#decided to put a cut on it as it's unrelated to RP

[polarurchin]

*Casually slips a smol snippet of Bepo going absolutely insane in sulong form onto the dash*

It starts with the full moon.

He hadn't meant to look at it but he was desperate to save his family. The group that'd originally been a target in one of Law's schemes had turned out to be far smarter than the Captain had given them credit for even after taking their own precautions against them. They were just one step ahead of them.

Shachi lay bloody and unconscious on the ground, Penguin was still fighting desperately to keep the enemy at bay whilst many of the other Hearts that weren't facing concerning injuries were forming a barrier around where Law had been struck by seastone chains before he could get his room up.

He was only ever meant to embrace the full moon's power as a last possible option and Bepo felt that now was more than appropriate to cast his Beady black eyes to the sky to soak in and let the moon's power take over.

This would be his first sulong form, and he would not have any recollection of what came next.

The first to change was his eyes, from a soft black to a wild red. His muzzle expanded as his teeth sharpened and grew, his fur lengthening into a mane as his muscles grew immensely and broke through the restrictive barrier of his orange boiler suit.

 Fearful gasps landed on deaf ears as he snapped his attention to the nearest foe brave enough to shoot at him and in an instant, crimson arced through the air as he bit through the man's shoulder with ease. Muscle and sinew gave away beneath his unyielding jaws before he snapped onto his neck to rip his throat out, blood soaking his snout as he let the corpse drop. The head barely hanging by a thread.

Shocked as they were at seeing their lovable navigator take on such a menacing aura, the Hearts took this as their second wind to fight back whilst being careful not to draw the ire of one savage polar bear mink.

The navigator himself was having no problems mowing down enemies left and right, his paws would dredge up organs as each swipe would disembowel or maim. Skulls would crack and shatter where they were crushed between gnashing fangs and spat back out to stain the surrounding flora red and white with bone, blood, and guts.

However soon the beast would run out of opponents. Only seeing figures of white around him that weren't joining the mutilated dead. Snarling aggressively, the beast crouches to pounce at the nearest being. He is barely in the air before he is swapped places with a branch which fell startlingly close to the Heart pirate that promptly fainted on the spot.

Where did this strange blue bubble come from and why did it electrify him so? Why did it remind him of home?

Roaring once more in frustration the beast turns before he is promptly pinned in place by bars swiftly forming a cage around him as they are stuck into the soaked earth.

A figure approaches as he struggles and for a moment he is confused by the concerned look on the man's face. Why did it hurt? Growling softly he clawed into the ground as he continued to resist the closer that man wielding a sword got to him. He could hardly move his head to peer at him as he abruptly crouched and laid a gentle hand on his the top of his head and between his twitching ears.

Words came but he still could not make sense of them and that frustrated him greatly. More and more of those white clad individuals approached and he shrunk in on himself. These were his friends right?

…Family?

" …N-a-kama?"

His voice sounded so rough even to his own ears, the sound belonging more to some strange beast than what he was used to hearing. All broken and almost nonsensical when deep down he knew he never sounded like this so why?

" C-an you h-elp me?"

At the immediate confirmation, Bepo chose to relax into that soft familiar touch and trust that he was in the hands of people that cared for him deeply. He closed his eyes, and knew no more.

[jcisthebestfightme]

5 times Yizhan isn’t one sided

Disclaimer: Again, all speculation, treat this as fanfiction. Don’t read if you don’t like it. (I’ve been in many rps before and this is the fandom in which I’ve been the most afraid of my life LOL)

I’ve seen some people saying BJYX is one-sided, “created” and “managed” by dd. Initially, it may seem like it cuz dd is more forward about his affections. But I think once you understand them, you would see how much gg cares for him.

1) Jealousy - The most obvious being during the famous “16 Minutes” on KB when dd was coming out of a hole with another actor. Gg’s face changes immediately and he didn’t even notice his hand was raised mid-air. Another instance is when dd mentions hanging out with LXC at the fan-meeting. Gg asked when they hung out and then was like “oh when I wasn’t there?” Also the time during filming when dd got too excited talking to the cameraman about motorcycle and gg was stuck in the middle. At first, I thought it’s strange to be jealous of 2 people that obviously have no romantic intentions towards dd. But then I remember my own romantic past and that ya, when you really like someone, you get really possessive even when it’s stupid. And you try your best to logic it but the emotion is still there.

Easter egg: During the fan-meeting and the bts with the cameraman, gg used the exact word “厲害！“ (Amazing!) in a warning tone. The consistency points out that he’s having the same emotion in both instance. 

2) Caring - Gg cares about dd’s health a lot, in very detailed ways that surprises even me. In “9-Minutes”, he noticed a new scar and told him to wear kneepads. When dd came back from another filming and said he thought it’s “cool” he was working so hard, gg immediately rebutted, saying it’s not cool to overwork. Another thing is the “dead duck mouth hard” that I won’t repeat since I already wrote about it here.

3) Artwork - Gg is speculated to put dd into his art work. I wrote about it here. Maybe these are not on purposes but even if he unconsciously or accidentally included dd into this art, that’s also very sweet.

4) Music - Similar to drawing/painting, I think that an artist will be honest with his feelings through his music. Gg is no exception. We all know that gg loves to sing. The many instances where he may be expressing his feelings through music: (I feel like an AP lit student finding motifs LOL)

1) On 6/22/18 (special date), his WB mentions a song call “If I were a song” by Yoyo Sham that describing protecting the person he loves. My favorite lyrics is “I can be your home.” 

2) During the TU bts, on 8/5/18 (dd’s birthday), gg sang “Rainbow”. The footage cut off right after “In this story” and before “Did you really love me?” 

3) On a WB post in Sept 2018, gg alluded to the song “Summer’s Breeze” by Landy Wen. The song talks about a summer one will always remember, that two people were clearly in love. In the post he said “Summer breeze is over, vacation is also over.” The interpretation here is that he left behind WWX in the summer of 2018. Whether this means that he has decided to approach his feelings for dd outside of WWX’s feelings for LWJ, we will never know. 

4) At a fan-meeting, gg changed the lyrics of the song “Kepler” by Stephanie Sun from “I am no longer a lonely star” to “I fell in love with a lonely star.” 

5) When gg went to ttxs, he sang “Love Confession" by Jay Chou facing directly at dd. 

6) Gg sang “You are the most beautiful scenery in my life” by JS at a performance in October 2018. This is an old song that he covers. Even though he sang this song first for a commercial, the commercial has not air at this point (this event is unrelated to the commercial) so it’s speculated that he really likes this song and possibly have special meaning for him to sing it. The song mentions summer. 

7) He sang “Love you but lonely” by Na Ying at wmdg. Loneliness comes up again. 

8) He sang “Summer Day that the Wind Blew Past” by JJ Lin and Kym, a song about remembering falling in love in a past summer. There’s also a recording of him talking about why he chose this song. He said “it’s because the song describes when love first starts in a summer afternoon with a breeze, and I want to share it with everyone.” 

5) Gg being angry with dd - This may seem counterintuitive. Why is being angry love? We all know gg is a very courteous person. He actually said during an interview that people often thinks he’s “fake” because he’s so “nice” but that’s just how he treats most people, especially when he’s working. People that believes in horoscope says it’s a common trait for Libras to treat most people with a “public face” and keep them at a distance. I don’t put much weight into star signs but I do think this is gg’s personality. But what about towards dd? Gg is shown to be “mean” with him: 1) He rarely shows his “bunny teeth warning” to others but does so many times with dd. 2) He gets mad and shows his true emotions in the famous “9-minutes” where he’s mad that dd yelled at him in the morning. 3) He got mad at dd during a bts and even threw the umbrella to the floor because gg thought dd didn’t like WWX. 4) Gg got mad when he asked dd what he’s doing during his time off that day and dd said “stop nagging me”/”leave me alone”/”don’t control me” (hard to translate). They had a fight which ended with dd saying “I didn’t say for you to not care about me :(”. 5) Gg telling dd to stop looking at him during kb. This isn’t really getting angry but also show how he can be straightforward with him.

[senjuhashirama]

My quandary is rooted in a separate fandom. I and a few of my friends have character blogs in this separate fandom. Well we aren't popular or that well known, but we have fun and we don't harm anybody. You see there is another group of character blogs as well [in this same fandom] who are very popular. They instantly get likes and fanfare from stans. Our blogs are nothing like theirs. We don't try to duplicate or mimic them in any way. However they (the popular character blogs) have on occasion ripped off our posts and posted our words to their blogs, have used our rp situations, have tried to do things that we do, that we noticed. We ended up blocking them. That's not my quandary though, my problem is one of my friends, let's call her Marsha, who rps her character perfectly and is funny and amazing, decided to start rping with them. Normally I wouldn't have a problem with this, but they are who they are, and Marsha is rping the stuff we do with her.. now with them. Isn't that odd? Marsha pities them because she (and we) suspects that in actuality, the popular blogs are run by 1 or 2 people (there's quite a lot of those blogs). I suspect Marsha is right. But? Is this even fair? I don't trust her, because why is she emulating our rp style, with these blogs that hate us for nothing? 

This is part 1 of the quandary but I'll break it off here, due to length, and tell me what you think?

Addendum: I'm not trying to flex, but we put a lot of thought into our blogs, a lot of care goes into building our characters. We take it seriously. The other character blogs are based on crack threads. Which is always welcome, but it feels so frustrating. Even when we do crack threads I'm sorry but we're just funnier. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Not tootin my own horn but when Marsha posts with the haters (lack of a better term), she's giving them more likes and we sort of feel, hey, look at us here, we're just rping alone. 

(If I could show you what the other blogs post about, 50 reblogs about utensils and.. You would see what I mean!! And again, anyone has the right to post whatever they desire as long as it's not harmful, but their actions against us is what riles me up.)

It's so stupid how what should be a fun time has this added layer of stress. I haven't been sleeping or eating. I'm sorry for dumping this on you. But I need a voice unrelated to my fandom to just.. Tell me what I'm not seeing. 

(If you want me to shut up I will!)

Hi ♥ First, I’m sorry you have to go through this. Fandom, especially RP parts, can be traumatizing. And it’s hard to really leave, because there are people you care about. And sometimes it’s almost impossible. I will put it under the cut, bcs it’s long. 

Second, I would advise you to be careful about what the group is saying about the second group. Masha (for some reason I imagine Marcia from Succession) maybe chose the strategy - if you can’t defeat them, you must join them. Which sometimes can be good, but it can get weird. Sometimes people just want to join the popularest plastics because the promise of popularity seems great (I shrug because this is literally tumblr, why are people still playing plastics lmao). That’s really on them, but there’s a chance she might tell them everything you’re saying, so I really think you should be careful. People like to take things out of context to show how abusive other people are. Just be safe and in case there’s anything sensitive, delete it, because these things can get pretty messy very fast. I’m not saying she will do it, I sincerely hope she won't, I hope she feels only sorry for them, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. 

Third – do not tell them you think they are copying your content. I know this sounds like terrible advice, but many people were accused on this website of stealing stuff and used it as evidence that the other person is shitty. For some reason, RP attracts people who don’t have a very strong sense of identity (which is fine by the way, sometimes I struggle with that too, so I know how it feels) and sometimes these things happen, and they don’t even realize. It sucks, but it is what it is. And your complaining will be used as ammunition. 

