#d20 team you did it again

[kittyoverlord]

The detail of the background animation deteriorating throughout the battle. *chef's kiss*

[sp0o0kylights]

Eyes wide, body frigid in terror, Eddie felt the sheer horror of the current situation sank in. 

He was at Gen Con. 

In their hotel.

With zero vacant rooms and one minor, Henderson created, screw up.

The room only had one bed in it. 

“It’s fine, we can share.” Steve said, brushing past.

Like this was not the life ending, earth shattering, soul rendering issue that it was.

“I can sleep on the floor.” Eddie croaked trying to remember how a normal person acted instead of someone whose stomach had just fallen out of their ass. 

“Nah, I did this all the time with the basketball team.” Steve said as Eddie actively regretted every single decision that had led to this point in his life.

“Hell this is even a king sized bed. We have plenty of space!” 

Steve did a goofy little spin jump, landing butt first on the bed and bouncing on it with glee. 

“Space, sure.” Eddie echoed. 

Hands shaking, eyes determinedly focused on anything but the ex-jock, Eddie found himself chanting a mantra over and over in his head.

One that would valiantly get him through the next weekend, God and D20's willing.

'I'm fine, this is fine, everything's fine...'

“I don’t have cooties, if that's what you're worried about.”” Steve waggled his eyebrows. "Here,  I’ll even let you have one of my pillows.”  

Said pillow was flung through the air, to smack Eddie dead in the face. 

'Fuck it." Eddie thought wildly. "I am NOT fine!'

And after Eddie got his hands on him, Dustin Henderson wouldn't be either.

xXx

“I am going to kill you.” Eddie snarled, the very second he could get Dustin alone.

“No you won’t, you love me too much.” Henderson dismissed, a smug little smirk in place. 

The absolute brat. 

“I do not, and if I did, I would take it back after this.” Eddie glanced around once again, beyond paranoid about discussing this in the open parking lot of a shitty hotel, but knowing he needed to get this under control, now. 

“What were you thinking!?” 

“That I read a really interesting zine about this exact scenario, mostly.” Dustin shrugged. “Worked out great for them, I thought I’d try it for you!” 

Eddie groaned, head flying back as he fisted both hands in his hair.

(if only to prevent himself from wrapping both hands around Dustin’s stupid throat.) 

“What did I tell you? This isn’t something you fuck with man!” 

“I know, but as I told you, Steve is perfect!” Dustin protested, and didn’t even have the decency to flinch when Eddie lost control and grabbed him by the collar. 

“Perfect!?” He sputtered, actually sputtered, shaking the fist that held Dustin's shirt captive. “Perfect!?” 

“Trust me on this--you have a crush on him, he desperately needs someone in his life--seriously, Eddie, it’s sad how he acts when he’s not dating--and you guys get along great now! What’s the problem!?”

“He’s straight!” Eddie shrieked, startling several onlookers. 

“Laced!” He added immediately after, in panicked afterthought. “He’s so straight laced we could never get him to agree to that plan!” 

Dustin leveled an unimpressed look at him. 

“Dude, really?”

“We are still in Indiana, Henderson.” Eddie said, then got close enough that he felt comfortable hissing the next part through clenched teeth.

“They don’t exactly care for the queers here, even at a place like this.” 

“Are you sure? Because the Con’s welcome packet has a few different panels that--”

Eddie scrubbed a hand over his face, letting go of his idiot, freshman friend's shirt to grab at his hair again. 

“Henderson, for once,” He pleaded, and maybe it was the sheer desperation in his tone or how upset he looked but either way Dustin seemed to finally realize how serious he was.

“just once, I need you to listen to me. You cannot let Steve know I’m gay. This is something that has to stay between us, especially now I’m sharing a bed with him.” 

Which Dustin knew, because Dustin was the one who’d called and changed the room. 

“But Steve’s--”

“Most likely bisexual, I heard you the first several times you said it, but you can’t just--assume that about someone!” Eddie was well and good on a rant now, two seconds away from pacing about. “Even if you’ve been to a salon with them!” 

He pointed firmly at Dustin’s stupid face (and the kid's equally stupid mouth) before he could once again insist Steve was into men purely based on how anal he was about his hair.

“Steve might be cool with--other people,” Eddie was unsure of who knew what about Robin, and was not about to hand Dustin another secret given how he was acting about this one, “but that does not mean he will be cool with me--or you, pimping him out, to me!” 

“I’m not pimping him out!” Offended, Dustin patted at his shirt where Eddie had previously been holding it. “Look I’m sorry, but--”

Eddie groaned, loud and dramatic. 

“But,” Dustin doubled down, “You trusted me with the whole, you know.” He waved his hands in some sort of vague, unreadable gesture. “Can’t you trust me about this?”

“I didn’t trust you with that, you barged into my room and then dug around my closet insisting your character notes got mixed in with mine when I was hi-sleeping!--and then read something personal!” 

The snort he got in return let him know Dustin was well aware he’d been high as hell, but that was neither here nor there, given what had happened after. 

When Dustin, rifling through Eddie’s closet, came across one of Eddie’s private notebooks. 

The ones that contained equally private stories, penned by Eddie's hand.

One of which might have had characters--who did not sound like Steve, thank you,-- and definitely not paired with a character based on Eddie himself. 

(“So Sir Sylvan Harrachtáin and Edwin Morningson are random names you pulled out of your ass, huh?”

“Shut up.”

“Sir Sylvan with his great hair and--what’s this? A horse named…Beamer?”

“Henderson so help me--” ) 

It may have led to the two of them growing closer instead of Eddie getting chased out of town with pitchforks, but that hadn’t stopped the sheer panic it had caused when he realized just what it was Dustin was reading. 

“Potato, tomato.” The little shit dismissed, and Eddie felt the urge to strangle him return in full force. “Look I get it--I promised I wouldn’t tell and I keep my promises. But since there aren’t any other rooms in our inn…”

Eddie looked at the sky, because if he saw the little dipshit wiggle his eyebrows in relation to himself and Steve Harrington, his new friend, who baked cookies with Jeff and once helped Grant jump his car, Eddie was going to lose his mind.

Loudly, and with much fanfare. 

“You owe me. Big time.” He declared to the clouds. 

He pretended not to hear the sigh that got him, either. 

“If you so say. Now can we go to the convention?" A whine crept into Henderson's voice. "Steve’s going to think we’re fighting.”

"Fine.” Eddie finally lowered his head to glare Dustin dead in the eyes.

“But to make my ire clear, Henderson? That magic sword your dwarf just acquired is gone. Disappeared. Vanished like a puff of smoke."

He made a ‘proof’ noise, hands spreading out as he did it. 

Dustin’s jaw dropped.

“What!? Eddie--” 

“Nope.

“Edd-iieeeee--”

“I’m not listening.” He plunged both fingers in his ears, walking determinedly towards one of the other three hotel rooms Hellfire had crammed themselves in. 

Wished desperately that he could manage to swap beds with Jeff, or Grant, or someone without making Steve feel like shit--which it would, because Eddie knew things like that about Steve now.

Behind him Dustin rampaged, which at least, made Eddie a little happier.

xXx

“We can switch rooms.” 

“What?” Eddie asked, startled out of his present thoughts (and the giant pile of D&D related papers spread in a circle around him.)

He turned to look up at Steve, who was hovering awkwardly behind him.

“You’ve been weird ever since you realized we’re sharing a bed. If it’s making you that uncomfortable we can just switch.” He shrugged, like saying that didn’t hurt him, even as the kicked puppy look holding court on his face very much screamed ‘emotional damage.’

"I have not!” Eddie twisted himself around immediately. "I am perfectly fine, thank you!"

Steve frowned down at him. 

“Eddie, this is the longest conversation I’ve had with you since we got here." Steve deadpanned. "I’d blame that on the whole, you know, nerd herd gathering, but it’s pretty clear that’s not it. I watched you literally turn around and walk the other way when you spotted me earlier." 

Shit.

"It's kinda obvious you're avoiding me." 

Shit, shit, shit!

“I'm not, promise!" Eddie lied. "I’m just--distracted. There’s just so much happening and it’s--a lot.”

He said it like the con was overwhelming, and not chaos he was positively thriving in. 

Steve searched his face.

“Alright," He said doubtfully, "but I mean it. Say the word and we can switch. I'm sure Jeff'll let me share a blanket or something."

Which was the last thing anybody needed, on grounds that Jeff would try and fix things.

(Jeff, bless him, had never been good at fixing things.)

Drumming up every acting skill he possessed, Eddie flashed two thumbs up in response, painting a fat grin on his face.

“We're all good Stevie. Besides, I’m going to be up late at so many panels, you won’t even notice me coming back. You're practically gonna have the room to yourself!"

Because that was exactly what he was planning on doing, the second he realized the convention itself could provide a nice, neat little way out in the form of two different late night panels.

Who needed sleep anyway? Not him!

"Okay." Steve said, somewhat mollified.

Crisis averted, Eddie dove back into his plans, distracting himself as best he could while trying to ignore that Steve had dropped onto the bed.

(One of those plans might have involved revenge on Henderson, and that one he gave special attention to.)

xXx

There were no late nigh panels.

“Not until tomorrow, my friend!” The jovial guy dressed in what Eddie was pretty sure was supposed to be a wizard costume told him. “We had a few but the folks running them got stuck in traffic, so we had to cancel."

He beamed, like he hadn’t just disintegrated Eddie's one and only escape plan.

"Besides, if you go to sleep now you can catch some of the early morning panels!”

As if he hadn't planned on rolling into them anyway, lack of sleep be damned.

“Can we go back now?” Gareth grumped to his right, the only person who’d agreed to stay out all night with him (and who was not a 14 year old who’d been overruled by Harrington.) 

"We could go find a room party?" Eddie hedged instead, as they made their retreat.

"Dude."

"Fine," He muttered, defeated. "We can go back."

To Steve. 

And the single bed. 

In his head, he plotted out Henderson's death.

Maybe he'd use fire.

Or sticks, or even a fricken--toy horse, or something...

xXx

He'd done it.

Changed into the oversized shirt he called sleep clothes, and crawled into bed like a completely normal, totally straight human being.

Had even done a remarkable job of laying perfectly still. Exactly how a normal, not panicking person slept!

'I'm fine, this is fine, everything's fine...'

Steve was laying next to him.

He had to of course, that's how a bed worked, and yet somehow, Eddie couldn't get past it.

Or the fact that the dick wasn't wearing a shirt to bed.

His thoughts chased each other in nervous little circles, anxiety gnawing on his gut like a favored bone as Eddie did his best not to move one single inch.

Pity that the thing about attending a large convention, was the sheer amount of walking, talking, and expending general energy one had to do.

Entirely against his will, Eddie fell asleep. 

He had been planning on laying awake in frigid terror all night, to prevent any possible way Steve might clock him, but his body had other plans.

Some of which involved sleeping like Eddie normally slept--arms hugging a pillow, head buried in it's soft, comfortable, kinda ticklish surface.

He rubbed his nose further into it as the tickling sensation increased, pulling him away from the sleep he hadn't realized he'd fallen into.

Grumbling, Eddie went to adjust his stupid pillow when he had the weirdest realization that it too, was moving.

Pillows, his sleep addled brain informed him, did not move.

Steve would, though.

"Fuck!" He screeched, flying up into a sitting position as he registered that he'd gone full octopus--cuddling Steve with all four limbs.

Steve flew awake, his own body flying up into a sitting position.

His mouth started moving a mile a minute, and it took Eddie a second to parse that Steve was still partially asleep as he let out a string of absolute nonsense about code reds and being upside down.

"Whoa!" Eddie said when the guy nearly fell out of bed. "Shit Steve, it's just me!"

"Eddie?" Steve asked, halfway out of bed. "Are we--is everything okay?"

"Yeah I--yeah." He grimaced, grabbing a strand of his hair and pulling it protectively over his face. "I think I woke you up."

"S'okay." Steve ran a hand through his hair, before slowly sinking back into the bed, alarm fading. "Are you okay? Nightmare?"

Eddie blew out a breath.

"Probably. It's fine, don't worry about it."

Steve eyed him doubtfully.

"If you're sure..."

Eddie gave him a wobbly smile back, patting the space on the bed next to him as he made himself lay back down. "Promise. I'm--I'm sorry, I guess maybe I should have slept elsewhere..."

That did it.

"You're good. Startled me is all." Steve let out a sort of forced chuckle before laying back down. "I overreacted."

Eddie hummed, not trusting himself to say anything as the two of them settled back down.

It did not escape him that unlike most people who'd been rudely woken up in the middle of the night, Steve didn't try to keep any distance between them.

No, he had to scoot closer, like he needed to know his friend was near. 

Eddie squeezed his eyes closed and prayed for death.

"I get nightmares too, sometimes." Steve admitted in the following quiet and oh, God, no, Eddie could not do an emotional late night talk right now.

"They definitely suck." He said flatly, before rolling over to face the opposing wall. "Night Stevie."

Steve snorted, but it sounded amused instead of hurt.

Eddie sighed quietly in relief as he too, turned away to face the wall.

He could do this. He just had to make sure he didn't screw up and fall asleep again, and everything would be...

Perfectly...

...fine.

xXx

"--ddie, you're on my arm man."

"Wha?"

"My arm." That was Steve, Eddie's brain dutifully identified as it crawled it's way to consciousness. Steve who was his friend now, and was also talking very close to his ear. 

"Also my leg. And torso."

"You have a nice torso." Eddie mumbled thoughtlessly. 

Why was Steve here? They were doing something that should have been stressing him out, was stressing him out, but it was hard to think when he was this tired.

"Thanks," Amusement threaded it's way through Steve's voice, "but I'm going numb here. You have a hell of a grip."

Eddie frowned, the words sludging through the fog, until finally, the dots connected.

Eyes opening wide, he carefully took stock of the position he once again found himself in--wrapped around Steve like the guy was the only life raft left.

Oh my God.

