#i have a secret little thing that ive planned on using in like a game someday but will beta with this iteration

[avidlylivid]

so many swag epic awesome tmnt iterations (/gen /pos) and then I realise I Have Not Solidified Mine

anyways need to actually make the au premise other than random fun facts about them and their dynamics then come up with a name and then :3 the guys !!!

[songsofadelaide]

prism — a side story to cosmic.

cw: captain narumi x (f) platoon leader, established (secret) relationship, fluff and smut, takes place between iv and v of cosmic. no use of 'yn'. narumi gen is his own warning. minors do not interact.

wc: 3k

You were no stranger to an observant eye. As a Platoon Leader, you were subject to your superiors' watchful surveillance and your team members's discerning gazes. It came as no surprise to you when the Captain of the First Division presented you with an upgrade to your beloved personal weapon, the submachine gun marked FE-0080 or Reginleif and asked for you to demonstrate your marksmanship that brought Asakusa's scorpion-type Honju to its knees.

So you acquiesced to your Captain's command and joined the rookies in their shooting training. You didn't back down from a posed challenge, after all, and you impressed your platoon members and fellow Platoon Leaders once more with your precise marksmanship. 

When Gen first took notice of your personal weapon, he surmised it was specifically made to pair with your speed. Anything heavier would weigh you down. Reginleif was a submachine gun made for more close combat offensives and had less firepower than a machine gun or a rifle, but it made up for its lack of strength with its speed and automatic mechanism.

"Unleashed Combat Power is at 67%."

As you finished setting a record for the rookies to beat, whispers from other division members filled the air. 

"The Platoon Leader's super quick, huh? It's almost like she vanishes into thin air."

"She even beat Platoon Leader Tachibana during the joint training exercises between the Eastern Divisions. That's how Captain Narumi discovered her."

"Speaking of which, she and the Captain have been spending a lot of time together..."

Gen himself didn't notice the amount of time you two were spending together. It was lost to him, but the memory of his enjoyment remained— you coming to see him, summoned or not. One day, your presence simply became natural, like a second instinct, until it became a necessity, especially for him.

You sitting next to him in his office, sometimes as Player 2 but most of the time just plain old you. You in your tracksuit uniform with nothing but a white tee underneath. You mindlessly scrolling through your social media while he stormed through whatever game he was playing, warming his bed until you had to leave him— whether it was due to an emergency or just because the day had ended. The sound of your laughter and derision filled his office and he can't seem to snap out of his compulsion to steal the rest of your sound straight away from your lips. 

He signalled for the end of the shooting training after the rookies concluded their rounds and dismissed everyone for the rest of the afternoon. 

"Captain Narumi, sir," you called out to your superior, who had just finished checking the Operation Leader's report handed to him by your Vice Captain. 

"Platoon Leader."

"One of my team members is celebrating their birthday today. They're planning a short trip to the city for drinks this evening," you started as you shadowed Gen's steps back to the base's main hall. "As much as I would love to finish our Maelduin's Portal campaign from earlier, my platoon would appreciate being able to spend some time with me, and I with them. I hope you're amenable, of course…"

He wanted to disagree with you but didn't want to come off as increasingly needy, especially since he knew now that people were already talking about how much time you've been spending together. Was he being needy? 

"Enjoy the rest of your evening, then."

Because he certainly didn't.

Your platoon arrived back at base a little before 21:00 and the first thing you wanted to do was take a dip into the baths because you were certain you smelled terrible— a smorgasbord of alcohol, barbecue smoke and cigarette ash, no thanks to the old smokers seated next to your group's long table.

But Gen had other plans in mind that derailed your quick trip to the baths. 

A single notification lit up from your mobile phone as you placed it on the desk in your personal quarters. 

[ N. Gen-隊長: I'm outside your room. ]

"Captain Narumi?" You quietly called for him, a tender smile on your face as you opened your door for him. "Did you wait for me all this time?" 

Gen smelled like he just got out of the bath, ready to go to bed, while you still smelled of smoke and alcohol. Still, he didn't think twice before embracing you, which you hesitantly returned. 

"I still smell like alcohol…" You murmured into the crook of his neck as you gently played with the hair on his nape. "Pretty sure I taste like it, too…"

"I don't really care…" He murmured before diving in for a kiss. Sure enough, you tasted like an evening out, the bitter taste of beer still lingering in your mouth. 

"Hey," you said as you gently broke your kiss. "You might be fine with this, but I'm not. I-I mean the way I smell. Please, Gen, let me take a quick bath. I promise I'll be back in five— no, ten minutes. I'll be back and let's pick up where we left off, okay?"  

Not even the grumble that left his lips could stop you from grabbing your basket of toiletries plus a change of clothes and leaving him for a bath you promised would be quick. 

It was only in the quiet that he realised it was his first time here in your personal quarters. It's always been you visiting him in his office but rarely did you invite him over— for reasons now clear to him. 

Your room was incredibly bare, even for a Platoon Leader. Apart from the standard furnishings provided by the Defense Force, nothing in that place anchored you there or made known to others that it was your lodging. You kept no trinkets or little decorations, and on your desk sat your mobile phone, which even had the default wallpaper on. 

It had no passcode, either, and he found himself there aptly named 'Captain Narumi Gen' when he took a peep at your messages. All the people in your phonebook were properly labelled and addressed, such as your parents, your elder brother Kanata and his wife Marie, your squad leaders Akabane, Kagomura, Ookawa, and your fellow Platoon Leaders. 

You kept no notes, even fewer photos, and Gen was filled with this awful dread that you'd leave no trace behind if anything ever happened to you. His thoughts were soon replaced by a wave of comfort when he plopped down on your bed. "At least your pillows smell like you…"

He almost nodded off too if not for your arrival. You were still a little damp from your quick soak, your skin still warm and balmy as you shut your door behind you. "Are you still awake, Captain?"

"Yeah, I am. S'impossible to fall asleep here in your room," he said as he sat up again, quietly observing the way you neatly stashed your belongings in your single closet. 

"Really, now? I'd expect you to get a good night's rest here since I have a proper bed and all," you chuckled at his response. "Or are you so used to sleeping on a futon that a bed's uncomfortable for you?"

"No. Your bed… smells like you," he stated, a hand sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck this time. You were fresh out of the bath, still practically buzzing with warmth, and it made him uneasy in an exciting way. "It's…"

"Is it nasty?" You asked as you made your approach. You were in similar standard white shirts and black sweatpants and Gen visibly swallowed as you sat closely next to him. "Captain Narumi?"

"Don't… Don't call me that now," he grunted at you, his lip trembling in anticipation as you raised a hand to cup his cheek. 

"Gen…" 

Ah, his name sounded so, so sweet whenever it left your lips, but this time even more, and he was this close to stealing that sweetness himself if you hadn't scooched over to kiss him yourself. It was tender and affectionate and somewhat apologetic, tasting of green tea mouthwash this time, until you broke away from him and stuck out your tongue to lick the corner of his mouth.

You did it in such a teasing manner but he couldn't even smile— because he was already so, so hard. He pulled out his erection from under his sweatpants and guided your hand to it, his breath hitching as he felt your warm fingers curl around his length and stroke him at a leisurely pace.

Though you couldn't see his eyes, you were certain he had a heady, cloudy, half-lidded gaze on you. He followed your steady movement with bated breath as you got down on your knees and placed yourself between his thighs. 

"Doing it here in my room has its advantages," you told him as you started stroking him again, your breath ghosting over his length. "No one's gonna come in here unannounced…"

Gen let out a low hiss when you flicked out your tongue and slowly licked the tip of his cock, taking all the time in the world to do so. 

"Ggh… S-Stop it already—" He grunted yet again, and though he told you to stop, it was clear he meant otherwise by the way he had a guiding hand on the crown of your head. "Ugh…"

Hearing the sound of his voice dipping and straining in pleasure encouraged you to do even better for him. He shuddered as you gradually received him in your mouth. 

…Maybe he did find a way to tame that smart mouth of yours after all. 

The pace of your blowjob was pleasant, but you knew he was close by the way his thighs closed around you. He tried to wriggle away from you, but you shook your head at him and gently picked up the pace, your cheeks hollowed out as you sucked on him a bit more. 

He took your refusal to let him go as a sign that you'll receive his seed in your mouth, so he obliged you, his body convulsing as he held your head in his hands. A low, guttural moan he obviously tried to suppress escaped his lips as you swallowed his cum, thick strings stuck in the back of your throat, and you eventually released him with a soft 'pop' from your slightly swollen lips. 

"My good girl," his praise was caught between his soft exhales. He pulled you up into his arms and allowed you to tenderly sweep back his hair that curtained his lovesick gaze. 

"You're so handsome," you told him with a smile, your fingers gently toying with the hair on his nape once more. Gen adored being the recipient of such compliments, even more so from you, but he still gets embarrassed from time to time. He's red up to his neck now, his hands warm on your waist. 

"My good girl," he said yet again, his wine-coloured eyes holding your own heady gaze. One hand wandered underneath your shirt while the other dipped under the waistband of your sweatpants, deft fingers rhythmically running over the moistness between your legs. His lips curl into a teasing smile as your expression fades into one of pleasure.

He was already hard again, but he didn't want to be so greedy. Neither did he want the night to end so soon. He did away with your clothes, all similarly and carelessly tossed aside as he motioned for you to lie down on your back for him. A glint of mischief lit his eyes as he placed himself between your legs, lowering his face to your thighs, peppering them with light and faint kisses before he eventually opened his mouth to taste you. 

Another rapid rush of pleasure shot through your body as he gripped your thighs and happily ate you out, playing deaf to your impatient whines as he leisurely and unhurriedly licked and lapped at your folds.

"Tell me what you want, my good girl," Gen whispered, his low and lazy voice hot against your sopping pussy. He already knew what you wanted by the way you ground against his mouth, the burning sultriness between your legs threatening to overflow onto the rest of his face. He slid a finger knuckle-deep into you and thrust at what he believed was an agreeable pace given the sound of your moans, which you were trying your hardest to suppress.

His fingers were skilled and reached the places you never could on your own, but you needed more. "P…"

"If you tell me, 'please put it in my pussy', then I'll do it."

Oh, you wanted to hurl so many complaints at him, but your impatience already showed in your countenance and he was clearly enjoying this. "Well? Hurry up and say it."

"M… My p… ah…" You pathetically whimpered at him, your voice cracking as he broke into another crooked grin.

"Use your words, my pretty girl. I can't really understand you."

Tears welled in the corners of your eyes as you relented to his teasing, your legs quivering at the leisurely pace he's taken. "Please… Please put it in my p-pussy…!"

It didn't take long for Gen to take charge after hearing you plead for him so earnestly. He was already as stiff as a pole, anyway, so he angled himself over you and slid his length over the burning wetness of your pussy before thrusting into you. 

The pace he moved at was gratifying for you both, the sound of your whines was enough of a confirmation for him. 

"Ah…" You coiled your arms around his neck, trembling at his warm touch, his calluses rough yet ticklish against your skin, especially when he sank his fingers into the plushness of your breasts. "Gh…"

Why does it feel like this? You managed a thought as he fucked you deep into your sheets and mattress, the sound of your soft moans and his pleased groans filling the air in the room. You knew you'd be dead if someone else heard you, but you couldn't consider being considerate now— because he's s-so good…!

Gen's bangs fell over his eyes again, hiding away the blissed-out look on his face. He knew it didn't matter that much to you anymore and neither did it to him— because all he could think about at that moment was burying his cock deep into you— fuck good manners and propriety!

You were seeing stars now, his pace slightly rushed and rough and it could only mean that he was just as close to finishing as you were. "D-Don't… don't stop…"

But he knew he had to. He was smarter than this. He knew he had to pull out. You couldn't afford to— at a time like this, too! 

Yet in between his blissed-out euphoria and common sense was a single thought: a family. With you. Your stomach round with a child that was a heap of trouble like he was—

"P-Please, Gen… I'm so close…!"

He snapped back to his sweet reality— your walls tightening around him as he thrust with even more urgency this time. 

"Cum for me, then, my good girl," he managed to chuckle at you. You choked out another small cry as tears filled your eyes again in a wave of oscillating pleasure, your spasms making it difficult for him to pull out as he intended. 

"Y-You can cu—" 

Gen pulled out of you panting the moment you were about to say he could finish inside you instead, opting to spill his scorching cum all over your stomach. He caught his breath before flicking his middle finger on your forehead with all his tender might. 

"Ow! Wh-What was that for?!"

"At least let me put a ring on you before you ask me to cum inside ya!"

"You didn't have to hit me that hard."

"It wasn't even that hard."

A large bandaid was spread over your forehead where your boyfriend last exacted his violence on you. Your quiet breakfast for two at the mess hall the following morning was cut short when Eiji sat next to Gen with his breakfast, along with a clean folder that contained only two sheets of paper.

"Good morning, Narumi. And the Platoon Leader, too. Once you're done eating, I'll need you two to fill out these forms," he stated as he handed you one of the sheets with a header in bold letters that read Workplace Relationship Disclosure Form.

"O-Oh," came your slightly startled reaction as you realised what it was. You placed down your utensils and read the information that had to be filled out. "S-So, do I write 'boyfriend' here? This is so embarrassing…"

"The hell do you mean it's embarrassing? Are you embarrassed to be with me? Embarrassed that I'm your boyfriend?!" Gen yapped at you as he filled out the form handed to him. You were shocked to see him filling out the paperwork himself, even more so when he wrote 'fiancée' next to your name. 

"If there is anything to be embarrassed about, it's keeping your fellow Platoon Leaders awake at night because of your… raucous behaviour," your Vice Captain stated with a feigned cough, and though it was clearly addressed to you, his sharp gaze was directed at your Captain. "If you don't want the top brass to hear about this and mete out a punishment for you both, I suggest you refrain from doing it here at base."