You can get into a fight, but honestly, it’s not worth the mental turmoil, because this is basically what thirteen years old children do, mimicking Ar*ana Grande or other famous celebs. It is hurtful to see other people being rewarded for your content, but it’s not like you can do anything, there are no judges. Unless the person is level-headed (if someone told me I would probably apologize bcs it’s my big fear, copying someone! I’d rather know that continue that behavior), there’s a little chance they will admit that they’re basically stealing it from you and most likely they don’t even realize (which is not an excuse, but it lowers the chance of them admitting to it). You probably won’t win and if you will, you will pay for it with your mental health. Most likely, you both will lose in the end or it will be a pyrrhic victory, take that from me. Also I have one thought about it being one or two people – they might be unconsciously mimicking one another, so they might appear as the same, just thought.

So I would advise you to just block them and not watch them. In the end, it’s embarrassing for them to steal something. And as someone who had their content stolen (ironically, by people who would probably prefer if I died and who lied about me and last time I was told they’re still at it but I can’t let that get to me), there’s one thing that always calmed me down. That they can take some things from me, but it doesn’t matter, because it came out of my head, my head is mine, they can’t replace it by taking the things it created. That’s the thing they want, but will never have, your mind. People say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and it is true, it just sucks that people will take the credit.

But what you can do is evolve your ideas. They will be better since they came from you. You aren’t replacable. Try to focus that stress into something creative, even if it’s just out of spite and pettiness. If you don’t want to leave, there’s only that option left. And it’s much better than obsessing about what they took away, because it will only stress you out. You already have the most important thing – your mind and that’s already a higher ground. Not people liking it. It’s much better than fighting them and being petty on main. Believe me, you don’t need that kind of negativity in your life. Some people will notice, some won’t, but you don’t want them around anyway.

Oh and the last thing – take care of yourself. Sometimes I wish people on the internet could see the other person, because I doubt it would be as scary. This is like a high school and nothing more. I hope you will find peace in your ideas, and you won’t feel the need to check them. It can really get uglier than it is now, because some people feel they are entitled to make your life hell, don’t be one of them. Just say no to that negativity, be careful and don’t check them out, because it will ruin your fun. Try not to spiral down and not let the bad thoughts in, this is how you protect your safe space. 

I’m sorry for telling you to kind of surrender, but safety and mental health comes first. And this is the only way it worked for me. 

[smol-nevi]

I don't generally make this kind of thing a habit, but I think if you happen to be on the Crystal RP Discord, aka @crystal-rp-ffxiv, you should probably be aware of this kind of behavior, so here goes.

If you're on Crystal RP and the admin team decides they don't like you, you're going to be living under a microscope while they wait for you to mess up, if not bait you, probably while making up conspiracies about you as well. As for how I know this, I was a moderator for about a week's duration and saw it first-hand.

Unapologetically lengthy post. Receipts in the link above, long version below the cut.

From the first time I looked in the mod chat I knew something was wrong. I read backwards in the channel, thinking I'd acclimate myself and see what kind of rules precedents had been set and that sort of thing. I mostly just found out that they had it out for a particular member (at the time using the name Jericho) for not much reason. They'd spent a troubling amount of time over the past few months watching him and another member like vultures, believing them to be the same person and waiting for them to make some kind of mistake that would justify banning both of them...despite keeping different schedules, having different personalities and typing habits, and visibly being two different people. The admin team had come to the conclusion that Jericho was a troll who wanted to make them look bad, and anything he said or did was scrutinized to a ridiculous degree for evidence that would corroborate their belief.

Except none of the things they believed at all were true: he'd had a minor argument via DM with the head admin Benjimir Thursby's wife, Tessariel Aerlinn, who had made an overly broad statement about anime and Asian culture. Jericho had told her that overgeneralization about 'Asian culture' is potentially racist, and she became extremely angry, saying that because she's Asian, she can't be racist against Asians. After that, it seemed that Jericho was considered fair game for whatever retaliatory actions the two of them could justify.

Even a cursory glance at actual racism in Asia pokes Tessariel's statement entirely full of holes, and having personally read the conversation I didn't see anything actually inaccurate in his statement even if she believed it didn't apply to her. I asked what he had done that would merit such a response, because it felt very disproportionate to anything I'd ever seen him do publicly, and that was what I was told. The exchange via DMs had been screencapped and kept in a channel for evidence, and while I didn't get a copy of it, I did read it, and I said that I thought it sounded awfully one-sided and punitive and would have been much better as an actual conversation. I also expressed that I was concerned how much of the channel had been solely devoted to what was basically a witch hunt, considering that some of the server members had over the course of the past couple of months commented that the admins' behavior towards Jericho seemed biased.

I basically got a pat on the head and told that my opinion was "valued" but wrong. This would happen a lot over the course of the week.

Shit continued to escalate. Their favorite punching bag, who was acutely aware of the grudge by now and probably trying to be nice and discuss something that he thought they could all talk about, brought up some articles that stated that LOTRO might be having a graphical overhaul. This actually ended in him being put into some kind of time-out mute, because "everyone knows those articles are debunked already" despite them still being hosted on reputable games news sites. Back-channel, the admin consensus was that he was in fact trying to bait Benjimir and Tessariel into somehow looking stupid in public, because [paraphrasing] 'he knows how important LOTRO is to them.'

Benjimir in fact went off publicly about how he knows the dev team and they sent him 'personalized swag' for 'being himself' and that everyone should just listen to him because he's right. Someone else made a reasonable request for sources on statements that Benjimir made about the LOTRO improvements not happening, and they immediately became the team's private #2 punching bag.

The whole time I reiterated that this was really uncomfortable and I had serious concerns about the way they were handling Jericho. And as always I received a pat on the head and was told to not worry about it, there were really good reasons for it, really. He was 'bringing down the quality of discourse' on the server somehow. Benjimir decided that the only way he would unmute Jericho is if Jericho talked directly to him, and that Jericho tried to talk to any of the more level-headed members of the team first was taken as obvious evidence that he wanted to evade rules and create problems. I asked when we planned to unmute him, and Tessariel immediately jumped to the conclusion that he had messaged me, which wasn't incorrect but the way she worded it felt highly accusatory and I was beginning to feel that I was also in trouble somehow for not agreeing with the rest of the team.

Things came to a head quickly when I woke up and looked at the mod chat and they were having an animated conversation that started with Benjimir asking if it was 'bad that he was laughing at Jericho' and most of the rest of the team talking about how he was stupid, uninformed, a troll, etc. for the sin of having some misgivings about cryptocurrency, of all the things. One of the mods self-described their behavior as bullying. I said that this was extremely unprofessional and that I thought they should keep conversation to actual moderation matters, and if they had a personal disagreement with a server member they should handle it in a personal venue, not via official server moderation channels.

I was, for the final time, patted on the head, and told that this was not something they would consider, because the moderation team 'needs to be able to vent for their mental health' (never mind that the job was not stressful except for the rest of the team committing worse behavior than the server members) and that maybe I was in fact too sensitive for the job. Benjimir heavily implied that I had become too close to Jericho and was being manipulated, managed to misgender me somehow despite my having used solely male or neutral pronouns the entire time I'd been on the server, and after relating a story in which a couple of years ago a well-liked moderator left after having the same complaints as I did (which he saw nothing at all troubling about), suggested that I should be demoted to babysitting the lore channel.

So I took some time to collect receipts, which are linked at the top of the post, and told him where to shove it.

Since that time, things have actually somehow gotten worse on Crystal RP. Benjimir posted an entire page screed vaguely talking about "rampant negativity" that stated anyone with questions should DM him.

Upon DMing him with questions, Jericho was banned, the only reason given being that he was a 'poor fit' for the server in some vague way. I was immediately banned afterwards for calling out this decision as being driven by a personal vendetta in the feedback channel and let him know afterwards via DMs in no uncertain terms that I had logged everything I needed and would be building my case (and that he is an asshole). Jericho was reinstated, though I'm not sure what the conditions of his return were as that was after my ban and I didn't ask since I didn't want to stress him out further. Benjimir also reprimanded someone for discussing asexuality, stating in a DM to them that the conversation was somehow ERP related. I called him out on this via DM as well. Tessariel was not much later caught posting my last DMs to Benjimir in an entirely unrelated server, though she didn't include the part after that where I brought up his aphobia (during Pride Month, in a server with a rainbow icon no less). Benjimir for some reason decided to suddenly start following my FC's Tumblr well after our falling-out.

And as of today (6/24), Crystal RP now has seven pages of draconian rules, because it wasn't micromanaged hard enough before or something. Notably, a lot of these rules describe behaviors that they wanted to punish Jericho for but couldn't at the time justify, or that they'd like to punish me for but have nothing they can do to me. Or they exist to justify their own behavior, as now seen in the very beginning of the channel:

"This approach also provides our volunteers with leeway to act in good faith without the burden befitting a professional occupation."

"So we afford them the means to speak openly, vent, lament, candidly and yes, sometimes crassly and raw about everything and one."

Not only did they behave unprofessionally and shit-talk before, they have now encoded in the rules that this is acceptable and even good moderator behavior, because they saw someone else do it so it's fine (a lot of this wording is very similar to what I was told when I protested it). So rather than address anything I ever said past or present, Benjimir is choosing to double down and giving himself and his team explicit permission to be shitty, right in the opening paragraphs where you'd have expected a mission statement or at least some sort of welcome.

Which is about all you need to know about that server and its owners, in my estimation. I'd considered not even posting to Tumblr about it, but given that it's only getting worse, I think it should be generally known that this is how you can expect to potentially be treated.

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High Sophomore Year Ep 13

What the Hell?

Hey y’all. We’re back with a very eventful episode of Fantasy High--both from a plot an RP perspective--so let’s not waste any time getting into it. As you remember from last week, the kids are split up doing their various investigative activities. The first group we’re gonna check back in with are the Owlbears--Gorgug, Fabian, Ragh, and the Hangman--who are with the gnomish tinkerers.

Gorgug talks to the head gnome dude (Krumpkin in case I didn’t mention before) and asks to have his shoes loaded up with springs, which he is happy to do. Lou--via an offhanded comment that he absolutely commits to--establishes that Fabian has extremely small feet which is not plot relevant but I felt like I needed to mention. While they’re waiting for the shoes to be done, Krumpkin brings in a logbook so they can see what Killian--the elf working for Arianwyn--bought. It was a lot of stuff used in making magical candles and 2 blocks of Dusk Moss Incense. Dusk Moss is a hallucinogenic moss that people use recreationally to have sort of lucid dreams while awake. Gorgug knows that some kids in school do Dusk Moss but he’s never heard of it being in incense form before. He decides to buy everything that Killian did to be safe--including the drugs which he and Fabian are (hilariously) very flustered about.  

The gnomes give Gorgug his upgraded shoes and, in return, they just want to check out his crystal. Easy trade. He explains to them how the crystal works and Gorgug realizes, “Hey. I’m surrounded by people who know how to build stuff.” Maybe they can help with making a cell tower. They think they might be able to do it but they’d need access to more raw materials. Either that or access to a satellite. Gorgug (with the help of Fabian’s Bardic) suddenly remembers: while he was in jail the year before his parents actually launched a satellite into space! And a bunch of the schematics and stuff for it are in the Van. They go to get it while we flash over to see how the Nerd Squad is doing. 