"Shit sorry--" Steve oof'ed as Eddie smacked an elbow into his ribs as he let the poor man go, madly scrambling to get as far away as possible.

He tried to apologize for that, but was too busy fighting the bedsheets to get anything out. 

"Eds." Steve laughed, grabbing him as Eddie tangled them both up. "Calm down."

"I'm calm!" He protested, far too loudly, limbs flying every which way as he tried in vein to get the fuck away.

Stupid sheets-!

"Eddie." Two heavy hands came down on his shoulders, Steve having managed to get himself into a sitting position. "It's alright."

"It's not Steve." Eddie spat, and then panicked harder because fuck, that is not what he should have said.

"Hey, easy." Steve was talking quieter now, hands squeezing gently, like Eddie was some kind of spooked wild animal and fuck, he was really losing it here.

"I mean it. We're at the convention, remember? We're sharing a hotel room and you have a bunch of dorks and dumbass things to do in like, two hours."

Eddie violently shrugged him off.

"I know that!"

Steve, somehow, did not take offense to the very aggressive tone that had been snarled in. 

"Then you know you can breath for a moment. Seriously, you look like you're gonna pass out."

Which was probably true, given the rapid, rabbiting beat of his heart.

"Is this what you were worried about?" Steve added, as Eddie finally freed himself from the damn sheets. "That you have nightmares?"

“It's not nightmares.” Eddie spat instantly, chest heaving.

His head hurt, his eyes hurt, and he was exhausted to the point where he wanted to cry about it.

God did being gay suck.

“Then--what? That you cuddle in your sleep?” Steve was teasing, Eddie knew Steve was teasing but that was too on the nose. “Dude trust me, Tommy was an octopus growing up. I don’t care.”

“No it’s not, that, exactly--”

"So what is it then, exactly?"

Too. Fucking. Close.

"Drop it Steve--"

Emotions rose like a tidal wave, all encompassing. Overwhelming. 

"I would if you weren't clearly upset about something--" 

He lost control. 

“I’m gay!” Eddie yelled.

Then he clapped a hand over his mouth, like he hadn’t just panicked himself out of the closet. 

It died. 

The crazy, huge emotions. The way he'd been fighting himself, tooth and nail, the panicked thoughts that were zooming around his brain.

“I didn’t say that.” He said, eyes wide.

Steve blinked.

“I mean, you kinda did.”

Eddie shook his head.

“Nope. No. I said, I said--”

“That you’re gay.” Steve finished, then frowned when Eddie flinched. “Dude it’s okay--”

“Is it, Steve!?” He interrupted, hand finally falling from his mouth. “Is it? Because if you ask half the people at this convention--who are my kind of people and understand I’m not shilling souls to satan--if it's okay!? They'd say no!"

Tears pressed against his eyes, a reaction he hated that he had.

"They'd say no, and then they'd try to kick my ass for sleeping in the same bed as them!" 

A tear escaped and he swiped angrily at it. 

“I’m okay with it.” Steve said quietly, which had the effect of making Eddie shut up. “And those people suck.” 

The laugh that escaped Eddie's mouth was brittle.

Bitter.

He turned his head away from Steve, angry that he’d gone and admitted the very thing he knew better than ever speaking aloud. 

“Yeah well, I didn't think you would be, given how you used to accuse anyone and everyone of being a queer loser right along with the rest of the basketball team.”

Which wasn't fair, exactly--Eddie knew Steve had changed. Had seen it in the way he and Robin talked quietly about Will, when they thought no one could overhear.

(A habit Eddie would break them of, if he and Steve made it out of here as friends, still.) 

He wasn't Will though, and Will wasn't the one presently sharing a bed with Steve.

“That’s because we were all making out with each other at away games.” It was said so fucking quick Eddie briefly thought he hallucinated it.

Lucky for him, Steve wasn't done. 

“Robin thinks that whole thing was some kind of group denial. Like if we made enough of a thing out of it we could all pretend we didn’t have our hands down each others pants all the time. I am not exactly on speaking terms with that group anymore.”

He shrugged like that his fall from grace hadn’t been the center of the rumor mill for most of his senior year, and came with a lot of shit talking at his expense.

“But I can still prove it to you, if you’d like.” 

Shock--and six million thoughts-- hit Eddie like a mack truck. 

‘You’re lying/No way/that makes so much fucking sense/how did that even start/was it every game/whose pants exactly did you have your hands down and how do you feel about my pants--’ 

“How?” Eddie got out, sounding only slightly strangled. 

“Well--you’re here. I’m here."

And then Steve gave him a smile Eddie had only ever seen aimed at women, a slow lazy curl of the mouth that implied a hell of a lot.

"I'm fine with making the math work."

Maybe he was dreaming this.

(Eddie pinched himself and found that somehow, he was not.)

“I realize I don’t look like it, but I don't the whole casual kissing thing." Eddie blurted out. "Hasn't exactly gone well for me."

He regretted it the second it left his mouth. 

That was sharing too much of himself. The vulnerable gooey part who'd kissed a few girls (and even, once, a guy) and found he couldn't for the life of him make such things casual.

Plus Steve was kind of a good friend now, and Eddie had a crush so big that doing this and then never doing it again would kill him, and--

(and, and, and…) 

“It can mean something if you’d like.”

What.

“What?” 

Eddie stared at him.

Steve stared back. 

“Steve Harrington." He said flatly. "Are you trying to get in my pants?”

‘I will rip them off right here and now if you are,’ He thought wildly, like he hadn’t just tried to die on some “it has to be meaningful” hill. 

(Sue him, he was a horny teenager who'd just learned sex might be on the table, he could change his mind.

It totally wouldn’t tear his heart apart after either!

Nope, not his, made of steel Eddie’s heart was--) 

Steve raised his hands in the “don’t shoot” pose, looking all too pleased with himself. 

“Hey, you can’t fault a guy for trying. But,” and here he dropped the flirty little grin, which Eddie was only now realizing he was utilizing, “I meant it. I'm not opposed to trying this out, with you."

Trying? What the hell did that mean!?

Steve hadn't stopped talking.

"I won’t take it anywhere if you don’t want to though, don't worry.

Then he tilted his head and added; “I can also leave if that made you uncomfortable. Robin keeps telling me I can’t flirt with men like I flirt with women and--” 

“No.” Eddie’s mouth betrayed him yet again, terrified Steve might talk himself into leaving. “No--you offered!”

Steve raised an eyebrow.

“I did.”

“To have--” God Eddie couldn’t even say the words, “with me?” 

Somehow that last part came out as a question, and Eddie planned immediately to throw himself out of a window.

The grin was coming back. “Yes. With you.” 

“And it would…mean something?”

That was pushing it, Eddie knew that was pushing it, but it was like he couldn't stop himself.

This whole thing was now a runaway train and he'd ride it to it's inevitable wreck.

“For me it would.” Steve said, raising himself up on his knees. 

He inched forward, planting his hands down on the bed, face awfully close to Eddie’s own. 

“I don't like doing things anymore without it meaning something. To be honest, I don’t think I ever did. Besides, Robin's right."

"About?" Eddie asked, goin cross-eyed as Steve leaned ever so much closer.

"That when I say I admire you, or I miss you, or that I want to see you, I'm not exactly meaning it in a friend way."

Oh.

"Oh." Eddie said dumbly.

Steve closed the distance, mouth first. 

They were kissing.

Stars exploded in the sky. Fireworks went off outside, birds sang, people cheered--

(Eddie bit Steve’s lip, twice, in some sort of overexcited maneuver before he was gently guided into Steve’s lap, the ex-jock twisting to lay back down and bringing Eddie with him. 

It was smoothly done, a slow maneuver, and Eddie had to go and ruin that too by ripping his mouth off Steve’s to press sloppy kisses all down his neck. 

Thankfully Steve did not shove him off for that, or the hickie he definitely left on that stupid, tan neck, instead arranging them once again until things, finally, started to be less frantic. 

It was the best night of Eddie's life.)

xXx 

“So what does mean something involve, in this little situation we have here?” Eddie said some odd amount of time later, cuddled happily against a now naked Harrington. 

“I’m not supposed to say boyfriends.” Steve mumbled into Eddie’s shoulder. “Scares people off."

Apparently he was the type to need naps immediately after having the naked kind of fun. 

“Who the fuck told you that?” Eddie reached down, lacing their hands together tightly.

Steve kissed his shoulder. 

“We haven’t even gone on a proper date yet.” He said, rather than responding directly.

“We can’t, Steve, or did you forget where we live?”

Another kiss, this one turning into a grin when it made Eddie shudder. 

“Oh we absolutely can. I’ll prove it to you. Next Friday?” 

It took him a moment--a stupidly long moment, for someone who prided himself as a wordsmith--but Eddie got it. 

A smile exploded over his face. 

“Next Friday." He said. "It’s a date.” 

(A very long time later, Henderson would find out about all this and gloat about this so hard he’d fall off the steps of Eddie’s trailer. 

Eddie would only let him live on grounds that Steve was also there at the time, and was worried about Dustin’s ankle.

This did not stop Eddie from standing above the little shit, announcing karma would one day get him soon, and if not, than Max Mayfield, who absolutely could be bribed into committing murder.)

This was the bonus for Door Prize/Sugar, Spice (and Everything Dicey) which can be read in it's entirely here: LINK

[rollerska8er]

This is kinda old news at this point but I can't stress enough how weird people were about Aabria Iyengar in the first season of Misfits and Magic.

To wit: There is a scene, which was made into a YouTube Shorts clip, in which Brennan Lee Mulligan's player character, Evan Kelmp, is overheard by another character who says "Hey, I can hear you!" Brennan, as Evan, responds "No, no you didn't." To which Aabria, in character as the NPC, responds "You know what we aren't gonna do? I'll whoop your ass. You're not gonna gaslight me." It's a funny scene and played off well by Brennan who is clearly blindsided by Aabria's response (which, again, is in-character).

There is no way to describe the reaction to this moment other than "bizarrely racist". The comments on the YouTube Short paint a picture of Aabria as a crazy person who is unnecessarily aggressive to poor sweet Brennan, just because he said no, the poor lamb. These people read Aabria's in-character reaction to Brennan's joking, in-character refusal to yes-and as an actual accusation of gaslighting from Aabria to Brennan.

People then go on to be outraged that she refused Brennan a deception check (which he did not ask for, and also isn't really possible in the narrative-driven system they're playing because guess what, not all TTRPGs are D&D). The implication is that Aabria is a nasty, unnecessarily aggressive GM who creates an uncomfortable, abusive and oppressive atmosphere around her table.

Except, of course, this isn't what is happening in the clip at all. Aabria is smiling throughout, as is Brennan. Nobody is visibly uncomfortable. Brennan's character becomes flustered by the interaction, but he is supposed to be socially awkward. Did any of these armchair critics bother to learn the context for the scene before making a snap judgement about the GM? Of course not.

Why do I make the racism accusation? Well, because Brennan has also been known to react to PCs goofing around with the same kind of stern, in-character finger-wagging. See Emily Axford-as-Fig's interactions with Goldenhoard and other authority figures, for example.

Were the roles reversed, and Aabria tried to blatantly lie her way out of an interaction with one of Brennan's NPCs only to be told, in-character, "You're not gonna lie to me", I have a feeling the reaction would not be quite as strongly negative.

It is impossible to read the reactions casual viewers had to this moment as anything but specifically racist and misogynist. These people saw a black woman even in roleplay assert a boundary and concluded that she was being aggressive to a white male player for no reason.

I'm just thinking about this now as the second season of Misfits and Magic is currently being released. Of course, it's clear that Brennan and Aabria are good friends and have GMed for each other on and off camera. But I just keep thinking about how fucking uncharitable people were to Aabria two years ago and it does really concern me how normalised this is in TTRPG spaces.

I hope the production team are taking steps to care for their talent because honestly, a small but vocal minority of D20 fans and quite a lot of wider casual actual play fans can be really fucking horrible at times.

[wlwinry]

okay so about that d20 leverage au that won the poll. we're gonna do this in bullet points bc it just works better for my brain i suppose (see tangled au for examples)

postcanon

several years postcanon

we're talking early to mid twenties bad kids

funnily enough fig dropping out did a great job of setting up this whole thing bc the premise relies on the bad kids, while still loving each other and being a team, eventually splitting off to do their own thing. and their various "own things" spiral into crime, and they lose contact with each other, only to all be pulled into the same job later and end up being a team again. yay!

but first. context

FOR THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW. leverage is a tv series that ran from 2008-2012, following the heists of the leverage team: a group of criminals, each the best in their field (hitter, hacker, grifter, thief, mastermind) taking down corporations and ceos and giving the money to their victims. it's really fun and has the best found family portrayal ive seen in A While

back to the bad kids

fabian drops off the grid first in true dramatic fabian fashion. by faking his death to escape his mother's abuse for good. and then deciding to be better than his father--by doing a better job of stealing than him. he uses his dexterity to his advantage and becomes one of the most dangerous art thieves in spyre. he's the thief

gorgug takes on a few security jobs for the council of chosen when his parents' ownership of the tree is threatened, to ensure they'll have the money to keep their home. this spirals, however, and to keep both sets of parents safe he ends up taking a few jobs on the...more dangerous side. and once you're in, it's hard to get out. he's a retrieval specialist utilizing his specific barbaficer talents--he's the hitter and the maker

the court of stars goes back on their word regarding adaine's payments. with an understanding of arcanotech and her foresight, she takes to siphoning money from the people and organizations who don't need it to ensure that the mordred mortage stays paid, lydia's PT is covered, and that bee applebees's (who moved into the manor midway into senior year) college stays paid. she also takes a few jobs and challenges to pay her own bills. the oracle is, much like in batman, the hacker

being the former chosen one of helio and the lead cleric of a new pantheon gives you a lot of connections, and kristen has always been good at filling in gaps and better at negotiating than people realize. if she needs to cut a few backroom deals, dig up dirt on some prospective allies, she'll do it. the system's failed her and the others before. why shouldn't she work outside of it? kristen is the fixer.

fig's music career takes off--and then the dawn family decides to go after and disgrace sandra lynn after fig makes it clear that she's coming after them for hurting her mom. fig digs more and more into her disguise and con-artist talents to get them to back off, and by the time she takes them down...well, fig (no cig figs) might not be onstage anymore, but she's given some very impressive performances, and she's ready to take a more hands-on approach when it comes to getting what she wants. fig is the grifter

riz doesn't want to take the council of chosen job. he doesn't. his mom's biggest fear was always him following in pok's footsteps, and he doesn't want to work for them after how badly they've failed him and his friends (his lost, missing, or seemingly dead friends), but...they pay well now. really well. better than PI work, and he figures he'll work for them for a couple of years, save up enough to quit, and then maybe try some adventuring of his own. this goes on until he gets a mission: steal a particular set of new arcanotech spell components. his team has already been hired.

his team is the rest of the bad kids

it's one hell of an awkward reunion. everyone is happy to see each other but no one knows what to say, so they focus on the job and try not to think about how this might be the last time they work as a team. riz definitely doesn't let himself think about it.

until it's revealed that this was a ploy by the council to kill them all off. the company they stole for was in on it, because the council promised to put them ahead of the competitors that the team stole from.

unfortunately, they forgot that the bad kids are Very Hard To Kill, and very dangerous when pissed off

riz leads the team in a very elaborate heist to take down the company who was in on the plan and humiliate the council of chosen. it works. it's beautiful. they're a team. heartfelt conversations are had. they fall back into old dynamics with a side of new skills, new goals, new experiences. they missed each other. they love each other.

and then they win. and it's time to separate--except they don't. because they've fought plenty of bbegs in their time...but maybe it's time to take down the enemies that the law can't (won't) touch.

the six of them are the leverage team, and riz is the mastermind.

