#humble--bard

[mrsthunderkin]

This was so much harder than I expected it to be.

Those head turn exercises are no joke!

But it really DID help with smoothing out some style issues I've been having.

Maybe I'll do this with other characters 9v9;

[antaripirate]

[eternal-goddess-of-war]

[grelleswife]

50 with Bard and Lau Breaking the Rules >:) i loved their dynamic sm platonic or not!

(From this prompt list)

3 rules of London’s underworld and how Lau broke them.

1. Trust no one—

But letting master cook into his bed is a matter of indulgence, not trust; base instinct prompts his body’s response to those often clumsy yet always tender caresses, and any sincerity to the whispered conversations that ensue once they’ve had their fill of each other is a meaningless lapse in Lau’s judgement.

2. Don’t drop your guard—

He groggily rests against Bard’s shoulder the morning after as they sit side-by-side to enjoy a quiet breakfast, tea for Lau, black coffee for master cook, because the chef visits his quarters frequently enough to warrant Lau keeping some at the ready.

3. Never, if you value your life, form attachments—

They share a cigarette before Bardroy leaves; under the pungent tang of ash, Lau detects the flavor of whim ripening into habit, and habit crystallizing into routine.

The smoke fill his lungs regardless, and, when the chef offers him an infectious grin, what can Lau do but smile back?

Holding Bard’s hand, he commits the gravest trespass of all—he dreams of routine culminating in a future, a lifetime of mornings perfumed by coffee and cigarettes.

[4giorno]

why did i have to get this dialogue on my honour mode run..... i cant make a save 😭😭 also i dont understand why i havent gotten this in any of my other runs

[astarab1aze]

What is something about my portrayal[s] that sticks out? // deetails! details! in a GREAT WAY, SO BITE ME. your blog colours are so vibrant and so is your writing, each character has a distinct way of speaking, acting, thinking and living life overall, and it allows for a sense of knowing the characters without too much info dropping within the narrative and i love it so much

crying, screaming, throwing up-- thank you, this is heartening! i'm glad there are so many things that stick out and are enjoyable for you, especially since we've been writing & plotting together so long! something i do's gotta be worth all the trouble... sksksksk no, but really- this was nice to hear. i guess every now and again, i get a little in my head about things and forget that details and characterization are my strengths, not my weaknesses. those are my meat and potatoes, my bread and butter - i should be at least decent in both respects. now, if i could just actually finish a story that isn't a one-shot--

[mimble-sparklepudding]

Humble in the Jungle.

Humble appreciated the opportunity to practice his hunting skills in the dense forests of Rak'tika.

Although somewhat warmer and more humid than the mountains of his youth, it made him nostalgic for a simpler time, when his enemies wore scales or fur, rather than fine clothes and deceptive smiles.

The Night's Blessed were also grateful for the large wild swine that Humble slung over his shoulder and brought back to Slitherbough, as their meat stores were getting low and the hide could be used to make sandals for the children.

[detectivejigsawpines]

Not What He Seemeth

Ah, summer break, when days are long and kind, When leisurely relaxing be thy way. Unless, alas, thy family name be Pines, And Gravity Falls the place to spend thy day. So learned the Myst’ry Twins: Dipper the bold, E’er with vivacious Mabel by his side, As strange and fright’ning mysteries they unfold, While in the Myst’ry Shacke they do abide. But now a greater puzzle they must field: Their Grunkle Stan, be friend or villain he? A strange machine from them he hath concealed, Which might of world-destructive power be. And in a plot which one might see in dreams, They learn their grunkle is not what he seems.

(Apologies if this is not quite in the proper vein of Shakespeare, or doesn't fit exactly with his writing style. Iambic pentameter and poetry are hard, okay? Give me a break.)

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

STAN PINES, a conman

DIPPER PINES, his nephew

MABEL PINES, his niece

SOOS RAMIREZ, his handyman

AGENT POWERS, an FBI agent

LAZY SUSAN, a restaurant proprietress

GOMPERS, a goat

COMPUTER, a computer

MYSTERIOUS FIGURE

VARIOUS TOWNSFOLK, FBI AGENTS, SUPERNATURAL CREATURES

****

ACT V

The basement of Ye Olde Mystery Shacke, near a strange machine.

DIPPER, MABEL and SOOS are in the process of shutting down the machine.

DIPPER: Alas, what fools our family hath been!

That all the summer long-nay, in the case

Of our most noble comrade Soos, ten years-

We did not see the serpent in our midst!

‘Tis no excuse we knew our Grunkle Stan,

If Stan he truly be, to be a rogue.

All summer long, we’ve lived beneath his roof,

Eaten with him, and talked with him, and e’en

Labored for him, but never did we see

That everything he told us was a lie!

