#but I’m actually not fully caught up on the campaign LMAO

[jack-gourdon]

Jrwi episode 98 spoilers

I’m having totally normal late night thoughts about this episode.

I just imagine as Gillion is laying on this table, trying with all his power to stay awake, in a fully delirious ramble, constantly asking May where Chip and Jay are as she can only just reassure him that they’re coming. Not because he’s concerned for himself, but in his state completely forgot they left to go save his life, and that he’s worried for their well being. Until the very end, putting everyone else’s in front of his own needs. And as the remaining of his strength begins to leave him, where his vision starts to fade, his hearing goes quiet, and his breathing slows, tears pool from the corners of his eyes and they trail down the side of his face as he can do nothing but sink into this abyss, so tired. He doesn’t fear his death, but he mourns that it’s happening, that Chip or Jay aren’t here to see him off. But maybe it’s better for them to not see him in his final moments.

And in this darkness, he can do nothing but sink further and further down, suffocating. Until there’s this golden light that appears from above, and it grows brighter until it engulfs him into it.

His eyes open. And he’s on the ship, Chip was telling Ollie about these cookies filled with raspberry filling, Jay was navigating the ship and besides her sat this shirt round grey creature with a puffy striped tail, it’s peaceful as they sailed along the waves. It feels like he can breath again, the pain on his chest gone, this ever looming dread hanging over him is gone. This was nothing more than a dream, but it would be a calm one.

[appleflavoredkitkats]

dream smp war 2 updates

doing a second chain post! i thought it would be appropriate if i did since it seems like there’s a new era of wars coming our way. 

(this post will keep updating by reblogged additions, so feel free to save this post somewhere or follow me to check for new updates every now and then!)

and ya’know, i thought wouldn’t be able to do this, but i realize that where else am i gonna infodump but here? so yea. here i go again.

(if you wanna check the first dream smp war post-war updates, it’s here!)

without further ado, time to explain whatever the heck just happened last stream! timeline of events might be funky because a lot of things happened, but i’ll try my best to at least mention everything that went down in the streams.

wilbur, tommy, tubbo, eret, quackity, and a confused hbomb’s stream - september 22

summary: schlatt and quackity win presidency, tommy and wilbur are exiled, some friends have become traitors, some foes have become allies, and technoblade joins the game.

the first streams that came from this honestly were very calm. legit the calm before the storm. tubbo was hanging out with niki, eret, and hbomb and eret reveals to tubbo that his first pufferfish that was stolen by fundy was actually in eret’s possession all along. eret gladly returns the beloved pufferfish to tubbo, and they rename it back to it’s original name “phukkit”.

then, everyone begins going in the server as each campaign stands on the podium waiting for the event to begin. wilbur, tommy, and tubbo first stray away from the group for a bit to watch l’manberg one last time. tubbo introduces to them his secret bunker in the lake for them to seek refuge just in case pog2020 loses. inside the bunker’s chests are some freshly brewed potions for wilbur and tommy to use in the future.

tubbo then brings tommy to the benches outside tommy’s little house and they play one more music disc together. here, tubbo gifts tommy the pufferfish he just gained earlier today, and tommy promised to treasure it dearly.

now, the event begins, and wilbur begins announcing the results. luckily, everyone is here this time. in last place is coconut2020. a funny thing about this is that fundy actually committed tax fraud and got around 100,000+ votes to be counted in the google form just from coding some bot to vote for them. in third place is schlatt, in second is quackity, and pog2020 wins the number one vote.

here’s where the plot twist happens: quackity and schlatt apparently agreed to combine their votes if pog2020 doesn’t win. therefore, quackity and schlatt got 47% of the votes as pog only got 46%, making schlatt and quackity the shared president of l’manberg. tommy protests to these decisions, but wilbur accepts it with ease, and the two merely step down the podium in shame as they watch schlatt take a speech.

schlatt went on full dictator mode-- the first decree he signed as president is to revoke wilbur and tommy’s presence in l’manberg, exiling them. tommy was confused at first before wilbur demanded him to run to the bunker. schlatt immediately conducts a search party for him, electing tubbo as his right hand man to personally hunt the two down. obviously, tubbo would do it hesitantly, and he doesn’t actually get to meet the two in the bunker at all.

a lot of the nation was quite torn from the election results. quackity and george seem to be supportive of schlatt, niki, tubbo, and eret seem to despise schlatt, and fundy and jack seem to just blindly support him as well despite being l’manbergians. punz, ponk, and hbomb were there as well, but it was quite difficult to know who they were siding with since they kinda just got pushed around by everyone at the end.

using invisibility potions, wilbur and tommy escape the bunker to go somewhere in the forest to find their new home. they find a nice hill to make a small house in, and they later name this new nation “pogtopia”. they run into some conflicts though as wilbur and tommy forget to bring an enderchest with them, and they need some of the materials in them now if they want to build up a defense.

and then, in the middle of nowhere, techno tweeted:

wilbur claims he doesn’t want to trust techno right away because he was american, but they do consider having him as an ally later on.

firstly, let’s get back to l’manberg. upon schlatt’s request, the walls of l’manberg are being torn down. i heard somewhere that this might’ve been done thanks to fundy’s suggestion, but i’m not sure. everyone complies, and wilbur and tommy visit l’manberg one last time before it gets taken apart. as they watch fundy and tubbo tear down the wall, wilbur sings the l’manbergs national anthem. (the wall also eventually gets expanded past l’manberg, but i’m not sure how far they’ve built it)

speaking of fundy, fundy’s kind of in a weird place right now. he seems to unhesitantly side with schlatt in this election, and allows his policies easily as if he didn’t care about anyone else in l’manberg. knowing this, wilbur actually disowns fundy. it wasn’t in front of him, but he does say that he is extremely hurt by him in front of techno and tommy.

before i talk about the rescue of techno, we gotta go back to quackity and schlatt for a bit. quackity actually caught tommy visiting his place to get an enderchest, but i believe he doesn’t tell schlatt about it. quackity is quite interesting because while he does believe in some of the policies schlatt believes in, he also believes that schlatt is taking this dictatorship too far. even he thought exiling tommy and wilbur was a big deal, and he aims to be the voice of reason to be able to change schlatt’s mind about his policies. moreover, he wants to discuss matters with tommy and wilbur as well to get on their side too, but wilbur doesn’t wanna talk to quackity because, fourth wall break, he believes they’re progressing far into the story too much if they do, and honestly, valid reason lmao.

do note that quackity is trying his best to tear down schlatt’s evil dictatorship. he’s secretly been advocating for niki and is helping her escape schlatt’s grasp when she needs it, and he eventually talked to schlatt near the end of the stream to be more mindful of quackity’s opinions because without him, schlatt wouldn’t have won. there’s some toxic relationship plot device being used here between schlatt and quackity, and i’m interested to see how this will all play out.

back to tommy and wilbur, they call techno and actually consider his help. tommy says he will run back to spawn and tell him when to join so that he can bring him to their secret base. eret tries to help them and supply them with goods, but tommy and wilbur refuses his help profusely. finally, when tommy reaches spawn, techno joins, and my god, all the three streams i watched just went “TECHNOBLADE????” all at once. 

on schlatt’s end, he claims that techno’s arrival was part of schlatt’s plan all this time. on the other hand, techno claims he’s only here for wilbur and tommy. i fully believe techno would be with wilbur and tommy, but of course, i can never be sure. just don’t discount the possibility of a traitor!techno happening sometime soon.

even if ponk tried to kill techno and tommy as they tried to escape, tommy was able to kill ponk before techno got hurt. they eventually arrived to pogtopia, and there, wilbur declares that he will be a different man from what they know of him pre-election. i’m thinking there’s going to be more violence surrounding the war, and also some strategic planning. they want to get tubbo as a secret agent for them to tear schlatt and quackity apart, eventually leading to the downfall of the dictatorship. niki might also be someone crucial here because she and wilbur have been exchanging messages secretly, so there’s going to be some niki action too.

then, schlatt makes another announcement. after the walls have been torn down, he declares l’manberg gets a new name-- manberg. niki protests, and wilbur and tommy and rightfully disgusted, but schlatt wasn’t going to do anything about it.

everyone in pogtopia, before they can stack up on some resources, have to go back to the dream smp because they comedically have to get a visa for one day for when ninja joins the minecraft server. they were greeted peacefully (and techno steals some potatoes!!!), and it was definitely fun to see so many people in the server all at once. evetually, schlatt does grant them the visa, and they leave. they talk to tubbo one last time, and tubbo warns them about techno being allegedly “paid” by schlatt to betray tommy and wilbur. tommy regards it for now, but after that, they leave to return to pogtopia.

in pogtopia, they begin mining for resources. in the ravine they found below their base, tommy found a strip mine that leads EXACTLY BACK to his bunker. this will be used for a secret passage for them just in case they discreetly want to return to the dream smp.

this is kinda where the main plot stuff ends for wilbur and tommy’s streams, but in eret’s stream, apparently he and bad found pogtopia. they find techno silently, gifting him with potatoes, and leaving promptly after.

on quackity’s end, he’s really trying to convince schlatt to become more open-minded about this entire presidency. there’s some real tension going on between these two, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if they break it off for quackity to join pogtopia. it really seems like they’re hinting it to become that way.

now, it seems like everything’s done, but nope. on eret’s stream, fundy single handedly burned down the l’manberg flag that niki built. FUNDY BETRAYAL AND ERET REDEMPTION ARC. niki is LIVID at fundy, but she wasn’t able to talk to him as he left the server immediately. we don’t know what fundy’s true intentions are, but it’s assumed that he’s siding with schlatt for now. eret at least tells niki they’ll try to rebuild it with concrete so it can’t be destroyed.

JUST AS ALL THIS SHIT CONCLUDES, SAPNAP JOINS. he only joins so he can catch up with everything he missed. eret and niki explain everything to him, and sapnap says he will have to talk to dream about this. he then leaves afterwards.

conclusion: BE HYPED. BE HYPED FOR PLOT. SHOW YOUR APPRECIATION TO THE ENTIRETY OF THE DREAM SMP FOR THIS AMAZING PLOT. DON’T SEND THEM HATE; MAKE CONTENT FOR IT INSTEAD. these people probably worked hard improv-ing/making plots for these, so show your love and appreciation for them!!!!!

[cipher26]

Holy shit y’all, I’m officially fully caught up on Campaign 2.