[aloekat]

giving pokemon teams to d20 characters!

The Unsleeping City S1 & S2

pt 2/?

part 1 || part 2

second verse same as the first, check out part one for my guidelines on how i made the teams! short version is only 4 pokemon per team, no repeats, and little to no shinies or legendaries

fun fact the unsleeping city was actually the first season i thought of pokemon for, and why i started to make teams in the first place!

i also like unsleeping city a uhhh a lot less than fantasy high so my fantasy high picks (part 1) are a lot more thought out and maybe cooler than these picks but hey i'm still happy with these!

oh also unsleeping ch. 1 and 2 spoilers ahead of course :]

Sophia

Purugly - symbolizing La Gran Gata! also it just feels like Sophia would have this pokemon it fits her Vibe

Furfrou (Heart Trim) - she is a hair stylist!! of course she would have the hair stylized dog!!! she mainly keeps her as the heart trim but it doesnt 100 percent always stay that way

Mienshao - cool and cute monk pokemon for obvious reasons lol

Raticate - represents kugrash after he dies(?). shockingly the raticate and purugly get along well, and are actually pretty nice with each other

Ricky

Boltund - there’s no dalmatian pokemon (which there should be maybe) so this is the closest i got to representing Ox! boltunds are VERY fast though so it still works lol

Blastoise - what better pokemon to have as a fireman than a giant water tank? probably got a squirtle when he was young and it evolved as he grew up :]

Kleavor - represents the fireman ax he carried

Machamp - Ricky is all about exercise so naturally i gave him the super buff pokemon. they probably train together and like do pushups or whatever fit people do

Kingston

Dachsbun - representing both the dog he gets in season 2 along with bagels in general, which seems to be a symbol for him (see the vox populi pin)

Drampa - similar to how i imagine the dragon of bleaker’s street would look, it also just feels like an old man of a pokemon (which kingston is)

Blissey - i like to imagine doctors/nurses get blisseys once they like are hired in healthcare to help their trainers with the patients (and also blisseys are absolute TANKS in terms of defense)

Magnezone - Kingston did that cool tech shutdown/takeover thing in one of the season one battles at the stock market and i thought that was cool. and also it fits because Vibes

Misty / Rowan

Gardevoir - a beautiful pokemon that always looks youthful, just like Rowan

Primarina - a singing pokemon that wouldve helped Misty practice her singing for plays

Meloetta - same reason, a singing pokemon lol

Scream Tail - rather than a standard Jigglypuff i would like to imagine an ancient thousand year old one was much more interesting! it also ties to Rowan's reincarnation thing she has goin' on

Iga

Goodra - a dragon to represent the storybook dragon inside of the chest she has! i didn’t do charizard because i saved that one for a future season team (take a guess who)

Gimmighoul - a chest pokemon because. she. she has a chest thats very important to her. yeah!!!

Perrserker - pure vibes i just feel she would have this pokemon lol

Hatterene - also mostly vibes, she Is a psychic so it works but yeah she gets a hatterene because i say so

Kugrash

Rapidash (Galarian) - unicorn totem

Unfezant (Male) - spicy pigeon totem

Ladyba - juicy cockroach totem (i didn’t do kricketune because i want to use it for a later team. can you again guess who)

Arceus - our first true legendary! kugrash literally becomes omnipotent so you know what he can have pokemon god on his team

Cody

Aegislash (Shiny) - it’s literally The sword pokemon of course Cody would have one. it’s shiny because if he spent a long time growing his real sword collection he can spend a long time finding a shiny. also it’s black and red like Thirsting Blade Dark Excalibur Mega Genesis

Grimmsnarl - the most emo pokemon ive ever seen so of course Cody gets it. as a treat

Houndoom - “but aloe why didn’t you give this to Fig?!” shshhhshshhhh. listen my sweet child. houndoom is for the emo boys. which Cody is. and also also it parallels the other paladin on the team, Ricky, and his dog pokemon, Boltund. does that make sense….

Corviknight - emo pokemon #3 on the team. also knight means sword so in a roundabout way it’s another sword related pokemon

Pete

Polteageist - Pete has a teapot in his official art and while yes. it is blue and so is the non-shiny form i think purple in general fits Pete a LOT more than blue so here we are lol

Musharna - literally the dream pokemon this was an easy peasy pick and very obvious

Hypno - another dream-like pokemon but much more scary to maybe represent a sort of nightmare compared to the sweeter dreams from Musharna

Vivillion (Garden Pattern) - representing Luna his green butterfly familiar! i feel like everyone (including the PCs) forget Luna exists and it makes me a little sad :(

=====

that's all for this new york team! i plan on doing a crown of candy next :]

have any suggestions or changes you would make? let me know i would love to hear your takes on the teams :D!

[utilitycaster]

Re: Em Friedman, I personally always got the impression that they're just a big fan is Aabria cuz I think Aabria was one of their first guests(?) in their TTRPG class

And that's why to me all the coverage about Acofaf, WBN and now Burrows End reads with kind of a biased perspective

Like, I love WBN but as you said, it's not really doing anything innovative per se, and the whole coverage and hype about the Bear episode in Burrows End really made it anti-climactic when the episode aired

Idk, maybe I'm wrong, but a lot of the Actual Play coverage from Polygon (not just Em) seems kind of like D20 and WBN circlejerk while they're more than happy to throw CR under the bus

Oh interesting. Like, I do get that Actual Play is not a particularly massive community and I could see how someone who interviews players regularly might end up becoming close to them and generally that maintaining distance and journalistic integrity is uniquely difficult, but also like. Here's the thing. I know Critical Role is The 800 lb Gorilla in the actual play space; no one else is selling out Wembley Arena. I don't mind if they're not getting the same boosts from publications, because they don't really need it and people love an underdog and all that. It's still not great, that this bias exists, but Critical Role is much harder to keep up with because it is at this point 8 years of content to fully know what's going on in Campaign 3, whereas you could have someone binge watch ACOFAF in a long weekend.

What gets me is that it's not just fawning and biased. It's ignorant of the actual play genre and claiming things that are flat out untrue. "Critical Role isn't as good as Dimension 20" is an opinion. I don't agree with it but it's a valid position for someone to have, and even journalists are entitled to preferences. But like, again: TAZ Balance started at level 1, with the party obtaining a legendary and dangerous artifact at a low level, and it started in late 2014. NADDPod campaign 1 also started at level 1 and ran up to level 20, and it began in early 2018.

Longform D&D/Pathfinder are also not new. Both of the examples above ran over 60 episodes; NADDPod's first campaign was an even 100. Rusty Quill Gaming ran an impressive 218 over 8 years, though they tended to stick to about an hour long per episodes so it's closer to NADDPod in actual hours of gameplay. Obviously Critical Role, while unedited and not a podcast primarily, has had 100+ episode campaigns. All of these were also set in homebrew worlds, though TAZ was extremely loosely based on Forgotten Realms to start, and RQG was essentially a divergent history of our world. So what, precisely, other than the Children's Adventure, makes WBN different? Like...I know fandoms struggle to understand this but it does not do anyone a single fucking favor to act like well-executed but traditional formats (or solid but par for the course work) is radical and innovative genius! It doesn't make me say "wow, WBN is clearly groundbreaking." It makes me go "wow, Polygon's coverage is written by a fucking idiot who's unfamiliar with the landscape of actual play."

What gets me about the bear episode is that it was also, in my opinion, very well-executed and an interesting battle, but it was not like, any different from another battle map except that the production team did a really good job making it slightly gorier than the norm. That's it. And as for the twist...look, again, I'm reserving final judgment, but I keep thinking about this (regrettably it is from Orson Scott Card, who is both a homophobic asshole, and also wrote "How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy" which was my introduction to Octavia Butler and genuinely informs my understanding of the genre to this day):

"If you are using a known foreign language, by the way, take the time and effort to get it right. Among your readers there will always be someone who speaks that language like a native. If you get it wrong, those readers lose faith in you - and rightly so. Wherever you can be truthful, you should be truthful; if your readers can see that you're acting by that credo, they'll trust you, and you'll deserve their trust. But if they catch you faking it, and doing it so carelessly that you can easily be caught, they'll figure that if the story wasn't worth much effort to you, it shouldn't be worth much to them, either. They may still like the story, but you have blunted the edge of their passion."

This is both what I'm worried might end up being true re: Burrow's End (except instead of a foreign language I speak like a native, it's How Radiation Works) but it's also true in that like...all of those longform campaigns? I've watched or listened to them in full. Acting like it's innovation to...do a thing that's been done by so many other prominent actual plays is not even reading to me as bias. It's reading to me as a combination of wildly misplaced priorities (genuinely I think between this and the ask meme I'm like "hmmm have we considered that we're asking a huge amount from a niche medium and acting like it is the responsibility of a bunch of actors with dice to constantly reinvent the artform in which they work and dismantle the kyriarchy and prevent us from getting into arguments with our friends, instead of, as WBN's own page says, play games to make stories out of sound?") and also just. Ignorance. This is a person who is talking about something they genuinely don't know about. Why should I listen? I mean the bias doesn't help, but really it's the ignorance that kills it.

[earth-unicorn]

Game Night

These are RWBY characters playing D&D. Jaune is the DM in this one. I figured that he's nerdy enough for it. I didn't have anymore colors to identify Jaune so I just italicized it.

Weiss: I'll use my gravity glyph to keep him stuck in place then I'll finish him off with Surrounding Strikes.

Jaune: Ok Roll for your attack.

Weiss rolling a D20: I rolled a 14

Jaune: checks his notes before speaking: Using your semblance you summon the gravity glyph under his feet, keeping him in place. Afterwards you summon a circle of glyph around him, jumping into them you launch yourself at him thrusting Myrtenaster forwards. What you don't realize is your glyphs failed to fully activate which in turn releases him. He ducks out of the way and watches you sail by and slam into the wall. Now it's his turn.

Weiss: Wait what?!?!?

Jaune rolls a D20: Natural 20. Sorry Weiss but that's a crit. As you lay on the ground, the man thrust his sword into your back dropping your HP to 0 and killing you. That ends the game.

Weiss: That's not fair! There is no way my glyphs could fail like that! This game is stupid!

Ruby: Weiss all you did was focus on attacking.

Weiss: So! It's not like you were any help. You went down first.

Yang: Weiss this game is supposed to be played using team work.

Weiss: You guys were completely useless. All you do is get yourselves hurt or killed.

Blake: That's because you won't support us in battle. This game isn't any different from life. We all need each other to win.

Weiss: I suppose you're right.

Ruby: Come on Weiss, let's play again. If we want to win we have to work together. We all have ways of supporting you. You just have to trust us.

Weiss sighing: Fine one more game. This time I'm going to put my trust in you three.

Ruby: Don't worry Weiss we have your back. We always will.

Weiss: You better. You Dolt.

Jaune: Ok we'll from the beginning. As you enter the hideout…

On the other side of the room

Ren: They do know it's just a game right?

Nora eating pancakes: Who? What game?

Pyrrha: I think it's less about the game and more about the trust between them.

Ren: I guess it is. Maybe we should play next.

Pyrrha: Yes we should. I love watching Jaune DM

Nora: What!