They’re still casing the room Arianwyn was staying in at the Owl and the Harp. Adaine finds non-detection runes her mom put up to keep Falinel from finding her. She also can tell that two rituals happened in the room: one to kill Killian and the other to put the Devil’s Heart Ruby (ie: The Gorthalax one) into his body. Riz realizes that the ritual isn’t about getting into Sylvere so much as getting the Shadowcat into Sylvere by way of having the gem Petrosmos (as is rock+osmosis--as in what’s going on with Ragh’s mom) with someone she’s infected. He also finds a lot of super old school medical texts written in, like, hieroglyphs almost. Adaine ritual casts Comprehend Languages so she can read it and one of the texts is a diagram of a centaur with scary looking cat symbols at its eyes, ears, tongue, sinuses, and spine but not the brain (which they later deduce means that she can access their senses but not their thoughts).  He also knows that the two rituals were cast 24 hours apart which means that either Arianwyn left while they were partying or somehow knew to do the ritual the second they initially grabbed Aelwen.

Adaine rolls to try to find proof that her mom cares about her any personal effects left behind and does that thing people always do in movies where they lightly shade over a piece of paper to see what was written on the sheet on top of it. She finds a note written in her mom’s handwriting that says: Aelwen is with me. You are betrayed. You have no other choice, darling. Come join us. It seems as if she wrote it down to make sure she was under the limit for Sending. Adaine assumes it was to her Dad since it wasn’t to her. Riz also sees that the amount they were packing is way more than they would need to get to the temple. It’s hard to tell exactly what they were going there to do though because they brought all the important stuff with them.

They discuss Kalina’s abilities some more and are pretty confident that she can only be in one person at a time. They also think she’s unable to get into a Moon Haven/the Hallowed Van but they’re not sure if she can get in if she’s already in one of them before they go in. Adaine wants to establish that any private info, they Message to each other instead of saying it out loud. With an 18 Medicine check, Riz knows there’s a cure but he doesn’t know what it is. He takes all of the research to bring back to the party clerics who we’ll visit right now actually.

The Clerics and Fig are in the shrine with Vrath, the super aggro devil who’s just served Fig a subpoena. Fig reads it and sees that she’s being subpoenaed as a witness for a Tribunal against Gorthalax for neglecting his domain (he’s gotten 9 summonses which have all lapsed). Fig thinks it’s just a misunderstanding since Gorthalax is in a gem. Fig wants to do some court shenanigans but Kristen convinces her to at least get everyone together first.

Gorgug gets the research to the gnomes and they think they can rig something up in maybe a day. Then, the Owlbears go check in with the other two groups. After being told about the whole subpeona situation, Sandra-Lynn points out that Gilear actually knows a good amount about the law. He insists he’s not a lawyer but agrees to help and, upon reading the subpoena, says it seems pretty above board. Fig and Kristen also think they might be able to recruit the devils to fight against the NK while they’re in Hell since devils hate demons.

Adaine sets up the Message system they talked about earlier and Kristen decides to peruse the medical docs Riz found. NAT 20 BAY-BEE! And Kristen might have a -3 to Dex but she has a +9 to Medicine. That’s a big ol’ 29! 

After taking a second to eat his dice and contemplate how jossed his plans are, Brennan says that they can make a tincture using Dusk Moss and some other alchemical supplies from Sylvere that would cure it and that, with a Nat 20, she understands it so well that she specifically can cure it with Greater Restoration. Sandra-Lynn talks about what she found (where Arianwyn and Co. entered the forest) to cover the fact that Adaine and Fig are Messaging this information mentally to the group so Kalina doesn’t know what they know. Adaine thinks maybe they should start saying things that are untrue out loud so that Kalina is getting bad info. Fig thinks maybe they cure everybody but one person so they can control the info she’s getting but realizes that Kalina would probably realize what they’d done and catch on. Tracker pitches that they also could just all go in the Hangvan to be safe and then Kristen could one by one cast Greater Restoration on everyone who needs it. But she can only cast it once a day so it would probably take longer than they have.   

Gorgug asks a very insightful question that hadn’t occurred to me--if Sandra-Lynn is infected, why isn’t Gilear? Fig relays the question to her slightly embarrassed mom who says she must have gotten it within the past 3 years. Not info Fig really wanted to know I’m sure but these things come up when you go adventuring with your parents.

Anyway, after some more discussion, they decide that they have to go the tincture route so they can all get cured at once since doing it piecemeal means they lose their element of surprise and they also decide that going to Hell to clear up Gorthalx’s tribunal is top priority. Tracker stays behind in the Van since she can’t get into the temple where the door is because of the mural while everyone else tries the door. Fig goes in first but stands in the doorway so it stays open (if anyone else tries to approach, the door starts growing thorns). Gilear walks in, Riz is hanging onto Fig. Fabian and Adaine are next, both on the Hangman but the doorway recognizes a devil (the Hangman) going through the door and shuts, leaving Fig, Riz, Gilear, and the Hangman in Hell and everyone else in the shrine.     

Gilear immediately gets knocked out by fire-rain but Riz brings him back with his healer feat and the Hangman (who is very sad puppy about being separated from Fabian) gives him a devil mark on his forehead that protects him from fire. Gilear also says that, as long as they go to the tribunal, the devils will have to send them home afterwards. On their way to the tribunal, Gilear has some playful banter with Fig which Riz is immediately suspicious of he gets Gilear to blurt out in a panic that he’s feeling confident because Sandra-Lynn and Jawbone broke up and she asked to sleep with him and he declined. They had a good talk and they left it on good terms but that’s what’s going on. Fig is happy Gilear is feeling more confident, especially since she feels a little guilty about his whole deal, a fact that shocks Gilear. She thinks it’s obvious. She’s a living reminder of the fact that he got cheated on by his wife. He pauses. Then he says he’s going to step up for her and turn his life around. Oh, also, Riz going absolutely feral but that’s unrelated. 

They get to court which is overseen by Vraz (plus a Spiked dude and a Chained dude--Blozo, Vraz’s boss, is stuck in traffic). Fig is called up and asked if she knew of any intention by Gorthalax to neglect his duties. She says no and that Gorthalax was trapped in a gem by Kalina via a proxy (which, you will remember, was her). Brennan makes Fig roll to get away with that tricky wording of the technical truth and Adaine gives her a Nat 20 portent roll to beat Vraz’s 23. That gets Gorthalax off the hook for punishment but they still have to get someone to run the place while he’s gone and the tribunal isn’t over. Vraz calls a recess and puts the party on house arrest in hell. Also, Fig cut herself to show her blood to prove she was Gorthalx’s daughter and inadvertently created a fully sentient imp valet for herself so that’s also something that’s happening.   

Back in the shrine, Adaine checks out the mural and sees an occult rune on the spellbook and realizes she’s seen it somewhere. They then go check out the spot Sandra-Lynn found where Arianwyn entered the forest and the briers there are actually more tangled than in other places, not less. It seems like they were trying to throw people off by entering through a less intuitive spot but also that it will probably slow them down. They go back home to prep and wait for the rest of the party. Fabian gets a ping from the Hangman asking if he should try to call his dad. After a little bluster, Fabian admits that yes, yes he should. 

Meanwhile, Kristen wants to check out their coins to see if they have the spellbook (though Gorgug thinks the baddies already have it) and Adaine realizes she saw the symbol at the Compass Points library so Ayda would know what it means. She doesn’t have Sending stocked so she decides to trance so she can either get a short rest or have a long one and get the spell prepared, depending on when they need to leave. Gorgug decides to go see how the gnomes are doing with his crystal. Since he’s there, he can help out. Nat 20! They get the crystal to work. He now essentially has a satellite phone.

He magic Facetimes Zelda who is at a party with the rest of the 7 Maidens. She’s shocked that Gorgug was able to rig his phone to work on the road and she’s not even mad at him anymore. She apologizes for reacting so strongly and says she misses him so much. In the background, her party members do the extremely teen girl thing of hyping up the boyfriend that they all like. He and Zelda have a sweet little conversation and Gorgug lets her know that they’re about to go into the forest so their service might not be great. Zelda says that they’re done with their quest so he shouldn’t worry about her. She also says he loves him which the gnomes with Gorgug are super stoked about. They pop some bottles. 

Adaine wakes up from her trance, restocks her spells, and casts Sending to ask Ayda about Planeshift and the rune she found. Ayda says they should use the Synod of Spires and has Adaine check her right jacket pocket where she finds a glowing blue key. When Adaine uses it on a nearby, glowing lock, she finds herself in this cool pocket dimension which Ayda also appears in. She gives Adaine a copy of the spell (it’s 1st level I believe) so she can use it too when they need to talk and the Sending spell would be inconvenient. Re the symbol: Ayda says it’s an Abjuration rune (but not a protective one, a meta-magic one ie: modifying magic) that masks powerful curses and spells by letting them Trojan Horse under a different curse (she says the underlying curse could be a vessel for other spellcasting which sounds like a spellbook to me). She also says the larger Trojan Horse curse would be better if it was something static--Adaine suggests the wall around the forest and Ayda says that could work.     

When Adaine offhandedly mentions that Fig is currently stuck in Hell, Ayda freaks about rescuing her immediately, eventually revealing that they kissed for an hour the night before (“AN HOUR???”) to Adaine’s immediate delight (until she starts in on the TMI at least). Ayda actually was about to call Adaine as well so she could ask her to use her Oracular abilities to suss out how to avoid any possible futures where Fig doesn’t want to be with her anymore which has got to be the most teen girl thing Ayda has ever done in any of her lives. Adaine tells her that that’s not really how her powers work but reassures her that Fig wouldn’t play with her emotions and it wouldn’t be weird for her to ask Fig for clarification about their relationship status. They end up having a little talk about how both of them are wired differently which they bond over and the episode ends with Ayda mentioning that she created the friendship section of the library that Gorgug found a while back out of loneliness. And now she has a best friend and a girlfriend (probably)! What a different ending that a devil subpoena.  

 Detention

Kristen for Trying to Handcuff Sandra-Lynn 

No one actually did anything too crazy this episode so I’ll give it to Kristen for a joke I have no idea how she saw going over well.   

Honor Roll

Kristen for Making Brennan Eat His Dice (And Going Full Jonas Salk All Over Kalina’s Ass) 

I think the only other person who’s made both lists in one ep is Fig.

Anyway, you know I had to give it to Kristen for that Nat 20 to figure out literally everything in those medical texts and how to cure everybody. What a clutch time for Ally’s dice powers to kick in. This is why Kristen had to almost break her leg ribbon dancing out a window. Equivalent exchange. 

(Also, props to Brennan for honoring the roll and probably jossing some of his own plans in the process.)

Random Thoughts

Housekeeping Update: There are only 7 episodes of Sophomore Year to go (not counting this one)!  March 25th is the last one so prepare accordingly! As much as I’m enjoying these, I’m pretty OK with this since I think more digestible content is one of the big strengths of Dimension 20 content. 

Also, for those of y’all who don’t watch Critical Role or missed last episode, on Friday (2/14) Ally will be playing on their Valentines Day one-shot of Monsterhearts (monster high school setting) and, based on the promo, looks like they’ll be playing a werewolf so be sure to check that out if you want more of Ally’s shenanigans in your life.  

I feel like Brennan must have a lot of fun coming up with nonsense gnome names. They’re all so insane. 

“Anything is an alchemical ingredient depending on what you’re trying to do.”

Lol at Lou being like, “We all have the same information and I didn’t figure out any of that,” when the Nerd Squad was figuring stuff out irl.

I love how Gorgug has no patience for eleven nonsense but someone says the word, “crystalmatron” to him and he doesn’t bat an eye. 

“This is in hell.”/”What!?”/”Hell.”/”What!?”/“Hell.”

Gilear: Everyone is in great danger all of the time

Adaine: I agree.

Gilear: Good? But also disquieting coming from the Oracle.