"O-Of course, V-Vice Captain Hasegawa! It won't happen again!" You squeaked at the older man and gave him a stiff bow. 

Gen gaped at your quick surrender before eventually turning to Eiji, who had yet to start his meal. "Haa? We're actually doing important work here! They can consider this our attempt at preserving my lineage, Japan's Strongest— Ow!" 

The older man flicked his middle finger at the young Captain's forehead this time. "Since everyone's talking about you two anyway, let's give them more to gossip about. But I expect not to hear anything about it again starting tomorrow."

[anundyingfidelity]

I'M A RUIN — Soldier Boy (Part II)

Series summary: After the events of the Seven Tower, you present Grace Mallory a new secret project you're working on already to develop a cure to Compound V. The only problem? You need Soldier Boy for that.

Pairing: Soldier Boy/Ben x female reader.

Word count: 2.5k.

Warnings for series: set after S3 (spoilers), some OOC!Ben, some depressed!Ben, angst, hurt/comfort, eventual smut, slow-burn, language, PTSD, reader has Compound V (she's no Vought supe tho), Soldier Boy being an usual asshole, reader is a fucking liar.

Warnings on this chapter: Ben being a misogynist, talks about masturbation and porn, killing threats, Ben's POV in general is a red flag, death.

☕ if you like my writing, support me with a ko-fi !

get yourself in the taglist!

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII

tags: @k-slla

GEN MASTERLIST! — SERIES MASTERLIST!

Part II: Silence is Peace

The next day arrived fast, and again, you found yourself walking ready to have a conversation with the supe locked in the facility. A part of you was surprised he didn't try to escape yet, but Ben, on the other hand, was just letting things flow at the moment.

The heavy, metal door opened to let you in. The supe caught by surprise seeing you coming inside full of confidence at this time in the morning. A couple of armed men in black uniforms followed behind as they settled down some furniture in the empty area of the room: two small sofas and a coffee table.

His arrogant self knew those guns wouldn't tear a single hair off of him, but hey, he understood you needed to feel safe. So meanwhile, he decided to play along. He remained still by the bathroom door as you came closer.

"I didn't request that," he said once you stood face to face.

"Oh, I know. I did, it's for your therapy," you smiled, tugging the bag on your shoulder. The armed men finished decorating the cell, and they left with a loud thud of the door being closed behind their backs. "There's been a small change of plans. I will come by every day for one hour. Anything you want you will ask me first and if I approve, then I will bring it to you."

He smirked. Like if he needed to be bossed around by a fucking woman, he thought. "You sure have the balls to stand up on me like that."

"Like I said, I want to help you," you replied, making your way and sitting down on a sofa. "Please," you requested him with a hand to do the same and he followed with curiosity. You put the bag on the coffee table, taking out a notebook, pens, a folder, and a small zip bag containing the only thing he asked from you the day before. You left his reefer on the coffee table, putting the folder in your lap as you waited for him with a smile on your face he found unsettling.

Ben still didn't buy you or your intentions, but he sat down on the opposite sofa nonetheless. You had brought him something he asked from you, something he wanted and would calm him down for a little. Hopefully it wasn't going to be that bad. He only had to put up with the game of doctor-patient. In the back of his mind, he was also grateful you dropped the stupid white coat at the same time he found your attempt to fix him ridiculous. He didn't need to get fixed.

"Your guards ain't hurting me with those guns, you know that," Ben started.

"We have to try," you shrugged. "And you're still here, that has to mean something."

He rolled his eyes. Of fucking course he had to stay. There were a lot of questions in his head. He had to settle down for a moment. Things were different in the world, he needed to learn about today's tech and get a fucking good plan to get away with his shit. Who would he get to kill first? Still thinking about it. How would he escape? Probably could use some help to keep a low profile. Could you be that help, being the only human contact he figured would have from now on? Maybe.

"So how are you feeling? Did you have some sleep?" you asked.

"I slept enough, spent the whole fucking night jerking off," he spat. "That TV of yours now does have good porn some hours in the day."

With wide eyes, you wrote down after his answer.

"Alright. But tell me, how are you feeling?" you pushed, your smile long gone and replaced with a serious face locking your gaze to his own.

"Great, never been fucking better" he smirked and you shifted on your seat.

His green eyes started checking you all over for a second. The pencil skirt hugged your legs perfectly and the blouse was tight enough to show off the size of your breasts. The clothes yelling that you were expensive and valuable for the CIA, and most important, to Mallory. Soon he sensed the discomfort emanating from you as his gaze returned to your face. God, he loved doing that, but you sure were daring to get locked inside a room with him alone.

"You can tell me the truth, you know," you said.

"I can easily break your neck and explode this shithole if I want to," he spat back.

"You won't do that. You had the chance yesterday, today even, and yet here you are."

He thought you sounded so sure about that. Ben held your gaze. Neither of you dare to break eye contact. It was like you were challenging him to something he wasn't aware of just yet. He didn't like that, but he remained there, breathing deeply with a strong look on his face. You were right though, and he realised could find you a good usage besides the obvious fucking use for pretty girls like you. He might have missed a good fuck for 40 years but the little common sense on the back of his mind told him the porn channel was enough for now.

"Listen, I know you're not a bad guy," the words fell softly from your lips. "I know you didn't mean to harm those people in Midtown... And in order to help you I could use some information on how you feel every time the blast comes-"

He stood up abruptly, strong enough to move the sofa he was sitting some feet away behind his back and yelled aggressively.

"Fuck off, bitch. What the fuck do you know about me? I don't trust your kind and you're making my threat sound like a great plan now.

You held his gaze as he made his way towards you. You were a prey in his cage, but even if you were scared, he didn't sense any sign of it. Ben's big frame towered you, standing just inches away from the couch you sat on. The space was enough for him to kill you with only one hand but you never moved or flinched a second.

"If you touch me, just a single hair on my scalp, you're fucked."

"C'mon sweetheart, you're no match for me," he mocked with a smirk on his face.

"Novichok definitely is."

He tightened his fists with his lips on a straight line, and his heartbeat increased at the mention of that fucking poison. Meanwhile, you just sat down looking at him with a blank face and innocent eyes. For a moment, he was tempted to just kill you but he forced himself to calm the fuck down. He didn't want to black out again, he certainly did not want to become a fugitive. If he was going to do something, it had to be done well.

"Soldier Boy, it's okay," you got on your feet. His eyes followed your moves. "It's fine if you don't want to talk to me. I can't force you to."

He saw a strange sparkle in your eyes. Were you pitying him? He didn't need that. And when he said nothing, then you continued.

"You accepted the deal, and that includes therapy to help you get out of your trauma. And sooner or later, you have to talk to me," you explained, he felt like a fucking child being scolded.

"You want to fucking help me and spray me with Novichok at the same time," he groaned.

"We have to take our precautions. But trust me. I’d rather not use that on you, I prefer other ways."

"This is fucking crap," he mumbled through his teeth.

He watched you making your way towards the book shelf, leaning down to grab a couple of books. He took in the curve of your ass as you knelt, and he wondered if you were doing all that little show on purpose to test him. His jaw clenched once again at the thought of being played with false promises and a cure to his memories.

"I can leave, but I will come tomorrow," you tossed two books on the coffee table: one about PTSD, the other one about new technology for him to start educating himself on that. "Start reading those and write down in the notebook anything you have to say. It can be about the books, your thoughts, your feelings... Anything you want. I don't have to know unless you want me to."

If looks could kill, you were already dead. He still didn't trust you. He didn't understand completely why a stupid psychiatrist of the CIA wanted him to go through rehab. You were a woman, for fucks sake. Psychiatrists were old, wise, rich men back in his days, not expensive sluts.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You're lucky I'm trying hard not to crush your bones right now, pretty thing."

"At least you're trying, that's improvement," you smiled cockily, pointing at his chest with a finger and you took your bag and belongings together, as if he didn't threaten to kill you like three times in the same conversation. "I will leave you now. Have a good lunch, Soldier Boy."

"Time of death 9:41 a.m."

The sound of the monitor disturbed your senses as the voice announced all over the place the death of yet another supe. You watched through the windows as two lab assistants ran inside the chamber to take out the lifeless body of the woman who had given her life to volunteer and assist the program. Anything for the cure, you remember her voice saying, even after she was warned about the possible effects. The worst of them being death. The contract stipulated it clearly and you told her to think twice before agreeing to take the third version of the Anti-V, although she hesitated a lot before joining.

You breathed out. The formula needed improvement, quickly. How many corpses had they taken out of there? You lost count already. You ordered Bianca, your young assistant, to note down all the details one day after the second death of a supe you witnessed, and for her to count them as necessary and at all cost. Arms folded on your chest, your jaw clenched, losing hope and feeling despair running through your spine. The discomfort of what had to be done to find a cure sometimes was too much of a burden. But sacrifices had to be done.

And speaking about sacrifices, you knew you had to get into Soldier Boy's head as soon as possible. The few other sessions you tried to talk to him were useless. The sixth one being today before lunch. A part of you was growing tired of faking it and pretending to be a psychiatrist, it really wasn't your field but you knew how to be one after many sessions, research, and medication on your own. Grace had taken care of your training years ago and this was just another mission with a huge impact and objective in mind: destroy Vought and Homelander, and then provide the cure to supes who didn't want their powers and give them the chance to live a normal life. People like you needed the cure, but first things first.

"Doc, the analysis of Blaze is updated," Bianca said, giving you the tablet to check the information on the supe that was collected.

"Thanks."

Blaze, or Electra Richards was her real name, was a low-profile supe for some time, and you had a secret track of those like her with some help. These kinds of supes didn't really represent a threat to Vought, so it was kind of easy to contact them and give them a possible solution with a warning written all over the place. When Electra was contacted, she had to think about it but eventually said yes. She was young and brave, but she never wanted powers. She had superhuman strength and healed in minutes, seconds even, her bones were indestructible, and when your people ran the proper tests on her she was healthy as hell. Pity that her body wasn't enough to take in the injection of the new Anti-V prototype.

You read the last notes your assistant typed on the supe's profile.

Cause of death: sudden cardiac arrest caused by ventricular fibrillation; failure in electrical signaling within the heart.

You couldn't continue like this, not anymore. Nine months and nothing seemed to work out. Some supes died, some of them quit the program, and you didn't really blame them for it. The failures were growing bigger than the small steps close to creating the final antidote. The process was becoming an endless trial and error. With a tired face and a sigh, you left the tablet on a desk and walked out making your way to your office.

You took out your cell phone and dialed Grace, walking around the room worriedly. You needed to vent or talk. Anything. And gladly, she picked up by the third ring.

"Is everything okay?" she asked on the other line. She knew you too well.

"I- No, it isn't. But you already know that," you breathed. "Another supe died on trial today. I don't know how many we have-" your voice cut off abruptly and you sighed, composing yourself after a moment. "We keep losing a lot of people..."

Grace exhaled. "It's part of the job. It's your project, you know it was coming when I approved to do this."

"That makes it even worse, you're not helping me," you replied with a playful tone. "I've been thinking- I would like to try the cure."

"No. We need you to focus on this."

"And when I get him, when I get Soldier Boy's blood? He already takes powers of supes with the blast. Should be easier."

"He's your safest option for now. You'll find a way to get it, I trust you. But don't make stupid and hurried decisions, just wait for the right moment," the lady scolded. You smiled a little, like if she was watching you. "About that, how's he doing? Is he cooperating?"

"Not at all, that's my other problem," you fell back on your chair ungracefully, your back hurting at the thought of seeing him again that day. "I am trying to get him to talk, even using my cards of dressing up like I'm a fucking slut with tight skirts and all, but he's really backing up. Besides he's a fucking dick," your words made Grace chuckle for a bit.

"All supes we have dealt with are dicks, especially Vought. But Y/N, you got this," her words attempted to make you feel better. "This is one of our best options to take them down for once. I know you've been working on this way long before you talked to me, and that's the reason I know it's gonna work, doing whatever it takes."

"Thank you, Grace," you mumbled from your heart. Disappointing her was not on your list, and you hoped it won't happen anytime soon. So you switched the topic of the conversation. "And how have you been?"

[yuki-boshi]

Kai no Kiseki Prologue English Summary

Table of Contents

Hey all, I will be doing summaries for the game like i did with Kuro 2.

I might be busy so I will try to update the blog frequently.

My twitter is https://x.com/fragmentums

The opening scene takes place in May 1209 at Calvard's Space Force base, where the Independent II rocket is launched with the Prometheus IV satellite attached. Two months later, on July 8th, we see Van, Feri, and Bergard engaged in training exercises at Marduk's headquarters in Ored State.  They’re being monitored by a voice (later being revealed as Kasim). They’re in competition with another team called “Y-Team” while Van and his group are the “X-Team.”

The training facility is called the VARHALA sector, which combines VR, AR, and is based off the term Valhalla. Meanwhile, Altina, Kevin, Rean, and others are also participating in the same exercise. Altina is geeking out about the technology of MK compared to anything in Erebonia and it’s implied that it’s possibly even harder than Professor Schmidt’s training from the CS games. Rean praises Kevin and Kevin mentions that he’s honored that a Divine Blade is praising little old him. Kevin mentions that he’s actually met Rean before at the wedding but, but never directly spoke with him much, but heard all sorts of things from Gaius. Kevin deduces that Rean is on some kind of top-secret-mission, and Rean spills the beans to Kevin. Kevin is honored again and wonders why, and Rean explains that it’s that he feels he can trust him if he’s Estelle and Gaius’s friend.

Altina starts geeking out that the Holy City is also working on new military efforts for a new airship, but she’s cut off by Kevin saying “Hey that’s top secret!”

