#i’m not great at writing characters just for future reference

[hammysamhah]

Tag Along AU pt 1

part 2

yes i’m finally doing something with this idea mwahahah!!! this is a bang together au where guy diamond joins in on the adventure and this is how it begins!!!

uh ignore the coloring error on the first few images LOL

[wolfofansbach]

BEING A LIST OF THE THIRTEEN GREATEST RIVERDALE LINES, ON THE OCCASION OF THAT SHOW'S TERMINATION

As our much loved/hated show comes to an end, I feel compelled to record, for posterity, the greatest thirteen pieces of dialogue to spring from the pens of RAS and his henchmen. It was, of course, originally a top ten list, but I simply could not exclude a few of these treasures. Without further ado: 

13. 

“I dropped out in the 4th grade, to sell drugs, to support my nana.” 

“That means you haven't known the triumphs and defeats, the epic highs and lows of high school football.” 

Spoken by: an inmate of Leopold and Loeb Juvenile Detention Center, and Archie Andrews. 

In: 3 x 2 

Yeah, okay, this one had to be on the list. It’s funny, I’ll admit. It’s a great example of the overwrought semi-sincere melodrama that helped make this show so special. It’s low on the list largely because The Normies got their hands on it, so every time I hear someone make a reference I get all “do not cite the deep magic to me, witch.” 

12. 

“No! No! What are we supposed to do now? I’m horny as heck!”

Spoken by: Archie Andrews 

In: 7 x 16

Season 7 is undeniably dreadful, and yet there are diamonds in the rough. The occasion is the failure of a projector, just as Archie and Reggie prepare to watch a pornographic film. The utter desperation with which KJ Apa delivers this line is exquisite. One is made to feel they are witnessing a genuine tragedy. 

11. 

“Tonight, they’re making an exception and debuting a cover of the song my parents claim they were listening to the night Jason and I were conceived.” 

Spoken by: Cheryl Blossom. 

In: 1 x 1 

Really a fantastic line. A wonderful encapsulation of the casual absurdity of Cheryl’s character, and a foretaste of the lunacy we would plumb in later episodes and seasons. 

10. 

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m weird. I’m a weirdo. I don’t fit in and I don’t want to fit in. Have you ever seen me without this stupid hat on? That’s weird.” 

Spoken by: Jughead Jones

In: 1 x 10

A genuine classic. “High school football” before “high school football.” One is never entirely sure just how sincere the line is meant to be, both on a meta-level and in-universe. A perfect illumination of Jughead’s pretentiousness. It is made all the better by the occasional cuts to Lili Reinhard’s agonized face. 

9. 

“At the last dance, multiple students were murdered.” 

Spoken by: Principal Holden Honey. 

In: 4 x 2

Delivered as an explanation to Toni and Cheryl, as to why there would be no school dance this year. Principal Honey is in fact supremely rational in the cancellation of this dance. This being Riverdale, he is of course treated as an unreasonable tyrant. 

8. 

“Bro, I know all the secrets of this universe.” 

Spoken by: Archie Andrews (evil version)

In: 6 x 5 

Spoken as evil Archie reveals his evil plan to keep the parallel universes apart. KJ Apa’s delivery once again makes this line. He is comically sinister. Strangely, he sells it. 

7. 

“A Vughead kiss, right now, in the present might be precisely what it takes to save a future Bughead from imploding.” 

Spoken by: Jughead Jones. 

In: 2 x 14

One of those lines that both makes me laugh and makes me genuinely angry. This was a fairly early season, and this may have actually been the first line to get me asking, ‘did they genuinely write and deliver that?’ Extra points for use of the atrocious ‘Vughead’ portmanteau ship name rather than ‘Jeronica.’ 

6. 

“I’m the ultimate wild card. I am the daughter of The Black Hood. The nightmare from next door. I’m training with the FBI and I’m coming for you, you psycho bitch.” 

Spoken by: Betty Cooper

In: 4 x 14 

Just delicious. Another one of those lines that leaves you somewhat unsure whether or not the writers understood how genuinely hysterical it was. “The Nightmare from Next Door” sounds like an announcer hyping up a wrestler. Spoken with a raw sincerity by Lili Reinhart. Also points for the heavy homoeroticism between Betty and Donna. 

5. 

“For I am Cheryl Blossom, Queen of the Bees.” 

Spoken by: Cheryl Blossom.

In: 5 x 16. 

This one really doesn’t require any elaboration. 

4. 

“Elijah ascended…and I will, too.” 

Spoken by: Edgar Evernever.

In: 4 x 5. 

Admittedly, this one is only spectacular with context. But in context—the context being that Chad Michael Murray delivers this line while dressed like Evel Knievel and standing in a cartoon rocket right out of a Warner Bros cartoon—it becomes utterly magnificent. 

3. 

“It’s not queer baiting, it’s saving the world.” 

Spoken by: Veronica Lodge. 

In: 6 x 22. 

It’s actually hard for me to decide whether this one is funnier with or without context. Without context it’s wonderful, but it possibly becomes even funnier when you know that the context is that Veronica needs to kiss Cheryl to transfer superpowers into her body so she can turn into a Scarlet Witch knock-off and stop a magic comet summoned by Sephiroth an English wizard who is also the Devil. 

2. 

“If there’s no wedding reception, it means the Gargoyle King has won.” 

Spoken by: Kevin Keller. 

In: 3 x 12.

One of my personal favorites. This is a perfect line because like #3, it requires no real elaboration. There is absolutely no context in which it isn’t hysterical. 

1 .

“Word of my exploits serving Nick his comeuppance has seeped into the demimonde of mobsters and molls my father used to associate with, so the five families are sending their youngest and brightest, their ‘princes,’ as it were to, well, come court the rare Mafia Princess who can belly up to the bar with the big boys.

Spoken by: Veronica Lodge. 

In: 2 x 20. 

This is, in my opinion, the all-timer. Every word is perfect. The rapid-fire alliteration. The use of the word ‘demimonde.’ The entirely unnecessary addition of ‘as it were.’ This is borderline Dr. Seuss. The fact that Camila Mendes delivered it without cracking a smile should have won her an Emmy. No. An Oscar. This line is Riverdale. 

[rellsingsovern]

In my notes during this whole season I’ve kept track of loose ends and just other plot points I think could make for a great senior year (which now seems likely that we will get down the line in the future) and this finale gave me almost everything I wanted and more so here’s what I think we’re gonna see (plus things that I just rly want to see lol)

-first and foremost, BARON IS STILL IN RIZ’S BRIEFCASE!!! the spectral mordred manor probably is not there as that was a haven sent out by cassandra during all the divine interventions in falinell and the bad kids dove in as a last second decision, but baron is still definitely there. ‘I am somewhere always close to Riz Gukgak’ and while everyone’s journey with their sexuality happens on their own time and Riz shouldn’t have to come out if he doesn’t want to yet, now that he’s coming to terms that his friends might not always be together in the way he wants to I think it would be healing for him to fully confront and accept his aro aceness and have support with that and realize that even if they can’t be physically together his friends won’t leave him for other relationships

-Fabian is getting a new baby sibling, but that is not the only sibling he’s ever had. James Whitlaw made references to his half siblings from Bill that he killed and ate, I am POSITIVE that at least one is still out there and probably has it out for Fabian (as Bill married Hallariel, raised Fabian, and dragged his ship into solace to give him a new life) and an arc where Fabian has to defend himself against an older sibling while growing to love his younger would be amazing to see

-kalina, bakarath, bobby, and buddy ofc, I’ve been wondering where kalina has been this whole time, and I want to see more of bobby getting what he deserves. Cassandra’s been through a fucking lot this season but her familiar apparently might be a big bad along with arianwen again so sorry cass but the cat’s gotta go. she still directly got pok killed riz deserves to hunt her down and avenge him a second time

-speaking of, Arianwens been making moves in sylvaire! Adaine and aelwyn will surely kill her but from the looks of it even though she got her magic taken away she may have some sort of power. Cant wait for these sisters to be able to live immortal lives without their parents looming over them

-BUCKY APPLEBEES!! bucky, a paladin of cassandra, gathering the courage to ask Kristin for help getting bricker and cork out of the Applebees residence, maybe moving into mordred and everyone immediately being enamored with these cute little boys who honestly might turn out to be mumple instead of wanting to attend the adventuring academy and Kristin being so happy they aren’t being raised in a pressure cooker anymore and affected like she and bucky were affected, happy that they can be normal kids (and in being around Kristin’s other sisters, adaine and fig, Kristin ends up getting that sister she always wanted in bucky too)

-I’m so happy Fig is getting what she wants and realizing she doesn’t want to finish Aguefort, and it would be awesome if she got a new character and the bad kids took on a new party member for the year played by Emily so all the intrepid heroes are still together, but Fig could be hanging out between mordred and Seacaster and leviathan and Hell, writing music and helping Kristin spread word of the cassandra/Ankarna pantheon through it, and since in sophomore year we saw Penelope dayne daybreak and Johnny spells all kicking it in hell maybe Jace (who ik was a minion mostly but hey he could be evil on his own) is down there with some other bad kid nemeses

-more Galicea and Sol. Sol canonically was all for bringing Ankarna into the pantheon of himself, his sister galicea, his other sister cassandra, and his son helio. It was Sol’s followers who saw Ankarna brought in as another god of the sun and brought about the ruin and corruption of Ankarna alongside the house of sunstone in order to get more power for themselves with just the one solar deity existing. Both Sol and Galicea (and maybe helio) have been hardcore shaped by their followers, Galiceas wolfish side being repressed by the high elf state of falinell and being brought back through wolfsong, and Sol with the human clerics of highcourt scheming to make him the only god with a sun domain despite him officiating and welcoming Ankarna as his sister in law through the marriage. Plus if we get galicea arcs we defo get Kristin and tracker messy lesbians arcs

-Gorgug perfecting his new subclass he invented and Kristin enjoying being student body president! She deserves it, I hc that the only academic sort of thing Kristin cared about before this year was the lgbtq+ club and now she’s extending that energy into everything with the help of Riz, who cannot get off of coffee someone help this poor boy. And since Ragh and shellford have graduated I want more Torek Railgrinder, she’s so cool let’s flesh her out more. Gorgug thinking about how to teach other multiclass barbarian/artificers and perfecting all his awesome inventions (and dating both Unit and Mary Ann bc it’s what his poly ass deserves)

Basically the potential plot I see for senior year is almost a mirror of sophomore year: baron getting out and fighting Riz and the bad kids defeating him for good, the bad kids heading to leviathan after hearing rumors of a pirate calling themselves a child of Bill Seacaster looking for Fabian, heading to falinell to see what’s new with wolfsong and tracker and maybe seeing some changes in Galicea or Sol, heading to hell and meeting up with Fig for a portion (she doesn’t go to their school anymore! she ain’t gotta go on this senior year spring break quest!) who’s been hanging out in hell, tracking Jace and other enemies, establishing her power as an archdevil of the first layer of hell, writing awesome music, and finally back to sylvaire to figure out what the fuck is up with kalina and arianwen and this weird new god buddy has and they all graduate and head their separate ways but they still love each other and see each other all the time they’re family and they’re badass and they’re perfect

[stemclann]

Hi! i’m going around asking different clangens for different clangen reccs bc I’ve been interested in reading more! Do you have any reccs?

Oh I DO !!!

A lot of the blogs I follow feature heavily stylised characters and colorful pages, wich I love. For some of them I'm not even quite caught-up but I just love seing their art coming across my dash because I love making my tumblr feed an inspiring place (don't we all) Also, I'm fairly new to the Clangen side of the WC community tbh, so some blogs featured here might be already pretty well known in the community.. But who doesn't love a nice shoutout <3 🥰 For some of these blogs I don't know wich pronouns their user might want to be used, so I'll refer to them as they/them.

☁️ First off, the blog that litteraly inspired me to start my own : https://www.tumblr.com/vaporclan @vaporclan // I just LOVE their character designs and expressions. plus the intrigue is REALLY GOOD. They also have a side-blog wich is very promising : 🐅 https://www.tumblr.com/tigeroftheskies

💧 Second one that I came across : https://www.tumblr.com/moons-of-dewclan @moons-of-dewclan // BEAUTIFUL artstyle. The composition of each page is gorgeous and the ambiance is always on point. Can't wait to read more about their traumatized cats.

🪴 @gray-thistleclan // I realize from the amount of notes that their art is already pretty well received in the community, but I LOVE the character designs featured on this blog, plus the intrigue is really unique and fairly new in the WC community (depending on if you were here when we all thought Bramblestar was gonna get rabies lol) But yeah, gorgeous art with very intense moments of drama!! Can't wait to read more!!!

🪩 splinterclan.tumblr.com @splinterclan // Artstyle is *chef kiss*, immaculate, very modern, I love the way they portray their character interactions it's always very believable.

🍄 https://www.tumblr.com/sporeclan @sporeclan // First of all how great is this Clan name --- Second, I found this blog throught the official Clangen blog, and fell in love with the way the artist composes her pages, it's beautifully done. Her colour palettes are also very pretty, and tho I'm not perfectly caught up with the intrigue I admit that I followed her when I saw the family tree she composed for her allegiances. Very efficient, beautiful, and the expressions are very cute.

