#i’ve also been busy with real world stuff (work and i’m also doing a dnd campaign with my friends!!)

[rosaacicularis]

how is progress with merlin au going?

it’s at about 5k actual words right now, but i’m still having to do a lot of world building and planning so it’s pretty slow going on the writing front <3 just having to do the little nitpicking on plot points and such!!

[joculine]

Matt Colville announced that MCDM would be splitting into their own fantasy system as well. Some folks from MCDM also did some work on past WOTC products (Saltmarsh, Waterdeep, Mad Mage, Avernus, Wildemount, Candlekeep, Witchlight) Splintering continues which means in about 3 years time we’ll see a lot of interesting and new alternatives to 5e DND (though probably not so different that they’re unrecognizable as alternatives). This could be a healthy thing for the ecosystem of heavily invested TTRPG players. This could also be a bad thing too. On the one hand, more systems and more publishing creators moving away from 5E is exciting. That means more ideas can be explored and creators won’t be as restricted to have to make everything as easy as possible to slot into 5E (which is not easy to slot into IMO). However, it’s not like 5E will stop being the most popular TTRPG system just because WOTC is engaging in bad business practices — they still have a mountain of a marketing budget over 3rd party creators who live and die by word of mouth. Where does that marketing budget go though when practiced publishers stop working with WOTC in favor of their own systems? I’m not just talking about 3rd party content, but the freelancers who get tapped to make WOTC’s in house stuff? Quality will suffer on that side, which means the biggest TTRPG company in the world will start putting out worse product. This could really easily stunt the growth of the hobby. Like it or not, if Hasbro decides to dial back on DND, that can still pose a real issue to all tabletops. Is it good that DND has cemented itself as the ubiquitous gateway to the hobby? Not in my opinion... but that’s the world we’re living in. If their work gets measurably worse, more people will bounce from the hobby leaving less new people to explore other options. Or, the crop of new systems will be so cool that people will see them as new gateways. This is the good ending, but seems improbable to me. In either case, good luck to MCDM and Kobold Press and whoever starts their new system next. Despite the reservations I’ve said here, I am actually really excited to see what comes down the pipe. Edit: As an addendum, Colville has been talking MCDM about doing their own system for a while now on Twitch streams. Production is moving up the timeline due to the OGL leak.

[merrigelblogs]

what can you tell us about your DND characters? Who's your favorite? Which one you think is the prettiest? The strongest one? That kind of stuff

Anon you are a beautiful, wonderful person to indulge me with this question (text wall beneath the cut ehehe)

AVELINE is a stoic pirate sharpshooter with a goofy, caring heart and a secret that I've been keeping IRL for the 3+ years I've been playing her, which is Absolutely killing me! She's BUFF AS HELL and DEFFO my strongest kiddo, she can and WILL bench you (I also think she's probably my prettiest LMAO, I was aiming to make someone hot when I was designing her)

TEMERITY is a chaotic lesbian artificer and business-owning girlboss and she's EXTREMELY FUN TO PLAY (mostly bc I've been playing miss Serious Business With No Magic Up There and thus it's SUPER FUN to switch gears and fire off ridiculous spells for shenanigans!!) She's the most socially adept of my characters, you have no choice but to be her friend!!

KIERAN was my first character, a halfling druid whom I will love forever. He was a farmboy who ran away from home at a young age to be gay and learn magic, and he's also like. Truly the only reason I learned to draw dudes. (Also, thanks to a joke I made with my friends in like... A PRACTICE SESSION BEFORE WE TRIED PLAYING DND FOR THE FIRST TIME, he's an entire stoner lmfao) He's my most "I'm going to make a character who will do whatever I would wanna do in this game" character and I have no regrets