Mirabel is overwatching them as they speak about their past briefly, mentioning that she knows a whole lot, and Kevin is surprised a girl like her knows all the Church’s dirty laundry and inner conflicts. Altina funnily mentions that they’re both speaking weird (In Japanese, this is Kansai-ben) and that it’s similar to a classmate Rean used to have when he was in Thors as a student, referring to Becky.

Rean deduces that there’s another team also in the exercise, using his Minds Eye ability and is able to sense the numbers, but not exactly who it is. Kevin is impressed. Kevin’s also impressed that Altina’s shield, a modified Claiomh Solais can speak!

As the teams progress through the training, they meet up and exchange greetings. They discuss their past relationships and learn that Van knows Rean from his reputation. Mirabel interrupts to remind them that this is still a training exercise and more combatants are added to the field.

Risette and Crow join, and so does Rufus and Lapis. The groups are divided into two teams for a boss battle against Bergard, Risette, Crow Armbrust, Rufus Albarea, and Lapis.

The XY-Team narrowly secures victory with Van using the Kuro 2 S-Craft, and everyone compliments each other on their fight.

Afterward, Gilliam Thorndyke appears with a live camera feed to note that he's pleased with the new combat mechanics used in the exercise. He also reveals that Meister Jorg asked him to test Lapis' new body during the battle. Finally, everyone is invited to join Thorndyke for a banquet.

We are then serviced with a flashback of Gramheart back to the day of April 13th, explaining his Startaker Plan, stating it’s been under development for more than two years, and this will greatly benefit the country as a whole, as well as possibly helping out the Eastern parts of the continent too, which has been in turmoil and conflict for about a hundred years.

During this segment, it’s revealed that Daniel Harling is in charge of the operation, with the first phase of the plan is to be launching the satellite, while the second phase will be to send a manned launch into space, and the first astronaut to do so will be Harling’s daughter named Emilia Harling (Hermes from Kuro games), who is actually a former ace pilot.

It switches then to everyone reacting, Renne understanding now why the Ikaruga are defending the mountains where the operation is under development.

Agnes being mysterious mutters to herself that the announcement is a shock, but she’s glad that she can work with everyone again. But she needs to pay more close attention to her Father. Feri takes notice and Agnes was saying she was just spacing out and thinking about how to give it her all and tries to distract the subject by dragging Feri to go shopping. Quatre blushing also wants to go shopping, and Aaron can read the room and tells Quatre to go for it and he’ll also tag along. Judith responds that since she’s a movie star, she’ll give them the scoop of all the latest fashion trends! Group shopping!

Van is doing his classic “Good grief…” During the flash forwards, everyone drops by the Office, Shizuna included, scaring Van, and fast forwarding again, Agnes gets a secret message on her phone from Hamilton who she looks at it, away from everyone.

Fast forward back to present day with Rean, Rean talks that he was surprised Crow accepted a contract to help test Marduk’s new products and he’s surprised that Rufus is here too. Crow retorts that he’s a freelancer more than an employee, kinda like Arkride in a sense. Altina mentions that Rufus has been traveling all over the continent, and Rufus says something along the lines of “well, can’t exactly just walk back to Erebonia so I might as well travel everywhere else like the Free Cities and the other Central Eastern countries.” Lapis interrupts him by saying that’s exactly how she got a new body and “powered up” and says that she can experience being drunk now with it! Rean has the expression of a haha, but he asks isn��t she a little young to be drinking? And Rufus agrees saying that she’s too young and she’ll probably be allowed to drink whenever Nadia gets old enough to drink too. Lapis is kind of like, “grr I guess it’s fine if it’s together with Nadia.”

Feri impresses everyone with her natural insight and suspects there’s more to this exercise, and Kasim praises her to keep that instinct in mind, not just for her, but as the Kruga Clan’s Priestess too. Once the food is brought out, Van walks around to talk with the many groups.

Talking to Rean’s group, they briefly discuss Shizuna, and Van and Crow exchange their business cards. Crow asks Van why not just make her an official assistant already.

He says no freaking way, plus she’s ghosted all of them for nearly two months and recalls a moment where she stole his limited edition cake and brought a lesser replacement, laughing not knowing the difference. Lapis asks if it’s about the sweet cherry pie cake that’s available only in the Summer. Lapis mentions she’s eaten that too and it’s delicious. And Van says how can you even taste if you were stuck in that shard form back then (Kuro 2).

Van talks to Kasim and Feri, the two bonding. Mirabel explains that she traveled with Kasim back to his hometown and saw a smile that Kasim gave to Feri that she’s never even seen before. Van teases that isn’t it a bit unprofessional to be going together with a coworker back to their hometown on unrelated work duties.

Mirabel blushes and tries to deny it at first, but then gives up and says yeah, she and Kasim are dating (first hinted at in Kuro 2 in the finale, you can catch them watching a movie together!) and they’ve actually been dating for three years. Van teases her some more and she’s like grr why...

Van talks to Kevin, Bergard, and Thorndyke, basically confirming this whole exercise has an ulterior motive. Thorndyke doesn’t deny it, saying it’s for the advancement of AR technology. Kevin says the VR version of the tech is also super impressive too. Thorndyke mentions that it was a shame that ASO couldn’t make it,�� Van says it’s due to Agnes having her finals, and Quatre also being busy, but is surprised that Risette came and found out through her own way.

Van then heads to Altina and Risette talking with Rufus, mentioning it’s a strange combination. Risette corrects him saying, she’s been in touch with Altina for MK business purposes for a while, and also with Rufus because of the incident regarding Lapis. Altina says she knows Rufus and is actually grateful to him because he taught her “common sense” years ago. He says the same thing back to her, saying that she’s completely different from back then. She says she’s humbled.

Van asks if he’s cool with calling him Albarea instead of “Rufus A.” Rufus says he can do whatever, but people might get nosy. Rufus says he can’t roam the Capital so he’s glad that he was able to meet Van through this exercise. Van thanks for him what he was able to do in Kuro 2 with Marielle and Dingo.

Van eyes some very tasty cakes, but is saddened as he only asks for a few pieces while Lapis demands the entire cake.

Van relents because he has to be the better person since she’s never had pastries from Calvard. Feri checks in with Van, but finds him basically sulking saying he’s a failure. The server brings out another cake for him, trying to console him.

Van runs into Lapis again, eating an entirely different slice of cake, realizing she already ate the whole cake she took from before, and chastises her that a patisserie put their whole soul into it and she should savor every bite. Altina mentions to Van that actually, her original body was known to be a heavy eater too. Van worries about the financials of Swin and the others who had to deal with Lapis.

Van also runs a sweets blog.

Van then runs into Rean and Kasim, talking, both meeting for the first time and thanking each other for what happened in Cold Steel 4 with Operation Mille Mirage and that MK was a supporter in it. Bergard mentions that he saw Gaius after three years, thinking he would hate him, but instead he got a hug.

Kasim mentions how Feri’s life has changed and thinks perhaps Van could become an in-law and a member of the Kruga, Van gets mad saying don’t be ridiculous. Bergard asks Rean to have a good relationship with Van.

As the conversation with Thorndyke continues hoping that the group will continue to do more exercises, suddenly, the second phase of the Startaker Plan commences to everyone’s surprise.

With the AR tech, everyone is able to witness it up close, and see that the rocket launch is a moick-up of an Assault Frame. (It thinks it's the Hyaku Shiki!)

Harling then announces that the second phase will be completed and that the third launch will have a piloted Assault Frame.

Everyone now suspicious, thinks that the Startaker Project has a hidden purpose and MK inviting them is to that purpose.

Van leaves with his group, Rean leaves with theirs, suspicious, showing that they’ve brought their Panzer Soldats from Reverie. Rean looks at a letter by Yun Ka-Fai talking about how the Eight Leaves One Blade has to reach the Land of the Turning Tides and ponders on it.

Elsewhere, Lapis, concerned that humans have reached into a place not even Elysium has reached. She asks what Rufus will do, but he says, basically nothing as they need to work out any kinks with her body, and will meet up with Swin and Nadia. Kevin in the back seat, is hitch hiking, says that Lapis has a cute charm to her, and she says that his name “Kevin” isn’t that bad, it gets a 70, no 69 in terms of cuteness. Kevin says that’s a stingy number.

Kevin gets to the matter at hand calling him and Rufus, “bad adults” and he needs to hire them for a certain task.

Elsewhere, Campanella from the Society is observing things where he gets a very angry call from Novartis saying his help is different from what was promised. Campanella says he’s busy and Novartis tells him it’s too late to back out now and says to forget it and he won’t need his help at all, also cursing Harwood, saying he’s just going to get the new recruits to help him. Ulrika and Simeon both enter, with the former saying she was prepping for a livestream. Campanella asks to help with the Professor. Ulrika agrees and Campanella says it’s to help with the third phase of the Eternal Recurrence Plan, and the chapter ends with the opening playing.

[laurellerual]

Arya and Sansa storyswap: an exercise in imagination

Premise: I tried to speculate what might happen if Sansa manages to escape King's Landing and Arya gets stuck in the capital. I collected my thoughts on this scenario trying to make logical, credible choices that respected the characterization of the characters and the timeline of the books (the wiki was very usefull for this). I discarded all the scenarios that end in "…and then she dies horribly" because they're boring. I write with assumption that they would still remain POV characters and therefore mantain a minimum of plot armor. Like everyone, I have my biases so it's not perfect, but I tried to put myself in the most neutral mindset possible. Enjoy and let me know your thoughts. Part 2, Part 3

Part 1/3: Sansa

A Game of Thrones 

I believe Sansa's story would remain mostly the same until the end of Sansa III (AGOT). The only thing I feel like adding is an exchange with Arya. During breakfast Sansa notices Arya's bruises and her sister tells her about the secret passage with dragon skulls that she found, and how she got out of the Red Keep. Sansa clearly doesn't believe her and she thinks it's just Arya being weird.

At the end of Sansa III they receive the news that they will be leaving King's Landing soon, and she runs away crying and barricades herself in her room. In Sansa IV she is locked in Maegor's Holdfast and we find out that she went to Cersei to tell her about Ned's plan to leave. There's a narrative hole between these two chapters that can be exploited to make little changes. What happened that night after Sansa locked herself in her room? It has to be something that makes her change her mind about going to the queen or at least something that stops her from doing so. Personally I choose septa Mordane, you could expand her character and make her a little more similar to how she is in the show where she is shown genuinely loyal to House Stark.

The septa is present when Sansa escapes to her room so it's not unrealistic that she would decide to follow her. Sansa has been behaving "almost as wicked as Arya" lately so Mordane decides to follow her to lecture her or console her. Maybe she reaches her before she can barricade the door and make her see reason. Or perhaps seeing the girl so out of it she goes to Lord Eddard to talk, and she persuades him to talk again to his daughter and help her to calm down. Here you could write a scene parallel to the one in which Ned talks to Arya about Needle.

Sansa is not happy with her father's plans, and she begs him to go to the queen, to discuss this further and find another solution, to make her stay. To reassure her, Ned tells her that he already intends to go to Cersei (as he will do in Eddard XII), but he does not reveal the real reason why he wants to talk to her.

However he fears that the girl might take the initiative and do it herself. To be safe he assigns her a guard and ask him and the septa to prevent his daughter from interacting with Cersei before the departure. (I would like the guard to be Alyn but at this point he has already left for the Riverlands).

Cersei has less informations and when the moment of Ned's arrest arrives, Sansa is with her protectors that have already been warned to keep the Lannisters away from her. When the Lannister men arrive for her, the Stark guard slows them down and septa Mordane drags her away. First the two try to look for Ned, but they soon realize that the Tower of the Hand is under attack. The septa drags Sansa into the servants' quarters (into the kitchens? in the pantry?) idk.

The Septa shoves her in a dark niche, under a cupboard, throws a tablecloth over her and tells her to stay hidden. Mordane tries to think of a plan, but the Lannister men burst in. They recognize her as one of the Stark servants but when she does not provide useful information on the Stark girls they kill her. Sansa remains there all night, lying in the dust. She tries not to make any noise, she is terrified, and from her hiding place she can see the septa's corpse lying on the ground.

The first light of dawn comes in through a little window. Sansa tries to gather courage, she has to leave before the servants start working. The idea disgusts her, but she sees only one way to go unnoticed: she undresses Mordane, covers the silk dress with the septa's habit and hides the face with her veil. Then she wraps the woman in the tablecloth, as if it were a shroud and hides her in that same niche. She tries not to attract attention and find a way out. Sansa doesn't fully understand what happened, she would like to go to the queen or her father, but she is too afraid of the Lannister men after seeing them kill Mordane.

She hasn't eaten in a whole day so before leaving the kitchens she steals some food, like she did with Jeyne. The thought saddens her, who knows where her friend is? She hasn't seen her since she had breakfast with her and Arya. 'Arya...' Sansa remembers the secret passage her sister told her about and decides to try to reach it. With a little luck she makes it, no one pays attention to an anonymous septa. Thanks to the tunnel she manages to reach Flea Bottom.

Here she lives for a few days, trying to listen conversations to find out something about her father. Obv Sansa doesn't try to kill pigeons, she has to stoop to pilfering some food, and even eat trash. She mostly frequents the surroundings of the The Great Sept of Baelor and prays. She sings religious hymns and people take her for a begging septa and throw her some crumbs. One day the sept square fills with people, they are here for the execution of the traitor Eddard Stark. Sansa tries to climb up to not be crushed by the crowd. She sees her beloved Joffrey give the order! She screams, but her voice is drowned out by the noise.