Not only did he know that Grav’ty Falls

Hath been, and is, and will be, should we stop

This strange device in time, a haven for

All manner of strange creatures, great and small,

But now we learn-oh horrors!-that uncle

We have none!  That the man we thought we knew

Is but a counterfeit, with IDs false!

That in his basement secret, he doth hold

The journals-aye, the journals I hath oft

Sought answers for, sought answers of, and aye,

Hath sought!  That in his basement secret, he

Doth hold this rude mechanical device

Which o’er us looms and glows with dreadful light!

That in these journals secret, therein lies

A message-nay, a warning, to the eyes

Of those who look with aid of blackened light-

That this machine, if operational

Is fully rendered, could with all its pow’r

Reach out and tear our universe apart!

They look at the clock, which reads one minute and thirty seconds remaining.

SOOS: Beware!  Tis the final countdown, as in songs past they have so discussed!

DIPPER: The agents of the FBI were right!

We have but paltry seconds left to us

Until the clock the number zero reach!

Quickly, dear sister and dear friend, to work!

They turn keys; a device appears, revealing a large red button.

DIPPER: Anon, the shutdown switch!  This all ends now-!

Before he can press the button, enter STAN.

STAN: Touch not that button!

Long moment, in which they regard each other.

STAN [aside]: Oh, what to do?  I have not travailed against capture, against locks and chains and doors, against agents of the FBI, against the laws of gravity and time itself, only now, when my goal is in my grasp, to have it stymied-and no less by those I hold most dear!  What shall I say to turn accusing glares to familial-aye, familial, e’re may I deny such connection with my loyal handyman-love?  How might I repair bonds of trust, once broken?  Alas, were I to know that, mayhaps I would ne’er have been in this position.

[To DIPPER] Good nephew, away!

DIPPER keeps his hand raised over shutdown button.

STAN: Prithee, kill not the countdown!  In this I beseech thy trust!

DIPPER: Thy trust?  Thou darest speak to me of trust?

Forsooth, thy audacity knows no bounds!

And were thou not the thief who in the night

Did several times abscond with toxic waste?

Art not thine lips the ones which time and time

Again hath spoken falsehoods to our ears?

Not once, not twice, but all the summer’s day

For all the days of summer that have passed?

Away, thou fiend, thou agèd, crafty rogue!

Thy self to me is naught but counterfeit!

STAN [aside]: My worst fears confirmed!  I curse my cowardice, that I did not confess my sins when I had the chance!

[To DIPPER] Harken, lad!  I see that to unknowing eyes, to unknowing ears, to unknowing hearts, my works might seem but mad, but there is method to’t-a method which requireth life to remain in yon machine!  If thou wilt listen, I can yet explain-

The device on his wrist begins to make noise; the ground begins to shake.

STAN: Alas!  Alas!  Prepare, good children!  Brace yourselves!

Everyone begins to rise into the air.  Across Gravity Falls, others also rise.

AGENT POWERS: What sorcery is this?!  For we do rise!

Our pursuit of the villain Stanford Pines

Arrested by an unexpected flight

Like great Apollo’s chariot towards the sun!

LAZY SUSAN: Egad!  I fly!

BUD GLEEFUL: My merchandise!  I may have lost my son,

But I shall not lose thee as well!

GOMPERS: Maaaaaaa!!!!

COMPUTER: Harken, O master: T and minus thirty seconds.

STAN, DIPPER and SOOS are thrown to different ends of the room; only MABEL remains, hooked to the shutdown button by a wire wrapped around her foot.

MABEL: Dipper!

DIPPER: Fly swiftly, Mabel! Thou must shut it down!

MABEL begins making her way to the shutdown button; STAN sees and launches himself towards her.

STAN: Nay!  Good Mabel, sweet Mabel, heed my warning!  Go no further!

Is suddenly tackled to the side by SOOS .

STAN: What is this treachery, knave?!  Orders I did give you previous, and I remember not changing them!

SOOS: Apologies, dear Master Pines-if your name be not Smith or Jones or e’en Pippinpaddleopsicopolis-but as dear as thou have been to me, a higher mission hath appeared: preserve the life and safety of these children, as dear to me as the ruddy drops of my own heart!

STAN: Thou fool, release me!

DIPPER joins SOOS in trying to subdue STAN.

DIPPER: Dear sister mine, depress the button red!

Stop this machine, e’re it destroy us all!

S TAN: Depress it not!  I pray thee, touch it not!  Trust in me!

MABEL [aside]: Was ever girl in this way beseeched?

Was ever girl in this way so trapped?

Between my brother and my grunkle’s words

I know not whose is the trustworthy tongue!

[To STAN] My Grunkle Stan-oh fie, for I know not

If even thou my grunkle truly be!

