#basically what if we went from best friends to enemies to allies to enemies to soulmates and died in each others arms and we were both boys

[cashmere-caveman]

Hanif Abdurraqib, it’s not like nikola tesla knew all of those people were going to die | Anne Carson, H of H Playbook | Richard Siken, Snow and Dirty Rain | Franz Wright, Heaven | Toby Whithouse, shooting script for Being Human S1E1 | Franz Wright, Heaven | Erin Slaughter, I Hope My Salt Lamp is a Weeping Deity | Richard Siken, Straw House, Straw Dog & My Country: The New Age, Episode 16

image descriptions in alt

[quibbs126]

I know you've done this before but can you please maybe make a darkwhip kid, but with the basis that Whipped comes from the Millenial Tree family?

I finally finished her, this lady is Whipped Ganache Cookie

Fun fact, Whipped Ganache was one of the first fankid names I came up with when I first made my list, which was a little before I opened up requests, I just didn’t get requests for darkwhip nor did I have ideas like I did for pureraisin and darklico, but then I finally ended up getting this request, so I could use it

So basically ganache is like this chocolate sauce or icing or filling, it has a lot of uses, and whipped ganache is this whipped version with more cream than chocolate. I picked it because it seemed like whipped cream but chocolate, perfect for darkwhip

The thought occurs to me that maybe chocolate mousse could have worked too (mainly due to my roommate saying whipped ganache reminded her of it), but I like Whipped Ganache. And I can save it for later (but not the other darkwhip kid, and I don’t need a third one)

Whipped ganache:

So this is technically my second time drawing her, with my first attempt only getting as far as the hair sketch. I couldn’t figure out what to do for her outfit, so I just left her for some months until yesterday

But I had a good idea of what to do for the hair (even if I changed it somewhat)

But let’s get to the outfit. Yet again, I didn’t really know what to give her, other than she probably wears dresses. I put her in a hanbok since I was like “I dunno, that’s an outfit she could wear”. And sure it looks fine, but I wasn’t really sure it fit her, specifically with the request of her having some relation to Millennial Tree Cookie, but you know, no one gave me a goddamn answer when I asked (well other than my friend who said keep the hanbok, but she also said she was biased so) so I just had to stick with the hanbok. I’m still not sure it works to be honest. I mean, if she’s going for a formal event/festival in the Dark Cacao Kingdom, sure, but I’m not sure it works as her default. Maybe if I can come up with something better I can make a new design with that, but for now, this is what I have

I’m also not sure about her outfit colors to be honest. I wanted her to have pinks, but I also wanted her to have browns (and also that purple I got that looked neat), and I’m not sure I found the best balance in the end. But I asked my friend and she said “look good�� so I kept it

I like the mountain pattern on her hanbok, I got that straight from Dark Choco’s costume

Sorry, I don’t have much to say. I came up with the hair months ago and don’t really remember all the logic other than it being long sort of like Millie and having pearls because Whipped Cream, and I have more complaints about the outfit because I don’t think it fits. But I like everything else about her aside from her outfit

Anyways, character time

So I think I came up with some ideas for her back in July when we were coming back from England, though I soon went on to work on Vanilla Lily/Witch Hazel (and fun fact, I haven’t looked back at those notes until right now as I’m writing this)

So first thing about Whipped Ganache (that I probably should have mentioned in the design section), she is very tall. She isn’t necessarily wide, but she is tall, taller than either of her parents. I just wanted to mention that

But anyways one of her main things is that she has healing magic, which is what she’s supposed to be doing with the flower in the sketch (wasn’t sure how to give off the glowing effect though). But also, while her magic is healing, it’s deadly towards things of dark magic, like what healing magic does to undead things in old games (actually as far as I’m aware that’s only FF7)

I’m remembering now, I think one thing I envisioned with her is her summoning a giant ass laser like what Millennial Tree does in his Skill, and when she fires it, her allies caught in it would be healed while her enemies (presumably made of dark magic) would be harmed

Whipped Ganache is generally a very serene and kind person, has the patience of a saint. I’m not sure she has a breaking point, she probably does but I haven’t thought much on it. She’s very attuned to nature as well, maybe not to the point of being a tree hugger, but enough that she doesn’t like blatant exploitation of it. Also she’d survive very easily by herself in the wild

Another thing about her is that she plays a harp. Not a lyre like what Carol or Lilybell uses, but a full giant harp. I got that from listening to Millennial Tree Cookie’s theme

Anyways, I think that’s about it for her. But also just a note, she’s not the only darkwhip kid I plan to make, it’s just that she doesn’t necessarily follow the same rule of being related to Millennial Tree. I mean she and Whipped Ganache live in the same timeline, they’re sisters, but she doesn’t have much that makes that trait noticeable, so she’ll get her own thing

But yeah, I hope you enjoyed Whipped Ganache

[xomulti-creatorsxo]

1,2,3! The internet is the f★cking best!

⚘ᯓ:Magical girl Reader x yami bakura(can be read as either platonic or romantic)

🪽ᯓ a whisper is amiss: hello! I'm back y'all 🙏 I'm thinking of writing for FNAF next. What do y'all think? I'll let you decide what kind of magical girl you want to be(main base would be madoka magica or card captor Sakura)

⚘෴: attempted manipulation, using people without a real relationship (yet),

Yami bakura

The name feared by many, including you. The name that was etched into your brain, molded into a spot at the front of it. You knew that when you landed in this place, domino city, you would have to be careful

You remember watching the shows growing up. Magical girl shows. It seemed like a dream when you were nominated as one. What you didn't know, was the horror they went through

Will you find an ally in this lonely place?

Trench coat, long frizzy white hair, brown colored eyes, eyes like the wood we have everywhere, now that is the yami bakura you're used too

When you first met him, it was purely an accident, nothing more and nothing less.

That's how I'd presume you two becoming friends. You were just trying to find an enemy, but instead ended up in that weird place with that weird and cute stranger! At first you thought he had some mental issues. His personality would change, he'd call one of them "yami bakura" and himself bakura. Everytime you saw that trench coat, you thought he was off his meds

Do you realize the gravity of this situation?

Yami bakura is a man who sets his priorities straight and refuses to let something get in the way of him and those priorities

When he once was trapped by the alluring whispers of an enemy

He couldn't resist, they were talking about being able to help him get to his goals and even more

These enemies were like a call of a seductress

They can easily feed off of the rage and envy one has to carry with them. So it's natural that yami was one of their targets

It was a long battle, bruises and bruises were piling onto your skin, it's color being replaced with crimson red and the light pink colour of flesh

After what felt like an eternity, your friend was saved, and your friend knew that he could use you for his own gain. All he had to do was convince you to help him.

His intentions were always clear

He doesn't beat around a non existent bush

So you knew to be careful

You always knew, ever since you saw the show; yugioh duel monsters. It was a great show(even if you don't remember it)

Just not a great show to be in

Yami bakura would not grow a soft spot until later in your guys' -friendship-

Not only am I positive that he would use you, I'm also positive his soft grows when he finds out about you being a magical girl

In his words; "that's just a bad fate, doll"

I'm not even kidding: he let's you brush his hair and style it

Do y'all know those moms who literally disconnect your spine and skull when brushing your hair? That's basically you two😭

You two are like Nicole and jecka

One is a sociopath who uses you, and the other gets the short end of the sticks, but they both try to make it work

You used to fear him, now it's more of a "mess with my ho, I mess with you"

It's basically you two sending each other those "omg ho, who turned you into ___" videos LIKE PLEASE TELL ME Y'ALL KNOW IT🙏("oh em gee, ho, who turned you into chocolate?! *shows a video of chocolate called born fruity*)

He tries to keep you away from Marik and the others

It's for the best, he says with that raspy voice

So for now, enjoy your friendship before it escalates

[messinwitheddie]

Have any tutorials of how you draw your tallest? (Or irkens in general?)

If Cini could wear any human casual clothing, what would he wear that is comfortable?

If he had it his way, would Cini change the life of Irken society?( you know with the whole tall and short thing.) or change everything with the empire expansion. We know their people must have many enemies with other alien races but if there was an alternative to that and not concur or go to war with them, would Cini be that one Tallest to break that cycles? I mean he looked tired of being tallest.

I'm not the best teacher. My drawings are pretty inconsistent. The best I can explain my process is, make a mark, erase a mark, rinse, repeat until it looks like a figure.

These were drawn super quick. Not sure how much help they'll be, but I tried to leave in as many reference lines in as possible.

These are some sketches on how I approach drawing a tallest with the typical JV bone-skinny body frame

The torso is where I struggle the most. I probably draw them too tall, but that's how it comes out.

It's fun to experiment with different body types;

From left to right; Tallest Spittle, Greezee and Blitz

From left to right: Tallest Miyuki, Dava and Kii

I have a tendency to draw women tallests with big hips (because that's fun for me), but Irkens really don't have gender dimorphism, and their fashion/ clothing styles are all unisex, so there's no need to follow that rule when you design your own ocs.

I would have to look through my blog to find any posts about how I draw smaller Irkens. Mostly same advice.