The show is over, the people disperse again. She looks around desperately searching for something, she hopes for a friendly face. it is then that she recognizes a man dressed in black: it's Yoren. Sansa had seen him a few days earlier in the throne room, while he was asking father for men to recruit in the Night's Watch (in Sansa III). He's going away, but Sansa follows him. Now it's clear to her that King's Landing is no longer a safe place and this may be her only chance to return in the North, to home, to safety.

Yoren realizes he's being followed and try to scare her away. Sansa lifts her veil to show herself, she reveals her identity, She begs him to take her out of the city with him, she try to appeal to the ancient friendship between the Starks and the Night's Watch. Yoren looks at her face and recognizes a certain resemblance to Catelyn Stark. He chooses to believe her, so he cuts her hair, dresses her up as a boy and throws her in with the other recruits.

A Clash of Kings

I find it very funny that Sansa's boy name could be Sandor. Anyway, she tries to act nice and compliant to not put herself at risk, but mostly gets people to walk all over her. The younger recruits bully her because she “looks like a female (derogatory)” and she's an easy target. On the other hand, she doesn't have a sword to steal so Hot Pie and Lommy don't try to rob her, they just think she's a loser. Sansa keeps to herself, she doesn't go near Jaqen's cage, she doesn't catch a rabbit to share with Gendry, she doesn't manage to establish a particular relationship with anyone in the group. The commonfolk sucks, Yoren is kind I guess but he stinks. It will take a long time before she can start thinking about social injustice, for now she's just shocked by their miserable living conditions.

The Golden cloaks come looking for Gendry, but Sansa stays hidden because she thinks they are looking for her. Why would the queen want that rude guy? For a moment she thinks that he vaguely resemble Lord Renly… but no, that's nonsense. And even if it was, he's still a bastard. Yoren tells them that if the golden cloaks return they must escape.

One night the group go to sleep, but soon they are attacked by Amory Lorch. Sansa doesn't want to fight, she tries to hide, but in the chaos she ends up showing a soldier down from the tower, killing a man for the first time. She does everything she can to reach the trapdoor and escape. There's no way she'll go back to free Jaqen, but she decides to grab Weasel in the escape.

The small group of survivors, led by Gendry, arrive near an abandoned village. The Bull decides to explore it and takes Hot Pie with him. Sansa doesn't know it, but Gendry wants to abandon her and the others because he thinks they are just slowing them down. He has decided to propose the escape to Hot Pie because he is the second "less useless" choice after Arya. As per canon, Gendry and Hot Pie are captured by the Mountain's men (and probably die in Harrenhal).

Now here is an important change. Arya was captured and taken to Harrenhal because she returned to the village and try to save Gendry, but I don't think Sansa would do the same so she would not be captured at this point in the story. When Sansa and Weasel hear the sound of men in armor approaching, they run away to hide and leaves Lommy there to his fate.

The two girls now find themselves in the forest alone and without supplies in a land of burned villages, they're severely malnourished. Sansa would definitely think about trying to reach Riverrun, but she has no way of orienting herself. If we want to give her any hope of survival I'd say the only solution is for the two of them to be lucky enough to walk in the right direction. In this way the two get closer to the territory frequented by the Brotherhood without Banners and with a bit of luck the outlaws finds them before they die of starvation.

A Storm of Swords

The Brotherhood takes the orphans with them and feeds them. Weasel is probably left at the first inn/orphanage (where she will live a long and happy life), while Sansa meets Harwin, she is recognized and taken hostage. She learns that Winterfell has been conquered by Theon and that Bran and Rickon are dead.

She stark using women's clothes again because she prefers them. And also because every day she manages to hide the fact that she is a girl less and less. She has no intention of cutting her hair a second time, and now that she started eating regularly again she got her first period too. Coarse as they are, it is a relief to be surrounded by people who recognize her as a noble lady. Lady Ravella is a breath of fresh air and Tom is an acceptable singer. She enjoys Edric Dayne's company and thinks he's cute, but she doesn't understand why he wants to talk about Jon Snow.

Sansa is taken to Lord Beric who promises to reunite her with her mother. The sight of the undead man repulses her, but his behavior is chivalrous enough. She certainly doesn't try to escape, she just hopes that he respects his oath.

One day a prisoner with a familiar and unmistakable face is brought to the Hollow Hill: it's the Hound.

[return-of-the-vegetable]

( inspired by @conceptofjoy )

also Indulgent ass pesterlogs/chatlogs below :

-

DIRK: Hey, bro. DIRK: How're you settling in so far?

(DAVE): not too bad not too shabby (DAVE): im still confused as fuck by everything and i vaguely feel like ill keep being confused by things forever since everything is just so different from what im used to (DAVE): especially given that earth c and all of this other stupid sburb game bullshit either wasnt seen by lalonde because it was just too far away in the future or she just didnt think of telling me stuff due to the fact that im a bit of a skeptical idiot and all that (DAVE): i mean at the same time though i think any normal ass person would have a right to be skeptical of how betty crocker is supposedly an evil tyrannical alien witch of sorts whos planning to completely submerge the earth in water (DAVE): but like fuck us specifically right

DIRK: Yup. I guess so. DIRK: To be completely frank with you, though, I'm still used to seeing SBURB as a double edged sword. DIRK: Like, sure, it lead to me getting killed several times, nearly all of them by decapitation, and the situations it put me and my friends in lead to many complications within our group.

(DAVE): man do you always have to mention the decapiation thing

DIRK: Shut up, I'm talking. DIRK: But also, speaking of said friends: it orchestrated the requierments necessary for us to meet. DIRK: And then it lead to Earth C, which I'm glad exists, because I'm pretty sure I couldn't have survived on that dingy little apartment tower forever.

(DAVE): uuughhhh (DAVE): if i had more goddamn time man i think i wouldve snapped a picture of every country on earth to be able to show you the world a little more (DAVE): but youre right it is a double edged sword no matter how shitty the sword and the edge is (DAVE): probably shittier than a god forsaken sord (DAVE): id be offended if that wasnt one hell of an accomplishment

DIRK: Hahaha, holy shit. DIRK: How'd you even figure out how to make those shitty real life jpegs, anyways?

(DAVE): trade secrets (DAVE): only the 3 dave striders that occupy this world are allowed to know

DIRK: Aww. DIRK: Only the three, though? What about Davepeta?

(DAVE): uhhhh thats a good question (DAVE): id probably give them my secrets if they asked but im not too sure what to think about them in general tbh because theyre a furry and also the happiest strider ive ever seen (DAVE): how many striders are there anyway again ive lost count of our kind multiple times at this point

DIRK: Hold on, I'm also trying to remember right now. DIRK: Well, there's the aformentioned four daves, even though Davepeta is kind of a weird spot given that they're also a leijon, me, Hal, ARquius, and then Bro. DIRK: So that makes for a total of eight.

(DAVE): got damn

[bestworstcase]

hello ive been combing through some of your rwby meta and a thought struck me in regards to this line you wrote when talking about the Maidens:

"the last spring maiden died under circumstances that have left raven emotionally shattered more than a decade later"

ive been thinking a lot about your theory of summer defecting to salem's side, and assuming thats true my thought was: did summer defect during her secret mission with raven and kill the spring maiden, all in front of raven?

raven was presumably close to the maiden based off conversations in v4, and we know that she portaled to Someone in the flashback(?) ruby saw in v9. i thought maybe it could've been qrow but tbh knowing rwby thats seems too easy of an answer, and maybe it couldve been vernal but for some reason I had been thinking vernal came post spring maiden's death.

though if summer DID defect on her own terms, while we dont know the woman and v9's whole thing was that ruby (maybe by extension the audience) had her on this pedestal, outright murdering someone that she once considered "on her side" might seem quite coldhearted for what little we do know. but it may also explain raven's fear of salem and her desire to stay the fuck out of her way, beyond just summer defecting. because if raven was close with summer like it seems like she was in that flashback, either at that point or in past because i'd think the abandoning yang thing would put a damper on good vibes, seeing your friend and teammate turn tail against everything you know and murder a child (?) would be uh, bothersome.

im new to the spinning my own thoughts game but thought i'd take a stab at rambling. cheers!

mumbles in all things must die

yeah i’m as close to 100% certain as it’s possible to be that the person on the other end of that portal was gretchen rainart the last spring maiden; i think the possibility that it might have been qrow on the grounds that we know raven has a link to him is an intentional red herring. (and if it was qrow, it would have had to be a case of raven using him as a fast-travel point without his awareness, a la in V5, because otherwise that would imply he lied through his teeth to ruby when she asked him if he knew anything about summer’s last mission in V7.) (similarly, vernal seems to be around cinder’s age if not younger—she would have been like, ten or eleven at the time.)

based on what summer says in the glimpse (“if i get this right”) and what’s said of the last spring maiden (that she was young and scared), i think the plan was for summer to confront salem alone, with raven and spring at a safe distance on escape duty: kindred link gives raven some way of knowing when her bonds are in danger, so if summer gets into trouble or things go wrong, raven opens a portal with spring there to fireball salem in the face (as cinder did to ruby at haven), hopefully buying enough time for raven to jump through, grab summer, and immediately portal back to spring. neither of them would’ve wanted the spring maiden anywhere near salem, and sending summer in “solo” gives raven’s emergency save the advantage of surprise. yeah?

but what i think happened is summer found salem, and salem—who at the time was not participating in ozpin’s war—intuited that summer wasn’t here under ozpin’s auspices, ergo did not fully trust ozpin and might be open to hearing salem’s side of the story. so instead of fighting back, salem let summer see that she couldn’t be killed and then started talking. and whatever she told summer was convincing enough to make summer want… some sort of proof. something more than the he-said-she-said to tell her who she could trust.

like, oh, say… maybe the relic of knowledge.

conveniently, she’s got raven waiting for her with the spring maiden, who can open the vault to retrieve the lamp.

so she signals raven by whatever means for a portal out, and then either recounts what salem told her honestly or comes up with some lie justifying why they need to get the lamp. (“summer rose, telling lies!” <- hm.)

i don’t buy the common assumption that raven and/or summer used the first question, because a) ozpin never shared jinn’s name with anyone, and b) if summer had learned it somehow prior to joining salem, salem would have already known the “password.”

what seems the most likely to me is that the three of them did sneak into haven academy, opened the vault, and figured out that the lamp had some kind of passphrase. at this point, summer and raven split on what to do. if summer told the truth about what she wanted the lamp for, perhaps she wanted to bring it to salem in exchange for more information and raven thought that was too risky wanted to go confront ozpin instead. if summer lied, maybe implying she needed the lamp to find a counter to some defense salem had against silver eyes, this would have been the moment the truth came out and i’d imagine raven would react badly.

into the mix of this very high-stakes disagreement, add summer’s obvious resentment of raven for leaving and raven’s equally obvious inferiority complex toward summer, and you have the perfect recipe for an emotionally volatile argument to get out of control and come to blows.

and, points at the ozlem girls. points at vernal. i think the spring maiden got caught in the crossfire and was fatally wounded taking a hit meant for raven, and then summer fled and left raven holding the bag. raven either mercy-killed spring to spare her an inevitable but slow and agonizing death, or just couldn’t do anything to save her; the magic passed to her, she sealed the lamp back in the vault, and then ran. i think this was when raven returned to the tribe, because she’d already burned a lot of bridges by leaving her family whereas summer was the ideal, the paragon, the perfect huntress—the good mother—so who the fuck would believe raven if she told them that the spring maiden, her charge, was dead because summer rose betrayed them all for salem and murdered her?

they already blamed raven for tearing team strq apart. if she’d gone back to ozpin with the spring maiden’s blood on her hands, she would have taken the fall for spring’s death—and quite likely summer’s, too, because summer rose was the best of us, the silver-eyed warrior, and what’s easier to believe? that your paragon of virtue and hope joined the enemy, or that the prickly ex-bandit everyone is still mad at for blowing up her relationship with tai and abandoning her daughter is telling an obvious lie to save her own skin?

meanwhile summer also can’t go back home because she did kill the spring maiden and really, catastrophic failed detour to corroborate salem’s story or not, she was salem’s from the minute she chose to listen to what salem had to say.

[elkkiel]

“shy” anon,

im gonna play a little bit of catch up here, cause theres some things i missed in previous messages. either the tags or in the replies under them lol

i would love if you drew something for me *flustered noises* your kitty art is my favourite. if youre curious or if it will help, iv is so heart eyes.

ill have to take the time to write out the blondie recipe for you, and ill get back to you with it. ill make sure to include some secrets and tricks in it ;)

as for my project, it is an original work. i cant give you any details about plot. but its a part of a very large series that im working on, like 12 part series (<- that is something i havent told anyone on here, so youre special for getting to hear about it).

weve interacted…id say a semi-decent amount, but id say we’re only acquaintances at most. you definitely know who i am though lol. its fine that you dont want to figure it out, makes it more fun >:)

FINALLY

KITTY. CUTE KITTY. HELLO BEANS *frantically waves* YOURE PRECIOUS. I MUST BOOP. she has such a :3 face. i want to squish her so bad. *cute agression noises*

the weather here has been…idk, alright i guess. we only have a few inches of snow here, but the temps are supposed to drop like -20 something in the next couple days and im NOT looking forward to it. i am so not a cold weather person.

eeooguh texture…its the thing that can ruin super tasty food so quickly.

i dont have any pets at the moment, but ive had lots growing up. dogs, cats, horses, even chickens at one point when i was really young. a pet that i want to get is a Maine Coon.

aside from sleep token, what kind of other music do you listen to? i dont remember seeing you talk about other bands/musicians on here before. second question, if youve gone to any, what was your favourite concert youve been to?

oh goodness, we've got quite the conversation going now, huh? definitely not complaining, though :3

I certainly do feel special getting those ✨exclusive details✨ hehe ^//w//^ that's such a big project wow!!!! have you made any headway on writing it yet, or are you still in the planning phase? how long do you think the finished series is gonna be, like are they short stories or multichapter stories? good on you for committing to something that big lol, I'm a little intimidated just thinking about it

oh, so we ARE a bit more familiar with each other then... well isn't that fun for you? since we've interacted before, and will almost definitely interact (off anon) again. I'll admit that I love me a little game of cat and mouse, especially when only one of us knows who we're playing with *//w//*

chickens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! there's a backyard hens program in my city and that seems like so much fun!!!!!!!! and a Maine coon would be so so nice 🩷🩷🩷 a big fluffy friend 🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

okay!! q&a time!!