🪷 @lotusclans-luck // This blog is kinda on hold right now but their artstyle is just a joy to watch, very delicious, I would eat it for breakfast everyday. Very 2D animation style, I can't wait to see more of their art in the future if they update it !

🐌 @snailstep-and-her-clan // The story here is really interesting, I love the main character, Snailstep, and her developement. Also, the character designs (I feel like I'm saying it about every blog ahahah) and colour palettes of this blog are so cute, unique, and original. I love when artists have fun with their palettes,, ugh...

🌿 @juniper-clan // This artist has been posting about his clan for almost a year now, and I LOVE how it evolved. It's very refined, the setting is unique and their characters have a beautiful depth that's a joy to explore. I can't wait to read more about Heronstar, she might be one of the characters I like the most out of all these blog listed. (With Snailstep)

🔊 loudclan-clangen.tumblr.com @loudclan-clangen // Very unique and interesting artstyle, designs are handeled with a lot of care and efficiency, you just can feel that the artist knows her characters on the tip of their fingers. Alos, character interactions / jokes are GOLD omg the writting is so good. I wanna be able to write such good dialogue that naturally (but the neurodivergence is holding me BACK fljgdjgs).

𓀒 fallenclan.tumblr.com @fallenclan // The story is immaculate and I can't wait to read more even tho there's so much lore that I know I won't be able to keep up entirely 🥹 But the artstyle is very efficient here as well and the character designs are very memorable. Once again, character interactions are on point and very natural, it's a pleasure for the eyes.

🦋 @the-blight-of-mothclan // Who doesn't love a good lineless artstyle ?! It's so pretty, and the soft colour palettes pleases my eyes a lot. Beautiful backgrounds also ! It must take so much time to paint those, couldn't be me 😭

And finally :

🎍 @black-buttercup-clangen // HUGE inspiration when it comes to palettes. I don't know how they manage to make their art so textured with such effective and "simple" (NOT derogatory, quite the opposite) details. The artstyle is SO effective and the colour palettes are just beautiful. Go check them all out they all deserve support and love <3 I hope I helped you discover some gem that you will like :D 🤌🏼 🎨 Also, for more discoveries, you should DEFINITELY check out @officialclangen - They often reblog some very interesting and cool blogs, that's how I came across a lot of these.

[edgy-ella]

IDW SONIC READERS, PLEASE READ THIS!!!!

I am begging you. On my hands and knees. Begging. More so than anything else I’ve asked of this fandom.

Please please buy the Fang miniseries when it comes out

Don’t just read it. Buy it. I will admit that I’m very guilty of reading through a lot of IDW Sonic through…less than legal means, and I know I’m not alone in that regard. But I think it’s really important that for this miniseries in particular, you actually go out and buy the damn thing. Show your support with your dollar.

Really think about it for a second—they gave Fang his own miniseries. Fang! An underutilized, underrated fan favorite for sure, but hardly a mainstay of the series. I’m sure that this was at least somewhat prompted by Superstars, where Fang is a major antagonist…but Bean and Bark weren’t in that game, and it already received its own online promo comic prior to the game’s release (notably, with Fang as the star).

Classic Sonic stories have also exclusively been relegated to one-shots in IDW, not a full on miniseries like what Fang is getting. Basically all of the IDW Sonic miniseries we’ve gotten so far have been plot relevant side stories to the main IDW comic that focus on side characters with little to no involvement from Sonic himself. Tangle and Whisper, Bad Guys, Impostor Syndrome…the only odd man out besides this Fang miniseries is Scrapnik Island.

Really think about it for a second. FANG is getting his own focus comic BEFORE KNUCKLES.

And that’s why it’s so important that we buy it.

I think Sega is using this comic to test the waters to see if people like Fang and want to see him in more future projects—be it comics, games, or even cartoons. But there’s more to it than just that.

See, Superstars hasn’t been doing that great. I know I said in an earlier post that people seemed to like it, but I retract that statement. It was damned by faint praise at launch, and now most of the discussion I’ve seen surrounding the game revolves around its flaws (chief among them being the middling OST and that the Steam version stealth installs an Epic Games service along with the game). No sales numbers have been projected as of writing, but it’s definitely been beaten out by Mario Wonder and Spider-Man 2.

So, Classic Sonic games aren’t doing too hot right now (I’m sure that many modern fans are jumping for joy at the prospect). But the classic characters are.

People really like the extended classic Sonic cast, just as much as they love the extended modern cast. From my experience, the two fan favorites are Mighty and Fang. Fang stands out to me in particular for a couple reasons: people were really upset that Sega specifically said no to Fang, Bark and Bean coming back after Ian snuck in a reference to them in IDW Sonic #3 (using their old team name from Archie, the Hooligans), and the fanmade 16-bit remake of Triple Trouble, Fang’s debut game, received private praise from many members of Sega and Sonic Team. People like Fang and the media he’s in, and Sega is starting to take notice. That’s why we’re getting this miniseries.

That’s why it’s so important that the miniseries sells well. If the big boys at Sega and Sonic Team see Superstars’ iffy reception but see Fang’s comic sell above expectations, then Sega will want to continue to use Fang (and potentially other “classic” Sonic characters as well) in more narrative driven projects. That means modern Sonic.

“But Sega won’t let any classic Sonic character into a modern Sonic project!” I hear you thinking. And to that I say, so? Sega changes its mind all the time. Remember that whole two worlds nonsense? That was thrown out with in Tailstube. Characters debuting in Boom and the comics were previously barred from the mainline games, but they’ve broken that “rule” in both Speed Battle and Frontiers. Hell, they’ve even been talked out of some of their sillier comic mandates, like characters not being able to wear different clothing.

For all their flaws, Sega does listen, and money speaks louder than anything. If this miniseries fails, Sega will just assume that people aren’t hot on Fang or the extended classic cast anymore and throw them back in the bar. But if the comic sells well, then Sega might take it as a sign that, hey, people like this character (and his two lackeys), we should put him in projects that fans are more interested in. Mighty and Ray probably wouldn’t be too far behind, especially given Mania’s success. Whether that means comics or games, modern or classic, who knows. What’s important is that it sends the right message to Sega, and they will listen to their consumers. That means us. If we don’t support this miniseries now, we might have to wait another thirty years for another chance.

[leaawrites]

Poetry Confessions

Elijah Hewson x fem!reader

Summary: writing poetry with Eli.

Wordcount: 0.9k

TW: none

A little appreciation post and a (late) happy birthday to one of my favourite irish lads, Elijah Bob Patricius Guggi Q Hewson.

Masterlist

Softly the rain outside played a melody she wanted to capture but just didn’t know how. It was such a sweet, soft sound that couldn’t be described in words. It was a echo but nothing more. Some sensual beating of natures heart. How could you capture a heartbeat?

The door creaked open and was shut close shortly after. Eli carrying in two mugs for the two of them. Both filled with the tea of their preference. The smoke of it was dancing through the air before dissolving into nothing. Cooling off.

He put them on his table before turning around to talk to the girl, who was sitting on his bed, about the song they were just about to write.

He invited her over to his after reading a bit of her poetry by what you could call rather an accident than for the reason of her offering it to him. Rob had given it to him, explaining that it was from a friend and that he should hold the papers for him while he set up his bass. The words memorized him and he could imagine a rhythm behind it. It was as if they were his own, but at the same time they weren’t. They told a story he saw himself in but he wasn’t the main character. They felt like one. Sharing a mind.

After talking to Rob about it and inviting her to a band practice before going to his home, she agreed to work with them. At first, she was mad at Rob for just handing the papers out like they were free advertisement and embarrassed that someone else besides her closest friends read her most conscious thoughts, but the lads were nice and she quickly bonded with them, which made her appreciate it a little more. Plus, she was now actively working together with people that she was convinced had a great future in front of them. For most people, you could tell if they were gonna be stars in their future at the mere age of 17, but with them, you just knew.

“What are you thinking about?” Eli asked, sitting down next to her. His eyes switched between her profile and the world outside his window. He watched the rain but to him it was a rather ordinary thing to admire.

“It’s beautiful. The rain, I mean. It’s so loud but so gentle,” she explained, turning her head to look at him. “I’ve tried writing about it, but I never really got to capture it’s beauty quite like I hoped to. It always seemed off.”

He had never heard anyone talk about nature like that - besides Bobby’s endless speeches about birds. But that - the rain and it’s magic - he understood it - not like the birds. He just sat there and watched her like he couldn’t comprehend she was real. What a mind, he thought.

“I think you can’t capture the most beautiful things in something like words or pictures. Reality is always more fascinating,” he answered, watching her to make her understand what he was referring to. Her.

“I don’t think that’s true,” she argued, pulling her legs up to sit cross legged opposite him.

Eli did the same, turning so he could look at her fully. “Then how do you explain your struggle with writing about rain?”

She shrugged. “Maybe I’m just bad.”

“When you’re bad then I’m horrible. No, even worse than horrible. A total disaster,” he joked, making her laugh. “You wanna test it?”

“How?” She asked, intrigued by his offer.

“We each write one poem about something that we find semi beautiful and one thing that we are fascinated by. Then we see which one is better,” he explained his idea.

“That’s not gonna work,” she said.

“You don’t even wanna try? Party popper,” he said, looking bored at her.

She laughed at his behavior before finally agreeing to his offer. “Which one do we write first?”

“The semi beautiful,” he decided.

Getting paper and two pens, he hands her what she needs before they both think and create.

“I say, we write the other one now and then we compare them together,” she said after they both finished writing their first poem.

They kept on writing, letting their creative stream lead them where they went with their poem. Y/n noticed, how every 2 seconds, Eli would look up at her and watch her for a moment before continuing writing.

“Can you please stop looking at me?” She asked, feeling small under his gaze.

He was still writing, so when he heard her talk he quickly looked up. “Sorry, what?” He asked, still half immersed in his lines and verses. Not expecting her to voice anything while concentrating.

“I don’t like when people look at me when I write, so could you please stop that?” She asked him.

She didn’t want to be rude, but she felt uncomfortable when she knew someone was watching her while she was willing to write about something personal. It was a nagging feeling she couldn’t shake off. Some distaste she imagined reflecting in their eyes, disgust of her mind. Some sort of making fun of her while writing. She felt insecure with the knowing of eyes watching her, afraid she might fail in front of them.

“Can’t do,” he said, deciding to just shoot his shot. Now or never, right?

“Why not?” She asked, putting her pen down on her paper and looking at him.

“I have to focus on my subject while writing.”

[obscured-everything]

​​OBSCURA trailer analysis & theories

The OBSCURA trailer is very pretty (watch it if you haven’t already <3) and is also full of interesting symbolism and snippets of Latin. In this post I’m going to be manually translating and providing notes on the Latin, as well as discussing what the numbers mean and giving my own plot speculations. SPOILERS for OBSCURA’s Chapter 1 with every love interest. 

I’m going to be working with the theory that the numbers correspond to the Major Arcana in a Rider–Waite–Smith tarot deck. I’ll be pulling tarot card information from A.E. Waite’s 1910 book ‘The Pictorial Key to the Tarot’, where he discusses the symbolism of the images in the cards and provides divinatory meanings. 

Shoutout to @/starlitmanta and @/mostlygayrage for posting their own analyses before me! I got inspired by both of them to both write down my thoughts and then actually finish the post after leaving it for months lol. @/mostlygayrage has some interesting stuff on the imagery and also delved into the Latin! Although he took it as one sentence which I won’t be doing – I’m going to take the double forward slashes as an indication of a break. 

Disclaimer that I haven’t formally studied Latin in years so if there are any errors feel free to point it out in the notes! 

Cirrus

18. Presbyter // Ecclesiae lunaris XVII: The Moon. Priest // Lunar churches 

18. Obsequium // ducit ad caelum Obedience // he leads to heaven TL notes N/A Tarot meaning To quote Waite, “The moon is increasing on what is called the side of mercy… the path between the towers is the issue into the unknown. The dog and wolf are the fears of the natural mind in the presence of that place of exit, when there is only reflected light to guide it…the message is: Peace, be still; and it may be that there shall come a calm upon the animal nature...” 

Upright: Hidden enemies, danger, darkness, terror, deception, occult forces, error. Reversed: Instability, inconstancy, silence, lesser degrees of deception and error. Speculation I think we can all agree that Cirrus is not trustworthy, hence danger, deception, occult forces etc. Nevertheless, Vesper (if you’ve got a good ending, at least) puts great degrees of trust in him. ‘A calm upon the animal nature’ calls to mind his odd ability to influence Vesper’s choices and force them into saying ‘yes’, but I also thought it might reference something about Vesper putting aside their instinctive reservations about Cirrus’ suspicious character to follow him into an unknown future. 

Leading to heaven is, to me, a bit double-edged; it could mean death or paradise. Very fitting, I think. 