DANDY was a warlock I played in a short-lived scifi campaign and I wish I coulda played him more because MAANNN WARLOCKS ARE FUN... He's a fun-loving friendly star guy who's a Huge Coward about any kind of danger, and he let me do a lot of fun worldbuilding to like, figure out How He Worked since... He's literally just my novakid character from starbound, but I've never gotten deep enough into starbound to know anything about them sdjlkfjksfdljk,, he's my most lore-friendly character

HIRO is a cleric I haven't played yet, made for a post-apocalyptic dead mall campaign my buddy's been spinning up! He grew up alone in a gamestop, his religion is video games, and now he's gonna be out in the dangerous real world with no real survival knowledge beyond Do Not Dig Directly Down. He's an idiot and I love him so much already! He's my most min-maxed character, his int/wis are both 18 and HIS STRENGTH IS FUCKING 2 AND I SO WANNA PLAY HIS BROKEN LITTLE ASS

MICKEY is a bard I made for an 80s campaign that never really got off the ground, and is the result of a college freshman discovering a magical keytar and thinking they're the new protagonist of life! An absolute mess, fatally overconfident, and man I'd still love to play them someday LMFAO... They're my most Neon character

ARC isn't actually a PC bc they would be ENTIRELY BUSTED as one, but they're an NPC from the goofy campaign I'm currently running that I've gotten stupidly attached to (hint: it's bc they're the one my girlfriend picked to romance). They run a magical goods shop, they sound like my best impression of Garfield the Deals Warlock, they're a greedy asshole, nobody knows their name or what they look like or what they ARE, and I love inflicting them on the party! They only got a canon name/face/backstory when a PC decided to fuck them, and they're (secretly) my true prettiest character

Thank you again for giving me an excuse to make this wall of text omg, and I will answer questions about these dudes/dnd in general uuhhh always, forever!!

[progressivestupidity]

IZ week 2020

so i wasn’t gonna do this because I didn’t think the prompts were very good for writing to, but I remembered the last day’s prompt was “role swap” so I decided to do something small and quick for it. this is all 7 days in one post. the first and last ones are drabbles and one of them is an au idea

@invader-zim-week​ here u go!!!

Day 1. Angst or Fluff 

Zim’s denial skills are god tier, but even they have their limits.

Drabble. I think this is the turning point for my eventual found family au

“When are you going to get it through your thick head that the Tallests aren’t coming?” Dib flings his arms out wide in his exasperation

“They’re just…!” Zim fumbles a bit, clenching and unclenching his fists. “The Armada is a million light years away! It takes time to travel that far, obviously. It took me six of your months to get here from Conventia and the Massive is further away from here now than that. They’ll come! You’ll see! And then you’ll be sorry!” Zim’s face is drawn tight. He’s tense all over, shoulders drawn up to his jaw, antennae pressed flat to his head, and normally Dib prides himself on reading Zim like an open book, but he’s too far gone in his own annoyance to see the warning signs.

It’s because he doesn’t see these red flags that Dib proceeds to stick his own foot in his mouth with his next words. “Maybe if you weren’t such an idiot and opened your eyes, you’d see the truth—that they dumped you here to get rid of you.”

“YOU THINK I DON’T KNOW THAT?” Zim explodes, planting his tiny hands in Dib’s chest and shoving. The boy lands painfully on his ass. “I’m not stupid, Dib.” His name is spat like an insult. “I know they don’t care about me! Why do you think I try so hard?”

Dib gapes at Zim, looking up at him for once, stunned into silence. “I.” He swallows. “You know?”

“Of course, I know.” Zim’s voice is a low hiss and his eyes are narrowed to slits. “You don’t get banished and then just get over it. You don’t get put on trial to defend your life, forced to relive your worse mistakes, and get sentenced to death, only to be saved by freak miracle, and never acknowledge it happened.” Zim takes a deep breath and crosses his arms over his chest. Dib supposes he means for it to look intimidating, but it looks more like he’s holding himself together. “I’ve always known.”

“Why do you try so hard then? If you’ve always known there was no point?” Dib has to ask, has to know, has to hear the words from Zim’s own mouth.