As far as Cini's choice in comfortable human clothing; his robes are very uncomfortable, so anything would feel comfy by comparison.

But I imagine he would immediately gravitate towards those flimsy tie dye sun dresses you see in those little hippie boutiques at the mall. Tie dye is something he would never have seen in the empire plus so many swirls and colors!

He would have a field day dress shopping. Most human male clothes would be too lacking in flair.

And to address the third question; Irkens are brainwashed at birth into believing their height based hierarchy is the natural and correct way for their society to operate and have been brainwashed into believing this for MILLIONS and millions of years.

I'm not sure if it's within the limits of his imagination to conceive a reality where Irkens did not serve a tallest who carried out the will and executed the design of the control brains.

BUT Cini wished from the moment he was measured someone, ANYONE else had been measured taller than him. His favorite partabout being tallest was lounging and smoking record breaking amounts of pipe amber.

His passion was his trapeze act and watching performances at the civilian theater. No "important" occupation really appealed to him when he was a cadet; too boring, not enough fun music and visuals. He only served in the military because all Irkens are required to go through basic training. His stats were a joke as far as his height bracket went. He stayed the same rank for almost 200 years.

Cini tried as hard as he could to be a good tallest, as much as his imposter syndrome made it for him. MOST of his reign was actually spent improving infrastructure within the empire's existing territories. He was a generous patron of the arts and sciences (beyond military research). Service drones legally received more off time and better medical benefits. Cini avoided brute force unless absolutely necessary. He loved to play ambassador. The Vortians, the Space Bees, the Inquisitorians, ect all became official allies of the Irken Armada during Cini's rule. He genuinely took the time and effort to listen to their concerns and compromise.

Cini was wise enough to know it's better to make friends than enemies in the long game, especially unnecessarily. The empire wasn't perfect, but Irkens and alien citizens alike enjoyed a higher quality of living under Cini's leadership methods.

It wasn't until the very end of his reign did he declare a war. He did so because of pressure forced down on him by the control brains, who were intimidated by the corrupting freedoms the lesser drones seemed to be enjoying and deeply concerned by the lack of new conquests that have been made over the centuries.

The Irken/ Planet Jacker war was bloody from the very beginning.

Cini would not live down the shame of his decision. Too many casualties on his conscience.

Every drone is worthy of dignity; Cini believed that. He would change A LOT about Irken society if he could. He tried. He wish he had tried harder.

[readerwithnosleep]

Book Series Specific Award Show Time!!

The categories are:

Most character development.

Least character development.

Best couple.

Best friendship.

Best chapter.

Best female character.

Best male character.

Best book of the series.

Most heartbreaking moment.

Most underrated character.

Most overrated character.

Plus an honourable mention.

The series of note in this case is the Zodiac Academy (plus additions from the connected series’) as it has quickly become my favourite series. For now that is.

SO! The results!

The award for Most Developed Character goes to:

🐺Seth Capella (ZA) because holy shit i hated this dude two books ago. I would basically skim his chapters when they appeared and now I'm smiling at the page when he comes on.

🐍Ryder Draconis (RB), like damn this man went from getting murderous, or horny it depends on if Elise was there or not, every time he saw the main group to being Nebular Allies with his worst enemy and walking around with DISNEY TATTOOS.

The award for Least Developed Character goes to:

🐲Darius Acrux (ZA), I really don't like this dude sometimes because his lack of change brings me such uncontrollable anger all the time and I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL- he. does. not. deserve. Tory. Like, they are perfectly matched but that means squat when he treats her like a clueless little girl all the time.

The award for Best Couple goes to:

💙🦇BlueLance (ZA) because THESE TWO have the best and purest relationship and they are so cute but also so fucking hot and sooo fierce when fighting for one another. Nobody can even attempt to come close to them.

The award for Best Friendship goes to:

🐍🦅Ryder and Gabriel (RB) because the friendship between these two was utterly heart breaking during how it began to fully form after the first Elysian Mate bond but the devotion to eachother that they end up with is UNMATCHED in the Ruthless Boys series.

💙❤️‍🔥Darcy and Tory (ZA), these two have such a strong relationship, I mean their bond transcends the effects of the shadows from the very first moment that they use them. They were my rock, my fall-to relationship throughout this whole series and it hurt when they were separated and at odds the most.

The award for Best Chapter goes to:

🦁💜🐍Chapter 21 - Warrior Fae (RB) was SO FUNNY. Leon was a genius and that's all I'm going to say. 🦇🦅Chapter 19 - Warrior Fae (RB) was so fucking bizarre but so absolutely hilarious that it makes sense that why 'Orio' and 'Noxy' are bonded by the stars because what other friend would not double over in laughter when that happens.

💙❤️‍🔥Fire trial chapter in Darcy's POV (can't find what chapter it was) in The Reckoning (ZA) because they were so damn badass when they literally WALKED. THROUGH. FIRE. Like, goddamn. I would gladly join the A.S.S. and bow to Tory and Darcy.

💙🦇Chapter sex ed - The Reckoning (ZA) when many readers where reading the chapter through the gaps in their fingers and tears of disbelief and laughter. It was so bloody funny!

The award for Best female Character goes to:

💜Elise Callisto (RB), while yes there was limited amounts of female characters that were actually good in the Ruthless Boys series, Elise was still a complete badass and she deserves more recognition then I'm giving her in this.

💙DARCY VEGA (ZA) because this girl is amazing in every way. Imma just sum up her brilliance in this quote in which she cut Seth down to size; "Iron is made stronger in the hottest part of the fire, Seth. You didn't break me, you forged me.” I am in love with her.

The award for Best male Character goes to:

🐍Ryder Draconis (RB) because he was tied favourite with Gabe but since we barely see Ryder in the other books there is more excitement at the prospect him popping up in them.

🦇Lance Orion (ZA) THIS MAN OWNS MY SOUL. I would be his doormat if he asked me to. If he told me to. Even if he looked at it, I would materialise into it and feel honoured when he stood on me.

The award for Best Book of the Series:

3️⃣The Reckoning - (ZA), this is my comfort book. It is before all the awful shit stars to happen at the scarily fast rate that it does for the rest of the series. Plus, BlueLance forms.

5️⃣Warrior Fae - (RB) because this is where everyone gets all mushy squash and the ✨group activities✨ were great. And when they actually got on there was some absolutely amazing scenes between them all and it warmed my wounded heart.

The award for Most Heart breaking Moment goes to:

🚨🦁THE CAVE WITH EVIL, SIREN, THERAPIST BITCH AND LEON. (RB) That scene made me bawl my eyes out at like five in the morning and it was NOT pleasant. Not fun.

🐉💙❤️‍🔥Y'know what? Nobody talks about it and it annoys me. When Catalina is given a star divorce by Darcy and Tory, that shit was heart breaking because of how unhappy she was for YEARS until that moment. It was a happy moment only because she had escaped.

The award for Most Underrated Character goes to:

🐉Catalina Acrux (ZA) because this woman was so strong and despite that she treated the twins, Orion, the Heirs and both of her boys with so much of the motherly love that most of them were missing growing up. She deserved every little speck of happiness that she could carve out of the world.

🍰Middle Kipling (RB) HEAR ME OUT! He provided so many weird ass moment that had me in tears of laughter every time. For example, the wedding?? That was peak comedy.

The award for Most Overrated Character goes to:

🦟Melinda Altair (RB specifically) I did not like her one bit in the Ruthless Boys series, I mean she outed them and almost got Ryder killed, brutally, many times. Idc that she is Elise's or Caleb's family, she was a bitch in those books.

🧛🐟Caleb Altair and Max Rigel (ZA) the only times that these two are not completely unbearable are when they are with their ships. If it wasn't for Seth and Geraldine they would be such extremely pointless wet blankets. Granted, they have some leeway with this because they are useful in the seventh book but other than then they are just kind of... there.

Now, finally the honourable mention goes to...

🐀Eugene Dipper! I loved this little guy when he appeared in both series'. He was funny and he became a much stronger Fae by the ZA books and I think he deserves a mention because he managed to escape Lionel's grip.

[mixsethaddams]

So... *rubs my grubby little hands together*

Who's been Vecna's spy in Hawkins all along?

No, it's not Will. We know what happens to him when Vecna is actively using him and it's too hard to ignore.

We also know from seeing Billy being flayed that Vecna is very clever to not go too far off the beaten track when it comes to how his hosts will act. Billy's hair got a bit neater, his clothes got a bit tidier, but otherwise he was just the same dude.

It's safe to assume that any change in the OG party members would have been spotted almost immediately by El. So Lucas and Dustin are, in my mind, out of the running. Lucas went looking for Will by himself in s1 after he fought with the others and was obviously invested in getting his friend back. Dustin, by his own observation, would have set off all the magnets and compasses that he carries around. Erica is out too, because of her willingness to get hands on is s3 & s4 to foil plans. Max isn't an option either because aside from the obvious reason of Vecna trying to kill her, she was too close to Billy. This is another way we can discount most of the main party; she would notice just as soon as El would.