I’m both proud of myself and super embarrassed. I started watching Critical Role maybe 2 months ago lmao. And now I’m caught up on one campaign, already started the other, have the first 2 Vox Machina Origins comics (is that all of them right now?), plus the art book, plus the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, PLUS the players handbook lmfao. And I also pre-ordered the Keyleth funko cause I already love her deeply. And a couple other items, cause I’m weak.

Anyway the point is I’m fucking obsessed. Unfortunately I have exactly 0 friends, so I can’t even play the game, but I bought the D&D books cause I want to start writing more and I thought they could help and inspire me with stories. And also I’m obsessed? God, hahaha.

I’m actually really glad too that I’ve caught up at this point in the story. I have been watching parts of the last 4 or 5 episodes live, mostly cause I was sure Beauyasha was gonna become cannon and I didn’t want to miss it and then be spoiled by tumblr. And even though that hasn’t happened, I have NOT BEEN DISAPPOINTED with them. But also, what with the Molly situation, it feels like the campaign has kind of come full circle to a point with the characters. A lot of the themes and characters and tidbits of random story have now collided, and I feel like the first round of character stories have come to a close, so this feels like a good time for me to be caught up and jump in live.

So now I’m gonna take a little bit of a break. I still have most of campaign 1 to watch, but I’ve been sitting on my couch way too much and it’s not healthy, lol, so I need a little break with the obsessiveness. And also early campaign 1 is easier for me to watch while working from home, so I can limit myself to that instead of watching all the time. And also helps me to avoid the cringe of that one person, which appeared last episode for me when he fireballed half the party. I literally had to turn down the volume of my speakers cause it was so awkward when he got mad about it lol.

BUT ANYWAY, that’s not the point. The point is that I’m finally fully in it and super excited about that.

[atopearth]

The Legend of Dragoon Part 2 - Platinum Shadow

Since Doel told us to venture to Tiberoa for answers, it's time we got a change of environment! No more Serdio and war~ but crazy princesses! Hmm, was Princess Emille a fake? Hmm, so the Moon that Never Sets is called that because it's not affected by time such as day or night, and when it glows red after 108 years, a Moon Child appears, but I guess so does the Black Monster? Btw, Albert is such a dork that it's so cute lmao, I loved how when they were talking about how Haschel's daughter and Dart's mother are both called Claire, and whilst Rose was saying it was impossible for them to be related considering their appearances, Albert starting going on a rant on an analysis of the possibility and how their skulls were different lmao. And omgg it's kinda crazy, but I never thought about the possibility of a Dragoon Spirit getting stolen by thieves! Sad that I can't level up my Dragoon level now lol. It's kinda crazy to think that such a beautiful green and flowery town like Donau has been taken over by bandits... I guess it's understandable why Lynn (Mayor's son) would go to the Gehrich Gang's Hideout to persuade them to get lost, but seriously, that's so dangerous and highly unlikely to work! Ohh okay, the gang hasn't taken over the city yet, just very hostile and leaving their people there I guess? Meru is such a happy ball of positivity and beauty loll. I used to always think she was super pretty and cute though, she's also really strong! I wasn't too fond of her Additions but I guess her cuteness makes up for it, and she's a pretty hilarious person lol. I see... Princess Lisa knows through astrology that Princess Emille is somehow related to the Gehrich Gang and it even told her to never hand over the moon, probably meaning the Moon Dagger heirloom that will be passed on to Princess Emille soon. Btw, lmao at how well Meru and Haschel get along, they're both like kids getting excited over the royal dinner feast hahaha. It's kinda crazy though, if Lisa can see so many things through astrology, I guess there is a good reason as to why this whole town worships the stars so vehemently.

I honestly didn't expect/completely forgot Gehrich was Haschel's former disciple that got kicked out for not using martial arts with a good heart. It's kinda saddening that he ended up a leader of bandits, but I guess at least in the end, Haschel found him and was able to make him understand that the Rouge School arts weren't to be used for things like this... I didn't realise that Kongol actually followed Emperor Doel for a good reason! Emperor Doel told him that he wanted to make a land where all species could be equal, and Kongol believed in his strength in being able to bring that, but now that he was defeated by Dart, he wants to understand Dart’s strength now. I didn't think that the humans actually killed all the Gigantos aside from Kongol in this place/home of the Gigantos. You would think that since they were oppressed by Winglies before, they would understand the pain of losing people, but no, they killed them... I feel sorry for Kongol, he just wants to fight against bad people like the ones who killed his family and friends... Speaking of Kongol though, him saving the gang by holding that super heavy stone axe/pillar that came from that humongous status was crazy! He even flung it away so easily! I'm not sure how we defeated him before considering he had strength like that lol!

Aww so nice to see Lynn and Kate's wedding! Also really cool to know that whilst Dart and party were gone, the Mayor and all the adults rose up and went against the bandits in town and successfully kicked them out! Nice to know that Dart inspired them to do their best to protect their own town. Shana catching the bouquet was cute. Omggg, I can't remember but dang, you get Kongol's Golden Dragoon Spirit at the rip off market seller in Lohan! It's 1000G which is easy to get by now but wow, apparently you can get to near the end of the game without even realising this is where you get it! Which kinda sucks tbh lol. Apparently there were hints but it must have totally flown off my head because I had no idea lmao. I honestly can't believe King Zior is even allowing these bandit friends of Emille to be knights for the ceremony, like is he crazy or is he a fake? Or does he need to allow all this to save the real princess? Dodging the bandit guards to get to Princess Lisa and the real Princess Emille aren't too hard, but I do admit it's annoying haha. Wow, no wonder it was practically impossible to find the real Princess Emille, she was locked inside a magical dimension within the portrait of herself in her room! Wow, boy am I glad I stocked up on Healing Breeze because Lenus aka fake Princess Emille does crazy damage to all! She has so many turns as well! Maybe it would have been easier if my Albert actually had the SP to turn into a Dragoon though lmao, but still, she's pretty nuts haha. I knew I didn't remember wrong, Meru is a Wingly just like Lenus (since Lenus could tell), but I guess it's understandable of her to hide it from the party for now. Hmm, so after the defeat of the Winglies, the three countries Serdio, Tiberoa and Mille Seseau were formed, and the surviving Winglies sent a divine object of the moon as a proof of peace. Anyway, I guess King Zior was too blinded by his love for his daughter Emille that he didn't care what she was like to realise it was a fake lmao.

Aww it's so cute to run around with Shana on the Queen Fury. Lmao at the chopping vegetables mini game, legit thought it would give me something good after winning but it gives me 1G LOL. All my hard work for a scrap lol. I love how enthusiastic and hardworking everyone on the ship is though! They're so passionate about their work whether it be cleaning or shoving fuel etc, they're really trying their best to catch up to Lenus (and get the Moon Dagger back). Sometimes I feel sorry for how blunt Shana is about her feelings towards Dart but he's just constantly thinking about the Black Monster etc. I guess it's understandable though, he probably thinks that if he starts thinking of stuff like romance, he wouldn't be able to fully focus on the war and everything. I really enjoy talking to all the different sailors with the different characters though! It's so cool how some of the dialogue changes haha! Lmaoo at Meru annoying Dart and Shana to play with her because she's bored, yet when you talk to her with Rose (and she tells Meru they can train together), Meru says she'll behave hahahaha. I wonder what made Rose change if she says that she used to be as innocent as Shana, only caring about her love and hoping that it'll bear fruit? Did Rose's partner die and that's why she tells Shana to never let Dart go? Omg..to think that 25 years ago, Haschel's harsh training caused Claire to accidentally end up killing her training partner since she tried her best to fulfil her father's expectations of her as the heir to the Rouge School... He shouted at her to get out of his sight and lost her forever... It's quite terrible... Lmao at Kongol just ignoring Meru if you talk to her with him hahahah. LOL at Meru throwing a pillow at Albert! Guess he's the easiest to bully even though he’s a king lol. Hahahah I love how everyone sympathises with Dart being the babysitter of Meru when she forces him to run around with him on the ship lol. The Phantom Ship looks really cool but scary at the same time! It's kinda cool how ghost knights protected Shana from skeletons. Okay, that mini game with the chest is so not worth the time lol! It's so hard to guess! Anyway, I checked the rewards and it really only gives you crappy stuff that I don't care about lol, don't need Ultimate Wargod because I can do my Additions just fine anyway lol. So, is the princess of Mille Seseau that this whole ship tried to protect from the Black Monster 18 years ago actually Shana? Rose is probably the Black Monster, but is Zieg the first Red Eyed Dragoon that she supposedly fell in love with but couldn't save for some reason? Was Rose a part of the Dragon Campaign 11,000 years ago? Her and her comrades seemed to be fighting Virages or something? They all died and Zieg turned into stone? I guess you can see why Rose is so attached to Dart if they're so similar. But I wonder, did the Black Monster appear because Rose wasn't able to control the insanity of the Dragoon due to her grief of losing her friends or something?

Lmao when Rose said she'd annihilate all the monsters to protect Pete and his mother (people who saved Dart and Rose after they fell off the Queen Fury when the Phantom Ship sunk). Hahahaha Pete was so funny to say that Rose should confess to Dart because he saw her take care of Dart lovingly in the cave. Hahahah I love how you can go to the hot springs in Fueno and the person soaking in it screams lmaoo. Aww it's so cool and cute how the merchant for the item shop and the weapon shop are the same person! He just goes upstairs to talk to you if want weapons lmao. I love how happy and hyper Meru is to see Dart and Rose alive haha. Aww, it was really sweet of Dart to hug her since she was crying and he felt bad for worrying her. Lmaooo at Meru, Haschel and Albert peeking in on them though lol!!! I think it was really cute how when Dart caught them, they all ran away, but Meru came back to close the door for them lmao. Honestly though, despite how much of a damsel in distress Shana is, I think she really warms up to you as a character. Sure, she's weak and everything, but she's just really sweet and normal, it's hard to not like her. She has that warmth to her that the others lack. Ohh, so Lenus had the Sea Dragoon Spirit! Anyway, she was so much stronger before! Her Dragoon form is so much easier to manage lol, she should have just stayed in her Wingly form. Poor girl though, she gave her life for Lloyd but I honestly doubt he really appreciates it. I think Dart was really touched when Shana ran to protect him when Lenus tried to kill Dart with the last bit of her strength though, it was kinda cute. Lmao at Meru being so happy for truly being a part of the gang as a Dragoon now though haha. Aww it's so cute how Albert was so enamoured with Princess Emille. I can understand though, she's really graceful, beautiful and kind, who wouldn't like her?! But I think the whole family is great! I love how King Zior didn't care about Dart and them not being able to retrieve the Moon Dagger because he believes that it's just a symbol and isn't as important as them being the heroes that saved all the town's from the terror of the Sea Dragon and the fake Emille. Awww, it's so cute how Dart has finally realised his feelings for Shana but he keeps getting interrupted when he wants to tell her lmao. Shana is so brave though, she totally and straightforwardly told him again that she loves him and that it doesn't matter if he views her as a baby sister. I hope they get together soon! Lmao at both Haschel and Meru being kids stealing food from the kitchen hahaha. Albert bonding with Emille in her room was so adorable lmao. Rose chuckling to herself thinking about things was so cuteee, I love how soft she is becoming now. Kongol training in the training centre being happy that he's got friends of different species now was so adorable too. Aww, Princess Emille is willing to wait for Albert to come back from his journey! They're so sweet! Aww he finally got to tell Shana that her wish is the same as his whilst she was wearing a beautiful dress~~ Such a cute and happy banquet!