Zim purses his lips and turns away. “There was always a point.” He falls silent for a moment, one antenna twitching up a bit in thought. “I just… I thought if I was just a little better, if I accomplished something important for once, that… I don’t know, that maybe I’d.” He pauses and grits his teeth. “Maybe if I actually managed to take over this filthy planet I’d be worth something for once.”

Day 2. Be Gay Do Crime (LGBTQA+ headcannons)

Dib is bi/pan/demi-ro, Gaz is lesbian, Zim is ace/demi-ro

Headcanons.

Dib seems like the kind of guy that would both take whatever kind of relationship he could get, but also appreciate it. Dib isn’t afraid to work for what he wants and isn’t afraid of things that are “not normal” so I see him being the type to not care about the gender of whoever he eventually decides to date. However, because Dib’s been burned in the past, he would need a deep and sincere emotional relationship to see someone as a potential romantic partner.

Gaz is just a big lesbian. Girls, man.

Zim is ace all the way baby!!! He’s just not interested, and sure, part of that is me projecting, but it just feels right for Zim to just… not care. He has no interest and doesn’t care for sexual attraction regardless of whether or not Irkens do/can/will have sex or not. On the other hand, Zim has expressed a softer side before and I can see him being able to maybe eventually develop romantic feelings for someone if he actually manages to get close enough to them for those kinds of feelings to even emerge. It would take a lot of time and a deep, meaningful friendship, but Zim has shown he’s capable of love. He just has to let himself feel it.

  Day 3. Fandom Appreciation

Found family fuck yeah

Headcanons.

I’m still in the process of thinking about how I wanna go about my found family au so here’s just some initial ideas

After ETF, Zim self isolates for a bit. The florpus hole was his Last Ditch Effort plan and had it succeeded, he knew he would have been destroyed too. He was okay with it. He had made peace with it. However, it failed, and now he’s forced to reflect on said failure

The Massive doesn’t escape the florpus. They’re gone, completely. If they the ship does manage to get out, it’s not in one piece

I initially couldn’t decide if The Trial should come Before ETF or After but I think im gonna say before so the Massive doesn’t have to come back lmao

Before too long, Zim jumps back into the planning/scheming swing of things, but his ideas are never more than petty crimes and being a huge annoyance

Dib gets really annoyed with him and they have a big argument

Zim finally admits to knowing of his own Defectiveness

Dib reluctantly feels bad for him and backs off a bit to let Zim have his space

Zim, however, sees this as a betrayal and redoubles his efforts to get his attention

Somewhere along the way, Skoodge comes back and Zim backs off of Dib a bit, having someone else to focus attention on

Dib eventually begins to offer Zim his hand in friendship (phrased as a truce at first) and they finally make steps towards getting along

They realize they actually really like being friends

Zim eventually realizes that he’s made a life for himself, outside of the Empire

Eventually Zim, Skoodge, GIR, Minimoose, Dib, and Gaz form their own little family and explore space and hunt cryptids

(I love cryptid hunter and space exploration aus holy shit)

Day 4. If IZ had a different setting/time period

Cyberpunk??? Sure

Potential idea maybe.

Cyberpunk dystopian future

Aliens and humans intermingle, both on and off Earth

The Irken Empire has gotten bigger

Technology is advanced and cybernetics are widely known/produced

Idk man I don’t know a lot about cyberpunk, maybe this should be more for the aesthetic

Day 5. Aesthetic

Big shrug man idk

Headcanons, thoughts.

I’m a big fan of fashion Zim, and whenever I get the chance I give him clothes that are both cute and comfortable

Galaxy print leggings are a personal favorite of mine to give him

One time I wrote a little ficlet/oneshot where he wore a skirt. I should publish that some day

Uhhhhhh okay so. Dib has veeeeeery big early 2000s emo/punk vibes tbh

Scene kid GIR always makes me laugh

Gaz could pull off pastel goth like no one’s business

I’ve been here long enough to witness emo/scene hair wig Zim and his eventual fall lmfao

Pretty much everyone that redesigned them back in the day gave Zim emo kid hair that fall perfectly over one eye it was WILD

 Day 6. What if IZ was a different Genre?

