#i can share more pages but it's mostly just backstory and character sheets for now

[bluecoolr]

Excerpts from my DnD journal

If ever my drow Tav was a BG3 companion, he'll have two possible fates:

The Blue Ending has him give in totally to his good compulsions and become a Silverhair Knight for Eilistraee, swearing to protect his fellow converts and to uphold harmony among drow and other folk.

The Red Ending sees him become a Crusader of Vhaeraun. Ultimately, he becomes one of his top enforcers, seeks out revenge on House Everhate (who destroyed his family), and takes an active part in establishing a drow-led society on the Surface.

In the Blue Ending, he weilds T'zeklochar's scimitar, Reckoning. In the Red Ending, he weilds Nalaghar's flaming scimitar, Grief.

[piggledy-higgledy]

As anyone who’s been looking at my page semi-frequently will have noticed, I am a big Richard Armitage fan. Mostly in love with his portrayal of Gisborne in BBC’s Robin Hood, but I also enjoy most of his other work and consider him a very talented actor (and a very sweet person from what we can tell.)

There has been a lot of furore lately about his latest project, “Obsession” (a series unfortunately promoted as an erotic thriller by Netflix), which is a remake of 1992 film “Damage” (with Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche) and based on the book by Josephine Hart. He portrays William Farrow, a married, middle aged, successful surgeon, who has an affair with his son’s fiancé, Anna (Charlie Murphy) -an affair so obsessive that it costs him everything: his career, his family, his son’s life, even his own self (more on that later.) The series features a lot of sex scenes, very light BDSM elements, and a LOT of nudity from RA on a level most fans never thought we’d see (RA being famously private and modest.) The fandom has been divided over this, with some looking forward to it and some being sure it’s not for them at all. From what I can tell (and I might be wrong) most people were put off by either the copious amounts of sex (and the trailer leaned very heavily on that) or the unsavoury morals of the main characters. Which is fair, if it’s not your cup of tea, don’t watch it.

I *did* watch it, and because opinions have been so strong, I wanted to share my thoughts. No disrespect if you prefer to pass. I hope it might be helpful for anyone on the fence and still making up their mind whether to watch or not. Happy to chat more about it if anyone likes! There WILL be spoilers.

Before watching it

I have personally felt very intrigued about this series and I was excited about watching it. Not so much because of the nudity or explicit scenes -or, rather, because of them, but not in the way you might think. Richard Armitage has played very, very few roles where he was primarily the romantic lead, and none later in his career. He tends to be cast in active roles, a lot of dark, violent characters, tense action. When there is romance it’s not the main aspect being explored. And he has NEVER (with the notable exception of Between the Sheets, which was so early in his career I doubt he necessarily had much choice to turn down work) done anything close to this level of sexual screen time. Why now? What made this different? I really wanted to know.

There was another reason I really wanted to watch Obsession. What Richard Armitage does best, in my opinion, is give characters depth (even characters that were clearly not written that way *cough* *Guy* *cough*). He is an incredibly detailed actor and uses his face and eyes to a stunning degree to convey things that go far beyond the dialogue. He has spoken about how he creates complete backstories for all his characters. This project is literally made for his type of acting. There is hardly any action, and leagues of unspoken material. RA called it “one of the most fulfilling pieces of work he’s ever done”. I needed to see why.

After watching it

I binged all 4 episodes in one night. And then again the next morning. And again today. I finished the first episode and thought “Yes, I understand why he wanted to do this.” (He also said in an interview that there was a moment in one scene that he’d never achieved before on film. Having watched this, I believe him.) Is this the kind of series I’d normally gravitate to? No. But I’m glad I watched it. Every single actor was incredible. The filming was beautiful. I just… don’t know where to start.

The story:

In my opinion “Obsession” is not about infidelity or sexual exploration -it’s about William and Anna’s experience with obsession and addiction. Anna isn’t just having an affair. She is addicted to being in control and to using sex as a means of asserting that control. (We learn that she had a brother who sexually abused her for years and committed suicide when she finally put a stop to it. And throughout the series, she reacts to strong emotions by initiating sex. Charlie Murphy described the character as a “dominant submissive” and that’s spot on, not just in the way that she sets the rules and boundaries of their sexual relationship, but in the way that, having been abused, asserts her control on the situation she had to submit to as a young girl by controlling when and how she submitted). William is not just having an affair. He is obsessed and addicted to Anna to the point that it completely deconstructs him as a person. He is the counterpoint to Anna’s character, in that he has no control. He doesn’t initiate, he doesn’t resist, he can’t or won’t control his reactions or his impulses and he completely loses control of his life as a result of his actions. In the final episode Jay, the son, discovers the affair and in shock, falls off a railing to his death. There is a scene where William faces his wife after everything is revealed and watching Richard Armitage convey all those emotions without saying a word is some of the best acting I’ve seen in my life. I don’t know what part of himself RA drew from to act the guilt and grief and absolute devastation in that scene but it was… amazing and heartbreaking. Even then, the obsession wins. When Jay dies, we see Anna walking away while William cradles the body of his son, paying her very little attention. I completely believe that he is broken in the scenes that follow. But after a few days the addiction takes over and he still seeks out Anna, convinced they can now be together (“there’s no version of this with just you,” she’d told him earlier on, but he clearly thinks otherwise). And we get the following:

W: … I let uncertainty in. (NB: What is uncertainty but lack of control?)

A: And look what happened. I don’t think… we can ever separate who we are from what we’ve done.

W: But… we can’t let it all be for nothing either (NB: William’s voice breaks here. He’s lost everything he ever cared about, she’s the only thing left. Does this phrase mean he thinks there was depth in their affair? Or does it mean that he is looking for meaning and depth so that he can cope with the fact that he sacrificed everything for an obsession and an addiction?)

A: Jay died because of us.

W: Still I wouldn’t change it (TNB: THIS! This phrase upset so many viewers! And of course it did, it was supposed to. The acting is, again, amazing. This isn’t said to Anna, this is introspection. William is looking inside himself, realises he wouldn’t change it, realises how much of himself he’s lost.)

A: You don’t regret it?

W: How can I?

A: We caused so much pain

W: But it’s done now.

A: I am so sorry for what happened. But I wish we’d never met. (She walks away, leaving William sobbing. Because there. is. nothing. left.)

The sex:

I hate that this was marketed as a sexy series because it created all sorts of hype and expectations that were misplaced imo. The story was never about the sex. Morgan Lloyd Malcolm said a couple of days ago on Twitter that it’s about “sitting in the discomfort of human behaviours” and that is spot on. Like I said above, this is a story of addiction. Anna is not addicted to the sex -she is addicted to using sex for control. That’s why Anna and William never kiss (she is the one controlling their physical interactions. William leans in to kiss her in many scenes, she never lets him.) That’s why the music is so jarring in all the sex scenes. That’s why there’s no foreplay, that’s why William never lasts long. That’s why they only ever have sex on the floor or in public, never in a safe, comfortable place like a bed. They are not comfortable. This is not a comfortable situation. We, as viewers, are supposed to be uncomfortable. The infamous hotel pillow scene was meant to demonstrate the turning point in William’s addiction, the complete loss of control, I think. It was never supposed to be funny or sexy -it was meant to disturb us because this intelligent, cultured, previously collected man becomes completely animalistic. Which is why he sobs afterwards -I think this is the point when William realises that (as Ingrid puts it later) “he is lost to her”. William’s face after their first sexual encounter is the face of a man under the influence. When she gets up to leave he makes this movement with his fingers like he is trying to hold on to her, but only grabs air. It’s just a twitch -but it’s Richard Armitage and we know how detailed he is in his acting, and I am sure it was a gesture with meaning.

The intimate scenes in Obsession are sometimes sensual, sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes genuinely hard to watch but never gratuitous.

Why a fan of Richard Armitage or anyone writing for his characters should watch it:

Again, you do you, but hear me out: This series is a veritable treasure trove of body language, voice/cadence, facial expressions that you can then apply to your favourite RA character. The longing. The conflict. The loss of control. The vulnerability. The eye contact. The fact that the lover’s name is Anna, which is also my name. Also, I’m being completely serious when I say that this is some of the best acting I’ve seen him do *ever*. If you can only bring yourself to watch parts of it, do that. There were some scenes that genuinely made me tear up. Look after yourself, respect your boundaries, but sample what you can because it’s a veritable banquet.

PS: I am focusing on Richard Armitage for this review because I came to Obsession from that fandom. But every single actor gives an amazing performance. I especially adored Charlie Murphy as Anna, Indira Varma being astounding as Ingrid and the criminally underrated Marion Bailey as Anna’s mother, Elizabeth, who packs SO MUCH into so few scenes.

