similarly refused to back down. Kandore went to work arranging the trip, hiring craftsmen to fashion M’hsi her custom armor and approving weapons for her to choose from. As is tradition, only those related to M’hsi were allowed to attend, thus Lo’bane was able to attend but kept home as per Kandore’s request (and as his parents decided it might be too upsetting to see her off). A guard was issued to supervise them as they normally do, but specifically to keep an eye on Halkrath.

Acting as if nothing was off, or upsetting, Kandore escorted M’hsi through rooms where he and Zazin assisted in suiting her up in her commissioned armor, watching her try out the preapproved weapons (to which Kandore expressed amusement at her choice), and bringing her before the scout ship. He managed to fit one more jab in by wishing her luck before she boarded the ship.

As clan leader, Kandore stayed on Yautja Prime to govern the clan and remotely observe M’hsi’s Hunts, while Zazin monitors M’hsi in the scout ship on Earth.

[self-winding]

There are two schools of thought about morality.  This sort of overlaps with the “conflict vs. mistake” theories of morality in the SSC post, but I don’t think it’s quite the same.

SPOILERS FOR FROZEN 2 AT THE END OF THIS

One theory is, “Most moral problems are actually pretty easy, most people (or at least those who’ve thought about it to some extent) already know what the right thing to do is, and the reason they don’t do it is because they’re too cowardly or weak-willed or selfish.  Therefore most bad moral decisions can be attributed to character flaws that individuals should be held accountable for.”

The other is, “Most moral problems are actually pretty complicated.  Even people who’ve thought about it a lot often struggle to know what the right or wrong answer to a moral question is, and the reason they don’t always do the right thing is because what it means to do the right thing is genuinely puzzling and often subjective.  We still have to make choices, but we often won’t know in the moment if they’re right or wrong.”

Many people will of course embrace a blend between these two concepts, but lean toward one or the other.  It seems like most rationalists are in camp two (which makes it kind of weird to me that many of them like Jordan Peterson so much, because he seems to be in camp one from what I know about him.  But I digress).

The reason I started thinking about this is because of the movie Frozen 2, which I think is a pretty bad movie.  I thought the first was flawed as well, but it had a good emotional core.

The moral in Frozen 2 (which the characters repeat to an annoying degree), is something like, “when you’re uncertain about what to do, just do the next right thing.”  Which is about the most useless advice I can imagine.  It’s like saying, “when you’re stumped on a difficult math problem, just write the correct answer.”

This advice also leads Anna to taking some actions which I considered pretty dumb, irresponsible, and reckless.  Basically she has a vision which tells her that a big dam is responsible for...some magical barrier keeping some people trapped in a magic forest (idk, it doesn’t make much sense) and that to bring down the barrier and free the trapped people, she needs to destroy the dam.  But this will flood and destroy her own homeland and make all her people into homeless refugees.  Hmm, that’s a dilemma.  What to do?  Just do the next right thing!  Which in her mind is destroying the dam.

There’s really not a lot of thinking on her part, or weighing the pros and cons, and no searching for other, better solutions, even though there’s no time limit on this (the people in the forest have been trapped there for a very long time and they seem more or less okay, just bored).  Her actions are just presented as the obvious right thing to do, for...reasons, I guess.  Even though they would cause untold chaos and destruction.

I would have been bothered less by this if her actions were presented as the result of grieving (since Elsa “died” recently) or her own impulsive nature.  But this isn’t presented as a flaw on her part, everyone just kind of agrees with her that this is the obviously correct thing to do.  For reasons.

Of course, her homeland isn’t actually destroyed, Elsa swoops in at the last moment and saves everyone with ice magic and everything is okay.  But Anna was fully prepared to destroy an entire country because the inscrutable Magic 8-ball in her brain told her that this was just the correct answer to a difficult moral problem, and the movie implied that this should just be obvious.  For reasons.

I think this is a terrible message.

[voidendron]

V’ehsz Legacy (Part 1)

I’ve started getting a lot of characters to keep track of, and I want something for them with really brief info instead of full bios (plus. the last one of these I made was messy and a pain to read through). This’ll help me keep track of everything and off a look at what my OCs are like!

Starting off with my main eight who follow their class storylines

Terrin - Synnda - Qizulth - Liolana - Azan - Jen - Azuma - Varrich

Part 2

(only Terrin, Synnda, Qizulth, and Varrich’s outfits shown above are finalized - other four are not and I’ll try to update this when they are) 

For more in-depth information, there’s a link to my SWTOR characters in my bio. Going there will lead to a list, and the list contains links to their Toyhouse files (if they exist yet), and I’m slowly working on putting the detailed info there

This is subject to (likely minor) changes

Ar’eonis’terrinxx (“Terrin”) - She/her - Chiss - Bounty Hunter (Power Tech) & Outlander Random Pointless Fact: She has a headband that Blizz made her to help keep her hair out of her face when she has a helmet on. She always wears it if planning to wear her helmet, but sometimes she’ll wear it in her regular day-to-day to change things up a little. It’s very dear to her and she keeps it stored safely in a drawer when not wearing it.

Reckless, likes a challenge, temper laying at the end of a short fuse, and anyone who’s worked with or for her quickly discovers she isn’t one to sit still for long. She takes great pride in being Mandalorian, but her tendency to take challenges she probably shouldn’t makes her a handful and easily gets her into trouble. When sent on a mission with her, it’s wise to bring a fire extinguisher; she likes to set things ablaze. She’s the type who if told to use her head, would actually headbutt the thing before thinking of a better solution.

Rough around the edges and quick to speak her mind or blast a hole in something, she’s surprised people with how caring she can actually be. Family is extremely important to her, and when the galaxy comes under threat credits become the last thing on her mind. Terrifying Force shit she doesn’t understand threatens an entire planet or the whole damn galaxy? She’ll step between it and the innocent without second thought.

When Marr reached out from Wild Space, Terrin wasn’t the only one he contacted (Varrich and Azan were even en route!), but she was the only one to arrive in time to try and aid him when the Eternal Empire attacked his fleet--much to her frustration, that also meant she was the one to get Valkorian in her head. Upon becoming Alliance Commander, she made the difficult decision to leave behind bounty hunting for good so she could focus on what was really important, and has matured because of it.

...That doesn’t change the fact she’s still Mandalorian, though, and Lana has her work cut out keeping Terrin from trying to fight everything.

Synnda V’ehsz - He/him - Zabrak - Jedi Consular (Shadow) Random Pointless Fact: Broke two horns as a Padawan. His lightsaber had been knocked out of his hand and he was more or less pinned, so he tried to headbutt his opponent... Who was... Wearing armor... It wasn’t his brightest moment.

Always calm, keeping a level head regardless of the situation, able to diffuse even the tensest situations and often finding allies in unexpected places, Synnda could be considered the ideal Jedi and those who know him aren’t surprised he was named Barsen’thor. His seeming emotionless and flat voice can easily make him seem cold or distant or disinterested, however, and he has a hard time really connecting with people as a friend rather than a simple acquaintance. Upon being offered a Council position, he was hesitant to take it, though did accept.

He has great interest in other cultures and--especially--other languages and is always trying to learn what he can of them. So, while his tone may put someone off, his commonplace willingness to speak their language instead of Basic, and that he’ll show respect as is custom of their culture rather than of the Jedi, shows the type of person he really is when his voice has a hard time conveying it. He tries not to form too strong of attachments to others, even if those others happen to be friends, but has definitely become attached to his crew.

When Marr reached out from Wild Space, Synnda had been busy with the rebuilding efforts on Corellia and missed the call until it was already too late. When the Eternal Empire attacked, he helped a few small groups escape to Ossus before attacking the fleet himself. He ended up captured, and was kept in a prison on Zakuul, but broke out during the blackout caused by Terrin’s escape and later joined up with the Alliance.

Qizulth Verryn/Darth Nox - He/him - Twi’lek - Sith Inquisitor (Sorcerer) Random Pointless Fact: He and Talos will totally geek out over ancient temples together. He’d have a hard time admitting it aloud, but Talos is easily his closest/most trusted friend and Key is much more open with him than anyone else.

Impulsive, sarcastic and cocky, yet also always trying to prove himself and his abilities. He doesn’t let it show, but thanks to Harkun and growing up a slave, he feels the need to prove to others that he’s worth something and easily becomes frustrated with himself when he can’t. He has a habit of trying to be better than others, as well, so he makes a lot of enemies and isn’t exactly the best at making allies unless he does it through manipulation.

Before being taken to Korriban to become an acolyte, he’d always dreamed of the stars and exploring unknown places, enjoyed learning anything he could in what little free time he had. As Sith, he found excitement in ancient tombs and texts and artifacts, took great interest in learning about peoples and cultures from long before his time. It made him fitting to head the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge upon his defeat of Thanaton--and also brought him to have his strange little crew he actually cares a lot for but shh. He’s scared to admit it.

When Marr reached out, Key had been exploring a tomb on Hoth, so the message never came through due to atmospheric interference. Upon the Eternal Empire’s attack, he sneaked off to Belsavis without telling anyone, hoping to confide in Ashaa or find something that could help against Arcann’s empire. His wandering led him to accidentally trap himself in one of the many prison chambers deep within the planet, suspended in the air by a force field and more or less frozen in time. It’s not until years later that others find and free him after finding clues of his whereabouts, and he joins the Alliance.

Liolana “Leo” Vetiko - She/her - Cathar - Jedi Knight (Guardian) Random Pointless Fact: Most people don’t know it, but she’s actually pretty good with repairing machines and is even a decent slicer. If an actual mechanic isn’t available, she’s a good replacement.

While she does try to fit the card of the ideal Jedi, her emotions and attachments can get the better of her to make her impulsive - so much so that she risked the entire mission of confronting Vitiate to save Rusk when he’d ended up in trouble. She works hard to feel like she’s worthy of her position of Master, and has a bad habit of comparing her failures to the successes of others, so has been known to push herself too hard to the point she’s fallen ill for it on more than one occasion.

She’s still young and, while honored, didn’t feel like she was even remotely ready to be named Battlemaster and was nervous about it. While she didn’t outright say, she did wish Satele and the Council had reconsidered their choice. However, it didn’t take long for her to love the position, and she took pride in watching the lightsaber skills of those she trained grow with her lessons. 

When it came to Ziost, she ended up as one of Theron’s contacts and met with his other three (Havoc, Jen, and Synnda) planetside where they eventually paired up to work with Lana’s contacts. She ended up badly injured by a possessed Sixth Line Jedi, but in the end that’s what saved her life. Because of the severity of her injuries, she was taken off-world to be tended to, so ended up surviving the devastation Vitiate caused. She was still recovering when the Eternal Empire attacked, so had no choice but to follow others fleeing to Ossus, where she stayed until Jedi Under Siege. 