Overall, this chapter was really nice. I loved the whole Wingly introduction to the story, getting to know more about Rose, but also interacting with Meru and Kongol! I really love how cute everyone is and how different they all are, but how nice they all work together. Btw, I farmed Shana's Dragoon level to 5 to see her skills and dang, White Silver Dragon does damage and heals you to full life! Pretty strong! It was so easy to farm it on the Phantom Ship btw, since you have access to a save point, resting and constant monsters lol. I just wanted to see it before Miranda came along because I remember not liking her lmao. I think the best thing about this chapter is seeing everyone’s growth as a character, mainly Shana and Rose because Shana solidifies her resolve to be beside Dart no matter what, whereas Rose is warming up to everyone (especially Dart) whether she likes it or not. Another cute thing I loved to see was Albert finding his love Princess Emille, they’re both so wonderfully graceful and I find it adorable how Princess Emille loves listening to Albert when everyone else thinks he talks too much in a long-winded way hahaha. I also really liked the Queen Fury part because it really helped to understand everyone’s worries as well as what they’re searching for on this journey, it just made me understand them a bit more individually and I really enjoyed that. Now I feel super bad for hating Kongol as a kid when I was young just because he was ugly LOL, I was such a vain kid! Kongol is like such an innocent, pure and kind guy, I love him lol. Technically though, I love all the characters already haha.

[jordm]

Heartland 13x10 - The Passing of the Torch review

Remi for MVP. She may be just a dog but that also makes it a hell of a lot harder to “act” or contain how the dog acts within scenes, even if Remi is a seasoned actor being around for 13 seasons. I can’t help but notice that some of the “acting” after Remi was healed, like Remi approaching Amy when she was with Ty was not acting.

Also how about the promo pics clearly misleading that only Amy got hurt when really Ty did too but none of us caught it because he got shot in the abdomen and all promo pics showed him sitting down? Clever, clever.

Also, where was Katie this episode?! Was Katie not there to support her mom? Or did I totally just miss her in the scenes because even Peter was there... so if she wasn’t with her fam (WHO WAS ALL AT MAGGIES) where the heck was she?!?!!?

Looking at the credits, I think I just totally missed Katie because she’s credited sooo um oooops lmao

Amy/Ty

Spartan seems to have found a bound with wild horse (I don’t know the horses name okay), so Amy decides to try to tame the wild horse. She’s especially high strung because she’s still emotional about Spartan getting old and his recent injury and the look on Amy’s face when wild horse accidentally kicks Spartan in the leg is pure distress. A look of “What did I do?!? I was doing this for Spartan not to hurt him.”

Amy’s genuine sadness about Spartan, even though - as Ty says, his ligament is completely healed and they’re going to treat his arthritis (which is completely normal for older horses too per Amber’s post on IG) is also completely understandable because it is her last living link, besides the family home and her family - to her mother, especially since her mother died saving Spartan. 

After a heartfelt conversation with Ty, and all seems well (Ty is even cleaning up the new house?!), things come crashing down and Amy and Ty get shot by sniper guy while aiming for the wolf. Luckily, they’re going to be okay (I mean... obviously?) and Ty was able to catch the license plate but this could have ended a lot worse. But this is Heartland.. did we really think either would die?

In the end, Amy is able to complete a join up with wild horse and Spartan and her family is there to watch it and it’s really just a wonderful way to end the season/episode. More Marion flashbacks about her younger life please! I loved the flashback to her first Spartan join up from S1X01. It was like Spartan was given Amy his blessing to ride a new horse so that he can rest his legs.

Can I also add, how cute was Lyndy when Ty pointed out that wild horse was coming and she turned her head and said horsey? What a scene stealer!

Georgie & Quinn

So, the real reason Georgie quit was because she missed Quinn? I guess thats somewhat realistic but, like where is the joy she had for jumping and competing before she met Quinn? It wasn’t as if she suddenly started loving jumping because of Quinn when she went to Europe. Why does she suddenly correlate being with Quinn to loving jumping when she had a passion for it pre-Quinn?

Narys the point though, because she goes to Kelowna to confess her love to Quinn and he just doesn’t know what to say, even if he’s been wanting to hear it for awhile. Do I blame him? No - it’s a lot to handle and not everyone responds to an ‘I love you’ in the same way. Anyone remember Gilmore Girls and how Rory and Dean broke up because she didn’t say i love you back how Dean expected? However... could he have responded better? Yes. He just seemed to walk away to collect his ribbon even though he acknowledges he’s been waiting to hear those three words, eight letters for oh so long. At the same time, she could have stuck around till after to have a full conversation - not one that is going to be interrupted by him having to go collect his ribbon and in the middle of the competition.

I mean, I get leaving because she felt that Quinn didn’t care any more but to me, it seemed fairly obvious that Quinn and the girl were just friends; however, Georgie was probably in a heightened emotional state so I don’t particularly blame her for thinking the worst. Although, perhaps if she had stuck around and waited, they could have talked and she wouldn’t have come home crying.

“Give me a reason to stay and I will” - Quinn

And just like that, Quinn is staying (funny how this always just works out eh?). He took a coaching job (which I suppose he realized is his calling) at a stable in Hudson, gets a snazzy nickname Golden Boy from Tim (who appears to not have a problem with Quinn since he doesn’t dote on the fact that he caught his granddaughter kissing another guy) and looks like he’s going to be here for the long term. 

Perhaps he’s even going to be Georgie’s coach?! That was definitely the first thing I thought when I heard that Quinn was going to be coaching. I will say, i do like them together and they do fit better than her past boyfriends, but I don’t think i’ve seen enough of them to make a solid judgement until next season at least. Here’s to their relationship being more stable than Lou and Mitch’s!

Lou

How ironic; just as Tim says asks where Mitch, Lou’s supposed boyfriend (okay, he actually is her boyfriend but not the point) is to support her during the campaign, PETER shows up to support her. Irony at its’ best. And I suppose, ideally, Mitch is at their summer-turned-business home taking care of the herd but if Tim’s infer that Mitch hasn’t been around at all, yet Peter found the time to come from BC and help hand out posters and go door to door, then it’s a valid question.

Peter’s advice to not start up a shit storm with JD Worth when she hears about the snares is... probably correct but Lou’s assertion that JD is behind the snares is also 100% correct. 

It’s probably correct to infer that sniper guy was trying to shoot the wolf but how STUPID is he to shoot at a wolf if he doesn’t have a clear shot and there are people around? How do you miss seeing two humans in the same shot? Luckily, Lou is able to pinpoint that the same truck sped out of there is the one JD Worth went to talk too after their chat AND Ty is able to grab the license plate. And she knows she has JD almost in a corner by the smile on her face.

In the end, Lou wins (not due to sniper guy ratting out JD but a win is a win I suppose) to no ones shock whose seen the promo pictures; even JD is indicted in his role in this mess! However... she does lose her boyfriend, who seems to think that Peter is winning Lou’s affection. I understand why he thinks that but Lou and Peter have worked hard to become friends after a messy separation, Peter is... uh dating Jen?, and he will have to live with the fact that they will always have a bond a a relationship. Look how far Caleb/Ty/Amy have gotten!

What about Lou defining herself as ex-wife... who defines herself as an ex-wife? On gravestones, you say ‘loving wife, mother, sister, daughter...’ etc but no one defines themselves as an ex-wife? That was just strange. What’s even stranger is that Mitch seemed to think the tipping point of their relationship was when Lou didn’t mention she was a girlfriend too... and while i suppose in the context that she mentioned ex-wife but not girlfriend, it makes sense but in the grand scheme of things, no one really defines themselves as a girlfriend. Plus, if they were really stable, this wouldn’t be an issue, but from what it sounds like, Mitch has been away a lot due to his new business and they haven’t been seeing much of each other. Even if this truly was an oversight, the fact that she remembered Peter before Mitch does say something.

On a whole, what’s going to happen with that vacation-turned-work property they bought? And seriously, will they ever get their shit together and be together together, because if they aren’t then I sure hope they don’t ever get back together again because this isn’t healthy. How do they decide to buy a house together to deciding that they aren’t fully committed to each other? Be together, or don’t be together y’all.

Jack

Jack feels that he ‘dug his heels in a little too much’ when Mitch kept on asking about expanding the herd and I can’t tell if this is brought on by wanting to make Lou’s life easier or because he feels bad or because he really wants to expand the herd. The idea to invite Mitch back into the partnership is a nice utopia but at the end of the day, Tim is right. Mitch isn’t family (by marriage of blood), but more family “family friend because he’s been around the farm so much” relationship and should Lou/Mitch breakup it would easily complicate things even further.. and given how unstable they’ve been keeping separate may not be a bad idea.

*LOL i wrote the above before Lou and Mitch officially broke up so I guess I saw the future. Perhaps it was a good thing they didn’t get back in business considering how on-off these two are!

OVERALL

This season was good - there was no Mongolia and more family storylines. I enjoyed Amy’s arc with Spartan, Ty not jetting off to Mongolia and being their for their fam, seeing Lisa and Fairfield(!) - even the election wasn’t a bad storyline and I enjoyed Quinn’s character. All the throwbacks to the past with the painting and the flashbacks to Jack’s life were also great to see and learn about.

I didn’t enjoy Casey’s one-episode arc nor the Lou/Mitch storyline (just decide to be together or not!!). And even thought it brought “drama”, the whole Wes “bad review” story line felt a little contrived and forced but in the grand scheme of things, besides some plot points which seemed out of character or continuation issues, the season picked up by near the end.