I also personally believe the main grown ups of Hopper, Joyce, and Murray to be out of the running here too. Joyce very much fucked with Vecna's plans in s1 by refusing to believe any of the lies she was fed about Will and Hopper has had no real character changes through the seasons to warrant suspicion. Murray is just that little bit far enough outside of the main Hawkins orbit for Vecna to think of him as an option, and doesn't have enough allies in the town early on for him to be considered useful enough. Nancy and Jonathon I'm also discounting because of Jon's proximity to Will, and Nancy's willingness to shoot at anything larger than a golden retriever.

So now. Let's get down to brass tacks. Who is the spy?

Mike is an obvious option for a couple of reasons. When Will was still possessed, Mike was the one that broke him out of it and it was Will's encouragement that helped Mike talk El through her fight with Vecna. Is seeing and hearing each other so loudly through the fog more of a psychic bond than a spiritual one? As much as I am a Byler truther at heart, something tells me that Blue Meets Yellow In The West might be a Mike Vs Will showdown, and not a joining of forces. Mike has also had some significant changes happen. El noticed straight away when he started signing things 'From Mike' instead of 'Love Mike'. He stopped calling Will when they moved to California. He didn't rush to El's side when the other girl's were bullying her, he just looked around, bemused. Not only is this wildly removed from the person we got to know in s1 and s2, but it's so different to someone that his best friend describes as 'The Heart' of them all. Will felt something off about Mike too, when he got to California. Was that sense of Vecna being around just his presence in the Upside Down, or his psychic link to Mike?

Second up, we have Robin. Robin appeared with very little backstory and even Rebel Robin leaves a lot of guesswork and blank spaces. She just happens to speak Russian? As well as how many other languages? Interesting. Did Vecna think that his spy should be able to communicate with the people who were aware of his monsters? Robin also sustained very little damage in the Russian tunnels. She was held captive just like Steve but came out basically untouched. Was this the enemy recognising an ally? Or was it Vecna protecting his asset?

And Robin, of course, leads us to Steve. Oh Steve, beautiful Steve. Let's talk about Steve. Let's talk about Steve, who we know nothing about, who's family we have never met, who went through the biggest arc of all by inserting himself right in with the main group and earning their trust. Let's talk about the jock who can't win a fight until he's up against a literal soldier because maybe he knows how this solider was trained. Let's talk about all-of-a-sudden-has-blonde-highlights-wears-cherry-lipgloss-forgot-how-to-get-a-girlfriend-but-knows-how-to-connect-with-smaller-kids Steve. Let's talk about Steve who throws parties in his big house and invites everyone so he can see them all at the same time and make sure everyone knows who he is.

And isn't it just wild that our boy Steve got tortured so bad by those Russians but it was all superficial damage? No broken bones, no broken nose, hell, he doesn't even have a scar. What a coincidence that they mixed up the truth serum too, huh?

Do his parents really not come home of their own accord? Or do they just get this feeling that maybe they should extend their trip? Steve saw Billy up close and didn't even try to hold on to his King crown. Vecna saw Billy up close and felt bolder, so he let himself slip more into Steve's aesthetic. He added the hair, the lipgloss, lost the swagger, because he'd found Billy and he thought he was so close to winning. He got lazy.

Steve watches everyone closely. Steve knows everyone will tell him their secrets. Steve knows how to rip a demobat apart despite never seeing one before and knowing nothing about their weakspots, or that their blood isn't poisonous if it gets into his mouth.

Steve has been Vecna's spy all along. And in s5, Steve will sacrifice himself for his friends. Eddie was never Kas. It's always been Steve.

[quixoticrobotic]

who's a pair of atop the fourth wall characters you'd like to see get more screentime together?

literally all of them??????? which like i understand why we dont get that, obviously, thats a ridiculous demand. like logistically its not very doable i know this. i basically play with all the characters like dolls in my head i dont expect a ton casual slice of life character driven stuff from this show

but that being said...

off the top of my head

Mark and Linkara but like with them acting like friends and goofing around and mark actually getting to act like a teenager whos found family is a bunch of goofballs, rather than that weird dynamic where mark is just like the embodiment of patience and kindness and wisdom despite being a teenager talking to like, the first adult he ever felt safe around. like i wish the partnerfriends dynamic was a little more balanced??? like mark still has to have like thoughts and feelings and problems??? his best friend is right there!!!

Jaeris and LITERALLY EVERY REMEMBER OF THE COMICREW. like i guess its implied off-screen but like it really feels like they forgot the "to" in "enemies to mutual respect to friends" like. theres so much potential like i cant even type it all up but like.

ok so jaeris is bitter and cynical and frankly jealous that this comic book geek has ALL HIS LIL FRIENDS and ooooh cool wow thats so great you know what the power of friendship and kindness has done for jaeris? FUCKING NOTHING! and like Jaeris going from being like kinda disgusted by this group he kinda sees as like saccharine to the point of cringe like "goody two shoes and his bands of weird losers who like him" to having this big support system other other humans who he feels safe around LIKE PLEASE

nimue and eliza. like!!!! its canon nimue was the first member of the comicrew eliza really trusted that is canon! also like I know nimue just isn't very outwardly emotional and i love that for her! i think her characterization is really great! but like i'd like to see her when she's like. actually just kinda chillin, by nimue standards. and eliza is just always a really compelling and very funny character and just. i want them to hang out. also femslash

Mark and 90s Dude! smells like teen spirit and a literal teen spirit! they both have transmasc swag and i want them to goof off and be pals!

Joanna. just. any mention of joanna she has not been mentioned ONCE since her last appearance EVEN THOUGH YOU'D THINK JAERIS WOULD MENTION HIS WIFE, HIS WIFE WHO HE LOVES SO MUCH THATS WHAT POWERS HIS MAGIC GUN. HIS WIFE WHO HES MARRIED TO WHO IS PRESUMABLY WAITING FOR HIM BACK HOME WHENEVER HE SHOWS UP. IS SHE OK? IM STARTING TO WORRIED SHE'S LIKE DEAD, OR THEY GOT DIVORCED OFFSCREEN OR SHE JUST GOT RETCONNED OUT OF EXISTENCE OR SOME SHIT

tbh i wish the characters just mentioned each other more? it would help a to to make these characters feel like friends and allies who actually like each other. also it'd make it feel like the characters all have lives. like have linksano mention the romantic partners he canonically has like have him mention the fact that he went on a date, have linkara casually ask nimue if erin can still make it to bad movie night or if shes busy, have characters ask linkara how mark is doing since THE WHOLE COMICREW KNOWS MARK EXISTS, have harvey mention playing pokemon cards with linksano, LET JAERIS TALK ABOUT HIS WIFE, just like little offhanded comments that make it feel like they interact with each other

[thatboreddrake]

Dragonhearted, part one

Good afternoon! I hope that this will be part one of many, but we'll see how it goes. For context, this is basically going to be the backstory/experiences of my Tarnished (aka "Totally original OC do not steal /s")

The Battle of Aeonia: Radahn and Malenia locked in stalemate. Then, the scarlet rot blooms.

The knights stood at attention; all eyes fixed on their leader. The red-haired swordswoman gazed over the coming battlefield. Though her eyes had long-since been claimed by the Scarlet Rot, she did not need them to know what awaited in the valley below. Legions of Redmanes, soldiers sworn to the service of General Radahn, waited to repel what they perceived as an unwarranted encroachment. She knew better. Her second-in-command, Knight Commander Finlay, turned to address the waiting army.

“Warriors of the Haligtree! My comrades-in-arms! Today we fight not for honor, not for glory, and certainly not for Marika’s Golden Order!” Finlay proclaimed, “We march not for power nor for conquest, else we become akin to that which we forsook! We march to restore the one who was taken from us! We march for the restoration of Lord Miquella, Saint of Ordina, Healer of the Downtrodden, and Unalloyed Lord of the Haligtree! And we will not rest until he is safe!”

At this, a cry went up from the ranks, as soldiers shouted in affirmation and slammed the butts of their spears into the ground. Their shout was answered by a war cry from the valley below, equal in ferocity but overwhelming in sheer force of numbers.

Finlay began to issue orders to the knights. “Alef and Gimel Companies will form the vanguard force in a spearhead formation. Malenia and I will take point. We’re going to break through their lines and go directly for Radahn. Beit Company will form a rear guard, keep us from getting overrun. Dalet Company, you’re our reserve. Hold and wait for our signal. We’ll need your support once we’ve located Lord Miquella.”

Aelfric responded with a salute, “Acknowledged, Commander!”

It chafed Aelfric to be stuck once more at the rear of the battle, but he knew Commander Finlay’s strategy was sound. Beyond the tactical advantage of holding a company in reserve, he knew it was best for him not to be in the thick of the battle. Even with a helmet of unalloyed gold and the scarlet rot festering within him, controlling his instincts was a daily struggle.

Tear them apart! Show your strength! Make them bow before you!

The dragon is not my ally

Its hunger knows not man from beast

Its fire knows not friend from foe

If I give myself to the dragon, I lose myself

As he mentally recited the litany, he knew that it would offer only temporary relief. After eons of contending with the voices of slain dragons, he had resigned himself to their omnipresence in his life. On the best of days, he could almost drown them out entirely. As fate would show, however, today was not to be one of those days. Aelfric gripped the formless blood seal which had been carved into his right hand many years ago and began to chant a different litany.