It occurs to be that Garthy is a really bad person to be infected by the Kalina Virus considering their occupation and how good they are at it. 

Fig is right. A simultaneous, “Bye Kalina,” would be very dope. 

If Kalina happened to be watching them at any in this episode, it’s good that they bought the Duskmoss beforehand. Like, if Kalina knows they bought Duskmoss blindly because they just bought everything Killian did, she’d be a lot less suspicious of them than if she sees them suddenly buy 2 huge bricks of an important ingredient in the cure for her.  

It occurs to me that Jawbone is also a bad person to be infected with the Kalina Virus. 

Oh man, Jawbone and Sandra-Lynn just got a house together with so many people. And now they broke up. I know they’re both being adults about it and all but you can’t tell me it’s not gonna be a little awkward.

I wonder what Zayn is doing back in the haunted house while this is going on. No real reason. Just wanna know. Like is Adaine gonna come back and he’s like, “I taught Edgar how to do a trick. What about you?” And she’s like, “Hoo, boy. Where do I even start.”

Fantasy drugs in D&D are always so so funny to me.  Also, lol at the fact that Adaine is actually pretty down to do fantasy hallucinogens (she thinks they might be therapeutic). 

The 6/7 Maidens texting Gorgug to be like, “Good job buddy!” is such a sweet detail. 

The vulnerability from Fig talking to Gilear in this episode. Gah. Fig’s thing is that she’s not a closed book despite what she says. She’s a wide open book for the most part. But that’s not the same as letting yourself be vulnerable necessarily. And the clear shock from Gilear that Fig would not only concern herself with his wellbeing in that way (like, she’s always head of the Gilear cheer squad but this is like, more than surface level, you know?) and that she would put it upon herself--something that she should never have to deal with as the child? I did not ASK for touching scenes from GILEAR but by God are they happening anyway.

Upon learning that Fig is wearing her library card behind her ear now instead of a clove (in tribute to Ayda of course) I got my library card and tried that and, folks, it is for sure a Choice. 

Man I hope Adaine messes with Fig over Ayda. Them acting like bratty sisters (like them fighting for rooms in ep 1) is one of my fave dynamics amongst the Bad Kids. 

Do we know how/why Ayda ended up in Leviathan in the first place? Like, did Aguefort just drop her there for some reason? Is that where she was conceived? How sentient are phoenixes? Does she have any kind of relationship with her mom?

“I want to be alone but also surrounded by my friends at all times.” Again, too real. 

Siobhan knows so many crazy words offhandedly. When Brennan said “synod” I started Googling and before I even pressed Enter she was like, “So it’s a church thing.” Wild.

@jamiebluewind has a Galaxy Brain theory that the kids need to get rid of all of their Kalvaxus gold for the coin/spellbook to reveal itself (details here) which I think makes a lot of sense because from a storytelling/gameplay perspective it would be weird for them to have possibly spent it before they even knew it was a thing they were looking for.

The obvious person that Arianwyn would have sent that Message to would be her husband but I’m wondering if either it’s a mislead or a trap because we know they’re not working together because of Aelwen (who I’m inclined to believe). What is your game Mom Abernant? What are you doing?

They got Gothalax out of punishment by saying that the reason he hasn’t shown up is because he’s been in a gem but 9 seems like a lot of summonses to have received in the past, what, four days (?) since he’s been trapped. Feels like a longer-standing issue potentially. 

Kristen and Gorgug each roll one Nat 20 in this episode and Fig gets one via Adaine’s portent roll. Fig and Fabian each roll one Nat 1. 

[unattainabledreams]

THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; Mun & Muse - Meme.

fill out & repost ♥

Mun note: I’m gonna put this below the cut cause it’s a biiiig tag. But if you do read it, hmu honestly cause I’ve love to chatting.

And if you do it? Let me know! I love learning about people’s connection to their muses, new or old.

My muse is:   canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless /

Is your character popular in the fandom?  YES / NO.

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK.

Is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK (Mixed impressions depending on who you ask and how you ask it I reckon.)

Are they underrated?  YES / NO.

Were they relevant to the main story?  YES / NO.

Were they relevant to the main character?  YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG.

Are they widely known in their world?  YES / NO.

How’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL.

How strictly do you follow canon?

OG Canon, By default, up until Zack’s canonical death, I follow canon very muchly. (That doesn’t mean I’m not open to earlier plotted divergence though!) If the overall plot ends with death, then I’m alright with that, I love the handing on of the torch from Angeal to Zack to Cloud. My goal is to never minimize that. But for interactions beyond the end of Crisis Core, I have two particular verses that I absolutely adore based on already established lore and my own head-canons for how Zack would continue.

OG Canon Remake Canon, while it’s nice for options and I don’t mind it, on a technical front I think it weakens the ongoing plot for other characters who then wouldn’t have been forced to grow so much themselves. I enjoyed the remake, but regarding Zack it’s not my cup of tea. I’ll write remake by request, but it’s not my default.

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutual.

His genuine care for those around him with unrelenting selflessness is both heartwarming -and heart-wrenching.

Zack’s journey from naivety about the world and events around him to recognizing the harm of the organization he’s been directly a part of. He grows in both substance and maturity as he’s increasingly forced to reckon with reality.

Chasing after an idea which is realized but not how he once imagined it. 

While Zack is strong, he’s most certainly not the strongest. I enjoy playing with weakness.

Almost relentless optimism. How he pushes onward to continue trying to pick up the pieces. Additionally as such a genuine character and I hope that love comes through in my portrayal.

Look. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But on a personal my muse front, despite my love for him I love putting him in situations where I get to break him down to build back up again because that’s his strength as a character.

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?).  

His early naivety and blind loyalty to ShinRa. (IMO tho, you gotta have a ‘from’ in order to have a ‘to’)

Puppy goofy himbo dummy. (At least, that’s how some people see him.)

Almost relentless optimism.

Some feel he draws away from Cloud’s story.

Just- 

Look again.

What inspired you to rp your muse?  

Have you ever had a time when you’re watching or playing something and there’s just a character you really identify with like, not just ‘oh, me’ - but beyond that in an almost scary way? For where I was in life and what I was going through, Zack was exactly that for me, and I fell in love with how kept pushing through.

So that was four years ago, and I RP’d him privately within friend groups. Said friends of course moved on from the fandom and I just quietly always wanted to come back to him, there were so many things I’d come up with that I hadn’t gotten to using yet in writing.

So late last year when a friend decided to get into FF7 I made my blog(s) to join them. :3 I did go on hiatus when 7R came out to avoid spoilers as I didn’t have access to a console through the lockdown in my country to play, but I’ve finally returned. (And now you have like a million blogs shgjfjkasghfd.)

What keeps your inspiration going?

On a personal note, Zack’s been an intrinsic part of my life for the past four years. Even when friend groups moved on from the fandom in waves coming and going, he’s never really gone from my life because I live in a fairly small country and he’s one of two cosplays I’m known for here in con/geek circles. (I’ve even Cosplayed him for an official event! <3)

On a writing front, honestly, as I said before, I love the way he keeps on keeping on no matter what’s thrown at him. I don’t want his journey to end. I want him to fall again and again but also to conquer those shortcomings and rise stronger.

That doesn’t have to make him the strongest in body, but in mind that makes him a personal hero for me at least so he’s forever an inspiration. Despite the labels applied to his dream, (See my URL) the pursuit as such defines him admirably.

Some more personal questions for the mun.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO.

Do you frequently write headcanons?  YES / NO. (I have a terrible habit of keeping most of em in my head, but they do exist. I’m trying to get better at posting them casually. I know they're good at helping prospective RP partners work out openings for interactions. ;; )

Do you sometimes write drabbles?  YES / NO. (Honestly this is usually what happens when I do try to do a HC post, It becomes a drabble incorporating it instead. Whoops?)

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES / NO.

Are you confident in your portrayal?   YES / NO.

Are you confident in your writing?  YES / NO.

Are you a sensitive person?  YES / NO.

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal?

Criticism and Critique. Boy oh boy. That’s gonna be a pass, please.

Unsolicited criticism sucks. That’s not what I’m here for, nor many of us I expect. Miss me with that anxiety spike. I’ve done study in writing for films. I know a lot of technical stuff. But I also enjoy switching that off and allowing things to happen. I’m also a performer, and the the improvisational and spontaneous reactionary side is just as important as the plotted. I’m here for fun to explore what I want with other like minded people. Not for criticism.

‘Hey have you thought about ___’ - that’s okay. If we grow together, cool, that’s great! In fact, it kinda leads into the next question.

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character?  

Yeeee! Please. Just be aware I’m sometimes slow with my inbox though I am getting better at this!

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why? 

Unless it’s something that clashes between our two muses like a death or lack-thereof, or important shared-background things that needs discussing, I don’t think there’s much reason for it to be brought up. My headcanons exist for the general purpose of ‘without outside influence, this is my default.’ - that’s it. Sometimes they just aren’t relevant.

If it’s simply ‘I don’t like this this idea’ see the next answer.

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it?

If someone does, please don’t tell me. You can go write him yourself or find another closer to how you perceive him. My portrayal is my own, and I don’t need to conform to your idea of what Zack would do or say. Neither of us need to waste energy on this.

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it?

If it’s my muse, fine. But don’t get aggressive at me about it. I’m also a Genesis mun, so I get the rivalry. But cool your jets.

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors?  

Sure. In fact please. Honestly, @ RP partners, I don’t mind if you quietly fix em yourself. Dyslexia’s an uphill battle. I’ll often edit posts after the fact if I notice my own mistakes, so sure. But @ Readers, please don’t get at my RP partners grammar. This is consent for my writing, not theirs. Though also don’t be a pick-apart grammar police just to get to me. Have some sense about it. ;)

Do you think you are easy going as a mun?

I can be very talkative. Honestly if that surprises you despite my choice of muses with Zack and Gen then gaia help you. So uh, heads up on that. If I haven’t talked to you yet, the key word is ‘yet’ - I’m just working out where to start or for something to react to.

That’s about it, congrats for filling out!

Tagged by:  @lifedxbt​ tagged me for returning from hiatus so I should probably do this. :p Tagging: Uhhhhh, it big. Do if want? Yay. (It took me two hours)

[bonepranks-a]

. OUT               please don’t pressure me into rp. this blog is mutuals only, and i am selective with who i follow. i know that’s off-putting to some people and i’m sorry about that - but i need my dash to be clean or else i get overwhelmed. for that reason i only follow people i’m really interested in interacting with/can actually imagine myself writing with. i don’t follow for follow.              some things that will make me not follow someone:              1) more ooc content unrelated to rp/the character than actual writing              2) if you don’t cut your posts or if you reblog asks as threads              3) i hate saying it like this, but... tbh, just bad writing. sorry.              4) if i don’t know your fandom/character, i probably won’t be comfortable rping

what this means: - sometimes i won’t follow all my friends’ blogs. even if we’re mutuals on one blog and you make more, than doesn’t mean an instant follow from me - please DO NOT message me if i haven’t followed you back, asking to rp. if you have a sideblog and follow me from a personal/another rp blog, then send an ask and let me know. i look at every single rp blog that follows me, but sometimes will decide to not follow back. please respect this. if you start engaging with me ooc when we aren’t mutuals, i may feel pressured or guilted into following back and that makes it an unpleasant experience for us both.

i’m a very very busy person irl, with more blogs than i should have. it’s very easy for me to be deterred from writing, usually because i feel overwhelmed by stuff on my dash i’m not interested in, or rps i need to reply to that i’m not interested in. rp is a hobby and everything i do is for my own comfort. thank you for understanding <3

[bengalisms]

for the anon that wanted to read something with Caspian super angry? I delivered.

