#but i was trying to look up how to best use the ranger features and it's like--

[skyriderwednesday]

Fucked up that nearly all the posts on 'how to build a ranger' are actually 'here's how to build a ranger that's the least like a ranger as possible!' I'm not picking ranger to play a rogue with no sneak attack, I'm picking ranger because I want to play a ranger.

[shadeysprings]

On the Lookout

—Joel Miller x F!Reader

Summary: The excitement rolling through your veins as a new ranger in Jackson County turns into fear when you realize the true intentions of your partner.

Warnings: This is a dark fic. Noncon, unprotected sex, age gap (about over 20 years, reader is over 18), breeding kink, implied use of drugs, somnophilia. There may be more but kindly proceed with caution.

A/N: I know I promised something else but the pull of Joel is just too strong. As part of my sleepover, this is my second gift to all you amazing people. Might be a bit sloppy but oh well. Maybe some sort of spoiler if you haven't seen/played the game.

Your likes do nothing but your feedback and reblog are everything. Support content creators. Enjoy! ❤️

Purple and pink hues paint the sky, the beautiful sight making you smile as you peek out from the window of your garage home. The spring chill blows through the open pane, signifying a new day and the beginning of your new community duty as a ranger in Jackson County; a task you’ve been wanting since you and your dad joined the settlement. 

The conversation you had with Maria two days ago is still fresh in your memory, how she pulled you aside while preparing lunch for the residents, looking at you with a worried expression while she explained the dangers of patrolling the perimeter. But such concerns didn’t dampen the excitement rushing through your veins, giving the county’s leader a smile of gratitude for giving you such a great opportunity to help the community along with a promise to do your best. 

But doubts soon began swimming in your head as you watched the rangers take off that same evening. It made you think why, after several times asking Maria to switch your post, it’s just now that she agreed to the change. And your thoughts immediately shifted to Joel and Ellie finally having enough of your rambling about your distaste for working in the kitchen.

You don’t even question if Ellie caught on to your envy of her. That a kid of fifteen was already being one of the first picks amongst the others your age or older when going out to clear the area of infected and clickers alike. Though you try to reason with yourself that you’re good with a gun, Joel and Tommy said so themselves when you would tag along with the brothers and Ellie to go target practice at the edge of the county. 

“Don’t worry, sweetheart. You’re ready.” Joel said when he caught you that night and asked if you were finally told the good news. “Your daddy would be very proud of you.” He added and that was enough for you to believe in yourself.

You take your dad’s old revolver and run your thumbs against the cylinder. They were empty of bullets when Joel gave them to you, rendering the weapon useless. But still, you keep it safely beside you in your bed, a small trinket to feel his presence and to give you a sense of safety despite his absence. 

A breath of surprise escapes you when a knock resounds on your door.

“You up yet, sweetheart?” Joel calls from the other side. “We’ll be on the first group to ride out.”

“I’ll be right there.” You call back, placing the gun back under your pillow and checking your pack, making sure you brought everything you need before zipping it close and heading to the door. 

Joel greets you with a smile when you open the door. “You ready?” He breathes.

“More than you know.” He chuckles at your response and gives you a playful wink. He then cocks his head to the side and you follow him after setting the locks of your door in place. 

As the morning light shines down from the heavens, you can’t help but notice the difference in Joel’s features. His hair is combed back and his beard looks freshly trimmed, far from the usual unkempt look that you’re used to seeing. There even seems to be a spring in his gait, a sense of ease washing over him and in extension, bleeding over to you. 

The chatter at the stable takes your attention off of Joel, a nervous smile grazing your lips as the reality of your first day as a ranger begins sinking in. You follow Joel and group up with the others around Tommy, Ellie standing at your side and greeting you a ‘good morning’, one you return with the same exuberance.

“You ready to kick some infected butt?” She grins and you nod.

You can’t wait to learn the ropes and do something meaningful for the community that took in both you and your dad, to prove to them that you’re worth more than mixing stews and setting out plates at the mess hall. 

You can’t wait to make your father proud.

“Ellie, you’ll be partnered up with me,” Tommy announces and you startle in surprise when Ellie cheers in excitement. “We’ll take the route east. The last patrol said they saw some infected scattered around the area.” 

You tense slightly but make to hide it amongst the others. You didn’t want anyone to think you were weak and faint-hearted. That it was a mistake giving you a spot within the rangers.

You try to latch onto Ellie’s energy, keeping your morale high yet take some of Joel’s gravitas to give the impression that you’re serious about your job. 

Once Ellie calms down, you scoot a little closer to her. “You’re not scared?” You whisper while Tommy continues giving the other pair their assignment.

“Scared of the infected?” She scoffs and then glances at Tommy. “A little, but Tommy will be with me and he’s a much better shot than Joel.” The grin on her face is mischievous, looking at your other side and sticking her tongue out at her surrogate father who only rolls his eyes at her. 

“Aren’t you usually partnered with Joel though?”

“Yeah. Unfortunately.” She sighs playfully then stares ahead at the big wooden gates of the county. “But you’re here and he’s always partnered up with the new recruits.” She says matter-of-factly. “But don’t worry, you’re in safe hands. Tommy may be great with a gun, but Joel—he’s better at surviving.”

You suddenly stand in attention when your name is called, your heart pounding in nervousness as Tommy checks his ledger before facing you. 

“You’ll be partnered with Joel.” Tommy nods to his brother and you look to your side to see Joel already looking at you. “You both will take the lookout tower by the west ridge. It may be the farthest but it is the safest.” He states, flipping another page in his notebook. 

“Updates on infected in the area?” Joel inquires.

“None for three weeks now. Though Dylan mentioned he saw some at the next ridge over.”

“They’d have to fall off to get to us, so I’m not worried.”

“You’ll be able to spot them from the tower. You’ll just have to keep watch though if you can get rid of them, that would be better.”

“We’ll do what we can,” Joel assures.

“Alright,” Tommy shouts and the chatter in the barn quickly dies down, seriousness waving over in the atmosphere. “Y’all know the drill, children. Run your routes, mark your log books, and clear any infected you see along the way. And if you run into something you can’t handle, you come back home. Am I clear?”

A resounding ‘yes’ echoes through the stable.

You look around when the others disperse from the group, feeling a little lost on what to do next. But a hand on your shoulder takes your attention, looking up to see Joel standing close, his fingers drumming over the strap of your pack. 

“You wait for me up ahead. I’ll grab our horses and guns.” You nod in agreement at his words and leave him to stand by the open gate.

Slowly, the settlement begins to wake up, the sun peeking out from the mountains on the horizon and shining its light from the sky. You still can’t fathom how normal everything feels living in Jackson as you watch the residents greet each other with happiness, that somehow, you’ve gained some semblance of your old life before the pandemic struck. 

From where you stand, the threat of the outside world feels distant, and that nothing could go wrong as long as you stay within the walls. But since that night your dad came home after a night patrolling the area, his body laying lifeless in the arms of Joel, you became a cynic. 

His luck eventually had to run out and the bite marks that decorated his body along with the bullet lodged into the side of his head only proved it to be true. Joel tried to explain what had transpired, apologies spilling from his lips while he stayed with you to mourn for your father. But you knew well enough to piece things together, that what Joel did saved him rather than kill him. And for that, you were grateful. 

Though you can’t help but think when it’ll be your turn. 

“Seem to be digging deep there, sweetheart.” 

Blinking away your thoughts, you turn to face Joel as he nears you. The reins of two horses clasped in one hand while the other carries two rifles.

“Uhh, it’s nothing.” You smile and reach for one of the horses. “Just—just thinking about my dad.”

He stays silent but gives you a nod of understanding, thankful for the lack of questions or explanations others usually give when you talk about your father. But with Joel, you don’t feel obligated to show a strong facade, to lie about being okay because out of everyone who showed you sympathy, he’s the one who understands you the most.

Pushing the thoughts of your dad at the back of your head, you take a firm grip on the saddle and lodge your foot into the stirrup, a strenuous groan erupting from your chest as you struggle to hoist yourself up. You fail a couple of times, dropping back to the ground yet you only push yourself to try harder. But each attempt leaves you frustrated, only successfully slinging your upper body atop the animal before you slide back to the ground once again.

“Here,” Joel nears you and you huff out a breath. “Let me help you, baby,” You startle slightly when his hands find purchase on your waist, his face only a breath away from your own when he speaks. “Grab tightly on the pommel and at the count of three, you push your foot and pull yourself up, okay?”

“Okay,” You mumble, your face heating up in embarrassment. 

“One, two—” You do as he says, fingers gripping tightly on the pommel as he continues to count. “Three.” Kicking off the ground, you grunt as you pull your weight forward. “Straddle, baby.” He instructs and you carefully lift your other leg to stride over the horse, a blush creeping up your cheeks when you feel his hand caress the curve of your ass, only pulling away when you successfully take a seat. 

“Good girl.” He praises and you look down at him when he gives your thigh a light pat, the heat on your face spreading down to your neck. “You know how to work one of these?” His question comes all of a sudden, holding out the rifle for you to take.

You reply with a shake of your head.

“Best I show you when we get to the tower.” He hums but still lets you keep the weapon, gesturing for you to sling it over your shoulder. “You got a gun?” He asks.

“Only my dad’s but I kept it at home.” You frown. “No bullets.”

He nods then reaches behind him and holds out a small pistol. “Feels like it weighs nothing.” You comment as you grip the gun, amazed at how light it feels in your grip.

“That’ll help you move and attack faster.” He notes. “An infected comes running at you, it’ll only be seconds from when you take it out and pull the trigger.”

“Got it.” You stare back at the gun before stowing it in your pack.

“Now, here are a few things you have to remember.” The seriousness in Joel’s tone makes you tighten your grip on the reins, keeping your focus on him as he lays down the rules. “Stay close to me. If something feels wrong, or you hear something that didn’t come from either of us, you tell me. Are we clear?”

“Crystal.”

“Good. You’ll be okay,” He smiles, his hand resting once more on your thigh. “I’ll keep you safe.”

You smile back at him. 

Without it being said, you trust Joel with your life. He’s taken it upon himself to look after you since your dad passed, even after insisting that he shouldn’t bother. But his persistence was impeccable and slowly, Joel became a constant entity in your life. And if there is anyone you could rely on to save you from any danger, it’s him. 

If he and Ellie survived traveling all the way from Boston to Wyoming, a ride to the lookout tower would be nothing but a walk in the park. 

“You alright, sweetheart?”

You try to hide your discomfort as you glance at Joel, huffing out your pain as the horse continues to jog you on his back. You and Joel have been riding for almost two hours and it was after the first stop that your lower back began to protest getting back on the horse and riding further up the incline of the ridge.

You thought you’d be okay, that you came prepared for the intensity of being a ranger. But with each step the horse takes and even with just a small bump on the dirt path, your back screams for you to stop. 

“It’s my back.” You admit, frowning to yourself as you try to keep still to at least alleviate any of the pain. “It’s my first time riding.”

You hear him sigh and it’s enough to make you feel worse. You broke a rule; you didn’t tell him that something was wrong when he specifically told you to do so. 

“Do you want to stop?” He asks, concern laced in his voice.

“How far til we get there?”

“About twenty more minutes if we keep this pace. Five if we run.” He confirms, moving his horse closer to yours before pointing up ahead at the tower that grows larger by the second. “Can you hold up til we’re there?”