Azan Tarnak/Lord Wrath - She/her - Sith Pureblood - Sith Warrior (Juggernaut) Random Pointless Fact: She’s not exactly graceful in a duel. She’s large and incredibly strong, so tends to lean with brute force rather than acrobatics in a fight. She’s even been known to swing her lightsaber more like it’s a club than an elegant weapon. Her fights aren’t pretty and many an opponent have lost limbs to her.

A follower of the light, Azan has learned to be cunning and manipulative just to survive among other Sith. She’s incredibly good at lying and finding ways to cover up things she’s done that would otherwise seem very not-Sith-like. From claiming pragmatism, to simply turning around and threatening someone not to question her choices, rarely using the Force in the presence of others and able to prove she doesn’t have to rely on it to be formidable, or simply covering up her actions altogether, she’s gotten good at wearing her mask.

She wasn’t exactly thrilled to get her apprenticeship to Baras. He irritated her and she had a bad feeling about him from the start--she sassed and disobeyed him every chance she got. Even on the instances he grew tired of her attitude and threatened her, she was one to just cross her arms and wait for him to get to the point. To say she was surprised by his betrayal would be a lie, and she quite enjoyed finally kicking his ass. Becoming Wrath was a different matter, though. She wasn’t pleased and thought she was about the worst possible choice for the position--though having even (most of) the Dark Council itself scared of her was certainly interesting and made things easier for her when she’d no longer be questioned about her actions due to that fear.

When Marr reached out from Wild Space, Azan had been at Ziost. She was on the surface after the destruction, protecting teams from Monoliths while they tried to study what happened. She and Havoc Squad met on Ziost’s space station and opted for a temporary truce to go out to Marr’s location together. By the time they reached the coordinates, the Eternal Fleet had already come and gone, and all that was left was the remains of the fleet and a few escape pods that they rounded up. Azan ended up going into hiding once the Eternal Empire attacked so she could try and figure out what to do about it. She was separated from her team, but met up with an old ally--Master Timmns--and the two worked to survive together until the formation of the Alliance, which they were quick to join.

Jendrush “Jen” Sept - He/him - Cathar - Smuggler (Gunslinger) Random Pointless Fact: Want to lure him into a trap? Don’t bother with anything elaborate. Simple and easy are just fine, and he’s sure to walk right into it without thinking. It’s a wonder how he’s still alive.

Overconfident, aloof, a huge flirt, and boiling over with enough sarcasm he could share, Jen isn’t exactly “friend” material. He has a hard time connecting with people unless he’s flirting, and has an easier time making enemies than allies. He used to run smuggling jobs solely for the money. He didn’t care what the job was or if it harmed anyone, as long as he got paid in the end. Fortunately, he did start to make better decisions after he had to work with others to get his stolen ship back.

It wasn’t until he was hired by the Republic that he really started to change for the better, however. He found that he actually liked helping people and became easier to be around, though still wasn’t the most friendly if you weren’t part of his crew, and even then he could be testy at times. It wasn’t until he hired K’hedif (so his two kids wouldn’t be in the streets; he didn’t trust K’hedif himself at first) that Jen finally started to soften up. Jeva was too little and too much of a sweetheart to be rude to, while Jessi would snap at him to quit being an ass and kinda gave him the reality check he so badly needed. And...yeah, he might have eventually fallen for K’hedif once his heart was good an tenderized after knowing them quite a while. He and his kids were the best things that ever happened to Jen.

Jen wasn’t contacted by Marr, and had instead been running a job when the Eternal Empire struck. He took his crew and his ship and went underground (possibly literally) until he could find a way around the Coruscant blockade. Once he did, his priority became running supplies to worlds that needed it until Hylo Visz got in contact needing smugglers for the newly-formed Alliance.

“Azuma”/Cipher Nine - She/her - Zabrak - Imperial Agent (Operative) Random Pointless Fact: The jewelry attached to her horns are extremely durable. She can (and has) removed them to use to choke someone from behind, and they can also undo/short out handcuffs and shock collars. Just assume that if she looks like she’s wearing something just for looks, it’s there for a reason.

Doggedly loyal to the Empire and severely lacking any form of moral compass, “Azuma” does whatever it takes for the Empire to come out on top. She’s intelligent, cunning, manipulative, and a quick thinker - able to smoothly run with a last-minute plan or come up with one herself on-the-spot, she can prove effective in any situation. She took the “you no longer have a name” very seriously, and went on to only go by whatever her latest disguise was for what her team should call her (with Azuma Kathrak being her current one). Her original name has been purged from all records and no one speaks of it - not even her own husband knows what it was.

While not good in an actual fight, she has a stealth generator and is armed with a multitude of poisons that she can use to do her dirty work for her. From dusts that her target can inhale, to setting off poisonous clouds that affect only certain species, to a toxin hidden in her earrings she can pour into a drink, her collection could make any chemist or assassin jealous. When she joined Intelligence, she very quickly learned it was no place for a moral code and left hers far behind in her old life. Now, she becomes whoever she has to be to get the job done.

Marr didn’t have the time to track down Azuma when he was in Wild Space, as she’d gone under the radar again after Ziost to conduct her own search for the Emperor. As such, she didn’t hear about what was happening until it was far too late. From then on, she parted ways with her companions and went into deep cover on Zakuul to figure out what was going on and strike at Arcann’s empire from within. She joined the Alliance when she was discovered by it for mutual gain: She’d help it by providing information, and it would help the Sith Empire in return.

Varrich Tophrik - He/him - Mirialan - Republic Trooper (Vanguard) Random Pointless Fact: He always wears the same style of helmet, even in different colors to match different armor. It’s become a running joke that he must have a hoard of lookalikes hidden somewhere like they’re some grand treasure. He is not amused by said joke. Because it’s probably true.

Steadfast, loyal, and unflinching in the face of danger, Varrich tries to be the perfect soldier. A teenage resistance fighter on Balmorra who later joined the Academy in the hopes he could better help his planet that way, he never expected to graduate top of his class, nor to be recruited to Havoc because of it. Already having trust issues, his original team’s betrayal only ingrained distrust deeper into him. He doesn’t let himself get close to anyone, trusting only his team and the sister he so rarely gets to see. 

Trained in a multitude of weapons and fighting styles, he’s like a living arsenal. Missiles, blasters, grenades, knives, even a generator that lets him give his opponent a shock, he’s armed to the teeth and it’s not just for show. While he does have a strong moral code, he also knows that he can’t always follow it if he needs to get a job done and is willing to do some pretty messed up things in the name of the Republic. It can make him seem callous, and the fact he remains professional and even-toned even as bodies lay at his feet even more so.

When Marr called from Wild Space, Varrich and his team were on Ziost looking for signs of Vitiate. They dropped everything at the call, and when they’d head up to the orbital station, they encountered the Wrath who’d also gotten the call. Deciding it would be in their best interest, Varrich reluctantly agreed to head to his coordinates with her. They arrived too late, however, and Havoc eventually went to Zakuul’s surface to try and fight its empire. They were in over their heads, and Varrich was separated from the rest of his team in an explosion - he was captured by a black market group working out of Breaktown and used as a test subject for cybernetics they planned to sell in the streets. He was there about five years, but was able to escape thanks to Terrin having caused a blackout.

[aion-rsa]

Star Trek Discovery Season 4: What to Expect

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Yes, we’re already looking forward to Star Trek: Discovery Season 4. Season 3 saw the show go where no Star Trek has gone before – literally. Flung almost a thousand years into the future after saving all sentient life as we know it, Michael Burnham and her crewmates had to navigate a new and alien reality that bore little resemblance to the one they left behind.

Yet, the decision to send Discovery to the future is possibly the best decision the series has ever made, giving the show a much-needed narrative reset that cut ties to things like Klingon wars and The Original Series legacy characters and sends it off to blaze its own path, unencumbered by the strings of existing canon. But now that Discovery is firmly established in the 32nd century, what can we expect from Star Trek: Discovery‘s upcoming Season 4? We have a few educated guesses…

Michael Burnham Finds Her Feet as Captain

Despite her colorful history as an officer – replete with mutiny, insubordination, and general recklessness – it’s been obvious for a long time that Michael Burnham was destined for the Discovery captain’s chair. The only question was a matter of when. But now that she’s there – what kind of captain will she be?

She could very easily turn out to be one of the Starfleet greats. Despite her flaws, Michael has proven time again that she is smart, capable, and brave. A risk-taker who always comes through in the clutch, she has saved her crew more times than most of us can count and she is a shining example of someone who absolutely believes in the mission of the Federation and the good it can do.

But she’s also often rash and impulsive, and just a few short episodes ago wasn’t even all that certain that she belonged in Starfleet anymore. Granted, many successful male Starfleet captains (cough cough James Kirk cough) are remembered as great precisely because they weren’t huge fans of following the rules, either, so there’s certainly precedent that generally refusing to play things safe is a workable leadership strategy.

Yet, Michael has always found her greatest success as a character when she has an authority figure or structure that is set in opposition to her, so it will be interesting to see how she evolves now that she is the authority she once pushed back against.

What’s Next for Saru?

At the conclusion of “That Hope Is You, Part 2,” Saru took a leave of absence from the Starfleet to go with the young Kelpian refugee Su’Kal back to their home planet of Kaminar. What’s next for him is unclear, but there’s no way Discovery’s planning on writing off this character completely – or losing the talents of actor Doug Jones.

So what’s next for Saru? If he does return to the Discovery, what role can he fulfill now that he’s no longer captain? Does his future lie in the Federation hierarchy somehow, possibly working for Admiral Vance or serving as some sort of ambassador to his people?

A third option could involve Saru taking on an entirely different kind of mission, one that looks a lot like fatherhood of a sort. Ever since his arrival in the 32nd century, Saru has longed to reconnect with his people. Perhaps showing young Su’Kal the stars he’s missed out on all his life is something that might allow him to do just that on a smaller, more intimate scale. (And indulge his dorky dad vibes at the same time.)

Gray Will Return Somehow

During Adira’s trip to the dilithium planet to ferry medicine to Saru and Culber, we learned that the holodeck program on the abandoned Kelpian ship could extrapolate Gray’s consciousness and give him a holographic form. This allowed him to be seen by the other Discovery crew members present, which means that the technology clearly exists which can bring Gray back to life again. Sort of, anyway.

 Because, of course, Gray is technically dead and his consciousness only exists as part of the Tal symbiont inside of Adira, which raises many questions this subplot will eventually have to answer, including how much agency and sentience post-Burn holograms even have to begin with. (Eli the Federation lie detector hologram certainly seems independent enough.)