Keir

20. Keir // Cavillatur fur XX: Judgement. Keir // Mocking thief 

20. Fatum // vestrum vel extraneus [Destiny / (calamitous) death] // yours or a stranger TL notes I’m inclined to believe that Keir’s name being his plain name rather than an epithet is probably just part of his blunt kind of character, and ‘mocking thief’ is probably related to his personality too. Also, there is another piece of Latin on that first screen – ‘cultellus’, which means ‘dagger’ and points downwards towards where his dagger is held. Also, ‘fatum’ is a very interesting word in that it carries an intriguing potential double meaning. Tarot meaning Upright: Change of position, renewal, outcome. Reversed: Weakness, pusillanimity, simplicity; also deliberation, decision, sentence. Speculation Waite’s initial discussion of Judgement is very Biblical which I doubt has much to do with OBSCURA’s use of it. I do think the divinatory meanings are very interesting – I think that at a good/best end of Keir’s route, he’ll be able to come out on top and secure a good and/or stable future for himself and/or Mouse Hole. 

My current theory is that, since we have had mentions of Keir and Oleander in each others’ routes, that they have direct effects on each others’ fates. This fits with ‘yours or a stranger’ of course, but also the double-edged ‘destiny or (calamitous) death’ – I’ll speculate more in Oleander’s route, but I think he and potentially most of Mouse Hole will not fare well if Vesper picks Oleander. 

I’m interested in why his dagger was explicitly pointed out and labelled. I’m kind of shooting in the dark here but I think it’ll be significant in the future – either as a symbol of his history (specifically with Oleander, perhaps?) or as a plot device of some sort. 

Oleander

11. Nerii // Periculosum scurra XI: Justice. Of oleander // Dangerous clown 

11. Patiuntur // sicut habes They are suffering // just like you are TL notes More technically, ‘nerii’ is the genitive of ‘nerium’, which means oleander. This makes sense to me when I think about how he’s had a history of changing names – he’s moreso embodying the qualities of oleander (a pretty but dangerous plant) rather than taking it as a definitive name. 

‘Patiuntur’ is in the plural, and suffering might be a strong word depending on how you look at it – the original word is like enduring through something difficult or unpleasant. Tarot meaning Waite basically says that the card has ‘obvious meanings’ so I don’t think I need to look too closely into it. 

Upright: Equity, rightness, probity, executive; triumph of the deserving side in law. Reversed: Law in all its departments, legal complications, bigotry, bias, excessive severity Speculation The second half of the second piece of Latin, ‘sicut habes’, is in the second-person and I’m assuming that this is meant to address Vesper/MC. Maybe Oleander is also looking for something that he can’t find or afford, although the plural throws me off a bit if that’s the case. Maybe it’s referencing Oleander’s previous Vigils (since Vesper is currently holding that position, ‘just like’ they have) or something…? 

Now, here is my plot theory which may or may not be insane. We know that Oleander has committed murder, and was very blasé about it; presumably he’s done this sort of thing before. We know that in his route, Keir has been alluded to, Griff has shown up and Keir is presumably going to show up at some point. I think that Oleander’s involvement with Keir is going to end very poorly for Keir, even leading to the calamity insinuated in Judgement. Specifically, I think that Oleander and Keir are going to be caught up in a serious crime and Keir is going to take the fall, leading to a permanent end for him (death, probably) and the following collapse of Mouse Hole. Oleander will get off lightly or scot-free (Justice’s ‘triumph of the deserving side in law’, ‘deserving’ as opposed to Keir who is indisputably a criminal and receives ‘excessive severity’). 

This could be from Keir and his group failing the burglary since Vesper isn’t there to cover for the injured lookout, or it could be something else that brings in the dagger which was pointed out in Keir's portion of the trailer. I’m thinking murder, honestly. 

Francesco

10. Franciscum // innocentes nobiles X: Wheel of Fortune. Francisco // innocent nobles 

10. Tempus // decurrit Time // runs out TL notes Grammatically, ‘Franciscum’ is in the accusative (the case used to mark the ‘object’ on which a verb acts). This could be a stylistic thing or it could allude to how he’s being ‘acted upon’ by whatever power/influence his family have. 

‘Decurrit’ is literally ‘runs down’ which fits with the hourglass imagery, but I imagine that the spirit of the phrase is ‘runs out’ especially since his route already alludes to that. Tarot meaning To quote Waite, “the symbolic picture stands for the perpetual motion of a fluidic universe and for the flux of human life … the essential idea of stability amidst movement. Behind the general notion expressed in the symbol there lies the denial of chance and the fatality which is implied therein.” 

Upright: destiny, fortune, elevation, luck, felicity. Reversed: increase, abundance, superfluity. Speculation I think that at some point within Francesco’s route, his family is going to be further involved. I assume that these are the ‘innocent nobles’, which makes me think that whatever state or situation that they find Francesco in won’t be very innocent at all. Alternatively, it could be that his family is more innocent/harmless than they present themselves as – depending on circumstance, this could be a big win for Vesper or a big loss because they don’t have the family backing that they thought they did. 

The Wheel of Fortune carries connotations of luck and change in fortune. I assume that Vesper provides Francesco with some degree of ‘stability amidst movement’ and that any ‘denial of chance’ involves Francesco leaving the marketplace and returning to the very clearly mapped out future that his family has for him, thus leading to a bad end. ——————————

Thanks for reading to the end!

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  @wynnyfryd! Wynnyfryd has 34 fics in the Stranger Things fandom and all of them are in the Steddie tag!

i don’t know, you figure it out

Plot Holes

biting you biting you biting you- oh! kissing you!

Satanic Ritual: DO NOT WATCH!!

She's got some of the FUNNIEST writing in this fandom, and it's very snappy too like. She's an editing demon for sure, she can take a concept that I'd think would take paragraphs to explain and find the right words to make it hit just as hard with like, two sentences. I also really really love how descriptive her metaphors are, really visceral sometimes, and she's really good at writing realistic life events but still making them fun to read about even when it's about like, devastating shit. The sex she writes is also intense as hell! -- @griefabyss69

Below the cut, @wynnyfryd answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

I am but a humble bisexual — I see two beautiful brown-eyed men makin’ beautiful brown eyes at each other, I go a little insane for two years. It is what it is.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

late-night moments of quiet hopeful hesitant intimacy over a shared joint or cigarette. Thin wisp of smoke between them, stars dancing in their eyes. Yeah. YEAHHHHHHH 

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

This isn’t really a trope so much as a dynamic, but I love a good dipshit 4 dingus dialogue-heavy scene. Don’t get me wrong, I think Eddie and Steve can both be very smart and knowledgeable in their areas of interest/expertise, but these are two young dudes with no access to the internet. I love letting them be confidently incorrect dumbasses. Just ‘yes and’-ing each other’s stupidity while an exasperated third character begs for mercy.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

Well, this question is impossible and furthermore rude. This question came into my home and didn’t take its muddy boots off. This question never mailed me a thank you letter for my lovely wedding gift. That blender was expensive; the absolute nerve. No but seriously, I think The Lathe by palmviolet is going to stay with me forever.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

I’m a big fan of doing canon divergence from different jumping off points — the beauty of having characters live in the same small town their whole lives is that you get so many great opportunities for these “what if our paths crossed sooner” moments.  I have some very loose notes for a S3 fic where Eddie is the movie theater employee who finds Steve and Robin in the bathroom after they escape the Russians, and I also have an old WIP set between S1 and S2 where lifeguard Steve rescues Eddie and then spends the summer teaching him how to swim. Would love to revisit those after I finish the trailer park AU (which I will be referring to as TPAU because my fingers are tired and because ‘toilet paper au’ makes me laugh.)

What is your writing process like?

Uhhhhh. 😂 I mean, for TPAU, basically just insert the scene from Dune 2 of Paul’s first sandworm ride: I’m shaking I’m sweating there is sand in my nostrils and I am surely about to die— oh wait, maybe I’ve actually got this? Am I actually doing it? Oh shit, look at me go!   For one-shots I like to use a more structured outline and bracket method. I start by dividing my doc into numbered scenes, with each scene getting a notes section and a prose section, like this:

This format gives me a lot of freedom to switch up the order of scenes and to move between scenes so I avoid writer’s block. I can also jump ahead to scenes I really want to write without making a mess of my outline. Once I have something written in the prose section of each scene, I go back and work on replacing each bracket with prose until there are no brackets left. Lastly, I create a new blank doc and copy the prose over in order so I can read the full fic and work on edits from there.  

Do you have any writing quirks?

I have been known to abuse a semicolon. And an em dash. And a conjunction at the start of a sentence. Yes, I do have ADHD.   I’m also a lyricist, so I feel like my prose tends to stray into poetry territory pretty often.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

When I’m finished! Which is probably why I tend to stick to one-shots; I get impatient and want to post stuff the second it’s ready.

Which fic are you most proud of?

‘i don’t know, you figure it out’ for SURE. I’ve never written a fic this long or stuck to a writing project this consistently in my life. Like ever. The last time I even came close was my first NaNoWriMo when I was 16, which was, uh… years ago, plural, and I’ll leave it at that. 😂

How did you get the idea for i don’t know, you figure it out?

“There’s a dead rat on his doorstep.” That’s it. That first sentence/scene popped into my head while I was bored at work, and then I started thinking, “hey, you know what? I don’t know that anyone’s ever done a fic where Max and Steve trade places for S4; that might be fun.”  And then NaNoWriMo was coming up, so I thought it would be cool to try live posting a fully improvised fic every day for a month to see how many words I could write. And then this tragic wet cat version of Steve Harrington grabbed me by the throat and took over my whole life.

When writing Satanic Ritual: DO NOT WATCH!!, what was something you didn’t expect?

How SAPPY these two got!! My god, boys, I’m trying to write smut over here, stop having a beautiful existential crisis! (I blame Briston Maroney for that though lol, I think I listened to ‘Body’ like 1400 times that month.)

What inspired Satanic Ritual: DO NOT WATCH!!?

@inklessletter posted this totally gorgeous art of Steve and Eddie recording themselves kissing, and I promptly lost my mind.  

What was your favorite part to write from biting you biting you biting you- oh! kissing you!?

This exchange: Steve: “What? I’m just asking!” Robin: “You’re being embarrassing!” Steve: “No, you’re just embarrassed. There’s a difference.” Like it’s just so them lmao

How do/did you feel writing i don’t know, you figure it out?

You know when you set out on a long hike in the summer and three hours later your calves are screaming and you’re covered in sweat and your sunburn’s starting to itch and this one horse fly won’t fuck off and your cell phone doesn’t even get service out here so literally WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO YOURSELF, and then you climb that last hill and look out on the most beautiful landscape you’ve ever seen in your silly little life? Basically that.

What was the most difficult part of writing Plot Holes?

Ooh, that one was fun! The only real difficulty was trying to keep it to a microfic because the concept could definitely be fleshed out to a full story — @griefabyss69 and I were joking around about “what if someone did ‘plot hole’ for the @steddiemicrofic prompt fill?” and then that fic just fell out of my head in about 15 minutes. 

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

For sure! I’m currently super proud of the graveyard scene in the most recent update of TPAU — I don’t write true horror often, but I love horror so it was really fun to give it a try! Favorite line from any fic is probably this reference to ‘You’re Divine’ in my fic Monsoon Season because I love uncomfortably-aroused prude Eddie, and his internal monologue cracks me up every time I think about it: Freddie Monsoon’s debut novel is called The Fourth Chime, and it is, as far as Eddie can tell, the first installment in a series of unapologetically filthy fuck fests about a man whose lover gets flung into an alternate dimension during an apocalyptic event and miraculously returns as some sort of… sexy bat-boy with a fucking horse dong and a bite kink. Critics are calling it “the most romantic novel of the last decade.” It’s me; I’m Critics.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

My main project right now is finishing TPAU if it kills me, but beyond that, I have a few one-shots for @subeddieweek in the works, including a collab with @griefabyss69 that I’m so so SO excited to share. It’s hot, it’s funny, I can’t wait for y’all to read it. 

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

First of all, as @wormdebut would say: I think you’re pretty. Thank you so much for all your hard work! I love this blog, and I love answering questions <3 Secondly: - Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. - Toss cubed sweet potatoes and parsnips, sliced sweet onion, and fresh garlic in a mix of olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary, and then spread in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet.  - Bake for ~40-45 minutes. (Potatoes and parsnips should be soft without being mushy when you poke them with a fork.) - Prep your sauce: I made a dijon drizzle situation by mixing olive oil mayo, a dash of dijon mustard, lemon juice, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a splash of water, but you could also add a little dab of hot sauce, bbq sauce, or different mustards. Basically just grab like four condiments out of your fridge and play around with the flavors you like until you make a mix that’s thin enough to pour. - Drizzle roasted veggies with sauce. - Enjoy a very tasty side dish (or do what I did and eat the whole sheet as a meal like some sort of parsnip goblin because you were too lazy to make the main dish after chopping all those veggies) okay thank you love you byeeeee

Thank you to our author, @wynnyfryd, and our nominator, @griefabyss69! See more of Wynnyfryd's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[rahshande22]

So here I am, first time in my life on tumblr, just because I feel a very strong need to write sth about X-men movies.

