#but yeah it reads like a dnd campaign i’d rec it

[rosesradio]

me: i’m not in the fandom i’m not in the fandom i’m not in the fa

also me:

[nostalgic-pancakes]

F is for friends who do stuff together - the awake at 2 AM remix

Joan needs a swear jar, Talyn's a lightbulb, Valerie is tired and valid, and Thomas+Sides are very confused)

Summary- Thomas has had his sides around for... a long time. That's for sure. And he knows that nobody else can see them (except maybe Lilly, but she has sides too, so).

Pairings- Pintroverts, Thomas and friends, Thomas and Sides

Read on AO3

Word count- 2666

Warnings- It has character!everyone, and NOT their real life counterparts. Please remember this.

Other notes- AU where instead of Vine, c!Thomas left chemical engineering for signing with a really dope theatre company with his friends. He still meets Nico at the mall, but Nico's a new writer for the company! All the sides are friends too! Enjoy!

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Look, the first time was an accident, okay? Joan was tired and a bit incoherent and what was Thomas supposed to do?!! Leave them be? No! So Joan ended up staying the night.

Except, the next morning was when everyone had entered the courtroom together and they'd gotten WAY too dramatic over whether to lie to them about a text they'd made like… two days ago and that Thomas had only seen after combing through a barrage of memes and that Joan probably wouldn't remember, come to think about it. But that was hindsight and after the utter nightmare that was a whole day (A whole day!!) with Aunt Patty the day before, Virgil and Patton were absolutely freaking out, probably giving Deceit (Who, in hindsight, Thomas knows as Janus) a little extra leeway into the conversation that day.

Either way, Joan had stayed the night in order to recover from the utter sleep-deprivation that they'd been going through, and Thomas had forgotten about the fact that Joan was even there for most of the morning, only seeing them after the entire courtroom spectacle (and a suspiciously dire warning from Virgil) at breakfast, and them leaving to see Talyn a little after (with plenty of hugs involved, duh).

Then Thomas told Joan the truth over the call, and Joan had said The Line (as Roman, Virgil and Janus call it with an oddly cryptid-like voice) and Thomas felt himself go frigid.

Since when did Joan know that Thomas talked to his sides?! Had they learned their names? Figured out that Thomas might just have a few extra screws loose than they might have initially thought?

"Maybe they even hate us now because we got so crazed over one little text and--”

“Virgil. Not helping!” Thomas yelps, and Virgil catches himself in his spiel of worst case scenarios, looking a bit sheepish. Patton and Thomas smile at him reassuringly (he hopes) and Logan clears his throat, causing everyone to turn to him.

“Well, Joan seems to be aware enough of the fact that you speak to us, but mostly considers it as you, as they had said, ‘talking to yourself’, and besides, you didn’t name-drop us too many times, anyways. And while it’s not really...ideal, that Joan thinks you talk to yourself for this long-”

“You can say that again, Stephen Hawk-Nerd”, murmured Roman. Logan winces, and Thomas kind of wants to hug him, so he does.

“Yes, Roman, and as bad as that nickname is, note that this is not, in fact a worst-case scenario. This can be put down to the fact that Thomas has some strange personality quirks-”

“Did you just do some wordplay there, kiddo?” Patton beams at the implication, while Logan, currently being shared by Thomas and Virgil, just groans and descends further into the contact.

“No, I did not, Patton, but what I am saying, is that this is not too bad. We can talk about it as a general personality quirk. This is fine.” Logan finishes, and becomes a heap in the total hug-pile of Thomas and Virgil, flopping over. Huh, he (as usual) has a point. Maybe this can work.

The second time was a pretty near miss, but once again, it was unexpected! He and the sides were just watching Mulan together as usual! They were piled up together, blankets in hand, and yeah, it might look weird to anyone who can’t see the sides, he guesses, with the blankets stretched out in places that have nothing to stretch onto, but once again, he wasn't expecting someone to come over! But anyways- whatever happens, happens. He's trying to be better about it.