[falling-angelss]

Hi !! welcome

This is an OC posting blog. I will be posting all art, stories, and other things related to these OCs and their universe here.

if you're here, you're most likely one of my mutuals who already knows a bit about these ocs, but i'll be posting a lot more of their story and lore here. if you aren't a mutual and you're just some random user that stumbled across this blog... ur also welcome ofc!! just know im shaking im trembling im so scared im so afraid /hj

Links to each chapter (and other stuff?) will be posted below once finished.

E1, Chapter 1 - "Trip Up"

E1, Chapter 2 - “DMV Struggle”

WARNING,

this blog and some of the writing and art posted here contains or may contain topics like SH, abuse, religious topics and religious trauma, depictions of anxiety and panic attacks, and other sensitive topics that may trigger or disturb some. there may also be moderate nudity in things like reference sheets and some art pieces, but there wont be anything sexually explicit. there shouldn't be too much dark content, but just keep it in mind. these characters stories are meant to be fairly real and human. if you aren't in the mindset for some of these things, you've now been informed. be safe :)

Owner intro

you can call me Kabuki or Kayden, i use He/Him pronouns, im 15 years old, and im terribly obsessed with my ocs and their story

my main/personal blog is @kabukicolby , you can read about me there (and see more of my other characters :D)

feel free to ask me anything, here or on my other blog :)

Blog/OC story intro

This blog is focusing on the characters Wesley Burchell and Aurelius (Ari) Stevens, and some other characters in their universe.

I'll specifically be focusing on Wesley a lot, since i want this story to be told mostly from his point of view. it should be noted that anything written in his pov can not be taken as fully accurate 100% of the time. he's an unreliable narrator, sometimes his view of things can be warped. if you ever want to ask me about any details, feel free. i may be able to clarify and add some things to help add more context from an outside perspective, unless its something i want to keep a mystery of course.

anything written/said in AMA answers and other things like that by me as the author will be in this color of text. anything by Wesley will be in blue text, anything by Ari will be in yellow text, anything by background characters will be in purple text.

i categorize different sections of specifically Wesleys life in "Eras". at the moment, Era 1, Era 2, and Era 3, starting when Wesley first moves to America. anything before that is BE1, "Before Era 1", and anything after Era 3 has been undecided yet, since im not exactly that far into the complete story yet.

I have no intention of this story ever being anything too too serious. this blog is really just for my own enjoyment and for sharing my characters backstory with my friends and mutuals.

if you have any questions you want to ask specifically to an oc instead of me as the author, feel free to do so. (its funny it makes me giggle)

below are Wesley and Ari's ref sheets (these are for E2, i will be making references for E1 and E3 sometime soon. and possibly remaking these ones eventually)

Other stuff idk

im currently working on wes and aris toyhouse pages. once those are done, they will be linked here.

you're free to draw or make any fanworks (fanfics, etc) of these ocs, as long as you dont claim them as your own and you credit me. (and show me because omg) just dont be like a weirdo idk

i think thats about it! i will update this as needed of course. :)

[alistonjdrake]

June’s World Building Cheat Sheet Part Eight: I Didn’t Vote For You

*At least I think it’s part eight and it’s actually been five months since my last relevant post!

I’m kind of ashamed this didn’t occur to me when I was writing my first group of world building posts. It’s something I think about constantly in the genre I write and something I’ve definitely noticed other people struggle with because to some it’s not something that seems immediately apparent or like it needs to be fleshed out. 

What am I talking about?

When I first started sharing my fantasy stories online one of the most popular plots for other people in, near, and around my social circle was the story of the rebellion. Whether it’s the rebel princess or the dashing fugitive someone in these stories was always rebelling. I can understand why. Revolution is a pretty compelling story. However it was never clear what they were rebelling for, what they were rebelling against (besides a vague “monarchy” or something similar), and most importantly what they were going to do/reform if they won. 

That’s right people, buckle in we’re taking a deep dive into politics.

What is a Political Ideology?

In part five of this series I did go over creating political divides a little but that was mostly focused on a much larger scope (like nation vs nation). And while nation vs nation can still apply here we’re gonna be looking more at creating parties and ideology. So first, let’s borrow from wikipedia and answer this header question. 

In social studies, a political ideology is a certain set of ethical ideals, principles, doctrines, myths or symbols of a social movement, institution, class or large group that explains how society should work and offers some political and cultural blueprint for a certain social order.

Okay I know that may sound like a tall order so let’s break that down.