I mean, no one went to Mongolia and almost died - why would you when you can get shot in your own backyard? (jokes)

Songs in this Episode @heartlandians​

Call to Arms - Evan Olson

I’m Boring - Jacob John

I’ll be There For You - Philip Larue

[glorybcrn]

hihi everybody !! i’m kelly ( eighteen , she/her , mst ) and uh h ... i haven’t been in the roleplaying game for a hot minute but i’m really excited to be here n get back into it ! this is my garbage son gabriel who is technically an old muse ?? ngl i’ve dragged this poor binch to hell n back so if this intro kinda funky ... that why ....... also i may or may not be running on 3 hrs of sleep jfifjnck

◟ * ◊ ─ jason bateman + cismale + he/him » * believe it or not gabriel dombrova is working for the lothario family. they are forty seven years of age and are known to usually spend their time around city hall. the mayor, who has been a part of the alliance for sixteen years, has been living in victoria for forty seven years. the people closest to them describe the bisexual + capricorn to be driven and astute as well as reserved and unforgiving » 

background

— born and raised in victoria, despite not being a founding family, gabriel’s family still had relatively deep roots within the city; it was said that his great grandfather had moved here from massachusetts looking for the american dream. the patriarchal dombrova came from humble beginnings, building the family business ( a local inn ) from the ground up and over the decades it only got bigger and bigger until it had turned into the respectable hotel that it is known as today and now has multiple locations across the state of florida. naturally, his father inherited this business and his mother, on the other hand, is your typical southern belle, moved here from a small town in texas. she was a corporate lawyer ( it’s how she met gabriel’s father ) but since becoming a mother she really has had no interests in any other occupation other than trophy wife and socialite.

— to say that gabriel’s parents were old school would be putting it lightly. basically, both of his parents were deeply religious republicans and were very aware of their image as a family. they were harsh parents, extremely controlling when it came to their children’s lives but at the same time were also really emotionally absent. to this day they still believe that it was all in the name of tough love but obviously it was just emotional abuse. his father was especially hard on gabriel, he was a strong believer in physical discipline and thought gabriel to be too “soft”. he was always berating him, punishing him for petty offences, and pretty much just fostering your typical environment of toxic masculinity. though he never laid a hand on gabriel’s sister as she was what he called, “a lady” and his “pride and joy.”

— but gabriel was a good kid, he was obedient aside from stupid mistakes that kids are bound to make. he was your typical golden boy, a jack of all trades of sorts. not exceptionally good at one thing, but averagely good at a multitude of things. he was a quick learner and dedicated, anything he took a crack at, he eventually excelled in. throughout high school, he mostly kept to himself, choosing to focus on his education and after graduating valedictorian, he went to harvard where he earned his business degree. the plan was to come back to victoria, work for his father, and make his way up until he was ready to inherit the business himself.

— but while away at university, he met abigail. it was your typical whirlwind of a first love where it felt like it was just the two of you against the world. with her, gabriel experienced a sense of normalcy and sincere, unconditional love. for someone who severely lacked both up until then, maybe it wasn’t so crazy that the two decided to marry as soon as they graduated. together, they moved back to victoria to start their lives. to an outsider, gabriel’s life had seemingly always been perfect, envy-worthy. with a renowned and respected family, a successful business, the perfect wife, and now, a baby on the way too, it’s no wonder he’d been chosen by the lothario’s to be their candidate as mayor.

— his connection with the alliance started out small; the hotel business had been in a rough spot for a couple of years and out of nowhere, they seemed to have just come in at the right time, saving the day. he could be on their payroll all for the price of a few, teensy favours. favours such as his hotel being used as refuge for some of their men, a place of business when needed, and gabriel refusing to be a failure, especially in his father’s eyes, easily succumbed to their offer. 

— of course, gabriel’s family has no idea about the real root of his sudden interest in politics, much less how the family business has managed to be so successful still despite his now even busier schedule. and as a result, his relationship with his wife and children have deteriorated over the years. it began as a defense mechanism, intentionally distancing himself from his loved ones as a way to protect them. and while his children maybe the one last soft spot gabriel has left, his sudden absence as a father has definitely put a strain on his relationship with them. however his relationship with his wife seemed to suffer even more, things between the two of them are definitely not how they once used to be. they’re cold to one another and see each other more so as strangers rather than husband and wife. unfortunately, a divorce doesn’t exactly fit into the white picket-fence image gabriel had so carefully curated over the years. 

personality

— after decades of playing different facades, gabriel’s definitely lost a sense of his true self, or maybe it’s just fully gone. he used to be this really compassionate and benevolent person who always prioritized family over anything. it’s why ( at least this is what he tells himself ) he initially risked getting into business with the alliance in the first place, but now, he really only pretends to be those things to get the people to like him. he can be incredibly charming when he wants to be but it’s all just so .. hollow ? if that makes sense. like, nowadays there’s rarely an ounce of honesty or sincerity in him. he’s just so consumed with being a part of the alliance, it’s all he really knows at this point.

— extremely driven and cunning, if there’s something gabriel wants, he’ll get it. even as a child, he was an over achiever and so he’s known to always come through when it’s requested of him. he’s not exactly evil .. ? but he is loyal to the lotharios. i think there’s a small part of him that hates them, hates himself, and hates what he’s doing but idk he kinda just tells that it to shut up lmao. having had to learn it as a child, he’s very good at compartmentalizing which is probably why he can play all these different roles so well without going insane dnkjds

— really reserved, tries ( and succeeds ) to put out this strait-laced and conservative image. has the ability to remain calm in any sort of situation and twist things to his advantage. like honestly ?? gabriel is probably a pr manager’s wet dream .. he just comes across as this very charming and kind man, he’s the type of politician that’ll say hi to your baby and sign its head idk

but ugh idk it’s hard to explain gabriel’s personality since he’s such an emotional mess, i would just end up rambling about the same thing over and over again if i tried to keep going so i’m gonna .. stop right now.

connections

— personal assistant ?? someone incredibly organized and competent. this plot can range from really basic like .. yeah book my doctor’s appointment thnx to someone he’s actually pretty close to ? maybe he doesn’t even realize it, idk. like we can literally do wtvr w this, so !

— other members of the alliance, could be just someone he’s acquainted with or knows well and works pretty close with.

— if you have any muses involved with politics or managing ? his campaign manager or just anyone who worked on his campaign. like w the personal assistant we can .. go basic or brazy w this.

— love interests ? doesn’t have to be ~romantic~ per se .. but idk like affairs ig ?? cause .. gabe’s not perfect, rip. but he is careful so it wldn’t be like .. smth messy or if it was he’d prob make certain measurements after. idk what that means exactly dnjsnsdjk just tryna not get caught uk … or even something as small as flirtationships !

ok these all suck bc gabe is….. emotionally dead inside cnjdsnksnjd but ! obv tht can change per circumstance n whatever so pls .. feel free to mssg me whenever if u have any ideas !!

[autumnsidhe]

Answer all the things

D&D Ask Meme

ah fuck. i can’t believe you’ve done this.everything’s going under a read more b/c it’s gonna be long as all fuck

2. Your favorite character that someone else has played.ollie……….. little shit idiot i love him? he and james are both anarchist dumbass but in different ways. brothers in arms.

3. Your favorite side quest.oh christ. there’s no real particular side quests but my fave side plot in general is what i’ll summarise as “alora is a rat bastard.”

alora met a hot rich socialite guy who seemed really into her and she decided she was gonna play the long con on him b/c he might be useful

she and james both agreed to side w/ king clockwork, but when the king actually mentioned it alora gave james a Look™ and he was mad as fuck. he’s still kinda mad as fuck

she decided to be pals w/ a main antagonist (gluto) and didn’t tell us until days after it happened that he’d talked to her in his dreams

alora was told to not tell anyone abt the repugnant’s secret organisation. she immediately spilled the info to everyone

she was told to not mention the organisation’s meeting or anything that went on there. she immediately spilled the info to the motley and literally sent us a photo of the repugnant on his throne speaking to everyone

she was told to keep a specific person away from castle repugnant. she let him waltz right up to the castle w/ everyone else and seemed confused when they said he couldn’t go in

she broke into somewhere w/ gluto and then left him in a room full of very important documents b/c she somehow didn’t think taking him there to begin w/ wouldn’t backfire

the last thing james said to her was literally “i take it back, you’re a stupid shit idiot and i hate you”

4. Your current campaign.random sideplots get to go here this time! most of them are james or ollie b/c we interact the most w/ npcs

james and galant romance sideplot and the sheer amount of wild scenes that have happened as a result (the date, le fway showing up, addy’s dating advice, “ollie, you’re pretty ignorant”, “so you killed your boyfriend”)

ash coaches a baseball team

ollie tries to handle pink drugs, fails to provide any evidence that he’s not the cause

alora helps the repugnant, always immediately regrets it b/c he’s a little bastard man

the gang trying to figure out what’s going on w/ the repugnant’s amnesia

james accidentally making friends w/ a black spiral dancer and being heavily in denial abt why cylus probably got so attached to begin w/ (hint: it’s the anarchy and the horrid rebellious streak)

james nearly sides w/ the main antagonist b/c he’s got the right idea but his methods are fucked

ollie goes to fairy prison, makes friends w/ a vampire and some old sidhe, is currently in the middle of trying to break out

5. Favorite NPC.unfortunately it might be cylus? cylus is like 6 levels of batshit at any given moment and was introduced to us as a nameless dangerous prisoner that galant was holding for some sort of treaty? and james and addy were told to not listen to him for any reason and to not let him free. and of course james let him free. he shifted into a giant 9ft-ish tall war form and then james realised he was really in over his head. upside: he went back in his cell afterwards. downside: he got attached to james. also downside: james didn’t actually get warned that he was a dangerous war criminal until after all this went downthen cylus literally showed up in james’ dream to tell him a few things and warn him that he was planning to escape? and there was nothing james could do b/c “i heard it in a dream” isn’t exactly a solid claim esp when he doesn’t have any sort of future sight. and of course cylus broke outthen james ran into him in the dreaming and james was losing his mind the entire time b/c cylus is an absolute freak and james was stuck walking w/ him for like 2 hours. then like an hour after they parted ways james got flung into a ditch on the edge of town (in the real world) and cylus carried an unconscious james like a sack of potatoes into waffle house and just let him sleep on the table for a bit. then like 3 days later cylus broke into his apartment and made him breakfast.and then james got flung out into the middle of nowhere again for reasons and cylus was there and james had the choice of dealing w/ cylus or being horribly lost in the woods so he chose the first one. and he nearly got caught in the middle of a big werewolf fight that cylus orchestrated. and also nearly got caught in some extremely violent family drama.throughout all of this cylus is acting like he’s james’ best friend and last time they spoke cylus really wanted to do buddy cop stuff! they’re pals! totally! and james wants absolutely none of it but he can’t explode on him b/c he’s a skinny little twink and cylus could snap him like a twig w/ no effort

to summarise:

6. Favorite death (monster, player character, NPC, etc).we actually haven’t had many deaths! the only ones i can think of in game that aren’t random monsters were the old bastard and nor nan, which. were both interesting in their own ways, but nor nan’s was mostly tragic and i don’t wanna get feelsy so i’ll just use the old bastard here.to set the scene: we’re at a fancy party. ash and marike (an npc, he’s an unseelie lord and overall a hell of a time) are off on their own trying to catch chimerical creatures that stole their weapons. marike curbstomps one, meanwhile the other has climbed up onto a curtain rod. the place has really high ceilings. his solution? pick up ash and toss him at the creature. ollie and the old bastard (who owns the house) walk in just as this is happening, and the old bastard sees ash tear down the curtain rod for no damn reason. of course he demands answers. ash tries to bullshit a story abt an entire family of raccoons they were trying to chase outthen the old bastard gets shot in the head. ollie and marike are splattered w/ blood. he hits the ground, ash makes a joke abt “telling his wife the bad news”then he notices his wife is the one who just shot him

7. Your favorite downtime activity.the entire arc’s taken place over the course of 15 days in-game, including downtime. we haven’t had any specific downtime activities per say, but the best moment we’ve had during downtime was when ollie broke into james’ apartment and now he refuses to let ollie anywhere near his apartment complex

8. Your favorite fight/encounter.i’ll stick to generally hostile meetings for this since we’ve only a small handful of solid fights? but it’s either “james nearly dies” or “ollie is a good distraction”

to set the scene for the first one: the hospital chimerically burnt down, so the motley decided to investigate and sneaked in as janitors. james ended up alone down in the morgue after finding a body covered in chimerical burns getting wheeled down there. he checks it out, takes a couple photos on his phone. then the door opens.james starts cleaning and stuff, but it turns out the person who came in (gluto!) was also a changeling and very easily noticed the fact that he’s got really noticeable pointy ears in his fae mien. and of course he starts threatening james. and after he pulls out a massive scythe. james sends everyone an sos but they all get stuck in the elevator. so james pulls a gun in a fucking hospital. and he gets called on the bluff but before he can put it away, in bursts galantgalant starts kicking a bit of ass, and then gluto ripped the (already weak from the fire) chimerical ceiling down on top of them! galant did some shit to lift the rubble off them with little to no effort and james was kinda like “oh no he’s hot” for a second before galant kicked a bit more ass and gluto ran like hell!then he next night galant literally died for james (it’s okay, he got better) and confessed that james is his true love and just. man.

for the second one: there’s 3 assassins after galant. he fucked off to lovescreek in order to avoid them, but when ollie found him, one of the assassins had found him! so ollie joins the fray against this troll (who are like 8′ at the shortest), and after a short bit gluto joined in as well to distract ollie from the main fight! so what did ollie do? start loudly singing “i’ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts” for a chicanery bunk to turn galant invisible. and of course both assassins turned on him and he ended up having to run like hell but when he lost them galant reappeared and was like “well that was fun”

9. Your favorite thing about D&D tabletop RPGs.i’ll keep it real, i’ve disliked every dnd system i’ve experimented w/ and i’m not a fan of most fantasy so it’s unlikely i’ll every actually play a proper dnd game but god… tabletop stuff is just so much fun? mostly the story and the fact that joe is absolutely godly

10. Your favorite enemy and the enemy you hate the most.cylus may be my fav npc but my fav antagonist is definitely king clockwork? ic my very first encounter with him led into him and james talking about their beliefs and ideals for like 2 hours straight and when he was getting ready to leave james was ecstatic that he’d finally met someone who fully understood his mindset. then the bomb dropped that he was the boss of the other antagonists and james was hit w/ this utter horror. and then james considered siding w/ him for a long ass time before eventually trying to kill him to put a stop to everything. yeah. yeahmy fav enemy/antagonist is absolutely gluto b/c he’s creepy as shit. during anyone’s first encounter w/ him i was completely solo and it was horribly unsettling and i simultaneously love and despise him

11. How often do you play and how often would you ideally like to play?we meet once a week! what game we run varies but recently it’s been changeling every week since we’re still waiting on player characters to start hunter the reckoning lmao

12. Your in game inside jokes/memes/catchphrases and where they came from.we have a bunch of them but uhhhhh random ones off the top of my head

“it’s always sunny in coolville” b/c i realised early on that we were going to be up to a lot of dumb shenanigans and it was easy to make it’s always sunny title cards based on each session

#saveduke b/c there was a whole thing at one point where we had to keep him from getting kidnapped. spun off from that are #SaveDukeFromHimself, #SaveGalantFromJamesStupidity and #SaveDukeAgain?

“appearance 4, captivating” b/c dom said it regularly for multiple sessions until his character dirty danced with a hot guy at a party, after which he decided that alora was a lesbian

“does [insert art] let me throw fireballs?” b/c dom wanting to throw fireballs down the street is a running joke but also he unironically asked if primal 2 would let him throw fireballs

“james got norted” b/c he nearly joined the main antagonist, which devolved into “[insert random character] got norted” at the most random times

james and galant touching tips b/c at one point while they were casually talking ollie just started going 👉👈 in the background and james got really mad and flustered abt it so everyone started doing it

“ultra instinct ash” b/c he’s our shaggy and also has done like fuck all nothing productive in game so him going fucking super saiyan to kill the final boss is hilarious

“i got two hands!” b/c people regularly ask why ollie dual wields broadwords

#OllieOllieOxenFREE b/c ollie got himself sent to fairy jail

“i did [stupid thing], can i buy [half related skill]?” like “i attempted murder, can i get chronos 2?” or “i was an assassin in a past life, can i get melee 3?”

“people, let me tell you bout my best friend!” abt james and cylus b/c boy does james have bad taste in friends

14. Introduce any other parties you have played in or DM-ed.uhhh exalted is the only one i’ve been a part of that’s been solidly active, but we’ve got characters for scion for when 2e drops, and i’ve got characters set up for chaos reigns when joe starts the next arc b/c i didn’t wanna peter parker myself into the finale. i don’t remember the rest of the scion crew well enough but i love them

15. Do you have snacks during game times?we almost always grab food on the way there and eat before we properly start

16. Do you play online or in person? Which do you prefer?in person! it’s the only way i’ve ever done it but i’m 🙏 that maricopa gets running online b/c……….. vampire good………..

17. What are some house rules that your group has?the big house rule for changeling is “ run things fast and loose.” joe knows the characters well and what’s on their sheets so we don’t do too much dice rolling except for arts. joe also takes some artistic liberties w/ some things, mainly wayfare and the inanimae, b/c his main goal is to make a good story and he’s sure as fuck succeeding

18. Does your party keep any pets?do addy and duke count? they’re a white rabbit and a beagle. beyond that, addy’s got pet rabbits, and ollie might be feeding a stray cat

19. Do you or your party have any dice superstitions?not really. dom claims that dice rollers hate him but he also keeps using his dice roller rather than pulling out physical dice

20. How did you get into D&D? How long have you been playing?i got into tabletop years ago when harley introduced me to the dystopia rising larp and i decided to check out the tabletop version for more lore. the current tabletop system sucks but onyx path is handling 2e and i’m so hyped for it. at some point a bit later i played vampire the masquerade bloodlines, and it got me into the world of darkness and well. i still love it.as for how long i’ve been playing, uh. around a year i think? i forget when we started exalted the borderlands-ing. i’d been sitting in on the group for around a year before that, mostly getting a feel for things and also we were trying to figure out a good jumping in point for me and i wish i could’ve started earlier but it let me mesh w/ everyone a bit easier and also have an outsider’s viewpoint when it came to certain issues

21. Have you ever regretted something your character has done?oh absolutely, “i fucked up” is the semi-catchphrase for james for a reason. he theoretically has common sense b/c i usually say “this is gonna be stupid/bad” either ic or ooc before i do some shit and well. yeah it doesn’t usually go well but we have fun

23. Do you use premade modules or original campaigns?i think the only thing not original we’ve run since i moved up is strange aeons and maybe a coc scenario? everything else has been original campaigns

24. How much planning/preparation do you do for a game?not too much, really. i sometimes plan out a little of what i’m going to do, but half the time i never actually have the chance b/c stuff moves in a different direction than i was expecting. however i also write the summaries of the shit we’ve gotten up to every session so there’s that

25. What have your players done that you never could have planned for?i’m not a dm but i’m answering this for joe b/c he flat-out admitted that he couldn’t predict what was going to happen in at least half of changeling b/c we’re an unpredictable mess but everything’s come together to make a really interesting finale

30. Are your players diplomatic or murder hobos?answering this one too even tho it’s still a dm question b/c the players themselves are half diplomatic (me, mal, joe depending on game) and half murder hobos (fredy, dom). dom’s been going more diplomatic w/ alora but also she’s so bad at it and it’s wonderful

31. What is your favorite class? Favorite race?classes aren’t a thing in changeling but out of the kiths ouuuuuuuugh i love sidhe a lot. like they’re honestly cool as hell and i fucking love the house lore? i’ll also do houses b/c fuck it, my fav house is beaumayn b/c they have no chill and every bit of house lore they have is brutal as hell

32. What role do you like to play the most? (Tank/healer/etc?)just looking at my trends of characters i’ve got currently (re)built, i have:- the face (james, rex, val)- support (henri, caoimhe, river kinda?)- the antisocial son of a bitch (nomi, neil)- “i’m going to wreck anything you point me at” (hound, oliver, elliot but not by his own choice)- pure chaos (nora, glitch mage)gemma is kinda hard to put into any category b/c she’s babey?