Culber has promised both Adira and Gray that he will find a way for him to be seen again. But what that will ultimately look like, we don’t yet know. There is precedent for the idea that one part of a Trill’s symbiont memories can live outside it, but does that mean Gray will become a hologram himself permanently? Or can his consciousness be housed in something that has a more physical form?

What’s Book’s Actual Job Now Anyway?

Now that Cleveland Book – and we’re still waiting for the story behind that name, btw – is officially a part of the Discovery crew, it’s time for the series to define his role in this universe beyond his relationship with Michael. Is he technically part of Starfleet now? Is he an officer on Discovery? Does Grudge get a tiny decorated insignia collar? (Please say yes!)

Much of Book’s role in Season 3 was to support Michael in one way or another, whether that meant to literally help introduce her to the new rules of the 32nd century or to provide emotional and tactical help when needed. And don’t get me wrong, Book and Michael have somehow managed to form one of the most functional, normal relationships in Star Trek history. They’re honestly great together. But David Ajala is a tremendously appealing actor and if he’s going to stick around – which I think we’re all in agreement he should – Book needs a meaningful story of his own.

Tilly’s Promotion

Following Michael’s promotion to the Captain’s chair, it certainly looks like Tilly is getting some sort of command-level promotion in Season 4.

Technically she was still an Ensign when serving as Saru’s Acting First Officer, and while she conducted herself admirably during, well, everything, if she’s going to be Michael’s legitimate First Officer – which that last scene would definitely seem to indicate – she deserves to at least become a lieutenant.

Stamets and Michael Will Have to Work Out Their Issues

One of the lingering unresolved plotlines from Season 3 is the massive rift that formed between Paul Stamets and Michael following her decision to physically jettison him from Discovery while it was under Osyraa’s control. To be fair, her choice was completely the correct one, as he was the only one capable of operating the spore drive, and removing him from the equation meant that the Emerald Chain couldn’t just jump back to the Verubin Nebula and all its dilithium.

But, Stamets basically took that decision to mean that Michael was fine with condemning his family to horrific radiation deaths, and that’s going to be a hard thing for him to get over. If you notice, he’s the only person who doesn’t exactly look thrilled at Captain Burnham’s promotion, and we don’t see the two interact again once the ship is reclaimed.

There’s also the question of the spore drive itself. Stamets has tied his own identity – and his worth as part of the Discovery team – pretty tightly to his ability to communicate with the Mycelial network. Now that Book can do the same thing, how will this change things for him?

We’ll Probably See More Episodic Storytelling

Solving the mystery of The Burn and battling the villainous Emerald Chain were both season-long arcs that helped establish Discovery’s place in the future, and allowed Discovery the show to set up the new rules and players of its universe. But now that both those tasks have been accomplished, don’t be surprised if we see a shift toward more episodic storytelling in Season 4.

After all, with a fresh new supply of dilithium to distribute and the entire future to explore, isn’t it time we spent some time seeing what the 32nd century looks like? Some of the most entertaining moments of this season came when Michael and the rest of the Discovery crew found themselves on new planets or adjusting to changed cultures (including their own). Since Discovery purposefully removed itself from all known Star Trek canon, isn’t it time the show got about really establishing some new ones? The revelation that Vulcan and Romulan reunification has indeed happened feels like it should be just the beginning of the surprises this universe has in store for us. What has happened to other species such as Klingons or the Borg? Wouldn’t it be fun to find out?

The Grudge Content We Deserve

One of the few things Discovery fans of all stripes can agree on: Grudge is amazing. And we deserve to see more of her. Whether that means all our initial speculation turns out to be true and she’s actually the secret god of a planet full of telepathic felines we’ve yet to visit or just that she gets her own bridge-safe cat basket so she can hang out with Book and Michael next season, just give the people what they want.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Can we at least find out how she and Book ended up together? Throw me a bone – or I guess a cat treat – here, show. (Truly, if we don’t at least get a Short Treks episode about Grudge what are we even doing here?)

The post Star Trek Discovery Season 4: What to Expect appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3ihsmn5

[homeforchristmas-au]

Character bios/descriptions

Here’s some descriptions of the sides in this au cos i wanna talk about them like all day lol

Patton Sanders (formerly Shepard):

Age: 29

Pronouns: he/him

Height: 5’6”

Straight chestnut brown hair, chocolate brown eyes, hint of a tan but nothing too extreme, rectangular glasses with black frames, usually wears clothes that are comfortable (especially oversized jumpers), loves wearing beanies (often steals Logan’s, who hesitantly allows it) (mostly cos he’s really freaking cute in them)

Really good with kids (ofc) and is such a people person, but can get shy around older people (specifically men old enough to be his dad)

Very good at reading emotions and knowing what people need, whether it’s a hug or alone time

Has asthma, but it’s not nearly as bad as it used to be

Is an only child to a mother and father, but ended up running away cos his dad became really overly aggressive

His uncle on his mothers side is Emile, who is married to Thomas, and they both took Patton in once it became clear that emiles sister and her husband were unfit parents (although Patton’s mom was much better with Patton and actually helped him run away) which was when he had his last name changed to Sanders

He met Logan when he ran away and they both went to emile and Thomas’s house together (I actually wrote the story of how they met for 25 Days of Ficmas on my main blog uwu)

They started out as friends for a long time until Patton found himself falling for Logan, who revealed that he had been crushing on Patton for quite some time

Their relationship started out rocky as neither of them knew exactly how to date (theyd dated other people before, they were just remarkably bad at it) but they made it through in the end

Logan Sanders (formerly Adams):

Age: 28

Pronouns: he/him

Height: 5’11”

Curly, light brown hair, amber eyes, moderately fair skinned, a lot of freckles on his face and arms, round glasses with silver frames, dresses much differently depending on if he’s home or in public - at home he’ll wear T-shirts and casual lounge pants and beanies and stuff, but in public typically sticks with a polo shirt and jeans, sometimes with a necktie depending on the setting

Has a tendency to put up a cold exterior around strangers or when in a public setting, but around loved ones he’s much more relaxed and casual, but still usually struggles to express his feelings.

He’s an amazing father, although sometimes he doubts this despite how much his kids absolutely adore him (he also has a tendency to doubt his own intelligence, even though he’s incredibly smart)

Is autistic, on the high functioning end of the spectrum, and has worked with professionals for basically his whole life to work on reading social cues and such, which he’s much better at now

Has three younger sisters - from oldest to youngest, Ellen, Renae, and Ashley. Logan being the oldest sibling, he’s always felt quite protective of his sisters. Can and will physically fight the whole planet for them

Their father died when Logan was 16. He was completely distraught over this and ran away from home. It was the most reckless, impulsive thing he’d ever done, but he doesn’t regret it for a single second, because that was how he met the love of his life

He did end up going back home to his family, because he knew they needed him

Virgil Sanders:

Age: 4 (birthday December 19)

Pronouns: he/him

Height: idk however tall four year olds are

Floppy black hair, gunmetal blue eyes, about as pale as a vampire, always wearing something purple (most notably the light purple polo shirt Logan couldn’t resist getting him, as well as his dark purple jumper that’s a size too big)

He’s fairly shy, though Patton and Logan tend to avoid calling him as such (they typically say introverted), but once he warms up to new people he’s a delight (it took him quite some time to fully trust Janus, but even from day one it was clear they connected on some level). He adores insects and arachnids, and much to Patton’s dismay, his favourite is spiders. He wants to be an entomologist when he grows up, but he can never remember the word for it, so he says “bug scientist”

Is suspected to be autistic but has yet to be tested for it

He was adopted by Patton and Logan when he was an infant. His mother was sixteen years old and had to give the baby up, due to her parents insistence, plus she knew she was unfit anyway, and it didn’t help that the father completely abandoned her. Patton and Logan matched with her in the adoption process when she was three months pregnant and it was quite the journey from start to finish

Roman & Remus Sanders:

Age: 8 (birthday June 14)

Pronouns: both he/him

Height: uh average

Both fairly tanned having spent over half their childhood in the sunlight, Roman has short dark mahogany brown hair and forest green eyes, Remus has longer, curly dark mahogany brown hair with jade green eyes, they both have dark freckles, Roman’s mostly on his cheeks while Remus’s are basically all over his body, and Remus has a gap in his extremely crooked teeth as well as green braces. Roman has all manner of Disney apparel, but he especially loves wearing his white Mickey Mouse shirt with the long red sleeves, and he’s also unafraid to wear traditionally “feminine” clothes like dresses and skirts. Remus... prefers not wearing clothes at all honestly but Logan and Patton insist on it, so he tries to wear as few clothes as possible, usually his neon green tank top and dark brown cargo shorts

They’re very different from each other but they do have similarities and can work well together. They pretty much never admit it but they do love each other despite their differences and near constant bickering.

They’re both dramatic, but in somewhat different ways. Roman is dramatic in that way that’s like “I’m literally tinkerbell because you have to give me attention or I’ll die”, while Remus is more like “this little tiny thing inconvenienced me so I’m gonna overreact and formulate murder plans against whoever/whatever dare make my life unbearably difficult”. They’re also both very creative, but of course they have different views on creativity (I doubt I need to get into specifics). They also both love Disney, but roman is more into classic Disney while Remus prefers Pixar

They both seem to exhibit traits of ADHD but haven’t been tested for it yet

They were around three years old when their mom and dad both died in a car accident. It was two years after that that Patton and Logan decided to adopt them both, despite only planning on adopting one child. Virgil was a year old at this time, and they wanted an older kid, and they ended up with two. And really that was fine by them, they just knew that this was it; no more kids, at least for a little while

Janus REDACTED

Age: 15 (birthday February 3)

Pronouns: he/him/they/them

Height: 5’7”

Medium length light golden brown hair, two different coloured eyes (right - cognac, left - chartreuse), fair skinned with a red birthmark taking up most of the left side of his face, missing right leg where he had to get an above-the-knee amputation, which causes him to need forearm crutches, he usually wears clothes that cover as much of his body as possible, and he oftentimes - if not constantly - wears foundation and concealer to hide his birthmark, although Patton and Logan insist it’s not necessary

He tends to avoid people when possible, since he’s developed quite the trust issues over the years. Going from foster home to foster home has made it difficult to allow himself to get close with anyone. In spite of this, he always seems to find himself bonding with the kids in his foster families. Especially the Sanders family when they first took him in (their original plan was to simply foster him... that plan fell through as they very quickly decided they wanted him to be part of their family)

Overall they’re a sarcastic cynic with a knack for storytelling, and while they seem cold and reserved on the outside, completely uncaring about the world around them, really deep down they just want to feel loved by someone, they want to feel accepted and like they’re really part of a family, like they’re actually wanted

They developed a bit of trauma from their birth family situation but a lot of it has been worked out, although they still have issues to work through even after all this time

They were ten when their dad got blackout drunk, forced them and their mom into the car, and started driving. Janus still has no idea where he was trying to go, but they never made it. They got into a monumental car accident, and Janus was lucky they made it out alive, although it costed them their leg. Their mother died unfortunately and their father was on life support last they heard. They never found out if he woke up or if he was taken off of it, so they have no idea if their dad is dead or alive. They tell themself they don’t care, they don’t wanna know either way, but they do. They feel like they shouldn’t, since their dad hurt them and got their mom killed, but they did have fond memories of their dad, which made the entire situation that much worse

So yeah on the happiest of notes there’s the main fam-ILY!!! :,)

I might continue this post with descriptions of the entire extended family, who knows!!!! :D (let me know if I missed anything in the tags btw, although I reached the limit so oof if I did)

[wildwcmen]

PINTEREST + PLAYLIST!