The dragon is not my enemy

Its scales are a shield to those behind me

Its claws a sword to destroy those before me

Its breath a cleansing fire to purify the world

By the dragon's might I claim victory

IT’S ABOUT TIME! LET US TEAR THEIR FLESH AND GRIND THEIR BONES! VICTORY SHALL BE OURS!

As it would turn out, Aelfric need not have concerned himself with the eventuality of combat. The enemy would come to them. For all her tactical prowess, Commander Finlay had underestimated the zeal of the enemy Redmanes. Where sound strategy would dictate that the defending force wait for the opposition to break themselves on defensive fortifications, the Redmanes had instead elected to rush forward as one, fighting the Cleanrot Knights wherever they encountered them. While this dynamic approach served to stall the main body, there was none but one among them who could hope to stand between Malenia and her brother. A Redmane soldier swung at Aelfric, hoping to cleave his head from his shoulders in one strike. Instead, Aelfric deftly parried the swing and returned the favor with his scythe.

As he did so, he spared a moment to assess the state of the battlefield. Alef Company had stayed with Malenia, but nearly all of them had fallen before General Radahn, Conqueror of the Stars. Gimel and Beit Companies had formed a circular phalanx amid a sea of red surcoats, but Aelfric predicted they would eventually be overrun. As for his own company, they fought from the high ground and had suffered minimal casualties from the Redmanes’ assault, though their usage of fire had wreaked havoc on his defensive formation. As Aelfric raised his voice to announce a charge to relieve the encircled companies, his eyes beheld a symbol he prayed never to see. From across the battlefield, where the two demigods were locked in mortal combat, a crimson light illuminated the sky.

Rather than an order to charge, Aelfric whispered a quick incantation.

Roar of the dragon, make my words known

With a voice that echoed across the battlefield, Aelfric commanded,

“SCARLET BLOOM! BRACE FOR IMPACT!”

[tcplnyteens]

Review: A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

The classic magic school meets the morally-gray heroine in A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik. Sixteen-year-old El (short for Galadriel) is among a few thousand other high schoolers living in the Scholomance, a wizard boarding school where they learn spells, alchemy, and artifice (making magical artifacts). But there’s more to this magic school than what meets the eye, because it’s hiding a monstrous secret (literally): the school is constantly under siege by magic-hungry murderous monsters. 

I got this book as my summer reading freebie from TCPL! The library’s summer reading challenge runs from June 25 to August 5 this year, and all you need to do is stop by the teen desk and register to receive a prize book that’s yours to keep! You also get a form to record the number of minutes you spend reading each day, and for every 140 minutes you read, you get one entry into a gift card raffle. There are a lot of really good prize books being offered, so in my opinion it’s totally worth it to sign up for the challenge and get a new book to read! 

A Deadly Education follows El’s junior year of high school as she struggles to survive the monsters lurking in every corner of the school (again, literally) while staying on top of her coursework; trying to make allies and maybe, just maybe, some friends, despite her status as the unpopular loner; and building power for her graduation ceremony, when she must fight a horde of terrifying monsters to get out of the school. El’s not just a typical Scholomance student, though, because of a terrible prophecy that is trying its best to catch up to her. The gist of it is that El has a powerful affinity for spells of mass destruction, and she must painstakingly build up magic or else she’ll turn into a bloodthirsty dark wizard. Because of this, it’s actually quite difficult for her to use magic. On top of all of that, El has to deal with the pesky hero wannabe Orion Lake, who might just turn out to be the friend she’s been looking for. 

I absolutely loved the worldbuilding in this book and I enjoyed learning more about the Scholomance and its monsters as the story went on. The idea of having monsters being the main enemy of this world was a pretty refreshing deviation from the classic wizard-wars trope. The monsters’ lore, the way they can hide in innocuous places and lay siege to the Scholomance at certain times, and the detailed magical procedures the students must take to protect against them were all super unique and fun. The Scholomance itself and all of its quirks, including the murderous library with a mind of its own, the hallways that target students’ mental states, and the spooky void in the dorms, set it apart from all of the magic schools that have come before it and made it into a character of its own. Unlike some other book series, if there were ever a spin-off about the creation of the Scholomance, I would totally read it, because that’s how appealing and interesting this world is. 

On the other hand, the characters in A Deadly Education paled in comparison to the worldbuilding. I’m not saying the characters are bland—they definitely are not—but they are kind of underwhelming. I find it hard to believe that the entire class (minus El) basically worships Orion, who is about as likable and sociable as a sock. And, if I’m being completely honest, I thought El was annoying for a good half of the book. At some point, her edgy brooding monologues about not wanting to turn into a dark sorceress (of which there were many) got old and cringey. I also never really understood why she had to be so rude and bad-mannered to everyone. Even though she was unpopular, it didn’t seem like she was being targeted by the enclave kids, so I found it frustrating that she couldn’t show at least some basic decency to other people. We do eventually get some explanation as to why she acts the way she does when the author explores her hatred of enclaves, so I did eventually come to understand her perpetual rudeness. I really wish this explanation came sooner in the story, because I actually grew quite fond of El by the end of the book. It was super heartwarming and wholesome when she finally realized what friendship feels like after becoming allies with Aadhya and Liu. 

Overall, I would totally recommend A Deadly Education for anyone looking for a fun-filled read to devour in one sitting or let stew over several days, since this book is well-suited for either. There is a substantial amount of violence and foul language in this book, which is not so out-of-place for YA fantasy, but proceed with caution nonetheless! The many parallels to the real world in A Deadly Education make it a thought-provoking read—for example, the enclave kids’ status, which shields from the dangers other wizard kids face and gives them a leg up in getting out of graduation, mirrors the wealth disparities in our world that affect children’s future success. Although this book’s characters are unlikable at times, the exciting plot and rich worldbuilding more than make up for it. A Deadly Education will leave you hungry for more. 

~Tania

[augment-techs]

What happens now? Do we have another go?/Do we bow out and take our separate roads?- Allies or enemies by the crane wives

Kim and Sharkie

(I'm not gonna lie, this was really hard and after five drafts, this was also as far as I could get without tossing my computer out the window. I apologize.)

Of course since Tommy had a tragic backstory, it really did stand to reason that maybe Kim had one too.

Not tragic, not fully in the style of Shakespeare or Bronte, but...less than idyllic.

Kim was made for the bright lights, big city setting of Los Angeles; born and raised, and raised in the manner of the upward mobility of her family money and "good breeding" as her grandparents used to say when she saw them at holiday parties that included fake snow on pine trees three stories tall and covered in decorations that cost more than some families made in a year. She went to ballet when she was three and moved onto gymnastics when she was five; had the best tutors and trainers and parents who (she thought; was pretty sure) loved her and only wanted the best.

She also went to a private school before they moved to Angel Grove, from kindergarten to Freshman year, with her best friend that, well...

Sharkie reminded her of Bulk and Skull, when she thought about her between being a Ranger and her so-called "normal" life.

Pretty girl with a petty, mischievous attitude, a preference for nonconformity that often left her in trouble with teachers, and a complete disinclination to ever use her real name--though why, Kim never understood; Stella Angel wasn't such a bad name.

(It was the roots that the name carried that the girl didn't like to think about. If she had told Kim...well, she might not have fully comprehended what it was to be an immigrant and an abuse survivor, but she might have been more sympathetic. Even though there was no certainty in that, either. Kim could look back and realize she was rather innocent in her sheltered life and in that way, ignorant.)

Sharkie picked Kim up off the floor in gym class the day she got her first period and thought she was going to die, the other girls sneering and giggling and the teacher trying to keep Kim calm as she hyperventilated. Sharkie just told the others to get out of the way and carried the tiny brunette princess style into the shower room so she could rinse off and calm down, and handed her a thick pad for the spare underwear she yanked out of her own locker (they were cute and purple with a pair of pink ribbons sewn into the sides no bigger than a dime) and asked rather calmly if she would have preferred a tampon, "Since they last longer and you won't have to freak out if the pad leaks a little."

Kim had been too out of sorts to really think about it at the time, except that she didn't want to put anything inside her that looked like it would hurt, and the instructions weren't very helpful. Sharkie had merely shrugged and gave Kim a couple for later in case she changed her mind.

She walked out to tell the teacher Kim could talk to her, and spent the rest of the week tormenting the "little bitches" that tried to give Kim a hard time about something, "Totally normal; not her fault her parents weren't looking out for her with basic information."

Kim had her own sort-of friends, and her parents had their expectations of her that kept piling up and stifling her as they got closer and closer to the date she wasn't yet aware of that marked their moving to Angel Grove and away from all that she knew, but she tried to be something close to friendly with the girl that had looked out for her best interests in her own abrasive little ways.

They had lunch together in the art room sometimes, Sharkie chewing on a tongue sandwich between drawing charcoal shadow monsters and breaking glass and ceramics just to paste them back together into something else entirely that looked both scary and wonderful; kind of like her.