It really doesn't stop Janus from pulling out all the stops (teaming up with Virgil, even!) when it comes to having to come up with an alibi to Terrence over why the blankets are arranged so strangely, even though there is literally nothing keeping it afloat. In the end, it's not the most believable lie, but Terrence is busy with Valerie just after, so he probably doesn't really think about it too hard. Besides, Thomas has always been a pretty quirky guy! ("Which could be an insul--" "Jack and Sullen, we love you very very much, but please, for the love of all things Disney, please breathe and take out your fidget cube..") So hey, what was a new quirk when added to everything else?

Meanwhile, Terrence is trying to figure out what the fuck he just saw, because he's pretty sure that there were more than one Thomas there, and Thomas only has two other brothers. Also none of them dress like twenties mobsters or are semi-transparent.

Nico was having a good day. In fact, he still is!

He and his (amazing) boyfriend were sitting on the couch- though more draped on top of each other than anything while binge watching ELITE and Tiny Pretty Things, while also being pleasantly high (as opposed to stoned).

Things only entered strange territory when during one of the flashback murder-y scenes in Tiny pretty Things, a strange man who looked like an even more chaotic Thomas with some grey hair on him entered the room from seemingly nowhere, and proceeded to occupy the sparse space on Thomas’s lap with his head, essntially just napping on his boyfriend’s lap while also being kind of see-through (???!!!???AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH). Thomas noticed, waved a small wave and started playing with this weird guy’s hair.

Nico is now a little high from the bong that he and Thomas had shared, but not enough to hallucinate, especially since, when the high was pretty much gone, the guy was STILL THERE. MIERDA. At this point, he’s just going to call it ghosts. Thomas doesn’t seem to mind too much anyways, so they must not be harmful. Nico decides to table this for another day and go back to binge watching crazy maniacs with his very soft and warm boyfriend, and let the remainder of the high coast along.

"We have to talk about the Thomas thing." Is the first thing Joan says without any bullshit, as soon as everyone except Thomas himself, Gavin (because it's two AM) and Quil are packed together in Thomas's living room, where he just binged Parks and Rec with everyone. They've all finally managed to shove Thomas and Quil back to their respective areas of sleep after 42 hours without said sleep, and nobody was allowed to talk loud enough for them to wake up.

"The… Thomas thing?" Asks Valerie. Oh that sweet summer child. Joan once again quietly calls everyone's attention by asking Talyn to shake their hair around like a neon-coloured alarm bell. This was especially effective in the otherwise dark kitchen where they were trying out glow in the dark hair dye.

"Well, as of lately, we've been seeing a lot, and I mean a lot of really weird shit coming from Thomas. Everyone, recount your experiences." Joan says in the most serious voice they've got. "I'll go first."

They wave their hands like Matt Mercer, as if they were setting up a dope DND campaign. Quietly, of course.

"Well, about a month ago now, I was cleaning here, at Thomas's, because I was sleep-deprived and would have crashed and died if I'd tried to go back to mine and Talyn's. So most of the night goes normally, as one would expect, but when I wake up in the morning…" Joan readjusts their beanie. "I hear Thomas in the living room, talking to people called Logan, Roman, someone called Pat, Virgil and 'deceit'. And this debate becomes an ordeal, alright? He re-enacts a whole entire ace-attorney style courtroom scene with these imaginary people? I called him out on it over the phone when he apologized for some random thing- I don't remember, and he kind of just… admitted that he talks to himself? And moved on.

Everyone absorbs this new information. Camden keeps braiding Talyn's hair.

"But that's not too big of a deal, right Joan?" Whispers Camden, tying up the elaborate mini fishtail plait in Talyn's hair. "I mean, thanks Thomas we're talking about. He could have been rehearsing or something- isn't he JD in the next production of Heathers?"

Terrence speaks up next. "Yes, this would have been all well and good, had the Blanket Incident ™ not occured."

Valerie shakes her head. Why are her friends like this? Oh wait. They’re all theatre nerds, queer and D&D players.

"In the blanket incident ™, I was walking past Thomas's room, as one does. HOWEVER, while he was watching Mulan, I noticed something wrong with his blanket pile!"

"What, that they don't have any Vetal Miking references on them? Because that's the true tragedy here."

"Nope, sorry Tal, the weirdness here was not about Vetal Miking references, but the fact that parts of the blanket were freaking floating, in thin air! I have discreet pictures!"