I’ve never been much of a X-men girl, I watched the movies few years ago (turns out I’ve never seen The Dark Phoenix before lol). I remember being a little bored with the older movies (I’ve always been more into MCU's type of superhero stories), but actually liked the newer ones. Lately something reminded me about these movie and about the fact that I particularly liked Charles. So I watched all four newer X-men movie and here are some of my thoughts:

I was right. Charles is, for me, THE character in these movies.

Not gonna lie, what made them this enjoyable for me was the relationship between Charles and Erik. And I’m not even that much of a shiper, I just think the chemistry between these two was great, their interactions were interesting and pretty much carried all movies. I mostly give credit James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender who truly done a great job with bringing Charles and Erik back to life.

I really like how during the first three movies (FC, DoFP, Ap) we get the two opposite sites of the same coin. Both Charles and Erik want to preserve mutants, help them, give them safety, give them purpose ect… but they have very different ideas on how to do that, how to make that possible. I like how they are both wrong and right at the same time.

Erik is right, because we clearly see that “normal” people can’t really comprehend and accept “the other” (what a surprise). Mutants would never be entirely safe because they are different, they are in minority, they can be dangerous and they are beyond understanding of “normal” people (I guess I don’t need to elaborate more, we know how it works). But he is clearly wrong, because you can’t exterminate other just because they MAY be problematic in the future (or, ironically, because they are not like you). And then, there’s Charles, who's right, because aggression causes aggression. If you strive for war, that will be all you will ever have and sometimes you have to learn how to survive on different terms. But he is also wrong, because you cannot always have your peace, even though you want nothing more.

They were trying to live up to their dreams and beliefs and dynamics between then actually shaped the movies (ok, at last the first two). X-men Apocalypse was worst then two previous (I’d say that less Erik and Charles together made it that way), but wasn’t THAT bad. I like to think that Erik did in fact understand that Apocalypse was not a better option. Or he just didn’t want him to kill Charles, that reason is also fine.

But then we come to The Dark Phoenix, which was not good, at all.

I can skip the fact that in the previous movie Jean manifested Phoenix power (I mean, we can quarrel that it was only her, but why give it a shape of fiery wings then?), but generally her story arc was very similar to what we’ve already seen: Jean Grey doesn’t really know who she is and is scared of her power. As much as I respect Sophie Turner, I don’t consider her… well, a great actress, and her portrayal of Jean was sort of flat and boring.

Erik’s story arc is kinda non existent: he’s there just for the sake of being there. He’s only motive is “to kill Jean for killing Raven” (I’m not sure if it’s that good of a motivation for him; Raven spent much more time on her own or with Charles than with Erik, so him carrying for her so much felt more like a forced plot point than genuine feelings).

I have a feeling they made Charles dirty in this movie, and I'm not referring to his controversial decisions about Jean. Charles always wants to help others, sometimes to the extent it’s not a real help. He wants it so badly that he might lose the person he's helping along the way. Thant’s an interesting take, and some new layer to Charles Xavier. His methods are not always good, even when he does something in good faith, we’ve seen that clearly with Jean (though without Dark Phoenix power it could work). But one of his most important traits is that he CARES about others. Here? Not so much. He's definitely more... detached that usual, less involved in his students well being. And what about Raven? She was his sister, and he loved her dearly, this was shown very, very clearly in the previous three movies. And here what? One tear or two after her death? We got Hank and Erik (!) going crazy after Raven’s death and not even a proper cry from Charles? Am I supposed to believe that? And there, there's more: he made some mistakes and then lives the school? "By, you’re on your own now, have a nice time?" Like, what? These two things alone make him feel not like himself. And I pity that, cause we got three decent (good even) stories and there’s this one. It’s not even the fact that McAvoy cannot act, we perfectly know he can (we got three other movies in the franchise to confirm that), so what actually happened here?

Probably the only good thing in this movie is the ending and the scene in Paris.

[pinazee]

Murder?…Anyone? …Anyone?…Bueller?

First of all, solid title.

Secondly, im back (sort of). Lets get into it!

I LOVE this episode. I love the insight into who gus and shawn were as teenagers, i love how gus and shawn are both stuck in the past in different ways, and i love Abigail Lytar!

From the first moment we meet her, we know that she gets Shawn. She not only clocks his judd nelson pic, she also plays along with the joke and makes another obscure reference.

Abigail is the best love triangle addition in the history of television and i will die on that hill! They made her a genuine “competitor” to juliet by writing her as someone almost catered to shawns personality.

Normally with love triangles, they write the “competition” as less compelling of a choice to really emphasize how the mains are end goal OR they’ll make the decision split the center characters personalities, so like one choice will be the girl next door and represents the past version of them and the other is more career focused and represents the future (think sweet home alabama, uh, 13 going on 30, romcoms in general, you get it) And to a degree, thats sort of what this is with abigail and juliet, except it doesn’t split them in a way that is determined by shawn. Like, who shawn chooses doesn’t impact who he’ll be. The choice isnt a lesson or a determination of his character, if that makes sense. Plus, theres no caveat to Abigail. Like, she’d be perfect for him if it wasn’t for ___. None of that. Abigail and Shawn could have worked (ill go into it more in season 4 when they finally do get together).

Sidenote: i think her dynamic with both shawn and gus was really cute (which is another win in the abigail is a great love triangle addition column)

So apparently Shawns recall is so good he can do an instant replay. Idk if i should add that to his list of skills or just lump that into his existing memory power. I also love though, that its a blurry image because thats how Shawn saw it and they didn’t try to make him super human and see it in high definition.

Ravi shinkar is a heck of a reference to make and an even crazier one for lassie to have seen and shawn to understand haha

There was a joke made by Gus that Shawn didn’t know anything about their senior class or what happened senior year or the school, but I’d like to point out that his parents were on the brink of a divorce and then did divorce his senior year so im guessing he was pretty distracted. This is kind of random, but im wondering when Shawn decided he wasn’t going to be a cop like his dad. Like what was his tipping point. I always thought it was after his mom left because she said when she left she thought he would be okay, which to me meant that he had his path set. Now, because of how he didnt seem to care for school at all and was already off doing his own adventures (becoming part of the janitors society to get keys presumably for some reason) he was already aimless. Maddie was either delusional or Shawn lied to her? Idk im over thinking this silly cop show.

Now, the box of cop cars is not unexpected. We know who henry is. But this little bit actually tells us that Maddie never bought him other cars?? If I’m Maddie, and my husband is training my kid to become something i must have noticed he didn’t want to be because I’m a psychologist, I’m going to say something! Idk, maybe part of the reason they divorced was because of how henry was with Shawn, but then why would she leave him behind and think he was okay? So, i guess, i don’t understand why Maddie wouldn’t have pushed back. Why wouldn’t she buy shawn other toy cars for him to play with to provide choices for him. There is the possibility that shawn never told her that henrys training made him miserable because they were already fighting and didn’t want to give them another reason. Again, over thinking.

Some smaller notes:

-low blow for Gus to straight up tell Shawn no one had any expectations for him. Like i get he’s having a quarter life crisis or whatever, but, all the same, rude.

-that prom queen was Serinda Swan who was in a show called breakout kings with our own Mary Lightly aka Jimmi Simpson :)

-my favorite thing about carlton is that he’s a good head detective and yet has absolutely the worst instincts around. Like true south all the time.

P.S

“What does every great john hughes movie have? A love triangle!” Omg i just now saw what they did there and now i feel like an idiot lol

[itsdeny]

what made u like obkk

I’ve always had a soft spot for friends to enemies to friends - or, well, whatever - kind of bonds, so watching Naruto for the first time I immediately liked their dynamic and story. Obito was also one of the few characters I knew way before even watching the show which made me particularly intrigued when it came to his character.

But back to ObiKaka.

Last year when Jujutsu Kaisen was airing, I got pretty fixated with it. Eventually, that lead to my (more generic) shonen fixation coming back, and I ended up on ao3 reading Naruto fanfictions. It wasn’t long until I stumbled upon ObiKaka fics, and that’s when it hit me: “wait…they really were something, huh?”

However!

I only started liking them this much - hence, a lot - after rewatching Naruto; which, as you can imagine, happened because of the ObiKaka fics I’d found.

I’d never realised just how thoroughly their story had been planned out right from the beginning: one of the first (important) things we get to know about Kakashi’s character is that he has lost his best friend to war, and that his words and actions are a continuation to his will.

I’d always thought of Naruto as a show that isn’t much about extremely well organised storyline, foreshadowings, etc, (like Attack on Titan is, for reference) but more about just feeling the story and vibes. I was proven wrong, and it was through Obito and Kakashi’s story.

Ever since, I’ve started caring a lot more about their relationship: noticing every word, action, thought of Kakashi that could lead back to his old lost friend. Suddenly everything was about them, Kakashi’s entire character was about them; or, well, about Obito. And it all added up until the war arc, when the mask shattering meant Kakashi’s character slowly crumbling as well. It was one sight to see, really.

I love how they’re not your typical friends to enemies kind of story: were they even friends, really? I feel like their bond was much more complicated than that, their whole story is much more tragic than most people seem to realise, and that really appeals to me. Their personal story, their relationships with their characters, the general plot of Naruto and hell, even their designs all lead back to each other. I personally believe their story to be one of the parts of Naruto that was perfectly crafted. Every time I wish something had been different (postwar!Obito I’m looking at you) there’s always something else reminding me why it was meant to be like that. And like that it shall be.

Their whole story is a bittersweet tragedy that feels emotionally mature. I struggle to even put it into words, really.

Anyway, I’d write a lot more but I fear that might be even too much already lol. I’ll probably make a post in the future talking about this in much more detail, and possibly comparing them to SatoSugu, highlighting the similarities and the - endless, in my opinion - differences.

Thanks for asking and have a great day!

[truearchangel]

Okay, I’m at a computer again finally. I want to update and organize my rules before I do anything. It’s been a while since they’ve been changed and I really feel like I need to adjust them for my own comfort. Also, just a reminder @thylightbringer is my main Lucifer and one of my best friends. Things that reference a Lucifer in threads relate to them. We’re both silly little beans and you should definitely follow them if you don’t already. I adore B with everything I got.

Some other cool beans you should definitely follow:

@alteregozowie @radioiaci @diistortion @adflictus @solmxri @arachn0philia @gamblins @paymons @hotlhost @chasingrainbcws

They’re rather incredible writers who put great spirit and love into their muses. I haven't had the pleasure of interacting with all of them yet but I certainly watch them from afar, admiring the way that they write their muses. All of us put such depth thought love and passion into our muses and a lot of the time we don't feel like it gets seen read or cared about but that is certainly not the case. Though we might forget to leave a like or feel awkward giving a comment on something we're not a part of, everyone has carved out a wonderful spot for themselves in this silly little space.

Zowie, TJ and Luke are beautiful artists who put passion into making their muses come to life. Luke especially has poured time and effort into helping me bring Mike into reality on the wonderful art he has made for me. All three of them draw their own icons for their muses to breathe even more passion into the things they're making. The time, effort and love that has to take is beyond my small brains comprehension.

Gold I noticed draws too, I saw their wonderful art of Angel at Halloween in that kinky latex outfit which you can see on their artblog @golddraws and they are very much talented as well. I adore the way they play Angel and the absolutely amazing and hilarious Gingerbread fight that they engaged with me in. I still can't believe how long they kept that up with me without getting annoyed.

Autumn and Rory are two people I haven't gotten the chance to engage with yet but that I have carefully watched on the blog since sticking them in my pocket. Rory is very passionate about Paymon and the hcs, meta, various posts that they have made about them are absolutely brilliant to consume up. I absolutely love watching them engage with others. Autumn writes two other muses and the new bird along with Husk really are people Mike is going to scoop up and steal. Their blog aesthetics are so pretty and I adore Husk! He feels very on character from the posts I read from them. Especially with Angel, I read a lot of the Angel threads.

Charlie @chasingrainbcws is very aware of how I feel about them. Though it's been a while since we're written together (I need to throw some memes at you) they very much capture the feeling of Charlie herself from the show. I've only written with their Charlie and Emily (briefly her) but each interaction I got to do with the Princess of Hell very much felt like I could hear her voice or see her actually doing what she was in the show. I could clearly visualize our thread and I loved that. They are an amazing writer who really captures their muse well and I can't wait for the things we might get to do in the future. Either with Charlie or the other wonderful muses they write!

May @hotlhost is my newest friend who I've engaged with briefly but I loved and laughed so hard at the things we've done already. Charlie is absolutely brilliant and adorable and the interactions I've seen of them feel so spot on. Mike already very much wants to scoop his niece up and tuck her away somewhere where things won't get to her. I can't wait to see where their relationship develops when we get a real thread going!