They went to the mall, sometimes, when being at home got to be too much for Kim, trying to block out her parents sniping at each other, and Sharkie sometimes goaded her into trying out new styles; grunge and punk and extremely femme or academic or--something that nobody would ever see the pictures of or Kim would walk directly into the bottom of the ocean--honest to god southern gothic. Everyone at school gave them a wide berth for a week when they made a bet that Kim couldn't handle wearing so much black and makeup and Sharkie couldn't handle going for something so pastel and girly.

They both lost because it was the summer five days before Kim's parents told her they were moving; Kim came close to suffering heatstroke and Sharkie almost caught on fire from showing so much pale skin without remembering to put on sunscreen for the boardwalk or getting Kim to go to the fair before it moved on.

When Tommy talked about Tyler and growing up in New York in the aftermath of her being so fucking mad at him for going off on his own to infiltrate a secret society of ninja, she didn't let up on her pouting and guilt tripping, but she could understand the need to do what you could for someone that cared about you when you didn't know you needed someone like that.

He showed her a photo they took at one of those little booths for tourists, tiny and with clothes too big for them, but happy in the moment with each other.

Kim showed him one similar, but not quite after the Eltarian War and the new surge of rebuilding sites and feeling like she kept missing running into a familiar face she almost didn't think about so often, phantom feeling of her hanging out in the girl's bathroom that almost none of the teachers went into, smoking a joint with the dates Bulk and Skull had at their failed Homecoming.

*

"A drug Renaissance in Angel Grove? Really?"

"Yeah, I know, it's fucking stupid, but Grace asked if I--if we, actually, because I am not good at this--could look into this on the down-low because the police are worthless and some of Grace's employees are worried about their kids dropping like flies at the college."

"Is it really that bad?" Matt steepled his fingers like the roof of a house before waving them a little back and forth, thumbs hooked and reminding her--awkwardly--of a little child trying to make shadow puppets.

"Bulk beat the shit out of some guy that offered to sell him some last week for distribution after the guy had already tried his luck following Skull around like a creep and asked basically the same thing but, like, the wrong way? And the poor bastard reported him to the school security guard under the impression that he was gonna snatch some Freshman. So, yeah, I'd say it's pretty bad."

"No, I meant the drugs--although, thank you for that information; that actually explains...some stuff going on with those two," the two of them keeping court with the other loners and stragglers and being less impulsive and more protective lately came to mind, but Kim needn't comment on that when Matt knew too, "Anyway, is it something like meth or cocaine?"

"Eh, I think it's more like some fast acting roofies? Terona tried to explain it like I'm five, but all I got was that the first symptoms are usually waved away as just general dizziness from drinking, followed by either lowered or increased body heat, and then blacking out of memory even while conscious at the time. Most of the people reported not remembering anything beyond looking for water or a bathroom and then waking up in various states that heavily implied assault. Two college students ended up in a coma because the offenders used to much of the drug and just left them to the elements after...Just after."

Kim sighed, thinking of all the schoolwork she already had piled up, the little class of beginner gymnasts as Ernie's she needed to teach the next day, the promise to take Aisha on a girl's only shopping quest after realizing both their closets were in sorry need of improvement...

Still, she was getting better at doing the right thing, and the words just fell out with as much ease as anything else in her life, "Yeah, yeah. Lemme just talk to the others. Maybe me and Billy can get Bulk and Skull talking about the party circuit they mentioned and we can grab an invite without seeming too suspicious."

*

Salt and water poured in a glass and pressed to her lips.

Between the swallow and the burning of the vomit it brought up--bright blue, never a good sign when she'd been drinking her precious color from the wine cooler selections she'd heavily watered down--Kim was aware of the girl holding her hair back and the look of distaste across her face as she told Skull to get Bulk and start clearing out the drugged drinks (bless him, bless him for noticing and getting someone with more experience; she'd hate to think what would have happened otherwise).

When she was done vomiting up the foam and toxin, and blinked at the other girl, Kim suddenly felt as though she'd scratched open an old wound without realizing it.

"Hope you didn't develop an eating disorder with all the monsters that run around here, Kimmy."

The hair was longer and wilder, the clothing not too different from what Kim expected the girl to grow into liking, the makeup popping in such a dark shade compared to such gray skin. The accessories of silver hoop earrings and black pewter knuckle rings shouldn't have drawn Kim's eyes, but they stood out in the kitchen as she slowly came back into some semblance of her right might and kept her from looking directly into the other (beautiful) face.

Then she doubled up and puked on the combat boots that went thigh high and looked expensive, yet well used.

"I was kidding."

[internettrawler]

Curse of Strahd Campaign ask thing for @mandisawesome:

As for spoilers: we have finished the campaign are our characters are somewhere in the feywild for further chaos

1. Introduce your party: who are they at the start of the campaign?

Elin--half elf feylock whose pact involves being the star of a fey reality TV show

Sariel-Elin’s best friend and a half elf lore bard who is the flesh prison of a demon barbarian that sometimes escapes containment

Narzzy--noble dragonborn thief who learned his trade by stealing food from his family’s kitchens

Sparkle-Narzzy’s forest gnome fighter best friend/self proclaimed bodyguard who is easily distracted by basically everything.

Shaumar-human devotion paladin that was trying to get into fantasy lawschool and did not sign up for this shit

2. How/why did you come to Barovia?

Everyone but the paladin got an invitation to help via a fancy lady that may or may not have been a fey in disguise. The paladin got sucked into Barovia to be the personal plaything of Strahd (aka played came in late and we DM ex machina-ed him in)

3. What did your Tarokka reading reveal?

(The Anarchist) This card tells of history. Knowledge of the ancient will help you better understand your enemy: I see walls of bones, a chandelier of bones, and a table of bones—all that remains of enemies long forgotten.

(the mercenary) This card tells of a powerful force for good and protection, a holy symbol of great hope. The thing you seek lies with the dead, under mountains of gold coins.

(the illusionist) This is a card of power and strength. It tells of a weapon of vengeance: a sword of sunlight. A man is not what he seems. He comes here in a carnival wagon. Therein lies what you seek

(the Broken one) Your greatest ally will be a wizard. His mind is broken, but his spells are strong.

(the Beast) Your enemy is a creature of darkness, whose powers are beyond mortality. This card will lead you to him! The Beast sits on his dark throne.

4. Did your DM make any major changes to the module?

Not really, just let character’s backstories cause chaos. Fey patrons asked for some shit for their show and the bard’s inner demon caused chaos a few times. Paladin almost died of exhaustion from refusing to sleep because of Strahd’s torment, but that was just a slight modification to RAW.

5. Did your party travel with any NPCs?

We tried to travel with Rictavio, but he wanted nothing to do with us. We did the last fourth of the campaign with Ezmeralda.

6. Who is your/the party's favorite NPC?

Blinksy--we bought every toy he would sell us. We were basically Barovian Santa by the end of the campaign. We were also fond of Escher, but he died before we could form as strong a bond as we did with Blinksy

7. Most hated NPC?

The Hags. We hated them so bad. The paladin hated Ez, but even he admitted that the Hags were worse on paper.

8. How did your first meeting with Strahd go?

No one died, but it was at a funeral. We also got our poor tormented Paladin who would have tried to murder him if he wasn’t on like five HP.

9. Did you attend dinner at Castle Ravenloft?

We did. We were polite until the fey patrons insisted on asking the warlock to cause a little chaos by casting remove curse on Strahd. We definitely got thrown into the dungeons and had to escape.

10. What was your favorite location to visit?

The Dread Castle was our favorite place as players. We snuck in at least twice after the dinner. PCs liked Mordenkeinen’s Magnificent Mansion the best because it wasn’t Barovia.

11. What was the scariest thing your party went through?

Baba Lysaga nearly killed everyone in the first round with a well placed spell. Which meant we ended up losing our only healer AND dealing with a demon on top of everything.

12. Did any player characters or beloved NPCs die?

Escher. RIP to a gentleman and writer of moste excellent fictions (which are currently being published and enjoyed by the fey fans). Bard would have died three times if she wasn’t a prison for a demon, Rogue would have died by goat if not for the Fey Patrons.

13. Did anyone find love?

Ismark fell for Paladin. Paladin fell for Bard. Bard rolled shit to spot his feelings, so she fell for Ez, who doesn’t do relationships. Warlock tried her hand at matchmaking and botched it so bad that no one knew who they liked for a while. Escher fell for Rogue. Fighter fell in love with magic and friendship (which is obviously the best ship)

14. What is your favorite memory from the campaign?

Funniest momenst were when Narzzy the rogue botched a slight of hand check to steal from Strahd and grabbed the wrong rod of power and when the warlock bitch-slapped the paladin with eldritch blast because he needed to sleep before he got so exhausted that we had to carry him.

Favorite moment was when we all flew in to stay at one of the player’s houses for the final three sessions for a Strahd murder sleepover complete with creepy snacks and cats (everything’s better with cats).

15. Did you defeat Strahd???

Yes...but we all rolled shit to put that final stake in. Three nat 1s and no rolls above 5 between 5 PC and 2 NPCs for two rounds.

16. Re-introduce your party: who are they currently, or at the end of the campaign?

Narzzy is now a gentleman thief and cook who has started a very successful chocolate trade route into Barovia.