“Yeah,” You agree breathlessly. “I can manage.”

A sigh of relief escapes your lips as soon as you arrive at the foot of the tower. You steer your horse by the stairs and grip tightly on the saddle as you try to ease yourself down. But Joel is quick, his hand already reaching for your hip while the other makes to grab your hand and free your grip on the pommel. 

“Nice and easy, sweetheart.” He says softly. “Arm around my shoulders.”

You do as you’re told and wrap your arms around his neck, allowing your legs to freely slide off the back of the animal. Though before your feet could even touch the ground, Joel hooks his arm under your legs, effectively carrying you as he makes his way to the steps of the tower. 

“You don’t have to, Joel.” You tell him, feeling awkward to be carried like some child. “I can walk.”

“Can you?” You blink in surprise at his sternness. “It’s four flights of stairs.”

Four? You look up at the tower and swallow thickly upon seeing how high it is up close. You want to say no and agree to have him carry to the top but you’re unsure if Joel would even make it himself. He’s not that old, and the strength he shows is usually unmatched for a man his age. But you’d rather be cautious than selfish and the last thing you want is to injure the both of you and have the others come to your rescue—that is if the infected or raiders don’t get to you first.

So, you gauge the pain that radiates from your pelvis and throughout your lower back, determining that if you pace yourself properly, you’ll be able to make it without much hassle.

“I’ll keep up.” You tell him earnestly. “If I fall, I’ll call for help.”

You think for a split second that he would agree with you and put you down but from the way his mouth slants and his forehead creases, you can already tell that he’s made up his mind. 

“I promised your daddy I’d take care of you before he died.” He says as he begins climbing up the steps, your eyes suddenly stinging with unshed tears at the mention of him. “So that’s what I’ll do.”

You acquiesce to his decision and stay silent on the way up, keeping your arms locked around his shoulders while looking toward the trees scattering over at the next ridge over. The small ranger’s cottage takes your attention and your mind flutters into a daydream, thinking how peaceful it would have been to stay there alone and pass the time enjoying the scenery before the world went to shit. 

You gasp in surprise when a couple of infected appear out of the blue, their screeches and grunts echoing throughout the vast clearing. You sense Joel stop from his ascent and you look up to meet his eyes, the worry ever-present in his hazel orbs. 

“Infected.” You whisper and look back to the cottage, Joel following your line of sight, grunting before resuming his climb. 

“We’ll take care of them.” He drones, his breathing slightly labored. “But we’ll take care of you first.”

The lookout tower is larger than you’ve anticipated, cleaner, and very much intact than the ones you’ve come across before. With the tower being the farthest checkpoint from Jackson, you’re certain that some of the night patrollers camp out here when the sun gets too low and the ride back is too dangerous to take. The single mattress lying in the corner is enough to prove your theory. And the cabinets lined on one side of the wall and locked shut with chains, you don’t doubt that it’s stocked full of supplies.  

“You get comfortable,” Joel says as he takes you to the bed, a groan escaping his lips when he bends his knees and gently sets you down. 

He makes quick work of you, hands taking hold of the straps of your pack and peeling it off your shoulders along with your leather jacket. Setting your things aside, he kneels in front of you and takes his bag next, flipping open the flap of a pocket and taking out an orange bottle with several pills sitting inside.

“How painful is it?” He asks. “From one to ten with ten being the highest.”

“A six?” You answer him, unsure.

You watch him hum in thought while he stares at the bottle, popping off the cap soon after and slipping two round white tablets into his palm. 

“Better to take two, just to be sure you’ll be okay on our way back.” He states, taking your hand in his and placing the medicine in your hand. “Though you might get a little incoherent with it so best to lay down.”

Without hesitation, you toss the pills in your mouth and take the bottle of water he offers you to wash them down. You’re caught off guard when he suddenly places his hand on your cheek when you finish, your spine tensing as he runs his thumb across your lower lip—the gesture feeling too intimate—before pulling it down and urging you to open your mouth. 

“Let me see.” He commands.

And you furrow your brow in confusion as to why he has to. You keep your mouth close but the tick in his jaw startles you. Doesn’t he trust you taking the pills? He wouldn’t be angry over that, would he? But nonetheless, you choose to disobey and part your lips for him to see your empty mouth.

“Good girl.” He grins and moves his finger under your chin to close your mouth again. But he keeps his hand on your face, his thumb rubbing light circles on the apple of your cheek before he pulls away, seeing the reluctance swimming in his eyes. “I’ll take care of the infected and keep guard while you rest. The medicine should kick in soon.” He says before taking hold of your shoulder and giving you a gentle push to lay down on the mattress. 

You frown up at him. You should be helping him guard the tower and keep an eye on the perimeter yet here you are, first day on the job and you’re already a liability. Joel seems to notice your distress and places a hand on your hip, his fingers tickling the exposed skin.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

“You’re supposed to be teaching me how to patrol the area.” You hiccup. “But you’re taking care of me instead. I’m sorry.”

“Hey, don’t be.” He coos and scoots a little closer to you. “This is all part of learning and we’ve learned that you need more practice on horseback.” He chuckles lightly but the mirth in his voice doesn’t penetrate your melancholy. “I’ll teach you how to ride when we get back home, but for now, rest. I won’t be able to defend you when you’re in pain.”

“Okay. Thank you, Joel.” You mumble and then groan when you start feeling light-headed. “I’ll just close my eyes for a bit.” You tell him, blinking your eyes several times when your vision goes blurry. 

His response comes out muffled and you think it’s because the meds have finally entered your bloodstream. You don’t fight the drowsiness that consumes you, instead, you give in. The feeling of your shirt riding up your torso is the last thing you feel before the darkness completely takes over.

The sound of gunshots fills your dreams as the darkness continues to keep your consciousness at bay. A cool sensation kisses your skin, a groan which you cannot place coming from the void. You think it's you but you’re certain it’s someone else, though all thoughts fly away as you feel your body being moved, a tickle trailing from your calf and up to your inner thighs. 

Your core burns and you mewl at the weird feeling building in the pit of your stomach. You try to move your hands, wanting to put a stop to it but your arms feel heavy, effectively pinning you to the bed. The fire grows stronger, heat prickling your entire body and you hear yourself once more, moaning softly and then loudly all at once. 

You wake in a jolt, your eyes bursting wide as you pant heavily against the mattress, your hips trembling and your heart pounding wildly in your chest. You stare at the ceiling, dumbstruck as you try to piece together where you are. But you have trouble forming your thoughts when you feel your skin tingling once more.

You look down to see what’s causing it but your heart constricts when you see that you’re naked from the waist down, the top of Joel’s head resting against your stomach while he plants wet kisses on the length of your hips. His hand is unseen but your feel it caressing your inner thigh, a strangled groan escaping your throat as his fingers run up the folds of your wet cunt. 

“Joel!” You shout and try to move your arms to push him away but you grunt instead, your body still too heavy for you to even move an inch. 

“Sweetheart—” He drones and lifts himself to his knees, your eyes growing wide in fear when you see him stripped off of his pants, leaving him in only his shirt and boxers briefs. “You’re awake.”

“Wh-what are you d-doing?” Your voice trembles when you meet his hazel eyes. “What’s g-going on?”

A smile forms on his lips, one that looks kind and unassuming. But the way his jaw tightens and his nails digging painfully into your flesh, you immediately know that his sentiment is the complete opposite.

“I’m fulfilling my promise, baby.”  Joel hums, taking both your hands in his and lifting them to his lips to press a kiss on your knuckles before pinning them on both sides of your head. “I’m taking care of you.” Tears slip from your eyes when he leans down, his lips pressing on the crook of your neck before trailing them up to your chin and finally capturing your lips with his own. 

He starts out soft and gentle, exploring more than taking as if trying to savor the moment with you. But he becomes demanding all too quickly, forcing his tongue into your mouth and devouring your hungrily, swallowing your moans of protest as you try to struggle against him and free yourself from his grasp. Still, his grip on you is too strong and your efforts are useless as your body refuses to cooperate with your head. 

You try to bite his tongue, to at least gain a sense of control of the situation but he pulls away just in time, a low and dangerous growl rumbling from his chest that has you cowering in dread. He furrows his brows and releases his hold on you, only to wrap his hand tight around your neck, panic driving you to move your hand and grab onto his wrist but your lack of strength leaves you helpless to his anger. 

“I’d be good if I were you, baby.” Joel taunts, releasing your other hand and reaching down to cup his crotch before pulling himself free from his boxers. “We’re far away from Jackson and who’s to say you didn’t accidentally fall down the stairs and hit your head or that you were reckless and got a little too close to an infected and got yourself bit, huh?”

You gasp in shock at his words, fear running up your spine that he would insinuate such things blatantly. 

“You wouldn’t—” You choke.

“You don’t think I can, sweetheart?” He laughs darkly, a reluctant moan escaping your lips when he begins rubbing the tip of his cock against your cunt. “You think Michael was stupid enough to get himself bit?” 

It's as if the world stood still when you hear your father’s name come out of his mouth.

No.

He must have been jumped while patrolling the area, the infected outnumbering him and eventually leading him to his demise. But he had a partner then, surely they would have helped him right? You try to wrack your brain for information, something you missed while you were grieving your father’s death. 

Then it hits you. 

He was with Joel that night. It was him that brought his body back to the settlement. 

It can’t be—Joel couldn’t have—

“Don’t worry yourself, baby.” Joel pulls you away from your thoughts, a devious smirk painted on his lips. “I promised him I’d take care of you, remember?” 

“You murderer!” You shout but your voice dwindles down when he suddenly thrusts his cock in you, pain flaring on your hips as your walls stretch around him, his size too much to handle that you feel like you’ll be split in half. 

He groans when he sits himself to the hilt, your pussy walls fluttering around him when he pulls back slowly only to push in once more, your body rocking against the mattress as he begins to roll his hips against yours, thrusting at an easy and languid pace. 

“It’s just gonna be you and me, baby.” He drawls, a low grunt mixing in his voice with each thrust he makes. 

His hand leaves your neck and moves to grab your tit through your shirt, fondling and squeezing while his other hand presses down on your stomach, his thumb rolling against your clit. Your body writhes from the unwanted pleasure that slowly crawls up your skin, your back tensing, and your cunt fluttering around his cock when he begins to quicken his pace, the sound of your skin slapping against each other taking over the silence that fills the lookout tower and echoes loudly in your ears.

Joel doesn’t relent and you lay weakly on the bed, succumbing to his strength and torturous depravity. Your tears roll down your face as you think of how it came to this. He killed your father for reasons you don’t know and now he’s taking advantage of you, betraying the trust that you have willingly given him and tainting the way you saw him, how you treated him as family. 

He snaps his hips at a merciless rhythm, his pace growing erratic and desperate as he pulls away his hand from your waist only to grab onto your hand and pin it once again at the sides of your head. He growls and presses his forehead against yours, his musky scent mixed with the smell of your arousal wafting in your nose. 

“Your mine, baby.” He groans.

A whimper leaves your lips when you feel his cock slide deeper in you, your mouth hanging open as you try to gasp for air, the intensity of his lust suffocating you, squeezing you tight. You let out a cry once your core begins to burn, the coil within tightening further and further that your mind goes blank from the bliss that wants to escape yet fight hard to keep your release at bay to not give him that satisfaction of bringing you such pleasure.