I weep, for though my heart beseecheth me

To see thee as no villain, as no fiend,

But as the cranky, weird, and gross old man

Whom I do love so dearly-yet I find-

STAN: Then hark, and heed!  Recall thou in the morn, when e’er my heart did fail me, I wished to speak with thee and thy brother on matter of great import?

Another shock rises from the portal, throwing DIPPER, STAN and SOOS against the wall.  MABEL raises her fist over the button.

STAN: I wished to say that afore the day is done, many words and accusations wilt thou hear upon my name-and some, alas, are true.  But I give my solemn vow upon my soul, that all that I do, that all that I hold dear, more dear than life, more dear than hearth and home, more dear than even all my gold-all are in the name of Pines!

DIPPER: Beware, dear Mabel!  Honeyed are his words,

But think afore thou act!  ‘Tis possible

The graying rogue doth perchance lie again!

His vile, frightful metal mechanism

Which stands before us yet could all destroy

In the known universe!  Thus it is wise

To listen to the sageness of thine head!

STAN: Behold mine eyes, good niece!  Yea, mine eyes, which stories tell are windows to the soul, revealing all within the owner’s heart!  And ask thyself: for all my faults, for all my schemes, for all my greed-thinkest thou truly me to be a villain?!

DIPPER: He lies, my sister!  Thou must end this NOW!

STAN: Mabel, I beg thee!

COMPUTER: Harken, O master: Ten.  Nine.

Mabel lowers hand over the button-and hesitates.

MABEL [aside]: O perilous dilemma of the heart!

O perilous dilemma of the hand!

My brother, ever learnèd, often prov’th

His greater knowledge when it comes to wits

And books, and games, and mechanisms great

Which, studying, would bore me unto tears.

He dangerous this strange machine hath named.

Shut down, he hath declared its wisest fate.

And time and time again I’ve heeded not

His earnest words, and been kidnapped by gnomes

Or unto hateful Gideon been enslaved

Or even-horror!-risked dear Dipper’s life

By cruel and triangular demon hand.

And yet, on other hand, my Grunkle Stan

Doth humbly beg that I will stay my hand.

The man who on occasion past proclaimed

With mocking scorn his strong distaste for “please”

And who preferred to harshened orders bark.

But now, he begs, and bares his withered heart

With eyes bearing the sadness of the world,

Our photograph resides upon his desk,

And he from danger hath protected us.

From zombie, dinosaur, and Gideon

His guardianship hath cast a shelter oft.

Alas, poor Dipper, but I must proclaim

For all his faults, a villain he is not.

[To STAN] Dear Grunkle Stan?

Raises hands away from shutdown button.

MABEL: I trust you with my life.

DIPPER: This cannot be!  O foolish sister mine,

Art thou gone mad?!  Seest thou not thy folly?!

For when the clock strikes zero, we shalt-

COMPUTER: Harken, O master: One.

Flash of white light fills the room; all scream. DIPPER: NO-!

Light engulfs Gravity Falls, then dies.  Objects all over town fall to ground, as do STAN and family.  The machine glows in center with strange blue light, and suddenly MYSTERIOUS FIGURE steps through it, stops to pick up Journal 1.

DIPPER: Do I but dream?  What is this that I see?

An apparition, clothèd all in black,

With face and form concealed by a mask,

Hath entered in the room!  Is it a ghost?

Speak to us, apparition!  Who art thou?

STAN: Be still, my heart!  For I do know this form, e’en as the face is hidden from our view!  It is no ghost, no demon, nay, not e’en a stranger-but that Author of the journals thou hast sought.

And more than that-

MYSTERIOUS STRANGER removes facial covering, revealing a face identical to STAN.

STAN: -he is my brother.

DIPPER, MABEL and SOOS are shocked.

MABEL: Be this the moment oft portrayed in film

Where one of us, so shocked by strange events,

Doth thus collapse into a mighty swoon

For purposes of comedic effect?

SOOS: Fear not, dear hambone: comedy I know.

On this I will not fail you.  Down I go!

He faints .

Exeunt.

****

I would write a final sonnet for the final flashback scene, but I'm tired. Maybe I'll write it later.

[galeforged]

{ ooc } Academy Phase Forwin Tyrell (a.k.a Wyndell von Gerth), redesign coming in hot and courtesy of @ramyeonguksu / @guksugeulsi-!!! And holy hell I already have so many strong feelings about some of these galaxy-brained touchups?!?!

The capelet, adding a bit more of a ✨dramatic✨ flair to his look!

Puffier pants for a distinctive silhouette, and befitting real world bards of the era!

The Ashen Wolf chain to his neck reshaped like a little cravat!

Coattails! I REPEAT, COATTAILS!!!

While the sash has been retired (making for a better distinction from his child and Duke looks), consider: A BIGGER PURPLE HAIR BOW-

Hair parting a little more to the side for a more unique hairstyle compared to the 3H cast!