This is a private RP that me and @1000liveslived​ decided to do after that gif was shared. We started plotting and this private RP is set in an AU where Emma is the single parent and Caspian is the one who’s coming into the family unit ( a reverse from what their canon actually looks like). Except in this AU, Emma ex and father of Aubrey (Emma’s child) comes back into their lives after being gone from it for years! Suddenly Kyle wants shared custody and rights to the child he never cared for. Both Emma and Caspian know something doesn’t seem right about the whole thing, but knowing that it’s Emma’s decision, Caspian takes a back seat in this and lets the decisions be made without him.

This scene takes place a few months after Aubrey and Kyle are reunited and Emma begins to allow them time together privately. Aubrey is 10, and has always been vibrant and talkative. But that suddenly begins to change, and Caspian knows exactly who to blame. 

Enjoy!

PS. i apologize in advance for my bad spelling and grammar. Discord doesn’t allow me to use my writing aids to make my english better so!

1000liveslived

Kyle's return into their lives had been met with a couple different reactions... though understandably Aubrey's was far more of the excited variety than Emmalyn's was. Emma truly didn't trust it... didn't trust his intentions, didn't want to even give him the time of day, but as always Kyle had managed to weasel his way into such a thing where Emma had little choice without being made into the bad guy. So with that in mind, she had allowed Kyle to have a couple visitations with their daughter together, watching him ... and with his behavior with Aubrey at first, Emma had reluctantly agreed into letting Kyle take Aubrey out and about a couple different times. One to allow him to pick her up from school and spend some time together, and another for most of a day during the weekend. 

 Though when the girl returned home, she was... just a touch off. Though Emma thinking it to be just the exhaustion of a full day, she had spoken with Kyle briefly before he parted. Going to cuddle herself up on the couch, the child had answered their questions in fairly short answers in ... well a very untypical manner for the girl. Again, thinking that it was exhaustion that weighed her words down, Emma had smiled some and kissed her forehead... 

It wouldn't have been until the next day that the impact Kyle was having on their daughter would be more obvious... though more so to Caspian as Emma prepared breakfast. Infinitely more cheerful, the child had began to chatter on as she generally did, trying to figure out just what she wanted to wear as her conversation took her this way, and that way, and every where between... only to stop dead in its tracks after a short moment. Seeming to come to a stop, the child had grown silent, looking to Caspian as if she were looking to see if he were upset with her for her rambles...

A couple nights since then, Emma had certainly noticed how her daughter grew to be less vibrant, far less sure of herself and... almost ashamed of her natural nature. Emma hadn’t allowed Kyle to have any contact since she had her discussion with Caspian, knowing that at some point she would have to sit down and have a discussion between herself, Caspian and Aubrey but ... for now she was simply dreading it. Kyle had left her once, and Aubrey hadn’t taken it well. How will she take it a second? 

 “No, its alright sweetheart. I want to hear,” trying to coax Aubrey to keep telling her more after the child had stuttered to a stop as if she had remembered herself when she had launched into another story seemingly unrelated to the first. Emma was entirely unaware of a figure passing across the street that could be seen through the window behind her, her focus on Aubrey instead who was currently trying to begin and talk through a mouthful of food.

bengalisms

There is a certain kind of pain when you watch your daughter go off with the man she truly considered her father. He knew it wasn't a slight at him –– knew that while he had never wanted to know his birth parents, Aubrey was very different from him. It hurt him, watching her excitement bubble up as she was so excited to see her father. At first he had been happy for her –– excited that she got to have such an experience. But it was quickly becoming something more devastating than Caspian wanted to admit. 

A few instances of Subrey filtering herslef left him even more pained. She had never done that before. He had always let her ramble and be as she was, no matter what. So when she looked at him with eyes too wide and too sad, he knew it wasn't him. It was Kyle. 

 It had prompted Caspian to sit himself down with Aubrey and ask about it. What he heard shattered him. He was no stranger to verbal abuse and could easily recognize it in Aubrey's demeanor. He'd put it very simply to her. "What he says to you or about you doesn't apply in this house." because it was true. The way he wanted her to behave, the way he spoke to her, it would never trickle into this home. Never. Emma wouldn't allow it, and Caspian didn't have the capability to be mean to so much as a fly buzzing around his head too loudly.

So tonight was an interesting night. One Caspian hoped would lead to thier family discussion about how they planned on going about sucha  thing from here on out. He knew it wasn't his job to parent. Not in this situation. But that wouldn't stop him from showing his concern or trying to help Emma and Aubrey anyway he could. So listening to Aubrey speak at the dinner table, watching as Emma encoruaged her to speak more, Caspian found his gaze flicker to a movement over Emma's shoulder. 

Immediately his posture changed when he saw the man walking to the door. His chewing stops and he licks his lips. he leans back in his seat, finger tightening around a napkin before he draws it quickly down his face. Shoulders tighten. The instant the door is knocked on, Caspian stands. Leaving no time for either girl to react, he wipes his mouth again and offers a very false smile to them both –– eyes already an amber hue. 

"I'll get it." They dont get the door during dinner. They never have. Caspian pushes his chair in and leaves his napkin on the table before walking around the kitchen and towards the front door.

1000liveslived

While Emma was truly glad for the fact that Caspian had recognized what was going on so quickly... she was heartbroken all at the same time. Sick with the knowledge that this was happening to her child, sick with the understanding that it was because of Caspian’s own experiences that led him to recognize it so much faster than herself... and admittedly angry with herself for not knowing it would happen to begin with. Emma was a very protective mother when it came down to it ... for very obvious reasons. It was for that very reason that it was a glaringly obvious testament to her trust in Caspian and her love for him tat she wanted to include him in this conversation to begin with. He had always been far more of a Father to Aubrey than Kyle ever had been... even from the very beginning. There was no doubt in Emma’s mind that Caspian was born to be a Father... she knew him. She knew his soft nature, knew that he wasn’t rash and brunt... and it was because she knew him so well, that she understood that there was something more going on than she was aware of as he stood so quickly once the knock came. 

Looking to him curiously, Emma frowned just a bit as she nodded slowly, “...Alright,” she spoke slowly, her question of ‘what’s going on?’ clear in her tone. Even Aubrey wiggled until she was on her knees, turning in her seat to watch Caspian. Though she was soon urged to sit properly, listening begrudgingly.

As Caspian thought, Kyle stood at the front steps, hands in his pockets as he waited. Though he seemed surprised ta Caspian answered, rather than Emma. Trying to glance into the house to see what was happening, the man even went so far to lean a bit more to the side in order to try and accomplish the task. 

“Emma won’t answer my calls or texts... I’m here to see my daughter.” Kyle didn’t like Caspian. Didn’t respect him in the slightest, and that much woudl be clear by how easily Capsian was brushed off.

bengalisms

Caspian opened the door to find Kyle standing there. His posture didn't anger him, but the look on his face did. Caspian knew all it would take was one glance at the man to find hatred in his heart. And Caspian didn't hate. He didn't even hate Aman for what he had done to him. But Kyle? Kyle was a special kind of person that got Caspian's blood boiling. From the beginning, knowing what Emma had gone through? How could he look at this man and feel anything less. 

Gods he loved her. He loved her more than anything in this world and to know that this man had not only abused her but was beginning to do so with his daughter? Emma's daughter? His sweet Aubrey? There was nothing –– not one thing –– that would stop him from speaking his mind so plainly towards this man. 

The door opens and Caspian's eyes have grown amber. They burn with heat and preditory focus as he steps outside. He closes the door behind him, softly despite the tension that runs through him. He stands in front of him, his gaze angled to look him in the eyes, his body blocking the handle of the doorway. Head tilts slightly as lips curl at his words. The audacity. His daughter? No. No no no, he had lost that privledge the moment he had told Aubrey she wasn't good enough with his stares and his words. Anger coursed through every inch of him –– making it beyond difficult to keep his fists at his side. 

"She's busy." He cuts Kyle off. Standing as he is, back straight, shoulder's square (as square as they could be anyway) Caspian looked unlike the man Kyle would remember. "And no. No you're not."

1000liveslived

Watching as Caspian opened the door, Emma could see that his posture was much different from what she would have grown to be used to, though it wasn't much longer before she didn't see him altogether. Looking to Aubrey who was still looking at the door (and luckily hadn't seen Kyle standing there), Emma made a small noise in the back of her throat as seh stood. "Stay here sweetie... keep eating," urging the words calmly, Emma made her way to the window to see just what in the fuck was going on... 

Outside, however, Kyle didn't seem to be too terribly bothered by what he saw in Caspian. Not outwardly anyways. Though the knowledge that just his mere arrival was enough to put that kind of an expression on Caspian's face drew a bit of a thrill through the shorter man. Smirking just a touch despite the rush of anger that the man did feel, Kyle's dark eyes settled on Caspian. THey were the very same eyes that Aubrey had... though they were far colder in nature. Aubrey's? Aubrey's eyes always seemed to defy the natural laws of light and dark, always seemed to be illuminated and shimmer despite the deep color. Kyle's eyes? Void of nearly anything should you look closely enough. 

"Excuse you? I'm not, huh?" laughing a humorless sound, Kyle pressed a palm to his chest, "I'm the Father. You?" pointing a finger to Caspian, "You're ... clearly not. Now let me through. This is a matter for Emma and me."

bengalisms 

Cold eyes had never frightened him. He had seen them in human beings taller and older than Kyle. He had seen them wield knives and words in the same breath. He had seen them blood thirsty and unsatisfied when his heart remained bleeding. Kyles eyes were a memory of the past which he was fully equipped to deal with. His smugness was a sirens call to action that Caspian took to with ease. He wasn’t afraid of this man and his hollow chest and void like eyes. He was scared of what he could do to his daughter. Not Kyle’s. His. He had always had that thought. For so long he had bared that thought inside him but hesitated in asking. Because what if she denied him? The pain would hurt too much. But he knew that it was true for him. He didn’t need her approval to love her like her father never had. 

“You might be her father but you’ve never been a dad.” He says coldly, his body stiff with determination. Unmoving. Firm. “It becomes a matter for me when I see Aubrey scared to be herself around people she has always been herself with. You’re not welcome here now.” He can’t help it. He knows that it’s wrong in a way. That Emma is the one that holds power over Kyle — not him. But he feels this swell to protect them both. And in it, rage has turned his eyes to fire where Kyle’s are coal; Ready to be set aflame. 

“We’re having dinner. Like I said. Come back later. We might have some left overs.” He steps back, his hand reaching for the door intending to step aside and back into the house. To lock the doors like he is a demon coming for his daughters soul. To feed upon her emotions and feelings like they are a meal prepared just for him. “Left overs are more your style, right?”

1000liveslived

Emma had admittedly taken quite some time to figure out just what it was Kyle did to her while they were together. It had been subtle enough and a long enough period of time that it gained speed, that she hadn't been able to detect it... or at least, she hadn't until she realized just what it was Kyle was donig to their daughter. She was able to see it easily enough in an interaction with another... and quite frankly the knowledge had rattled her. It was a realization that Kyle had never been a truly decent man... he expected things a certain way, expected things to conform to himself and his ideals despite how much they changed on a nearly constant basis... and he would do and say whatever he needed to, in order to make them bend to him. 