33. How do you write your backstory, or do you even write a backstory?it depends on the character? some characters don’t have backstories (caoimhe, nora), some i’ve fleshed out heavily (james). it’s usually assembled from a bunch of random snippets written over the course of however long. some of it’s heavily thought out, other parts are just kinda arbitrary. i also tend to run some more important chunks past joe or mal just to see how they feel? james being from house gwydion was originally arbitrary and wasn’t really gonna matter (joe himself said it would just be a bit of flavour) then he figured out how to fold it into plot and i’m thriving b/c le fway is wild

34. Do you tend pick weapons/spells for being useful or for flavor?flavour, though use is also a bonus? artswise james currently has naming/chronos/contract, which are all useful in their own ways but also reflect his past lives / him as a person

35. How much roleplay do you like to do?yes. if i’m not able to embrace the character i’m playing is it really that fun? is it really? no b/c when that happens to this group we get the dumbed down version of chaos reigns and i go fucking batshit b/c of the fact that combat takes way too long

[spinyax]

Hey there!!! I saw the post asking about dnd character questions if we have them and hey!! I would love to hear an absolute infodump about your dnd characters because I love hearing about characterssss

IM SO GLAD YOU ASKED (under a read more bc its uh. very long)

SO starting off we have Orchid, my true neutral tiefling Ranger/Druid!

(art by @.spectralfelinae / @.spectralscribbles go check him out!)

- he has a pet swarm of butterflies and can turn into them since he's a circle of the swarm druid (the butterflies look identical to anyone else but he can identify each and every one of them)

- he doesn't speak! he's not mute, but in his culture they just don't talk. i haven't come up with a specific reason yet so if he comes into a campaign ill just let the dm figure that out lmao. he communicates with magic sign-language and if a spell requires verbal components he just whistles and makes bird calls instead

- he's lived in the forest for his whole life so any modern technology is VERY confusing to him and he's probably stabbed a train before

- one day im gonna hide him in a flower patch to ambush a target and its gonna look sick as hell

- personality wise he's very calm and serene, but also super brutal and unfeeling. kinda like Shinobu from Demon Slayer. (though the butterfly motif is unintentional aksjdhask)

- - -

NEXT we have Taliesin, my neutral good Dragonborn Grave Cleric!

- He has a Russian/eastern european accent

- Taliesin (or tallie) used to be a battle medic in the military before the war ended and left him real fucked up.

- He eventually found sanctuary in a temple devoted to the Eternal Shepherd and became an acolyte, eventually becoming head of the temple

- That's also where he found his son, Galahad! He was left at the temple a la baby left on the steps of a church but instead of a baby its an egg and instead of a church its a death temple. Talie was the only one who remotely knew how to take care of an egg so he was put in charge of it.

- Admittedly, Talie had no fuckin clue how to take care of a kid, and a lot of his parenting techniques were probably fucked up in retrospect (teaching galahad to read via obituaries, teaching him math with bones, playing hide and seek in a cemetery, etc) but he genuinely loves his son and everytime i think about them i cry

- Galahad is grown up now and probably doing something in the world that makes talie proud

- It's not super well shown but talie wears skirts/dresses bc pants are a Hassle for dragonborn so he said fuck it

- He also has a pet bearded vulture named Carry it's short for Carrion) she helps him find stray corpses for him to bless and properly bury

- Personality: Taliesin is basically a healing/support main that's too old for this shit and is 👌 this fuckin close to snapping

- - -

Xyraga Takimros! My first ever dnd character and the one i've changed the most over the years. She's a chaotic neutral half-elf rogue

[aight so i don't have recent art of her so uuuhhhhhh imagine there's a picture here]

- she's a dark skinned half-elf with long dark curly hair in a ponytail with a little bit covering her face. she has 3 scars on her face (one going over the bridge of her nose, one over her left eye bisecting the first scar, and another one on the corner of her chin) and yellow eyes.

- She used to be a member of the Courtyard of Miracles, a thieves/smuggler's den that focused on going out and stealing from rich cities to redistribute to their poor community

- she joined the court because her unofficial dad/caretaker was a founding member and she kinda got in because of that

- i have a whole bunch written on the court and how it was run but all you need to know is that xyra was the one who got stolen goods from point A to point B

- Xyra was a prominent member, known for being the fastest runner and the one who's been caught the least

- That's also where she met Bharu her orc husband. he was a bodyguard for her sometimes when they were transporting goods and eventually fell in love

- one day the courtyard is raided and xyra loses bharu in the chaos, so she's on a quest to find her dumbass husband and get the fuck out of dodge

- she also has a tattoo of a roadrunner bc that was her nickname when she still worked for the court (design isnt finalized but thats the Vibes im going for)

---

Up next is Oni! Oni's a neutral evil tiefling/half-orc/half-demon/????? barbarian/warlock

(i know the sketch is super rough but it gets the idea across)

- Oni is a half-demon/half-orc who's essentially the antichrist. i'll be honest i'm probably not gonna stat her out like a proper PC but i might make her a BBEG if i ever DM (which is super unlikely but the chance isnt 0%)

- Her patron is her dad and they both loath that fact

- Her entire goal in life is to kill enough gods to gain enough power to kill her dad, since he has her lifeforce in the palm of his hand and can decide on a whim if she dies or not and she's not about that shit

- she looked and grew up like a normal orc until she hit puberty, and then all the demon features came in

- She's like, super tall. even for an orc at about 8 1/2-9ish feet

---

THEN we have Halfey! She's my chaotic good high elf monk/bard

[i uh,,,, dont have an actual picture for her but i have a goofy lil sktch that'll just Have to Do]

- she's a dark skinned sun elf with a half-shaved head and bright red/pink curly hair

- she says she's 100 but she's actually only 75 years old (like 16 in Elf years)

- originally she and xyra were going to be twins separated at birth but i decided against it bc that was Too Much

- her parents are both high-ranking nobles and he was supposed to grow to be a proper noblewoman and be a bargain chip to marry some rich duke for the sake of alliances or whatever

- she instead grew up loud and rambunctious as hell and was the exact opposite her parents wanted her to be

- eventually they get fed up with her and sent her to live in a monastery in hopes the strict lifestyle would tame her in some way

- that didn't work lmao and she spent the next few decades miserable before the circus came into town and she snuck out to see it

- she fell in love with the general chaos of the circus and ran away with them, getting a job as a trapeze artist /tightrope walker and occasional dancer

---

FINALLY We have Connie! She's a lawful evil fallen aasimar paladin

[uhhhhh no image here, but one day i will]

- she's a pale-skinned aasimar with short wavy blonde hair done in that marilyn monroe hairstyle and has pure white and slightly glowy eyes. she also has a barely-there halo around her head. she's also got a southern belle accent

- her full name is Condemnation Odette Nancy Delilah Elizabeth Maybelle Newman the Third, but her friends call her Connie

- her deity is the first horseman of the apocalypse, Conquest (or Pestilence depending on who you ask) and she does everything in her power to bring on the end times

- tbh she's more of a joke character that i haven't fully thought out yet but she's fun

[lizzieart]

Hey!! As much as I'd enjoy the idea I doubt I'm worth that much to you, but I'd love to hear about the characters you've created and if they are based upon anyone you know or knew for the ideals behind them. Hope you get this soon I'm interested in your stories.

Well first of all bless you, and second you are already worth that much to me because you took the time out of your day to send me a message!  Seriously, thank you.  I am a lonely garbage can.  And third, yes, some of my characters are loosely based on people, but most are just based on traits I relate to and/or admire.

I’m going to put the rest of this answer under a read more; if you choose to read it, buckle up, ‘cause there’s a huge fucking wall of text below.

It all started with a homebrew one shot my friend Cait was running in the winter of 2013.  I had never played a tabletop RPG before (I’ll still say tabletop even though she was running it online), but I had always been interested in her worldbuilding and characters; it was a frequent topic of discussion for us.  Plus, I trusted her pretty much explicitly with my sensitivities, so even though I was anxious, I agreed to join up.  The campaign didn't start for a few months after, so I spent plenty of time asking Cait as much as I could (without spoilers) about her world.  After all, I was (and still am) a person who completely overthinks every little detail of something I’m into (yay special interest fixation).

Just some background on the setting; there are two groups of people in this world, magi and non magi.  Magi were heavily persecuted (like at the threat of death) for hundreds of years, but not so openly in present time (although this can depend on region).  The Havens is a city built almost exclusively by mages, for mages.  It was a fortress that provided sanctuary to mages during wars long passed, and in more peaceful times turned into one of the largest universities of the arcane in the Uplands.  There are other countries/continents other than the Uplands, but those have not been planned out at this time (to my knowledge).  Anything else world related I should be able to answer as we go along in the rest of this text (or if you send me another ask; though we’ll see if you want to after this lmao).

Saoirse was a real diamond in the rough for a while.  I knew my babe was in that mess of ideas somewhere, but it took a bit to figure it out.  I decided on a name first (I had been aching to use the name Saoirse), and I drew quite a few pictures of her before I settled on a design, but even that changed over time as I grew accustomed to drawing literally anyone else besides other white people.  I had educated myself and knew what nasty tropes to stay away from and made her a person.  She's a confident, powerful, mentor figure, and her exuberance for life and love of her family has gained the adoration of colleagues and friends alike.  She has her faults; she tends to overextend herself trying to help people or gets caught up in her work; but it all stems from a place of great compassion; she is dedicated to making the world a sweeter place.  To be honest, somewhere along the way Saoirse turned into everything I want and hope to be.  She has a family and friends who she is close to and love her dearly.  She never has to hide her feelings or work to earn their love.  She just has it.  Saoirse is a child of love in its purest form.  And she brightens up my life every day.

Brennya started out as one of Cait's NPCs, but a relationship grew between her and Saoirse after the events of the one shot.  Cait and I aren't always in contact due to life issues and school and work, but she let me keep writing interactions between Brennya and my other characters regardless (thank you).  Also, while it is a side note, have I ever mentioned that Cait’s absolutely brilliant?  She double majored in English and Geology and then got accepted into grad school right after that.  I love her.  So even though I can't (and wouldn't out of respect) claim Brennya is purely my character, I was allowed to continue writing for her.  And the way I write Brennya is honestly pretty personal.  Brennya is closer to the person I am currently... and have been in the past.  Brennya is loved now too, but Brennya was not born into love.  Love was conditional, a commodity contingent on success; personal worth built on actions and achievements, not being.  She grew to be a successful scholar nonetheless, but success rings hollow when you have no one to share it with.  She can be deeply cynical of the intentions of other people and readily manipulative of others (getting what she can from them before they have the chance to do the same to her).  She expects deceit and is truly thrown off guard when confronted with an honest person (like Saoirse).  She wants things like family and connection and truth, but has a hard time believing they exist for a person like her.  So she pretends that she is impervious to those feelings; that wanting those things is trivial in the span of existence; until she can no longer deny it.  When she meets Saoirse, it's not easy at first.  Being truly cherished at no expense of your own is difficult to understand for someone like Brennya (and for someone like me), but it is a truly beautiful thing if you can accept it.  Meeting Saoirse’s family is overwhelming for her at first too; they are an intense bunch; but they accept her almost immediately, simply because she makes their daughter happy.  Brennya acclimates eventually.  