Basic Information

Full Name: Cassiopeia Byeol Lee

Nickname(s): Cass

Age: 21-29

Date of Birth: September 30

Hometown: San Francisco, CA

Ethnicity: Korean

Nationality: American

Gender: Cis Woman

Pronouns: She/Her

Religion: Polytheism

Occupation: Artist, student, art teacher, youtuber/streamer (verse dependent)

Language(s) Spoken: English, Korean and some Spanish

Accent: She basically has a valley girl accent

Physical Appearance

Face Claim: Jennie Kim

Hair Colour: Black, dark brown

Eye Colour: Dark brown

Height: 5′2

Weight: 110-120 lbs

Build: Petite, weight fluctuates somewhat significantly depending on her mental health, usually carries more weight in her thighs and hips.

Tattoos: Cassiopeia constellation tattoo on her shoulder, moon phases down her spine, hands from creation of adam on her underboob, libra tattoo above her right elbow, this on her left arm, this on her tummy, sailor moon tattoo on her left ankle, the word ‘heaven’ in small font tattooed on her left inner thigh, in her own handwriting.

Piercings: Ears

Clothing Style: Rotates between casual attire (oversized t-shirts, shorts, etc.) and club attire (with a lot of glitter). 

Usual Expression: Distracted, confused, smiling, stoned.

Distinguishing Characteristics: Chubby cheeks, pouty lips.

Health

Conditions: C-PTSD, bipolar disorder

Sleeping Habits: She sleeps as late as possible, and usually wakes up very early. Often doesn’t need much sleep at all, other times she’ll sleep all day. Tries to avoid sleep sometimes. Frequent C-PTSD induced night terrors.

Eating Habits: Her diet is the combination of an unhealthy college student and a hippie grandma. She loves fresh fruit (especially mango and pineapple), but she also eats a lot of Taco Bell and McDonalds. She can’t really cook all that well, so she relies heavily on takeout and fast food.

Exercise Habits: She does yoga on the daily and tries to avoid any other forms of exercise.

Emotional Stability: 3/10

Sociability: She prefers being social and hates being alone. During depressive episodes, she will self isolate without meaning/wanting to.

Drug Use: Yes. Marijuana, shrooms, lsd, mdma, sometimes cocaine.

Alcohol Use: Yes.

Personality

Label: The Fallen Star

Positive Traits: affectionate, creative, friendly, funny, philosophical, caring

Negative Traits: emotional, sensitive, clingy, changeable, fickle, flirtatious, obsessive

Fears: Dying young (and alone), losing the people she cares about, never finding love

Hobbies: Painting, cosplay, yoga, meditation, pottery, smoking weed, collecting bongs & pipes, sex (she considers this a hobby).

Habits: Rubbing her temples (when stressed), bouncing/wiggling, leg jiggling, apologizing, doodling, flipping/playing with her hair.

Favourites

Weather: Hot, humid, summer weather.

Colour: Lilac

Music: Chill, vibing pop music and hip hop. Mitski, Jay Som, J. Cole, Maude Latour, Childish Gambino.

Movies: Weird indie movies, sci-fi & stoner comedies. Fifth Element, Star Wars, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Kevin Smith.

Sport: None, unless she’s watching a hot guy play.

Beverage: non-alcoholic is pineapple juice, alcoholic is AMF.

Food: Crunchwrap Supreme

Animal: Frogs

Family

Father: Sirius Lee (he has a different birth name, he literally changed his name because he’s a star nerd)

Mother: Aimee Lee

Sibling(s): Jeffrey Lee, Leon Lee, Jade Lee.

Children: Oliver Gray (adopted, only in her supernatural verse)

Pet(s): Orion (french bulldog, 10 years old)

Family’s Financial Status: Upper middle class

Extra

Zodiac Sign: Libra sun, Aries moon, Pisces rising

MBTI: ENFJ

Enneagram: The Romantic

Temperament: Sanguine

Hogwarts House: Self identified Hufflepuff, actually a Gryffindor

Moral Alignment: Chaotic Good

Primary Vice: Lust

Primary Virtue: Kindness

Element: Water

Flaws

moody | short-tempered | emotionally unstable | whiny | controlling | conceited | possessive | paranoid | lies | impatient | cowardly | bitter | selfish | power-hungry | greedy | lazy | judgmental | forgetful | impulsive | spiteful | stubborn | sadistic | petty | unlucky | absent-minded | abusive | addict | aggressive | childish | callous | clingy | delusional | cocky | competitive | corrupt | cynical | cruel | depressed | deranged | egotistical | envious | insecure | insensitive | lustful | delinquent | guilt complex | reclusive | reckless | nervous | oversensitive | avoidant | restless.

Strengths

honest | trustworthy | thoughtful | caring | brave | patient | selfless | ambitious | tolerant | lucky | intelligent | confident | focused | humble | generous | merciful | observant | wise | clever | charming | cheerful | optimistic | decisive | adaptive | calm | protective | proud | diligent | considerate | compassionate | good sportsmanship | friendly | empathetic | passionate | reliable | resourceful | sensible | sincere | witty | funny.

Skills & Hobbies

art | acting | astronomy | animals | archery | sports | beach combing | ballet | bird watching | blacksmithing | boating | calligraphy | camping | candle making | casino gambling | ceramics | racing | chess | music | cooking | crochet | weaving | exercise | swordplay | fishing | gardening | ghost hunting | ice skating | magic | engineering | building | inventing | leather-working | martial arts | meditation | origami | parkour | people watching | swimming | puppetry | pyrotechnics | quilting | reading | collecting | shopping | socializing | storytelling | writing | traveling.

Personality quirks & information for me to keep track of...

Cass is dramatic as a default, but that’s not how she reacts when she’s truly hurt. When she’s actually upset she’s more inclined to shut down emotionally, to completely detach herself. Don’t “worry” about her if she’s throwing a fit, worry about her when she stops talking entirely. If she’s still passionately active in a relationship/connection in a way that involves her usual dramatics, she’s still in it. If she shuts down and gives up, she’s already over it. In short, her dramatics can be annoying, but it’s a sign that she still cares and wants to work things out. If she didn’t, she would be long gone.

[makorays]

A List of Short Bios for a Bunch of OCs so People Actually Know What I’m Talking About Whenever I Mention Them on Streams or Whatever

These are all from the Savage Worlds tabletop campaign known as The Initiative that my friends and I play. It is a modern day sci-fi story involving aliens and cosmic horror cults. The basic premise is that some very important Scellor tech was stolen and found its way to Earth, and the Scellor government contacted Earth’s government to warn them they will have to wipe out their planet if the tech isn’t recovered in time. Thus an initiative was formed consisting of renowned Earth military figures as well as Scellor volunteers to try and locate it.

The Scellor are a race of aliens originally created by a man by the name of Jukashi for tgchan. Joe discovered them and decided to write a tabletop story in that universe. He may have taken a couple artistic liberties here and there for the sake of better fitting things into his own story. Scellor are green psychic aliens with a whole bunch of neat traits I won’t go into but you can read about them here if you want: https://questden.org/wiki/Scellor

Onto the actual bios:

Sofie Edelstein

The commander of The Initiative. Over a century ago, her father revealed to her and her two sisters (Teri and Tara) that he was the head of an “angel”-worshipping cult known as Erleuchten. When Teri and Tara showed hesitance in joining it, her father killed them. Sofie joined, but plotted to sabotage the cult from the inside. Some time later she became a preserved brain, got digitized, and obtained a robotic body. Now she’s a 6′ tall 400 pound robot with advanced combat capabilities. She created a series of androids with artificial intelligence based after her late sister Tara, but none have gained sentience. Was the leader of Poland’s military as a day job. She was working for The Initiative from the inside as an Erleuchten leader, but got found out and now lives with us. She’s done a hell of a lot of sleeping around through all her years, but eventually decided to get into a long-term relationship when she met Stan.

Minyaxl

My OC. Minyaxl is a Scellor combat medic with renowned psionic healing abilities who decided to volunteer and help out the humans, partially out of kindness and partially to have a chance to demonstrate his abilities to a less advanced race. He started out as this 5′0″ little bitch who was super full of himself but his confidence has been beaten into the dirt on numerous occasions; most notably when he realized that humans, unlike Scellor, do not reincarnate after death, meaning he’s been sentencing people to oblivion during every combat mission. He’s since become desperately obsessed with saving as many lives of sentient, non-reincarnating beings like humans as possible, even if it means jeopardizing operations. He routinely finds himself at odds with his squadmates, particularly Valerie, due to their perceived lack of interest in non-lethal solutions to problems. He is the closest Scellor can get to typical human romance with Thael.

Katherine Dawson

Cey’s OC. Katie is a combat medic who was taken as a POW by a terrorist group and later forcibly enlisted into The Initiative for her abilities. She’s sort of the mom of the group. Everyone else in arbiter squad has some form of extra-ness to them and she’s the straight-woman who holds them together. She has a knack for bossing around idiots due to her upbringing with rambunctious siblings in a Japanese-American household. Dual wields pistols and does not take shit from people. Is girlfriends with Teri.

Johannes B. Otto

Kyle’s OC. It's sometimes easy to mistake Johannes for a confused German tourist. During quiet hours, he spends his time complaining about No Smoking signs and combining multiple quarter-pound patties into single full-pound burgers. But get in his way and you'll find that he's less "tired, goofy dad" and more "towering, ruthless brute". Withhold information during an interrogation, and he'll start calmly searching for a pair of pliers. Try to hurt him or his squadmates, and he'll shut you in a storage locker with a live grenade and then feel zero remorse for the gory soup that spills out (a tactic that has since been affectionately referred to as the "Deutsche Oven"). It should also be noted that Johannes is not a patient man. If we’re ever at a standstill with deciding how to proceed, he’ll start jumping a fence to go beat the shit out of a guard before taking all his clothes and spanking him until his ass is red.