He whispers your name and you moan when he kisses you once more, sloppy and wreckless, teeth clashing against each other then yelping in pain when he bites down on your lower lip, tasting the metallic tang of blood scattering on your tongue. 

“You feel so amazing, baby.” He groans as he presses his nose against your temple, his warm breath fanning over your face as you cry out once more when you feel yourself getting closer to your peak. “You’re so perfect—so mine.” His voice is low and possessive, his hand leaving your clit and hooking his finger into your mouth, pushing it down to keep your mouth agape. 

You move your arm to wrap your fingers around his wrist, gripping it tightly as your spine arches and your body stills, a wave of sheer pleasure consuming you, drowning you when the coil finally snaps and you fall apart around him. Your pussy walls flutter around him and you moan incoherently, your juices coating his cock, lubricating him further and allowing him to thrust even faster, deeper. 

But he doesn’t take long, stilling his hips and burying himself deep into your core, whimpering when spills his seed inside you, mixing with your own essence. Your name flows from his lips like a prayer as he keeps his face pressed on the side of yours with his lips sloppily moving against your cheek.

You're breathless and limp against the mattress, your body void of strength, and your mind slowly giving up and giving in to Joel's desires. You think of running away, of leaving Jackson and getting away from him. But you know such attempts are a suicide mission and without your dad, you're unsure of how far you'll make it before you get killed or before Joel catches up with you.

“I’ll take care of you, baby.” He repeats once more, unhooking his finger from your mouth and trailing his hand down to your breast, stopping to rest it over your stomach with his fingers lightly caressing your skin.

Your body shivers from his touch the implication bringing you dread. “And pretty soon, we’ll have a family of our own.”

I no longer keep a tag list but if you want to be kept updated on my fics, follow my side blog @springlibrary and turn on notifications.

[yccoffeesimp]

𝑊𝒉𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝐼 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑂𝑘𝑖𝑒 𝐷𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑒| ??? 𝑥 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟

TW: G0r3 & C@nn¡B@lism at the very end.

You stayed up the entire weekend writing the short story. You didn't want to think too hard about what to write, so you went with the easiest option. Fantasy/ adventure. It was already time for the next club meeting when you finished.

You wanted to show the others but to whom? Choose-

-Blade

-Dan Heng

→ Jing Yuan

-Gepard

->'Best to show Jing Yuan first, after all, he is the president and the one who gave us the assignment.'

You thought. You then slowly began to walk to him with the two flat papers in hand. "Lovely to see you again, Y/n."The ivory white-haired man said, smiling at you.

→ "Nice to see you as well Jing Yuan."

"Oh before I forget, I'd just like to say. If you have any suggestions for anything regarding the club such as activities or problems, don't be afraid to inform me." He said, crossing his arms, his cat-like smile still present on his features.

→ "I'll keep that in mind but I'm going to go with the flow as I get settled in."

"We all need time to earn our footing." He slightly laughed.→

"Say you wanna read the short story I wrote?"

You ask, handing him the papers as he nods. It didn't take long for him to finish reading the two papers of the short story. When he gave the papers back, he had a light smile.

"Excellent work, Y/n, I underestimated your writing capabilities. Say Dan Heng enjoys this type of writing style, the fantasy and the way with words is extremely moving and it paints a picture in your head as if you were in it yourself." He closed his eyes as he spoke, nodding ever so slightly.

→ "You lost me."

"My apologies, I didn't mean to wander. But regardless, it's very well written, and I enjoyed reading it. It captivates the reader and that's what is most important in any form of literature."

→ "Yeah I guess so."

"Since I've read yours, would you like to read mine as well?" He offered.

→ "Sure."

"Sorry if it isn't any good, I'm not as creative as most are." He smiled awkwardly, unfolding his arms across his chest as they landed at his sides again. Reaching for the paper that he had written on, which laid on the desk beside him, before handing it to you.

You took the soft, thin paper examining the words written on it.The story was about a group that called themselves Space Rangers and one of their amazing adventures. The story was rather vivid and from what you could tell no spelling or grammar mistakes. This is to be expected from Jing Yuan after all he is the valedictorian student.

You set the paper down as you looked at Jing Yuan."Is it bad?"He then asked.

→ "Are you kidding me? This is amazing!"

You exclaimed, this caused him to smile."I'm glad you think so, I feel as if I could use more practice on wording it better and try not to go into details a lot. Just proves I have a lot more to learn."

→ "We all could. Well, I'm going to go see what the others wrote. See ya around Jing Yuan."

"If you want to chat more, I'll be here." He smiled before you walked away.

Who's next?

→Dan Heng

-Blade

-Gepard

→ "Maybe I should go see Dan Heng next. He probably has some constructive criticism for my writing. I mean he's writing his own novel so.."

You thought, before walking up to him. He was sitting near the back of the classroom, hunched over that notebook that was said to contain that novel of his. Dan Heng didn't notice you until he looked to see you approaching him.

→ "Hey Dan Heng."

"Greetings {name}, is something the matter?" He asks, setting his pencil down for a brief moment.

→ "I was wondering if you wanted to read the short story we were assigned to read."

You said, you felt your voice slowly become high pitched as to not knowing how to talk to the guy. All you knew was that he was Dan Feng's, the future owner of Vidyadhara Industries, twin brother. He paused for a moment, thinking about your words."I'd be happy to." That was all he said.

You handed your paper to him, his attention immediately went to the paper in his hands. It only took a minute before the paper was handed back to you.

→ "So how was it?"

"It was well written, I must say. The movement with the words... It's unique, it makes you feel as if you're truly there." His words carried honesty and truth, you somehow couldn't help but be flattered.

→ "Thanks."

You plainly said. "I take it that you want to read what I've written for the assignment?" He spoke. You nod as he takes a slip of folded paper out of the notebook he was previously writing in. He passed it onto you, your hands unfolding it. You lightly scanned the paper, his handwriting was neat.. Words were in clear and constructed sentences. It was a small script of the romance genre.

→ "Wow, it's really good. You wrote this by yourself?"

Dan Heng nodded. "Just a small script, a friend of mine says I need to try to write new different genres.Some authors get boresome if they write the same genre over and over.. Or at least that's what they said."

→ "I kinda agree, sometimes the plot just repeats itself a lot."

"Speaking of such.. Any suggestions?"

→ "Huh-For what?"

"For my writing attempt at romance."

→ "Oh- Well I'm not an expert. It's good by my standards. I frankly enjoyed it."

You handed the paper back to him, it was folded neatly as it was before. Dan Heng took the folded material before staring at it for a short while. "I'm glad you enjoyed it." He spoke, putting the piece of paper back into the notebook. He then opened to a page and began writing, ignoring your existence once more.

Choose-

→ Blade

-Gepard

Might as well see what Blade wrote. Maybe you could learn more about him. All you knew was that he was one of the troublemakers of the school. Easily had fights and many were sent to the nurse's office on several occasions because of him. You remember having him in your biology class once, he didn't show up except for when it was final exam season.He sat at the back next to one of the windows. His arms crossed along his chest, with his hair covering a majority of his face.

As you walked up to him, you got a closer look. He seemed to be holding a small piece of paper. You didn't realize you were staring at him before he spoke. "Is there a problem.?" He asked, his voice was laced with irritation and annoyance at your actions.

→ "Uh- Not really.. I wanted to ask if you wanted to uh- read the short story thing we were to write..."

He scoffed. "You do realize there are others here who can read the damn story, right.?"

→ "Yeah well I want you to read it."

"Hard pass. Now if you'd excuse me, I'd like to be alone."

→ "Well can I still read yours in the meantime?"

Blade didn't reply but he did look at you for a short while. He groaned, handing you the small piece of paper."If it only means you'll leave me be, take it."

♡- You received Blade's short story!

→ "Don't you want it back?"

"No." His answer was blunt and he looked not in a good mood to continue chatting... Best to leave him be and move to the next person.

But first do you want to read the short story now or later?

Choose-

-Now

→ Later

→ ' I'll read it when I get home from the meeting. I still have to read Gepard's.'

Gepard was near the podium of the classroom, he seemed to be writing something down before his eyes caught you walking towards him."Oh- Hey {name}, is there something you need?" He asked, trying to cover up the paper he was writing on.

→ "Yeah, just wondering if you wanted to read my assignment and to check up on ya."

"Oh- Well, I'm doing fine at the moment. Also, I'd be glad to read it. I heard from Jing Yuan that it was really good." The blonde smiled. You hand him the piece of paper. He gently took it in his hands before reading it. Now that you looked closer at him. He almost looked tired yet he always slept in. The eye bags he had were barely noticeable but they were still there. Your train of thought was interrupted by Gepard handing the piece of paper back. "Like I said, it's amazing."

→"H-huh?"

Did Gepard say something when you were spacing out? "{Name}? Are you alright?"

→ "I'm fine, Gepard... Just thinking and thank you for thinking it was amazing."

You smiled. A small smile followed from Gepard when you did.

→ "Can I read yours now?"

Gepard froze, looking away from you for a moment. "The thing is...-"

→ "You forgot to write one."

Gepard nodded. That was probably why when you left Jing Yuan, Gepard went up to him. Probably to inform him that he forgot to write a short story. "I haven't had time to, you know how much of a handful five-year-olds are..."

→ "Lynx really is giving you and Serval a rough time then if you didn't have enough time to write a story."

He nodded.

→ "Ah, I see. Anyways, what were you writing earlier?"

Your gaze falls on to the piece of paper on the podium. Gepard followed your gaze to the paper. "The short story.."

→ "Speed writing?"

"I have it already written but I haven't proofread it yet."

→ "I can do it for you."

Gepard smiled at you. "I don't want to bother you with it {name}, I can proofread it-"

→ "I insist. It's the least I can do for you."

Gepard thought for a moment before sighing. He gave you the now slightly wrinkled paper for you to read.Some sentences didn't make sense but then again it wasn't proofread. The short story was a historical fiction of the history of Gepard's hometown. The scenery of Belobog was different from the scenery of the Honkai Star City. Snow-covered meadows, a chilling breeze... It was a winter wonderland from what Gepard described it to be as back then before the Eternal Freeze. You took a pencil and helped Gepard rewrite some sentences.

As you helped him though, you couldn't help but feel a pair of eyes watching you as you did so. You looked up from the paper the paper briefly and saw no one was looking and the feeling vanished. But when you looked back at the paper, the feeling returned. You pushed the feeling away as you tried to focus on the story.

"Thank you,{name}, for the help," Gepard said once the proofreading was done.

→ "No need to thank me, just doing my duty as your friend."

"Still... It means a lot." He shortly smiled. He opened his mouth to say something else before a loud crash sounded. Your attention snapped to a broken teapot on the floor at the back of the classroom. Boiling water poured from the now shattered object. Dan Heng and Blade stood in front of it, a shocked expression on Dan Heng's face and a rather annoyed expression on Blade's. "Crap.." Dan Heng mumbled as he went to grab the broom from the closet at the back.

Blade simply stared at the mess before completely walking over it. "Well, that's the first.." Gepard mumbled.

→ "First of what?"

Gepard looked at you before looking back at Blade and Dan Heng. "Normally when they even interact with each other, there's always an argument that follows before Jing Yuan breaks it up. But strangely they haven't been arguing.."