So what are politics? Politics are the activities associated with the governance of a country. So think of some of the things mentioned in my previous political post like ensuring clean water or sanitation needs (if that becomes a government responsibility in your setting). Now I know in that post I mentioned disagreements and what people would argue over and when forming a political party that is exactly how you should think about it. Take one of those governing activities and think of ways people would either debate or completely disagree over how or why it should be done. 

I tend to work backwards when it comes to this. To put it simply, and in terms of my own writing, Valera came before the Rusnaks. 

In my setting the “Rusnaks” are a defined ideology and party that exists throughout the continents, named after the man credited for either creating it or popularizing it for the masses. But the character Valera who first shows up in the stories is what I used to create the ideology before I gave it a backstory and more defined characteristics. It was easy to do it this way for me because Valera, at his core, was meant to be the complete opposite of the “norm” presented in the rest of the setting. As most of the characters are nobility, he was not. Most of the characters came from a very privileged background, he did not. Most of the characters were either allied with or had appreciation to faith and the church, he did not. 

When creating a rebel (or a rebellion to back them) it’s not enough to say they simply don’t like the monarchy. Why? What are their specific grievances with the current system in place? Much ideology sometimes comes in the space of a need that isn’t being fulfilled. What does this group plan to accomplish and if they are successful, how do they hope to change the system they dislike?  

On the other side, the opposing system should also be fleshed out, especially in settings when the government is said to be supremely powerful and oppressive and yet readers are never really told what the people in power want. Political parties have an agenda. They have a goal in mind. It’s good to say there’s an disagreement present but it’s not really a fleshed out argument if neither side seems to know what they’ll do if they win. 

Take it in pieces. Nothing that isn’t relevant should very grace the page but if your story has anything to do with politics like mine, there are probably certain issues the characters are aware of and may want to address. Use those issues that are already affecting the plot to expand on the ideologies that may be present/influencing the world they live in. 

A member of the royal family in my book is always aware and wary of growing support of Rusnak parties since one of their goals is to get rid of monarchy. A local lord might pay more attention to his charitable works and support of the public if he knows a local group is growing loud over class injustice. 

Agree to Disagree 

So I’ve started to touch on these points a little but I’m just gonna hammer them in some more. This, for the most part, is what I look at when grouping together political stances in my settings to create an ideology or party. Now, in the case that this party exists as a reaction to a system that’s in place my first question is usually:

What is their problem with this?

In fairness, this is not always the most basic question to answer but yeah, what is it? They live in a dystopian world or they’re fantasy peasants who don’t like their liege. Okay, but what specifically? What are their grievances? Is it a lack of representation for a certain group in the governing party (i.e voting rights or elected positions)? Is it the distribution of wealth (or lack thereof)? Are they mad because their local government hasn’t fixed the main road in a while? Is it not the government as a whole but just who is currently in charge of it?

What is their proposed solution?

You have a problem, now how do they want to fix it? Usually my problem with so many rebellion stories is the solution is “they want to get rid of the monarchy” and okay, then what? What do they want to replace it with? because multiple groups can stem from that vague statement and have completely different ideas of what they should do in the aftermath. 

What influenced them?

It had to stem from somewhere. As a collective did they wake up one day and suddenly realize they had different ideas than other people? Did they read a book they agreed with? Did another movement suddenly spark the growth and spread of people to sprout different ideologies (let us go back to the Enlightenment)? Did the advancement of society allow for the birth of a new class or different types of people joining an old one (and thus their needs changed)?

Hopefully by now you have a basic outline. At every point, it’s fun (and probably helpful for the setting) to think about why someone would oppose this when creating a group. Personally I think it’s very easy to make one group abundantly right and the other very wrong (usually in the case of dystopian governments) but it’s important to remember as readers we’re supposed to believe these groups gained popularity. That something about it as charming enough to get people on board and they supported it. What about it drew people in that no one has rebelled before or that other fractions have been largely unpopular or unsuccessful. 

To tie a bow on it, if you think about politics in your setting as problem solving it should become easier to come up with different ideas as to how to solve that problem. Those solutions can serve as the basis for the different ideologies or political parties present either among your characters or just in the background to give that world that lovely, June-approved, lived in feel. 

[thrillingdetectivetales]

2020 Creator Wrap

2020 Creator Wrap: Favorite Works

Okay, okay, I know I’m late with this but the incredibly sweet @irolltwenties and the utterly delightful @anthrobrat were both kind enough to me in this bad boy and it seems really fun, so here we are!

Rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 (or so) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought to the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

According to my AO3 statistics page, I wrote just over 100K of fiction this year, across 17 different fandoms, a few of which won’t actually go live until after the New Year because they’re part of a gifting collection that hasn’t been revealed yet... Anyway, I picked my faves for a variety of reasons, listed briefly after each link. If you have any questions about works I’ve shared (or just in general) feel free to ask!

1. Front Row at the Gongshow

The Pacific, 16K, Rated G  Andrew ‘Ack Ack’ Haldane/Edward ‘Hillbilly’ Jones

Aside from being the longest completed work I produced this year, this is also the first fic I’ve ever written using the “found document” format. While there are parts of it I feel really conflicted about, I’m still incredibly proud of it and think it’s one of the better fic I’ve written...possibly ever. Which is doubly funny because I don’t usually do modern AUs of period fiction, but the hockey angle was enough to tempt and lo, here we are, lol.

[Excerpt from Deadspin]

"You all remember Eddie Jones, right? The corn-fed captain of the New Orleans Rougarou so wholesome he belongs on a box of Malt-O-Meal? The gentleman bruiser who spends his free time playing country tunes for kids with cancer?

Our favorite dapper D-man led his team to 97 points last night in a shut-out victory against the Los Angeles Kings, clinching a playoff spot for the first time in franchise history. Oh! And he also got caught on camera at the after-party, sucking face. WITH A DUDE."

2. Entremets

Hannibal, 8K, Rated E Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter

I have...so many Hannibal fic that I’ve started writing and haven’t finished because all my ideas lead to long plotty epics and also big name fandoms scare me. I did this one up for Eat, Drink, & Make Merry, and I’m really, really pleased with the way it turned out, considering it was my first foray into establishing new character voices and also a successful exercise in writing explicit content, which can be a bit of an Ordeal for me, so overall I’m incredibly happy with it. Plus! My deep and abiding love of writing characters cooking/eating/otherwise dealing with food finally paid off!

“The pâté was supposed to be more of a gesture,” Will explains, spreading a golden sliver of honeycomb out across a slice of sopressata with the blade of his pocket knife. “You don’t actually have to eat it. I’m not even sure if it’s any good.” He smears a healthy dollop of chȇvre across his meat-and-honey concoction and pops the whole thing into his mouth without ceremony.

“What better method exists by which to convey one’s appreciation of a gesture than to indulge it?”

3. An Ode to Matty Big-Time

The Good Place, 2K, Rated T Jason Mendoza/Original Male Characters, Pillboi

This one was actually a request made by my very dear @thesummoningdark, who wanted to see some bisexual Jason per that one fantastic Tumblr post about how everyone in TGP should be bi, and I’m really, really proud of the way it turned out. I love writing comedy and I very rarely get to lean into it as hard as I’d like, so delving into the whole wild craziness of Jacksonville, as explained in the show was really fun. I also love writing original characters, and this was a great excuse to indulge.

“We probably shouldn’t do any butt stuff,” Jason warns, with as much gravitas as he can muster. “I had two of Stupid Nick’s Disaster Buckets when I got here.”

“Yeah, your face is still kinda orange,” Mateo agrees fondly, bringing his other hand up to brush his thumb over Jason’s lower lip. It stirs a little frisson of heat in his belly that Jason is 68% sure isn’t just indigestion. “No chemical burns, though, so I think you came out on top.”

4. This and Who I Used to Be

The Tick (2017), 3K, Rated G Arthur Everest/Superian

Another new fandom I haven’t written in before, this was a fill for the Rare Male Slash Exchange that turned me on to a pairing I’d never even thought of before I wrote it and am now low-key obsessed with. It is also, to date, the ONLY Arthur/Superian fic on AO3 at all, which is a cool weird honor and fairly indicative of my life’s goal to eventually write my way into smaller and smaller fandoms until I come out the other side with original works. It was really fun to explore these characters, and to figure out some world-building for Superian’s backstory that fit within the tone and established canon of the extant Amazon!Tick universe. Also featuring an original character that nobody asked for but I’ve come to love unconditionally.

Arthur glances down to where Superian has one cheek pressed against his shoulder, humming something off-key and unintelligible with his eyes closed. Arthur sighs. “Let’s get you inside.”