[wetbloodworm]

talking about zenith, as i often am, because they have my brain in a chokehold again lately. rambling with veering topics as is common with me

i've got a doc for zenith's history with his previous party where i was setting things up for solo play as a way to work out details. now that this takes place in ariknott i want to rework the doc and play around with it more but that's not we're talking about here. one thing i did for the party was based off a thing i saw in a dm guide or similar for developing NPCs, where i rolled a d20 to determine loyalty. basically to determine how invested they were in each other, what they'd be willing to do for their teammates that they didn't know all that well, that general vibe. zenith rolled at disadvantage since i already knew that they're pretty self-focused. the results:

vinzin - 19 - made sense to me for him. he's a former pirate who left in part due to moral reasons, and generally a good guy. he's used to working with a crew and puts the crew as a whole over himself individually. he also put the party together so he was sort of the leader and it'd make sense for him to feel at least a little responsible for everyone. also he's older than everyone (at least outwardly, who knows how old zenith is, but they look mid/late 20s lol) and more experienced so gotta look out for the baby adventurers. vinzin is responsible and looks out for others, tries to be fair splitting rewards and loot, and will actively endanger himself to protect his team if necessary. etc.

wiris - 6 - absolutely only saw these as temporary work relationships that she would NOT stick her neck out for. coworkers. wiris prefers to work alone but sometimes you need a group to have a better shot at higher paying jobs. she's not unfriendly necessarily but protecting herself was always the priority. wouldn't fuck over the team, but less likely to share her loot if she found it first and she was certainly not ride or die. if anyone were to get arrested, she ain't bailing them out without incentive. if the fight gets too bad she ain't sticking around.

cobwynn - 11 - middle ground felt right for them too! cobwynn was also pretty self-focused, but very intent on proving themself as Good and Heroic to impress others and feel better than others. they wouldn't abandon others in a fight because they refused to back down from fights in general but also because protecting others is Good, and made a point to share loot evenly, which got them into arguments with wiris sometimes when SHE didn't want to share what she found lol. cobwynn was very much the 'everyone needs to follow my rules and morals' type. generally pretty trustworthy as a teammate, but also like. the focus on Being Good came before actual loyalty. that's one reason why they turned on zenith so quick when the aberration thing came out. ariknott's history with aberrations has been almost (maybe not almost) entirely bad, so zenith very suddenly lost teammate status and gained dangerous monster status. cobwynn would've endangered themself to protect zenith before because they're stubborn and dedicated to being Good, but that dedication to the idea of Goodness meant that as soon as they associated them with Evil Things, it was over.

zenith - they got a fucking 1 - lmao. so. getting out of bullets for this.

so i think a 1 is pretty extreme and not fully accurate lmao but a low roll IS correct. again, zenith is very self-focused. they're friendly and they like people a lot, and are generally pretty agreeable and helpful to the point where they WILL go out of their way, but when it comes down to it, they are their #1 priority. they didn't realize they were hurting people by taking their dreams, but once he learned he didn't even hesitate to keep doing it and didn't feel all that bad about it. they'll share loot in order to be friendly and in the hopes it'll establish a pattern for teammates to follow, but often lie about how much they've found because they have diamonds to buy tyvm. there's probably a line somewhere where they WILL sell someone to satan, not for a corn chip but if the price is right... they'll at least Really Consider It.

this is mostly because it's just who zenith is as an individual, they're just someone who prioritizes themself, but there's also an aspect of like. mortals have mostly just been a novelty or source of entertainment/information/enrichment for most of their life. they'd see people in dreams, talk to them if they were willing/able, and then never see them again. zenith never actually bonded with anyone. i'm sure they knew other creatures in the far realm but their focus has always been on the material plane, so most of their socialization was brief one-offs initiated in the search for food. so like. zenith liked people but they're more concepts than anything.

but a thing i've really enjoyed is seeing how part of zenith's adventures into the material plane has become lessons in learning how to be a person! not just in the adjusting to a new reality/body sense, but in learning how to interact with and think about others. and they're slowly growing there. they're interacting with others in new ways and developing actual relationships, and slowly figuring out how to see people as... like... People, y’know? i love how the dream-eating reveal went down in game, because it was driven into zenith's head that 1) them not getting consent was the problem, not what they are and what their diet is, and 2) their actions can hurt people in more than obvious physical ways, and they can see the effects of that hurt. zenith didn't feel bad at all during the initial confession, they were just annoyed and wary of things going poorly. the reaction being negative wasn't unexpected but the specifics were different. zenith can't mentally separate what they are from what they eat - their species name translates to dream eater, that's what they ARE - and being an aberration got a bad reaction before, so they figured that's the trouble they'd run into. but that wasn't the problem. it was the betrayal of trust in taking something from their team's minds while they slept without asking. their actions were the problem. which made the negative reaction actually feel to zenith like it was their fault rather than something they couldn't help. it got through to them that they had done something by choice that their friends found personally hurtful, especially seeing how hard mercy took it. it was the first time zenith really got the idea that people trusted them and they had in turn done something hurtful.

took zenith a bit to work out their feelings there. they have to eat and they felt justified in trying to protect themself by hiding their nature considering how cobwynn reacted, but like. hmm. knowing they made their friends sad/upset when they weren't intending to felt... bad? it felt bad. zenith didn't like that. it's one thing to hurt people on purpose, it's another to do so accidentally but still having it be your fault. zenith LIKES their friends, their friends are nice to them, they don't want to hurt people who are nice to them.

so all this to say like... i think zenith's loyalty score is increasing a little. or however you want to put it. they still put themself first, definitely, but they're actively going to be considering how their actions affect their friends moving forward. even considering people's feelings is a step for them. it also helps that like... this party is much more a group of friends than like, coworkers like the last party was. they got together because they vibe well, not strictly to get jobs. they're friends! zenith considers their previous party their friends also but it means more here.

also like, a couple more things. korinn is now actively letting zenith take her dreams, and even offered unprompted when things first came out. she knows it hurts and lets them do it anyway. that's honestly a little baffling to zenith, they really appreciate it but it's baffling. why do thing that hurts. thank you for doing thing that hurts but why. clearly korinn is just kind but zenith is trying to wrap their head around it. also nora offered HER dreams unprompted too when there was the risk of korinn's being unavailable. she was just considering him and his needs and that was also very kind! it's surprising! also, like, mercy healing zenith even when she's mad at them. it's just all weird and new and zenith doesn't fully get it but they're slowly understanding more and more that like... these people are just kind. they're just good people. zenith isn't about to become an altruist over it, but it's certainly making them want to be kind and good to this group in return. making them more attached, more protective and considerate. they're actively having to work on this because it's not in their nature but they're trying.

IDK i just! really really like seeing this growth in them! it's unexpected and interesting to me! zenith is starting to legit care about some people! they're CAPABLE of legit caring about some people! this is big for them. i love this for them. growth!! get that 1 loyalty roll OUTTA here!

[felteppsters]

Love Bites

Pairings: Eddie Munson X fem!reader

Rating: PG13. Fluff. Swear words. They’re in their twenties. 

Summary: It’s Valentine’s Day. Eddie being Eddie, wants to give you a good day. But it doesn’t go as planned. 

Word Count: 7.8k

A/N: Guys, I’m not a writer. What is this lunatic doing to me?!  Thank you again to @lordhalbrand @blueeyesatnight @st-eve-barnes @something-tofightfor and @withoutaplease  for being my hype team. Also, I know this is trash. That’s okay.  But I hope its mildly good trash and you maybe enjoy the ride? Okay bye <3

1994. Hawkins, Indiana 

The night that you and Eddie had confessed that you were head over heels for one another had opened a door that the two of you were ready to walk through hand in hand together. Initially, you thought you might have to learn a few things about one another, but it was quickly realized that no, no that wasn’t the case. The only difference to your dynamic was that instead of his lips on your forehead, the crown of your head or your cheek, his lips made themselves home on your own. Like they were made to be. 

The sound of a car backfiring caused your eyes to blink open, the morning sun peaking in through the dark curtains that separated the light and the darkness of Eddie’s bedroom. The two of you had spent the weekend leading up to today together. Wayne had mentioned going fishing with his buddies, and you made sure that he had two six packs to enjoy himself - as long as he promised not to drink and boat. 

He had said that it was his Valentine’s Day present to the two of you.

You let out a soft sigh, feeling his body heat, half curled around you. Sometime during the night, Eddie had shifted to lay on his back, his other arm still curled up beneath you, beneath your pillow. You shifted, turning over until you could take in his features. He was so peaceful when he was sleeping. His lips were parted, soft snores pouring out of them with each inhale. It brought a soft smirk to your lips - he was always adamant that he didn’t snore. You wished you had a blank cassette tape so that you could record your proof. 

His messy, unruly, beautiful brown curls made a pillow around his head. The light cascading in and making it look like a soft, chestnut crown. You shifted, letting your hand reach out to brush a stubborn curl that obscured your view. 

Satisfied, you placed your hand on his chest, just over the recently healed tattoo. The two of you had gotten matching tattoo’s for Christmas. It had been something you’d been talking about for a few years now, before you and Eddie had finally had that chat inside his van. 

It obviously was not your first Christmas together, but it was your first Christmas together as a couple. You didn’t want to do anything crazy, or go out and get things for each other. Though the little shit-head did buy you a guitar pick necklace of your own, with a small engraving. It was simple. Just said ‘Merry Christmas xx - E.M’ It was fastened on a silver chain. It had become a stable in your wardrobe once he had placed it around your neck. 

The tip of your finger began to trace the outside of the small dragon, curled around a D20 as if it were protecting it. The small dragon had a smile on it’s face as it slept, just like the owner it was apart of. Yours was nearly identical. The only differences in it, was that it was flipped 180, and the the dragon was shaded, coloured in black. The two of you had gone the yin and yang route. You were always each others better halves, since you were children, so it only made sense. 

You guys had been discussing it in the comings weeks before Christmas had hit - and after - you’d both been saving up for two months at this point, but there was nothing that really stuck out to either of you. You’d gone to the local shops and asked for ideas, looked through books, but nothing. Nothing stuck out until Eddie was setting up for his next campaign once Christmas Break was over. He was surrounded by his books, papers strewn across his bed - almost like they’d been discarded. You knew better, of course. Eddie wouldn’t just toss a piece away like that, not when it was in perfect condition.

You had been laying on his bed, your head pressed against his shoulder as he sat on the floor, his back pressed up against the edge of his mattress. It was a bit of an awkward position, but you were letting your fingers slip through his curls, your nails scratching at his scalp. He was mumbling to himself, every now and then getting your opinion on a pathing detail for his campaign - once you promised not to spoil it for the rest of Hellfire of course. You rolled over onto your stomach, resting your chin on your arms as you eyed the pieces of paper scattered around him like a tornado had hit. The corner of something caught your eye and you reached for it. “Hey Eddie…” You started off softly, letting your eyes run over the little doodle on it. 

His simple response was a soft ‘hm?’ as you pulled his concentration from the chaos in front of him. 

“What about this?” You asked, gesturing to the drawing in your hand.

“What about it?”

It took him a moment, just a moment, before a slow grin began to pull at the corners of his lips. He knew exactly what you were asking, and he knew that there was no better answer. 

The appointment for the matching tattoos were set for a month later. 

Your finger continued to gently trace the soft healing skin - it was no longer peeling, or falling apart, but it was still shiny and new. The soft pressure of your finger caused the man next to you to suck in a deep breath, his arms encasing you as they pulled you closer to him. The ends of his hair tickled your nose at the movement. A sound made its way out of you at the action, causing him to pull you in that much tighter, his lips brushing the crown of your head. 

“G’morning,” he mumbled. His voice was thick and deep with sleep. You loved the way it sounded in the morning. There was an underlying gravelly tone that made you want to stay beneath the covers for the rest of the day.

You let out a hum as you nuzzled your nose against his chest. His hand ran up and down your spine, the old Iron Maiden t-shirt of his bunching up with each movement. “Morning, Munson.” With a little bit of a squeak, you rolled onto your back to stretch, his arm still trapped beneath you - not that he’d ever complain. “Happy Valentine’s Day,” you murmured through a yawn.

A second later, you were no longer staring up at the ceiling of his bedroom, but the wall as Eddie all but yanked his arm out from underneath you in his hurry to get out of bed. You rolled over, blinking the tiredness and confusion from your eyes as you watched him scramble out of the bed. His foot got tangled in the process and he fell to the ground with a thump.

The urge to laugh was so strong that you had to pull your lips between your teeth, dragging your body across the mattress to see him looking like a rather flat pancake. “Eddie,” you started, your hand coming out to tug at the hem of his blue checkered boxers. “You okay?”

A groan rose from the pancake as he struggled to roll over onto his back. You moved to rest your chin on the edge of his mattress, a look of concern on your face as you tugged at the hemmed leg of his boxers once more. 

“Despite feeling like Wile E. Coyote falling for one of the Road Runners traps, I think I’m good. No broken bones or anything, so that’s good.” 

You couldn’t help but snort, “Are we referring to the blanket as the Road Runner or…” You trailed off, your brows pushing up to your forehead.

Eddie smirked, lifting his head off of the floor, looking up at you from his position, his body still tangled awkwardly in the blanket. “You’re more of a Black Widow, babe.” 

The response to his comment was a pillow colliding with his face. Eddie chuckled as he pulled the offending object to the floor. “I meant that in a good way! You’ve ensnared me in your trap, gonna eat me alive one day.”

Rolling your eyes, you pulled yourself out of the bed, slinking past him. “You’re such a dork, Munson.” 

His hands shot out to snatch your waist, yanking you down into his lap with a squeal. You immediately settled in there, catching your breath as your arms moved to wind themselves around his neck. 

“But I’m you’re dork, right?”

The look on his face was like a puppy. A puppy begging for his midnight treat, a puppy that you couldn’t ever deny. “You are absolutely my dork,” you replied, your voice a soft whisper as you leaned in to brush a kiss to his lips. 

You could feel yourself beginning to immediately melt into the kiss, but it was over much too soon. He gave your hips a gentle squeeze before pulling back, a small, honest pout still on his lips. Your brows shot up in question. 

“I was going to make you breakfast in bed,” he mumbled, toying with the hem of the shirt you borrowed. 

“That’s why you got out of bed like a bat out of hell? Oh, Munson.” Your finger tips smoothed out the soft crease and worry lines that fell onto his face. “You know you didn’t have to do that.”

“I know, but this is our first Valentine’s day, and I just wanted to start it off right.”

The smile that fell on your lips was one that you wouldn’t even be able to suppress if you wanted to. “I don’t deserve you, you know that?”

“Oh babe, you deserve everything in this world - and I’m going to do what I can to give it to you.” 

“Can we just start with maybe a bowl of cereal?”

“Anything for you, Princess.” 