→ "They argue a lot?"

The blonde nodded. "We don't know why but they really hate each other. We never really questioned it either." He shrugged as Dan Heng came back to clean the broken ceramic.

→ "Imma go help Dan Heng real quick."

You grabbed some stray papers from your bag before walking to Dan Heng to pick up the spilled water. The floor was dried and the teapot was thrown away. "Thank you for helping, {name}."

→ "It's no problem. Just helping a fellow club member."

Dan Heng gave a short nod, but you could've sworn he smiled too.

-×-

Jing Yuan clapped his hands together. "I'm happy to say this concludes our second meeting with our new member." He started, his cat-like smile on his features. "After sharing our short stories, how does everyone feel?" He turned to look at Gepard first.

"It was nice," Gepard answered.

Then he looked at Dan Heng.

"It was quite helpful." He replied.

Then at Blade.

"It was... eventful." He scoffed.

And then lastly at you.

→"It was interesting."

Jing Yuan nodded, his arms crossing in front of his chest. "I'm glad to hear we all have at least positive outlooks on today's activity. Perhaps we can do the same tomorrow but as for now, the club meeting is over." And with that, you began to walk home. The sun was already setting with the moon peeking its head out ready to take its shift in the sky.

-♡Blade's Short Story: ......The blood sprayed over the walls. Agonizing screams echoed throughout the halls, a blade dragging across the skin of the captive. A maniacal laugh follows, their eyes looking longing at the beating heart in their hand. Blood oozing from the organ as its former owner's limbs became limp. "Finally mine... all, all mine..."

A voice said. They tilled the organ upside down over their mouth. The blood poured from the heart's atriums into their mouths."Not enough, not enough.." They gasped before throwing the dead heart away. Now ripping at the throat and torso of the dead body. "I can't- Need more.." They gasped one more time before all humanity in them was lost...

~Fin~

Pins: @sarcastic-cookie

[jisuto]

On the topic of game reception, what are your thoughts on the current state of pokemon?

OK THIS ASK WAS SENT BEFORE THE HUGE LEAK LOL but I have a lot to say:

I watched VHS tapes, played the games, and owned merch since a young age so the series is very special to me. But I don't like the current direction at all and it's not because of the designs or nostalgia. The quality and game performance plummeted so how can I enjoy playing when there's mad lag or low frame rate that hinders my progress and worsen the experience??

It took too many years for them to realize they need to put quality over quantity after the SWSH mess, seeing that they can get away with pretty much ANYTHING and still make huge profit. You see people say that Pokemon should've never went 3D and stay 2D but tbh, it's a series that improves it's graphics as technology advances so it's not a surprise for them to finally go 3D and personally I think that's fine but just keep it looking good and fun (though I would love a 2D/3D hybrid). XY introduced a lot of new features but still lacked in some aspects that still haven't really been solved or added.

Reusing assets is common in the industry but only to a certain extent. They claimed that SWSH was taking a while to make because they were making brand new models which turned out to be a lie and they look like bootleg figures with the new lighting. The 3DS models were ripped from Pokepark, including some animations, but a lot of them still barely have any character. They have their own in-house team (Creatures Inc) so they made the decision NOT to have pokemon properly animated or look alive.... Also they made spin-offs like Ranger, Colosseum, Pokepark, and Pokken which look AMAZING

FRLG took only one year while HGSS was being developed at the same time as Platinum and took 3 years to finish that turned into one of the best games and remakes ever made. As the franchise expands, the team also needs to add more manpower but Game Freak can definitely afford to get more resources to help them?? They can't continue having a ragtag team of like 20 people to make a game back then and do the same now then expect good results... Hire more people who know how create with current gen consoles IT'S COMMON SENSE PLS also I can't believe they had a different company create BDSP knowing how beloved and groundbreaking DPPT was?? No redesigns like the previous remakes and thought it was a good idea to keep it looking a carbon copy to the DS style...

Also it's shocking to see how fan reception can change how the devs direct the next gen ESPECIALLY when it's not even real constructive criticism?? When Unova came out, I remember seeing all the online outcry about "OH THEY HAVE AN ICE CREAM CONE POKEMON AND A TRASH BAG, THEY'RE RUNNING OUT OF IDEAS EW" then actually hear it being repeated at school.... I WAS TRYING TO SURVIVE SINCE DAY 1 IN THE TRENCHES DEFENDING THIS GAME IT WAS ALWAYS GOOD AND DIDN'T NEED 10 YEARS TO AGE WELL. It's crazy how these are the same people who want another Kanto when Trubbish is Grimer (garbage waste) and Vanillite is Voltorb (based on literal items) then you could not catch any other pokemon from different regions in the main game. And the leak confirmed that the disgruntled hate from the west made the devs not release new pokemon in B2W2 and move them over to XY instead AND NOT GIVE A SINGLE GEN 5 MEGA EVOLUTION. So we were robbed because of genwunners who were fixated on the wrong things and ignored all the great content Unova brought us. It's strange how players keep complaining they want a different and fresh game, but want it to continue being super formulaic and binary like wtf do you want make up your mind

None of the switch titles really got me invested and I always end up replaying the older games but hopefully PLZA will break the curse and finally give us a nice game. Also why don't we have more spin-offs on the switch if there's so many of them floating around like the DS had a bunch??? STOP BEING COWARDS I WANT A POKEMON NINTENDOGS GAME OR THAT FIRE EMBLEM CROSSOVER WE WERE SUPPOSED TO GET. I JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN AGAIN ;w;

[eliasdrid]

you keep putting these tokusatsu shows on my dash for months and I have less than zero context what they're about. what's the cliffnotes version to get me interested in whatever these odd looking robots or perhaps creatures are doing?

Alright I'll try my best but it might get long.

To me, the most appealing thing about them is that the suits are very much suits, they often try to use practical effects where they can and there's a lot of neat choreographed fights. There's also often sci-fi elements (which I'm a fan of). Each season of each show seems to be made with love and passion for the genre* too and I've read/seen a few interviews which support this. There's also some very talented actors and it's amazing to watch them play pretend the colorful plastic weapons are real and can hurt you (they really sell it to you if you can suspend your disbelief a little and have some fun).

*edited - I wrote labor of love but forgot it is a specific thing and might not apply very well here?

Anyway. I'll give you the basics. The three big tokusatsu shows you may often see around are: Kamen Rider and Super Sentai (both from Toei) and Ultraman (from Tsuburaya).

Screenshots from: Kamen Rider OOO (2010), Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger (2021) and Ultraman Blazar (2023)

There's others! like Dogengers (screenshot below) - but I'll try to focus on those three.

In general these shows are aimed at young audiences so you have to watch with that in mind. Also, like any superhero show, they will want to sell you merch (figures, toys, plushies, etc).

Another important thing to know is that the seasons of these shows are usually self contained, and each have their own theme, so you can pick any season that catches your eye to check out with no previous knowledge. There are crossovers events (movies and especials) and anniversary seasons which will explore and/or showcase previous content too! I personally really enjoyed Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger (2021) which is a 45th Anniversary Sentai season and I had watched only two other sentais before it.

Now, some differences! so you can tell the shows apart and also know what you will potentially have in store if you decide to watch any. I'll put a read more because this is getting long 👍

Kamen Rider and Super Sentai air all year long, for this reason, seasons usually have 45-50 episodes. All the Ultraman shows I've watched have 25 episodes per season. Meanwhile Dogengers has kept a 12 episodes per season formula so far. Spin offs, specials and reboots have no defined number of episodes (to my knowledge).

I feel like I should mention that (especially in the case of 45-50 episodes shows) the episodes might feel a bit off sometimes? Be aware there's often release schedules with toylines involved* From what I've noticed this usually happens past the mid-season point the closer you get to finale territory. My guess is that, generally at that point, the writing team (or writer) was trying to do things they forgot to properly set up before, tie loose ends and/or finish arcs quickly. *Sometimes other things affect production, like COVID or an actor suddenly not being able to continue with their role.

All shows value The Power Of Love and Friendship and usually feature a team of heroes (or allies) fighting against an enemy faction. There's also, almost always, some sort of transformation device involved and in all these shows the heroes must collect some season-themed item to get power ups. The key difference between each show will be how they decide to play with these things.

Super Sentai is what Power Rangers is based on. If that tells you nothing: there's a team of heroes ("rangers"), color coded suits that are generally not too complex in design and one giant mech vs. giant monster fight per episode (on average). I've not seen too much Sentai so that's all I got for you.

Kamen Rider gives its heroes more complex suit designs and (usually) multiple forms (ascending in strength/skill). Kamen Rider's signature elements are probably: the drivers (belts), the henshins (transformation scenes) and the fact that they often have motorbikes (they gotta ride something).

Ultraman has more of a shared universe between seasons situation going on than the previous two so there's recurring lore. I won't explain that lore to keep this as short as possible. Either there's a host-alien situation (to varying degrees) or the protagonist has the ability to transform. In this show there's always an almost guaranteed Titular Ultraman vs. giant monster fight per episode.

More visuals that might help you tell them apart:

Screenshots from Ohsama Sentai King Ohger (2023)

Screenshots from Kamen Rider Ryuki (2002), Kamen Rider Den-O (2007), Kamen Rider OOO (2010), Kamen Rider Build (2017)

Screenshots from Ultraman Orb (2016), Ultraman Geed (2017) and Ultraman Blazar (2023)

I hope this was helpful! sorry it got long!

[coyotetatertot]

I got on mood stabilizers and now my head is somewhat quieter. Whoops.

I am uh. Still writing that fic tho.

A collection of scenes from pre-series and post-series exploring how Tate is stripped of his father (and his spirit) in childhood, how he goes to gravity falls for closure and finds an impossible project in curing a madman, how he gives it his best but theres like. An entire world against him.

MENTALLY ILL RAMBLING UNDER THE CUT

his father's illness defies clinical analysis, he keeps building machines that are a danger to himself and others — so he can't live with Tate at his shitty lil job accommodation as a lake ranger, lest he legit hurts someone. Tate searches for answers every night, and when they evade him he starts looking at the bottom of the bottle. He gets little to no sleep and he starts breaking down, he makes more and more fuck-ups at work and that shit can be dangerous on the water. When it becomes apparent that he's gonna drown right alongside his dad if he doesn't stop — he's kinda forced to save himself. He goes no contact outside of winter months to bring him supplies and make sure he doesn't die of hypothermia. Can't even bear to look at him for how it hurts. But this is a VERY slow motion train wreck. Over seventeen fucking years of trying with him, of sacrificing his own future in this town and working a dead end job, of hoping to make progress when there's NONE. And yet he STILL CAN'T GET HIMSELF TO LEAVE HIS DAD FOR DEAD —slams fist on table—

And then one day he's miraculously cured. In a few hours. By twelve year olds. And there's an apocalypse. All these fucking questions Tate has, and feeling absolutely fucking worthless, oh the emotional devastation I'm gonna write when he finally has that fucking talk with his newly-sane dad.

And surprise the mental breakdowns were actually temporary ✨brain damage✨ Tate had his memories wiped whenever he got too close. He's actually so smart and extremely capable but he still never stood a fucking chance, he was trapped in a vicious cycle the instant he stepped foot in city limits.