Valerie Mimieux

Ragu’s OC. Valerie is a woman of class. She’s a French spy who likes expensive things and is passionate about cooking. She has a habit of flying way off the fucking handle and doing some reckless impulsive shit or just generally acting like a psycho. Will sometimes single out a particular enemy that did something to piss her off and then beat the hell out of their corpse long after they’re dead. She has raced Yakuza gang leaders for the right to win their car and then nonchalantly gunned them down when they decided to get revenge. She somehow manages to slither her way into acquiring ludicrous amounts of currency during her operations, and wants to one day take over all of Europe. Has a pet german shephard named Steve who used to be a guard dog for the enemy until she offered him a treat. She is alien-gay for Adiira.

Fayaiy

Selena’s OC. Fayaiy is a bounty hunter who crash landed on Earth and temporarily joined the cause before disappearing off to who knows where. She’s super goofy and sort of comes off as a happy-go-lucky foreigner who doesn’t entirely grasp English but loves to vibe with everyone regardless. LOVES Family Guy, thinks it’s the funniest thing ever. On multiple occasions she got faced on weed in the men’s bathroom with Stan, who I’m pretty sure still assumes she’s a trans guy because she didn’t seem to understand human gender symbols on doors. Has a pet black cat named Peanut who she took with her when she left.

Teri Grimm

A state of the art android who is so human-like you wouldn’t even know her body’s innards were synthetic unless you looked at them under a microscope. The commander’s first creation to gain sentience, and The Initiative’s token robot hacker waifu. Everybody loves Teri. She’s polite, incredibly intelligent, and has a face you just really want to protect, although she can hold her own in battles with superhuman strength. She’s rather unlucky though. Is girlfriends with Katie.

We’re actually currently playing a reboot of The Initiative. The first go around happened a few years ago, didn’t last as long, and featured the following five characters as our player characters. They did not function very well as main characters but work quite well this time around as quirky side characters.

Stan Ward

Ragu’s old OC. Stan is one of the most extra people to ever exist, roughly tied with only Bruce and Vulohon. A true American, he’s a mad bastard of a soldier who loves drugs and driving, often at the same time. Once, several members of The Initiative went out to town to relax and have fun, and he almost immediately got into trouble with the police, being chased off into the night. He came back later after swimming his way back to the base, crabs stuck to various parts of his soaking body with their pinched claws. Was somehow man enough to satisfy a 6 foot tall 400 pound 160+ year old android’s sexual desires to the point that he became her boyfriend.

Bruce Reistill

Kyle’s old OC. Bruce is an abrasive asshole who will never ever let a villain get more than 5 words into their monologue before interrupting them with something along the lines of “now y’see here I think the problem we’re having is that you keep on talking when you really shouldn’t be so I think it’d really be in all of our best interests if I were to just go ahead and...” before drawing his revolver that he nicknamed Banger.

Vulohon

The old OC of Roll, our long lost friend who just sorta disappeared to do his own thing in life. Vulohon is a fucking dumbass. He’s basically if Knuckles from Sonic Boom was an edgy anime himbo. The first time we saw him, he was doing the cool guy thing where you lean back in your chair and sharpen a blade. The second time we saw him, he was doing the same thing, but this time was sharpening a glock. The third time it was a trash can. He owns a legendary energy battle axe and can use psionic energy to generate explosions wherever he wants, but almost all of his fighting tactics involving picking up dudes and throwing them at other dudes. Either that or ripping off car doors and swinging them at people.

Stan, Bruce and Vulohon are all best bros. They moved their beds into the rec room and turned it into the Boys Room, where they sit in the hot tub together and behave heterosexually.

Thael

My old OC. Thael is a scientist who has no personality or emotions, but a really great ass. He’s a husk of a formerly optimistic young student who lost the ability to feel things after a shady government organization recruited him and forced him to conduct awful, sometimes murderous experiments on unwilling Scellor. Everyone is creeped out by him, but Minyaxl’s virgin horniness was enough to push past that as he felt love at first sight (with Thael’s back turned to him) and pursued relations with him. Thael opened up to him and Minyaxl decided to do his best to help him regain his former self. He’s getting there.

Pamiil

Selena’s old OC. Pamiil is an optimistic pacifist healer who never really got all that much screen time but she is cute and must be protected. She loves* Setel.

*by which i again mean the closest scellor equivalent to love which i guess is sorta just close friendship where you also fuck but they’re also capable of feeling proper love it’s just weird and can lead to psionic feedback loops if they’re not careful

(the following 5 pics were drawn by selena)

https://butamakingart.tumblr.com/

Orvon Valasma

The captain of the ship that a mysterious third party (referred to as the Scellor Freelancers, consisting of her, Adiira and Setel) arrived on. She’s 7 feet tall and has robotic legs that can extend to make herself even taller and run super fast. Somewhat stoic, and has gotten into fights with Adiira, but still cares deeply for her friends. The freelancers were originally at odds with The Initiative as they (somewhat rightfully) believed that we were doing a sloppy as hell job of things, but they eventually decided to join forces.

Adiira M’vora

A deadly assassin who, due to being born in the Ayaar caste, was forced to carry out political assassinations against people the Scellor government suspected of being potential state enemies. It got to her so she went rogue and is a bit of a wreck. She owns a legendary sword called Blue Midnight that can cut through the very fabric of space, and has various other psionic space manipulation abilities. She is human-gay for Valerie.

Setel Tunsai

An absolute chad of a man, standing at a towering 5′0″ (which is stupidly tall for his Orthan caste). Setel is a powerful psionic who excels at manipulating social outcomes, either through exceptional diplomacy or good old fashioned mind control. He has a talent for helping people with their emotional problems, and has acted as a therapist for people like Adiira and Thael. He is beloved by all. Is small lovefriend of Pamiil.

Korhan

Horrible. Piece of shit bitch bastard. Rightfully dead. Korhan used his position as an Ayaar operative as an excuse to live out all his sadistic fantasies. Worked in the evil-ass facility that used people like Thael to carry out their horrible experiments, and made implied rape threats to Thael if he thought about not doing his job. Responsible for everything that’s wrong with Djylana. Planted a tracking device on Minyaxl to find the location of The Initiative’s base, then came in and slaughtered innocent people for the fun of it before taking a bunch of hostages. He used them to try and make us hand over Adiira and Thael for betraying their government but we managed to clutch things out and put him in the dirt. Also he could stop time. Was basically Dio.

Djylana

Korhan’s partner in crime. A bloodthirsty animal he used to carry out much of his dirty work. After she was killed, while Korhan was lying on the ground just before Thael unloaded two magazines into him to finish him off, he said that she was his finest work, that we would never be able to truly stop her, that she would not rest until every single one of us was murdered. He had installed something called Echotech into her, allowing her soul to stay attached to her body after its death. She got up and started freaking out because her only “friend” had been killed, ready to kill us all, when MVP Fayaiy came in with the hug and helped us manage to convince her that Korhan was a piece of shit and we could be actual friends to her. She came around, like an abused guard dog finding a compassionate master, and now lives in the base as a decaying zombie. We convinced the commander to let her in despite her crimes and to also eventually make a robot body for her. She was unsure if she wanted to let us do that until someone brought up the fact that it would be the biggest middle finger we could possibly give to Korhan, at which point she vehemently agreed. I hope his piss stain of a soul somehow knows that his ace in the hole was defeated by the power of friendship.

IO

Satan.

There are other characters that I may or may not include in the future, but those are the most prominent ones.

[burnededens]

   ( avan jogia, trans male, he/him, assassin’s creed: syndicate ) * &. i know it must be scary for you, jacob frye, after not surviving the takeover. to turn into someone like jacob "jake” fowles, a twenty-five year-old bartender at dragon’s breath brewery & fighter at the ring, right here in castle town. just remember that you are as charming as you are reckless, and to be wary, be safe, be true to who you are : neutral through and through. ( hylia gets assassin’s creed on main )

   SO FUN FACT - I have been wanting to write this character in this group for months and it is absolutely a crime that it took me this long to pick him up but here we FINALLY are ! I’m genuinely shocked he’s the first Assassin’s Creed character here because I personally think all of the characters are phenomenal and it was either gonna be this character or the protagonist from two games before ( Edward Kenway of Black Flag ) but I have a slightly greater preference towards Jacob so !! Behold the living embodiment of chaotic good !! Obvious tws for death , violence , and murder under the cut because this is a series about assassins , but also gang stuff ( and a very small bullying mention in the post-snap portion ) too. I hope this is easy to understand !! 

BEFORE THE SNAP  /  J A C O B   F R Y E .

S’OKAY again I will always try and explain the games’ history and Syndicate’s specific plotline in the simplest of ways - and especially because AC can get very confusing very fast. Thankfully Syndicate is one of the more straightforward entries , but before I get into that , I have to give a basic rundown of the lore since... it will not make sense if you haven’t played any of the games.

A long long long time ago , there were these people called the Isu , and the Isu crafted something that the AC franchise refers to as Pieces of Eden. The Pieces of Eden ultimately has access to control other living beings , and they were extremely powerful.

Flash forward a little bit where you have two forces - the Knights’ Templar and the Assassin Order/Brotherhood - that struggled for these Pieces of Eden for two very different reasons.

The Templars valued order and wanted to use them to control others to achieve a utopia - believing that human corruption & essentially free will were what caused most evils of the world.

The Assassins valued freedom & wanted to preserve the free will of the world , believing that control would do them no good and a mutual understanding under this freedom would be what created a utopia.

So basically , Templars wanted peace via control and Assassins wanted peace via freedom.

Templars wanted the Pieces of Eden to control , and the Assassins knew this was Not Good and often sought to keep the Pieces the fuck away from the Templars ( at least , that’s always how I saw it. )

Of course , because we’re now on like ten main games and seventeen spin-off games it’s OBVIOUSLY way more complicated than that , just that’s the most nutshell way to explain everything. That being said , let’s jump more into Jacob & Syndicate. 

SO JACOB. Jacob is one of the two protagonists of Syndicate , the younger twin to the other protagonist , his sister Evie. They were born in Crawley , raised by their Assassin father , but while Evie was always more . . . into the Brotherhood and assassin ideals , Jacob always was more of a rebel & a free spirit. But nevertheless , he grew up an Assassin like she.