I listen to a bit of everything, but I definitely hit metalcore/djent the hardest—it scratches my brain really nicely lol. For the same reason, I like a lot of electronic music too (I'm in a weird, on-and-off drum and bass phase right now) and more experimental alt pop.

bands/artists I like: thrice (beggars album and earlier), spiritbox, jinjer, alpha wolf, thrown, electric callboy, vukovi, ice nine kills, poppy (her heavier stuff), polyphia, mothica, nothing but thieves, etc etc lol. Sorry for the grocery list of names :P

and I've never actually been to a concert before! I'm seeing killswitch engage in Calgary next year, so that'll be my first one!

again, I'll hit you with an uno reverse and pass the question back to you :3 what's your taste in music look like? you're already into sleep token, so I'm sure it's *chef kiss* lol

[outer-spec]

OCtober 2024 ⭐ Day 4: Under-Appreciated OC

The first OC that comes to mind for this prompt is Juno, because she's supposed to be the main character, but I feel like she isn't as fleshed out as her friends. character traits that she has that i love:

does not give up, she will wear herself down to the point of exhaustion first

complex about trying to save/help as many people as possible, gets sad if she can't save someone

knows martial arts

she acts more chill and good-natured than Steve and Tora, who are really petty.

basically the caretaker of her friends, they go to her for advice, and she has to remind them to not do stupid shit.

usually shes the only sane man. but occasionally acts deranged. examples:

crazy determination, as previously stated

represses so much shit, to focus on fighting for the greater good

lowkey kind of a gun nut

every once in a while, the tables turn, and she does some stupid shit herself. and her friends have to step in for her. because thats what she did for them

attracted to stupid people

part of her arc is figuring out that her current boyfriend isn't right for her, and breaking up, and then getting a girlfriend.

so. much. angst.

i want her to be able to relax in the post canon. actually i want everyone to relax post canon. i think after you save an alternate version of earth, u should get paid at least enough to retire forever. i want them to be happy

also, if possible, id like to flesh out "Dale" more, and give him a different name. i want to also flesh out the other minor characters in hexagon. so far Dr. Moss, Terry, and Charlie all have their own toyhouse pages, but i have other vague ideas for background characters that i wanna make more concrete eventually.

anyway outside of hexagon, some other characters that should probably get fleshed out more:

the various ocs that i posted about on Day 2

Petra - shes part of her own fantasy world that i made ages ago but mostly forgot about

space robots - i love these guys so much!!! i feel like i should make a secret third space robot, like a dog that represents twilight

literally every other character in the untitled robot game (i ran out of character ideas)

since the alien cats are loosely based off of scientology lore. i think it would also be funny to base some of the robots off of lesswrong and e/acc ideas. im sorry, but cults have the best scifi worldbuilding.

ok but this is a bit of a random tangent but: scientology lore, especially the Xenu story, talks about powerful alien organizations that use psychological manipulation to oppress people. the church of scientology portrays itself as being the opposite of these organizations, but someone who is anti-scientology could also write about these organizations to make them allegories for the church. on a similar note you could also use the paperclip maximizer as a metaphor for big tech corporations that waste resources and hurt the environment. or use the ai box thought experiment as a metaphor for charismatic cult leaders.

also since my MCs are based off of vocaloids. i do plan to use vocaloid characters as inspo for some of the other characters, but not completely.

OCtober is by @bweirdart

(ps: i had a thing for day 3 all written out beforehand, but i forgot to post it cause i was so busy with schoolwork, so its under the cut)

OCtober 2024 Day 3: Old OC

technically i don't know who my oldest oc is, because ive literally been making up little guys in my head ever since I was capable of forming memories. but heres some honorable mentions:

when i was in ~5th grade i was obsessed with dragons, so i bugged my mom to sew me a dragon hoodie for halloween, and she did, and i had lots of fun. the dragon hoodie was so cool that in my head, i invented a story about girls wearing magical dragon & unicorn pajamas that turned them into those creatures in another world or something, i forget most of the details tho.

one time i was walking around the playground and talking to myself. and i came up with a story about dragon people living in this isolated town where nobody was allowed to leave. the town was ruled by this dragon named "Firelord" and it was surrounded by this huge ring of fire. some dragon kids escaped though, to figure out what was actually going on.

it turned out that Firelord was one of four quadruplets with magical powers, they were Earthlord, Waterlord, Firelord, and Airlord. but they had an evil younger brother named Hypnolord, who wanted to take over the world, and had everyone trapped in his evil skyscraper prison. So Firelord made the town where nobody is allowed to leave, to protect everybody. fortunately the dragon kids defeated Hypnolord, and saved the day.

i was really into legos and dragons. so for my birthday my mom went on ebay and bought a bunch of the baby norbert lego figure in different colors. while listening to music i imagined them in music videos in my head, eventually each figure had like. its own personality.

also when lego elves came out, i bought all of the lego elves dragon sets. and each of those baby dragons also got their own personality too.

I had this oc Max, who was a stupid teenage boy, and his little sister Megan was like this child genius. originally Max was supposed to be super depressed and edgy, but eventually evolved to be totally different.

Max and Meg weren't actually related. they were adopted by a talking cat that was their dad. the cat was british

also sometimes Megan had this other friend who was a child serial killer. she had the same black hat as that one xkcd character that has that hat, becuase theyre both eeeeevil.

i drew so much fanart of them, i cringe to remember what my art style was like then   

you can probably tell that i liked dragons as a child

[ohwell-itsme-but-danganronpa]

Alternative Chapters 3 & 4 of v3

Cute idea for how to promote a friend's AU: airing how I made them cry with my suggestions when they asked for ideas

Read Vespertin-y's Clockwise talent swap AU https://vespertin-y.tumblr.com/post/721299444787740672/clockwise-talentswap-lore-pt-1

Ves: ack. what do i dooooo for the ch3 motive i cant just use the necronomicon again can i

that depends, who do you want to act on a motive?

Sini: Kirumi or Gonta would probably make good chapter 3 culprits in my opinion

Ves: kirumi is the ch1 killer. gonta...oooh i haven't decided how to handle the survivor/adventurer thing with him yet. maybe survivor but it's for surviving the wilderness instead of dr??? ough i ought to get rid of himiko at some point for tenko angst purposes

Himiko could be the collateral second kill of ch3

Ves: yeah…maybe she just walked in on body hiding shenanigans? ohhhh tenko would be SO mad YOU KILL HER ALMOST-GIRLFRIEND AND NOT EVEN FOR A GOOD REASON THE AUDACITY

just what I had in mind

Sini: That cute moment between her and Gonta at the end of chapter 3? Yeah, forget that here

Ves: i think that i will let artist kiyo throttle anthropologist mugi with a garotte wire. as a treat. revenge for a past life i quite LIKE anthropologist mugi but what can ya do

Sini: Keep it to two victims and two culprits >: )

Ves: wouldn't gonta be SO fun as a survived killer though…hmm i am going to make all of kokichi's favorite people into murderers and bully him into not viewing the world so black and white

Sini: Your bestie is a murderer? Well, he’s still alive. What you gonna do about that? What do you think of that, huh?

Ves: your bestie is a murderer so is ur boyfriend HITS U WITH NUANCE STICK

okay, so Kiyo kills Tsumugi, perhaps frames Himiko like he tried to in canon, and Gonta accidentally kills her in a confrontation?

either early in the investigation, or Himiko first found the body and was seen running away by Gonta (aka Hyioko being the main suspect in ch2 of sdr2 type beat)

Gonta doesn't mean to hurt anyone, but. He's stronger than he thinks and Himiko was freaking out since to her, he might as well have been the killer, she hasn't seen anyone else out and about either so she'd try to get away from him

so it'd be just like knocking out Shuichi in canon, except, well.

Ves: that's so SAD fuckkk gonta :((((( tenko would lose. her. mind.

still rotating the possibilities of what Kiyo's in-game motive could be, I want to say that it's still a crime of passion, Tsumugi does piss him off with something

Ves: making him lose control of his own strength like that is the meanest thing ive ever heard. i might change it to him accidentally chasing himiko somewhere dangerous bc that's SO sad ACK I ALREADY DID THE ACCIDENTAL TRIPPING MURDER IN CH2 THOUGH WAILS yeag i haven't quite figured kiyo out yet… i think strangulation works better with a premeditated crime, what with him coming up behind her…but the clay cutting wire WAS just sitting around in his lab. hrm. mb she angie's herself by coming across him plotting a crime, that seems like the easiest option and i do want moogi to be an observer-type character, always watching in the background

maybe she gets too nosy not really on accident, too much accidents around here she ends up knowing too much not a plan, but a secret, a motive to get out, personal, and she wants the tea, it's scorching hot, you're going to burn yourself, Tsumugi

snhdfghf yeah…got too silly [pensive emoji] she just wanted to knowwww she's a little Too fascinated by people and with someone with as many secrets as korekiyo that is Not a friendly trait oh maybe that's the motive!! secrets, like in thh ch2

Ch4

so the deaths are ch1: Maki, Kirumi ch2: Ryoma, Miu ch3: Tsumugi, Korekiyo, Himiko ch4:??? ch5: Angie, Shuichi ch6: Kaito plot armour: Kiibo, Tenko, Kokichi

Kaede and Rantaro, is it fate? the only other option is Gonta

Ves: AH FUCK HOW DID I DO THAT BY ACCIDENT

congratulations

I mean, you could Sakura Gonta since he's definitely not doing fine

but Kaede doing nothing for the whole game is a little ooc, girlie takes the matters in her own hands

boy's not coping after ch3 either way

Ves: i was looking through my past randomizers and found a ch5 where kaede kills himiko after being tricked into thinking she's the mastermind…i could move that up to ch4. but why himiko..

Himiko's dead already tho

Ves: idk i haven't committed to that yet,,tricking kaede into thinking rantarou is the mastermind feels. cliche

what if she thinks Gonta is the mastermind since he got away with murder

Ves: what kind of fucking machine would bbygirl have to build to take out GONTA poisonous insects???

she's just setting up a trap still, a wrong person could walk in it, she sets it up at Gonta's lab but Rantaro walks in for something

Ves: NOT AGAIN [sob emoji] THAT'S SO FUNNY ACTUALLY SHSL UNLUCKY RANTAROU REAL

yes, she releases something venomous in his lab, little buggie just wanders off

or it does get Gonta, cause. He would be so devastated when he finds out that he was the one supposed to die. Literally so much worse for him than dying

Ves: HOW DID THIS WHOLE THING TURN INTO GONTA BULLYING I CAN'T HAVE HIM ACCIDENTALLY KILL SOMEONE AND HAVE SOMEONE ELSE DIE IN HIS PLACE THAT'S OBSCENE my poor son [sob emoji]

back to Sakura arc, he finds out about the attempt without anybody getting hurt

Ves: i'll figure it out in the shower probably update: i took a shower and didn't figure it out [pensive emoji]

Sini: Maybe keep the idea of Gonta killing Himiko and Kaede killing Gonta, and then have Rantaro die because he broke the rules in some way? You could pull a Mukuro on him

I got another idea too, what if Rantaro kills Kaede if you were to use the card key motive again, what if he gets ahold of it, frustrated just like others with Angie insisting they just don't use it and stay there forever when it could be an exit or used to reveal mastermind's identity, so he steals it from her and finds out about the end of the world, so he snaps, "we should have died with everyone" kind of thing, Kaede is the easiest target to start with (if Himiko is already out) since she's weaker than him and trusting (unlike Ouma)

Sini: What if….You mixed the two? Like, Kaede is the one in Rantaro’s place, whose character throughout the game has been kind of regressing as time has gone on. Growing more pessimistic and untrusting. She would also be eager to know if the key could reveal the mastermind’s identity in any way, since she’s been looking for them since day one and growing more paranoid and bitter about it. Once the key card motive is revealed, she steals it from Angie and parallels Gonta in that she believes the others should all die. She could still kill Gonta because she finds him suspicious, and if he’s not, then he’s actually a pretty easy target to lure. She also might want to kill him because she believes it’s what he deserves after what he did (in that case, the character regression would be very real). Or, she could go full Gonta, and believe killing Gonta is best because he was the nicest of the group and has already gone through sm pain that he deserves to die first/not through execution. I feel like Kaede would definitely be the type to take the burden of living if she had to

having more time in the game Kaede's whole preaching cooperation and trust would slowly crumble away, seeing how in canon she was trying to reassure herself as much as the others at the start and failed to, coming to conclusion that she needs to do something herself, that Shuichi's plan is not enough, that she's not going to hope Kaito's group comes up with something. Here she had time to simmer in it and get so much worse

and I'd love to see that, let her run out of positive things to say, hang outs to distract herself with, mantras to fall asleep to and hopes that all of that was a bad dream. She can't keep waiting for something to happen and then the next thing that happens is another murder instead of the awaited rescue, to get out she is going to make it happen

guess, she was wrong when she got there, maybe you can't trust people, maybe they're all out for blood, maybe somebody else is already planning her demise