His daughter included 

"Fuck you!" growling the words, Kyle's hands connected with Caspian's chset as he shoved hiim roughly, his face the picture of rage and fury. "Its because of that fucking bitch in there that Aubrey's the way she is, don't you fucking get it? You can't fucking coddle her and expect her to be normal y-" 

Seeing this all from the window Emma had just began to watch from, she swore the instant she saw it escelate. "Aubrey, sweetheart, stay right there," Her voice was urgent, quickly moving for the door to try to stop this. The last thing Aubrey needed... was to hear the two men fighting. Thankfully the child with her condition wasn't able to hear the words... but Emma sure as hell could.

bengalisms

The shove was expected but not prepared for. Caspian has seen it coming through those snarled words and felt it in his soul long before it happened. His body gender before he shove, making it more successful in pushing him back than it might have otherwise. But that was simply Caspian: always expecting violence. Even now after all these years, that feeling wouldn’t die down. 

Caspian’s own lips curled back into a snarl. But it was that of an animal which has fear. Never back a scared tiger into a corner. And that was exactly what Kyle had done. 

“Get your hands off me.” There was no keeping that growl from Caspian’s words, even if he didn’t lift his hands to push the other back. He was not someone who contributed to violence unless need be. Kyle was not used to being told no. Luckily Caspian had gotten good at that lately. “And if you ever call my fiancé a bitch again, or speak ill of my daughter again, I’ll string you to a lamp post like prized elephant tusks.” 

Caspian took a single step forward, hand pulling away from the doorknob as he straightened himself. His lips were snarled, his neck tight and showing tendons that had yet to be seen by the other man. His chest was swollen, his breathing heavy. The scars along his body might as well have melted into stripes, and Kyle’s blonde hair might as well have turned to the white spots on the behind of a deer. Prey and predator. Nothing less than that as Caspian lifted a hand and pointed at Kyle with more intention than even Emma would have seen in him. 

“I don’t threaten lightly. The last man I threatened is buried back in India with teeth marks on his skull.” He bit those words out with a whispered heat. His gaze never letting go of Kyle’s. “Do I make myself clear?”

and there you have it!!! let me know what u think! I’d love some feed back and comments ♥️♥️♥️

[julystorms]

lol how do rp? i made an rp blog for an unrelated fandom from you but i've been way too scared to post on it or get involved

Hope this advice helps you! I’ll start with some things you should have in place before starting to RP, which might boost your confidence in actually getting started!

1. Don’t use a sideblog. It’s a pain in the ass for everyone, including you. Always make your rp blog its own separate blog. (It’s not hard to go and make yet another gmail account.)

2. Pick a username that doesn’t suck, by which i mean: make sure it’s easy to spell and not hard to remember. It’s easiest if it relates in some way to the character, and originality doesn’t matter too much. For example, my Hitch blog is @hitchisms. Avoid dashes in your username too, as tag tracking doesn’t work well with them. Here’s some other RP urls I’ve had for characters:

Hange: exhaustedresearcherMike: secondstrongestAnabel (Pokemon): @remembrancelessGelgar: notdrinkingonthejob (now just @gelgar lmfao)Dita Ness: poeticsoldier (one of my headcanons was that he loved poetry since originally Charlotte’s name was translated into Shallott and I thought how cute it would be if he liked “The Lady of Shallott”!Akane (Psycho Pass): @clearlyunclouded Lin Beifong: bitterloner

Basically, you don’t want anyone to be confused about whether or not you’re RPing a canon character or not, and you also want to make it easy for people to remember you even if you’re an original character. In the Pokemon fandom it got to be hard to keep track of all of the original RPers due to all of the sun/moon urls.

3. In your description be CLEAR about who you’re rping!

You should also put the tag you’re tracking in there if your url is a canon url. You can see I didn’t do that for my Gelgar blog, but sometimes it’s useful to have there. I usually list the tag I track in my rules, though.

And speaking of that, because my next point is related to this: FOR GOODNESS’ SAKE PLEASE USE A THEME THAT ISN’T HARD TO READ.

The point of RPing is to write, and the point of writing is to be read. If people can’t read your writing, what’s the point of any of this? How is RPing fun if your blog is a minefield to navigate? I grew to hate those fancy themes with random stars and shit as links because I just can’t see well enough to find them anymore–but most of the time, I know it’s not my vision that’s impaired lmao.

Aesthetic should NEVER overcast actual functional purpose. You’re there to write characters you love. You want people to be able to read your description and rule pages.

4. Make some PAGES.

This seems daunting, but it’s not that bad. Really, all you absolutely need is some kind of “about” page. Sometimes I throw other pages in there, too, though, to give people more information. And sometimes I’m just an asshole.

My muse page (which is an “about” about the character, since she would be considered my inspiration for writing and therefore a muse) is literally just this:

I suggest looking at other people’s profiles in your fandom to see if there is any kind of pattern. I personally do the same kind of profile for most of my muses:

I try to keep things short and sweet in the sense that there is a lot of information on the profile page, but it’s not, you know, anything I describe with a lot of text. At the bottom of this (you can read the full page at my Anabel blog link up there), I include a “brief history” or rough outline of a history.

You also kind of need a rules page. If you don’t have one, people may not want to follow you, but you have options: you can keep it simple or you can be elaborate!

Shorter is probably better, but I implore you to be honest with yourself and include things there that may be a problem. As you can see above, I had to include warnings for content that my Hitch blog could run into. It’s better to be safe than to accidentally hurt someone. My Gelgar blog always had a very short set of rules because I started RPing him for fun and didn’t feel that I needed to be selective about who I RP’d with.

I usually break up my rules pages into various categories just to break up the text. A lot of general rules apply across most RP communities but it doesn’t hurt to be clear about it.

Now, the rest is really up to you. As you can see from my above “pages” images, I like having a few different kinds of pages.

Verses aren’t always things I include; it really depends on the character. For Akane, I wanted the option to be able to RP at any point in her career that I wanted to, so I made two verses: one where she’s still a newbie, and one that takes place after the newbieness of season one came to a close. As you can see from the text below, I was considering adding a possible enforcer verse: probably an idea I cooked up with @daantooine.

Relationships pages aren’t strictly necessary. Anabel doesn’t have one because she has so few canonical interactions that I mostly included her information in her profile page. Someone from SnK, however, probably will have many (even if casual) connections in the military and it’s useful for other RPers to kind of see how your character may currently view theirs.

As it says at the top of this page, though, relationships may change; my Gelgar had a very different relationship with two very different interpretations of Lynne! His relationship with Auruo and Hange were both based 100% on RP interactions I had with other RPers; we established a rapport and I drew from that.

Lastly, I think a page I enjoy having that others may not? Threads.

This makes it easy for you to re-read your RPs if you want to. I’ll admit, it can be a pain to remember to add things to the list, but it is worth it if you get really attached to character interaction (as I did with this particular Lynne). Thanks @hairjel! Rest in pieces @momtaku.

5. Make sure everything is updated how you like it: your muse page, about pages, headcanons, rules. If you use icons, have them ready to go. (No bigger than 100x100 for heaven’s sake.) Decide on a posting format.

Tiny text? Bolded dialogue? Fancy lettering? It doesn’t have to be fancy. My Gelgar threads never were formatted much.

Here are my Hitch threads and one from my Anabel blog, too.

In recent years I started using small text & bolding the dialogue. It sounds silly, but it makes it easy for another RPer to respond to the dialogue portion. It’s not always the most important part, but during a conversation it’s awkward if something doesn’t get responded to. Some RPers in the Pokémon fandom quite liked it and also adopted it!

6. Cutting posts. This is important because threads get long and ugly as they get reblogged. There’s an x-kit extension called Editable Reblogs that lets you cut out previous replies to the RP, leaving you with the above format so that when you type in a tag for the thread/chrono, it shows them all in chronological order and you can read straight through with no repeated bits!

7. Tagging. Always tag your posts with the other RPers url. everything else is up to you, but from my tags pages (on Hitch in particular) you can get an idea of the kinds of tags I use. Just remember that consistency is key.

From this point forward it’s all about networking and throwing yourself into the mix. Find other RPers, creep on their blogs, find out people you might like to RP with, and when you feel your blog is ready, follow them. Typically when someone followed me, I’d go check out their blog. Some people require you to send in passwords to prove you’ve read the rules, so be aware of that. That seems to be a very fandom-dependent thing, though, so it’s not prevalent in all fandoms.

Once you’ve followed all your blogs, or at least a few, make a “promo.” Here’s a link to a bunch I reblogged on my Anabel! In the Pokémon fandom, promos tend to be short, and many of them just use one icon. Having a promo allows people to kind of “network” your blog–pass it around to encourage other people to follow you/interact with you.

After this, most people do a “starter call” which is essentially just a post like this:

Most people put an icon in there, but since I don’t typically use icons, I didn’t use one here.

Making a starter call does put the pressure on you to start a thread and fling your writing out there, but it’s less daunting if you have other examples of your writing floating around: for example, the about/muse page we talked about earlier.

If you want advice on how to start threads and how to write good starters for your partners, or any other RP advice/questions that aren’t clicking for you, just hit me up and I’ll try to help!

[sweetpandarps-blog]

Title: We Danced Characters: Malia Tate + Theo Raeken (mentions of others) Brief Synopsis: Malia feels some sort of way after seeing her ex-pack members at the Stilinski/McCall wedding. Writer’s Notes: Took about forever, but it’s finally done. Still not completely happy with it.

Theo watched as Melissa McCall and Sheriff Stiliniski danced in the middle of the reception area. He admired how happy they were as they were wrapped up in each other. Everything about the newly wedded couple exuded happiness. Their shared gazes, laughter, and smiles - it struck a bit of jealousy into the young doctor’s heart. He knew that there wasn’t a chance that he would get to experience that kind of joy, nor did he deserve to. Oddly enough, he was okay with it. 

He was brought out of his thoughts by an overwhelming sense of sadness. Theo looked up to see Malia’s eyes begin to glisten with tears. His eyes darkened and nose flared wondering what had pushed the sadness to such a peak. They then followed her stare onto the dance floor where Stiles, Lydia, Scott, and Kira had joined the older couple. Each male paired off with their girlfriends and at that moment, it was as if they were witnessing a triple wedding. All three seemed so sickeningly in love that it actually made him nauseous.

 “I’ll be right back,” Malia said as she got off his lap. Within seconds, she had filtered her way through the crowd and into the woods. Theo pushed himself out of his chair, but not without a strong grip enveloping his elbow. A low growl spilled from the chimera as his attention snapped back to see who in their right mind would stop him. His gaze was met with Derek’s, who had a smirk of amusement rested smugly on his features. “Easy Sparky, just gotta give her a head start,” the older male instructed. Braeden, who was occupied the werewolf’s lap, simply nodded in agreement. A few seconds droned by and Theo was free. “Have fun,” Derek called towards Theo’s retreating figure. The were-coyote had walked in the general direction his date took off in, concerned for her wellbeing although he knew that Malia was more than equipped to care for herself. He continued the trek, a few paces behind the brunette. His eyes looked down at the dress shoes he wore and chuckled - they were not all that accommodating for the impromptu hike his date brought on him. Deciding he didn’t care too much about them, he jogged up to the brunette. “Malia,” he said, his hand slipped into hers. “Theo, just leave me alone. Please,” she pleaded as continued her brisk walk further into the woods. “You know, I would but you made me promise not to leave your side, so…” Theo shrugged as he managed to match her speed. “Lia, where are you going? The hotel is the other way,” he informed as he took a quick scan of the area; they hadn’t really walk too far off from the party. “You know if you wanted to go hiking, you could have just said so? Probably would have been better if it were in the daytime, y’know? Before… or after the wedding. Preferably in different clothes,” he rambled. 