Flash forward years later where the main plot of Syndicate starts , during the Industrial Revolution in 1868 , where the twins are set on heading to London , which is pretty much entirely under control of the Templars ( namely Crawford Starrick and his network ) & their syndicates ( ha ha hA ).

This . . . is sort of where Jacob & Evie separate in terms of goals - Evie’s well-aware of the Pieces of Eden and aims to collect them before the Templars do. However , Jacob’s more so intent on taking down Templars & liberating London from their control. He goes as far as to even starting a gang with his sister - known as the Rooks - to combat the Templar-controlled gang that has London’s boroughs in its grasp known as the Blighters. 

Evie’s basically like “okay we’re going to collect the Pieces of Eden so the templars don’t have them bc Starrick will be more powerful if he has them” but Jacob says to her “fUCK YOU I’M A MAN WHO’S GONNA FREE THE PEOPLE” and. Yeah.

Throughout the game , Jacob’s the twin that exhibits a more impulsive , reckless , yet well-meaning approach to problems - and that sorta kinda . . . means that when he solves problems , he also accidentally makes other problems , and his sister has to clean them up because hey , you killed this Templar leader and angered a bunch of Blighters and we are fucked and Jacob can’t really. Grasp that because he’s too focused on freeing London NOW and taking out Templars NOW and [ Sleeping With Sirens vc ] do it NOW and remember deal with it LATER.

There’s a few cases where Jacob has even so ( both unintentionally and intentionally ) teamed up with Templars because he thought they could help him accomplish his goals in taking London back from them.

He teamed up with Pearl Attaway ( a businesswoman who controlled most of London’s transport and wanted basically a monopoly ) and didn’t find out until later that she was a Templar and had to assassinate her since she was the exact type of controller he wanted to rid London of

But also he struck a deal with Maxwell Roth ( basically a Blighter gang leader who had a shitton of power ) to work with him - but Maxwell saw this as let’s cause as much chaos as possible and fuck the consequences where Jacob saw it as more let’s fix problems by any means necessary and he had to shut down the deal when he saw Roth really just . . . didn’t give a fuck about anyone , including innocents. Jacob’s whole goal was to free and protect the innocents , he just didn’t care how as long as nobody got hurt.

AND THAT’S HONESTLY WHAT I LOVE SM ABOUT JACOB LIKE ... Jacob. Is the epitome of chaotic good like he cares so much about people and protecting the innocents & saving them from control that yeah he doesn’t really . . . consider the consequences of his actions especially when his actions are so chaotic but his primary goal is to free the people of London by taking down Templars and he doesn’t give a fuck how he’s going to do it , he just operates on his code of making sure none of the good people get hurt and the bad guys go down. 

Eventually in the game he did come to realize the errors in his own work and way of thinking - he didn’t think much of the consequences , and therefore caused more of a wreckage than he aimed for. He loved the idea of freedom , but drew the line at absolute careless anarchy like Roth.

Basically be a REBEL not an ASSHOLE.

I love this kid tho like he’s so witty and rebellious and chaotic but also good-hearted and will still help even tho he might complain a lot about it ( looks at Abberline and Darwin ) and he !! He honestly acts before he thinks but I find those characters so refreshing esp bc he’s very emotional and adamant about acting on how he feels and his ideals and it’s honestly so. Idk I really like that about him.

He’s also canonically bisexual and that is something I will never shut up about but if you fucking even tHINK ABOUT ROMANTICIZING ROTH & JACOB’S RELATIONSHIP ( like it’s p much confirmed Roth had a thing 4 Jacob but it’s not. That’s not a Good Thing ) I will personally throw some hands with you. 

...Jacob and Ned however-

SPARE NED?? SPARE NED MA’AM??? 

But honestly anyway TLDR; Jacob is a Victorian chaos-bringer who doesn’t really think much about the shit he does but has a heart of gold he’s just. He’s A Lot. He’s a lil bitch but a good kind of lil bitch.

ALSO ALSO ALSO I AM,,,, not exactly entirely sure where I’m pulling Jacob yet like I could pull him from the end of Syndicate’s main story but also there’s the Jack the Ripper DLC which makes me... feel things, but Jacob’s also significantly older than and a good bit of that DLC’s a bit triggering - long story short, we love and will protect Jacob Frye with our entire lives. 

AFTER THE SNAP  / J A K E   F O W L E S .

So PERSONALITY WISE - Jake isn’t much different from his past self ; the only thing is he never grew up with his twin sister , raised an only child , and because Jacob & Evie are meant to balance each other out , he essentially grew up without an entire part of him he isn’t even aware of.

He was adopted - adopted by a working-class family from London that moved to Castle Town , and that was where Jake was raised.

Now , he was always a bit of a rebel. Always a problem child from the start. There were hundreds and hundreds of cases where he was reported either talking back to teachers , misbehaving in class , sometimes even getting into fights with other kids whether it be they were picking on him or someone else.

And he always liked the thrill of being that rebel - being that miscreant that earned a reputation ; never a mean person , never a bad dude , just somebody who . . . acted out. Acted out for whatever reason - mainly because he never liked the idea of obeying or because he taught the rules were stupid or because the rules meant some people were gonna get inconvenienced. Like , if you see someone getting bullied , why just tell an adult where you can solve the problem right then and there and sock the bully in the jaw ??

That was it. That was Jake’s philosophy.

His parents sent him to multiple hobby & art & educational camps & stuff to try and see if he could find some sort of hobby that would sorta get him out of this ‘problem child’ thing - but it never really worked. He always either got sent home earlier or was asked to never come back because hey , you can’t start a rebellion in the boys’ cabin because you didn’t like the way one of the counselors instructed you about knot tying. 

Never worked out , his parents thought he was smart and would make a brilliant lawyer or doctor or something - but nope , he graduated high school , attempted college but dropped out after two years , and when his parents kicked him out , he crashed with a few friends and made a living on odd jobs before he scored working as a bartender at Dragon’s Breath.

And also . . . both fighting at The Ring and also underground matches for some coin.

Yeah. 

It’s sorta-kinda through this he ALSO became aware of the other people who had to resort to means like this to survive - eventually starting his own gang of people who operated on sorta-kinda Robin Hood like terms - protect the less fortunate , combat the gangs who caused way more problems than he’d like , and also to basically uhhh flip the bird to the rich.

You guessed it - they’re called The Rooks and they’re not really . . . big , they’re just kind of. There. And nobody knows Jake’s the leader but it’s not like he’s really pressed if anyone finds out. 

It’s overall not entirely different from his pre-CT life other than obvious modern differences and LACK OF EVIE sooo. Yeah !!

I’ll hopefully work on a WC page for him soon but as of rn I just kinda want to get some threads going - hope y’all enjoy my dumbass kid xoxoooo

[ganymedesclock]

A Headcanon Compilation: Hollow Knight characters and messing up

Ghost: They’re a combination of stubborn, inquisitive, knowledgeable, and naive. Thus, they’re decently likely to cause absolute mayhem by total accident. You will come home and find them dangling upside-down tangled in your blinds, and they’re just staring blankly straight at you, in active defiance of giving you an explanation. Did they miscalculate? Irrelevant. They hacked their way into this situation and they’ll hacked their way out.

This kind of tends to make their problems worse because when all else fails they are really quick to take the ‘death before dishonor’ route. This means that anybody who has known them for a decent amount of time has probably watched them completely lose patience and frenziedly attack....... a random mushroom, or a piece of paper that got stuck to their back, or a branch that they walked into while they were distracted staring at their map.

In short: it’s funny if the property damage that inevitably accrues isn’t something you will have to pay for, or hold dear. It can also be a little sad, though, since Ghost is both impulsive and pretty aggressive- if they get angry enough to basically tantrum with their nail, they might damage something they don’t mean to that’s important to them or one of their friends, and grieve it afterwards.

Hornet: Hornet messing up incidentally looks almost exactly like a cat tripping. She just snaps to attention and, if particularly embarrassed, has this sort of ‘nobody saw me do that’ preening / saunter out of the area. In the face of an enduring problem she’ll just sort of sit there brooding over potential solutions, but stay self-contained and only bark an unnecessarily acerbic “what” if someone tries to talk to her while she’s sulking trying to think of a solution.

Her work ethic means that she’ll just sorta pick herself up, regroup and try again most of the time; if nothing has been going right for a while she’ll probably start shaking, get snappy at small noises, and then eventually just have a meltdown if she feels like she can’t justify walking away and taking a breather. She’s an angry crier when frustrated, much as she hates to admit it.

She’s naturally sensory sensitive / easily irritated by noise, unpleasant textures, or other stimuli, but if she’s especially stressed, she gets snappier at any particular bad stimuli in the environment. If she’s already frustrated about something and Quirrel is sharpening his nail and making a scraping noise about the third pass he makes with that whetstone, she’ll snap about it.

Quirrel: He likes a good puzzle so he’s fairly accustomed to trial-and-error, but expect a lot of progressive “huh”s and small comments to himself. That’s, of course, if this is an interesting thing to be stuck on. If it’s something he feels is stupid or pointless and he’s still stuck on it, he’s actually surprisingly quick to pull a “fuck this I’m out” if he can, and if he can’t for one reason or another, he’ll get pretty exasperated with it. He’ll still have nearly a full conversation with it, but he’s the most likely of the group to incredulously ask an inanimate object “really, now?”

He’s mildly likely to draw his nail on it if he feels like that will get results but he’s not prone to flailing, even if he’s very frustrated. His irritation more just boils down to him increasingly cutting out the middleman and being efficient with his attempts to solve it. Again, if he’s still entertained or sees scholarly value in something he’ll play along in a very minimal-damage manner; if he’s totally out of patience for something, though, that’s about the time he starts breaking out destructive high-caliber spells. It’s rare for him to get so peeved his Soul just starts making little crackles of lightning around him, but it does happen, and it’s usually not a good idea to try and hang onto him if he’s at that point.

Zote: Ironically Zote is pretty used to failure so while he’ll blow a lot of hot air, and, depending on how upset he is, blame literally everything he can think of in short order whether or not it can make sense, he basically just vents all the frustration out of his mouth. He’s the most willing to get down in the trenches scrabbling for success and then, as soon as he gets there, immediately insist that everything up to this point was a calculated plan as part of his success, which naturally, only took a single attempt.

He only really loses his head about it if he runs out of things to blame and/or complain about in which case he’s still griping but he starts instead airing / tying the issue to personal grievances or his general perception the whole world is out to get him, which is a lot less entertaining to listen to and tends to make him angrier rather than feel better. At this point whether or not he has a breakdown depends entirely on if he succeeds or gets distracted before he pulls a thread attached to his emotions.