Sini: Yeah…. And there’s no point. The world is destroyed There’s no home to go back to She might as well take a chance at killing the one person she can suspect as the mastermind

she regressed so far that she reached the pg Kaede mindset, no faith in humanity, they're all capable of murder, perhaps they're there because they deserve it

Sini: YES! If even Gonta can kill…Nobody is safe. Nobody can be trusted She kills him with the poisonous bug, but the others wouldn’t know that until ways into the trial. They might think it’s classic poison. Calling back to canon chapter 4 with the poison left on the seat. Both are diversions

if they all die, then there will be no more humanity, no more cruelty, betrayal after betrayal, it'll be over

Kaede humming "no children" by mountain goats while picking out a poison to plant on the crime scene

Sini: Imagine for a moment Kaito is framed, again? Cause he’s the ultimate detective, the poison might’ve came from his lab

Sini: Also, this would hurt Kokichi sm. He’s already been questioning himself with the reveal of Gonta being the second culprit. He’s alive and he doesn’t know if he can even look at him anymore… His feelings on the matter conflicting with one another. And then to later find that he’s dead? O O F

framing Kaito is a good idea, but also what if she staged it as a suicide, really take Kokichi out of investigation with a gut punch imagine he said some shit to Gonta after the 3rd trial he'd blame himself

Sini: So I was thinking with this that maybe Rantaro doesn’t vote for Kaede in chapter 4 because if the world is really destroyed, then his sisters (if still lost in this au) are most certainly dead. However, I don’t think he would do that unless he was 100% certain that the world was destroyed. He’d have to see it for himself to truly believe, as he has his doubts on the legitimacy of all this. So what if in chapter 5, if they all see the outside world and later become depressed, TW Rantaro actually commits to killing himself? He’d do it in front of everyone so that there is no case to solve. The guilt and grief he’d feel….He’d see no point in living anymore. He might even feel guilty for not being able to be useful in preventing the murders or doing more to uncover the truth. He’d consider himself a failure in every way. Maybe he does so through breaking another rule? Again, typical Mukuro, but just done on purpose

no 4th survivor, huh

Ves, reading up after leaving for a bit:

well first of all i think im never leaving you to babysit an au again. second of all AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA kaedeee :((( also rantarou :((((( also gonta :((((((- you did not leave anyone untouched huh

Sini: HEY! IT’S UP TO YOU! Rantaro doesn’t have to die, that’s just if you want to keep the survivor count the same as in canon

Ves: i think im gonna up the survivor count…maybe by making ch3 a single murder? nnnn. kaede killing gonta is sounding real good though Sini: She could still do so, just maybe it’s as simple as Gonta is an easy target and he’s the nicest so he should be spared an awful death

Ves: NSHJDBGHSGDD….she said fuck ALL YALL except for you gonta you're an angel and we're all glad you're here- i think abt the gonta&himiko scene where he asks how he can help and she tells him he radiates so much mana he can just stand there and it'll help her simply Having A Gonta Around does wonders for magic

Sini: IT DOES But man, that just reminds me how sad Gonta killing Himiko is If you make it where just Korekiyo is the culprit, maybe have him kill Himiko instead. That way we can have the Tenmiko angst, just reverse. Also, we’d get Tsumugi as a survivor, which I think has potential. Let Tsumugi have a character arc!

that would made ch4 weaker, but ig that would mean Himiko getting Angie'd since he only had a motive to kill Tsumugi?

Ves: i think maybe. do something to make gonta think of it as his fault even if he didn't directly off someone

but think about Kokichi's character arc

Ves: AH FUCK I FOROT ABT THAT maybe he kills kiyo???? no execution on a technicality bc kiyo killed first,,

then he'd get executed cause monokuma wouldn't have anyone else to execute? Like Celeste?

Ves: there wasn't the first come first serve rule in that game though "Rule #15: If two different murders by different murderers occur at the same time, only the one whose victim was found first will be the blackened." do i have to HIDE kiyo then?? what vague wording

and in ndrv3, Monokuma only introduced the rule in ch3, knowing what happened to sow distrust but Gonta wouldn't want to get away with murder, so he wouldn't hide the body

Ves: but i also wanted to have more survivors :[

Sini: Mind you, Kokichi can still have that moment to himself cause Shuichi exists. But Gonta being a killer could do wonders for his character as well. If you have it where Kiyo kills Himiko and Gonta kills Kiyo, then it’s very likely Gonta could still get executed cause he’s the only culprit left alive.

then stick the the og idea, you can save Rantaro instead of Tsumugi

Ves: so like. himiko runs away from the crime scene, gonta tries to catch her, breaks her spine like a rabbit at the vet?

nothing's going to have the same impact, this is good because it's Gonta and she isn't even the culprit and he doesn't get executed

this is what hits the spot for character arcs for Tenko, Kokichi and Kaede (her last fucking nail) and anything else would be softening the blow, that's no what DR is about, hit them with the hammers

Ves: you're right and i hate it ○|￣|_ kokichi doesn't make up with gonta bc of his own pride and then gonta FUCKING DIES, and that feeds nicely into his forgiveness for shuuichi…i see the vision

(edited by Ves)

and to finish it off, my take on the Themes in the AU:

what an interesting theme for the entire season it paints, the power struggle, having people who try to define and control you, use you for entertainment vs the abused, overcoming, getting from under the shoe SWINGING, finding ways to be their own person. Tenko's crisis would fit in nicely, and have parallels with Kaede's arc downwards. They both start as leader types that might come over a little bit too strong, Tenko loses faith in herself, Kaede loses faith in people, Tenko gives up on leading and falls in step with others, Kaede gives up on others and starts acting on her own, behind their backs. Kaede wants to make the decision for everyone that life's no longer worth it. Angie wants to decide what's best for everyone. Kaito wants to decide their lives, treating them like puppets. But their lives are their own. And true leadership is guidance, not force. Shuichi is the tragic example, showing how important having community is to be able to stand a chance against abusive authority. well, for M1-U it might be more dying on her own terms at best, would be cool if she self-destructed after getting hauled-off to the execution of found a way to make the execution go differently than Monokuma intended

Sini: Shuichi had access to community but couldn't truly be a part of it due to how Kaito controlled him. You could maybe contrast that with Kokichi who goes through a positive arc of letting people in and teaming up with others more. Him representing what a good leader could look like

it was too little, too late for Shuichi

Sini: OOOOO! YEAH! That's perfect! She died doing her own thing and by her own hands OH SHIT! That's actually really poetic. Cause in canon, Kaito is the one who died on his own and not by Monokuma's hands. Now he's the villain who got beat by his own alternative actions

Ves: haha loser get thematically reversed

[bonesandthebees]

phil:

- hes smart and good at what hes doing, I wouldnt be surprised if he got his position by skill not from his father

- he is the most powerful guy in the palace and he knows it but also knows he cant show it and has to nudge sam in the right direction not tell him what to do

- he knows how to play the court game, using servants and all, and also never shows all his cards (not asking sam about the announcement after he found out about it)

- its clear where his trust lies, techno, sneeg to a certain degree and wilbur (I believe he wasnt telling him everything so far just bc he was young and didnt need to know)

- techno is his bestie

- his goals are also pretty clear, at least thanks to what we know from wilburs pov

im sure he cares about the kingdom and advises sam well, his advice about choosing an heir made a lot of sense, but it was also a way to ensure that wilbur will know all the possible heirs and have his position more secure

now that theres a possible new heir, tommy has become a danger to this plan bc hes a latecomer to the party and its not sure if he would choose wil, were he to become the heir

niki:

- very close to wilbur

- smart and favoured by the people, studying and trying hard to get ready to possibly become a queen

- shes been trained well to survive in court, perfecting the art of keeping a straight face, saying appropriate stuff, knowing how to dress etc.

- she doubts it outloud but I have a feeling inside she knows about her solid chances of being chosen

- yes shes really nice, but im sure the wish to become queen from childhood still stays, she does want the power and I dont doubt she could go to great lengths to get the power

q:

- sounds like a smart ambitious fella

not sure why is he so sure about being chosen, but maybe thats just his personal delusion, that does sound like a c! quackity trait

- would like to see him become the king purely to see how he would wear his coif under the crown

sam:

- loves ponk and doesnt even try to hide it too much but also will never admit it

- in the prequel it seemed like he valued phils advice, but rn im not so sure

it looks like he wants to show phil hes the one with power or that he can also find a potential heir himself, phil mentioned he likes to experiment

but its also possible hes being so secretive about tommy for a completely different reason, hopefully well learn next chapter

there is so much we know already about them after only one chapter its crazy when you actually realise

-

ive just realised the very real probability of tommy forming relationships with techno and phil, its still sbi fic after all, and there are so many possibilities I cant wait to see it play out

well now I go read others' asks while I buzz with excitement about both rose and glass

2/2

oh yeah phil didn't get his position from his father! he became the consil all on his own merit. that's something you'll learn more about later on :)

the thing is is that phil is smart. he is cautious and knows when not to overplay his hand, and he also understands what moves need to be taken to progress the game. he knows his power and wants wilbur to have that as well.

niki is definitely the favored and expected heir. in a way, this is more her birthright than anyone else's. she's trained for this her entire life, and even if she has her doubts, she wants to believe that she's the best choice for the role. and the desire for power is there. it's been there since she was a little girl.

LMAOOO that's the real question here, how would quackity wear the coif under the crown. alternate universe where quackity realizes that he'd have to take the coif off if he ever became king and immediately decides he doesn't want it

(he is extremely clever and ambitious though. he knows what he wants and he is going to find a way to get it)

sam definitely still values phil's advice, but he's having a sort of... mid life crisis of sorts where he's realizing just how much of his rule has been dependent on phil. he's trying things out for himself, but he's not really sure what the long term effects can be. it's very dumb of him, in all honesty.

so excited for you guys to see how this all plays out :)

[jakesangel]

i even had to screenshot your answer my love! in order to respond to e-ve-ry-thing you’ve asked 🫳🏻🫳🏻

yep yep! mba is the exact same thing you’ve wrote in your reply! this semester i studied marketing and things like it! oooh and I also had a very interesting course on consumers’ behaviour and psychology! it was soso fun ><

i got my bachelor in my home country and then i thought about travelling a bit and i chose korea cuz ive been studying korean for a little and i just enjoy the culture yk?? so i applied for masters and got accepted ^^

and yesss i can speak korean!! not as great as i wish i could but its still something.. i mean im still alive here anddd it would be a pleasure for me to be your 언니 ^^

when it comes to books my fav is the secret history im not sure if you’ve heard about it but im so in love with the story I was literally obsessed with the book for like have a year!

i love horrors too but i prefer to watch mostly because im a scaredy cat to play by myself.. but i love playing league and overwatch and something like this!!

oh actually im planning to order some makeup today too! i was thinking the whole week about buying the new dasique lip painting palette anddd i need some glossies and probablyy some skincare things.. im out of my centella serum oops ><

and i love clean and cute makeup! do it everyday but I especially love my lashes and my eyes in general cuz I have big brown eyes and my friend call me bambi because of them so im trying to emphasise them to look like a little doll

hope you have a good day princess!!

— 🍧

🍧 언니 > < 잘 지내셨어요?

그렇구나ᵎᵎ 너의 과목를 좋아해요ᵎᵎ 난 의대 준비중인 학생이에요 >< 너도, 한국에 가고 싶어요 ᵎᵎ 빨리 갈 수 있으면 좋겠네요 ㅋㅋㅋ

please tell me about the book, it seems interesting >< i also love wathcing horrid but playing im so so so bad ㅎㅎ i need to have my brothers w me or else i cant physically move in the game. i've even scream at 3 am n angered my parents,,,, aaaah over watch n lol ᵎᵎ you would get along w my brothers so so well ᵎ i'm more into games w a story line like tomb raider or until dawn ^_^

i've never heard of those makeup products i'll defo look into it ᵎ i'm gonna get the anua skincare line and a new highlighter pen but idk where yet >< i also need a new gloss, i might get the one wonyoung uses ^.^ ong that's such a lovely n qtie name :( u must look so so so pretti irl ᵎ my little bambi 🥰 i'm also into trying to oook like a doll so i wear lots of highlight n pink tones, n my eyes are also round so i really really loving younger than my age. like i went to a doctor appointment for my brothers but they didn't let me pass and asked me where were our parents tho i'm 21 ㅋㅋ

what's your plans for summer >< so you age any girl ᵎ or things to visit in korea ?ᩚ

[unlimitedtrees]

talkin' about the largest level from my game, 'UNITRES Dreams' , called ~DREAMSCAPE DISTANCE - SECTION 2~

hello. today i want to talk about the level 'Dreamscape Distance - Section 2' from the game i made, 'UNITRES Dreams'. this level is one of the largest levels i've ever made in any of my games, and it's something i'm really proud of and want to talk a little bit about. so click the read more thingy if you wish to learn more about it,,

also , By The Way, play da on newgrounds ehehehehe ~! or u can download it on itch.io too if you want

the version of this level in the final version of the game is one of the most ambitious things ive ever done and is something im Really proud of. to sum it up... it is the largest level in the entire game, with tons of paths and secrets, with there being things you can only find once in the level in Very Specific places. it was one of the last levels to be completed, and it's one of my favorites. but before i can get into the specifics... i want to first talk about its history.

when development of unitres dreams began, it was a much slower paced game, with the controls being a lot more simplistic and level design being more focused on linear platforming against enemies that constantly shoot bullets at you. both 'sections' of dreamscape distance were completely different early in development, having a different tileset and level layouts.

dreamscape distance - section 2 at this time was a lot more basic than the one in the current version of the game. it was linear and didnt have a whole lot of stuff going on. in fact, when i first invisioned it, it wasn't supposed to be anything. it was kind of just another city level where at the end you fight against the spaghetti monster you just created in a cutscene in the last level. there was One other thing i had in mind when i first created the level, but unforunately it was cut from the final game. i was planning on having there be puzzles in this level which youd solve using the party swapping mechanic. each character would have separate traits which would be used in the puzzle. i dont remember fully what the puzzles would have been like, but i think you wouldve had to the '??????' character to punch the 'trees' character across the room. sadly, at that time of development i originally gave myself a deadline of having the entire game come out on may 9, which was like less than 3 months from when i started development on the game. So, with me having little time to come up with the planning and programming and artwork for an entire puzzle section in One level, i decided to just remove it. this meant that the party swapping mechanic in the final game had a lot less purpose than what i hoped it would have... but oh well.

one idea i Tried to implement from the very beginning of the level's conception was the flying car gimmick... i wanted to have a set piece where you're flying through buildings and ships, shooting enemies with bullets and having the spaghetti boss fight be a bullet hell fight... but Well...

not only was the car itself kind of messy, but the spaghetti boss ended up being really disappointing for me. since the screen's size was really small, there wasnt a whole lot of room for you to move around in. not only that, but i couldnt really do any complex attacks from the boss, as all the bullets took up a lot of space on screen and you couldnt really see things coming ahead. so, all of the boss's moves are very basic and either incredibly easy to dodge or incredibly annoying to dodge.

so yea. i was really disappointed overall with the game back then. so, i then decided to completely change the gameplay to be more fast paced, have more movement abilities, and have more open levels with things to do. i also decided on completely remaking most of the old levels, with both of the Dreamscape Distance sections being entirely remade with new art, level design, and gimmicks. i wanted the new levels to be prettier, more fun to go through, and to leave a really good first impression. Dreamscape Distance - Section 1 was one of the first levels i remade (and i might have a lot to talk about it later... we'll see!), but Dreamscape Distance - Section 2 was one of the last levels to be finished, as at first i wasnt sure what i wanted to do with it yet.