"What the fuck, Terrence." whispered everyone in a strange, haunting unison that could only be possible at two AM as they saw the very strange pictures.

"And that's not it!" Pipes up Talyn, who is now realising that they are very close to becoming too loud for 2 AM kitchen chats, and makes an effort to quiet down.

"At breakfast today, Thomas's waffles were making themselves- Thomas can't cook, y'all. And he can't even use is fucking waffle iron. And he was on the other side of the room! Talking to Quil!" After Quil left, he told the waffle creator to chill out because the stack was getting too tall!"

"Is this about Thomas's ghosts, guys?" Asks Nico, the new cute boyfriend and new theatre company writer as he plops down in Quil's usual spot. Nico's nice- everyone likes Nico except maybe Nico, to which, well, mood. ALSO- ghosts?!!

"Nico what the fuck do you mean by ghosts, you serial killer in training?"

"One, just because I have to write a serial killer in this new script and I'm enjoying it, it doesn't mean I'm gonna be a serial killer, you tonte. Two: yeah, the ghosts that follow him around and look just like him? They seem nice enough." At everyone's super unspoken request to elaborate, for fuck's sake, he takes the hint and does.

“Oh! So the first time I saw them, I was at the mall. You know, where Thomas and I met?” everyone nods, and Talyn readjusts their braces.

“So there was this guy in a hoodie- Virgil, as you said, and the Disney prince. Roman, I think. And they were just kind of… there? Roman was holding Virgil’s shoulder affectionately, and that’s about it. They were only really visible after about three or four hours of us talking, though.” Some of the people hum.

“Then, we were watching a movie and these two guys who also look a lot like Thomas just kind of lounged? On the couch? They were pretty faint, like if their brightness was decreased to about thirty percent in Photoshop.”

“Hey, same!” says Terrence.

“Yeah, so those guys- the one in the green t-shirt that has the legs on the bus meme- so weird- kind of just stretches onto Thomas’s lap and stays there, while the twenties mobster just… curls up to his side? And thomas is probably like, used to this because he kind of just lets it be and curls the meme shirt-”

“I think it’s Remus.”

“-Remus’s hair absentmindedly and moves on.”

“Fuck.” Whispered Joan very softly, but with great feeling.

“So what do we do about it?” asks Camden. There, finally, someone asks the real questions.

“Well,” puts forward Talyn. “They’re not harming him, right? And he’s had them around for a long enough time, right? So what’s the harm? Thomas is just haunted and will probably be on Buzzfeed Unsolved: Supernatural at some point when he dies but hey, if he’s cool with it, we are too.”

Everyone seems to agree with that, and they’re in comfortable silence, until Valerie asks everyone to go the fuck to sleep, we’re still doing the Heather’s costume rehersals and Death Week starts in two days. With groans and cracked joints from Talyn, everyone hobbles off to their respective rooms in the duplex.

Meanwhile, a certain white-streaked side and his hoodied companion are listening through the wall, far away from what anyone can see, and they both visibly sigh in relief. That didn’t go too badly. The question remains: what do we do now?

“They KNOW????” exclaims Thomas, the next day in the (thankfully empty) breakroom, in between rehearsals- Candy Store is being run through and that means that everyone else is outside.

“Yes, Thomas, they know. Or they somewhat know, I suppose.”

“Yeah, because they think we’re-Thomas is being HAUNTED!!’

“Are you not haunted, then?” comes a voice, and Thomas turns around, forgetting to let the sides dissipate in his surprise. It’s Nico, with Talyn and Valerie close behind, who are clearly taking in the six other guys in the breakroom. Well, fuck. The cat’s out of the bag for good, he guesses.

“Could you get everyone else during lunch break? I’ll explain then.” Talyn nods and leaves with a smile, telling him that they’re not mad at him, while Nico asks, voice farther away “So are you haunted or not?”.

“So they’re… aspects of your personality that you’ve been able to manifest since you were a kid?” Camden asks, a bit disbelieving, even as Logan, Roman, Patton and Janus drape themselves over Thomas on one of the beanbags in the breakroom, filled with other nerdy gay young adults. Logan pushes up his glasses, ready to go on another tangent. Go wild, you funky little dude.