Sparkle is a fighter with more smarts than strength or sense, but now with super shiny sword and a fey familiar that has almost caused two separate inter-planar incidents.

Elin’s show has been renewed for a second season and has a steady stream of fan mail that gives her minor boons (or curses) as she does her thing.

Sariel has gotten a decent hold on her inner demon and accidentally summoned a pegasus. She’s the current fey favorite and the Witchlight monarch.

Shaumar is looking into the feylock’s contract to see if his personal life can stop being broadcast to the entire feywild, especially now since he finally got the bard of his dreams to roll higher than a ten insight to realize that he loved her romantically.

[dwarf-vader-of-middle-earth]

The best thing in the world is that, last night, I dreamt me and my son (kitty Patron) saved the world together with the help of our fictional dad who took us in, and his good friend and ally, Astarion from BG3.

And the dream itself was epic as hell. Basically, Patron and I wandered upon an ancient castle one night, and it was clearly still lived in and being used. Guards stood at the doorway, others marched along the paths of the courtyard, and the doors opened to reveal a king. He was a Vampire, and the castle had an equal amount of Humans and Vampires inside, coexisting. The king welcomed me and my kitty, and so we stayed a while.

At some point, I became a Vampire myself (don't remember when, but the king himself turned me and accepted me as his son, and my cat as his grandson), and I eventually learned of an ancient prophecy that told the castle about a long lost god of the hunt, and that they were planning to lay siege on the castle and eradicate the Vampires and the Humans who'd been helping them. This ancient god was wicked, with powerful, unfathomable magic and prowess, and they wanted to dominate the world as we knew it, taking over both Humans and Vampires to make them their underlings.

Eventually, the god escaped and started attacking. The entire castle went to war, but me and Patron took on the god ourselves. I mustered powers I didn't know I had, and sealed the castle off and cast it into a separate dimension for a time to seal the god off from the outside world to cause more destruction. Trapping them, Patron and I fought together, and so did the people of the castle, but he and I landed the final blow.

The castle returned to its usual place in the world and proper dimension. My dad, the king, walked out and said that his ages old enemy was finally slain, and by a power stronger than his own, stronger than that of a god. He bowed to me and Patron, thanking us, because we had the fury and strength greater than himself. He was the second god of the world, defending and uniting its people from his enemy, the god of the hunt, who wanted to enslave everyone, whereas my dad wanted to keep everyone free.

To thank us, he made me and Patron into gods, and we ascended with him to the throne now won.

The castle hailed me and Patron, the cat who somehow had lightning powers and shot bolts from his eyes.

We, as a castle, lay all the fallen in tombs in an ancient crypt once reserved only for Vampires long ago, but had now become the sacred resting grounds for any warrior of the castle who fell defending it.

A while later, I decided to go with Patron into that crypt, after the land had been at peace for months or possibly even years. That fucking place was MEGA haunted, and I FELT the fear as the fallen wandered the place aimlessly, lost and confused. The two of us escaped and went to my dad to warn him of the haunting in there.

He just shrugged it off literally, and said Astarion could show us how to navigate the place easier.

Yeah idk how or why, but Astarion showed up, and took me and Patron back into the crypt, then he flicked a light switch and immediately the wandering spirits just went back to their tombs, and Astarion literally said, "You just need to flip the switch, darling." Then we went on to do some kind of cleansing ritual? And that finally put everyone to rest in the crypt.

Everything was peaceful after that, until a neighboring group moved in down to the caves nearby, and they were a company that advertised clean energy, but I quickly found out they were a pyramid scheme that was causing horrible emissions and ruining the world by going place to place to sell their products. It was implied that Patron and I took them down somehow, but idk how because I woke up at that point.

What a fucking wild ride.

[cyanlastride]

can i tell you a story? for my own good, not yours. you have no obligation to listen.

im warning you now, its an unpleasant one.

the summer before grade 10, i made the best choice of my life. i was feeling a bit lonely, and inspired by my dad to try playing D&D. finding myself lacking real-life friends -- it was the summer, you see, the most barren and socially isolating time of the year, beating even christmas break -- i took to Roll20, an online forum where people meet and start TTRPG groups, dnd5e being chief among them. now, i grew up very closely to the internet. club penguin, nexuiz/xonotic, planeshift, i grew up socializing with people online quite often. but internet forums, even as dull as reddit, werent really my thing. hell, i only got this tumblr account recently. so, making the spur of the moment decision to make a roll20 account and reply to an LFG for new players was really quite a leap for me. a complete shot in the dark.

but it paid off. we had a bit of a rocky start after our first GM ran off never to be seen again, but one of the players stepped up to be our new GM and we played almost every week for almost a year and a half. i forged a strong bond with both the players and the characters -- at the time, i didnt really distinguish between the two. we had some close calls, a lot of near misses, and my character even died once. our party had two paladins, and i was one of them, so resurrection wasnt too big of a deal. eventually, though, we bite off more than we could chew, and land in some pretty hot water. specifically, an underground church full of rats. how we ended up there and the mighty battle that took place are wonderful and thrilling stories for another day. we had to stop the session mid-battle, i dont remember why, but we picked it up the week after. when we came back, we were prepared to fight to the last. if either myself or the other paladin survived, we could resurrect the party with the diamonds on the iron band i had forged around my wrist. if any of the other party members survived, they could bring the bodies up to the surface and get help. we just had to win the fight.

now, being a new player playing pretty much a pre-gen'd paladin, i went the standard plate armour plus sword and board. this made my AC suuuper high, enough that enemies could only really hit me on a roll of 18+. also, if they rolled a nat 20 against me, i had a magic shield that would absorb some of the blow and actually heal myself and my allies for a couple turns. so the only way they can actually hurt me reliably is if they rolled 18 or 19. i was facing off against some random rogue that i didnt know and didnt care to know. if i landed one solid hit on this lady, i could smite her into oblivion. she was a goon, basically.

a goon that rolled three 19s in a row.

a goon that killed me, and any chance i had of saving my friends.

rolling an 18 or a 19 on a 20 sided die is 1/10. rolling three in a row is (1/10)^3, or 1/1000. one in a thousand. that sounds small, right?

fate and chance make mockeries of our lives more often than anyone cares to admit.

we kept playing after that, made new characters, but the loss was real. that probably sounds stupid, especially to people that have had real people close to them die, but to me, my closest friends of the past year were gone because of a stupid chance.

ive taken small risks more seriously since then. i dont drive, and i stare drivers in the eye when i cross the street. im not scared of dying, but i want to see it coming.

when covid started, i spent a lot of time staring death in the face.

not my own death. i was/am unlikely to die from covid. i barely even go outside enough to be at risk of catching a cold. im young, and im healthy.

my parents are older, and less healthy. my mom is a highschool teacher.

ive spent the last 4 years thinking every so often about what i would do if they died. ive treated it as a real possibility that something could happen to them. ive been mentally preparing myself. even now that we're mostly out of the covid danger zone, that preparation remains.

i never considered what might happen if only one of them fell ill. when my dad messaged me that my mom was going into emergency surgery, i could handle that. when my mom was moved into the ICU, i was glad. she is getting the care she needs from experts and professionals, and shes doing okay.

when we get the call that my dad's father, who lives in a resthome in another city, hasnt been seen in two days and that the ambulance just drove away without loading anyone in the back, i can handle that. to be honest i really didnt know my pappa that well.

when my dad, my stoic old dad, breaks into tears after starting the sentence "they can't both die..."

thats harder.

one in a thousand.

its not as small as you think it is.

thank you for listening. my mom, my dad, myself, we're going to be okay.

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

(ii)

Makoto Naegi is my arch enemy for a REASON. The moment he showed up unannounced, your plan was SCREWED.

It doesn't matter how, or why. No matter what you do, you CAN'T. BEAT HIM. Even if you managed to make him feel Despair for a while, not even an hour later and he's immediately back on his feet.

I couldn't make him feel Despair. What makes you think you could've subjugated him?

... ... ...

You really are a merciless bitch, aren't you? Not even your own allies are spared of your emotional beatdowns.

You'd best get used to it, "old friend," because even if you are a bunch of washed up morons, I'm not done using you yet.

So where are we going? Our home and everything we had is basically destroyed.

Relax Hackerman. I called in a favor from an old friend who used to pain the town with me back in the Tragedy's heyday. Haven't seen him in a while...It'd be nice to catch up.

And who is this friend exactly? Can we trust him?

Let me put it this way. I trust him more than I trust you.

Fair...

Speaking of new faces though...There's a couple of people that I want to introduce you to! We just picked up a couple more losers from the last station!

*As Junko says this, another figure skulks into the room.

Looks like I'm finally meeting you chumps face to face.

And you are?

You can call me Tsutsuji Magahara. I'm a friend and partner of Matta's.

Oh...right...Sorry about what happened to your buddy back there...

...What are you talking about?

Matta. He died. Right?

???: Says who...?

!!!??

What...!?

...!?

*A third person enters the carriage from behind Tsutsuji.

You all honestly expected me to be dead? I'm a little bit offended by that, I'm not going to lie...