But Then, i finally realized what i wanted to do with it, and i spent like a whole entire month dedicated to making it the most largest level ive Ever made... i wanted it to be a sort of magnum opus for me. i wanted this level to leave a lasting impression on you at the very beginning of the game. I spent Days working on just the level collision Alone, and took even longer putting in all the artwork and objects. the level even got updated multiple times to add even More stuff to it after the game came out...

and well, im not sure if other people feel the same about it, but for me it is one of my favorite levels in the whole game. im gonna talk about it now.

first off, i wanna talk about the inspirations for the level. i wanted to turn it from a simple "city area" into a whole mall area. i wanted it to feel Huge and dreamlike, so a lot of it is inspired by my own personal memories of an old mall i used to go to when i was young. one Specific thing i can bring up is the air balloons area that appears at the beginning of the level...

you see, the mall i used to go to had this sort of sculpture thing of a cartoony air balloon in the clouds... i dont remember much of it but i wanted to include something like it in the level. it's something you can Easily miss, but just before you encounter the first POLYCAR section, you can find a bunch of large air balloons floating above, and you can even bounce on the balloons like large bumpers.. it is such a specific set piece that only appears at this specific part of the level that i love so much. my only wish is that i spent more time on the art for the balloons themselves,, theyre kind of just a repeating tile set, but it is what it is.

that area is actually full with even More specific things you can only find there. just below where the balloons are, there is an entire part of the level where you can find two hidden NPCs if you go down far enough... i wont say who one of them are, but i Will tell you about the 'Vie' character...

when you first talk to her, she will give trees all of her flowers so that they can spread them all across the levels. every level from then on will have flowers placed All Over. it is such a small detail that i loved implementing, and it's something you can Only find in one incredibly easy to miss area. That is kind of what the whole spirit of the game is for me and what i want to implement in my future works,, the idea of there always being something new to find,, i wanted it so you can just get Lost in this level and find something weird to do. i may not have been able to accomplish a Whole lot with this (due to me being the Only developer working on this in my spare time), but i am really proud of what i managed to accomplish with this game...

Anyways, speaking of NPCs, this level has the Most NPCs out of every level in the game, and some of them are in Incredibly Specific places. a lot of the NPCs are actually cameos from my close friend's OCs, and im really happy they let me include their characters as little secrets in my silly little game. my Only regret is that i didnt get to create as many original characters as i wanted (as making the NPC sprites along with dialogue portraits and writing takes Longer Than You Think), but i at least was able to implement the clown trio in Chaotic Carnival... which is a story for another day...

So , after the room with the balloons, you enter the first area with the 'POLYCAR'. the design is a Lot simpler... just a diamond that moves around, but i like it a lot more than the old design, and it even controls better too. one of the important changes i made to the new version of the car is that the screen actually zooms out when you enter it, this allowed me to make the car sections more larger and for the spaghetti boss to actually be Good and like an actual bullet hell. But Anyways...

after the first POLYCAR section, you are dropped into an area with two SAVE points, along with a sign in the middle that tells you that that there's a left and right path you can take. these signs were something added later on in an update as a sort of easier way of adding more NPCs into the level without actually designing a new character, and i really like them. i managed to add a lot of these in a bunch of random spots, and while i am not proud of most of my writing, i Really like some of the stuff i wrote for these signs. they're Interesting.

so, something that only this level does is there's a left and right path which takes you to entirely different parts of the level. the left path has a few level gimmicks that dont appear at any other part in the level and is also a faster path to take, while the right path is Large and has tons of NPCs and set pieces that you skip by taking the left path. this is something ive Always wanted to, from even as far back as my old fangames, but always been afraid of doing as in a lot of cases, players will just get Lost when you make the level go in a direction that Isn't just a straight path forwards. Luckily, i think this kind of level design worked here, as the left path is a Little more linear and easy to get through compared to the right path. the left path is also more crazier, with you having to go Down, then right and then left again. so it's probably a bit more confusing, but the few playthroughs ive seen of it seem to understand it after a bit, so i think it worked out.

the left path i wont get into too much, as i think it's better for you to experience for yourself. i Will say that there's a window sprite you can find there that doesnt appear anywhere else in the level. i wanted that part of the level to feel more like a City than the rest of the level, but i didnt get to do as much with it due to time. it's still pretty neat, though. the left path is generally focused on straight Gameplay, while the right path (which is the one most people take) has a lot more Things to do.

for one, the right path is very Vertical, with tons of little areas you can find. i wanted to make the right path look like a bunch of shops, but while i didnt get to make too much art for it, you can find things such as tiny cash registers and shelves, along with scrolling walls with hearts, stars, and diamonds on them. there are, of course, Tons of NPCs and signs you can find here.

one specific NPC i'll tell you about is the 'Stealth' NPC, who is based off my friend stealth's squirrel character. just to the right of him, you can find a swimming pool which appears Nowhere Else in the level, along with a polygonal palmtree. something else you can find which only appears on the right path are escalators which move you upwards... these are also inspired by the old mall, and while i wish i couldve designed better artwork for them, i just like that theyre there.

there's a lot of specific gimmicks and areas in the right path that you can just Miss by only going one way. i dont think i will reveal every single NPC and secret in this level as i think it's best to find it yourself, but i Will say that at the very bottom of the right path you can find a hidden area with a hidden sign and NPC..

last specific little thingy about the level ill get into is that, at the end of the level you exit the mall and the background turns into a bright night sky with an ocean full of little flowers. i have nothing much to say about this other than it's pretty. also at the end of the level i tried doing a little thing where you have to go right and then left and the up and right again to get to the end, which is something i tried carrying over from the old level. idk if it worked out well but i like it anyways LOL!

so. now that ive talked about all the specific parts of the level that make me love it a lot, let me get into the Issues with this level. you see, it being large is a Curse. with it being the largest level in the game with the most objects in it, it lags like Hell. at least for me, anyways. on both of my computers it runs at like, 40 fps during most of the level, and at like 30 fps and the very end of the level. Now, i have seen people run the level at 60 fps... id imagine youd need a good pc to actually run it at full speed. but it isnt too slow for me that it's Unplayable.. and my computers arent exactly Powerful.. so i cant imagine how this level plays on a computer that is Worse. there's nothing i can really do about it. the lag is kind of the only thing that prevents me from replaying this level a billion times, especially since it Also takes awhile to load the level. it's a small price to pay for ambition...

my last real problem with the level is that i wish i could do even More with it. theres so much i wish i could add to it to make it feel even more alive,, such as making the "shops" feel like Actual Shops. i designed the level collision first before anything, so there are a lot of things i had in mind that i never got to fully detail with the artwork. my biggest fear with adding more art is that id make the level lag even More.. which is something i dont want to do. i think the big culprit for the lag is the scrolling walls with the hearts and stars on them... You See, i am Stupid and dont know how to make proper effects in construct 2... and the tiled background object type which is good for the sort of repeated texture that is used in the game can Not be animated.. so in order to pull off the scrolling animation, i made a 32x32 object with a bunch of frames for the animation and just. Copied that object a billion times. so there are Thousands of instances of this object all across the level. so yeah, that is very bad and dumb of me and i probably couldve done something way better. idk.

overall, even if i didnt manage to fully go all the way with the level, im still really proud of what i managed to do with it and the level is really important to me. i think the only time ive managed to Somewhat surpass it so far was with the level in the demo for my game 'TREES' ADVENTURE', which i tried making just as large and open as this level, along with having tons of secrets. That level i will probably have to talk about another time, but for now i'll say that while it is probably one of my most polished and prettiest levels ive Ever made, i still wish i couldve done more with it and also it just doesn't have as much going on as Dreamscape Distance - Section 2 does.

so yea. dreamscape distance - section 2 is one of the most prettiest levels ive ever made and is absolutely massive. if you're a freak for Sonic CD like me, i dare you to play it and spend as much time as you want in it, exploring for all the secrets. it may not be a Whole lot, but you might find something really neat. i hope someday someone could appreciate the weird stuff ive made the same way i have, but also i'm just fine with having this level even exist. there isn't anything like it.

that's All, play unitres dreams on newgrounds dot com EHEHHEEHE !!

[mardytoast]

🍓🔪☁️

i thought you were referencing a song coming out from this band i know and i was like ?

but omg ask game!!

🍓how did you get into writing fanfiction🍓

omg this is serious loree. so ive been reading ff for a good few years and so do two of my irl friends (the only ppl who know i read ff in this day and age irl) and we were all in the harry potter fandom. then we were like, we should make our own JOKE fanfic, and we're were like planning it all out for fun w y/n and shit and then we actually wrote it😭 it has four chapters and it's on wattpad but it's the most insane cliché shit and probably the funniest thing I've ever done LMFAOO

and then months and months after that i tried to do my own little things but they were all terrible. but then jan 2023 i started like seriously writing. the first proper fic (multichap) i tried to do kinda crashed and burned and the other ones never made it past a few thousand words. the writing was good i just dk how to make a story😭 anyway then in september i wrote a full hp one shot even though im not in the fandom anymore?? tried to reform my multichap and wrote a few more chapters then was like wait, this still isn't working (for plot reasons).

writing is hard but rn im working on a clyde biography which is easy enough bc it's it's basically just all my head cannons❤️

🔪what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project 🔪

usa secret service LMFAO

i was writing this bodyguard x presidents daughter clybe fic and i was like.. is he even necessary??

turns out that yeah the american president has a stupid amount of guards for him AND his family and some of them live in the white house

i was basically js trying to figure out if a personal bodyguard was a reach

but that's been scrapped bc honestly it would've just been a rip off of an incredible bodyguard fic from another fandom that i read, but oh to dream

the first chapter actually bangs though i read it over a few months back and i was like damn who wrote thiss

im also considering on becoming a baby electrician bc i feel like electrician clyde x terribly built house bebe would be SO cute, but if need to know so much for it to work, thoughts?