Yata and Tordo are my friends and I will kill for them. @adflictus @solmxri are my chaotic partners in crime along with Bianca @thylightbringer. They've put up with me, listened to me ramble / cry / scream / have a breakdown more times than I can count. They've handled my for so long it should deserve some sort of metal of honor. They're all beautiful writers who have put so much time and effort into their muses (especially Tordo whose been around maybe even longer than me and created the Gabriel Yata writes), and the depth that all takes is remarkable. They all breathe such life into their muses and world and I love them. They will forever be a part of anything I create.

[prokopetz]

Hey! So I ran a one-shot of Eat God and we had a blast. I have some feedback to offer from both myself and my players (This was actually a while ago but I’ve been busy as hell so I’m only writing it up now, so I might have forgotten some things). 

First off, character creation was just as fun as advertised. My player’s all loved getting to choose their character’s traits and appearance and designing their deicidal muppets. The game’s mechanics also made it extremely easy to create looney-tunes style shenanigans, which both I and the character’s took full advantage of. 

At one point a character with the roving limbs trait was running away with a barrel containing another character (I put the character in the barrel) balanced on their legs while their top half distracted the town guards, a completely different character slipped into the sewers I hadn’t thought about and I had a chance to throw a surprise alligator at them, and a theocratic pastor said that he “carried God with him in his heart” (which ended exactly as anthropophagically as I had expected it too). I also got the great quote from one of my players “I swear to the god I want to eat.” 

I have a few critiques, a few suggestions for things to develop for future editions, and a few questions. My first critique is that I think that having tokens for obstinacy is a little distracting, since you keep track of everything else about your character on paper (we ended up using Sprite flavored tic-tacs that one of the player’s had in their bag) and would be better done on the character sheet. I also think the game could use a formal turn structure for high-pressure situations. It’s a game that promotes chaotic play, and with people popcorning in it got a bit loud and overwhelming. 

For future developments, I think that having more specific action types like attack, help, investigate, etc. would be helpful. Specifying the mechanical effects tied to some of the abilities, like being able to “stun” someone with Primordial Power and Dizzying Display, having a general movement speed that would be doubled by Fast Feet, being difficult to harm with Defensive Dermis, etc., would be useful for the GM. And more examples of NPC abilities would be useful, if only to have something to base homebrew on. 

There are also a few questions I had. First, is there a specific time scale for actions taken in a high-pressure situation like combat? 

Second, I assume that you count the unmodified roll for calculating calamity? Because I don’t believe any roll over a character’s facet would have no chance of triggering calamity, and similarly don’t believe that positive modifiers would increase the chance of calamity. 

Lastly, a general lesson I learned as a GM that I do not hold against your game: be careful how far you let your characters stretch the limits of their abilities in low pressure situations if you’re too socially anxious to retcon in high pressure ones. 

Ultimately I think it’s a great game and everyone had a great time. I meant to run another session but didn’t find the time, so I might have more feedback when I finally get around to that. For credits sake I’m Kendall R., my players wanted to be credited as Noc, Ladybug, and Brynne.

(With reference to this post here.)

I appreciate the feedback. With respect to your questions:

First, is there a specific time scale for actions taken in a high-pressure situation like combat?

There is not. Defining a more formal conflict framework with a specific round length is a potential addition to a future revision, albeit not one I'm committing to adding at this time.

Second, I assume that you count the unmodified roll for calculating calamity?

Dice rolls in Eat God are generally not modified in any way; the value of a particular die is the number you rolled on that die. Effect modifiers (which I assume are what you're referring to here) apply to the roll's Result, which is the number you get from carrying out the procedure described in "Rolling and Reading Your Result"; any comparison which does not explicitly refer to a roll's Result is referring to the values the dice are physically showing.

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Synopsis: after the events of the movie, Tashi, Art and Patrick find a way to keep tennis in their life. Two younger tennis players, Wendy and Audrey, are now part of their game, being used(and loved) by atp. Audrey plays like Tashi, but goes for the same struggles as Art. Wendy is just like Patrick…

World count: 7.8k

Note: (some warnings:legal age gap, toxic relationship, anxiety, self destructive personality and self hate). The tittle it’s supposed to be a reference for some tennis tournaments, like us open, Australia open… but also a reference for their relationship. The name of the 2 new character are inspired on WTA(Women's Tennis Association), I thought this would be interesting since Art, Tashi and Patrick names are inspired by ATP(Association of Tennis Professionals).I have almost zero knowledge about tennis, so there’s not going to be descriptive tennis scenes or explanation about the tournaments. These new characters represent their personalities but is also a way to reconnect to tennis. This story happens after the events of the movie, and it takes long over some years. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to write smut, maybe I will develop this skill in the future, but this fic doesn’t have detailed sex scenes, only mentions of sex. My intention is to explore the character’s connection and personalities, the 2 new characters reflect atp personally so at the end is all about character study, and I think they would find a way to keep their life’s around tennis so this is my vision for a “sequel”. I wish I could make a better work, but I’m a beginner at fan fiction and at writing that much in English, I appreciate even more the amazing writers of this platform. I’m really sorry for my repetitive writing and grammar mistakes, I swear I did my best.

1.

Art wins the game of course. Patrick started the fire on him, so that he could make both of Art and Tashi happy. If he’s not happy at least they are…. Also, If he wants to win a slam he would need Tashi’s help, and for that he had to do what she wanted, that’s why he provoked Art. Art really needed to win this game, to beat Patrick, but still he is decided that’s he’s going to retire, now more than ever, he doesn’t need to prove anything anymore.

After the match Tashi is talking to her husband and Patrick goes after them, “it was a great match”, “yeah” Art says with the biggest smile “we should celebrate”, Tashi and Patrick look at each other surprised by Art’s courage to suggest that, “what? I told you I didn’t want to feel left out”.

They all went to Patrick’s cheap hotel room, they sit at the messy bed just like the 2006 night, they laugh nervously, but they are all satisfied that they can finally continue what they started that night….

…

Tashi is glad that Art won, but she knows he’s going to retire anyway. It’s obvious that she wants her husband to be happy, and now she have another good option to rely her tennis dream on. Even with the resentment that she feels towards Patrick, she can’t deny that she misses him, and he’s so desperate for a last shot to win a slam, that’s he’s finally going to let her coach him, with no complaining this time.

The throuple are together again and live some good moments. They complete each other’s needs… It’s almost nostalgic, like they are back to their past. They are happy again.

…

Patrick wins a slam. People can’t believe that a “nobody”, ranked at 271º, would win a slam. That’s crazy news for the sport world. He is having the moment that he waited his entire life, he is making an Adidas campaign, even that he hates the slogan, but at least money wouldn’t be a problem for a while. But everybody is even more impressed with Tashi, anyone knows she is an incredible coach, and Art is the proof of that, but transforming Patrick in a tennis star it’s another level.

Patrick is so happy, not only because he finally get it what he wanted and needed at tennis, but also because he feels that he won them back.

…

Tashi and Patrick used to fight a lot during the training, but she handled it because she missed him and because she liked the challenge to coach him, like she finally won their fight from Stanford… Art wasn’t exactly coaching Patrick, he was just taking some rest of being a player, trying to get every opportunity to help Tashi and Patrick make peace, because that always end up in good sex. He still felt resentment towards them, not because of the cheating, but because he felt left out to not be included in the Atlanta night or the night before the final match at the challenger. But after Patrick retires the situation get complicated…

Tashi and Art are undeniably more responsible than Patrick, and they get worried for him, he is not coping well with his retirement, drinking too much, wasting his money, they try to help him, to give him advises. “You guys are never done coaching me?”, Patrick hates people talking him what to do, he accepted that as a way to win a slam because he didn’t find another way to reach his goal, but now, he can be himself again, why they can’t just have fun? Why they can’t just go back in time?

Patrick feels like after he stopped playing, he is not useful anymore, he feels that they don’t love him anymore. But that’s not true. As time passes, the more Tashi and Patrick would fight and more resentment Art would keep, making Patrick feel bad about himself every time he could….

Before their conflicts were used as a way to make tennis better, a motivation, the tension were useful on the sport, but without the game they don’t know how to deal with their emotions. Tennis is like a relationship and without one how can they have the other?

2.

Tashi is now coaching Audrey, a tennis promise, Audrey was already really good before Tashi came in to her life, but her previous coach would never be so incredible like Tashi is, to see exactly what Audrey needs to be lead to. Audrey does anything Tashi wants, she just trust her, she was so relif when Tashi accepted her proposal to coach her. Many tennis players would kill to be coached by Tashi Duncan, she is a legend player and an amazing coach responsible for the incredible career of Art Donaldson and the surprising slam winner Patrick Zweig.

Audrey couldn’t stand her last coach, he was to soft with her, she didn’t felt challenged by him, and she is the kind of person that needs a challenge, she needs something that makes her want to be better, she is the kind of person that always think she needs improvement. Tashi brings that out on her. Not only Tashi is everything that Audrey wants to be, but also Audrey is what Tashi could have been if wasn’t for the injury, and of course Tashi sees that. Seeing Audrey’s career is even better than Art or Patrick, Audrey reminds Tashi so much of herself, she is all that she could have been, even that hurts to see someone so similar to her like that, she is happy because she finally find someone that wouldn’t disappoint her at tennis.

Audrey was so excited to work with Tashi, that takes her a while to notice she is falling in love with Tashi. Who wouldn’t be in love with her?

…

The night before the first big tournament of Audrey and Tashi, they are talking at Audrey’s room in the fancy hotel Tashi chose, about the game strategies, Tashi is so happy and excited for the game tomorrow, but Audrey is nervous and anxious, and of course the coach notices that, “you need to relax, your mind is a really important part of your game”, she says in a tough way, just like she used to say to herself when she was younger, but she looks at Audrey and feels bad talking like that, just like she used to feel bad with the pressure she made to herself. “Let’s try something…” Tashi gets up of the sofa and choose some David Bowie’s song in her phone, Tashi starts dancing and put her arms in Audrey’s direction as a way to convince her to dance too. Audrey is pretty surprised seeing her like that, she doesn’t look like a serious coach, she looks what Audrey think she would look if it wasn’t for the injury. She finally get up from she sofa and dances with her. They are laughing and having fun, and unfortunately it’s time to sleep….

“You need to rest”,

“I always get to anxious before a match, sometimes I can’t even sleep properly”,

“I get it, athletes need a ritual you know? Not only right before the match to focus, but also while preparing, we can think of something that make you relax so you can sleep better, meditation works for me, do you wanna try?”,

Tashi helps Audrey concentrate on her breath, while touching her core and whispering in her ears, standing behind her, Audrey does feel more relaxed with Tashi presence so near her neck, she turns to look Tashi in the eyes, Tashi looks at her with intensity and lean to kiss her, their soft lips fits so perfectly. Tashi is feeling young again, like she is in that hotel room back from 2006, before things got bad…

“I know how to make you feel better….”

…

After the sex, Tashi is looking at Audrey sleeping deep, and get of the bed slowly to not wake her up, she grabs her purse and goes to her room, her phone have a lot missing calls from Art, that makes her feel guilty, Tashi calls him back.

“Hey, are you okay? It’s late and we still haven’t talked today…” that is unusual for them as they talk every night,

“I’m fine, I had a busy day… how is Lily?”,

“She is loving the new school…how is Audrey?”,

“She is ready to win tomorrow!”,

“Good…I can help you coaching her, like if you want me to”,

“Why would I want that?”,

“Tashi..”,

“Sorry, I didn’t mean like that, you just seen happy being at home, I don’t want to disturb your peace, after all those years on tour, I know you just want to rest”,

“Of playing, coaching sound fun to me… I miss you”,

“I know”,

“And now that I’m not playing and have no pressure on myself, I miss tennis too…I just don’t want to feel left out”,

“I’m not choosing this for you Art, you’re welcome to be an assistant coach if you want… Lily can stay with my mom ...”,

“And we can bring her with us on tour on the school breaks”,

“Of course!”,

“I don’t want to be like my parents you know? I don’t want her to feel abandoned…”,

“You are definitely not like your parents Art, and Lily is not going to feel like that… I miss her traveling with me”,

“We are going to work it out”,

“Like we always do”,

“We had a great time coaching him together right?”, Art says this referring to Patrick,

“Well, we made a great team, he became a winner”.

3.

After winning a lot of tournaments Audrey is a well know tennis player. She is in a locker room finishing dressing herself after a match, when another player comes in… she’s sweating, she just won a mach too, she looks at Audrey surprised, “hi!! I’m Wendy”, “I’m Audrey”, Wendy starts to undress herself, while Audrey is trying not to look…. “you don’t need to introduce yourself, who doesn’t know the tennis princess? I watched your game, you are amazing!!! I hope I don’t play with you, I’m sure I would lose, but it would be a honor!!!”, Audrey is flattered, “I watched your game too. It’s really interesting”, they both laugh, “in a good way, exciting, fun”. Audrey’s phone ring, it’s Tashi, “I need to go”, “it was good to met you” Wendy smirks at her while she get in the shower.

…

Both Wendy and Audrey have a similar background, since they were kids theirs families put a lot of pressure and expectations on them, so they could be the first successful person of the family. However, they turn out to be different women, polar opposites.