The drive to Starcourt Mall was as uneventful it usually was. Though you were in the passenger seat, fiddling with the name tag that continued to prick your finger over and over. 

“Fuck!” You swore, looking down at the small hole that began to turn red.

“You keep letting that thing prick you, I might just have to take it from you.”

You couldn’t help but smirk, side eyeing him slightly as you continued to try and fasten it to your vest. “What - you gonna go all knight in shining armour, babe? You know I’m not a damsel in distress.”

The snort that came from the man next to you caused you to reach out and smack him in the arm. He let out a chuckle, his hand coming out to rub where you had smacked it. “Okay okay! So you’re not a damsel, nor are you in distress, but you’re my girlfriend - and you’re getting your ass kicked by a little pin.”

You felt your face warm, while butterflies began to swarm in your tummy. It had been almost five months since that night at Lover’s Lake, but it still made you giddy when he called you his girlfriend. Your bottom lip began to jut out in a soft pout. Eddie let out another laugh as he pulled into his normal parking spot at the mall - near the back. Sometimes when your breaks lined up at the same time you liked to hang out in his van and just be yourselves for al little bit. 

Putting the trusty van in park, Eddie reached over to cup your cheek. His guitar calloused thumb caressed the pouting bottom lip, a soft smile quirking at the corner of his own. “You’re cute when you pout, babe. Give it to me.” He stated, his hand slipping from your cheek to hold it out. You regretfully placed the offending pin into his palm, letting him pin it to your vest without a single problem. 

“You know, I don’t always have an issue with it.”

“I know, but we all have our bad days, and good days.” He replied, smoothing down the vest a bit before giving you his signature grin. “You gonna behave yourself today?”

“Hey, if Mr Callhoon decides to pop by with his Rice Krispies, I can’t be held accountable.”

“Sometimes I wonder if you’re gonna fall in love with him and his Rice Krispies - disappearing into the night. The way he looks at you sometimes…”

You snorted, “Eddie, he’s 76. He looks at everything the same way, as in he has to squint to even notice who he’s talking to.”

He paused for a moment, “Are you telling me that when I caught him staring at me the other day, he wasn’t looking at me like I was a piece of meat? I feel so disheartened.” 

“Seriously. Maybe I should be worried about you going off into the sunset with him.”

“Nah, you’re it for me, babe. Remember - you’re the Black Widow.”

Rolling your eyes, you slipped out of the van, waiting for him to meet you at your door before linking fingers with him. It was a blessing to be working out of the same area. You were on the ground floor, and he was on the bottom. Your respective work places - Waldenbooks and Sam Goody - weren’t exactly in each others line of sight, but your hours usually lined up close enough where you could ride to and from work together. There were days where they didn’t, but they were few and far between and easy to work around. 

Pausing at the base of the escalators, the place eerily quiet as it wasn’t open to the public for the day yet, you gave Eddie’s hand a soft squeeze. “Breaks at 11:15 today.”

“Shit,” Eddie replied, rubbing his hand over his face. “Mine’s not until 1. It’s gonna be a long day.”

“Shit.” You echoed his words, giving his hand a bit of another squeeze. “At least you’ll only be a few hours until we’re off.”

Eddie gave your hand another squeeze, “See you at 4, babe. Raise some hell.” He brought your hand to his lips to press a kiss to the back, before stepping onto the escalator and going to the bottom floor. 

“See you when our sentences are over,” you promised. 

You watched as Eddie went backwards down the elevator, a stupid smirk on his face until he stumbled once his feet caught the solid ground. You let out a soft gasp, moving to the railing, making sure that he was good and not about to be the escalators victim. He stood up, brushing off his pants and giving you a big grin, his arms stretched out to the sides before he bowed as if it were all planned. 

“You’re fucking ridiculous, Munson!” You called down to him.

He shot you a wink, “You wound me!”

You just rolled your eyes, a matching smirk on your lips as you gave him a wave, turning to head into the bookstore. 

It wasn’t the worst place to work, though it wasn’t entirely the best either. It really depended on what kind of mood that your boss was in. Thankfully, it seemed like today Mrs Jameson was in a good mood - something about her husband waking her up with roses and a necklace. 

Which meant you were going to have a breeze of a day. 

Eddie on the other hand? Well, his day wasn’t going as great. He had wanted your first Valentine’s Day with him to be a great one - the bar to raise all bars. He knew that you didn’t want him to do anything crazy, but he wanted to. He wanted to give you another best day ever.

After the morning didn’t go as planned, he vowed that the rest of the day would be. Only, when he got to work, his boss wasn’t in a good mood. He was angry at the way that Eddie had some of the vinyls displayed, angry that he couldn’t read Mr Williams mind and put on the vinyl that he wanted to listen to. He was on Eddie like hawk, no matter what the metal head did, it was wrong.  

He was trying not to let it get to him, trying not to let the way that he was being treated ruin his day. He had things he had to do. Things that were more important to him than the way that Mr Williams glared holes through the back of his skull the entire day. Clearly, something wasn’t going right at home.

When work was finally over, Eddie managed to get out a few minutes before you - it was like Mr Williams finally had enough of him and told him to go home. He looked at least a little bit apologetic, he would give him that. After clocking out, Eddie slipped out of record store and made a beeline toward the chocolate shop. He wasn’t able to get there during his break, as Mr Williams had revoked it from him. 

Thankfully, they still had some heart shaped chocolates left, and a bouquet of roses. Looking down at the watch that surrounded his left hand, he realized he was cutting it close. He booked it out of the mall, toward his van and hid the goodies in the back, covering them up with blanket that was used during the date nights out by Lovers Lake. When he was sure that everything was secure, safe, hidden, he made his way back to the mall. Just in time for you to be slipping out of the bookstore, a wide grin on your lips. 

The second he saw you grin, the day he had began to melt away. He moved toward you like a magnet, his arms slipping around you instantly, as he buried his face into your neck.

You let out a soft noise, your hand slipping up into his curls and running your fingers against his scalp. “Hey, you.” You started, your free arm wrapping around his back. “You okay?” 

“M’better now,” He replied, his voice muffled by your shirt. 

“Mr Jack-off didn’t get laid this morning, did he?” You felt more than heard his soft chuckle against your body, which was your confirmation that he was a bit of a dick today. “I’m sorry, baby. Come on, lets get home, yeah?” Pulling away slightly, your hands came up to cup his cheeks, as you leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. 

Eddie nodded, his hand slipping to yours to lace your fingers together to lead the way. You let him lead, your free hand slipping to your book bag, double checking to make sure that you had everything inside. Satisfied, you closed it up and put all your focus on the kicked puppy that was your boyfriend. 

“So,” he started, “I had plans to take you to the new Mini Putt place? The one that we’d been watching for a bit, waiting for it to die down? Well, a pipe burst and they were closed. I wasn’t sure where else to take you, so I thought maybe… Maybe we could go to Crazy 8’s Roller. We can rent skates for an hour, and then head back to my place for the night?”

“I think that’s perfect.” You grinned. 

“Cool!” 

Okay, that seemed to put him in a slightly better mood.

Turning his van onto the path toward the roller rink, his fingers tapped against the steering wheel to the music that played softly over the radio. 

It didn’t take long until they reached the rink, rented their skates and were laughing while making your way in a continuous loop.

You didn’t roller skate too often, but enough where you could at least move forward. You were a bit wobbly on your feet, but that was okay. Eddie noticed. Even though he wasn’t very steady on his own feet often, he reached out to take your hand in his own, giving you a bit of a lifeline. 

You were thankful that no one you knew well enough was around. You wanted Eddie to enjoy his time. You didn’t want someone to slip in and be an asshole toward him. 

Things were going well for most of the hour, until you took the turn a little too sharply. Your ankle gave out from beneath you, rolling in the skate and sending you to the ground. Eddie tried to catch you, but ended up falling with you. His hands shot out to catch his fall, making sure that he didn’t squish you. The other snuck behind your head quickly to make sure you didn’t smack it on the ground. 

You stared up at him for a moment, most people just skating on, ignoring the couple on the ground. Some stopped to observe, make sure you two were okay before continuing to skate. 

“Are you okay?” He asked. 

You continued to stare up at him, before laughing. Just fucking laughing. He followed suite moments after, burying his face in your neck. His hair cocooned the two of you, his body shaking from his laughter. 

You weren’t sure how long the two of you were laying there, but the time did come where Eddie struggled to stand, and helped you up. Your ankle gave out immediately and your hands shot out to grip at his arms, steadying yourself with his help.

“Shit, did you roll your ankle?”

“Yeah,” you murmured. “You know how shitty these things are. I swear they’re out to get me.” 

Nodding, he slipped his arm around your waist, “Hold onto me.” He led you off the rink floor, slipping out of his stakes immediately. He crouched in front of you as if you were his Queen, sitting upon her throne. His fingers plucking at the laces, gingerly slipping first one, then the one that surrounded your injured ankle. 

Eddie lifted up your pant leg, pulled down your sock a bit to get a look at your ankle. He shifted it, gently, back and forth, keeping an eye on your wincing. “There isn’t any swelling yet,” he started. “Wanna try and stand?” With a nod, and his help, you let him help you to your feet. You put more of your weight on the one foot for a moment, before testing the waters. Putting more and more weight on the injured one, you tested the pain. 

“I think it’s okay,” you started. “It doesn’t feel like a full sprain, just a soft roll or something. I think I can walk.” 

“You sure?” 

“Yeah, yeah I think we’re good.”

“Do you wanna go back out there or go home?”

You checked the clock on the wall of the rink, there was only about fifteen minutes left now and you just shrugged, “I think I’d rather just go home? If that’s okay. I want to shower.”

“Okay.” 

Eddie bent down and helped you with your Converse, before slipping into his white Reeboks. 

The ride back was quiet. You knew that he was silently blaming himself for getting you hurt, but it wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t his fault that your body hated you, and your ankles liked to give out on you more often than not. You remembered when in your first year at Hawkins high, when you were on crutches for a week after falling off a curb. Your ankle had snapped. Eddie had thought you had broken your ankle, but you really just injured your ligament. It felt like a break, if you were being honest. Your foot swelled up, and was covered in the nastiest of bruises. 

Casting a quick look over at him, you could tell he just wanted to get you home. Get you back to the trailer he shared with Wayne. You couldn’t wait to be able to at least get a small trailer of your own with Eddie - if it was something he still wanted. You’d talked about it often, and hoped that it would be on the table. It would be a hell of a lot easier to spend time together without having to hope you can have one trailer or the other to yourselves. It would take a while, but it was a goal that you worked together toward. You’d still be close to your families, which you knew was very important to Eddie. He didn’t want to abandon his uncle, which you completely understood, and admired. 

It was definitely a sight for sore eyes to see the trailer park coming into view. You stepped out, your arms reaching up above your head to stretch a bit. You leaned against the hood of his van, watching him for a moment as he got out and did the same. You couldn’t help but smile at him, “I’m gonna go shower, wash the sweat off.”

Eddie nodded eyeing you a bit to make sure you weren’t limping. Spreading his arms along the metal frame, his eyes scanning your face with a soft sigh. “Come on over after?”

There was a scoff that left your lips, “As if I would have planned anything else. I’ll see you in a hour?”

“You know where I live, babe.”

Snorting, you smacked your hand lightly on the hood a couple of times before turning on your heel and heading back toward your trailer. You didn’t hear him scramble to get in the back of his van, closing the doors as quietly as he could before scrambling into the trailer. 

Eddie let out a soft sigh as he toed off his boots and slipped further into the trailer, his brown eyes scanning the cupboards as he grabbed the ingredients for dinner. You had no idea that he was planning on making you food, spaghetti to be exact. He knew that he had about an hour before you made your way over, so he knew that he had lots of time. 

Rummaging through the cupboards and fridge, he found the unopened package of raw noodles, marinara and ground beef. He’d asked Wayne to pick some of the ingredients up for him on his way home from work. Licking his lips, he eyed the food on the counter, “You’ve got this,” He murmured to himself. How hard could making spaghetti be?

He placed the roses, and heart-shaped box of chocolate on the counter before burrowing beneath the sink to find the two piece burner gas powered stove. Plugging it in, he twisted the nobs until he had a bit of a fire going beneath the burners. He’d made Mac and cheese multiple times on one of these things, he could make spaghetti. 

Opening up the plastic package of meat, he did a quick sniff test, and finding that it was suitable, he tossed it into the pan that had been warming up on the one burner. One hand began to stir the meat, while he looked at the watch on his left hand. It had been ten minutes, he had plenty of time before you made your appearance. This was going to be easy. 

Before he knew it, there was a soft rap of a knock on the metal door, just a second before you slipped in, a smile on your face. Your hair still wet from your shower, but you were in a pair of jeans and one of his shirts. Honestly, seeing you in his clothing was one of his favourite things to witness. 

“Something smells amazing,” You commented, shutting the metal door behind you with a click. You were in the midst of toeing your own shoes off before Eddie came over to you, holding out the bouquet of roses he’d bought earlier today. You immediately melted. “Aw, Eddie,” you murmured, reaching out to take the plastic wrapped stems. “Baby they’re beautiful.” 

“I wanted to get you black roses, but they’d just sold their last batch.” 

“Local mob getting ready for a hit?”

“Probably.” He grinned.

You knew Hawkins wouldn’t ever have any vendors selling black roses - they condemned Eddie for his love of his music, calling him Satanic. There was no chance in hell that they’d allow something as simple and beautiful as the selling of a black rose. 

“You got anything I ca-“ you paused, smirking a bit as Eddie held his hand up, effectively stopping your question.

“Way ahead of you. I was gonna put them in water before you got here, but I figured you might want to the the honours.” He made his way back from the kitchen, a small vase full of water in his hand as he held it out to you. 

With the vase and bouquet in hand, you made your way over to the couch, placing the items on the table. “It really does smell good, Eddie.”