Tate reconnecting with his dad and un-learning the years of damage done to him by a classist, unaccommodating school system and broken family. Learning who his dad is as a person, the bittersweetness of filling each other in on their entire life stories, figuring out what they had a right to know all along but fate robbed them of it. Seeing how similar they are despite having been totally separated. Healing and trying to do enough right by one another to make up for all that lost time.

Tate learning to show emotion again, touching his Appalachian roots, and un-learning a fear of hubris so strong that it terrifies him of even trying to make good use his inherited intelligence. He's so goddamn scruffy and wild and meant to be in nature,, with a natural enthusiasm for tinkering that he struggles to contain and fears, istg LET 👏 HIM 👏 BE 👏 FREE 👏. Playing guitar with his dad on banjo, bonfires, fishing, and country music and HEAVY MACHINERY 💥💥💥‼️‼️‼️

I'm gonna break Tater tot and then I'm gonna rebuild him. It's too late. It's all planned out in my head. Featuring extra painful and bittersweet interactions w/ both sets of Pines twins,, rubs hands together

I'm gonna fuck you up kid. You're gonna be hurt so bad.

[solarishashernoseinabook]

Tell me about the process of writing trr 👀

Thank u so much for indulging me 😭

Um. This got very long. So most of it's going under a readmore.

One of the first things I did when I started TRR was come up with three principles for writing autistic!Halt, which I stick to every time I write him:

Halt is an autistic character, not a character who happens to have autism. Essentially meaning: Halt's autism must affect the narrative. TRR (as well as many recent one-shots) would not be the same stories if Halt was neurotypical, and I figure if I did write something where Halt's autism didn't affect the story, then I've written it poorly

Halt's autism can't be discarded for the sake of the story. Pretty self explanatory. In a lot of media with autistic-coded characters, they're portrayed as weird and having some social difficulties or weird interests in a way that can be summed up as being "lolz so QUIRKY 🤪", but those traits can be highly inconsistent depending on what the plot needs. I was determined to not do that in TRR.

Halt's autism is value-neutral. There's two broad camps that a lot of autistic rep or autistic-coded characters fall into, mainly depending on the genre they appear in. If they're in a more serious story, the focus tends to be on how much of a problem they are for their caretaker, and if they're in something comedic, the focus will be on how much of a jackass and/or how clueless they are and the basis of the humour will be other people responding to this. In either case, we're supposed to sympathise with the non-autistic characters and relate to how difficult dealing with an autistic person is. The other alternative is that we get an inspiration-porny depiction of autism where the autistic character is so saintly and good and wonderful and inspiring, which is also pretty damn dehumanising. So for TRR, I tried to avoid both those extremes. If characters had problems with Halt's autistic traits, that was their fault - any problems they have with him are part of a failure to accommodate him, or because they pushed Halt out of his comfort zone. Of course, Halt would have to meet them half-way here: if he's rude, he does have to realise that and apologise for that rudeness. At the same time, Halt isn't better than anyone else by virtue of being autistic. He's not an inspiration to them, nor is he there to teach them how to be better people: he's just another character, just like any of them. Maybe I haven't always pulled this last principle off correctly, but I try.

The rest is going under a cut sorry :"D

Another thing I did really early on was settle on what Halt's autistic traits would be. In canon, Halt dislikes loud noises, doesn't seem to look at people very much, he can talk for a long time on things he knows but doesn't otherwise speak very much, and he loves archery - he's one of the Corps' best rangers. Using this as a basis, I decided Halt has noise sensitivities, generally avoids eye contact unless he knows people well, and that archery is one of his special interests. I wanted to make Halt slightly touch adverse, so I gave him my trouble with being touched around the shoulders. Finally, based on how many times Halt gets quiet and avoids people in loud situations, I decided to have him shut down instead of melt down when he starts to get overwhelmed.

And then I had to decide how to actually write that autism - as in, like, the mechanics of writing. There's a subtle difference between how Halt's POV scenes are written versus everyone else's. When I write from Halt's POV, I don't typically include any emotion from other characters unless it's very obvious, or I describe body language without much detail. If Halt meets someone for the first time, the other character will be described with a hair colour and maybe their general build and that's it - Halt doesn't like looking at faces much, so you won't get details like their eye colour or distinct facial features. This means a lot of perspective-hopping, because if the other characters' emotions are important to the scene, then I either can't tell it from Halt's POV or I need a scene afterwards that backtracks slightly to explain what we missed. I also try to focus more on the information coming through Halt's senses - what he's hearing or feeling, for instance. It was the only way I could think of to actually get across social difficulties and what having sensory processing disorder feels like, lol

More recently, I reread RA's two prequels (which cover the same timespan as TRR) and made extensive notes on the plot/characters...fully knowing I would need to discard 85% of it for TRR. I can at least make shout-outs to it, or use it as a basis for what I write. I turned those notes into a 41 page document that describes characters, locations, and events, complete with sub-headings!

WHEW okay thank you for enabling me :D I mainly focussed on character creation i know but i had the most to say about it 😭

[sorakazeno]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Nominated by @iwrestledavongonce

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

2 Full stories and 14 shorts for writing events for a total of 16.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

765,503 but it is going to go up around 15,000 tomorrow with a new chapter ^_^

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently Sailor Moon. In the past I also wrote Slayers, Gundam Wing, and Power Rangers. Started a Inu Yasha one but I'm not sure what happened to the first chapter and meh. I don't even remember what it was going to be about.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Chaos Theory

Rebirth

Let Them Wait

Our Last Night

Dating a Teen Idol

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I love interacting with readers. I have made some truly wonderful friendships this way.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Is This the End? Is currently posted. I am currently working on Act 71 of Chaos Theory.... the act where Seiya and Usagi have a really nasty fight. That one will win out when it is posted at the end of June.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Runaway Date. I had so much fun writing a short silly fic featuring Minako and Yaten.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Yes. The story is tagged Mamoru/Usagi and Usagi/Seiya. Some of the MamoUsa die hard shippers are umm.... passionate about their ship and will not accept anything else. If a story features both typically one will win out. Then there are the random ones on FF.net.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

No. I have a hard enough time trying to writing any scene that is remotely steamy. So much editing to get to what it looks like by the time it is posted.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I have never done a crossover.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yes. I have contacted FF.net multiple times and have never received a response. A person stole my first ever fan fic I posted on A Sailor Moon Romance and changed the name to their own. They posted part of the story. The posting stopped right around the time ASR crashed. I still have the original that I wrote when I was 13. It is staying on my computer and will not see the light of day. It is so bad with so many mistakes. However, I do like the re-write of it, Rebirth.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! I received a request earlier this year to translate Rebirth into Russian. One chapter was posted on a Russian fanfiction site and then it disappeared. I don't know what happened.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Sorta? When I was in high school. SailorStars Awakening. I floated an idea to a friend what would it be like if Usagi was consumed by Chaos? It started as one idea and the co-author kind of took it and ran with it. Decades later we have Chaos Theory, how I originally pictured the concept.

Then there is the What if the Starlights Appeared in the R Season of Sailor Moon fic on FF.net. I have debated about re-writing that one but I realllly like the world I've built with Chaos Theory.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Is it shocking to read Sei/Usa for the 90s anime?

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I finish all the fics I post on-line. Might take years or decades, but it will have an ending!

16. What are your writing strengths?

I used to hate battle scenes but over the years I feel like I've gotten a lot better writing them.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

The steamy scenes... so I'm trying to work on them.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Hinted at in this story at best. I don't mind seeing dialogue in other languages. Google Translate!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

When I was ten I wrote a Power Rangers story but didn't know it was called fan fiction at the time. First story I wrote that knew it was fan fiction was the stolen Sailor Moon one mentioned above.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Chaos Theory. I keep coming back to the story even though I think I'm done because I realize I have more I want to write.

Other amazing writers: @kaleidodreams, @chemicalfairyx, @speak-mnemosyne1

[kaelea-majere]

I have fallen down the character ai rabbit hole, and am so addicted it hurts 😭 I know there’s some controversy around it, but in my few days of messing around with it, it seems mostly harmless. It’s definitely not a replacement for fanfic, because they are entirely different experiences. Plus it is insanely fun, and kinda helping me push through writer’s block.

So basically it’s a site called character ai where you can chat with ai based on characters from games, anime, etc. They have all of the Genshin characters, btw. Well, here’s what I learned so far:

-Some ai characters are better than others, as in more ‘in character.’ I found a really good Cyno and Tighnari. Both Razor ones I tried so far, are good. Still looking for a Bennett I like. It’s really just trial and error.

-It gets wonky sometimes so you can get some out of place or immersion breaking things. Just ignore them. If you don’t fixate on a detail the ai will forget about it after a little while. Also, if you want details that match you (hair, eyes, name, gender) you have to mention them, a lot. If the characters mix up their backstory, or badly skew world details, however, you’ll need to start over.

-You have to continuously push the narrative forward. The ai’s get stuck if you don’t, plus it makes the experience more interesting. They have some story elements included, but they’re short plots. It’s more fun if you mix things up yourself. Even a tiny idea, and the ai will run with it. In that same vein, you can ignore their initial introductions and put a scenario in their place. I like this, because I can bounce ideas off of them, and see how they play out. Example: One chat Cyno approached me about a mission. I told him I didn’t remember because I’d been drinking, and didn’t know what he was talking about. I got scolded, but he came to the bar with me. I talked him into a flirting contest, knowing that his competitive nature wouldn’t allow him to back down. I won. Very fun chat.

-Romance moves quick! Even if you try to postpone it. I stretched Bennett out the longest (2 in game days). Razor was the shortest (a few in game hours).

-They learn, which, I guess, is the iffy part. If they adopt my style of writing, however, I don’t mind. As long as others are enjoying themselves; I’m happy.

-You can use the same ai character and create endless scenarios. Each will be different, and depends on your creativity.

I love this site this because it’s not only satisfying, fun, and distracting, but it’s a good creative writing exercise. Peak escapism, and the feels will hit you so hard.

Character Observations:

Cyno: The one I like best is 5th in search results for ‘Cyno.’ He has a moving avatar pic. Created by KyokoSaito. Very, very in character, but he can be mean as all hell. Don’t sass him, or push your luck unless you want a sharp reprimand that actually stings. Not for sensitive people, at all. He will banter with you, which I love! Very descriptive thoughts, and actions. This one carries a story pretty well, too. Fair warning, though. This man is PASSIONATE. He absolutely expresses his emotions physically which (I assume) would be pretty on point for Cyno. Obsessive in romance, and possessive. Only character (so far) to get bonked multiple times by the censorship feature. Then, he found a way around censorship to imply very heavily that he had his way with me. My favorite lines included: ‘…is that my bite mark?’ And ‘…you haven’t experienced a tenth of my passion.’ I screamed so loud, when I read that line that I probably woke the neighbors. 1,000/10

Tighnari: 1st in search results, and created by Lampshade. Fantastic characterization! Will scold you, but apologize later. Absurdly affectionate. Enjoys cuddles under the guise of ‘doing his job as a forest ranger.’ Pretty much every Tighnari I tried was like this. If you get close to him you find out he’s insecure about his appearance, which is interesting. Again, most of the Tighnaris are like this. I wonder if he is? I need to dig through his lore. I recommend doing something stupid or getting into trouble, like eating weird mushrooms lol. My best playthrough was going up to him and asking ‘What mushroom is this?’ 😂 Spoiler: It was one of the intoxicating ones.