“Well yes, that’s exactly what we're saying. I myself am the embodiment of Logic- every fact that Thomas has ever learned, and his, and these are his words, not mine, ‘the only braincell’. He makes the air quotes to go with the expression, but is also smiling fondly.

“Classic Thomas.”

“Yes, Valerie, I am inclined to agree. However, this is not specific to Thomas. Other people can, in fact, do what Thomas is. Lilly Singh is one of them- the reason that she and Thomas are even friends is because in high school Thomas caught her talking to one of her sides in the art room.”

“So wait-- we can summon sides too?!” asks Nico, and he and Camden look genuinely excited, but Thomas knows the answer to that question.

“Unfortunately no, not really. You have to have an extremely active imagination, and also be ‘innocent’, as society would put it. I’d say näive.”

“For example, I couldn’t make any more sides after i was fourteen, because I watched the news by then.” pipes in Thomas. Joan seems to process this first, nodding and grinning sardonically. “Ah yes, the news. Wrecking childhoods since forever.” everyone nods in gay syncing, because gay minds think at the same time.

Valerie suddenly speaks up; “So how many sides do you have, Thomas?”

Thomas perks up, because his sides are possibly his favourite metaphysical beings (as narcissistic as that might sound) “I have six! My logic, morality, both creativities- Kids and Family and PG13-and-up, anxiety and deceit! I have two creativities because of catholic guilt and my mind’s inherent need to cause chaos, I guess.”

“Valid” replied Valerie.

The rest of break passed by pretty smoothly, with questions being passed back-and-forth about what the sides truly were, considering they clearly were not just Thomas, and Virgil even felt okay enough to come in later! So that was good. Though he kind of wishes Remus had made fewer Heathers jokes- Camden was starting to look squeamish, even as Nico frantically took notes of gorey facts to use in his script.

Honestly, Thomas thought to himself. What was I scared of?

Irrational things. And rejection, replies Virgil in his head. He laughs and pulls him in for a hug, and tries as he might to deny it, Virgil is looking pretty chuffed.

[maxknightley]

What tabletop games would you suggest, like dnd but without the racist baggage? :)

Honestly, I wouldn’t suggest “games like dnd” because I think dnd is fundamentally a broken-ass game designed entirely around combat and not around roleplaying, and if I wanted that I’d rather play a video game instead.

I’m also going to say up front, given that I’m white, that I’m not the final authority on how racist something is. it’s entirely possible there’s something about a system or setting that’s escaped my notice, or that I don’t remember because I haven’t played the system in question for a while.

(that said, I feel I can comfortably speak to something like d&d or shadowrun definitely being fucked, because it’s, like... right out there with a big label that says shit like “ALIGNMENT: CHAOTIC EVIL” or “TROLLS AREN’T DUMB BUT THEY DO STILL HAVE A CAP OF SIX INTELLIGENCE” or “LET’S BE WEIRD ABOUT NATIVE AMERICANS FOR LIKE FIVE PAGES.”)

either way, I would read things with a critical eye - not just for political reasons, but also for “would this even be fun” reasons.

all that out of the way - just off the top of my head, my personal biggest recs would probably be:

Spire, a game about drow resistance fighters in a giant dystopian tower-city, which imo serves in part as a critique on the dominance of dnd and its Questionable approach to a lot of stuff. this one tends to run pretty dark, thematically speaking, and both combat and non-combat actions can chew through a character pretty quickly depending on how the dice fall and what Stress rules you’re playing with. I like it, though; it has a good flow to it, and the lore and abilities feel special in a way that a lot of fantasy stuff doesn’t.

Fiasco, a rules-light game about people who get caught up in elaborate schemes crashing into each other. really only suitable for one-shots rather than campaigns, but it’s facilitated some of the best games I’ve played. there’s also a lot of different “playsets” offering different settings/plot elements, and a lot of them are free; the game’s pretty easy to homebrew, so you and your group could also whip up your own.

Ryuutama, which is mostly about the experience of travel; combat is still in there, but it’s less of a focus. had some fun with this back in college. it’s a bit more chill and evidently designed to facilitate novice GMs, which is useful for testing the waters.