He hauls Superian in until he can prop him against the wall while he shuts and locks the door behind him. When he looks back over, Superian is smiling at him, soft and lazy. He swings a finger in Arthur’s direction, a broad, sloppy motion, and announces, “I knew you’d say yes.”

“Technically I said fine,” Arthur rebuts. He gestures down the hallway toward the kitchen—which leads on to the bedroom, as Superian well knows—and sighs, “Come on. I don’t know what those handcuffs did to you, but you should probably lie down and have a glass of water or something.”

5. Rain in Its Season

Band of Brothers, 12K, Rated G Edward ‘Babe’ Heffron/John Julian

Oh boy. What to say about this one. It’s maybe not as polished as I might have preferred, but I feel that way about mostly everything I write and at the end of the day I do really love what I managed to do with this piece. Written for the Heavy Artillery Rare Pair Exchange, I managed to lean heavily into both my love for needlessly granular period research and original characters, which are abundant herein. Frankly, based on the very little we see of him in the show, Julian himself is practically an OC, but I digress. This was another of the longer pieces I’ve ever finished and I’m proud of it even if I’d’ve liked to write another 15K or so, time constraints notwithstanding.

“Tell me. Please. Why’re you here?”

Babe flinched, gaze dropping to the floor. His heart was a raw, swollen welt in his chest. He swallowed and licked his lips, slow and pained.

“Come on, Julian,” he rasped, low and quiet. “You know why.” He laughed, soft and hoarse, and shook his head, once. When he looked back up, Julian had taken a careful step into the center of the room. His eyes were very dark, his mouth very red, hope and fear warring in his every feature. Babe fisted his fingers in the cotton sheet underneath him, halfway to pleading as he insisted, “You gotta know.”

Julian sighed and came over to hover at the edge of the bed. Babe spread his legs to accommodate the intrusion.

“That was - ” Julian started. His voice failed midway through the protest, and he swallowed, took a breath, and regrouped at a lower volume. “You said that was just buddies, what we did over there. That it didn’t count. That you didn’t want it to.”

The TL;DR of this all being that while I didn’t write as much I wanted to this year in terms of volume, I feel like my quality has been improving consistently and hope it continues to do so into 2021 while I try to finish out some of my years-long WIPs and get into longer completed pieces.

I’m not sure who all to tag, so I’ll say @thesummoningdark, @blahblahblahclintnickiscanon, @thisbadge, @incognito-insomniac, and anyone else who’d like to join in and hasn’t been tagged yet! (If you’re the latter, feel free to @ me so I can see what you’ve written!)

Happy New Year everyone May the fanworks you create this year be prolific and soul-affirming!

[shera-dnd]

The Princess of Power - Part 1 Being She-ra

Y’all asked for some GM lore and here you have some GM lore. Featuring some Mara lore for some good measure (I did tell you most important NPCs were based on real people)