Worst case scenario, he gets angry, screams at his environment, exhausts himself, gives up, and then either finds another way around, forgets about it, or gets a new idea and comes back.

Pure Vessel/Hollow Knight: They had a very proper upbringing and very precise training. They’re very by-the-book, but that book is a weighty tome on martial tactics and the code of chivalry. Definitely after their failed vigil against the Radiance they’re very tired and fatigue is quicker to take them than anger. Sort of participating in the category of heroic determination, really- they’re more likely to beat themselves up for not being good enough unless it’s a really stupid problem in which case they might actually find it kinda funny, depending. Or just very vexing.

It’d be a rare set of circumstances that could mash their buttons that way, but if sufficiently aggravated by something completely stupid, some irresponsible use of light magic and sharp implements might happen. They’re not incapable of anger, after all, and they were pretty much trained from the cradle. All in all, though, they’re rather clever and their dutiful streak means they’re rarely offended by menial labor as long as they feel like it’s accomplishing something.

Grimm: It’s rare for him to actually get vexed since, simply put, he’s so old, knowledgeable, and powerful that setbacks tend to be novel and interesting to him more than anything. He’s willing to be fairly charitable about something catching him in a pickle, sometimes even playing along with situations he can easily get out of with a minor flexing of godly power. Would-be bandits have held him at nailpoint before.

Of course, there’s limits to how long he’s willing to be entertained, and that tends to be what you’re putting on stake. Even risking fairly personal injury, as functionally a god of mortality, Grimm will even consider something he loses a limb to as all in good fun. Threaten his progeny or his clan in a way that makes him suspect you could genuinely imperil them, however, and you’ve booked a truly horrifying lesson in how much he’s been humoring you.

Radiance: If at first you don’t succeed, burn whatever you perceive as spiting you to ashes.

No, really. She’s pretty bad at this whole ‘patience’ and ‘forgiveness’ thing. The only reason she’s not a complete liability (in contexts where she’s not leveling kingdoms by operating exclusively as a dreamscape psychic death curse) to everything around her is that she’s so powerful that an awful lot of things are basically of no concern to her, from tripping on a root to a would-be godslayer running her through the chest.

Of course, that’s sort of a gamble, because if she interprets it as a challenge, even if she sees you as absurdly beneath her, she might just decide to “honor” you with the immaculate, shining death you’re clearly asking for. That, or if you just subject her to something she feels is undignified enough to be humiliating or annoying.

Most likely to evaporate a maskfly for pooping on her head, in short.

White Lady: She’s a patient sort, at least, superficially. It would be more accurate to say that if something annoys her, she doesn’t often retaliate directly because she’s very comfortable in the knowledge that she can come back in a century or so once it’s rotted beyond all recognition. It’s rare for her to get motivated enough that she decides to hasten entropy’s hand. When she does, the matter tends to be over.

As a result, with a minor problem or tribulation that isn’t time-consuming, she’ll take her own good time teasing out a solution, and not particularly worry about it not happening as quickly as she wants. Something with a looming deadline and serious stakes, she’ll simply continuously evaluate the previous attempts and try again, with an increasing determination. Her anger will build along with it, but she’ll keep that sequestered as best as she can until she makes a decision to do something reckless with all of her roots at once. Even in situations that can be dealt with by a more subtle touch, if she makes up her mind to end a situation, she either will, or she will perish in the attempt.

Pale King: Since he views himself as not really allowed to get mad he’ll try to continue working through his frustration and probably not actually realize how annoyed he’s getting. Likely to just pick himself up and continue going, carefully neatening himself if it’s the first time it’s happened, leaving his raiment in whatever state he hit the ground in if it’s the twentieth or thirtieth.

Like Hornet, he might get slowly snappier, but largely, his tone would remain entirely the same until he hits some kind of wall. Depending on which emotion he’s feeling at the time, this might be funny (you just come into his workshop and find him lying face down on the floor and he just, in completely calm tones, tells you to leave him there, and possibly carries a conversation like that if you have something urgent to say and it really can’t wait), or this might be terrifying (he’s in one of those moods where the entire surrounding area is at subzero temperatures and his eyes are leaking primordial ancient light, and you should probably just quietly excuse yourself and come back when he’s calmed down enough to thaw out)

Because, y’know, he’s the King of Hallownest, and his emotions have basically no outlets besides planking and chilling eldritch divinity. Since he’s such a workaholic, him having artist’s block is... something to deal with, all right.

[homenum-revelio-hq]

Under the cut is a sample application for the character of James Potter. This sample is just a guideline for where to start - don’t feel as though you have to follow exactly in your application. Just do whatever feels right to you and don’t hesitate to ask any questions!

OUT OF CHARACTER:

NAME: Karli

AGE: 28

TIMEZONE: CST

ACTIVITY LEVEL: I have a full-time job during school hours, but I’m typically available through mobile when not with clients every day. I’m usually able to post during the evenings or on the weekends, definitely once per week, if not more.

ANYTHING ELSE: Nothing!

CHARACTER DETAILS:

NAME: James Charlus Potter

AGE: 21

GENDER, PRONOUNS, and SEXUALITY: Cis-Male, He/Him, Heterosexual

BLOOD STATUS: Pureblood

HOUSE ALUMNI: Gryffindor

ANY CHANGES: Nothing, I wrote it!

CHARACTER BACKGROUND:

PERSONALITY: 

The first thing people often notice about James is that he’s extremely outgoing. He’s often at the center of attention - laughing with people, joking around, enjoying those eyes on him. What people notice less is the moments where he shies away from that - slinks off with his friends to do something he actually cares about. James is really good at staying positive. He’s friendly and charming and a lot of people like him - but there’s only a handful of people he can truly be vulnerable around. Without the Marauders, he likely would’ve grown up with a lot of “friends” but not really any friends.

He’s loyal - almost to a fault. Extremely biased towards the people he loves, it’s hard for James to see their faults. This leads him to being overly forgiving to his friends - something he’d done for Sirius after the prank in school, not realizing how hurt he must’ve made Remus feel at minimizing Sirius’ behavior. In canon, James’ trust leads to his and Lily’s demise. Convinced that none of his friends could be the spy, he dies for it - and he’ll very likely have problems within this set-up as well.

James is confident, oftentimes nearing arrogance. Having grown up with his expectations and wants met, he assumes he just knows what will happen next. He loves fiercely - holds on tight. It’s sometimes hard for him to let go of something he should let go of. An emotional person, he often wears his heart on his sleeve. This doesn’t make him the best dueler, as he tends to give away his next move to his opponent, but it makes him a good friend. It can also hurt him - when he’s struggling, it’s bad. It takes a lot to make James just shut down, but when he’s sad, it’s easy to tell. Sometimes, his emotions make him impulsive and reckless. While he’s been trying to be responsible and level-headed lately, the pull of adventure can still be hard to resist.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF FAMILY:

(Note: I do not follow the guidelines of Pottermore’s backstory for James or his family. Also, due to the AU nature of the rp, I have decided his mother has not yet died, she just simply lives in another country.)

Charlus and Aizel Potter met late in life, long after Charlus’ years as an eligible bachelor. He’d given up, at that point, hopes of finding a suitable wife and had poured himself into his work at the Ministry of Magic’s Department of International Magical Cooperation. He’d met Azelia during his work in the Philippines, her upbringing far from his own, and had fallen in love with her. They were old enough, they’d thought, and decided not to wait. Married within just a few short months, Charlus had taken her back to England with him to live at the Potter Estate, tearing her away from her country, her entire family, and all she’d ever known. With him working and her at home, it wasn’t long before their first – and only – son was born. It had been a hard pregnancy due to Aizel’s age and the healer recommended against trying for a second. It did not matter to either of them – James was enough. A pureblood son who was brilliant and charming and handsome rolled into one.

James had a rather lonely childhood, however. Living without close neighbors and with all of his parents’ friends having kids much older than him, James found ways to pass the time on his own. His mother taught him from home, where he learned the basics, such as how to read, write, and do arithmetic, along with an introduction to magic. She had a spirituality about her that came from a long line of her family back home. She’d talked of a different sort of importance rather blood status – and his father agreed. Or he’d said he did. It was the more polite thing to do, of course. Prejudices were less becoming in more recent days – what with new laws and rights for muggleborns. Back in his day, Hogwarts had barely allowed them into the school, after all. But Charlus could not understand what the whole fuss was about. There had already been changes in the world – why were some groups calling for more?

As James grew older and gained insight from peers, he started to create his own sense of right and wrong. Still, it was hard to see his parents’ faults, especially the father whom he looked up to so much. It’s why he could ignore the subtle look of concern on Charlus’ face when James brought home Lily for the first time after graduation. It was hard for him to believe that his dad might think like some of the people James was fighting against - even if he wasn’t acting on it. Prejudice was hard to combat. James is aware, now that his father is gone and his mother living back in her home country, that his parents’ friend sometimes look at him differently. He hasn’t forgotten the numerous overheard comments about him and Lily - often saying he’s just in a phase or commenting on how young wizards often do experiment before the real thing. James knows what he has with Lily is real - but that doesn’t mean the subtle messages he grew up with aren’t still swimming around in his unintentional actions.

OCCUPATION:

James is unemployed - or, as he’d call it, a full-time Order member. When his father died, he inherited both the Potter Estate (which has come in handy for the new Order Headquarters) and the vault at Gringotts. It’s enough money to keep both him and Lily - and sometimes Remus - living comfortably. He and Lily don’t live at Headquarters, preferring to rent out a nice-sized two-bedroom townhome (which is technically James’, since he pays for it and it’s in his name), but James especially spends a lot of his time back at the Estate for the Order.

ROLE WITHIN THE ORDER/THOUGHTS ABOUT THE ORDER:

James was brought into the inner-circle a little less than a year ago. He’s not the newest in the group, but he hasn’t been part of it long, either. He’s still gaining traction with the group and knows that he often gets eye-rolls from the more serious members. Getting asked to have more responsibility had struck him as surprising in the same way getting the Head Boy badge was, but Kingsley has assured him that there is something about him that is important to the group. James can bring people together like no one else - just look at his friends! Without him, they would’ve all been floundering, people who might have not belonged anywhere. James has found strength in rallying the mid-level members, keeping things positive. He’s sure they’re doing the right thing here - he knows the Order will come out on top, even when things aren’t going well. James is ever the optimist, which can both help and hinder a group of people who sometimes just need to be validated. 