Uhhhh does “fantasy instead of scifi” count?

Potential idea maybe. (oops it ended up being a fantasy/modern magic au haha ooooops)

Instead of being an alien, I had the idea of, maybeeeeee Irkens are like. Elves maybe, or perhaps some kind of fae. (I don’t know much about fae, oops)

Okay bear with me here, this is all coming together in real time.

The Irkens (which is what I’m gonna call their clan or faction or subrace or whatever) still want to be the rulers or something over the humans/other mystical beings. This world of magic is hidden from humans and they live blissfully unaware. There are invaders all over the place, using magic and glamors to trick humans into thinking they’re also humans. Zim is one such invader and just to happens to end up in Dib’s town, whereupon he enrolls in Dib’s school, pretending to be a transfer student.

I have no idea why or how the Irkens invade or what methods they use, but since my biggest experience with elves is through DND, I’m going to say they’re functionally similar to certain DND elf races.

So anyway, Zim ends up in Dib’s class and Zim’s glamor just Doesn’t Work on Dib for whatever reason (maybe Dib passed his Wisdom saving throw while literally everyone else failed, idk) and so Dib can immediately see Zim for what he is.

Dib is still into paranormal type stuff, though in his world, he’s less about cryptids and aliens and more about the magical species/world(s) that he KNOWS exists. His big goal in his au is similar to canon in that he wants to expose it all for recognition and love from his father.

Zim, meanwhile, he just wants to prove himself, just like canon. I can’t decide how I want the Irken hierarchy to go in this au—that’s something to think about later, when I have more time—but whatever it is, Zim is either a) not very good at it, b) not suited for it, c) ridiculed for not fitting in to it, or d) a combination of any or all of these things. (or secret option e) he rejects it but has no where else to go. On the other hand, it maybe be none of these things.)

GIR is here too though he’s probably not a robot. Maybe he’s another kind of magical being, or, hell, maybe he’s just Zim’s little brother. I’d be okay with that.

Gaz can also see through glamors but she just doesn’t care. Tak shows up at some point to get revenge, and Skoodge also shows up at some point to stay with Zim and be his friend.

Zim is bad at blending in at first, but he eventually Does get better, since he’s not totally isolated from other Irkens here and he also doesn’t Look like an alien.

(I’m thinkin’ elves in this au look Mostly human but with a few differences. Since I’m biased and this is MY fantasy world, damnit, elves are just. Really Pretty. Ethereal and elegant and graceful (for the most part—there are always exceptions) and they’re also great at magic. Maybe Zim isn’t all that great at magic, I dunno. I’ll figure something out.)

This ended up being less of a genre change and more of a whole ass au, lol oops

Day 7. Role swap

Chanting: human zim au human zim au human zim au human zi

Drabble. This is for an ongoing species swap au that i’ve had in development for the last few years. i haven’t posted anything for it yet, but I’ve thought about it a lot

Dib freezes as Zim points the plastic water gun at his head. Zim’s eyes are narrowed, lips pursed, and he adjusts his grip almost nervously. Behind him, Gir is holding a bucket full of water balloons and a pair of neon green star shaped sunglasses. It’d be cute if Dib wasn’t aware of how painful Earth water is to his Irken skin.

Zim finally lowers his gun slightly. “I want some answers, alien.” He looks Dib over with critical eyes. “Who are you really, and why are you here?” He reaches back and Gir hands him a water balloon with a big smile. “And you better tell the truth or I’ll bust this over your big head.”

Dib grimaces and watches the balloon. “My name Dib, and I’m a scientist. I’m an Irken, from Irk, and I’m here to learn more about life on this planet.” He holds his hands up, hoping to placate the human gesture for surrender. “I’m not here to harm you or anyone else, promise.”