Audrey learned to exceed all the expectations, she became exactly what her parents wanted her to be, because that’s exactly what she believed she wanted too, she was the favorite daughter, the best student at the best university, she chose to be a professional athlete because she had the discipline to be, the physical and mental strength to be. She is loved and admired.

Wendy learned how to ignore the pressure, and became the family shame and disappointment, choosing to be a tennis player, even that she have no discipline to be a professional athlete, over choosing to go to university to follow her parents dream of her being a elegant executive, business woman, doctor or lawyer…. Her parents put her in tennis classes as a punishment for her laziness, but she ended up liking it, and that really pissed her parents, and that made she like it even more. She is judged and misunderstood.

4.

It’s been a while since Patrick won the grand slam, since tennis isn’t a glue that keeps them together, since Art and Tashi had a big fight with him, since he didn’t see them…

Patrick is feeling lonely again, after years being alone, he never really got used to it, even that he told himself that he did. And finally they all reconnect and life was a dream, until he retired and things got complicated.

He is alone again, and his money is almost ending… he is lying on the messy bed of a cheap hotel, thinking about them…

He is decided. He is going to do it! Even that they said that they didn’t want to see him again, he would go to this tournament, where the player Tashi is coaching is going to play, to find a way to talk to them.

…

He tries to approach Tashi on the parking lot of the tennis club. “What are you doing here?”, she asks angrily, “I just want to watch a match, where is Art? Does your dear husband doesn’t supports you?”, Patrick smirks trying to hide how nervous he is, “his flight actually got delayed so he will not be here to watch the match… I don’t even know why I waste my time talking with you”, she walks away, “Tashi!!”, “stay away from us Patrick!”.

He buys a ticket to watch the match, he is sitting there, totally lost. Tashi doesn’t want to talk to him, but at least he is going to watch a tennis match, he still loves tennis, and he can see Tashi avoiding so hard to not look at him on the other side of the court.

The game starts, Audrey is playing against a young woman called Wendy… Patrick is mesmerized by the way Wendy plays. Audrey plays just like Tashi and Wendy plays like him. It’s perfect timing, it’s like Tashi and Patrick are playing against each other. They are both thinking the same.

It’s unbelievable, Wendy wins the match. How could a messy player wins the perfect player?

That’s when something clicks for Patrick, that’s his ticket to get back to Art and Tashi’s life. He’s going to be Wendy’s coach, and continue the rivalry that started in this game, if the two tennis players play against each other in the next tournaments that would be a great way to see Tashi and consequently Art. He needs to talk to Wendy.

…

“Hey!”, Patrick says while walking fast towards Wendy as she is getting into her car, she stops to look at him,

“I watched your match, congratulations!”,

“Thanks”, Wendy doesn’t seen too happy about it,

“I’m Patrick Zweig”, he extends his hand to greet her, and they shake hands,

“I’m Wendy and I know who you are”,

Patrick feels better with this ego boost,

“Never to late to be the best version of yourself” she says his adidas campaign while laughing,

“That’s right…” he smirks as way to mask his embarrassment, but he actually likes her mocking him,

“What do you want?”she’s looking at him all over, she thinks he’s hotter in person,

“I just want to meet the champion”,

“Well”, she enters her car, “I’m fucking tired, I have no energy to meet you right now”, she closes the door, she does want to meet him but she’s not in the mood, all she wants for now is to be alone, it’s more comfortable for her like that, but he doesn’t get away, she looks a little annoyed at him and opens the window,

“You probably hungry, don’t you want to eat…”,

“I can eat by myself just fine”,

“Come on, you just won an incredible match against one the best players of the moment, shouldn’t you celebrate?”,

She rolls her eyes, “what do you suggest?”.

…

They are eating hamburgers in a restaurant,

“So what you think?”,

“This is delicious”,

“I mean about me being your coach”,

“I don’t even know how I won, she is fucking incredible”,

“You are incredible too”,

“Not like her, I didn’t deserve it, she is a real athlete, you know? Tashi Duncan is her coach, I know you were also coached by Tashi, she is a legend, so you know how she is, she probably has a really rigid routine and transforms you into a machine, and that’s good”,

“It’s not that good…”,

“Yeah, It must be tiring, anything has a price I guess”,

“That’s for sure”,

“I just want to feel that I’m good enough for the only thing that I know how to do”,

“I know how you feel”,

“I can’t compare, it was pure luck to won her”,

“It’s not luck, you are talented”,

“I..”,

“You just won one the best tennis players of the moment that means something ... you can be one of the top players too. You are talented, you just need a bit of …. Coaching”,

She smiles, “well that’s a better way to think about it.. I just ..”,

“Stop it, I thought someone like you would be more confident”,

“I thought someone like you would know exactly when a person is faking their confidence”,

Patrick smirk slowly turns to a more serious face, they are more similar than he thought,

“I bet you can play with her again and win again”,

Wendy is starving for connection, she wants a friend, maybe she could have that with Audrey, like the friendship that Patrick had with Art and Tashi, and of course she knows about that from the tennis news when Patrick won a slam, she actually got inspired by his story.

“Don’t put any expectations on me, I’m a disaster”,

“Me too... I can help you, we are actually really similar, I was just like you at your age”,

“So at my 30s I should expect to a amazing coach to save me”,

“No, I can save you now”,

“I don’t need anyone to save me, I’m fine”,

“Look, I know exactly how is to feel the way you are feeling now. Tashi taught me some stuff that I can teach you too, and most importantly, I can teach you how not to destroy your life by telling how I destroyed mine”,

“How?”,

“Being arrogant and not accepting advice at the start of my journey”,

“Oh fuck of!”,

He smiled at her…

Wendy hates to ask Patrick to be her coach, she hates to ask for help, she rolls her eyes, “okay, I can give you what you want if you tell me why you want to coach me, I know you are probably fucked and have no money and that’s probably why you are so desperate to be someone’s coach, but why me?”,

Patrick doesn’t think is a good idea to tell her he wants to coach her to get back his connections with the two loves of his life, so he tells her something that is also true, “I do need to coach someone to get some money… I think it would be easier to start my coaching career with someone that I relate so much, I do want to help you, I don’t want you to repeat my mistakes”,

“I’m not a form of therapy you know that right?”,

“Yeah, I just think we are a good match, don’t you think?”,

“I can see us working together, but you better be a good coach, I can only pay you if I win more tournaments”,

Patrick is happy to convince her,

“So what is my first lesson?”.

…

After they fucked in Wendy’s car, Patrick sends a text message to both Art and Tashi telling them the news, he thinks is funny that they didn’t block him, like they were expecting him to contact.

5.

Audrey didn’t want to talk with Tashi because she was embarrassed, so she spent the night alone in her hotel room, it would be like that even that she won, her lover’s husband was visiting…

But at the evening of the next day Tashi and Art goes to her room, Audrey likes him and understand why Tashi married him, but she usually feels so guilty when Art is around, but not today, today she just feels a mixed emotions of sadness and anger about her losing the game.

“That’s unfair, how she won?? She is a fucking mess, I bet she did not work as hard as I did”,

Arts relates to her so much in this moment, even that he trained a lot, he was never enough to beat Patrick until the New Rochelle challenger, even that Patrick has always been a mess too…

“You can beat her! Believe me nobody can go too far in the tennis career playing like that, they eventually get tired and just disciplined people stay consistent with their wins, you will beat her if she’s lucky enough to play with you again” Art tries to comfort her,

“I don’t want to win her when she got tired of being a crazy bitch on the court, I want to beat her because I’m better than her”, she instantly feel bad for thinking like that, “sorry, I mean I can be better than I am now”,

“Don’t apologize, you are right! You’re better than her, you just need to prove it, not only to everyone but also to yourself”, Tashi thought that’s the girl she is coaching!! She knows better than anyone how this was a mental game, how she always felt the need to push herself to be the best. Both of them didn’t notice that not only people put pressure on them, but also them put pressure on themselves…

“You are one the top players, don’t let a girl like that make you think otherwise”, Tashi says this while Art thinks she is actually talking about him and Patrick, like how he got pathetically scared to losing to him…

Tashi knows this is going to be a good motivation for her, but she doesn’t want Audrey to feel bad about it, she already feels guilty about the years Art felt bad about himself, she didn’t want to repeat this pattern.

“We should relax a little bit”, Tashi suggests just before grabbing the phone to ask some wine from the room service…

Art is jealous, Tashi never acted like this when he lost, or when Patrick did.

But after drinking he doesn’t think too much about it, and Audrey isn’t feeling as bad. Tashi is standing and looking how Art is sitting on a chair and Audrey is lying on the bed and both are laughing at some random movie that is on tv.

They are not too drunk to not make some decisions, but they were all relaxed enough to make some bold choices. Tashi grab Art hands and Audrey hands and they both stands up and look deep at her eyes, she kisses Art, and then she kisses Audrey. Art is not surprised, he already suspected that Tashi was cheating again… but Tashi grab their chin and make them kiss each other, both Audrey and Art are thinking how they could literally do anything that Tashi asks, and that wasn’t hard to do “I know you don’t like to feel left out”.

…

The next morning is almost magical, Audrey actually feels better now, not only because she always thought Art is hot, but also because that way she didn’t feel like a home wrecker anymore, actually she feels that she is helping Tashi. All the nights that Tashi complained about her marriage, even that she always made really clear that she loves Art…Audrey feels like maybe she can help them solve their relationship, that way Tashi would be happier. And she feels good being desired by both of them, the more people to adore her the best, and they both worshiped her the last night.

They had breakfast at the bedroom, “Art wants to be my assistant coaching you, what you think?”, Tashi and Art already talked about coaching Audrey together after reading Patrick’s text the night before, like they knew Patrick’s plan, they went to Audrey’s room with the intention to ask this to her, at least this is what Art thought, but now he knows Tashi already knew how to make she open to the idea.

“It sounds good to me”, Audrey is so happy with this new situation, she is going to be coached by two great tennis players and she feels she is even more closer to Tashi now, like she is showing how devoted she is to her. Art knows well this kind of devotion.

6.

The situation is way more interesting now Patrick is coaching Wendy, and Tashi and Art are coaching Audrey together. The routines are so different…

In the morning Audrey wakes up early, have a healthy breakfast with the married couple and go to the training sessions, that takes hours, being lead by Tashi’s commands and Art’s advices, by night after a relaxing bath, they all go to bed…

In the morning Wendy wakes up late, have a leftover pizza for breakfast with Patrick, after they fucked in the messy sheets, and go to the most unprofessional training sessions, being lead by Patrick unconventional approach, by night, before even taking a shower they have a sloppy sex in the bathroom…

These routines go over the time, and eventually Audrey and Wendy play against each other again, this time Audrey wins…. As the months(and even years) pass, they play against each other again and again …. Sometimes Audrey wins, sometimes Wendy wins.

Losing to Wendy is always embarrassing for Audrey, she despises her, but also for unknown reasons she admires her, even she would never admit it.

Losing to Audrey is kind obvious for Wendy, but still disappointing, exhausting, make her feel that she will never be the best, and caring about that makes her feel sick, she hates the idea to be Mrs perfect like Audrey, but deep down she wishes she has half of her discipline, even she would never admit it.

The tennis community loves to watch their games, they are so different, so entertaining, they build a rivalry. Audrey, is the biggest tennis star of the moment, not only her game gives her attention, but also how elegant she is, she is know as the tennis princess. Wendy wouldn’t get that much of attention if it wasn’t for her playing against Audrey, it is always a surprise how she manage to make to the finals with her, she is know as the tennis mess.

7.

Audrey loves being loved by both of them, being so important, they kiss her like they need her, because they do, they marriage need her. Tashi already told her that tennis is like a relationship, and Audrey understands that the sport is the best way to get Tashi happy in this relationship.

Audrey loves tennis of course, but these years trying to be the best player got her tired, all the anxiety behind doing a great performance, all the pressure to follow the rules, she is starting to feel the weight of fame, the weight of painful love….

Art understands that really well, when Audrey talks about her feelings with him, Art never felt so understood, but he doesn’t want Tashi to be disappointed again, she already lost her career, Art knows that deep down she thinks he could have done more with his career, she can’t lose Audrey too. “Don’t talk to Tashi about these things, she would never accept it, you can talk to me anytime, I can make you feel better“, he feels bad about manipulating her, but he thinks it’s for the best.

When Tashi starts to suspect that Audrey is not fine, she asks her what’s is going on, but Audrey always pretend that she is okay, because she thinks she is making Tashi happy this way. Art notices that Tashi is acting weird, and he knows is because of the player, so he lies to her, “babe don’t worry, she is fine, she is strong like you”, he says that because he thinks his wife sees him as weak.

Of course Tashi knows something is wrong, she is good at reading people, she knows they are trying to hide it from her, like she would be mad if she found out the obvious, Audrey is unhappy, Tashi recognizes this feeling from her husband some years ago, and from herself…

She doesn’t want to repeat the same mistakes, she doesn’t want to drown everyone she loves to her unhappiness. Why does this always happen? But she tries to keep away from this thought, she is not the only one responsible for their happiness.