Personally, though I’m still not in a great situation, I have healed from of a lot of bitterness I used to hold.  Seeing them happy inspires me to do better in my own life; realizing that while it may take time, it will ultimately be worth it.  And that someday I will be able to love and trust fully.

Anyways, the rest of them are a little more lighthearted in nature, I swear!!

Aoife is Saoirse’s sister and the middle child of the Keir siblings.  She’s the fun, flamboyant sibling; always jovial, super pretty, and damn good at making others feel welcome.  Aoife sees everybody as a potential friend.  Gods help you if you mistake her good nature for weakness though; she’s a powerful force to be reckoned with.  She’s a vital part of the Bluewater Town Guard, and she loves her work, preferring busy places like the town square or the docks, where her nature as both a protector and people person can flourish.  She also adores the town’s children and always makes time for them.  She lives in a house on the Keir property with her wife Mazneen.

Mazneen is my newest character, so forgive me for not having a lot on her yet (I’m trying to do something new while being culturally sensitive).  I also think it’s important for me as her creator to state explicitly somewhere down the line that she is a trans woman (representation is a high priority for me), but with the really angry and reactionary culture of tumblr these days, it’s really hard to create trans characters without someone getting upset (watch, someone will write a really angry callout for me not ‘performing her gender right’ or something…  well guess what buds, there’s no one right way for a trans woman to be trans!  BEGONE TERF!).  What else I can tell you is that she is outgoing and so incredibly sweet, and loves helping people see the beauty inside themselves like she sees in herself.  Mazneen is also a savvy businesswoman and trader originally from the Havens, and has family, friends, and business contacts there (I just haven’t gotten that far in her writing).  She currently lives and works in Bluewater with Aoife’s mother, Meirna, in her tailoring business (accounting and supply are her specialties).  They mostly make clothing suitable for cold climates like Bluewater, but occasionally produce some finer pieces on commission.  Their regular clothing is really popular amongst the whalers and even gets shipped to other parts of the Uplands.  They’re basically running something like a fantasy L.L. Bean if that makes any lick of sense.

Meirna, who I mentioned earlier, is the Keir siblings’ mother and the wife of Roarke.  She is a woman of great intelligence, tact, and grace; people used to tell her that had she not married a whaler she could have been a favorite of the Havens elite.  But she chooses to completely disregard this, and to this day she is more than happy with her life; she is still in love with her husband Roarke, runs her own well-known business, and has three very successful children.  I also have the inclination to make her deeply spiritual in some way; the Uplands actually has a few religions with a decent pantheon of gods, but I haven’t quite figured out the details of that yet.   Regardless of spirituality (or lack thereof), people look to her for comfort and guidance.

Roarke is the father of the Keir siblings and Meirna’s husband.  He’s a retired whaler but still an active part of Bluewater’s whaling guild.  Being retired certainly doesn’t keep him from being out on the water though; he just fishes for a lot smaller catch these days.  He loves the outdoors and has a fire for life that just can’t be tempered.  But he’s also a MEGA DAD.  Like the best Dad I imagine one could hope for.  He loves his family so much and he’s so proud of his kids and all their achievements.  Intense honestly just isn’t strong enough to describe the way he lives his life.  Roarke is the epitome of ALL THE TIME ALL THE TIME.  Just a huge dude with an absolute heart of gold.  Where else could Aoife have gotten it from?

Arlen is the youngest of the Keir siblings, and takes after his mother more.  His intelligence and patience are unrivaled; and his charismatic and comforting presence gives him the perfect bedside manner as a physician.  He studied at the Havens like Saoirse and Brennya, but with a focus on medicine instead of arcane arts and archaeology (Saoirse and Brennya's concentrations, respectively).  He’s an accomplished healer and has been instrumental in improvements made to Bluewater’s current health awareness and services.  He spends time every year to make trips to Snowshower, the large city northeast of Bluewater, and sets up a free clinic in the impoverished areas of the city.  He eventually ends up in a relationship with Rory after some time (still working on those details).

Rory also started out as an NPC.  He was originally the character that was Saoirse's call to action; a former student in a spot of trouble, and Saoirse just didn't have the heart to turn him down.  Except that the trouble he was in was, in fact, much more trouble than originally stated; a large debt with a notorious Poppyport (a city on the southernmost coast of the Uplands) crime syndicate, Redbloom (also can you guess their specialty lmao).  After the events of the job, Saoirse finds out that she's only thirded his debts.  Turns out he's got some serious impulse control issues and formed a gambling habit that, as you can probably imagine, got way out of hand.  He has an intense need to impress people with flashy displays, always trying to one up himself and others, but quite often these gestures fall flat.  Rory was chasing that dream of being famous and left Bluewater a few years back, only to become known as a fool.  And even though it was free publicity, bad publicity is only just publicity until you owe a crime lord his debts.  So Saoirse takes a risk and flees Poppyport, making her way back to Bluewater with Rory in tow.  Redbloom has no ties to a whaling town like Bluewater, it isn’t profitable enough.  So now he’s stuck in Bluewater for his own safety, and it would have driven him nuts if it weren’t for befriending the Keir family.  He still isn’t a huge fan of life in Bluewater, but his work and friendships keep him well grounded.  He eventually starts dating Arlen sometime into the timeline, but I haven’t written any of that yet; it’s only a series of ideas right now.  I do also want to look into writing a resolution with the whole Redbloom debt, but we’ll see where the story goes.  He’s always been…  A little all over the place.  He was a mandatory character and I really had to think about a way to work him into the story, and even now I’m still not completely satisfied.

I guess my main point is that I’m not nearly finished yet; I’ve only just begun getting bits of my story down, but I’m dedicated to expanding this family and their world and I just really love them all to bits.  And apart from their main story I’ve got some alternate universes I like to work on too, like their Dragon Age AU.  I’ve actually written quite a bit of meta and dialogue, and even drawn some for that one.  I haven’t really shared it with anyone yet though; haven’t figured out a delivery method that feels quite right yet.  I tried starting a blog for it, but it got stuck in the development phase a few months back.  Maybe I’ll try and figure that out soon.  I’ve just got so many ideas!  Anyways sorry for the wall of text and thanks for hanging in here with me with I figure shit out!  If you have any more questions I’d love to answer them! 

[aladdins-attic]

Are you a sadist? Do you like watch character's suffering? You want to see angst? Ok, I'll give you it.Just imagine your favorite character that kills his/her s/o !Accidentally! ( how? I don't know, it'll be your homework). How much pain it can cause, when you destroy your life with your own hands!!!😍 How he/she can live father, if they've taken life of their beloved.They will suffer, torment, expire themselves..oh, l want to see how they'll plunge into the abyss of despair☺️. It's not trivial?

love I’m not a sadist I’m a goddamn MASOCHIST ripping my heart out by reading or writing horrible things is an a+ pastime of mine ;^D ((note: I was stuck between Lo’lo, Hakuren, and Kouha and went with Hakuren because he doesn’t get enough love lmao ;; lightly based on an idea I had for an oc btw)

Hakuren Ren

He wished he hadn’t argued so much.Why had he thought that bringing them along his and his brother’s war campaigns was a good idea? Why had his father agreed to it in the first place? What were they even doing there?Had he been thinking logically, Hakuren would have remembered that it was because having his lover waiting for him back at the palace made him less focused and more distracted, thus more likely to make mistakes on the battlefield, than when they were with him, safe in his tent, ready to take care of him when he got back. He would have remembered that it was because their relationship had been kept hidden from this father, only Gyokuen and Hakuyuu being fully aware of his love for his partner; Hakuyuu by choice, Gyokuen because “a mother always knows, dear,” and he would have remembered that he was there because he had a job to do as the second Imperial Prince of Kou.How foolish of him.If he hadn’t argued and bargained with his father to get him to allow his lover to join him and his brother, none of this would have happened.He wouldn’t have ended up covered in their blood, their limp body in his lap and his sword through their chest.

“We aren’t meant to have relationships like the one you had,” Hakuyuu spoke that night, looking down at his younger brother who sat on the floor, brushing hairs away from his love’s face. “For people like us, in our positions, they never end well.”Hakuren remained silent, continuing to gaze down at the pale face that had once held so much life. The second prince had refused to be separated from his s/o, carrying them off of the battlefield scattered with corpses and to his tent, where he washed the dried blood off of them and slid their lifeless body into clothes that weren’t torn up and stained red. Hakuyuu knew that his actions weren’t healthy, but he also knew that his brother was grieving and if this made him feel slightly better, than he was damn well going to let his brother carry around a body for a while.“Ours would have ended well,” Hakuren mumbled, dragging the tip of his right index finger lightly against their cheek. “I would have married them and we would have had children and lived in an annex away from the palace where we could raise those children peacefully, away from politics and war.” Rubbing small circles into their skin with his thumb, Hakuren smiled down at them. “I would have loved them forever and ever until the day I died.”Hakuyuu had no response to this, watching his brother with a saddened expression. He’d loved his brother’s partner like a sibling, feeling that they were a part of the family just as much as he was. He would grieve them too, in his own way.“What were they even doing out there?” Hakuren mumbled under his breath, twisting a strand of their hair around one finger. “Why then? Why did they have to have their back to me?”There was nothing in his voice to indicate that he was upset; It was hollow, and slightly melancholic.“…I suppose that’s just the way things had to happen, little brother.” Hakuyuu answered despite knowing Hakuren wasn’t looking for an actual answer.Hakuren continued with his ministration, looking down at the body resting in his lap with hooded eyes.“I wonder if they forgive me,” His words were barely louder than a whisper.“I would think so,” Hakuyuu replied. “They know you would never cause them any harm on purpose.” At his brother’s silence, Hakuyuu let out a tired, sad sigh. “It was a mistake. You were in the middle of a battle, anyone not wearing the traditional army uniform was an enemy. You couldn’t have known.”“…They looked so scared,” Hakuren breathed out, his voice beginning to tremble. “When I realized it was them and caught them, when we went to the ground, they looked so confused a- and scared,” He whimpered, moving an arm to support their neck. “I know they heard me, I know they saw me, they knew it was me and- and they just… Smiled…” Clutching their body to his chest, Hakuren lowered his face to the space between their neck and chest, his shoulders beginning to shake violently. “I said sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,” He was crying now, crying into their corpse and trying to hold them like they were still alive. Trying to ignore the stab wound he had caused.Hakuyuu watched, his expression grim. There was nothing he could do at that moment except wait for his brother to calm down.“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I love you, I love you so so much, please don’t leave me,” Whimpered words escaped past his lips, broken up by heavy sobs.Had anyone with the gift to see the Rukh been present at that time, they would have noticed the golden shapes in the air hovering around the prince as he cried, almost cloaking him like a blanket, almost like they were trying to comfort him.