The wave of pride that rolled off of him made you smile as the couch dipped beneath his weight while he sat next to you. He ran his hand up and down your back, tracing your spine, playing with the ends of your hair while you unwrapped the bouquet. 

“You know you didn’t have to do any of this, right?” You asked, looking over your shoulder at him briefly.

“I know, but I feel like it’s kind of our thing now. Our firsts, at least. Gotta make it the best for you.” Tugging on the ends of your hair softly, he pulled himself up so that he was leaning his elbows on his knees. The chains on his leather jacket clinking softly against one another. 

“Who knew that you really were such a sap, Eddie Munson?”

“You tell a soul, and I’m going to have to kill you.” 

You nudged his shoulder with your own, your hand reaching for one of the roses to snip the end of of it. You weren’t paying attention. Your finger caught on one of the thorns, causing you to let out a gasp, jerking back in shock. The thorn stuck in your thumb, pulling on the skin. “Ow, fuck!”

Eddie’s face went from over the moon to concern as you gasped out in pain. “Shit, baby what happened?”

You yanked your hand from the rose stem, effectively having the thorn tug a bit more on your skin before it was finally released. “Thorn,” You murmured, bringing your finger to your lips. You could taste the copper immediately. Copper mixed with the earthy tone from the thorn and stem. 

“Shit,” Eddie swore, pushing himself off of the couch immediately. He strode his way over to the cabinets on the other side of the kitchen - right next to the little breakfast nook - and went in search for the small box of bandaids that Wayne kept handy. Of course, it made sense to keep them in the bathroom where a lot of the supplies were, but it was just handier to have them closer to the kitchen. Eddie was a bit of a handful when he was a kid, and then when you came along it was like double the trouble and endangerment to yourselves. Neither of you watched where you were going half the time. 

He grabbed a bandaid, and a wet cloth before making his way back to his spot next to you on the couch. He placed the items on the table next to the vase, shoving his denim vest and leather jacket crumble ball off the edge of the couch arm rest, letting it fall to the floor next to the touch. “Here, gimme.” He demanded gently, his one hand reaching out for yours, gently pulling the injured digit from between your lips, while the other grabbed the wet cloth. 

“It might sting.” He murmured, wincing as you did while he cleaned up some of the bits that the thorn may have left behind. When he was satisfied, he wrapped it  snuggly and securely with the pale bandaid. “There.” He whispered, bringing it to his lips to press a soft kiss to it. 

You softened, your heart melting during the entire interaction with him. “Softie,” you murmured, giving him a soft smile and his hand a squeeze until he was able to smile back. 

“You okay?” 

You nodded, bringing your joined hands to your own lips to press a gentle kiss to the back of his knuckles. “Tis but a scratch,” you grinned. “It’s just a thorn, I’ll be alright. I mean, they do hurt like fuckers, but I’ll survive.”

A goofy, lopsided grin fell on Eddie’s lips as he slipped his hand to the back of your neck, bringing your lips to his in a soft kiss. He leaned back, wrapping his other hand around your waist to hoist you into his lap, your lips never leaving his own. Your arms circled themselves around his neck, your lips moving in a perfect, synchronized dance as his hands gripped your waist. 

“Happy Valentines day, baby,” he murmured against your lips, tugging on the ends of your hair gently. 

You hummed in response, pressing another soft kiss to his lips. “Was this your plan? Buttering me up with some roses, and a nice smelling meal? Doing all of this just to get me in your lap?”

“I mean, you were gonna end up here anyway,” he teased, giving your waist a squeeze and chuckling at the soft smack of your hand against his chest. “Which speaking of…” he trailed off, giving your ass a bit of a pat to get you off of his lap. He helped shift you onto the couch before hoisting himself with a grunt, making his way toward the kitchen. 

You watched him for a moment, before going back to working with the roses - being careful not to prick yourself this time. 

You were so focused on what was in front of you, listening to Eddie stirring and humming one of the songs he’d been working on, that you weren’t fully paying attention. It wasn’t until you heard him swear, before you lifted your head, a look of concern on your lips. You placed the roses aside, knowing you’ll come back to trimming the edges later, and went to check on him. “Eddie? What’s wrong? You okay?”

“Fuck,” he swore again, “I… I was trying to sprinkle a little salt into the meat sauce, but the fucking cap fell off and..” He paused, holding up the empty salt shaker.

“Oh Eddie, that’s okay.” You started, your hand coming up to place itself on his back, running up and down his spine.  “Fuck, I thought that you burnt yourself or something. It’s just sauce, it can be redone. If there isn’t any ground beef left, that’s okay. We can just start over.” You promised.

Eddie sighed, hanging his head a bit, and that’s when the smell of burning began to waft through the air, followed by smoke to the left of them. 

“What the fuck…” Eddie trailed off, you looking over his shoulder to see that the noodles he’d been let simmering.. no longer had water in the pot. They were burning, sticking to the pan. “Oh shit! What the fuck!?” Pushing himself away from the sauce he’d been pouting over, pushing you stumbling back slightly as he raced over to the pot. He quickly turned off the burner, snatched the pot by the handle and rushed toward the sink. The handle snapped off, causing the pot and noodles come crashing down. It clattered against the sink, before bounding and landing upside down on the floor - leaving a trail of gooey and burnt noodles in its wake. 

You watched, a somber look on your face as Eddie let out a small whimper. He leaned against the counter, sliding down until he was resting on the floor. He made sure that he was a good distance away from the mess that he’d created. Swallowing, you avoided the mess, and his lanky legs to turn the burner off what held the meat sauce pan. Wanting to make sure that the sauce didn’t end up a victim to the heat. 

“Who burns noodles?” Eddie murmured to himself. “Like honestly, who the fuck burns spaghetti noodles? It’s water! It’s water and fucking noodles!” 

“I’m sure lots of people do.”

“Babe, don’t lie to me to try and make me feel better.”

“I’m not, at least I’m not trying to. It’s a new burner, isn’t it? A new stove? It’s not hard to not know how hot things should be - right? It’s easy to have the heat on too high and the water just couldn’t compensate.” 

Eddie let out a soft sigh, looking up at you from his place on the floor. “You’re too good to me,” he mumbled. His voice soft, and slightly defeated. He paused, reaching up, carefully, behind him in search of the heart shaped box full of chocolates. “At least there is still this.” Another pause, and he let out a small moan - the box was hot. “No, oh you’ve gotta be fucking kidding me…” he trailed off, lifting the lid. “Fuck me.” He banged his head against the cabinet behind him. 

You frowned, moving to crouch next to him on the floor, offering your hand slightly to take the box from him. Lifting the lid, you got a look at what he had been worried about. The chocolate had melted. It was obviously sitting too close to the gas powered stove. “Oh,” you murmured. Lifting your eyes from the melted chocolate, you could see that he looked run down. He looked broken, and defeated, and it made your heart ache. You saw his bottom lip tremble.

“I wanted today to be perfect. I wanted it, I wanted our first Valentine’s Day to be one that would top any other future ones. It was our first, and I just,” he let out a groan, his head banging against the cabinet again. “Nothing has gone right today. I knew that I was a fuck up, but I didn’t know…”

Closing up the box, you shuffled closer to him and placed it on the counter where he’d grabbed it from. Your hands came up to cup his cheeks, “Hey, hey.” You started, “Hey, no no, it’s okay. Baby, it’s okay.” You tried to angle his head to look at you but he wasn’t budging. “Edward Munson, you fucking look at me right now.” You snapped. That got his attention. 

“You big, lovable idiot,” you murmured, your hands brushing the hair from his face. “None of this ever mattered, okay? Not danger roses, not the noodles, the sauce, not even the chocolates. All I wanted today was to spend time with you.”

“Yeah but we do that every day. I wanted it to be special.”

“You don’t get it, do you? Eddie, I’m going to sound like a romance novel here and if you repeat it to anyone, I’m breaking up with you.” You weren’t serious, of course, and knew that he knew that but you had to get the point across. “Every day with you is special. I don’t need any of this mushy crap. I was honestly just ready to curl up on the couch and watch a stupid movie. You know me, Munson. All of this shit? It’s not me. I’m so thankful that you thought to do it, and I’ll warm my cold dead heart for years to come, but you know that you didn’t have to do any of this.” 

Eddie let out a soft sigh, his hands coming up to rest on yours, linking your fingers together. “Sweetheart…” he started.

You shook your head, “Okay look. Here’s the plan okay? You’re going to go shower, and wash this stupid day off, yeah? When you get out, we’re going to start over, and do Valentine’s Day our way.”

“Our way?” 

“Yeah. Just you and me, Eddie. That’s all that we need.”

Eddie paused, taking in a deep breath before nodding. He stood with your help, turning to look mournfully at the mess that was made.

“Hey, don’t worry about any of this. Go. Go shower.” Placing your hands on his back, you turned him and gave him a little bit of a nudge to make his way down toward the bathroom.

Waiting, it was only about five minutes before you heard the squeaking protest of the pipes as the shower was turned on. A sigh left your lips, bringing your hands together to let out a soft clap. “Alright. Let’s do this.” Reaching for the phone on the wall, you called for a large pizza and wings. With that settled, it was time to tackle everything else. 

There wasn’t much to clean up, the noodles were really the only biggest issue, but you could handle that. Getting the burnt noodles off of the pan might be a bit more of a challenge, but you decided to let them soak for a bit after throwing the rest of the offending noodles into the garbage. You also dumped the sauce and cleaned up the pan, writing down on the list of groceries to get more salt after you refilled the shaker. 

You put the melted chocolate into the freezer to harden up - just because they were melted didn’t mean that they wouldn’t be any good for later. Sometimes frozen chocolate was better. It would make that loud crunch each time you bit into it. 

Satisfied with how the kitchen was cleaned up, you got to work on finishing the flowers. Giving them their new home after trimming the ends, you placed it on the small two seater kitchen table that Eddie and Wayne would share a meal at. 

Scurrying over to the bag that you brought over, you pulled out the VHS you had rented a few days ago from Family Video. Both Steve and Robin questioned your romantic movie taste, but it wasn’t supposed to be romantic. Popping it in, you set it all up to play when Eddie was done with his shower. 

You also pulled out a small box, grinning to yourself as you checked for the third time that day that it was still safe inside. 

You were grateful that he was taking his time in there, he very obviously needed it. 

The water turned off, and you watched as Eddie, head down and towel wrapped around his waist, head toward his room to change. He shut the door behind him, which let you continue to set everything up without him noticing. 

The delivery man pulled up a minute later, and you slipped out quietly to get it before he knocked on the metal door. Thanking him, you slipped back inside to get the last bit of the new Valentine’s Day dinner ready. Plates, two beers for the two of you, and lots of napkins. 

The door to Eddie’s bedroom finally opened. He shuffled out from the room, his bare feet pitter pattering against the carpeted floor. He had changed into a pair of black sweats, and a ratty old dark blue tank top. His hair was wet, but you could see the curls already starting to move back into place. He paused when he saw that you had cleaned up, ordered dinner and got everything ready.

“Sweetheart…” he started softly, looking around at everything. “Baby, you didn’t have to do any of this. Especially clean up after my mess.”

You just shrugged, “I know, but I wanted to. You were doing all of it for me, so I wanted to help out in any way that I could.”

“Shit,” he started, moving toward you, his hands reaching out to your face. He brought your lips to his, “I don’t deserve you,” he whispered, pulling back to press a kiss to your forehead. 

“Nah, but that’s okay.” You grinned, taking his hand in your own and leading him back toward the couch. You parked yourself next to him, reaching for the little cardboard box and handing it to him. The perplexed look on his face caused you to grin. 

“What is this?”

“I mean, you could open it and get your answer that way.” You teased. 

Eddie smirked, flipping the lid to the box open. His reaction caused warmth to run through you. His laugh was one of your favourite sounds. The grin on his face was an image you loved to fall asleep to. 

His long, thin fingers reached into the box and plucked out a ring pop. A cherry one to be exact. He held it up, the grin still plastered on his face as he looked at you.

You shrugged in response, “You never gave me one on our third date. So, I figured that I had to take matters into my own hands. Here. Gimme.” Holding out your hand, you waited for him to give it to you. You took the ring pop, and slipped it home onto his ringless finger, the one that was always home to his skull one. He always took them off before having a shower. 

“Does it suit me?” He asked, holding his hand up, showing off the red candy. 

“Best piece of jewelry I’ve ever seen on you, babe.” 

Grinning still, he cupped the back of your head and brought you in for another kiss. “Thank you baby,” he whispered. “For.. all of this. Everything.” 

You just shrugged, “I’m the best girlfriend in the world, it’s what I do.” You reached over for the VCR remote, pressing play on the movie. You watched as Eddie focused in on the beginning, and knowing it by heart, he let out another laugh.

“You rented us My Bloody Valentine? I knew I loved you for a reason.” 

“Eh, what can I say? I know you.” 

Adjusting himself on the couch, Eddie stretched his long legs out and pulled you into him. You reached for the two plates that had two slices each and handed Eddie his. He curled his legs around yours, in what you always thought didn’t look comfortable. His arms and plate circling your body as the two of you ate the pizza and drank your beers. Watching one of the cheesiest horror flicks that either of you had laid eyes on. You honestly would have rather gone with one of the Halloween movies, or even Friday the 13th, but nothing felt, or fit better than My Bloody Valentine. 

This was what the two of you needed.

You didn’t need a big day, a good meal. A crazy, extravagant outing. 

You just needed pizza, beer, a stupid movie and the love of your life. You knew that that was all he needed too. 

It was the best Valentine’s Day that you could have ever asked for. 