…

Audrey wins more tournaments, until she plays again against Wendy…. During the match, Art and Tashi are sitting on a side of the court and Patrick is on the opposite side. While the couple is stressed and worried about the game, Patrick seems to be having fun….Wendy wins the match.

When they get to the hotel room, Audrey starts crying, she is burnt out, she just can’t stand it anymore…

Art is feeling so guilty seeing her like that, “you can have a break if you want”, he has to say this, neither Audrey or Tashi would suggest that.

“I can’t stop! I need to control myself!”,

“You don’t have to control everything”, Art says this and Tashi knows he is also talking to her,

“You can control anything you want”, Tashi says firmly,

“Exactly!!! I’m going to be fine”, Audrey tries to wipe her face to dry her tears,

“You don’t have to do that for us”, Art put his hands on her shoulder,

“I’m not, I’m doing for myself, that’s what I want”,

“Are you sure?”,

“Yeah”,

“I just saying that you don’t have to let other people run your life”,

Tashi is mad about what Art is insinuating, so she finally says what is in her mind for so long, it’s like they are having a passive aggressive discussion about their relationship while talking with Audrey.

“Well, unless you chose someone to lead you, someone that can actually make decisions. You just need to admit that you wanted that , you asked me for that, and if you want to stop doing it it’s fine, but make a decision for yourself, how am I supposed to know what you want if you don’t say it to me?”,

“Did you asked what she wants”,

“I’m not her mom Art, I not her for this shit, I’m here to coach her that’s what I know what to do, that’s the only thing that I can fucking do. You know that was not my plan. I wish I was the one being coached, I wish I was the one feeling stressed about the game, because I love that, and nobody love tennis like I do, unconditionally”.

Audrey left the room, she knows they are having a fight that wasn’t completely about her, but she needs a time to herself, to cry alone in her room, and think about what she’s was going to do…

The silence left In the room is suddenly take by Tashi’s voice,

“Why do you pretend that you didn’t have a choice? You asked me to be your coach, you were a mediocre player before I coached you. Did I destroyed your life Art? Did I making you one the best tennis players of the world destroyed your life?”,

“I don’t think you destroyed my life! You accepting my offer to be my coach was the best thing that ever happened to me! But it wasn’t easy… “,Art is trying not to cry, “Do you love me?”,

“Of course I do, do you think I would spend my energy on something I don’t …”,

“You can’t even say it. Was I just a way to you do something that you love?”,

“Is that what you think? That I am a heartless bitch that used you like my personal tennis racket? I could have coached anyone I wanted, and it would be easier to do it without having an emotional connection with my client, because guess what? I’m not the cold hearted person you’re painting me to be. We have a family together, it’s not enough?”,

“My parents formed a family too, but they didn’t love each other”,

“I chose you, it’s that not enough?”,

“I wasn’t your first choice “,

“Right! You were my final choice”,

“Was I ?”,

“What??”,

“I don’t want to feel that I was your rational choice, just because it was obvious that he wouldn’t be what you need him to be”,

“That’s not how I see you Art”, she wishes she could express herself better.

Relationships are like tennis, Tashi doesn’t know how to express her feelings without tennis, that how she learned to deal with her own emotions .

…

The next morning, Tashi and Art go to Audrey’s room.

“Are you disappointed at me?” Audrey is nervous about Tashi’s reaction,

“No”, Tashi says with a soft voice,

“Yes you are, you’re going to find another one, I am replaceable! You think I’m weak”,

“No. I think you are one the best tennis players, you don’t have to worry about meeting my expectations every time, I don’t want you to think that I only care about you if you are playing”,

Art listens to that wishing Tashi could say that to his face, looking into his eyes, but he knows that it’s hard for her to express, and he was relief that she thinks like that, he knows that she was not only talking to Audrey, she was talking to him too.

So Audrey decided to take a career break, to take care of her mental health….

…

Tashi couldn’t help but feel disappointed, she also has mental health issues, it’s not easy to see other people living your dreams knowing you could make better than them, nobody loves tennis like her. She thinks is unfair how people get a second chance and she didn’t. How Art and Audrey got hurt but have a chance to recover, but she didn’t have this option. How people have the opportunity to play and they never going to be as good or as passionate about it as she is, but then she starts thinking that she doesn’t know how she would be if she didn’t got injured, maybe she would have burn out too after years of being a tennis star, but she will never know…..

…

“What am I supposed to do now?“, Audrey doesn’t know what to do when she is not playing tennis, when she is not trying to improve her performance. Tennis is the only thing Audrey is really good at, she needs to be the best on it, otherwise she would be mediocre and she hates to think herself that way.

The media still talks a lot about her, but she is afraid this is going to stop if she doesn’t get better soon… the anxiety hits her hard. At least Tashi and Art are by her side, taking care of her.

“I’m on a career break while she is playing”, Audrey says it while watching a Wendy’s match on tv, Art turns it off, “what difference does it make? She is not doing great, she’s not relevant without you”, Tashi affirms that like a dejavu.

Audrey can’t wait to get better, Art is helping her, he understands the stress she is being though, “I know how you feel, the pressure, the anxiety, you just need to reconnect to what made you love tennis in the first place”. What made her love tennis? To be admired. To feel complete. Audrey wants to be like Tashi, she wants Tashi admiration. She wants to be loved by most people as possible. To be loved is to be admired.

8.

Wendy was doing well at tennis, not like Audrey, but she is definitely good. Patrick is not the best coach, he do teaches her some of the things Tashi taught him, but besides that Patrick doesn’t do much, he hated to receive orders and he knows Wendy doesn’t like it too, he doesn’t want to change her, because changing her would be like seeing himself change….

But her lifestyle and lack of discipline starts to show off, she can’t be that lucky forever right? Patrick doesn’t help either. He did want to help her, but is not easy to let bad habits go away, especially when you are dating someone with the same bad habits. Wendy starts losing too many games, Patrick knows this situation really well.

All her money could pay was a coach whose career was mostly bad, after a while she stoped paying him, because that much failures means less money, but Patrick stayed of course, they were partners now. Maybe after all those years trying to get along with people that reminded him of Art and Tashi, what he really needed was someone that reminded him of himself. Patrick understood her, he isn’t trying to change her and she isn’t trying to change him, it just feels narcissistic to feel in love with someone that remind you of yourself.

But their relationship isn’t the best either…They hate themselves so bad behind their fake confidence, they are so equal, that when a resemblance of a personality trait they don’t like about themselves show up at the other, they obviously make a huge fight. They fight all the time and have hate fucking to “solve it”.

…

Wendy is sitting on the end of the bed while Patrick is standing right in front of her, she hugs his waist and look up while her chin rest on his lower abs, he grabs her hair gently,

“I’m like a dog Patrick, I can mess your house but at the end of the day I’m still here, i’m still yours”.

Is this how Tashi feels with Art? The devotion, Patrick never had someone so dedicated to him like this, so his, Art and Tashi loved him of course, but this was different, he felt fully accepted, irreplaceable…

“I don’t want to feel like that!!! And I want to ask you what to do, but I know I’m not going to follow, so what’s the point of even trying? Am I going to be like that forever?”,

“No, you can change if you want”, Patrick says this not only trying to make her feel better but also to make him feel better, he’s trying to give hope to both of them,

“If I change am I still going to be like myself? I don’t want to feel empty“,

“Aren’t you already empty?”,

Wendy look at him at the eyes, “If I change, what’s going to happen? If I became a better version of myself, whatever that means, I’m going to have nothing about me that I don’t like. I don’t know who I am when I don’t hate myself. That’s one of the things I really understand about me . I am a pice of shit and I accept it”,

And Patrick pretends that he had answers for questions he made himself when he was her age, trying to bring her the comfort that nobody did for him…

…

After Audrey took a break, Wendy got even worst, like she has no more motivation… after a terrible match, they are sitting in the car going to the hotel, in silence. She starts crying in the car, it’s ironic how she was pretending to not have water in the eyes then her crying lost control. Patrick felt a physical pain seeing her like that, it reminded him of the days he would cry alone at the car, well she is not alone, both of them are not alone anymore. He wants to help, he doesn’t want her to suffer like he did, commit the same mistakes. He needs to tell her that everything was going to be fine, so he could feel that everything was going to be fine for him too.

“I feel so irrelevant”,

“Don’t say that! You matter!”,

“No I don’t, I’m a joke, the tennis fans don’t care about me, nobody cares, my family, my friends, I don’t even have friends anymore”,

“I care about you!” Patrick says this not only because he means that, but also because that’s what he wanted to hear all those years,

Wendy gets emotional, “I care about you too”.

Patrick really means it, even that he didn’t know how long this relationship would last. Who would want to have a serious relationship with him? And Wendy think the same about herself …

Wendy wants Patrick because se was never accepted like that, she craves connection. To be loved is to be understood.

9.

After a while Audrey feels ready to go back to tennis, it’s finally announced that she is going to start playing again. The news motivates Wendy, gives her the focus that she needs, hoping that they can play against each other again….

Some days before the us open, Tashi, Art and Audrey are at the tennis club, they just finished doing her check in, as they walk away, they meet Patrick and Wendy, she goes to make her check in, knowing he wanted to talk with them, while Patrick approaches Tashi and Art, “Can we talk? It’s been a while”, the couple look at each other and agree, Audrey understands the situation and wait outside of the room, looking the three of them walk together to the parking lot….

“Life doesn’t go as we plan” Patrick tries to break the ice,

“Did you have many plans for your life?”, Art is being mean,

“Are we talking about tennis?”, Patrick wishes they could talk about their feelings too,

“We are always talking about tennis” Tashi says with a bored expression,

“I don’t think you ever had plans, I think you the type of person that is more attracted to the past than to the future” Art says annoyed by the situation,

“Are you sure you are taking just about me? The past it’s the only thing I have, it’s the only thing we have”, Patrick hates when they judge him like that, being hypocrites,

“What do you want?” Tashi asks impatient,

“Just wanted to talked with you, I miss you two”,

“You seem to be having a great time without us” Art cross his arms,

“Wendy is great”,

“You can’t take any responsibility in your life Patrick, you can’t be her coach this is ridiculous, the only reason you became a winner was because of me, you couldn’t help yourself, you can’t help her”, Tashi’s words hurts him,

“I’m already helping her”,

“Really? Great work”, Art says sarcastically,

“You going to destroy her” Tashi is so mad that they are having this conversation,

“I would never…”,

“It wouldn’t be your first time”,

“Tashi, you can’t be serious, do you still blame me for what happened to you?”,

“Athletes needs discipline, to follow rules, you don’t know how to do it without me, and I’m not going to help your girl beat mine”,

“We don’t need your help, that’s not why I wanted to talk to you…”,

“Right, wait until she is in her 30s to ask my help”,

Patrick gets angry, “no Tashi, I don’t want my girl to burn out like you did to your princess”,

“Oh fuck off” Tashi just walk away,

“It’s so clear you re using her” Art says while leaving,

“You are using Audrey too, don’t need to pretend that you two are better than me“,

Art walks away too.

10.

When Wendy finishes her check in and gets out of the room she meets Audrey, they only had an actual conversation once, Tashi and Art always had said that Audrey shouldn’t get close to Wendy, they think she is a bad influence, like Patrick. Wendy always wanted to get closer to Audrey, but never had the chance, she loves to be her biggest rival, it’s the most solid connection she has besides her relationship with Patrick.

“I’m glad you are better”, Wendy is nervous cause she doesn’t know if Audrey is going to talk to her,

“I’m glad too”, Audrey was always fascinated by Wendy, she used to hate to admit to herself, but she admires Wendy, “I’ll be happy if you make it to the finals with me”,

Wendy is surprised, “really? I thought you would be angry at me”,

“I was never angry at you, I was disappointed at myself, I had always envy how you play with no pressure….People expect a lot from me, when I win there no surprise, but when i lose is a huge disappointment”,

“You are a star, people will always built too much expectations, it’s inevitable that they will be disappointed, that’s their problem not yours”,

“It’s not easy to be a star, I feel like I gave permission to other people to control my life”,

“It’s not that easy to be a mess either. They don’t expect much of me, when i lose is normal ,when I win it exceeds people expectations, but that doesn’t last long…The thing about pressure is you can always try to meet people expectations, and that’s really hard, because after you achieve something people will expect another thing so it never ends, that’s how they control you. Or you can learn how to not care about people expectations and that’s when it comes the freedom…but being free is not easy either, I’m responsible for my life, and I think it’s clear that I’m not the best at it, I feel like I lost control”.

Tashi is getting closer and Art is right behind her, they call for Audrey.

“Good luck. I miss playing with you”,

Audrey respond with a smile and go meet her coaches.

Wendy goes to the parking lot to meet her coach, he seems angry until he looks at her and smirks offering his cigarette.

…

Audrey knows that one day she would have to be rational and broke up with them, she wanted to get married and have a family…

Wendy knows that one day she and Patrick would break up, because people like them are not built to commitment.

But breaking up doesn’t mean that is the end. And they are determined to enjoy as much of their careers and relationships.