*Matta emerges from the carriage, not only alive, but completely unscathed.

Can you blame us? We heard you got torn apart by Kurafto and your body was still inside the factory when the explosion went off...

But surely you must've realized that you can't keep someone like me down for long...

'snot like I've ever seen you fight before...

Let's fix that! Let's go a few rounds!

Narumi...PLEASE not now...Any time but now...

...Sorry...I was...just trying to lighten the mood.

Good to have you back though Matta. Though I'm pretty surprised you didn't decide to cancel your contract...

Don't give me any more reason to. What happened back then was appalling. The only reason I'm still here is because I think there's still use for you guys...

Some Serious BS: Part 1.

*Around that same time, a cargo train transports some supplies and resources to the northernmost part of Japan. However, this train carries some rather interesting cargo.

——————————————————————

...I made you some tea.

...?

It's not as good as the usual one, but thankfully I found some bags in one of these boxes. Figured no one would miss one or two of 'em going missing.

Thank you.

*Celeste gingerly sips the tea out of a saucer with shaking arms, cringing at the taste. On top of the pain, she's notably underdressed, and the air of the cargo train is chilly.

...Can I get you a drink too? Looks like you'd need one.

...

...Mgh...?

Don't worry...I'll get you a straw Koyasunaga.

Oi. Since when were you our resident caretaker? Don't think I've ever seen you so friendly...

*Akira indignantly turns to her.

Since Yukari kicked the fucking bucket...! Or did you FORGET about that part?

...

I mean...

*Akira strides over to the back of the cart and opens the door into the next one.

The Boss Lady ain't doing it any time soon.

... ... ...

*In complete and total agony and despair, with burns all over her body, Tsumugi looms over, silently, without the strength or the will to speak.

*sigh* ...

*Akira leaves the door open slightly ajar, so he can check on Tsumugi should the need arise.

Yukari, Alter Ego, Otonokoji, Gyalusetsu...Not to mention the factory's completely gone, and the Hope Cultivation Plan is dead in the water...We took a lot of real bad losses today...

Danganronpa Survivor ain't gonna happen any time soon.

Then what the hell do we do? We went too far in. Even if the plan's kaput, we can't back out now. I joined this side because I was confident we would win, and yet you've all-

Tae, listen. The world doesn't revolve around you, and things don't happen just because you want them to. That goes for everybody.

We took a hit, but come on guys! We can shake it off!

...!

mgggh...

Hellloooo~ Good to finally meet the lot of you face to face. How are you liking the place?

Have to admit...I wasn't expecting a cargo train to be your hideout. You were really waiting for us this whole time.

Well, I figured it'd be a good place to hide out for the time when the factory exploded. By the time I got to the station and by the time the train pulled up outside the factory, you guys would be able to make it here.

So you knew the factory was gonna explode?

Kid, I'M the one who blew it up. It would be more accurate to say I knew exactly when Tsumugi-chan's plans were gonna fail. I'm sure Yukari knew as well, with my Alter Ego...But she would never say that to her.

Couldn't we have done SOMETHING? ANYTHING to fix those assholes in their place!? I can't just accept that everything's gone to hell in just ONE DAY!

That...sounds weirdly HOPEFUL for an agent of Despair...I think you guys are forgetting something.

[vintagegeekculture]

The Chinese Cultural Inspirations for Dragon Ball Z and Super

Journey to the West was only the beginning. 

A lot of people are vaguely aware that Dragon Ball was inspired by Chinese culture and Hong Kong Kung Fu movies and novels, but are unaware of how deep and long lasting it goes. The Japanese spent the 1980s fascinated by China, which opened up from being a closed society for decades in 1978; the most famous human being in Japan in the 80s was either Michael Jackson or Jackie Chan. 

In fact, a lot of people commonly believe that the Chinese action movie and Kung Fu novel cultural and media influence on Dragon Ball ended very early on. This is untrue. Sure, we started to see qipaos and cheongsams less frequently when they headed to West City, but it absolutely did not finish, because there’s tons of influence to see even as impossibly late as Dragon Ball Super. Interestingly, I don’t think any of these point of inspirations have been pointed out before, mainly because a lot of Chinese adventure novels are simply not available in English. 

 The Piccolo/Gohan plot was inspired by the Chinese action novel “Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre.”

Okay, tell me if you’ve heard this story before: a truly demonic, weird looking monster villain is defeated by a martial arts hero, but by circumstance, is forced into training his greatest enemy’s young son. The villain trains the young boy, the son of his enemy, in martial arts and over time, becomes like a second father or uncle to him and his family, putting the boy in his “evil” sect, and thanks to his love of his rival’s son, this baddie turns over a new leaf and goes from evil to just…grumpy, and becomes a loyal, though gruff, ally of the boy.

Of course, the events of Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre are a bit different from Dragon Ball in details. The Lion King becomes Wuji’s teacher because they are both stranded together on an island after a shipwreck, for instance, and he is blinded and made vulnerable. Also, the Lion King wasn’t so much evil so much as he was misunderstood by the orthodox martial world. However, in broad outlines, this trajectory for a face turn (becomes friends with his greatest enemy’s son, and becomes like a second father to him as he trains him, causing the villain to become a gruff good guy and ally) is essentially from one of the most famous Chinese novels ever written in the 1960s. 

Oh, and while we’re at it, Gohan is likewise inspired by another character from a Louis Cha novel: the Prince of Dali Duan Yu in the Kung Fu novel Demigods and Semi-Devils. The Prince in that novel is a naïve, pacifistic scholar who prefers books to fighting, and who was raised to be timid and avoid combat, absolutely out of step with his family, all of whom are martial artists and warriors. In fact, the beginning of the story is the prince gets incredibly lost in the wilderness, where the hopelessly naïve prince is utterly out of his depth, with all the robbers and scary beasts, and needs to be saved by real martial artists that protect him like fairy godparents. He spends the first part of the story running away from everything, scared as hell. However, by circumstance, he has naturally high power he cannot fully initially control, and eventually realizes that even scholars and others who hate fighting have to sometimes become fighters to protect those they love.

The Duan Yu part of Demigods and Semi-Devils was made into a film, the Battle Wizard, which was reviewed by PewDiePie. The Dragonball similarities went over his head because, honestly, PewDiePie does not strike me as a perceptive person. 

 Hit was based on the screen persona of Chow Yun Fat.

Chow Yun Fat was a Hong Kong cinema superstar who was to director John Woo what Robert de Niro was to Martin Scorsese. There are three giveaways that Hit was based on Chow Yun Fat. One, he’s an assassin, same as Chow Yun Fat’s character in the Killer, and is even given a sequence that’s a John Woo homage with an assassination in an office building with guns pulled on an empty elevator in an act of misdirection. Second, he’s wearing the single piece of clothing Chow Yun Fat is associated with, a black trenchcoat (fun fact: in Hong Kong today, trenchcoats are called Brother Mark Coats, after Chow Yun Fat’s character in John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow). Third, his power is essentially bullet time, a visual technique refined by John Woo in Hong Kong in the 80s and 90s in his gunplay triad movies starring Chow Yun Fat (what, you think the Wachowskis invented it?).

 The Goku/Vegeta relationship is from “Legend of the Condor Heroes.”

Here’s a story you might have heard before. It’s about two rivals, but by circumstance, one is raised in the wilderness beyond civilization, where he becomes an honest and goodhearted, though overly naive bumpkin, martial arts prodigy. The other is raised a wealthy prince by a conquering enemy, who grows up to also become an armor wearing martial arts expert, but also a cunning, arrogant, emotionally distant sociopath.

The similarities go into their love lives, too. The unsophisticated bumpkin hero is betrothed to a daughter of a powerful bearded barbarian king against his will, while the one hint of vulnerability and loss of emotional detachment in the otherwise sociopathic prince, the crack in his smirky arrogance, is that he loves a girl he otherwise pretends to hate, and even fathers a child with her who becomes a main character later.

This is Guo Jing and Yang Kang from Legend of the Condor Heroes. The most fascinating similarity, and proof that female psychology is the same all over the world, is that the fangirls love the emotionally distant, arrogant, and sexy/evil prince (remember when Rhonda Rousey said her first crush was Vegeta?). Girls everywhere love bad boys and sexy villains, and oh boy, do they love Prince Yang Kang. I think you can probably guess who all the fan art is about for Legend of the Condor Heroes, and what ship is the most popular.

I have to emphasize that Legend of the Condor Heroes, which came out in the 1950s-60s, is possibly the most widely read novel by the most widely read novelist on earth - the sales on that dwarf Twilight and Harry Potter. It’s probably not an exaggeration to say nearly every Chinese person, even if they never read it, knows who these characters are. In fact, Yang Kang and Guo Jing from Condor Heroes are basically repeated over and over in Asian, Chinese, and Japanese culture. Does the unsophisticated but gifted martial arts prodigy bumpkin hero, and the glib, arrogant wealthy prince rival remind you of….another duo of rivals?

Gohan/Videl comes from Little Dragon Maiden

One of the most important and influential Martial Arts novels of all time is “Return of the Condor Heroes.” A sequel to Condor Heroes, this time, the main character is the teenage son of one of the main characters from the first novel. It gets even more familiar from there.