[brdpch]

{6} a game of cats, mice and hearts like ice

desktop: previous ✧ next mobile: previous ✧ next

synopsis: in the world of deadly games and their lives at risk, a very smart sociopath meets a very cunning stripper who claims his life as hers.

warnings: canon-typical violence, graphic descriptions of violence, sexual abuse, substance abuse, niragi, literally everything, you name it.

formatting: it's a glued-together dynamic roleplay between me and @bvrdel-mama, so the replies are separated by ♠♥♦♣, and the dialogues are written like — This. — yes, the symbols look horrible on mobile, we know.

statistics: 2,509 words 13,625 characters.

author's note: it's a mix of manga!chishiya with show!chishiya. also! what's worth noticing - in this rp there are dice involved. the mechanic is called a d20 mechanic, and it's based on dungeons and dragons 5th edition. we also use other dice rolls for other outcomes, so future events might surprise both me and my roleplaying partner. enjoy!

He was… something else. He didn't try to pull out, but instead - laughed at her, genuinely. Unmei was taken aback just a little bit, before she let go, shaking her head and smirking.

— You will never get me out of your head. — she said before Shuntarō sprinted away, not caring if he heard her or not.

The thought crossed her mind - was she wrong and was he actually a psychopath, and not a sociopath?

Chishiya wasn't an esper, as they said in japan, so he couldn't predict the future. Tagger's attention was now on Unmei, but it was okay, she already planned how she could use it to her advantage. Such a silly boy, thinking he could put her in any danger?

— Tagger is well prepared for a fight! — she shouted towards others, on her knees, getting to the stairs she seen Chishiya for the last time. — Tackle him and look out for a second or third „it”! — she added, before inhaling. — The safe zone is on the fourth floor, apartment 478! Tagger prevented anyone from coming closer, that's the location! I'm trapped here, but I'm counting on you!

What she said last could really motivate the rest of the players. It gave sense of being a team, of fighting together, of protecting that fragile little figure they all saw in the lobby.

Shaggy picked up quickly, Hawaii and Beach members one and two already teaming up against the horse-head. Unmei took her military knife out of her belt, and swung it open in one swift move, before she took careful steps down the stairs. If tagger chose them instead of the elevator, she'd be able to run up again.

three minutes remaining.

She smiled.

She really liked Chishiya.

♠♥♦♣

Chishiya laughed again, hearing the last words of Unmei to him before he disappeared down the staircase. She's a very funny girl, he thought.

His hair was falling out of the neat bun he made, so he had to re-do it. He got it just right as Unmei's voice echoed throughout the complex. She shouted the location of the safe zone, playing on the heartstrings and good will of other participants - very risky as people, normally egoistic, under pressure turn into even more self-centered caricatures of themselves. On the other hand, her lost foreigner persona was really convincing and may work.

Shuntarō grabbed his stun gun and bumped the tempo up when rushing through the floors until he got onto the 4th one. Here, he tried his best to keep himself crouched and unnoticed. It seemed that the bait worked on horse-heads, because apparently there could be more than one tagger - all of them should be focused on Unmei. Or at least at the player who just shouted the solution to everyone. He turned the corner and he saw the apartment number he was looking for. The marathon girl was pretty close too, climbing on the walls and jumping around like a rabbit caught in a net.

♠♥♦♣

His logic was good, yet a bit flawed. Unmei already knew other players were going to cooperate. Shaggy and his friend offered help in the first place.

As Chishiya made his way to the door, Shaggy and Unmei did too. She's heard gunshots in the distance, and to her liking, a pretty far one. So Beach members and Hawaii really tried to take the horseman down.

Good.

She kept herself alert anyway, thinking that with an unlimited amount of players could come an unlimited amount of taggers.

one minute remaining.

She made a run for it, feeling as if her lungs were burning. Oh, how she hated physical effort - running in particular.

Shuntarō could hear Unmei's steps somewhere behind him.

— [english] You really are my type. — she exclaimed. — Clock's ticking, though! Hurry!

♠♥♦♣

The lanky basement dweller came to the door at the same time as him, they exchanged glances and opened the door, but Chishiya stopped when he heard the barefoot footsteps running up to him.

His gaze snapped when he heard Unmei's voice behind him - there was a brief shadow of smirk on his face, but then his eyes widened. One of the horsemen with a machete just turned the corner from one of the staircases, and was running up directly towards Unmei.

Chishiya grabbed his stun gun in his left hand, he then took Unmei by her right shoulder and pulled her into the room, switching places with her just as the horseman swung their blade directly over his head. Chishiya dodged the sharp edge of the machete by inches - it made a tear in his favorite hoodie - but then managed to jab the stun gun directly into the attacker's torso. The horseman stood there for a second, convulsing in place, their weapon held high above their head ready for another attack. When the pulse of energy stopped coursing through their body, they let go of it.

The next two sounds that echoed through the apartment complex were clink of the blade and the thud of the attackers body. A smell of burned flesh started to fill the air around them.

— Now... we're... even... — said Chishiya to Unmei, breathing heavily, walking into the room once again.

♠♥♦♣

As Unmei felt Shuntarō's sudden pull, her eyes opened wide, still ablaze - but this time, something about the fire inside them was different. Was she perhaps enjoying this, too?

She panted heavily, letting Shaggy and Sporty into the room, free to press buttons to stop the bombs in the building. And then, Unmei just in case, did something pretty unexpected - she crouched on top of tagger, lifted their head and - tearing off their mask - slit their throat with little to no effort.

She knew exactly where to cut, and that old military knife wasn't just a prop, apparently. Chishiya's perceptive eyes noticed „Stalker II” on the handle, suggesting there's another one with „Stalker I”. It was hand-crafted into the wood inside said handle.

congratulations.

game clear.

Unmei was about to let go of - apparently - woman's head, when the collar on horse-head's neck exploded, leaving the girl covered in blood, pieces of skin and flesh. Unmei stood there in silence, stunned.

♠♥♦♣

Chishiya backed away as Unmei tore the horseman's mask off to reveal an unconscious woman hiding inside. And stood there - hands in his pockets, leaning on the doorframe with his chin upwards and his gaze following every movement of the knife. „Stalker” - an interesting name, he thought. He completely ignored the pair who rushed into the room and clicked the buttons in a matter of seconds before the building was about to explode.

He heard the woman choke on her own blood before a slight beeping sound could be heard, coming from her collar; he instinctively ducked behind the corner and when he came back Unmei was standing there by the woman - a red bloody mess covered in flesh and brain matter. Chishiya looked at her and sneered but then furrowed his brows for a second, noticing a piece of paper sticking out from the horsewoman's jacket pocket.

— You should wash up before we take off, it's tough to find a good car cleaner in the city these days. — he said, before crouching and pretending to examine the woman's body, and then discretely snatching the piece of paper just to put it into his hoodie pocket.

♠♥♦♣

Unmei blinked a few times, wiping her blade on horsehead's clothes, and then shook some of their blood off her hands.

— I have bad news, doctor. She's dead. — she said with a cold and sarcastic tone of voice, her face back to having barely any emotions visible. She sighed at the sight of Chishiya examining a dead woman's body.

— If you want to be useful, check out her equipment and her clothes. — she added, before she took off Niragi's shirt, turned it to the other side and wiped her face.

♠♥♦♣

Shuntarō knew Unmei gave absolutely no fucks that he was there to supervise her, and he didn't give a fuck that she talked to him this way - ordering him around - but if it was someone else - like Aguni for example - she would had her throat slit. Chishiya chuckled lightly at her comment - she really was funny when she didn't pretend to be stupid.

He then pretended to pat down the woman before raising the machete in the air, turning to Unmei, still crouched.

— An „I'm-sorry-I-ruined-your-shirt” gift for your boyfriend, hm? — he asked sarcastically.

♠♥♦♣

Unmei rolled her eyes, crouching near the dead body, searching through various pockets - padding the legs, arms, torso.

— Niragi is a long distance shooter. I, on the other hand, am not a fan of weapons. Especially deceptive ones. — she answered. — By the way, I hope you'll be a dear and share your shoes, hm? Or should I tell Niragi that you tried to kill me?~ — she hummed, but her face was as uninterested as ever.

♠♥♦♣

Shuntarō forcefully exhaled through his nose, smirking. He then stood up and leaned on the doorframe again, crossing his hands.

— Kill you? I simply tried to test you, see how well you work under ever-changing circumstances - a principal attribute of every executive. Besides you wanted me out of your way and got what you wished for. — he shrugged, then nodded to the corpse. — Try hers, she might be willing to part with her shoes. — he mirrored Unmei's tone. 

♠♥♦♣

— Behind the façade and complicated sentences with unnecessarily well matched words you just spat out, lies a lie. — she murmured. — Let me quote you, then, refresh that unreliable memory of yours.

Unmei cleared her throat, wiping her hands and thighs from the blood. She slowly made her way towards the elevator, but continued speaking.

— „I am here to simply observe passively and help you as a last resort”. — she stated, and then turned her head back, looking at him behind her arm. — You didn't lie then, there wasn't that glimmer in your eyes, the same one as you laughed before sprinting away. Borderline personality disorder? — she then questioned, raising a brow.

♠♥♦♣

Unmei noticed the same glimmer in his eye, again. Chishiya chuckled quietly, passing the girl, walking in front towards the elevator.

— No, just a whole lot of sarcasm you didn't get, and an ASPD. — he said over his shoulder. — You have my permission to tell Niragi, by the way. — he hummed while walking into the elevator and pushing the bottom floor button not waiting for her to catch up.

♠♥♦♣

— I don't need any permission, kitten. — she stated matter-of-factly, getting into the elevator right behind him. She needed some rest, some peace and quiet, a foot massage and a shower. Not exactly in that order.

— Although, it would be boring if someone blew a hole through your head. I just prevented that once.

♠♥♦♣

— Of course you don't. — he said coldly, shrugging. His head was pounding and his heartbeat still fast, the leftover emotions leaving his body as he felt the adrenaline course through his veins. His hands were slightly shaking, so he put them in the pockets of his hoodie, checking if the paper was still in there.

— And I returned the favor, didn't I? — he said leaning on the elevator wall, his chin upwards looking directly into Unmei's eyes.

♠♥♦♣

— Ah, I meant precisely shooting you. My actions would go to waste if Niragi took you out. And also… — she didn't avert his gaze, getting a few steps closer. — I can't wait to play with you again.

♠♥♦♣

Shuntarō chuckled again and tilted his head at the woman. He could hear her heartbeat, as fast as his. The way she said these words made his own sped up again, and he shivered slightly at the thought of the thrill he felt today.

— Likewise. — he nodded and smirked.

There were a few seconds of silence broken by Chishiya this time.

— So, what's your real name, Fate? — he inquired, looking at her curiously this time.

♠♥♦♣

Unmei took one more step, being as close as possible, their chests pressed against each other. She stood on her tiptoes, and Shuntarō could feel her hot breath against his ear.

— It's Irma Stalker-Schrödinger. — she whispered, something playful in her tone.

♠♥♦♣

Their hearts beaten in unison now, and if she could see Chishiya's eyes, she would notice that they got a bit wider than usual.

— Hm, that's a mouthful. — he said not moving an inch or shifting, his voice lower now. — Irma. — he rolled it on his tongue.

♠♥♦♣

— Eer-mah. — she corrected him, with a German accent now, as she was taking a step back. She breathed out her name right on his neck.

♠♥♦♣

Shuntarō crossed arms on his chest, a slight shiver running down his spine.

— You're a long way from home, Irma. - he said, smirking. — Why the fake name? — he asked. — No one's here to deport you, you know.

♠♥♦♣

As Unmei stepped back, she almost immediately turned to the door, like she tried to hide something. Maybe it was the way the fire flickered in her icy eyes, or maybe it was because she was out of breath. Or maybe because it was cold and her shirt was wet from blood.

She embraced herself once again.

— Well, how do you know where I'm from? — she asked, a bit cynically, yet full of curiosity.

♠♥♦♣

Chishiya stood there in the same position, analyzing her body language. Closed now, she won't answer his question. That's fine, he was trying to pass the time in the quiet ride down towards the bottom anyway.

— I assumed. — he shrugged. — The accent, the name, just the general appearance of someone who doesn't belong in this part of the globe. — he added matter-of-factly.

♠♥♦♣

— Germany is close to where I was born. — she assured, as he was really close to the truth.

♠♥♦♣

— Austria then. — he said, though there was no question mark at the end.

♠♥♦♣

— No~ — she sang, clearly amused.

♠♥♦♣

Ding.

The elevator was all the way down now, and as the door opened Shuntarō went up to the door but stopped for a second.

— Fine, I like to solve riddles too. It's mercy, by the way. — he said, meeting Irma's gaze and smirking, before walking out towards where they left the car.

♠♥♦♣

She just smiled and nodded, still pretty much amused. She shivered from the cold and walked slowly, watching her steps carefully, so as to not injure her feet.

[itbeleeeee]

So. Neverafter finale. I didn't think I would enjoy this as much as I did, and I definitely didn't think anything would top Fantasy High, but here we are. That ending was so good, and I just loved the concept of it all. Stories don't just end, they keep going and they get told over and over again and by word of mouth the meanings change and evolve and people take what they want from stories and give it their own meanings and. Idk there's just something so special about this game which is all about telling your own story, and putting it into the context of fairytales that have been around for centuries. The D20 team really does something so magical with this medium, and I think their abilities as storytellers shone the most this season.

I think each of the Heroes played their best characters yet, the mechanics were amazing, the battles were awesome, and you could really tell that they all had such a fun time making this season and that's what made watching this so wonderful. I know none of them will see this, but I can't thank the D20 team and anyone who has put any effort into making this season enough. Wonderful job everyone, truly. Can't wait for the next one.