Zim huffs. “Yeah right. I bet you just came here to laugh at the locals.” He puts on a mocking voice and waves the gun and balloon as he speaks. “‘Stupid, stinking humans. They can’t even travel beyond their own moon, yet. What morons. I bet they descended from pigs with how horrible and stupid they are.’” He jams the gun against Dib’s chest. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

Dib bites his lower lip and looks away. He can’t deny he hasn’t thought something similar since arriving on Earth, but Zim didn’t have to be so crude and blunt about it.

The two are at a standoff for almost a minute before Zim blows out a long sigh and steps back. He turns to put the balloon back in the bucket, gives Gir a pat on the head, and shoots Dib one last glare. “Stay away from me, Dib. I have enough problems to deal with without having to worry about whether or not it’s safe for my brother to go to school or if I need to watch my back while walking my dog.”

“I wouldn’t hurt you,” Dib says, a little put out.

Zim scoffs and rolls his eyes. “Yeah, I’ve heard that one before. I know better than to believe it.” He turns and tries to smile at Gir but it comes out a little twisted and sad. “C’mon Gir. Let’s go home and get Minimoose and take him to that dog park you like so much.”

Gir gasps and lets out a cheer. “Can we go get ice cream afterwards?”

Zim gives a little laugh, smile turning a bit more genuine. “Yeah, sounds good.”

As they walk away Dib can’t help but wonder why he ever thought Zim was an Irken himself.

[renaer-is-allegedly-hot]

session 10 notes

oh wow yeah the layout of these will just forever be trash now bc it’s a lot of formatting work like a LOT sorry

• Presentation prep

○ Jacob is doing a tier list of every smash character in the world ever

• Apparently picchu was really busted

○ Idk who picchu is tho

○ Peechoo

○ I think it's picchu bc I think I've seen that before

• Are waterbenders ghostbusters

• R we starting

A few my little pony quizzes real quick

• When we last left off

• We were using medallions or whatever to search for stuff

• Broke into the city of the dead

• Were ambushed but interrogated one of them after killing the others

• Adam convinced that one that we chucked the stone

• We let him live but adam took his pants

• Not midnight but it's raining a lot

What are we doing

• As we leave the graveyard adam is getting chains out of george bush and putting it back on the gate

• Nvm we're just gonna follow naya

• Put chains back on 

• Squelching through mud

• Make way back w little trouble

○ We were able to set up the stuff?

○ Looks like some ppl r patrolling

○ Still hard to see bc rainy so we haven't been noticed

• Keep following naya

• Make way out safely

• Naya varies the pace every now and then

• Rain dies off later in the night

• Start approaching poorer area of the trade ward; fewer shops and businesses, more poorer housing

• Naya looks like she's leading us towards a windmill in the distance

• Just a towering windmill

• Not much wind so not spinning

• Cel makes perception check at disadvantage, can't see anything

• Naya runs up and stops in front of the windmill then vanishes

○ The second time we used naya's scry power? Maybe? Nvm?

• Does ur wifi ever poop itself

○ Nice

○ Ok I'll just keep sitting here ig

• Ok we're in a dark room and can't hear any sounds of a bloodbath

• There's a door

• Adam puts his ear to see if he can see anything, perception check

○ 8

• Door is solid wood

• Adam opens ground floor door

○ There r two doors

§ One on the side and one on the top

§ Ok we're in the windmill

• Cel pulls out lantern

• Adam opens door and sees a lot of people who look like they're sleeping on the floor

○ 5ish

○ Look like squatters

• Adam rolls 22 perception to see if he recognizes anyone, no one looks familiar

• Sneak by them ? Try to ?