“I love you,” Hakuren choked out.“I love you, too,” Was the nonexistent response.

[ifishouldvanish]

Black Roses (4/?): Power

Lacey is the president of Storybrooke’s notorious Black Roses Motorcycle Club. Rhys Gold is the manipulative lawyer who helps cover the club’s tracks in exchange for a fee. After Lacey’s mother is murdered by a rival MC leader, Gold goes out of his way to ensure she gets her revenge on the killer.

THIS CHAPTER: Gold and Regina practice small-town politics RATING: M WORDS: 1,819 A/N: w/e I’m just gonna publish this it’s been sitting around for like five months lmao

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Read on AO3]

It was a disaster. A feeding frenzy. And Gold enjoyed every glorious second of it. Mayor Mills getting inundated with demands for answers from every news outlet in town. The best part was he didn't even have to do anything. It all just fell right in his damn lap.

He lingers in the lobby of the Town Hall long after the vigilant citizens have left, the press have moved on, and the volunteer staff have packed up. At last, Regina emerges from the set of double doors of the auditorium, fuming.

“Lovely press conference, Madame Mayor.” He congratulates with a little bow.

“What do you want?” She snarls. “Don't you have anyone else's day to ruin? People to extort?”

The corner of his mouth twitches into a smug grin. “I do. ...But none I'm quite so fond of as you, dearie.”

“I'm flattered.” She rolls her eyes as she brushes past him to thrust the front door open.

The harsh sunlight fills the lobby and Gold readies his cane, finding Regina holding the door for him. “Why-- thank you, Mayor” he says, enjoying the gesture a little too much.

She sneaks a glance over her shoulder as she follows him outside. “If there's one thing my mother taught me, it's that the press is always watching.” She mutters. “Heaven forbid I’m caught not holding doors for the elderly.”

He lets the playful insult bounce off of him and smiles. He’s fully aware that his weathered skin, cane, and taste in clothing make him seem older than he really is, and he doesn't mind in the slightest. Makes him come off as more worldly and experienced rather than smarmy. Important traits to have when closing deals under the table.

Regina storms down the sidewalk, heading for her Mercedes, and Gold lags behind, refusing to exert himself too much under the heat of the summer sun.

“It’s a pity, isn’t it?” He calls after her. “I understand Priscilla Madison had a family. Husband, a daughter…” The mayor’s designer pumps continue to click against the sidewalk as she ignores him. He wets his lips before going in for the kill. “If memory serves, I believe the girl actually goes to the same school as your boy Henry.”

Mayor Mills finally stops trying to outpace him and spins around. “What is your point, Gold?”

He slows down and tries to quiet his breaths as he catches up to her. “It just seems as though… no matter what you do, you can’t seem to eradicate Storybrooke’s pesky little crime problem.”

The mayor closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “You’re worse than a used car salesman, you know that?”

He furrows his brows, letting the jab roll off of his shoulders and instead offering a self-satisfied smirk.

“Alright, let’s hear it.” She mutters.

Gold rests both hands on his cane and stands tall, squaring his shoulders before delivering his pitch. “I know you’re not particularly fond of our leather-clad friends here in Storybrooke, Regina.”

She rolls her eyes. “No. I’m not ‘ particularly fond’ of the outlaw motorcycle gang running rampant in our town.”

“Motorcycle club.”

“I call it as I see it.”

“Very well. I’ll cut to the chase, then.” He says, flashing her a shark-like smile. “I’m sure you’ll remember pushing through a wee bit of legislation last month? Title 5, part–”

“The noise ordinance. What about it?”

“I hope you won’t mind if I call it as I see it, Madame Mayor– but from my perspective, it seems to serve no other purpose than criminalizing the harmless leisure activities of a certain… demographic in our town.”

“Nothing gets past you, does it?” She deadpans.

“Look. I’m sure it’s easier for you to construct a scapegoat out of a bunch of harmless bikers and tell your constituents that crime is over in Storybrooke. But clearly– in light of recent events– you can see that’s not going to work.”

“I know it’s been a while since you did any campaign work, Gold.” Regina says. “But I’m sure you’ll agree when I say that with these people, the illusion of results is just as good as the real thing.”

Gold huffs out a belittling laugh. “Aye. And the discovery of a mutilated body on property you’re helping subsidize is supposed to be which of the two, precisely?”

Regina purses her lips and glances away, avoiding his penetrating stare.

He wets his lips and goes back in before she can form a response. “So you’ve gotten a few noisy motorcycles off of Main Street, Regina– You know what happens next? Your common thieves and delinquents come crawling out of the woodwork because suddenly the streets feel safer to them, too. Looking the other way for the Roses may not be ideal, but when everyone minds their own sheep, Storybrooke PD gets that many more cooperative bodies on the streets when something real happens. Lift that pesky ordinance and I can guarantee that within a week, you'll have no less than a dozen concerned citizens who'd like to assist with the investigation.”

“I know you’re not seriously advocating vigilante justice in Storybrooke.” She warns.

“Not at all.” He says, knitting his brows together. “I’m merely suggesting that it may be advantageous for you to keep a few friends in… low places.”

She shoulders her purse and continues to walk again. Gold sighs and starts after her.

“Do I have to spell it out for you, Madame Mayor?”

“Apparently.”

“Our little town needs the Black Roses.”

She stops again. “Don't kid yourself, Gold. What this town needs is a better law enforcement budget.”

He frowns. “You really want to do that? Bring all the bloody real estate developers in, burn down the forests, raise property taxes, and drive out the very people who make Storybrooke such a charming little town?”

She rolls her eyes and Gold’s grin widens. Decides on a different approach.

“And my– Just think what it would do to small business!” He says with feigned concern, drawing a hand over his heart. “You move forward with all those development plans, you can kiss any chance you have at reelection goodbye!”

“Nolan isn't a threat.” She grits through her teeth.

“That may be so. But while you're sitting in your office finagling over budgets, just remember who holds the real power in this town.”

“Who's that? You?”

Gold gives an exaggerated chuckle. “Don't be ridiculous, Regina. I’m just a humble shopkeeper who represents a single vote at council meetings.”

“You’re a crooked attorney who should have been disbarred over a decade ago.”

“Ah, and yet– here I am.” He grins. “Because you see– you need me. Just like your mother did.”

“You know, you two really are just… perfect for each other.” Regina groans.

Gold puts on a scowl. “She didn't seem to think so.”

“That’s because she had bigger goals in mind for herself than controlling this pathetic little shanty town.”

He lifts his gaze up from the sidewalk to take in the various storefronts that line the street for a moment. “Stupid of her, really,” he scoffs. “There's no... fun to be had in state office– It’s a bureaucratic nightmare. You can't get a damned thing done without someone sniffing up your arse.” He explains distastefully. “But a lovely little place like this? Filled with possibilities.”

“It is.” Regina agrees with a practiced PR smile. “Happy families… tucking their children in at night, knowing that they're safe… not having to worry about a bunch of leather clad bikers getting into fights over turf, or who has the bigger guns… I'm going to turn this little shithole around, Gold.”

“Cora used to spew that drivel too, when we first met. But that also turned out to be a load of shite.”

“My mother and I are very different people, Gold.”

“Oh, tell yourself that if it helps.” He dismisses. “At the end of the day, we all want the same things.”

Regina narrows her eyes and tilts her head at him. “You honestly believe that, don't you?”

“I don't believe it. I know it to be true.”

“Well, perhaps it's how we go about getting what we want that matters.”

“No, no.” Gold scoffs. “See… there's the way that works, Regina– and the way that doesn't. ” He explains, gesturing decisively with his hand. “Let me pull the strings. You just... dance and reap the rewards.”

She sighs and folds her arms over her chest. “There’s just one thing I don’t understand, Gold.”

“And what’s that?”

“Why do you give a damn about a bunch of bar-brawling, binge-drinking bikers?”

“Oh come on, Regina–” he laughs. “We all have… secondary sources of revenue we’d like to protect.”

“No… I don’t think it’s that simple. My mother served you an opportunity to line your pockets on a silver platter– a much cleaner one– and you refused.”

“Is that what she told you? Though I suppose it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, after all...” Gold trails off and holds his tongue as the sheriff’s patrol car pulls up to one of the parking meters.

Regina rests a hand on his shoulder and leans into his ear. “Your interest in the Black Roses is much more personal than finances, Gold. And I intend to find out what it is,” she says, giving him a menacing pat on the back.

The door on the patrol car swings open and Gold and Regina watch quietly as a tall blonde climbs out. She starts approaching them with a smile and they exchange a quick look, coming to a swift and silent agreement to act casual.

“Sheriff Swan.” Regina greets with a forced, though adequately convincing smile. “What a pleasant surprise.”

“Aye. Afternoon, sheriff.” Gold nods with far less enthusiasm.

“Madame Mayor. Good to see you.”

“I hope you're settling in nicely.” Regina says. “I know Storybrooke is a small town, but as I'm sure you'll find, it's full of... many charms.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” Emma says, squinting across the sunny street for a moment. She fixes her eyes back on the mayor, and Gold watches as they seem to stare each other down for a moment until Regina breaks and looks away.

“I don't believe we've met,” Emma finally says, shaking her head and extending a hand out to him. “I can't help thinking you must be pretty damned important, if you're out enjoying a leisurely stroll with the mayor.”

He clears his throat and accepts her hand with a firm shake. “Rhys Gold. ...Not important at all.” He assures with a tight-lipped smile. “The mayor and I were just– catching up. I'm an old friend of Regina's mother, actually.”

Emma frowns and tilts her head.

“Cora Mills.” He fills in for her.

“Oh!” She blinks, impressed. “The governor? No kidding.”

“Aye.”

“Small world. Or… state.” She says, furrowing her brows.

“Not too small, I hope.”