Fantasy High: 8/10

Fantasy High Sophomore Year: 9/10

Unsleeping City: 7/10

Unsleeping City II: 8/10

A Crown of Candy: 9/10

A Starstruck Odyssey: 10/10

Neverafter: 10/10

[withdrawingramen]

resilience is a curse (whumpril + angstpril)

@whumpril d20 - disoriented. / angstpril alternate prompt - serious injury. wrote this for sihyeon and taj (again) but since we're still on sihyeon's latent arc we'll not get there for now. CW: lady/female whump, impaling mention, gunshot wound mention, female whumper using whumpee as a 'lapdog', implied past abuse & missing whumpee being rescued, stoic caretaker. The team had already located Whumpee. Months and months of no signal, no news about them. A photo, an anonymous tip had finally given away where Whumpee was. Within minutes of receiving the tip, the team had instantly rushed out in pursuit. Now, it had been over two hours since the rescue operation. They'd reached just a few seconds late. Whumper grinned at the team. Whumpee's torso was impaled and she fell right into Teammate A's arms. Gasping for air, blood seeping through clothes, onto the floor, staining teammate's arms. A bandage covered her left eye. The other eye was glassy, focused on Whumper, giving no time to the team to cut chase. She'd held out for as long as they could. Waiting. Whumpee had faith in the team. But how long could she hold out now?

Earlier, blood had gushed out from the deep wounds on her torso. It was a struggle to stop the bleeding. Gauze after gauze soaked in red had to be wrapped tightly around the injury and replaced every couple minutes, until they almost ran out. Whumpee had been inches from going into shock due to the intense blood loss, had they not carried spare IV's and blood bags. Lucky for them, Whumpee's blood type was a simple A. Yet, this had not been anticipated. She was absolutely well and alive until they'd stormed in to the rescue, according to the information.

Caretaker ushered everyone out of the coach, despite their visible concern. They promised Whumpee's best friend that they'd monitor her closely, respectfully asking the rest to drag the sobbing figure outside. Overcrowding would do nobody any good. Team had set out in a train, their only available mode of transport currently. Despite booking the vehicle all for themselves, despite the fact they'd be back to base in less than 30 minutes, the tension in the air remained. Time was crucial if they wanted to save Whumpee, and it was running out. Caretaker sat silently before Whumpee's limp figure. She could barely keep herself conscious, eye half open. Irregular breathing and pulse low yet rapid. Lips parted, a streak of blood running down their chin. A cloth lay beneath her head. Her expression was contorted into one of pain that could not be expressed and disorientation. At this point, she was clearly struggling to even be here. Caretaker sighed. "You've been through a lot." Caretaker wasn't sure if their words could reach whumpee. They went on speaking. "Life's horrible to you, isn't it? All your past, the present, and the bleak future. All your talent, your impeccable skill, intellect, have only been tools for others to use. Even Whumper couldn't resist getting her hands on you." Caretaker recalled every detail they knew about the person before them. Whumpee spent years fighting for her freedom and life, fighting oppression. Years of being molded into a weapon, hurt and tortured until pain became her familiar, abandoned and used till she swore the walls guarding her heart would not come down again, yet here she was. "Being in whumper's grasp must have brought back many unpleasant memories." Caretaker whispered. The woman did not respond, her eye unfocused. The rumor of Whumpee narrowly missing being shot in the head during Whumper's ambush was true, after all. The bullet hit her eye instead. Although it missed the brain, she'd lost the eye. "Whumper must have given you the shittiest treatment despite being shot. Made you do her dirty work because you are just that indispensable." "Your resolve must have cracked so many times. But you picked yourself up again. It didn't matter how many times whumper's men and women harassed you, did it?" "This is the curse of simply being strong. You said that once." Caretaker remained still for a while. They listened to the sound of the train running on the tracks. They kept their eyes on the rise and fall of whumpee's chest. "Your fortitude in every aspect of your life has only caused you more suffering. Clearly, your mental capacity is above the average. Thus, Leader asked us to keep our trust in you, just like you did for us. "She'll get through this. She's been through worse. She won't leave us like this." Leader's voice shook a bit while uttering the last sentence at that time, somewhat trying to convince himself, too. It was true for Whumpee. Whumper could do all sorts of things to her to tear her mind, but she'd stitch it back again, no matter how much it took out of her. Yet the same could not be said about the physical essence. "But how much more can your body take?" The body that has survived so much battering and bruising through the years of it's existence, the one that has sustained and shouldered so much agony. The wear and tear will continue taking it's toll. Until it can take no more. The will has no play in this. Caretaker reached out for Whumpee's hand. It was slightly cold. They held it gently, yet tightly. Her labored breaths were audible to caretaker now. "So give every part of yourself the right to rest. Please hang on, just for a little more. You have to come back to us." As if giving into the sweet release of unconsciousness, whumpee's eye shut slowly.

[clarionglass]

tagged by @monimolimnion! thanks for the tag babe, it always takes me forever to get around to filling these in but i do love em :D

Last Song: oh god. okay yeah i have been playing neath! a fallen london musical on a loop for the last like. four? four days. yes i know i'm a nerd, but it's a bop and i do not apologise. (the only other thing i listened to today is a bardcore cover of i'm just ken (the youtube algorithm finally got me pegged) and once again i apologise for nothing)

Favourite Colour: purple! it just slaps as a colour!

Currently Watching: does dimension 20 count? if so, i'm tag teaming burrow's end and a starstruck odyssey. if not, i'm watching a show called wolf with the parents purely for reasons of sacha dhawan being unhinged. look the man has never played what i would call a hinged character in his life and i am loving this for him

Last Movie: finally successfully went to barbenheimer part 2: 3 hours of man pain with a pal a couple of weeks ago--we tried it like a month before that and there was only one ticket left. so we just went to see barbie instead (my second time, his first)

Sweet/Spicy/Savoury: on the whole, sweet! i am a fiend for chocolate ngl.... although that said, sometimes i get a craving for salty/savoury (usually hash browns) that supersedes the desire for sweet

Current Relationship Status: single,,,,, perpetually so

Current Obsessions: the fuckign. the fuckign larp thing i did a couple of weekends back. fuck. i had to write something for my character over the last couple of days bc i felt actually possessed. wow. other than that i am currently going insane over fallen london, everything d20, and i am preparing for november when i will once again fall deep into my doctor who emotional hole

Last Thing You Googled: "40*8*2=" (although i just used the search bar as a calculator, i didn't actually press enter) bc i wanted to double check my maths was right before i sent an email

tagging @trekthecyborgwizard, @classicallymar, @nonsense-palace, and any other mutuals who see this and want to do it!

[the-lorax-mustache]

In order to save the princess you have to disguise yourself as a teen and go to the Prom. But you aren’t getting in without a date who actually goes to the school. You approach a group of students. Another member of your party assigns them numbers 1-20 and puts the numbers in a hat. The number you draw is the one you must ask to prom.

Roll a d20 to see who you ask

1. Jimbob the Teifling. He just got his driver’s license!

2. Betty the bard with a bucket hat

3. JT. They’re dad is the owner of the local super market

4. Carlos the Orc Druid. He’s new in town

5. Duchess Vanessa. She’s the princess’s cousin and is super jealous of her

6. Gooobydoob 6’5” tall human raised by kobolds. Can speak 6 languages

7. Enoby D’arkness Dementa Raven Way. She’s goffic

8. Apples the talking horse. She’s the class valedictorian and her dad is in jail for arson.

9. Chris. He’s flattered but politely declines because he’s already going with Tiffany. Roll again.

10. Tiffany. She already said yes to Chris but doesn’t tell you that because she would rather go with you because she was only going with Chris to make Carlos jealous, and she thinks you would make him more jealous. Meanwhile Carlos is completely oblivious to the fact that Tiffany has a crush on him. Which is probably for the best. Carlos has a crush on Ursula, but is too shy to admit it.

11. Ursula, the bug bear with great hair

12. Mike and Ezekiel, they are already going together but are open to a 3rd. (They only have one number because your friend didn’t see Ezekiel. He is wearing a very effective camouflage jump suit)

13. Marsha. She’s actually best friends with the princess and would be invaluable for your mission. The only problem, her parents are super strict and have forbid her from going to the dance. She accepts your invitation on the condition that you can break her out of the house and provide a prom dress. (All her dresses are little house on the prairie style)

14. Jacque the elvin jock. He’s the quarter back of the football team and his dad is the cop that put Apples’ dad in jail for arson.

15. Bryce. He gave everyone lice. In fact he did so twice. What an unfortunate roll of the dice.

16. Lord flip flop. King of the waves.

17. Rocko. Sells drugs to all the teachers.

18. Hyacinth. Shortest of her 11 siblings at only 10’9”, this giant barbarian is a (not so) huge disappointment to her family. She was also an unknowing accomplice in the arson that landed Apples’ dad in jail.

19. Beck. They were going to skip the prom to instead do a pop up art show featuring their art series entitled “lawfulness by definition is never neutral. a retrospective of systemic genocide of halflings and kobolds by creating strategic laws that codified pitting the two races against each other by the corrupt government of king Victor-Justin XI from the years 76899 to 76904 inclusive” the art itself consists of discarded wooden bowls from Red Oak Tavern, all painted with concentric circles in neon orange. But Beck likes your aura enough to go to the prom with you and re schedule the art show for next weekend.

20. Lucy. Her mom is the janitor. She stole a key ring with all the keys to all the rooms in the school ages ago. Her mom still has no idea. She’ll let you into any room in the school for a stick of gum. Or even for free if she thinks it’s funny enough. She just likes chaos.

[gogtopia]

let's talk: canon events! how'd you get into the dream team? what brought you to dtblr?

i've given the story in some capacity before so here's the full version. all of the jules lore if you will im gonna make it long so here we go

so it's november 2020 (for some reason interests i get into around my bday often end up long term??) and i go home from college for thanksgiving break. bc it's covid, the rest of my sem is online so like i'm staying home. i got super into dnd the past few years and d20 specifically the summer before but bc i was an ra that sem i got too busy to watch long form content and eventually it lingered out of hyperfix territory. but like i wanted the rush of being super into something again and i knew that when i was going home so i actually planned to get into mcyt funnily enough, but my plan was to rewatch old vids from the people i watched in 2013 (actually i just wanted to get back into steve s.uptic in general too). but my brother was like bro. you have GOT to get into this dream smp thing, which he and my sister, then in hs, had both been watching for a while (my sister was actually a long term q viewer. skull). so the two of them sat me and my other sister down and we watched the sadist animatics, some of wilbur and tommy's lore vids, and weirdly enough a mr beast gaming video?? he also showed me a manhunt at some point but dsmp was rlly my point of entry because i'd come from a rp heavy fandom

so around the time i joined was exile which was obviously like so investing... love it or hate it like it did slay. and also el rapids was around that time. which like if you've known me longer than six months like i used to rewatch that entire arc regularly and write long meta about it. i latched pretty quickly to karlnapity and qnf (skull emoji). i thought dream was funny but i didn't get as invested in him specifically until full jackbox era bc he was less active then.

on the tumblr side, i made a blog right as i got into it but i wasn't super active. i mostly interacted with ppl in dsmpblr that did image descriptions at first (i did them up until like early 2022 when i just kinda gor burnt out w writing them) and like to be clear i was consistently blogging abt dtqk since nov 2020, but i didn't really get "accepted" into that side of tumblr until nov 2021. partially on me because i didn't follow a ton of ppl at first but also old dtblr was kinda weird abt accepting ppl into the mutual circle. whatever who cares eventually i got in with some cool ppl and then i met my friend areeba deedis around that time and she helped me spread my wings and meet a ton of ppl! also i think i started writing fic jan 2021 but didnt make my second ao3 until april but ive been writing consistently for this fandom since

[smallvoid]

Also, to add further thoughts to this, now that I’ve thought more on the whole topic and not to just counter the Dropout-Watcher comparison:

Yes, Steven, Shane, Ryan and the whole Watcher team deserve to be paid for the entertainment they make.

Yes, Ghost Files costs a heck-tonne to make as it’s high production, on location plus studio filming.

Yes, Watcher deserve to make the high quality, not censored productions they want to make, which YouTube doesn’t (seem to) allow by their own inference.

Yes, there was massive audience outrage when Sam took over Dropout, due to the lay-offs. However, Dropout took the time to be transparent with its audience, explain the decisions and, again, upscaled production and its team in direct relations to its profits.

Yes, Drawfee especially was a point of contention for audiences at the time (I was into Drawfee way before I financially supported Dropout) but both Drawfee and Dropout were extremely transparent throughout the whole process and Drawfee was given their own platform once things were fully sorted with Sam becoming CEO.

Watcher’s announcement was very tone-deaf, saying that basically everyone can afford the service. No they can’t, especially when Watcher have currently region-locked said subscription service, unlike Dropout which is available outside of the US.

On principle, yes, Watcher is an indie studio and indie studios need to do what they can to survive under capitalism. However, Watcher has a Patreon, Merch, has regularly done tours and relies on fan submissions for their content. You can release content not put on your YouTube for Patreon audiences (within Patreon TOS which is fairly lax), allow YouTube memberships if the issue is purely a sponsorship or ad standpoint, or look at doing a phased collab with other streaming services like Nebula before launching your own subscription service. Watcher is not currently bankrupt. WatcherTV is not a Hail Mary. At the end of the day, Watcher is not in the same circumstances that lead to Dropout.

Also a reminder: Dropout was receiving pretty good financials in the form of Sam taking over. He has good financial backing. It is no secret that Sam is from good money.

Brennan Lee Mulligan was the only OG CollegeHumor staff left on payroll after the layoffs. Dropout’s team was incredibly small. They’ve had almost the exact same core art team since 2020.

Dropout did not have overnight success. They also film their tours etc and have previously and will continuously be uploading them onto Dropout, thus creating more cyclical revenue for themselves. Watcher does not seem to have any intention of doing this, especially when you take into their previous Ghost Files Tours.

Fantasy High is responsible for a lot of Dropout’s current success. However, if you look at the first season on YouTube, it is incredibly low budget. Other D20 seasons like a Crown of Candy were cut short due to production issues. They rented out studios and filmed entire seasons with 3-5 days until after a Crown of Candy.

Dropout was not an instant success but, unlike Watcher, they weren’t trying to be.

i truly do not get the comments that are like "i love this for them" or "it's such a smart move to follow dropout"

this is above all a shitty money oriented move they do not have the platform for