Now how about a little blast from the past, looking through the early stages of “The Princesses of Power RPG”

~~~

The Moon Opal was a calm place in the earlier hours of the day, most of its customers were the nocturnal type, leaving the store mostly empty and the perfect place to get some work done. It was at this serene time of day that a tired figure toiled once again at a task that had been bothering them for over a week now: Balancing She-ra

Project Etheria - a placeholder name - was supposed to be about collaboration and teamwork, yet someone decided that giving a player an extremely overpowered form, with insane martial and magical skills was a good idea and now it was their job to get that mess to work somehow.

Sure, it made sense for She-ra to be this strong, she is supposed to be the protector of the world, the key to the world’s magic, every princess had an element, but She-ra, the Princess of Power, was supposed to be the center of...the center of everything.

They grabbed a piece of paper and quickly began scribbling notes, there was an obvious solution staring them right in the face all this time and they finally got it. Oh they couldn’t wait to see Mara’s face when they showed her this.

“Hey, someone is feeling productive today” Mara greeted, apparently summoned by that errant thought.

“Mhm” they agreed distractedly, not even taking their gaze away from their work.

“Earth to GM” She joked, the mention of their name stealing their attention “You there, GM?”

GM, Game Master, they had been called that most of their life, but when Mara did it felt different. It was not a simple title or description of function, it was a name, their name, at least one they identified with more than they ever did with the one they were given at birth. She truly felt like she was greeting a friend and that made them happy.

“Sorry” They apologized, putting their work aside “Hey, Mara”

“Hi” She greeted again, cheerfully “What got you so excited today?”

“Rebalancing She-ra for the sixth, and hopefully last, time” They explained handing her their work “I removed most of the new Traits from She-ra itself and made it so she granted those to nearby princesses”

“I’m gonna have to rewrite my whole character sheet again, aren't I?” She asked, reading over their notes “Oh, I almost forgot!” She exclaimed,  handing them her own notes “I finished some more Lore on Etherian magic and the First Ones”

GM took the notes titled ‘Heart of Etheria’ and skimmed over them. They sat there silently reading each others notes. This too felt nice, Mara wasn’t a very energy demanding friend, even though she could be very loud and energetic when she wanted to, she also did not mind sharing moments of silence, they appreciated that. Unfortunately they were the ones to break the silence this time.

“The planet is a what!?” GM loudly blurted.

“A weapon of mass destruction” Mara stated, as if saying it out loud suddenly made it make sense “I thought the setting needed bigger stakes”

“We already have an invading alien empire, giant monsters and evil sorcerers” GM declared, but all they got from her was a shrug “I guess Mara, Princess of World Building would know better than me”

“I like that one, let’s use it in the book” Mara exclaimed “You got anything we could play while I change up my traits?” She asked, picking up her character sheet. It was her third one, the last two had been severely damaged from constant rewriting.

“Preferably nothing combat heavy then” GM pondered for a moment “Well, you had just finished a mission last time, so we could maybe have a chill scene in the Crystal Castle?” They proposed

“Perfect!” She declared, full of glee “I wanna flirt with Light Hope”

“Excuse me?” They asked “She is an AI”

“So…?” She didn’t seem to understand their point

“She is not programed for romance” They explained, a little exasperated

“Nothing a little love can’t fix” She said, with a shrug

“You’re not teaching a robot to love, Mara” They declared

“Hey, look at it this way: I’m preparing you for all the players who will absolutely try to romance everything and everyone in this setting” She explained herself “Also Light Hope is really cute”

“Miss me with that allo shit, Mara” GM groaned.

They played out a couple more scenes, testing out the new and rebalanced She-ra, along with some NPC princesses, against the Crystal Castle’s robot spiders and for the first time Mara seemed satisfied with the combat.

“Yes!” She exclaimed, as the last spider fell “You’re the best”

“I...hmmm...thanks” GM mumbled, not used to receiving compliments “You’re the one making the world, I just turn stuff into rules text”

“But that is the important part” Mara assured them “I can say what it means to be She-ra all I want, but it’s all pointless if the rules say something different”

“And what did the rules say?” GM asked, a little surprised. They were so focused on making She-ra balanced that they didn’t even consider that aspect of things.

“That She-ra is not meant to make people feel weaker, you shouldn’t feel like you’re less than them, you should feel stronger by being with them” She explained, her voice loud and full of excitement “Helping other be their best selves, that is what it should mean to be She-ra!”

_____

The Moon Opal bustled with people in the late hours of the night, its more nocturnal customers taking up the tables with games of all kinds, but if you got there early you could still grab a table for yourself and get some work done. GM was finishing up their notes on the new version of The Princesses of Power, when someone unceremoniously crumbled on the chair in front of them.

“Long day?” GM greeted, not taking their eyes away from their work.

“Long day��� Adora responded. She opened up her back and began looking for something inside it “Sorry for jumping right to the point, but I still gotta pick up dinner” She explained herself, handing them a few sheets of paper.

“Oh right, your backstories” They remarked, taking them both and skimming over them “Why is Catra’s six pages long?”

“Because my girlfriend is the most competitive person in the planet” Adora groaned. Of course Catra would consider this a competition

“You two want to call dibs on any of the homebrew powers?” GM asked

“Nah, I’m good with whatever you send my way” She waved it off “and Catra doesn’t want any powers, because she wants to prove she can kick everyone’s ass without any”

“I’m not surprised in the slightest” They commented, reading through Adora’s story a second time, they couldn’t avoid the strange sense of nostalgia that came from it “What it means to be She-ra” they mumbled without really thinking.

“You said something?” Adora asked, perkin up on her chair

“Nothing” They deflected “Just had a few ideas for your character. Do you mind if I keep these?”

“Sure sure, we don’t mind” She handed it to them “If that is all, I should probably get going”

“I’ll text you if I need any more details” They stated “Have a good night, Adora”

“You too, GM!” She said, waving at them as she left.

They smiled and gave the papers in their hand one last read through. Oh Mara, you would’ve loved this one.