Malia stopped dead in her tracks, yanked her hand from Theo’s, and snapped, “Just leave me alone! I want to be by myself.” Theo’s brows quirked as a smirk spilled onto his features. Her eyes narrowed at him and a small rumblings of a growl could be heard. The usual growl of annoyance which was caused by the smirk she claimed to ‘hate.’ Granted, Theo reasoned with himself, that he did smirk at times when he shouldn’t. It fell into an easy grin. “Is that what you really want, Lia? To be alone? Because if so, I’ll turn around and let you do whatever and go wherever you want. But you can’t say that I went back on the promise or tell me that I have to pay you back because I didn’t do what you said the way you wanted me to. I’m not about playing games,” he stated with a rise and fall of his shoulders. 

Theo stood patiently, waiting for an answer. His blue eyes took her in. How she crossed her arms, almost as if she were trying to hold herself. He could see the softness of her features that showed a frailness within her. Her eyes were sad and downcast. A sigh was pushed out of him and he walked closer to Malia. When he was within reach of her, his hands went to hers and uncrossed her arms. It was a risky move as he knew that she didn’t completely trust him, but he had to take the situation into his own hands since her stubbornness was unrelenting. Someone had to. Theo wrapped his arm around her lithe figure and held her close.

“How about this: one dance then I’ll leave you alone,” he said, his voice soothing and low. “That’s what you wanted, right? One dance to make them jealous. So come on,” Theo urged. His hand grazed down her side and attempted to guide her back with a bit of pressure. Malia didn’t budge, she simply put his arms back around her and buried her face into his neck - all without a word. Theo chuckled at how simple, yet complex his roommate was, and how well he knew her. He reached into his pocket for his phone and with a few taps of his thumb, he played a shuffle on his Pandora radio app. Brad Paisley’s “We Danced” started to play.

Theo took off his jacket and tossed it next to a large rock next to them. He then threw his phone, which landed softly on the jacket. Once again, Theo decided to take the lead and swayed them both gently to the music. 

And we danced  Out there on that empty hardwood floor The chairs up and the lights turned way down low The music played, we held each other close  And we danced 

His ears picked up the quiet whimpers of his date. Soon after, he felt his shirt start to stick to his shoulder. Theo held in a sigh. After a few months of living together, he had quickly come to dislike when Malia would cry, especially when it came to her ex-pack members. They had caused her so much heartache as it was, he wondered why she did not just cut the group out of her life. He didn’t spend too much time thinking about it, because he could care less about them and their weird Full House-like tendencies. Of course common sense came into play and he understood how much nostalgia and the art of letting go could be a difficult thing to master. To him, not so much, but he was never one to get too attached. At least not until recently. As Malia hugged him closer, Theo released his sigh and began to rub her back. 

And from that moment There was never any doubt I had found the one That I had always dreamed about And then one evenin’ When she stopped by after work I pulled a diamond ring out of the pocket of my shirt And as her eyes filled up with tears She said, “This is the last thing I expected” And then she took me by the hand And said, “I’ll only marry you on one condition” 

They swayed in unison with Theo humming softly along to the song. He could feel the tension in his date’s body and her sadness slowly melt away. Malia sniffled and wiped her face on Theo’s shirt. A chuckle interrupted his hums. The chimera couldn’t help but think that his roommate still lacked a certain elegance by her actions, which he found to be both rude and amusing. She smiled and he continued to croon. He felt her sigh and relax even more into him. There were quiet taps from the hardwood floor of the wedding reception. Theo deduced that the newlyweds’ song had wrapped up and everyone had dispersed. 

And we danced Out there on that empty hardwood floor The chairs up and the lights turned way down low The music played, we held each other close And we danced 

Not long after, he heard the familiar bickering of Scott, Stiles, and Lydia. He gathered that Kira had to be close by, as always. He picked up Liam and Mason goofing off a little behind their Alpha. Theo attempted to sing a notch louder and as soon as he did, the bickering stopped and was replaced by shushing sounds. His eyes rolled at the thought of the perfect pack nearing them. He could already sense the annoying, intrusive questions being thrown about in each of their minds - all except for Mason and Liam who knew more than the others. 

Like no one else had ever danced before I can’t explain what happened on that floor But the music played We held each other close  And we danced Yeah, we danced 

As the song rounded out to an end, Theo gave Malia a tiny nudge. The brunette lifted her head and looked up at her date. For a short instance, a breath caught in Theo’s throat at the softness and vulnerability that splayed across the woman’s features knocked the air out of his lungs. It like a swift punch to the gut, one that he had literally experienced many times from the woman in his arms. The temporary and rareness of it brought upon a sensation that the young doctor to be had never experienced before. He pushed aside those foreign feelings and framed her face with his hands. Gently, the pads of his thumbs wiped away the tracks that her tears had left behind. His eyes bore into hers, searching for… something. All he could find was what he tried to avoid, not because she didn’t deserve it, but he didn’t. He wasn’t the one that can give it to her. Theo pleaded to himself to stay strong and remember that this weekend, he was there for her. “A promise is a promise,” he whispered before leaning in and pressing a soft, lingering kiss on his date’s lips. 

@shaymitch-rps

[shadowsong26fic]

Random crossover snippet

So, I swear I am actually working on, like, Actual Projects (i.e., the next Precipice chapter should be out this weekend; plus I’m poking at some other stuff that’ll be up later, etc.)

But, in the meantime, it’s been a while since I shared anything from the Epic Crossover RP of DOOM, so here we go!

For those of you who don’t know, this started life three and a half years ago as a Star Wars/MCU crossover, generally based in the same AU as Precipice. It has since expanded to include eleven total fandoms because we are Dorks.

Obviously, while several key plot points are the same, there are some things that have played out differently in the RP than will in the fic, both because of the actions of people from one or more of the other canons and because we Felt Like It.

Anyway, some context is actually necessary for the bit I’m sharing here - this is a bit less than a year after Endor, and the postwar government is about to make Official Contact with Earth and reveal that Star Wars is, well, an Actual Place even if not 100% as portrayed in the movies. Anakin has slipped over early, because he wants a chance to see what this place is like before the hell timeline, as he refers to it, becomes something he can’t avoid.

Naturally, shenanigans ensue, and he has here run into the main characters of Person of Interest [link to wikipedia] as they’re dealing with a number of the week, which is where we join him now.

    The safehouse looked like a safehouse; generic furniture, shelf-stable food, motel art on the walls. John put his gun on the table and went to a particularly hideous abstract painting, lifted it off the wall, and opened the safe behind. Good, more ammunition. There were probably more guns around somewhere, too. Not that the other man needed any.

    The number--Cris Boyd, twenty-eight years old, con artist; taking the situation much more seriously now that bullets had actually started flying--was curled up in one of the chairs, staring blankly at a slightly-less-hideous painting on the opposite wall. The stranger had stayed near the door, leaning against the wall with his eyes half-closed.

    "What--" she stopped, cleared her throat. "What happens now? Who are you people?"

    "Concerned third party," John said. He did enjoy that explanation.

    The stranger smiled faintly. "Guess I'm a fourth party, then," he said. "You two okay? I didn't see either of you get hit."

    "I'm--I'm fine. I think," Ms. Boyd said, then looked up at John.

    "Fine," he said, and meant it for once. "You were timely."

    "Right place, right time," he said. "Guess I'm just lucky that way."

    "I don't know that I would call it luck," John said, and reached into the safe once more, looking for another phone. His had been smashed, and of course Shaw had gone somewhere else, so Finch must be having fits.

    "Yeah, there's probably another word for it," the stranger said, opening his eyes and pushing himself away from the wall at last. "But I'm glad I could help. Any idea who the shooters were?"

    "I think Ms. Boyd could tell us that," John said, giving her a steady look.

    "Um," she said. "I don't..." She fidgeted in her chair a little bit. "I talked my way into an office building, a couple days ago. I needed something for a client. But there was a secure floor that wasn't on the building specs, and..."

    "And you couldn't resist taking a look?" Aha, a phone. He pulled it out and pressed start; battery dead, of course.

    "I didn't touch or take anything," Ms. Boyd said. "Not that there was much of anything to take. At least not a lot that was portable."

    "Did you see anything in particular? Company name, what they might've been working on?" the stranger asked.

    "Bunch of servers, mostly," Ms. Boyd said. "And I overheard two guys talking about something they called Calliope."

    Oh, great, this again. John prevented himself from rolling his eyes. "And who did you try to sell that information to?"

    "No one."

    "Huh," New Guy said. "Busy guy, No One. Everyone wants to sell him things, and he wants to sell to everybody."

    "He's also everyone's only enemy," John said, in the same casual tone.

    "I mean it," she insisted. "I haven't contacted any buyers."

    "Yet?"

    "...yet," she admitted.

    "Look," John said, "you probably didn't think you were doing any harm, and you might not have been, except to yourself. Who else knew you knew this?"

    Ms. Boyd looked away. "I may have mentioned my side trip to my client. To explain the delay."

    "Who are they?" The phone beeped; charged, finally.

    "I can't tell you that," she said.

    "Because you don't know, or because you have a Policy?" New Guy asked.

    "People won't hire me if they know I'll give them up," Ms. Boyd said. "I can't give you my client's name."

    "They tried to kill you," John said. "There's a point at which the contract is broken."

    "I don't know that for sure," she insisted. "Maybe the Calliope people had better security cameras than I thought."

    "They didn't," John said, with absolute certainty. He synced his earpiece to the phone and frowned a little when he didn't immediately get Finch fussing in his ear.

    "Something wrong?" New Guy asked.

    "Maybe," he said. "Doesn't matter yet."

    "All right," he said, dubiously.

    "So...so where do we go from here?" Ms. Boyd asked. "Assuming whatever doesn't matter yet doesn't start mattering."

    "You tell us your client's name so we can take care of the threat on your life," John said. "And by we, I mean myself and my associates. Presumably the gentleman over there has his own plans."

    "I can help," he said. "I'm here anyway."

    "There you go," John said, gesturing at New Guy. "He'll help too."

    "I can't give you the name," Ms. Boyd said. "Maybe--maybe if we could get our hands on Calliope's security feeds--"

    "Bad idea, unless you're a really good slicer. I don't think we should bring anyone else into this mess," New Guy interrupted.

    "No need for that," John said. "My associates already have them."

    "What? How?" Ms. Boyd asked, half-rising from her chair.

    John merely gave her a flat look, and turned back to New Guy. "There are several other people involved already who we can turn to." Assuming he could get in touch with them.

    He nodded, taking that in stride. "Great," he said. "We could use the backup. Is this one of your rally points?"

    "No, but there are some." If all else failed he'd take them to the library, though Finch wouldn't like that.

    New Guy nodded again. "I don't know the area like you do, so your call when to move," he said. "...does this place have cameras? Be nice to get a better look at what's outside."

    John tried to imagine a place that Finch had designed lacking cameras, and utterly failed. "There are, but I don't know how to access them yet."

    "Let me see what I can find," New Guy said. "I used to work with machines a lot when I was a kid."

    John shrugged. "Be my guest," he said, and then the earpiece kicked back in. "--ese? Mr. Reese!"

    "Got you," he said, with more relief than he was willing to admit.

    "Who?" Ms. Boyd asked, while New Guy started examining the walls; probably looking for hidden panels or something along those lines.

    "Shh," John told her, and listened to Finch fuss at him for a solid thirty seconds before he broke in. "As touching as this is, I have our number and an unrelated person here."