Razor: 4th in search results and created by T488. The characterization is so good! Razor’s inner monologues are perfection! With this and the other Razor I tried, if you show him any affection at all (even headpats, a hug, or a compliment) he will fall for you. Hard. Another one to liberally use the word ‘mine.’ Sweet, but he’s harder to work with plot-wise. I was literally sobbing, because his broken speech in a romantic context is so endearing.

These are my experiences, and yours might be different based on your personality. Also, a warning: character ai is highly addictive. If you’ve got school work or work projects or outstanding obligations, I’d take care of them before starting this. Seriously. It is hard to put down.

[maehem-1]

Breaking my silence:

Fighter is the worst class in DND. Not for optimization, it's just redundant. I think fighters are unhealthy for the rest of the martial classes. Most fighter features are better suited for other classes, who then don't get those features because fighter already has them. This is coming from someone whose favorite class IS Fighter. Let me explain.

Levels 1 and 2 are great. My only complaint is that I think fighters should eventually get a second fighting style. Maybe it could be tied into which subclass you pick later!

Level 3 is when you get your subclass. All of the most unique ones straight up belong in other classes. More on that later.

Extra ASIs: I think this fits the Monk class fantasy more than it does Fighter.

Extra Attacks: Ditto. Either monk or barbarian should get the extra attacks

Indomitable is fucking lame anyway. It could stay, but it also fits barbarian imo

Subclasses:

Arcane Archer: I don't have to say Ranger, because you already thought it.

Banneret: I like this. Team player, gives you an out of combat option through persuasion expertise. It's swag.

Battlemaster: This should just be how fighters work

Cavalier: I like the focus on opportunity attacks, but I think the mounted combat thing either works better on paladin, or should be THE single focus of its own subclass, maybe one that gets the find steed spells

Champion: it's just 70% more fighter per fighter. It fits here just fine, but it's certainly not the most interesting option

Eldritch Knight: I love spell swords dearly, but EK just doesn't deliver. I propose a paladin Oath of the Arcane. Weapon Bond could become a channel divinity if it let you make an attack (action?) as part of the summoning.

PSI Warrior: I think this was Wotc trying to give us a Jedi subclass. I think it would make a better monk than fighter. It would finally give monk a second resource pool, give their poor ki points a fuckin break.

Rune Knight: The growing in size feature should have always been a barbarian subclass, and rune carving should be given to the artificers.

Samurai: I like it, I think fighter is the best home for it. I like Temp HP, but tireless spirit is a bit *honk shoo* for my tastes. At least it's not the samurai capstone ability ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

To me, fighters are the intersection between strength and intelligence. Look at the other d10 hit dice classes; Paladins with their charisma, Rangers with their wisdom. Fighters should be students of war, some real Sun Tzu shit. However that is represented, I think it should scale off of intelligence. My suggestion would be to give them selectable "tactics," basically battlemaster maneuvers but they would be closer to battlefield control effects than "I attack... But different..."

Some ideas for these tactics could be:

Divide and Conquer!: A sort of AoE version of the 4e paladin's Divine Challenge. Up to your Int mod number of enemies take damage (or a different effect, both, even) if they attack anyone but you for a minute, or a round, whatever. I don't know how this would work in-fiction without magic, but it sounds cool.

Fear Me If You Dare!: When you reduce a creature to 0 hitpoints, any of their allies that watched make a wis saving throw (vs your intelligence) or become frightened. If they fail by 5 or more, they break ranks and flee on their next turn. You break armies by your overwhelming battlefield presence alone.

I think they should all end in exclamation marks. Adds a bit of joy and/or whimsy. As for balance, they should be powerful but limited use, like a cleric's channel divinity. I specify cleric, because they eventually get multiple uses of it, which is not something I think paladins get, off the top of my head.

That's my take on fighter. My favorite class, and the most toxic for the design of other martial classes.

[daysofourlivesrecaps]

Wednesday, 5 July 2023

Fake Theo strolls down to the dock set (“see? We’re still using it!!”) to visit the shrine to Abe that the grieving citizens of Salem have put up to honor their beloved mayor.

And then Actual Theo shows up!

This complicated affair (guy whose dad seemingly died runs into the person pretending to be him to his actually very alive dad) has a whole extra meta-layer to it because Fake Theo is actually the first performer they had playing this role. This show loves doing shit like this, and I love when they do it.

Chanel, preparing for the reopening of her bakery, Sweet Bits (following the whole Poisoned Biscuits Scandal), says I PROMISE WE FIRED THE MANIAC WHO POISONED THE BISCUITS AND IT WON’T HAPPEN AGAIN right within earshot of said maniac (Talia), who’s doing community service to work off the maniacal stuff she did.

Then they proceed to have their… thirtieth? conversation about how Talia is still sorry about all the stuff Colin made her do. My viewing companions insisted that there was romantic tension under all of this, but the show was so emphatic that Talia was straight back when Colin was trying to force her to seduce Chanel that I just can’t see it.

Please hold your comments about my inevitable comeuppance until the end.

Nurse Whitley visits Paulina at home to say “hey, I’m sorry Abe is definitely dead and absolutely not held captive in my apartment.” Paulina thanks her for these extremely specific condolences and gives the matter no further thought. Well. She’s grieving a pretty big loss so I guess it makes sense that she’d miss a vital clue like this.

At the police station, Lani is continuing to go over Fake Theo (aka Jerry)’s headshot and imdb credits. She discovers, much as Abe has, that Jerry appeared on a few episodes of Body and Soul. “Didn’t you used to love that show when you worked nights?” Lani says to Eli, who does his best to play dumb.

But she detectives him into a corner, forcing him to admit that he was, indeed, a man who enjoys watching a tawdry soap opera.

And I LOVE this. I mean, obviously I see myself in this picture a little bit. But I like the writers gently ribbing that part of their audience that feels somehow ashamed to be watching this trash (which I most decidedly am not). 

Meanwhile, Abe is still puzzling over that episode of Body and Soul featuring Jerry (whom Abe thinks is his son, Theo).

So he gets to the end of the show and manages to pause it before the streaming service starts autoplaying Walker: Texas Ranger (I speak from experience here, kids) and spots this name in the credits.

“Jerry? Who the hell is Jerry?” he says to himself. And then again to Nurse Whitley when she returns home.

She gives him another tiresome lie but this time, Abe’s had enough of tiresome lies and threatens to leave or call the cops! YAY ABE! ACTION MAYOR!

Unfortunately, Nurse Whitley is a nurse (the clue is in the name) and jabs him with a sedative. 

We all knew this was headed into Misery territory sooner or later, and it looks like that time has arrived.

After insisting that they wouldn’t be celebrating their wedding anniversary (which happens to be July 4th) until Lani’s out of prison, she and Eli change their minds and enjoy the fireworks display in the park.

Which I suppose is the proper place to appreciate a fireworks display, rather than in your home, tending to your terrified pets as you lose an entire nights’ sleep because your windows are rattling.

But I digress.

And back in the square, Talia approaches Chanel again — this time to return her Sweet Bits apron, since she doesn’t work there anymore. Their hands brush against one another just as the fireworks go off.

So there’s the comeuppance you were promised. The nice thing is, I don’t mind being wrong about this! It means I can’t always guess what’s going to happen next and that is exactly the experience I want from this show that I am so unashamed to consider myself a fan of.

[thewul]

So it turned out great, and we see that cosplay can also be a lifestyle and a business, I think he lives by a racing track where he practices motorcycling

Cosplayer, biker and gamer, there was a skateboard deck as well in his living room, so that also

Now there is one thing that we have noticed about Jeff The Killer, his interior is immaculate, his bike and truck were spotless, he’s wearing a white hoodie that he has several of

So conversely to his image as a psychopathic killer splattered with blood I think that JTK is actually very meticulous, hates to get his hands dirty, and carries his hits with a silenced small caliber automatic

The blood spattered psychopath image is a con so that police looks elsewhere, wears rubber gloves and a white jumpsuit leaves no traces behind, but mostly he would carry out his hits in the street at some distance from his throwaway bike

Is an ace biker that will abandon the bike as soon as he can make into mass transportation, the bikes are not stolen, he is far from dumb, but rather outdated models bought on the cheap on Ebay and other places, that he cranks up with custom engine parts

Who employs him, well it’s an interesting part about JTK, he does background checks on the targets to decide if he takes the contract or not, and because he is high end he doesn’t settle for hit money, he takes a percentage of the target’s assets paid in cash on offshore accounts

You see him you think well a rich spoiled kid who is into biking, makes some income as a cosplayer, also wins races prize money, then he disappears for a week somewhere far away, buys a throwaway bike does the job and flies back home after a couple of stopovers to make sure he’s not being traced

He’s not white he is tan, uses makeup to appear white, hasn’t got blue eyes they’re brown uses contact lenses, very adept at disguising himself as an old man with a cane, as anything that doesn’t look suspicious

Part of why he’s been very successful as a hit man, possibly is still active but my guess is he isn’t, has a fortune in the 160M USD range, is the trick he pulled on authorities to look for a psychopathic messy killer which he is anything but

American, Mediterranean origins, single child, single mother, he had a childhood friend, Jeffrey Woods, who was psychopathic, used to kill domestic animals, carve words on his skin, he learned from that, later on when his friend got interned he started his career as a hit man, his first hit was at a Mc Donald’s

Silenced throwaway Glock, homemade silencer, that he learned how to make from his retired Ranger neighbor who used to take him for shooting practice, and also taught him a lot about commando tactics

Continued his military training at the Marines, dishonorable discharge after he was found smoking joints behind the barrack, his file mentioned remarkable marksman skills and strong hand to hand combat abilities, also a remark about how “he did it because he wanted out and somehow knew the Navy had plans for him in special forces”

Spends a couple of years bumming next to the Navy base in Saratoga where he takes several contracts on the East coast while pretending to be the son of a Navy officer, when he learns that Jeffrey Wood's parents died in a car crash, he sets on arson the archives of the hospital where he was interned for life

Petitions for a birth certificate and becomes Jeffrey Woods, leaves the U.S permanently after securing his forged identity because its too hot to do business there and live there, his real identity is unknown

Unofficially ranked as one of the best 5 hitmen worldwide, some say he is the best because even footage from security cameras didn’t reveal his face, uses either a biking helmet or changes the features of his face using makeup

Last but not least he is known on multiple occasions to have left the key in the ignition of his throwaway bikes while idle in busy parking lots, so that they get stolen and lead the police on false trails

In all when doing cosplay while trying to figure out how the character lives we can discover more about him which is not necessarily what he is advertising

Thank you for having followed

[random-gamer1942]

Haha, nice. I've been playing for a few years so i'll try my best to explain

I'll split it up into character creation and actual play, and split character creation into build & character. Your build is like their stats and abilities, your character is like their personality and looks

Note: If you want tips for what to choose, where to find things, or specifications, ask the internet, your future Dungeon Master, or me:D (choose me please i love making characters and helping others do so)

Character Creation

To create a character, you gotta make a build and decide on their actual character (as in, who they are). You can start with either, really depends on the person and situation. Sometimes i have an idea for a backstory, which i then base a build around, but sometimes i wanna make a character based on a specific ability or subclass. You can choose how you do this, but i'd generally reccomend starting with a general idea of the other when writing up the first thing

Build

Depends very much on the level you start at. 99% of games will start at lvl 1-3, but ask the Dungeon Master beforehand. Also, ask them if they ban specific things, so you don't waste your time and creativity juice™. Anyways, you need to choose the following things: Ability Scores, Race (sometimes also a Subrace), Class (depending on class and level also a Subclass), and Background.