• Adam can see another door that goes further in

• Adam snaps tiny flame on finger and rest of us follow the flame

• We walk over to next door

• Not locked

• Quietly go through

• Asyna is going to stay in the first room w ppl to watch them

○ In case they wake up / as guard

○ "hehe . Shillelagh"

○ "whack 'em with your 'forget-me' stick"

• Proposition for asyna to pretend she's sleeping

• Enter next room, just as dark as other

○ A few doors leading to left and right in front of us

○ In distance can see more people sleeping but only two

○ Looks empty

○ Lights lantern

• Adam pokes head through closest door

○ There's just more people

○ Strategy to burn entire building will not work

○ Cel can't tell if anyone looks like they're armed

• Do I want banana bread

• Going to peek into all the rooms

• Every room marked w2 has ppl sleeping

• What's happening in w3

• "so I look outside bc I heard somebody blasting despacito… there's a pickup truck towing a boat and there's a bunch of teenagers on it raving" - dom, 2020

• W3 is a wc a water closet as in a bathroom

• W4 is a closet w some cleaning stuff and grains

• Some ppl have woken up but they don't bother to like really watch us suspiciously

• Upstairs we go

• Three doors leading out of the room but also a large millstone in the center of the room

• Under debris, soaking wet from a hole in the ceiling

• Adam tries to move debris

• Cel rolls 15 perception, can't hear anything

○ Adam rolls nat1 and the stone resists adam's efforts

○ Technically a 0

• What's behind door w6

○ Caved in sections

○ Floor littered w bird droppings

○ Adam investigates "that's a 12 for eggs dominic"

○ There are eggs but they are fertilized eggs

○ Adam has to b careful

§ Gently picks up pigeon egg

§ "I have a plan if combat starts"

§ Adam is now carrying a pigeon egg

• What's in w8?

○ W7 first

○ W7 is locked

○ Adam tries the key; theo makes perception check first

§ Nat1 so can't hear anything

§ Adam tries the key

□ "I'm gonna stick that key into the lockhole"

□ It doesn't fit

§ 14, can't unlock

§ Aerana tries, 22

§ Lock clicks open

§ Cel peers inside

□ There's an open window, the room is cold

□ There's a door leading into a separate room

□ Armoire

□ Also two human males holding shovels

□ "congratulations - you're free" - adam

□ "what the hell r u on about"

□ "we unlocked your door that was previously locked presumably from the outside but now the door's open and you can walk through it"

□ "we locked it on purpose"

□ "none of ur business how we do ours what do you want"

□ "why did you lock yourself in here"

□ "bc this is our apartment"

□ Smth abt a rock

□ A tiny boulder ?

□ Rolls 20 for insight

□ Guy had a flash of recognition but he doesn't have it

® But what r they wearing

® Indiscrete, utilitarian clothes

® "can we search your room or will you tell us all you know"

® "is that a thweat"

® "a thweat? O thorry sorry a threat"

® Adam rolls for intimidation

◊ 9

□ "we could just lasso them"

□ "how much health do they have combined"

□ "ok so you guys aren't gonna tell us anything"

□ As adam turns around to leave he casts sleep

® 5d8 

◊ "is their combined health equal or less than 22"

◊ "together they had 8"

□ Asyna moseys on upstairs

• I try so hard

○ And then things like this happen to me

○ It's fine, I say, albeit wholly unconvinced

○ Wow ok it really b like this

• Adam makes investigation check for anything in the bed

○ 18

○ There's a cut in the side of the bed w a bag of coins

○ "we shouldn't rob these people"

○ Apparently it's not a lot so we leave it

• Going to check other room

○ W8

§ Try to open door but immediately hit smth blocking it

§ Aerana and cel try opening the door

□ 14 strength check; doesn't budge

□ Peeking inside can make out a lot of heavy stones

□ 3 in gap

□ "so we can't fit through it . But a much smaller animal could probably fit through it"