    "Hah!" New Guy said. "Found it." He produced a multitool from--somewhere, and began opening a panel behind another one of the awful paintings. "Also, hello to your associates."

    "Unrelated person says hello," John said, and then, "He's looking for the cameras." A pause. "Finch says connect the red leads."

    "Thanks," he said, then, after a little more fiddling, got them up and running. "...okay, there's someone hanging out on the corner down there. Not sure if they're with the shooters from earlier or unrelated, but they're definitely armed, whoever they are."

    "Finch?" John asked. "No idea on our end either."

    "Great," New Guy said. "He's covering the main exit. I don't see anyone around the back, but if he's not alone, he may be herding us there. I can see a couple places in that alley where I might set an ambush. If I wanted to. Thoughts?"

    "You won't need to," John said, leaning forward to watch. This was going to be fun.

    Sure enough, a suppressed muzzle flash off in one corner said the problem was under control.

    "Okay, heading out the back, then," New Guy said. He switched to the front cameras; the guy out there was on his phone. "...probably sooner rather than later."

    "Wait for it," John said, and had the pleasure, a moment later, of watching Fusco football-tackle the guy in front and send his phone skittering across the concrete.

    "I stand corrected," New Guy said, and grinned at him. "Your team's good."

    "They're all right," John said, and went out to help Fusco zip-tie the one in front. Shaw showed up a moment later, not a hair out of place, eyeing their number and New Guy in a vaguely predatory way.

    "I still have no idea what the hell is going on," Ms. Boyd said.

    "People were shooting at you, and other people tried to help," New Guy said. "That's about where I am. Hi."

    "Hello," Shaw said. "You are?"

    "I'm--uh," he said. "Owen. I’m Owen. Concerned...fourth party, I think we decided? There was shooting, I couldn't not get involved."

    "Owen," Shaw said. "Sure. I'm Shaw."

    "Nice to meet you," he said. "Glad you and your partner out front found us."

    Shaw snorted. "He's not my partner."

    "What am I, then?" John called to her.

    "Lesser wannabe," she shot back.

    "So," Ms. Boyd cut in, "so the people hanging around outside were the same group? Or just coincidence?"

    Owen shrugged. "I'm guessing different--guys out back didn't respond the right way to Shaw. Not as well-trained. But they could just be a lesser backup team."

    "They're idiots," Shaw said, "but you're probably right. Seriously, how many people did you sell this to?"

    "I didn't sell it to anyone!" Ms. Boyd protested.

    "Earlier, she told us she hadn't had a chance yet," Owen clarified. "But I don't suppose you've done some unrelated work for a local syndicate or anything?"

    "N--" Ms. Boyd stopped, and corrected herself. "Not...recently, anyway."

    "How recent is recent?"

    "Six months ago," she said. "But I did the job, handed over the property, and got paid, so that should all be settled."

    "I love how you hit should," Shaw said. "Who was it for?"

    "I can't tell you that," she said.

    "It's like you want us to leave you to die," Shaw said.

    "My clients hire me because I'm good at what I do, and I'm discreet," Ms. Boyd said. "I don't give out their names."

    Shaw put a hand up to her ear, and then said, "Oh, okay. Well, it's not them."

    "We know who it is?" Owen asked.

    "One of them, anyway," Shaw said. "Called in a favor. Elias says hi."

    "Uh," Ms. Boyd said. "Right."

    Owen just shook his head and went back to the cameras. "Are we planning on staying here, or moving?"

    "I'm staying here until someone tells me where to go next," Shaw said, and gave Ms. Boyd a pointed look.

    "What are you looking at me for?" she said. "I told you, I can't name my clients."

    "Nice knowing you then," Shaw said.

    "You already know it was the Calliope people shooting at me," she said.

    "It's not that simple," Owen said. "Big scary projects like that have a lot of moving parts. Besides, if your syndicate friends are also after you..."

    "Can't help you unless we know where to go," Shaw said. "Got at least five clients killed."

    "Well, I don't know where to go, either," she said. "I didn't sell the information about Calliope to anyone. I don't know who's shooting at me."

    "Somehow I doubt that," Shaw said, dryly. "Somebody wants you dead."

    "Maybe someone other than Calliope," John said, reentering the conversation.

    "That's...the only thing that's been unusual in the past year," Ms. Boyd said.

    "Any chance someone from longer ago than that might've tracked you down?" Owen asked, eyes still on the camera feeds. "Former client, ex-lover..."

    "No, I don't think so," she said. "Not any exes, for sure."

    Shaw snorted, and turned to John. "So I vote we take this guy-" she hitched a thumb at Owen, "and leave."

    "Take me where?" he asked, looking up. "I mean. If there's more shooting, I'm happy to help, but I'm...sort of new in town."

    "I dunno," Shaw said. "Bar?"

    "Shaw," John said.

    "What? You heard her, she can handle herself."

    "That's not what--" Ms. Boyd said, then stopped, and took a breath. "Look. I get that you're trying to help, and that the people shooting at me actually--but my clients are private for a reason. And half the time, we use code names anyway."

    "Look," Shaw said. "You want help, you gotta help us. You're not doing that, I assume you don't want help. I got better things to do."

    "It's not that I don't want help," she said. "It's that I have a life I need to get back to when this is over, okay? Wasn't easy building up my client list. I don't wanna ruin it."

    "People don't tend to notice us," John said, feeling that it was probably time for the bad cop bit to end. Not that it was a bit for Shaw.

    "And like I said, I'm not from around here," Owen said. "Not like I'd recognize any of the names, or could do anything with them even if I did."

    "Bet Finch knows 'em all anyway," Shaw muttered.

    "...the guy who sent me into the building, where I ran across Calliope," Ms. Boyd finally said, after another moment's thought. "I don't know if this is his real name--it's all anonymous bank transfers, you...seem like the kind of people who know how it works."

    Owen arched an eyebrow. "Something tells me that the account number is a good place to start?"

    "Yep," John said. Shaw held up her phone, ready to text. "What's the name?"

    "The name he gave me was George Read," Ms. Boyd said. "Like I said, I'm not sure it's real. Account number...uh. I have it in my phone. ...which is broken."

    "Anywhere else?" John asked. "Is the SIM card intact?"

    "I have a safe in my apartment," she said. "If we want to try and get there. As for the SIM card...I don't know." She pulled the phone out of her pocket--the screen was cracked, probably beyond repair. "I think I landed on it while we were running."

    "Just a minute," Finch said sharply in John's ear. "George Read? Can she spell that?"

    "Can you spell George Read?" John repeated, obediently.

    "George is like how George is always spelled," Ms. Boyd said. "Read has an 'a' in it. R E A D."

    "...I feel like that means something," Owen said.

    Finch swore in his ear. "Delaware signer of the Declaration of Independence."

    "Well, fuck," John said.

    "Ooh," Shaw said. "I'm getting the shotgun. Those Vigilance guys are wiggly."

    "Vigilance?" Ms. Boyd said. "Great. Just great. I just outed a privacy terrorist."

    "If it's not his real name, you haven't outed anyone," Owen said, half-reaching for something at his waist, as if on instinct, then frowning faintly and resting his hands on the table instead.

    "Is he in this picture?" John asked, noting Owen's movement and filing it away for the moment. He held his own phone out to Ms. Boyd.

    She scanned the photo. "Him," she said. "I may not get real names, but I've got a good memory for faces. That's Read."

    "His name really is George," Finch said in John's ear, "but not, obviously, Read."

    "We know who he is already," John told Ms. Boyd, ignoring Finch.

    "We're shooting at him already," Shaw said, brightly.

    "So," Ms. Boyd said, "the guy who just happened to be on hand when either Vigilance or whoever started shooting at me...is already fighting Vigilance? That's a hell of a coincidence."

    "Not really," John said.

    "Groups like Vigilance," Owen said, "will find a reason to fight just about anyone who isn't one of them. Sooner or later. I don't know much about this group in particular, but I've dealt with people like them. And I can't see Mr. Reese or Ms. Shaw falling in line with people like that. So, if they've met, they've fought."

    "Yeah," Shaw said. "Plus, no offense, we don't care about you."

    "Shaw," John said again. "We will keep her alive."

    Shaw rolled her eyes. "Obviously but we weren't stalking you or anything. I heard your name for the first time today. We didn't care about you before today and after we save your life we will stop caring about you entirely."

    Ms. Boyd stared at her. "That's...is that supposed to be comforting?"

    John sighed. "Just... don't pay attention to her. What she's trying to say is that it isn't a coincidence because we are fighting Vigilance, and you just got caught in the middle."

    "Right," she said. "Okay."

    "It does seem odd," Owen said. "That Vigilance would hire you to break into a building holding something like Calliope, but not into those specific offices. ...I'm not asking you to tell us what you were hired to steal, but is it possible that Read and his people were using you as a way to test Calliope's security systems, so they could make a move of their own?"

    "Sounds like them," Shaw said. "Slippery bastards. I should get the grenade launcher instead."

    "No grenades when the number is in the room," Finch said. "Miss Shaw, please take Ms. Boyd to Ms. Morgan, and then return to the library. Mr. Reese, please bring your... new acquaintance there as well."

    "Really?" John said, feeling his eyebrows rise. "You sure?"

    "Quite."

    "Are we moving, then?" Owen asked. "...if it's somewhere you don't want me to find again, you can blindfold me, if it would make you more comfortable."

    "We're moving," Shaw said, pointing at Ms. Boyd. "You're not. Stay put."

    "I gave you the name," Ms. Boyd protested.

    "You're going somewhere safe," Shaw told her. "I'm the escort. Get your stuff."

    "Right," Ms. Boyd said, looking somewhat less than thrilled as she grabbed her purse. "...do you guys still want my phone, or since you know who Read is, are we good?"

    "We're good," John said.

    "We don't care about you anymore," Shaw said.

    "Right," Ms. Boyd said. "You mentioned." She shoved her phone back in her purse. "I'm ready when you are, I guess."

    "Enjoy Zoe," John told her. "If she offers, say yes, it's fun."

    Shaw rolled her eyes again. "Come on, Fusco's coming."

    "...wait, did he mean--" Ms. Boyd started, then stopped. "Right. Okay. After you."

    "She seems nice," John said, to no one in particular, and then, after they'd departed, turned to Owen. "We are going somewhere, though."

    "I figured," he said, and smiled briefly. "Glad you're interested in letting me keep helping."

    "Mm," John said, reasonably sure that' wasn't at all what Finch wanted from the man, but not particularly willing to disabuse him. "The blindfold will look odd."

    "True," Owen said. "...you could put it on me once we get to the car?"

    "We're not taking a car," John said. Finch had provided him with a motorcycle for this number, for reasons that escaped John, but he was not about to complain.

    "Right," Owen said. He hesitated for a moment, as if considering something, then shook his head. "Sorry, I'm out of other viable options. Even if a full-face helmet wouldn't probably also stick out, I really hate them, they make me claustrophobic."

    "You will have to wear a full-head helmet," John said, "for safety reasons, but it is at least clear glass."

    "So, a bike, then," he said. "Okay. Yeah, clear glass, I can do."

    John raised his eyebrows at him. "Good, because we don't want to be pulled over."

    Owen winced. "Yeah, let's...let's not do that. And, uh, sorry that blindfolding probably won't work, but if it helps, I'm probably not going to be in the city very long?"

    John had had some inkling of that. "Why won't it work?"

    "Because you said it would look odd?" Owen said.

    "Briefly."

    "All right, then," Owen said. "Blindfold it is. Ready when you are."