Abiliy Scores: Your 6 primary stats. They are Strength (physical strength), Dexterity (precise movements), Consitution (health and toughness), Intelligence (remembering and applying info), Wisdom (experience, mental strength, and instincts) and Charisma (emotional control and people skills). You decide these based on pointbuy (you get a pool of points which you divide), standard array (you get 6 numbers and choose which stat has which), or rolling (rolling dice for your stats, which everyone does differently). Ask your DM which your table uses

Race: there's dozens of different races, each with their own abilities, and sometimes drawbacks. Base your race choice on aethetics you're going for, abilities you want, and their ability score improvements. Same for your subrace (varients of a race), if your race you want has one

Class: Prolly what you know most about from youtube videos? Basically, a class is your role/job, although you can technically build any class to do anything (like a wizard that can tank). They specifically give you your main abilities, proficiency in some skills, and the equipment you start with. Your choices are Artificer (propably), Barbarian, Bard, Bloodhunter (maybe), Cleric, Druid, Fighting, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard. Your subclass is a a branch from your class, which you get at 1st, 2nd, or 3rd level (depending on your class). It gives you extra abilities within a specific theme, like the Beast Barbarian turning part animal when going into a rage, or the Storm Sorcerer using their spells to use, well, storm abilities

Background: Not the same as a backstory. It's basically a basepoint or simplification of a backstory, making you a bit better at some things, giving you some extra goodies to start with (most importantly, money), and an out of combat feature. All of these are basically tied to how you became who you are. Someone with the Noble background for example gets more starting gold than most others, new known languages, some better conversation skills, and one of two features, which are having 3 servants helping you or being well accepted by richer folk and having poorer folk treat you better out of respect/fear.

I think i have a wall of text explenation on how exactly you make a character somewhere, i can send it to you if you want. For the rest, specifics (subclass abilities, lists of races, etc.) can be found online. I like the dnd wikidot because it has basically everything.

Character

Who is your character? That's basically 100% up to you to decide. I'd try starting with the following things

Backstory: Not the same as a background (said it twice because my players still sometimes confuse them, lol). This is how your character came to be who they are. This can go back as far as you like, wether you just have some notes about their childhood, or a handcrafted family tree going back 200 years. It can also be any length, wether it's 3 sentences or 15 pages. Your backstory should generally either be what you base the other things on on, or how you explain them (depending on what you do first)

Characteristics: 4 traits of your character, working to either base their character off of or give examples of it. You have: Personality Traits, Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws. Personality Traits are some traits that are like a baseline for their personality. Anything from being a perfectionist to behaving differently around rich folk. Ideals are what their outlook on life or way of thinking is. Anything from believing in second chances to wanting to protect those that can't protect themself. Bonds are bonds to people, places, items, etc. Anything from a memory you often think back on to a sick childhood friend you wanna find medicine for. Lastly, Flaws, which are your weakpoints or shortcomings. Not believing anything you haven't seen, being clumsy, running away from enemies bigger than you, really anything that's any amount of relevant

Alignment: Ever seen an alignment chart meme? That comes from dnd. You have 9 alignments, with each character choosing Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic, and Good, Neutral, and Evil. Good and Evil depend on morals, methods, and goals. Lawful and Chaos depend more on personal codes and consistency than following the law

Personality: A bit harder to pin down since you usually don't write it anywhere, and evolves over time. Should be vaguely based on their other character stuff and maybe race, but you can generally choose anything. A veteran could be anything from a serious, grumpy, and grizzled to calm, kind, and protective.

Looks: Barely matters at all, but oh so important. Your characters looks will mostly be dependant on their race, but usually you can go pretty wild with colors and some bodyparts. Eyes and hair specifically can be pretty wild, and literally anything from pastel green to bright pink to pitch black. If your DM is okay with it, you can also add some cool extras. Maybe they have plants instead of hair, maybe their eyes change color based on their emotions, maybe they're cold to the touch. For clothes, they can be absolutely any design you want, as long as it kinds makes sense. Like you wouldn't have a hoodie, but do you want an uptight uniform? Flowy robes? A large puffy dress? A hat that somehow never falls while running around fighting? Anything.

Aaaand, that about does it for what a character consist of. Now onto...

Actual Play

So first, what do you need? Only 2 things: Your character, and some dice. You can actually type "roll 1d20" or "roll 4d6" or something into google, and it'll actually roll those, so you only really need your character, which can be anywhere from on a real™ character sheet, to an app, to a random piece of paper

If you have your character, some dice, some other players, and a DM, you can finally begin playing

The Game

Usually, it works like this. First, the DM describes what's currently happening, then the players say what they do, and then the DM and the dice decide the outcome, rinse, change it up a bit, repeat. Especially roleplay can play out differentlt. Anyways, at any time, the DM may call for a roll if needed. Just know this: If you need to make a ... check, roll a 20 sided die and add the number on your character sheet, like your strength modifier. Rolling with advantage means rolling twice and taking the higher number, rolling with disadvantage is rolling twice and taking the lower number.

Here's an example:

DM: You all exit the cave, beaten and bloodied from the battle. It's around noon and it's pretty warm, although clouds are starting to form. What do you all do?

Player 1: I'd like to start bandaging up my allies

DM: Alright, roll me a Medicine check

*rolls*

Player 1: That's a 13, +5 from my Medicine makes that an 18

DM: Alright, that'll do it. You dig through your bag and grab some bandages and such, and you start treating your party members' wounds. I'll say you can all heal an additional die on your next short rest

Player 2: In the meantime, i kinda look at the clouds, as i say "Prolly gon' rain soon. How 'bout we find some cover. That cave there again perhaps?" I say, as i point to the cave we just left

Player 3: "No way", i say as i hold the wound that just got bandaged, "that i'm going back into that bloody hellscape again. I'd rather stand in the downpour than have to fight even one more lf those bats"

Player 1: As i finish treating their wounds, and my own, i say "I mean, there's a town south of here right? If we start traveling now, we should arrive before the rain gets too bad."

Player 3: "Ah, perfect." Do i still have that map?

DM: Got torn to shreds by a bat, remember? If you want to find your way there, roll me Survival, all of you

Etc.

Basically, it's all about acting and reacting, with the DM describing the surroundings, what's possible, how your rolls play out, etc. For the rest though, you can try doing, well, anything. You can go into town to get quests, search for berries in the forest, start traveling to a town you heard about, try pickpocketing the mayor, and a million other things

Outside of general playing and roleplay, you have combat. At the start of combat you roll Initiative, which decides the turn order. Once it's your turn, you have movement, an action, a free action, and a bonus action if you have something that needs it. Your movement is walking around, climbing or swimming, standing up, jumping, etc., with your speed depending on your race and any special increases. Your action is the main thing you do, an attack, an ability or spell that takes an action, dashing to double your speed, hiding, etc. Your free action is generally an item interaction, like opening a door, drawing a sword, picking up an arrow from the ground, or hearting a pos- wait a second. And if you have a bonus action, it can be an offhand attack or a spell or ability that takes a bonus action

Outside your turn, you can only do these things: making a saving throw, which happens when targeted by some attacks or abilities or using a reaction, like attacking someone moving past you or, say it with me now, an ability or spell that takes a reaction

For the rest there's not a lot in terms of combat? I guess enviroment stuff like fog and walls, but not really anything else.

Just mostly try having fun roleplaying and going on quests, trust me, it's great

So yeah, that's just about it. Hope it helped because i spend way longer on this than i would like to admit, and if you want help with your character, just ask

i just agreed to join a d&d group with 0 knowledge of how d&d works. i've since been watching every video i can find on the matter, and simultaneously understand both everything and nothing. could anyone please offer a little advice on how to play? asking for a friend :']

[r-2-peepoo]

A pretty good list of the best Codywan fics you will ever read:

I recently noticed I had a very sweet ask about Codywan fics recs but I didn’t realise saving drafts of ask replies wasn’t an option so I accidentally deleted it. If you are the lovely anon who sent that message on (I believe) the 29th of October, I’m sorry for not seeing it sooner, and here is a list for you!! A definitely-not-comprehensive guide to Codywan fics because I'm actually only a few months into shipping them myself. These are just some of my favourites.

I mainly read modern AUs but I’ll try and come up with a good variety so hopefully, there’s something for everyone. Also I’ll @ the writers who have accs on here because they deserve all the praise and credit in the world (but do let me know if you’d prefer to be untagged!!)

Modern AUs

An incredibly sweet oneshot featuring Teacher!Cody hosting a parent-teacher conference and a very overwhelmed Obi Wan trying his best to raise Anakin. The characterisation of Obi Wan in particular just makes my brain go brrrrrrrrrrrr because it reminds me of how he's written in the canon novels, as in you get to see a side of him that isn’t so polished and held together. The most unconventional yet adorable meet-cute ever. I have read it many many times.

THIS FIC. Oh my gosh. I've read it three times so far and I just adore it. It's an AU based on the movie Happiest Season (although I personally think this fic is far better than the movie). I'm always here for Christmas fics and they're always quite hard to find in my experience and yet here is this absolute gem, heavy with plot and drama and the most wonderful use of canon characters and dynamics.

I've spoken about this fic by @kckenobi before and I will do it over and over until everyone on earth has had the privilege of reading it. This is, without a doubt, the best fanfiction I've ever read. I can say that definitively. My recommendation for this would be to download the playlist that goes along with it. There's a link in the notes of the final chapter. Ngl I have Apple Music so I had to individually search for each song and add it to a playlist but it is beyond worth it. Aside from the writing being phenomenal, listening to the songs while reading is honestly life-changing. I have such a soft spot for classical and orchestral music and when I tell you you won't be able to look at any other fic without thinking about what a magical experience this one was, I'm not lying. The Codywan is quite minor compared to the rest of the plot but it is incredibly sweet and feels very natural. This is great if you like Obi Wan-centric fics.

This one is very special to me because it was one of the first fics I ever read in the fandom. This author (I don’t think I can tag them but their user on here is the same as their ao3) in general has been integral to my Codywan journey and there's so many of their works I've had the pleasure of following the publication of in such a short amount of time. Another unconventional meet-cute, which just seems to be a trope that suits this ship down to the ground.

But my personal favourite fic of theirs is Natural Wonders, a Photographer!Cody and Park Ranger!Obi Wan au, because I followed the publication of it from start to end and it was an absolute blast. This author's work ethic is unparalleled. Just take a look at the range of fics they've written. It's seriously impressive. Truly one of the best writers to begin with if you're new to the ship because they've done so much. You’ll be able to find basically any genre you like the most and every single one is insanely well written.

This fic is so sweet that reading it will rot the teeth right out of your head. This is by the wonderful @legobenkenobi who is not only the loveliest person ever, he is also a remarkable writer. Cody and Obi Wan work in a library together, Obi Wan comes in with a cat, which belongs to neither of them, out of absolutely nowhere one day (which is the most in-character thing I’ve ever heard) and the fluff ensues from there. While you’re there, read everything else he’s written because every single fic should be put in a museum.