○ Would b asyna's second wildshape

§ Investigate room wd40 but it's w4b

○ Asyna and cel r gonna go to w4b

○ Adam sticks arm through crack

§ Adam gets sense roof has collapsed

§ Feels beam of wood blocking door

○ Dom thinks we're too weak to hammer the door

○ Cel goes first

§ Dexterity save

□ 19

□ 2 damage; steps inside side closet and floor collapses

□ Falls down into w4a on first floor

□ Picks self up and goes back upstairs

○ Gonna try n shimmy over, 10 for acrobatics

§ Starts making way over then falls; dex save 11

§ 2 damage again

§ "uh hearing cel fall from the second floor twice , I come out"

□ Cel is gonna try and jump to w6

□ Adam gets crowbar from cel

§ Adam uses mage hand to open the door

□ Cel can just see a bunch of pigeon nests in w6

□ Cel jumps into w6

□ More pigeons

® Investigates; 20

◊ Finds the odd shiny thing a crow might've brought in; for the most part looks like a bird's dwelling

◊ Some fish bones in one of the nests

◊ Nature check, 5; can't tell what kind of nest

◊ They look like pigeon eggs tho

◊ Whisper yells to asyna "pet pigeon ?!"

◊ "are you gonna throw it?"

◊ "let me just tell you guys right now . You have more than one chance"

◊ Both have to make dexterity checks

◊ There are at least 5 eggs

◊ Cel rolls 22, asyna rolls 16

◊ The egg made it across successfully

◊ Cel just jumps back

○ Adam lightly pats down the two sleeping dudes

§ Some money, small utility knife

§ Gonna crowbar w8; strength check w advantage

§ Adam tries using the crowbar on the hinges, 8

§ Warhammer ? 15

□ 11 damage

□ "ok. Bonk"

□ "screws were invented in the first century so there WERE screws in the renaissance"

® Oil the door, adam tries to pop out the bolt with a dagger

® Two 4s

□ The people we cast sleep on are still asleep

○ Nat20 for athletics check to go onto the roo

§ You go to top of the windmill

§ Drop down into the room

□ Huge collapse of stones from the ceiling, beam of wood propped up against the door

□ Nat20

® Positive there is nothing in the room, just ceiling debris

○ "I'm gonna give their hands a little bondage"

§ "and then jerry seinfeld walks in like 'what's the deal with airplane food'"

§ Adam shakes the more serious-looking guy awake

§ Takes out key and asks if he's seen it

□ Wakes up and says "wot"

□ Other guy wakes up and is flailing

□ Cel rolls athletics check to tie him up

® 14, is able to tie him up

□ Looks at it and says it's his

□ "what's it for?"

□ "none of your business"

□ "you guys have a hobby of graverobbing?"

□ Adam says he's with the citywatch

® Deception check at disadvantage

® 9

® "yeah we're from the watch . Watch your back"

□ "why were u in the mausoleum"

® Jacob makes intimidation check w advantage

◊ 16, more serious one says "well u know we don't normally do that sort of thing"

◊ "we was paid to do it"

◊ "by whom"

◊ Lorsa morclav

} Losser mirklav paid them

– Asdjdmaf nice

® "what's the key for"

® "it's private"

® "can you make it public? For money ?"

® "45" adam puts knife closer to throat "I'm guessing that's a no" "I'm guessing that's a less please"

◊ Asks if we've played the dnd equivalent of poker

} Adam says he wants names first

} Younger one is urlaster

} Older one is volkarr

□ Threaten to bludgeon toes

® "how connected r u to ur toes"

® "rather intimately"

§ Says he buried his treasure

□ 10 to hit, slams ground

® Adam asks to see where loser mirklav is

◊ Southern ward

◊ By a bunch of apartments

◊ Half elf guy - cellar street ?

◊ Lives in an apartment

◊ "wig shop"

◊ "a weed shop"

◊ "a wIG shop"

§ "did u guys steal anything else from the tomb"

□ "we was hired to steal bones"

□ "losser's a necromancer"

□ Did they pick up a stone ?