“Return of the Condor Heroes” was about a martial arts couple who are also master and student, the same age but vastly different in experience and skill so one somehow seems “older,” and they fall in love because the circumstances of training together requires they spend lots of time together and become intimate. The training story and the love story are exactly the same in “Return of the Condor Heroes.” The dead giveaway one story inspired the other is that in both, the most significant training sequence is one where the master teaches the student how to fly (though Return used a chamber of sparrows for lightness Kung Fu).

There are some differences of course – obviously in Return of the Condor Heroes, the genders of teacher and student are flipped from Gohan and Videl (it’s the Little Dragon Maiden who is a powerful teacher, and the boy who is the student). It was the girl (Videl) who was a rebellious delinquent in Dragon Ball Z, when it was the opposite in the novel, true. But it was obvious this story was in the back of the creator’s mind as a way to combine Kung Fu with the love story, by making teacher and student lovers.

Addendum: hey, remember that awesome movie Kung Fu Hustle, the one Hong Kong movies normies have seen? Well, remember the landlord and landlady? The landlady was named Xiao Lung Nu, or Little Dragon Maiden, and her husband was named Yang Guo – the same as the main characters in Return of the Condor Heroes. It was a joke that went over the heads of Westerners, by giving these names of attractive and naïve young people in love with each other to a surly, bitter, arguing and chain smoking middle aged couple who don’t give a damn.

 Going Super Saiyan comes from “Reincarnated” aka “Bastard Swordsman.”

Stop me if this sounds familiar: a terrifying warlord tyrant prone to killing underlings who displease him has achieved a level of skill and cultivation so tremendous nobody can stop him. But there is one, and only one, thing he fears and that can defeat him: a long-lost legendary skill that nobody has achieved in recent memory, that includes a supernatural combat power transformation that turns the hair light to indicate it worked.

This is “Silkworm Skill” from Reincarnated aka Bastard Swordsman, a novel and TV series from Hong Kong in the early 1980s. Of course, there are differences. To get the power boost and new hair color, the hero has to jump in a cocoon he weaves himself. In fact, the scene is so well known that they actually have it on the poster.

(To those saying “Super Saiyan turns your hair blonde, not white” my response is that it turns hair white, or uncolored, in the comic book.)

The idea of your hair turning white to indicate a new supernatural combat transformation or martial state wasn’t created by Bastard Swordsman, though – though it is the best example and probably the one most familiar to a 1980s audience due to the hugely popular books and TV series. For an older example, a famous Chinese movie based on a folktale is “Bride With the White Hair,” about a bride who’s hair turns white when she is betrayed, in her anger, she becomes less a woman and more a supernatural creature of vengeance (interesting that anger should be the means to unlock it).

[mcheang]

Too much kindness

Watching Chinese dramas made me angry because the villains were forgotten/forgiven and practically came back to harm the heroine.

Marinette had been watching Chinese dramas with her mother and recently, she realized something. The heroines were kind and decided to move on from the hurts their enemies gave them, before being pretty much taken offguard when their enemy striked again.

Marinette thought about her past situations. She agreed to ignore Lila and her declaration of war after Adrien’s advice. The next thing she knew, she got expelled. Even after she was readmitted, Lila practically warned her that their enmity was still there.

And no matter how much Ladybug scolded or gave Chloé second chances, the bully was as vain and mean as ever. I mean, come on, she sided with Hawkmoth. Hawkmoth!

Marinette didn’t want to be taken offguard again, of having to deal with another one of their dramas.

It was time to end their influence and power once and for all.

What were her obstacles?

Lack of influence: Damocles was weak when Chloé threatened to sic the mayor on him or Lila warned that disturbing a diplomat at the embassy was a bad idea.

Solution: Hello, she’s Ladybug. Paris’ beloved heroine. If it came to a public showdown between her and the mayor, given Chloe’s infamy, the public would side with her. And as Lila’s so-called BFF, Ladybug can easily shut down that nonsense with a little help from some celebrities who would be glad to help her. Jagged and Clara are fans of hers.

Then there was Adrien. Marinette quailed at the idea of disappointing him. She hated to do that. But if it was between his disapproval (Tikki reminded Marinette that he is still friends with the class after they celebrated Chloé moving to New York, so he’ll be fine) or another impending incident where Marinette is in trouble....ok it took a while for her to settle on the second option. But she’s crazy when it comes to Adrien.

Besides, her priority is that he like Marinette, not Ladybug. Even though she really wants him to like both aspects of her.

So even if he disapproves of Ladybug, at least he’ll still be Marinette’s friend.

And who knows, if Lila or Chloé succeed at their next round, he might hate her too! So really, the second option is better, right? (Tikki: right!)

When all the public exposure was over (basically Alya live-streamed Ladybug demanding Damocles be a proper principal and stop letting Chloé off the hook or blindly believing Lila)

Surprisingly Chat Noir was fine with Lila’s exposure and admitted he found out she faked an injury during Onii Chan’s attack.

Ladybug stared at her partner. “And you just left me with her?”

Chat’s upcoming lecture about how Chloé should be given another chance was halted at the accusation in her eyes. “It’s not like she could hurt you.”

Ladybug: she can still try to steal my earrings if I actually had to send her home. What the hell, Chat? Why didn’t you tell me this?

Chat: i didn’t want you to get any angrier with her.

Ladybug: so you’d rather I believe Lila had forgiven me when she really rather I get impaled by a sword?

Chat: i...i...

Ladybug: you know what, don’t talk to me again until you can prove you actually have my back. I don’t need a partner like you. I need someone I can actually count on.

Chat flinched.

Ladybug swung away angrily.

While Tikki tried to get Marinette to calm down and forgive Chat, she replied, “I could have died Tikki. Died. Like Joan did.”

Tikki stopped. Ok, so maybe Chat did need to think things through.

Adrien asked Plagg what he should do.

Plagg yawned. “Quit being so wishy washy. You need to pick a side and stay there.”

Adrien: but I don’t want to hurt anyone

Plagg: you think Ladybug wanted to humiliate others? She gave Chloé and Lila another chance and apologized or whatever. They didn’t learn. So she finally put her foot down.

Adrien: they would have learned, in time

Plagg: but we are at war with Hawkmoth. Chloé creating more negative emotions is not good. And neither is letting Lila grow in influence. Better to stop a problem now before it grows worse.

Adrien: there had to have been a better way.

Plagg: well, it certainly wasn’t your way. Chloé is still mean to your friends and even worked with Hawkmoth! and Lila got pigtails expelled. Do you honestly still think your way is the best way?

Adrien:...it wasn’t the right answer. But neither is Ladybug’s.

Plagg: well, we gave your way a shot. Let’s see if the bug’s way is the right answer.

Chloé had been sentenced for allying with a terrorist. She was sent to a correctional facility due to her age, but she was banned from Paris. What a scandal this caused the mayor.

Lila had been discredited and was currently grounded by her furious mother. Everyone knew her now, just not in the way she wished. She had been fired by Gabriel. And since Ladybug learned the truth from Chat, she was insistent Lila go away because she won’t risk another Chloé incident with her.

With Chloé gone, the class certainly was happier. Adrien was the exception, but Marinette reminded him he could visit Chloé. The latter asked for Adrien to help bail her out. Gabriel forbade it since associating with Chloé would ruin his image. And Chloé doesn’t help from a mangy cat.

With Lila exposed, eh life went on as normal and Adrien wasn’t sorry for her.

Akumas came and went but Ladybug treated Chat professionally.

Chat wanted her to talk to him but he was still unhappy about the Chloé situation. Plagg told him to just choose a side already. He was miserable when all his friends were happy.

Plagg: why do you care about Chloé anyway? If you were just a normal boy, she wouldn’t even look at you. She only befriended you because of your father, hence why you were worthy of her friendship.

It struck home. After all the insults Chloé threw Chat’s way, this question finally hit true.

Adrien began to doubt his friendship with Chloé. And it was enough for him to choose a side.

Chat called Ladybug and explained that he was upset with her charges against Chloé but he trusted her and will support her even if he doesn’t agree entirely with her decision.

Ladybug raised a brow. “It’s a start.”

And Ladybug’s plan was a success. Chloé and Lila were no longer around to cause trouble for her. They were being punished until they learned to correct their ways.

When Gabriel was suspected after the theory of “what if Hawkmoth can akumatize himself?” came up, Plagg reminded Adrien to choose a side. If his father is really Hawkmoth, can Ladybug count on him?

When faced with this fact, Adrien admitted he could not. He has personal feelings about this and he can’t be biased.

Plagg: does that mean you’ll hinder her investigation?

Adrien paused. If he did, and if his father was Hawkmoth, would he be aiding a terrorist?

No.

Personal feelings aside, Adrien does have morals. He cannot condone what Hawkmoth has done.

Conviction renewed, Chat joins Ladybug’s investigation with zeal. He wants to put his all into this investigation because if his father is really Hawkmoth, Adrien hopes to stop him from committing any more heinous acts, and save his father from himself.