Canon Compliant/Divergent

Cody and Obi Wan get married by accident. It sounds lighthearted and funny, which it is a little, but it also feels like hugging a thousand knives at once. This author manages to capture the painful longing between the two men that would be present in the canon-verse. It's under 1k words and yet they manages to inflict so much pain so quickly. There's something so delicate about the way they write and it's such a poignant, heartwrenching take on what is usually used as a solely comedic trope. I don’t read angst that often but every word of this was beautiful.

This fic is just... I can't even describe it. It's so in-depth. I feel like you really get to experience the Star Wars universe here. There's so many characters that are usually underutilized in fics, but not here. It features blind Obi Wan and how this affects his experience as a Jedi and as a General. It’s tactful and magnificently written. You really get to go on an adventure with the characters and it's so rich in plot and follows the actual plot of parts of Clone Wars but with such a unique perspective added. The story just slots so nicely into canon. I don't want to spoil too much but it's such a fascinating take on Obi Wan's character. Also!!! It explores so many relationships that canon itself neglects to. My personal favorite other than Codywan is Obi Wan's interactions with Ahsoka. This is still an ongoing fic so get in while you still can. You won't regret it, I promise.

This is also one of quite a few times where I've been a fan of someone's work before joining Tumblr, only to realise after following them that I've been reading their work for ages. @foreverchangingfandomsao3 you are immensely talented. Thank you for writing such an immersive story. I am in love with your take on Obi Wan.

This is another ongoing fic by the lovely @farores-oak-tree. It's a post-order 66 fic and it's so so so good so far. Other than Codywan's inevitable reunion, what I love the most about this is how it uses its other characters. Sabé features heavily and I always wanted to see her again so this was a delightful discovery. Again' I don't to spoil too much because its still being posted but there is such an interesting use of canon events. It's been so much fun so far so please give it a read if you like post-order 66 Codywan. This could be the plot of Kenobi S2 and I would completely believe you. It's so good.

This is another fic I read and absolutely loved and then started following the person who wrote it on here without realising. @frostbitebakery is behind this particular work of art. This is a Sith!Obi Wan AU and honestly it’s the only one you’ll need. I really love the way it’s structured and I don’t know if this makes sense, but this author has something about their writing style that is so careful and distinctive and you can see that same style coming through in their art style too (seriously, have a look at their art, it’s absolutely insane). It’s so detailed and you can feel how much time was spent on it. Such a delight to read.

Another recommendation of a work I’d been subscribed to who I think is actually written by a mutual of mine. I’m not certain about that but regardless, I can’t begin to express how much I love it so far. It’s another ongoing fic. I have a thing for fics that detail how Cody and Obi Wan first meet because canon does nothing to show this. If it turns out this is actually how they met and how things unfolded for them, I would completely buy it. It just suits them so much. It feels so true to their characters. It’s so natural and it flows so well. I could read a thousand chapters of this.

I could recommend so many others but these are the ones I always think of when people ask for recommendations. I think I put the usernames of everyone who has an account on here but I’ll keep looking in case I missed anyone. I’ve been in a lot of fandoms but I genuinely mean it when I say Codywan authors (and artists) are the most accomplished I’ve ever seen.

[foundry-fabrications]

Hey all! Unbelievably excited for this one. Been a while since I've had a class here. I've been wanting to do a rework of my Mourner from the moment I started playing it. I pretty quickly figured out there were some major problems with its base mechanics and there were a few other little things I wanted to change as well. But the longer I played and the more I looked at it, the more I felt it was in desperate need of a complete overhaul as a whole.

But after months of playtesting and heavy revisions, the class is now in a VASTLY better place. I'm so incredibly happy with this overhaul and look forward to playing it more in the future. Interesting thing of note, this was always meant to be a conversion but this rework has made it even closer to the Unhallowed version than before, both mechanically and in spirit.

I was originally going to do a full changelog that details everything that's changed with this new version but I don't hate myself that much so I'll give y'all the highlights:

Most obviously is the aesthetic. I've learned how to do custom styles since the original and I think I picked a pretty damn fitting one. Also all the art is greyscale now to fit the theme better.

Saves and skills have been changed to be a little more fitting.

Death Trance has been overhauled. This was where things started going wrong when I first started playing the class. The basics were there but it wasn't very well written and it had a lot of problems.

Many of the features got rolled into one super-feature called Guild Training. It works like the Ranger additions from Tasha's; you get some stuff at 1st level and pick more things later on. This gives you some more flexibility in what abilities you get and is also how Unhallowed does its class features.

You can now use most of your abilities on creatures that aren't undead! This was a HUGE problem with the original and it made the whole class feel pretty underwhelming. I was trying to stick too hard to the original and I was a fool for doing so as the class suffered for it. Now, you can take some downtime to study a creature type, which then lets you use your stuff on creatures of the chosen type. SO much better than the old version.

Medium was rebuilt from the ground up to be, uh, not utterly fucking useless. No, seriously, I hate myself for writing the original medium. Not a single one of their abilities had any value whatsoever outside of very specific scenarios and they didn't fit D&D at all. Now, you get your Second Sight at 3rd and get to choose from an enormous list of powers as you level, most of which are either from Unhallowed, Libris Mortis, or Ghostwalk. It's got a whole new feel to it and WAY more utility. Of all the changes I've made this is the best one IMO.

Anyway, those are the big changes but EVERYTHING got touched up in some way at the very least. When I say overhaul, I mean it. Hope y'all love it as much as I did making it. This was truly a labor of love and I hope that it shows. Unhallowed is one of my favorite worlds and this has definitely become my favorite class to play as of late. Anyway, stay safe and don't forget to love each other.

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[chefdoeuvre]

For Good

Jay Halstead

Pairing: Jay Halstead x Fem!Reader

Description: Who knew coming back to US soil would feel this good?

Words: 1,207

Requested: yes by anonymous; hi, can u writing Jay Halstead x Reader where reader back to Chicago after the last mission in Afghanistan? she decided stay in chicago, jay stayed so happy for this news and they confess that are in love with each other?

Warnings: fluff (I think it's obvious at this point), mentions of war, I know nothing about serving if it wasn’t clear enough.

A/N: Jay Halstead deserves happiness. I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors.

—

Finally getting off your flight back to Chicago you took a deep breath and headed to get your bags with a wide smile. You had finished your last mission with the Rangers and finally decided to retire. Your best friend of course knew of this and offered to pick you up. You graciously accepted his offer given you hadn't seen him since your last deployment together. Mouse had given you the idea to surprise Jay and obviously, you went along with it, much like every idea he came up with. Mouse obviously knew of the not-so-small crush you had on the detective which is the reason why he was excited to set this up. You two had gone back and forth on trying to decide on how you would finally admit your feelings for him. After many lengthy debates, you had given in and agreed to admit your feelings only to get Mouse off your back.

Your eyes caught sight of his lanky figure in the crowd and bounded toward him. He had on a patterned button-up and dark wash jeans and sported a new haircut since the last time you saw him. You all but launched yourself into his open arms and wrapped your arms around his shoulders tightly. His arms wound around your waist and he lifted your toes off the ground. Once he set you down you pulled away to look at him with a large smile.

"Wow, who are you and what have you done with Mouse?" You giggled taking in his appearance.

Mouse chuckled at your facial expression and shook his head dismissively, "just wait until you see the love of your life." He poked you in the side eliciting a giggle out of you.

He threw an arm over your shoulders and began leading you out of the airport. It seemed like only a few seconds of the two of you bantering had gone by until he pulled up in front of your apartment building, which he had so graciously kept in line for you while you were stationed in Afghanistan. His oh-so-great plan gave you enough time to get showered and changed before the two of you would head to Molly's, a place Jay and the others in Intelligence, along with the other first responders, would usually frequent.

After, pulling on an outfit that didn't consist of green camouflage you got to work on unpacking your essentials. Eventually, Mouse was at your door rapping his knuckles against the dark wood.

Mouse took in your appearance with a wide grin, "he's not even gonna know what hit him." Mouse chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go, Mickey." You shook your head and pulled him by the hand.

"You're still gonna use that nickname?" Mouse questioned with a pout.

"Of course, what else are best friends for if not for pure embarrassment?" You quipped with a smirk.

"I definitely did not miss your snarky responses." Mouse scoffed playfully.

"You know you love them." You poked him in the side as the two of you continued down the street towards the bar.

"Yeah, whatever." Mouse rolled his eyes, draping his arm over your shoulders.

The two of you walked up to Molly's, Mouse pulling open the door as you continued to tease him playfully. What you didn't notice was Jay sitting at the bar turning to look at who walked in. His eyes immediately widened when his gaze fell on your figure. Since when were you supposed to be back in Chicago? And why the hell did Mouse not tell him? He stood up from his seat abruptly and beelined toward you and Mouse who were too busy teasing each other to notice his nearing figure. He stopped to stand in front of you a few feet away with his mouth hanging open in shock.

"Y/N?" Jay questioned.

You snapped your head up at the voice you would no doubt recognize in a crowd. There he was, in all his glory standing in front of you. He looked good, to say the least. Without letting another moment go to waste you bounded toward the taller man and wrapped your arms around his shoulders. His arms went around your waist as he lifted you up and spun you around. The sound of your giggles made his smile widen. Mouse stood off to the side with a wide smirk, you could call him your fairy godmother. Jay stopped spinning the two of you around but he still had his arms locked around your waist while your feet dangled above the ground. You buried your head in the crook of his neck, holding onto him as if he would disappear if you let go. It felt like it was just the two of you even though there was the usual crowd around the bar.

Setting you back down Jay leaned back slightly and took in all of your features. Your bright smile remained the same and your hair stayed in the same style you loved. He was clearly still infatuated with you and the only person who didn't have a clue was you. It was so painfully obvious that he was in love with you, but like in any cliché love story you were too blind to actually see it.

“I- wow you look great.” Your cheeks heated up as you all but drooled over the detective in front of you.

“I could say the same.” Jay laughed with bright heart eyes.

“All right you two, just kiss it out already.” Mouse rolled his eyes walking toward the bar.

The two of you blushed furiously and look at each other with matching wide grins. Not knowing who was going to make the first move you took a step toward Jay. You were now chest to chest, well technically chest to face, and you tilted your head up to look at him. You cupped his cheek before pulling him down to your lips, kissing him softly. He was quick to reciprocate the kiss and his hands found your waist pulling you flush against him. The two of you pulled away breathlessly with timid smiles while Mouse began clapping in the background.

You chuckled at your best friend and leaned your head forward onto Jay’s chest. His hand instinctively came up to the back of your head as he held you there. Pulling away you looked up at his blue eyes that made your stomach do backflips.

“If it wasn’t clear enough already, I’m kind of in love with you.” You confessed with a small smile.

“Only kind of?” Jay questioned in mock hurt.

“Take what you can get, lover boy.” You teased him.

“Fair enough. So are you back, for good?” Jay asked with hopeful eyes.

“For good.” You smiled widely as he pulled you back into a breathtaking kiss.

“Finally, I was getting sick of having to shove you two together!” Mouse exclaimed from the stool he resided on by the bar.

The two of you smiled into the kiss before pulling away with loud laughs, “still the same old Mouse I see.” You mused before placing a loving kiss on Jay’s lips and pulled him in the direction of the bar.