☁️what made you choose your username☁️

basically there was an era where i was like oh i should probably get socials so i made an ao3, twitter, discord etc and i just picked two random words for each. for ao3 my first username was savage toes but i forgot abt it so i made a new acc

i picked mardytoast bc my friend, who knows i read ff has a cat called melba, and she was talking to me one time and she was like oh it's melba as in melba toast and i was like oh okayy

so when i was making my user i used that but obviously im not stealing her cats name so i chose some other word that started with m

and im actually not joking i literally created the word mardy scholars would say i COINED the phrase. like i remember i was just like okay mardy i guess. AND IN FEBRUARY I FIND OUT MARDY MEANS ANGRY GRUMPY MOODY?? like explains that arctic monkeys song but damn. so if anyone's wondering I DO NOT CLAIM THAT im just mardy with no meaning

and in september (?) i created this acc bc this writer i was going to beta read for wanted to be able to contact me outside of email so i really quickly made this and just used my ao3 username!

omg and whenever she sends me the doc with the chapter she titles it 'Mardy's Copy' and the first time I saw it i had this out of body feeling and i was like WOAH...i guess im mardy now

(and also our one on one channel in her discord server of betas was called mardy's seat like cutee)

so now me and my username have merged and i genuinely feel like my name is mardy😊

so mardy is the alias i use on all accounts where ppl i actually know don't follow me!!

send in more asks pls i love talking abt myself

the ask game is in my recent reblogs <333

[steelycunt]

hello ridi how are u! how's ur sourdough starter! is the weather ok! is the weekend treating you nice... what cookies do you plan on making? what are you reading rn? are you writing anything? do you like long chapters? what's ur deepest secret! what's the best kate bush album (no incorrect answer to this one)! have you watched any new shows or movies recently & what do you think of them? and most importantly pick & choose from these questions the ones you feel like answering like an ask game...

omg hi hello...what a fun ask i feel like ive been stopped by one of those online street interviewer people...but a lovely one obviously...i am okay!! how are you i hope youre well!! sad to announce that my sourdough starter well i killed him didnt i. deliberatelyhe was just getting so needy and i felt like i was working very hard for him for such little reward so in the end i decided to save my flour xx which is fine because i can now use it to make cookies!! brown sugar chocolate chips ones which are beautiful if i can get them right...and if i can get into the kitchen because my dad is in there cooking atm.

this morning i finished chelsea girls by eileen myles!! sort of a memoir/poetry/essay collection non fiction read with a kind of strange tumbling prose at times (brought to mind kerouac a little? but maybe not) so there were bits i liked and bits i didnt but the bits on like the lesbian scene in new york in the 70s and 80s were really interesting!! my next read is going 2 be mr loverman by bernardine evaristo i have the most gorgeous copy : ^ ) i dont mind a long chapter if the books good...i do appreciate small bitty chapters can make long ones feel likea slog but that is a good thing i think. makes u take ur time with a book makes u slow down a bit. as for writing!! i am currently writing the [redacted] au which is going alright now ive started making some actual progress on it now (albeit slowly about. a scene every day and a half) and im really enjoying it!! have been writing some poetry also although i find poetry far more difficult to write so those are likely to never see the light of day but its still fun to try it out : ^ )

best kate bush album i think either the kick inside or the dreaming. the dreaming is incredible and ofc it has suspended in gaffa on it one of my all time favourite songs xx i like hounds of love too although i think that one is a bit overrated just in comparison to some of her other albums. recently i have watched a few films!! velvet goldmine (which i didn't like) and aftersun (which i did), aftersun was incredible i heavily recommend xx oh and my deepest secret...well of course ill never tell.. xoxo gossip girl (<- ive never seen gossip girl). thank u for this ask it was so fun!! please pop back in and let me know how YOU are bab ill make us some tea xx

[by-any-other-games]

     so i originally tried to make this as a youtube video, but my camera autofocused to the wall the entire time, and it was otherwise a pain in the ass. but anyway, here’s a way too long post about how to write a character backstory for your next ttrpg

warning, there’s literally no pictures or gifs or anything, this is just a massive wall of text

        this guide will be more aimed towards newer players, but even if youre a veteran, writing backstories is a challenge. A lot of people will jump to compare their backstories to stuff from critical role and dimension 20, but youve gotta remember that those backstories are done by professionals, people who get paid to play d&d. It’s okay if what you come up with isn’t shakespear, but that is totally okay, and should be at least a little bit expected. But don’t just take off writing random lore, if you keep your processed organized, you can get a lot more valuable insight into your character, for a lot less work

    so ive got some rough steps that i use as a guideline to keep myself on track, and avoid hitting some of the big snags that can ruin a whole backstory from the get go.

Part 1: Pitfalls

       so, The Big Three of backstory pitfalls, “Forgetting your Level”, “No Attachments Nate” and “Making a Soloist”. 

    The easiest trap to fall for (and to avoid), is ‘making a soloist’. D&D is an ensemble, it is at best when everyone plays their part, harmonizing with everyone else. If you want to make your character the best at everything, you’ll hit some deadends pretty quickly. First, you can’t be the best at everything. it’s just about impossible to make a character who is better at everything than everyone. your eldritch knight / arcane trickster rouge multiclass will never be as tanky as a full fighter, and never as magically inclined as a full wizard. a character needs strengths AND weaknesses, you don’t need to cover those on your own, your party is there to help you.

    but weaknesses are just one of the ways to give a character ‘texture’, another very important piece of texture comes with attachments. fhats friends, enemies, family, or even just a location you care a lot about. there is not a single person alive today with no attachments. it would be ridiculous to make a “no attachments nate” as a D&D character.

    this does tend to go hand in hand with the Edgy Loner trope, the ‘brooding assassin who sits in the corner of the room, and trusts no one’. Edgy Loners aren’t inherently bad, but they can be a little bit boring. If youre dead set on an edgy loner, i highly reccomend Play Your Roll’s video about it. Just make sure that you care about SOMETHING. A mentor, a parent, a friend or a former employer, if your character knows people, they start to feel like a real part of a world, not just a game piece that you’ve dropped onto a map.

    lastly, before you write, remember what level you are. old and new players alike let this slip their mind when writing backstories, even I’ve made this exact mistake: if you are writing a level 1 backstory, then you need to be doing level 1 things. your level 1 fighter might have killed a few goblins, or a really big wolf, but they definitely didn’t spend 200 years fighting demons in hell without gaining a single level. just keep your starting level in mind. if you get to start at level 15, yeah, 200 years of demon fighting sounds great! Level 5? maybe you fought ONE demon, but have plans to go kill some more

        now I didn’t mention this as one of the pitfalls, because its really just a basic skill for everything in ttrpgs, not just writing a backstory. writing a backstory is not a one person job. TALK TO YOUR DM. ask them things about the world, tell them your ideas and theories. Do not keep secrets from them. 

    If you wait until halfway through the campaign to reveal your top secret, 10 page long lore packet, you can’t expect your DM to rewrite history for you. There’s probably something similar to your idea in your DMs world, something you can help them flesh out, and by doing so, feel more connected to the world. D&D is collaborative: so, collaborate.

Part 2: Attachments

    Like i said before, attachments are a vital piece of texture, but they work best when they are meaningful. not just ‘the nameless parents’. 

    this bit worked better as part of a video, but im still gonna do it anyways, i’ve got an example character that imna build as i go over the steps here. for my example character, I’ve decided to make an elven fighter, named “Fellin” .

    Now before even considering any details or attachements, i’ve got a rough idea of what i want this character to be,, like a silhouette for my DM and I to fill in together. This fighter will:

Be taken in by a noble family

Be smart

Have a strong sense of duty to the less fortunate

    literally just three bullet points

    there are thousands of different characters that share these exact same traits, but I’ve still managed to narrow down my options from literally infinite, to thousands. These three bullet notes give my DM just enough info to start recommending things in their world that might suit this character, and open some points of discussion between the two of us

    so after some discussion with my DM i can solidify these bullet points into proper attachments, using new details about the world, and things that we’ve come up with together. Now, my elven fighter:

Caught the attention of Lord Tul’dala, and was adopted by them.

Was enrolled in University Laderra under their tutelage, where they forced me to join the dueling team.

Even after years of posh schooling, never forgot their lowborn roots in the Wall District of Fedrin, and hopes to offer the same help to others in the future.

    that’s such an immense difference! each bullet point has a specific location or person related to them, and this fighter is instantly connected with the greater world, they have an alma mater, they have a family, they have goals. honestly, if you’re not one to get super into role-playing, this is good!

Part 3: Thorns

    now that you know the basics of how this character fits into the world, its time to start looking at their thorns. im talking about flaws, inconsistencies, regrets, and unfinished business. all the little rough edges that show depth

    unfortunately the first step to this is a bit of a difficult one. you’ve gotta accept that your character is not a perfect, logical person. your character does not know what ‘optimization’ is, nor do they care about it. your character has made mistakes in the past, little ones, and big ones.

    let’s go back to that example fighter. since they were a member of the dueling team, i figure they would be using a one handed weapon, probably a rapier, so they can be dexterity based. since they’re only using a one handed weapon, it would be optimal to use my other hand to carry a shield. but Fellin is a classically trained, competitive duelist. they wouldn’t use a shield. Fellin does not care that having an empty hand decreases their Damage per Round, they like using rapiers, and they don’t like using shields. end of discussion.

    once you’ve accepted that your character needs to make mistakes, you can start looking for inspiration in the original three bullet points. details that you didn’t think of, interesting twists, and potential downfalls.

so my first bullet point was:

Caught the attention of Lord Tul’dala, and was adopted by them.

    I never actually clarified here what happened to Fellin’s parents / guardians here. are they alive? do they like them? did they abandon them? this type of ‘plot-hole’ is a great thing to hand over to your DM as a potential quest hook. 

    i’ll decide that Fellin only remembers their family a little bit. there was a big fire, but after that, they were just living on the streets. they can just barely remember their fathers face. and this is all the detail I need to write here, i don’t need to know the specifics of this fire, maybe it was a random house fire, maybe it was arson, or maybe there was a major fire in the Wall district, where Fellin grew up. By leaving this open for the DM, and leaving it out of my control, it creates a question that Fellin wants to get an answer to, unfinished business for them to investigate later.

Now for bullet point number 2:

Was enrolled in University Laderra under their tutelage, where they forced me to join the dueling team.

    i used an interesting word here, they FORCED me to do a sport?? let’s dive in on that, if they forced me to do something, maybe Fellin and Lord Tul’dala didn’t have the best relationship? fellin might have been a rebellious child, and University was a way to “get them in line”. at this stage, the exact details of this relationship aren’t really necessary, but we can boil it down to “Fellin does not have a great relationship with Lord Tul’dala, and they resent eachother a bit” 

    this isn’t necessarily a flaw, after all, they're not mortal enemies, not rivals, they just politely dislike each other. their relationship is overall beneficial, but comes with some discomfort, this won’t discourage me from using Lord Tul’dala as a resource or a connection later in the campaign, it just gives that future connection a bit of defined texture, a rough edge.

And the last bullet point:

Even after years of posh schooling, never forgot their lowborn roots in the Wall District of Fedrin, and hopes to offer the same help to others in the future.

    here, the poshness sticks out to me. that’s not exactly a positive word. from this, I’d guess that Fellin doesn’t much care for the rich and fancy ways they were raised with, they remember what it was like living on the streets, and they dislike the excessive opulence of Lord Tul’dala and his compatriots. this kind of behavior would make Fellin a bit of a sore thumb at big social events. while Fellin has some station, not many fully respect them. 

    this is alright, but its starting to sound a lot like the 2nd bullet point, so im gonna flip where i’m looking. as an outcast from the wealthy, Fellin likely takes time out of their day to do some type of good deeds for less fortunate folk, maybe handing out coins to beggars, buying meals, renting rooms and helping people carry things.

    now, we know that the rich nobility doesnt much care for Fellin, while the working class probably quite likes them. since I looked at those bullet points in different lights, and considered them in different ways, I’ve now got two groups of people, with differing opinions on this character. AND, we now know that Fellin has a bit of a soft spot towards helping people. They might be a little overly trusting towards people if they ask for help, a pretty interesting flaw, that's also very well defined to roleplay

Part 4: Aspirations

    now that i’ve got a general sense of this person, I can start thinking about what they want, what their goals are. these goals can be informed by our previous bullet points, but they don’t necessarily need to be. What you do need to keep in mind however, is the scale of these goals. 

    for a regular person on earth, it's reasonable to dream of becoming a politician, that’s something that makes sense in our understanding of the world. but if someone said they wanted to RULE the world, we would consider that ‘unreasonable’, as it doesn’t match how our world currently works

    if you do happen to have a character with lofty goals such as this, create stepping stones. instead of jumping right to ‘ruling the world’, maybe we just start by dismantling the establishment, this is a huge goal, but still makes sense in the context of our world. and this goal can change over time, after some experience, maybe this person decides that “they are the only person who is responsible enough to be in charge”.

    but that cant be the ONLY goal. people contain multitudes, so we want to have big, long term goals, as well as small goals. some of these might be urgent, but it’s also okay for these goals to be on the back-burner. that happens to real people all the time.

    so for Fellin, we are looking for a variety of goals, some long term, some short term, with various levels of urgency. each of these goals should add some new information to what is currently happening with this character, it shouldn't just rehash our thorns and attachments.

so after tossing around some ideas, I’ve come up with these:

Send someone to college    -    long term, low urgency

check in on father after cryptic letter    -    short term, high urgency

win the national duelist competition    -    short term, low urgency

    but as is, these ideas aren’t very fleshed out. they’re just a silhouette. just like how this this process started with the DMs help, you’ve gotta end it with their help as well. All of our goals are potential plot threads, or at the very least, cool sidequests. by handing these over to the DM, they can plan ahead, figure out how these can connect to the main story

    so after some discussion with the DM about locations and details, i’ve improved these bullet points a bit:

find money to send another person from the Wall District to University Laderra, and tutor them.

follow up on a cryptic letter from someone claiming to be my father

in 2 months, finally win the national dueling competition in the city of Saint Veris

    keep in mind, these bullet points aren’t going to change very drastically, what’s being affected here is not the detail in the goals themselves, but the details of progress. for instance, winning the competition. that’s not a task that Fellin is just starting, they’ve been training and practicing for years. it makes sense that they might have tried this previously and failed. It’s an actively growing goal, not something that just suddenly gets planted once session one starts. 

    and by collaborating with the DM to flesh these out, it’s another opportunity for your backstory to become part of a much larger world. if everyone in the party does the same thing, the DM can even secretly tie your backstories together. imagine if the strange letter from your father mentioned a fey being, haunting their dreams, only for that being to be a warlock's patron! that would be sick!

    But, now that Fellin is finished, let’s take a quick look at ‘em. the college educated, adopted child of Lord Tul’dala. as a notable duelist, they hope to win the Tournament in Saint Veris. but, they’ve recently had to put this on hold as they received a rather concerning letter from someone claiming to be their father. while their adventuring career is mostly a way to train for dueling competitions, they also hope to use their riches to send another Fedrin Lowborn to University Laderra, hoping to pay their luck onwards to the next generation.

    these steps certainly aren’t the ‘end all be all’ of backstory writing, but they will get you to the most important thing in your backstory, a fun character

    and the best characters will always be the fun characters. it doesn’t matter if they’re a martial or a caster, charismatic or not, a fun character has personality. not just flavor. if your character has depth, meaningful flaws, realistic goals, and personal connections to the world around them, they’ll start to feel like a living thing before you even sit down to play.

    i swear to god the next post like this will be shorter, i just converted a video script into a post, so its just a huge amount of content. this should probably be in a few parts or some shit