ALL IN ALL, it feels like a solid start for Forwin’s evolutions towards his Houses and Hopes War Phase looks! I LOVE MY LITTLE SHOWMAN AND WHAT RAMYEON DID WITH HIS STYLE I CAN JUST SEE HIM LINE UP WITH THE OTHER WOLVES SO SEAMLESSLY LIKE THIS AAAA-

BY ALL MEANS, commission her if you’re keen! I guarantee this will be you at the end product, like I was:

[dumbandstinkyglasses]

Take this un lined jaskier as an apology for my festive posting ;_;

And yeah I was too lazy to look up lute references so what you see is what you get

[lanternlightss]

so um.

hi

(if you can figure out what the nemo nbd means i will give you a cookie XD)

[unfortunate-beetle-and-friends]

Oh, look, a new fragment... Did Win need a new birdwatching buddy? 'Cause Skova is making weird happy noises at the big chompy birb. XD

The harpy eagle is one of my favorite birds ever. Do you know of any other birds that are similar to it, either in appearance or other aspects? (love your blog btw, seeing all these animals every day brings me immense joy)

I can think of a large eagle that reminds me quite a bit of the Harpy… 

Philippine Eagle aka Monkey-eating Eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi), family Accipitridae, order Accipitriformes, endemic to the forests of the Philppines

Critically endangered.

Photographs: Shemlongakit, HCruz985, Rich Lindie

[slowdownurneighbors]

I know im a lesbian but oh how I underestimated the difficulty of writing male romance routes in interactive fiction

[nivou]

I did survive the ball, guys!

The next challenge? Get up and go to work...

[vampire-lord-garfield]

Ok sorry, I couldn't help myself. The mental image was just too funny to pass.

Sebastian: Young master, how are you enjoying your meal this evening?

Ciel: Eh, it’s a bit mid.

Sebastian: Ah, I see. Duly noted, my lord.

(Five seconds later)

Sebastian, sobbing in Bard’s arms: He call-called my food mid- he called me m-mid! I-I can’t believe he’d do su-such a thi-i-ing..!

[hornedrunaway]

V; The Bad Ending - The second main verse. Angel dies before he can find a way to escape his cursed destiny, and is resurrected as Leucis, Orcus’s top general. The sweet boy he was is dead, now replaced by a ruthless and evil sorcerer with soulless black eyes and a cruel sneer. He leads an army of undead in a campaign to conquer the world and shroud it in darkness, all for his master.

V; Prey Becomes Indomitable - Angel does find a way to break his curse, and begins heavily training himself in the Arcane Arts, becoming a powerful sorcerer. Determined to not let Orcus terrorize the world any longer, he sets out to kill the Demon Prince of Undeath…and succeeds. However, he feels a strong pull toward a now masterless weapon and an empty throne. Overcome by temptation, he picks up the Wand of Orcus. It quickly corrupts him, and he soon takes on a new title: Leucis Arkmenos, Demon Slayer and Prince of Undeath. He loses sight of everything he fought so hard for; freedom, beauty, love, truth, acceptance, equality, all dwarfed by the power he has, in his mind, rightfully taken. He becomes bitter and vengeful, killing most of his family and consigning the few survivors to eternal servitude before turning his wrath on the overworld.

V; Diamonds Are Forever - Strapped for coin and desperate for a way to stay off the streets during his quest to free himself from Orcus’s mark, Angel finds himself looking for work in The Enchanting Veil, a nightclub that hosts a variety of dancers, minstrels, and burlesque shows, as well as food, drink, and companionship for well-paying customers. After auditioning, his heavenly voice and allure as a dancer land him a job as a performer, and he quickly becomes a courtesan, as well. He learns a lot about himself here, and embraces his sexuality by taking both female and male clients. However, he still holds out hope that perhaps one of them will hold the key to ending his curse, and he stubbornly fights for his beliefs when the need arises. Given a chance to help someone who’s down on their luck, he will certainly take it without a second thought, which often gets him into a spot of trouble with the matron of the club, Madame Victoria Drannad. She worries that he’s going to get himself caught up in something that he can’t get himself out of.

V; Not Quite Broadway - Due to a ritual gone wrong, performed by a group of inept cultists who were trying to unleash a demon and make a pact with it, Angel is summoned from the streets of Waterdeep to the bustling modern metropolis of Gotham City. They try to make a contract with him, but he quickly explains that he is a Tiefling, not a Demon, and that he can’t be bound by a soul contract to a mortal. They then try to kill him, which goes very poorly for them, and Angel manages to escape their lair. Now he has to figure out a way to lay low and survive in a modern city that doesn’t rely on magic. Disguise Self works to keep people from screaming when they see him (I will use Laurie Davidson for an FC for his disguise), but the real challenge is to learn as much as he can about this world without causing suspicion.