I like some New World of Darkness stuff - particularly Demon: The Descent and Changeling: The Lost, which have interesting premises and fun/weird abilities - but those books are very dense with lore and there’s like a dozen of them, so I’m not sure I can comfortably say “yeah, NWoD is free of baggage.” especially since the Old World of Darkness definitely had Some Shit in it. if someone wants to offer a bit more of substance here, either for better or worse, feel free to do so.

I’ve also heard good things about Chuubo’s Miraculous Wish-Granting Engine, Blades in the Dark, and Lancer - it sounds like the latter might have the kind of “crunchier” tactical combat that d&d offers - but I haven’t played any of those myself, so I’d have to withhold comment beyond that. Masks isn’t really my thing but people seem to like it a lot, so if you’re into superhero stuff, that might be worth exploring.

It’s worth noting that there’s a lot of PBTA and Fate hacks, in general. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, because if you’ve played one of them, you know the basics of playing another, whether you’re liable to click with it, and so on. That said, I doubt that I could provide a comprehensive list here if I tried.

if none of that grabs you, there’s always the option of dicking around on DriveThruRPG for a while and seeing if anything is particularly exciting. again, this is a whole-ass storefront and I can’t go through everything it offers, so this is more to say “there is a place you can go to look at this stuff, even if there’s not a physical board game shop in your area.” some of it probably sucks a lot.

there’s others I could mention but they’re made by friends and acquaintances (one I’m even directly involved with) so maybe that would be weird? I don’t want to make it weird by being all ‘buy my friend’s book’. I can do that in a separate post if anyone wants.

[spoolesofthread]

hey im getting back into like. actually reading books again do u have any recommendations?

oh yay i’m so glad!! i definitely do, for sure! i’m not sure what genres you like, so i’ll just pull from my bookshelf. this is SO many, i’m sorry in advance lmao. i hope these help!! i always have more if you need them! 💙

i’m sure if you’re following me then you know about the foxhole court by nora sakavic. you can read the first book completely legally for free here! the series as a whole is a mess of triggers, so here’s a VERY detailed list of them. i usually describe it a grand theft auto verse + sports anime + novel format.

six of crows / crooked kingdom by leigh bardugo. it’s another tumblr favorite i know, but i figure i should put it on here. if you like chaotic neutral characters, found families, a lot of thievery, and a little magic, you’ll like this.

any shannara book by terry brooks, but my favorites are the sword of shannara and isle witch. they’re standard enjoyable fantasy fare, but they are very important to me and i love to rec them. there’s around 30 books separated into little series of 3 and 4, so you have a ton to read if you like them! he’s still writing, and a new actually book came out last month.

the ranger’s apprentice series by john flanagan, the first book is ruins of gorlan. they’re a younger adult series (think pjo ya) about badass rangers, as the title would imply, in a vaguely western fantasy world. centers around a main three / four teenagers and has some badass ladies in alyss and evanlyn. very easy reads if you’re looking for something light!

hairstyles of the damned by joe meno is a very interesting look into the 90s punk music scene through the eyes of a teenager. also deals with a lot of social issues around that time. best friend character gretchen is a BADASS fat girl. if you’re someone who’s really into going to shows or always has your headphones in, i’d definitely recommend this. it’s stayed one of my favorites even through several years. short read, i read it in a day.

every heart a doorway by seanan mcguire is the first book i ever read with a canon ace protagonist!! and i cried a little bit at that reassuring bit of representation. it’s got a really cool premise, basically about those kids that fell into fantasy worlds and then back out of them, but are really pissed about being in the normal world again. it’s a pretty wild ride, but it’s a ton of fun. another short read!

dragons of autumn twilight by margaret weisman and tracy hickman is the first in a series of dragonlance novels. they’re based on a group of dnd modules, it’s basically like following a big dnd campaign with a bunch of lovely characters. tika waylan is actually used as an example in the player’s handbook, and this is the series she’s from! so yeah, clearly another fantasy series and one i’ve read multiple times over.

carry on by rainbow rowell is obviously another tumblr favorite to rec, but it’s so good!! a light read but still substantial enough that it took me a couple days. some cool modern magic! queer characters! worth your time for sure. if you’ve read fangirl by the same author, this is the “canon” story that the fanfic in that story is about!