He truly believes in the Order, though. While he might not have joined strictly for the cause, he does believe in it - and that desire to stop Voldemort has become stronger than ever as people die around him and friends go missing. In fact, he believes in them so much that it’s really disheartening when the people he loves start questioning the reason behind the group at all. Lily’s started to pull away, focusing on the Dissendium Task Force with Remus - Sirius’ reckless edge is too tempting for James, who is trying to be more responsible and level-headed - and Peter is so distant that James feels like he doesn’t know what goes on in his friend’s life anymore. It hurts James to see them questioning the inner-circle because it feels like they’re questioning him.

SURVIVAL:

James’ survival simply comes from who is he. There have been a few people at the Ministry who have suspected him to be part of the Order - he’s been brought in for questioning once or twice - but nothing has ever came about it because he’s James Fuckin’ Potter. The privilege his blood status gives him is undeniable. He’s nearly untouchable - even with his odd group of friends and his “mudblood” girlfriend. One day, it’ll catch up to him - but, right now, he’s keen on continuing to ride that wave. If it keeps him and the people he loves alive, he’ll use it.

As stated under “occupation,” James gets all his basic needs met easily, as he has plenty of money and, technically, two homes. Sometimes, he very much realizes how much easier he has it than most people - other times, he’s very unaware, which can be aggravating for the less-privileged people around him.

RELATIONSHIPS:

(I’m writing these off the basis of the bios, but anything can be changed with different player portrayals, ideas, and through plotting. This is just a basis to start!)

His main relationships are with Lily, Sirius, Remus, and Peter... and things are not going as well as he would’ve liked. Lily has started to pull away from him that sometimes he wonders if she’s no longer happy with him - but he loves her so much that it’s easier to hold on to her and pretend like things are alright between them, even during those moments where he actually shows that sadness and doesn’t cover it up with false optimism. Sirius is ever loyal (there’s a reason his animagus form is a dog) and, while things are going well between him and James, it’s still not the same without the others. Sirius and him have always had a bit of different relationship than James has had with Remus or Peter - and, since Sirius is always there for him, it feels solid. James just doesn’t get to see his best mate as often. Remus recently came back from his mission and things have been tense in the group since then, while Peter seems scared and James’ usual buck up speeches aren’t working like they had back in school. It sometimes feels like this war is tearing the people he loves apart - but James is determined to keep things together. He’s always acted as the glue before and wants to make sure his friends stay trusting of one another - he’s just so busy these days that it can be hard!

He also has a pretty important relationship with the people in the inner-circle. He knows that Alice and Caradoc wonder why he was ever invited and he’s spent the past year trying to prove himself. And then there’s Mary, the newest member of the group. James is still sort of confused why she’s there with them - she’s flaky and abrasive, seems to have her own agenda. He’s a bit wary of her and finds her incredibly annoying half the time, though they can be pleasant to one another in work situations. He wouldn’t call them friends, though. Whenever he complains about Mary to Lily, she gives him this look and there’s more to it, he knows - but this can’t be a muggleborn thing if he’s fucking dating one, can it?

Once Severus joins the Order, James will have a lot to say about that. He doesn’t trust Snape - doesn’t know if he ever will. But they do need a spy on their side... with all the information somehow getting passed to Voldemort from the Order (he’s still not convinced it’s anyone close to him), they need all the help they can get. James just wishes it didn’t have to be Snivellus.

OOC EXPLORATION:

SHIPS/ANTI-SHIPS: While I have a special place in my heart for James/Lily, I ultimately ship chemistry. This is war and things are stressful and strained - it’s really very likely that James and Lily won’t be able to cut it. They have different things they find passion in - different ideals. And, while James tries really hard, he’ll never truly get what it’s like to be Lily - and he doesn’t always truly listen when she tries to explain. I’m seriously open to explore whatever feels realistic and right in that moment. It could mean breaking up, staying together, breaking up and then getting back together - it could mean breaking up and James finds someone else. It could mean James never finds someone else. I’m here to explore all types of relationships, so I’m not really fussed about the shipping. I just want to see what happens!

WHAT PRIVILEGES AND BIASES DOES YOUR CHARACTER HAVE? James has a whole lot of privilege, given he’s a male, straight, and a pureblood. He’s also rich and comes from a well-known, respected, prominent family. James has really never wanted for anything. He typically assumes how something will happen - and things just seem to work out for him. He doesn’t always understand when others are struggling due to their lack of privilege, but he does try. That doesn’t mean he’s perfect - he’s definitely said the whole “wow, you’re really good!” with the obvious for a muggleborn implied. Being who he is, he’ll never truly understand the plight of someone who is not James Potter. I want to explore this in rp! I want to see someone call him out on his accidental shit and him try to do better - and sometimes fail at doing better. No one can ever say he doesn’t try, but he’s also human. He’ll absolutely, 100% fuck up sometimes and I want to have that happen. James is someone who has the privilege to accept a werewolf and make it an adventure - he is someone who can say hey, let’s be animagi! Yes, it was for Remus - but it was also because like how cool, man! let’s fuck shit up! He never stopped to ask Remus how he feels about their tromps around the school grounds... the same school grounds he was never supposed to get to see at all. James is lovable - and his biases and privilege make him mess up. Let’s explore that!

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? Well, I made it so that’s what brought me here! What I’m most looking forward to is that exploration of nothing being black or white. Without the Death Eaters involved right now, there can’t just be a simple “these are the bad guys, there are the good.” I want to see some interpersonal conflicts - especially with James, since his group is starting to fall apart! I’m also really looking forward to doing realistic war-related things... such as character disappearances, deaths, being taken into questioning, injuries, you name it!

PLOT DROP IDEAS: N/A

ANYTHING ELSE? Nothing!

[the-bean-jar]

Character Intros

Here are summaries of each of my characters (so far) just to have some basic information about them on the blog. I’ve separated them into different groups based on what settings/stories I’ve planned for them.

Four Corners

(Set in modern day, in and around a public university in a moderately sized city)

Fionna: College sophomore, majoring in photography. Works for a local art and music magazine. Hobbies include drawing, hiking and/or wandering, making playlists for every possible occasion/mood, and hanging out with dogs. Excitable, outgoing, and impulsive. Kind of a walking circus. Sometimes gets a little too caught up in her emotions instead of thinking logically. Resident bisexual disaster, texts with a lot of emojis, probably going off on a tangent.

Essela: College sophomore, astronomy major. Also interested in robotics; generally a science nerd. Smart and well-educated, raised by successful and wealthy parents. Named after a fantasy novel character. Patient and polite but socially anxious and introverted. However, if she gets excited about something she's really into, she's likely to ramble energetically about it. Contains moderate mom friend potential.

Zander: Punk 20-something. Listens to a lot of Dead Kennedys and Fugazi. Grew from a fired up kid into a lukewarm young adult. Tends to be sarcastic and dry, but is actually fairly good-natured. Enjoys a good debate over coffee or a good argument over beer. Bit of a conspiracy theorist. Fairly hardcore but also a very loyal friend. Contains moderate dad friend potential but will deny it.

Jay: Local delinquent on the reform. Moved in with Zander after high school because his home life wasn't the best. Kinda quiet but actually pretty charismatic when he needs to be. A strange combination of the cool kid and the weird kid. Talented beatboxer. Would subsist entirely on sugary cereal if he could. Trying to get into less trouble but would probably be down to help someone steal a car or something. Best not to let him be bored for too long.

Space Squad

(Set in the future where space travel is common and contact with aliens is still relatively new and exciting but no longer groundbreaking. These three are a group tasked with various missions to far off planets.)

Eli: Tech guy of the group. Friendly and laid back, aside from the anxiety. A little awkward, both in demeanor and appearance. A big nerd and perfectly secure in this fact. Wants to get out and see the universe in spite of his nervousness. Curious and ready to learn. Good listener, cool with being rambled at. Often acts as a mediator for his teammates. Into video games and old movies. Might suffer from the occasional crisis of confidence, but he tries his best.

Kass: Muscle of the group. Small, cute, and ready to throw down. Also pretty likely to win if she does in fact throw down. Something of an athlete, grew up playing sports and such. Loves a good competition. Can be cocky but not necessarily one to brag. Acts first, asks questions later. Not the best at restraint. Good at getting others pumped up. Enjoys making combinations of food that are weird and terrible. If you're in trouble, she'll back you up.

Tennea: Leader of the group. The kinda girl that makes you think "I wish I was that cool." A little distant with a really tough shell to crack, but generally chill underneath the layers of bad bitch. Fluent in deadpan snark. Softer with those close to her. Probably has a fair amount of bottled up emotions. Both straight edge and rather vain due to a need to be in control of herself at all times. Giant sucker for cats and, oddly enough, snakes. Uses nicknames liberally.

Dungeons and Dragons

Aubrey: Halfling rogue. Quirky, upbeat, loves to joke and make people laugh. Started adventuring to see the world. Cooperative and very group-minded, sometimes to the point of neglecting to really think for herself. Has a hard time trusting wealthy people. Has the firm belief that those with power and resources should help those without and detests anyone that would take advantage of someone for being weaker. Currently traveling with a group on a quest to kill an evil vampire impostor. Lost her original adventuring group and assumes she's the only one of them still alive. Much better at dealing with other people's problems than her own. Usually tries not to think about the unhappy aspects of her life too much, almost always trying to maintain a positive appearance. Will be your ride-or-die.

Brevity: Tiefling ranger. Quiet, a bit socially awkward. A little intimidated by interacting with people she doesn't know, stemming from her rough upbringing. Can be rather blunt and tends to speak in a short and direct manner. More interested in direct actions than promising words. Not easily impressed but deeply respectful and protective of those that do impress her. Rules that she interprets as illogical or unnecessary have a decent chance of being ignored. Has a tendency to get rather fixated on things. Stubborn but patient. Understands that the world is constantly changing but often grows pessimistic. Bit of a mess, but a badass mess.

Rowan: Half-orc cleric. Grew up in a temple of Lathander, encouraged to leave and travel so she could see the world rather than being cooped up in the temple all the time. Naïve and eager to learn and experience new things. Devoted to helping others. Can get into trouble or even act reckless due to a lack of understanding the gravity of a situation. Adores cute things and most animals. Always tries to see the good in people and hasn't really learned how to tell when someone isn't trustworthy.

Cairyn: Elf warlock. A member of a noble family, but ran away from home to live her own life. Gained her powers from an Archfey basically on accident, currently just sorta rolling with it. Artistic, drawn to dark and weird things. Pretty goth. Has the presence of someone important or intimidating but lacks the personality to actually back it up. Aloof and not that great with people, and not at all inclined to be nice to anyone she doesn't like. Selfish and honestly kind of a brat. Hasn't learned how to be responsible and often acts on impulse instead of thinking things through. Opposed to the "high class" lifestyle but also still feels as though she's above the "common" lifestyle. Would be the last person to willingly call someone her friend.