…

The final match of the us open is about to start. Tashi and Art can’t believe Patrick have the audacity to sit next to them to watch the game.

The match is exciting, the rivals playing against each other was what the tennis fans were expecting in a long time.

…

The game is exciting and dramatic, like their relationship. At the most important moment of the match Art is holding Tashi’s hand and she is holding Patrick’s hand, like it’s natural for them. It doesn’t matter if they gets angry at each, that just mean their fire it’s still alive. They are tense for who is going to win, but it doesn’t matter what happens, they are together again because of tennis, like it’s meant to be. Audrey and Wendy are going to be rivals for some years ahead… they are going to have more chances of meeting again and again.

They are always going to have this connection… they are always going to find a way to have tennis in their lives… they are always going to be in this relationship…

[theresattrpgforthat]

THEME: The Locked Tomb

I’m in love with The Locked Tomb Series by Tamsyn Muir, and I know I’m not the only one! For that I am extremely grateful, because there’s quite a few ttrpg designers who also love The Locked Tomb, and have designed games meant to evoke the themes or setting of the novels. Here’s a few of my favourites!

The Serpent and the Spider, by Junk Food Games.

The Serpent and The Spider is a tiny ttrpg for 2 players. One player takes the role of The Serpent, a charismatic sword-wielder. The other player takes the role of The Spider, a highly intelligent necromancer.

Your souls are bonded together. You will fight against corrupt corporations and explore your relationship.

Note that this game has references to violence, death, combat, and implied self-harm. To play the game, you need something to write with, two 4-sided dice, and two 8-sided dice.

I’ve talked about this game before as a duet game. This is probably the best game for exploring the relationship between a necromancer and their cavalier, because it’s designed to be played just between two people. It includes 9 session prompts (again, a tribute to the Nine Houses), and presents you with a setting that is inspired by The Locked Tomb while still allowing you as a pair to fill in details that will make the game work for you.

Thirsty Space Necromancers, by Understory Games.

Thirsty Space Necromancers is a Thirsty Sword Lesbians supplement based on The Locked Tomb books by Tamsyn Muir. It's Gideon the Ninth as a Powered by the Apocalypse RPG.

You play as Necromancers and Cavaliers in a space-faring culture. Paired and trained to fight together, you will solve mysteries and fight ghosts, and probably other necromancers, as you explore new planets. 

This is a game that requires another game to run, but considering the tagline of Gideon the Ninth as “Lesbian Necromancers in Space”, Thirsty Sword Lesbians sounds like another great match for this kind of game. TSL focuses on love and relationships, and is also great for telling grand, epic stories. I’m interested in the additional rules to add the Dead to your game, as well as how the game plays when each player has a counterpart that they’re responsible for and/or devoted to, especially since multiple players can choose The Cavalier, while each Necromancer playbook is separate.

(Understory Games also has a collection of Locked Tomb fan rpgs, where I got most of my recommendations from!)

Heart of the Emperor, by deathmeetauthor.

Heart of the Emperor is a hack of Monsterhearts 2, centred in Tamsyn Muir's The Locked Tomb series. Rather than playing a cohort of teenagers who are secretly monsters, you may be playing a soldier of the Cohort, a teenager, or openly be a monster—perhaps even all three!

The characters of Gideon the Ninth etc. are lonely, brokenhearted, and struggle to communicate their needs and feelings, all of which are perfect for a Monsterhearts game. As with many Powered by the Apocalypse games, the focus is on how the characters relate to each-other, whether that means getting into fights, horribly misinterpreting what your crush/rival says, or uncovering deliciously horrifying secrets that will fundamentally change how you see the world. The scope of this game will be more personal than Thirsty Sword Lesbians - the future of the world isn't quite as important as your future with the the people around you.

The Empire Undying, by Glaive Guisarme Games.

You climb aboard the shuttle which is intended to convey you off this dingy planet. Embedded in the metal walls of the shuttle are bones, sun-bleached and carved with innumerable runes of protection. The only seats in the shuttle seem comfortable enough, although they have the familiar texture of human-flesh leather, tattooed over and over in a crabbed, spiky hand.

It fucking sucks. Just an abysmal experience, and the chairs make your ass hurt after like ten minutes. But if you’re going to be a necromancer there’s a whole, like, aesthetic to deal with. 

Hope you like skulls, fucker.

There are two sorts of people that matter in the decrepit star empire: the necromancers who create the undead abominations upon whose skeletal backs civilization rests, and the knights whose sword duty is to defend the necromancers from undead abominations which aren't behaving right now. 

In this game, you will play a group of necromancers and knights, stuck in some corner of the vast empire, attempting to solve a mystery that is, in turn, attempting to kill you all. The bad kind of "kill," the sort you don't bounce back from. Explore ancient sites and forgotten ruins, unravel conspiracies which have endured for millennia, and make out with one another, because you are hot and hurt and surrounded by bones so you have to get that tension out somehow. 

Tone-wise, this game slaps. Mechanically, I like that it’s not too complex (it borrows from Lasers and Feelings) while still leaning into the number 9, which is heavily significant in The Locked Tomb. It has players explore relationships, while not necessarily expecting them to pair up - instead, you have to decide how another person’s character has power over you, which also feel so much like The Locked Tomb (think about Dulcinea’s relationship to Gideon, or the relationship between the Fifth House and the Fourth House). There’s so much to this game and it’s not even that big! If you want something that feels like it was written by Gideon herself, I’d definitely recommend checking this out.

In Extremis, by Keganexe.

In Extremis is a tabletop roleplaying game designed for 2-6 players, about fighting back the man using necromancy, that uses the LUMEN system by Spencer Campbell. Inspired by The Locked Tomb trilogy, players take on the role of exceptionally powerful witches who use their mastery of life, death, and the human condition to keep them and their own safe from other planetary invaders who want to steal their land.

As a Necromancer, you are one of a handful of hideously powerful death witches that protect the planet Hecate, the final holdout for The Coven, from the ever encroaching war of the Corvus Dominion. 

In Extremis differs greatly from some of the games on this list because it focuses on combat, rather than on relationships. The game is inspired by the Locked Tomb, but doesn’t seek to replicate it. All of the players are necromancers, and all of the players are built for combat. You will go up against a terrible, powerful foe, while you yourselves are small in number, although extremely powerful. I appreciate the attempt to make this legally distinct from The Locked Tomb - there’s enough here to absolutely appeal to fans of the series, but the creator has given themselves enough license to focus on the themes of this series that appeals to theme - particularly the theme of kicking ass.

Games I’ve Recommended in the Past

Tomb Candles, by deecity. (A hack of Ten Candles)

[nerdieforpedro]

The old switcheroo

If you could take one Pedro character and switch them into another of the characters universes, which one would it be? Let’s say, throw Dave York into The Great Wall. And what do you think that would look like? How would he do? Run with it. I even dare you to write a short dribble drabble. Well, I just wanted to write dribble drabble.

I'm unsure if my Drabble...if it can even be called that at this point 🤣 truly answers your question. I interpreted it, to mean that Dave and Pero switched places.

Our man Pero is dealing with it better than Dave, though, that could just be favoritism on my part. 👀 It's not all easy for Pero either, just different.

The question could have been any Pedro character, but I figured these two would be interesting.

I present: (I found Angela Lansbury! 💖)

Two Men out of Time

Dave York and Pero Tovar

Word Count: 1169 (I giggled - I am stuck in middle school).

Warnings: Limited understanding of Middle Ages, insults to ponytails, movie and video game references, William slander (I'm fine with this.), NAKED PERO, implied past sex work, Ogling a naked Pero, implying possible future sex work, maybe some inappropriate touching (I mean, she likely did, let's be real here), I think that's about it.

Notes: Like I said, no idea if this answered the question. This is what I wrote today after sipping two things of hot cocoa while brainstorming because you always have thought-provoking asks.

Silence can be a tool when done correctly. Honestly, it’s the best choice right now. He would close his eyes and try to picture himself back in the hotel, which he remembered falling asleep in, but he did that while he was laid out on his back near a river. 

Did not work. 

Had his face licked by a horse of all things. Dave has never had a reason to encounter a horse, and would have liked that to have been his only encounter with one, but with the horse, came three men. York tried to get up, but his clothes were much heavier than he remembered. The men called him a name he didn’t recognize and rather than correcting them, he remained quiet and nodded. They chuckled and patted him on the back after helping up, mocking him for falling off of his horse and that it was unlike him to not be able to handle his drink. Laughing with the men, Dave saw that they were all wearing armor like out of one of his daughter’s world history books. 

Which time period was this? Is he wearing armor too? Is that why it’s so hard to move? He also has weapons on his back. They’re swords, three of them. Looks to be one main and two twin swords. York was still clean shaven which appeared to confuse his comrades. They mocked him for his face, the pale one with the ponytail mocked him the most. Dave could break his neck, but he chuckled along before making a scowl. The men seem to be heading toward a village, maybe they’re in the middle ages. 

How is he going to navigate this? Is this ‘Pero’ supposed to be an ancestor of his? Wasn’t this a video game? Or that Michael Fassbender movie?

Their group arrives in a tavern where they drink some sort of barley based drink. Dave is by no means a lightweight, but five mugs in and he’s having trouble seeing straight. One of the barmaids? He assumes that’s what they're called, she helps him upstairs, but he shoos her away as she appears to want some money for certain services. Dave knows next to knowing about this time period, but he remembers hygiene not being a top priority. So in addition to not wanting to entertain that woman, the food may make him sick, he also may have rashes and expect vermin. Many of them. Maybe if he sleeps this time, he’ll wake up back in the bed with those two women he’d enjoyed the night with. Even if they weren’t there, just back the bed, in his own time would be great. Is he going to die from dysentery? Is that still a thing? Should he be concerned about a plague? “This is bullshit. When I wake up. I’m gonna smack that guy with the ponytail. I don’t look like a drowned rat. His name was William, he will pay.” Dave drifts off to sleep with anger in his heart for Will. The man in question’s ears burn while he continues to drink downstairs. 

Pero’s back felt good for once. He was on something soft, he rose out of bed too quickly. He’s naked. Unsure why and there’s two women looking at him curiously. “Dave, we don’t know where you’ve been but you can’t come here smelling like that. We got you washed and everything but we had to toss those sheets. The madam will be in to see you to talk to you about it.” For some reason, there were two women wearing undergarments he’s never seen telling him that they washed him and put him back in this bed. They were calling him Dave. He has no clue who this Dave is but apparently he is at this establishment quite a lot. Pero is familiar with this type of place. Maybe this is how the aristocrats have their brothels set up, though there are still many confusing things here. 

Moving to the edge of the bed, it doesn’t feel bad to be this clean, only odd. He wouldn’t even be scrubbed quite like this before meeting generals, lords or ladies. Cracking his neck, the door to his room opened and he was greeted by a stout woman in a silk dress. Her eyes focus between his thighs for a moment before going back to his face. She studied that as well. The two women were behind her and she closed the door on them, locking it. “You are not Dave York. A curious specimen of a man. You resemble him though, not quite in all the ways I see.” The woman moves to stand two feet away from Pero. “You can call me Ms. Magnolia. What should I call you handsome?”

“I am Pero Tovar Señora Magnolia. I do not know how I came to be here. I last remember falling off my horse. Who did you think I was?” His eyes follow her as she sits next to him on the bed and pats his shoulder. Tovar eyes her carefully, he can overpower her easily, but he knows little about what has happened. It’s best to get information first. 

“That’s no matter. You’re clearly not him. I feel that you’ll be more amenable to me supporting you as I help you navigate this strange world. You’re not from here or this time. So auspicious.”

“Are you a witch?”

“No. Just sensitive to the natural world my dear gorgeous man. If you don’t want my help, you’re more than welcome to use what money you may have on your person to pay for our services, but…” Ms. Magnolia stands and looks over her shoulder. “Given your current state, you may have trouble with that.”

“You would be correct Señora. May I have some clothes to put on so I can explore to get my bearings?” Pero placed his hands on his knees, if the madam might be swayed to help him in any fashion, he’ll need to use what he has. Tovar doesn’t see any of his weapons so his body is on deck then. 

“I don’t mind you like this Pero, but I understand you wouldn’t want to walk around like this. I can get you some clothes. There might be some things we can do to get you accustomed to things. Do not worry.” Her wide smile did in fact make him worry, but soon he was brought clothes and she ‘assisted’ him in putting them on. He next asked for food, which she did leave the room to go retrieve. Alone with his thoughts, Tovar closed his eyes. He had on what they call a t-shirt and sweatpants. They were loose, soft and comfortable. Easy to move in, but offer no protection. 

What the hell kind of mess had he gotten himself into now? Pero can’t even blame this one on William and his stupid ponytail that he never cuts off. No, Tovar will always blame that silly hair choice. 

Tagging @soft-persephone (for the drowned rat 🐀)

@604to647 @avastrasposts @tinytinymenace @morallyinept @iamskyereads (five Pero girls)

@megamindsecretlair Because she'll giggle - I know it