® Losser saw a really thicc rat

® Losser kills the rat but it just vanishes, leaving the stone

® Losser took the stone

◊ Insight check, 8; can't tell if he's telling the truth

} "u guys broke into the tomb of a noble family for a necromancer for how much gold"

} 10 gold

} "we're keeping the key"

} "is loser the type of person that stays up at night"

} "well he's a mostly nocturnal fella"

} "yeah he likes his beauty rest during the day"

} "he's a strange little fellow"

§ "how badly do you want this key back"

□ "that's my life savings I want it back"

□ "what does losser look like ?"

□ Halfling fellow w long gray ponytail, he's wrinkly and smelly

® Is it bad that every time I hear the word necromancer I think necrophilia not necromancy

® "yeah I'm licking your life savings right now buddy"

◊ Adam fake swallows

} Performance check, 8

} "you're the worst actor I've ever seen"

} Actually swallows it

} "oh fuck"

} Key is made out of rusty iron

} "alright . Bye"

◊ "do you want your key back within 1-2 business days"

} "why don't you just puke it out"

} "I don't want to"

} "you guys keep quiet, I'll return the key to you in 1-2 business days"

} "that's disgusting"

} "alright . Bye"

– We’re leaving them tied up 

– "wow we're being judged" - marguerite, 2020

– We take their shovel

– "say what was your name"

– "reginald"

– "deception"

w Rolls a 20 total

w "that's shilanda shilanda brilanda and tiffany"

w Nat1

® "it might come out less rusty than it was before"

◊ "hey dom when should I roll for that poison"

§ Cel takes knife, toss the shovels

□ Barricade door ?

○ Going back to mirt's to rest ?

§ Go back to mirt's

§ Fog has settled in over streets, early early morning

§ Make it back no problem

§ Past midnight

□ Rest with watches

□ During adam's watch reads book

® Investigation check, 20

® Details house growlund and their lineage

◊ It's a genealogical book

} A lot of the pages are blank bc it's continuously added to

} At some point it's described that some of the children were born with tails

– "I look at my tail . Then look back at the page"

– But then those tails were amputated

} Any inbreeding ?

– Investigation check, 13

– There was inbreeding

□ Cel keeps pigeon egg warm

§ Morning arrives, daytime mostly spent in fog until noon

□ 8 a.m.-ish

□ "do I have to uh use the bathroom dominic"

□ "is there any key"

□ "oh I thought you were talking about real life"

® "does the key come out"

® "oh my god no it does not"

® "this is a great disaster"

◊ "it was a large key"

◊ "then how did I swallow it?!"

◊ "oh god whatever"

◊ Key was small enough for adam to swallow without choking

} I didn't say this but I thought it: what if he had practice tho

• Renaer is up

○ Cel grabs asyna and adam to go ask renaer to watch their pigeon egg babies

○ He is incredibly confused but he affirms he won't eat them

○ "ey what's poppin mirt"

○ "how's it going"

○ "groot is chunky" - aerana?

○ "groot is the best kind of chunky" - cel

○ "mirt, I'll buy you a wig" - adam

○ "make it purple"

§ Purple like …. : - D ahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahhahaAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAA

• We bust our way down to cellar street

○ Southern ward is the one where a lot of ppl move to from foreign lands

§ Eclectic

§ We find a small shop w some wigs in the front

○ There's a young half-elf woman running front desk

○ Headstands w wigs in the front, some r purple

○ Adam walks up to the half-elf woman asking for a special order w loser

○ "sorry we don't have anyone by that name"

○ "losser?"

○ Adam wants a private meeting to place an order

§ Insight

□ 16, she looks surprised n confused

○ There was not an apartment above the store

§ This corner is mostly businesses

□ Nat20 wisdom saving throw

® She is uncharmed

○ Has gray hair, smells like an excessive amount of lavender, 

§ Says his name is val

□ Mirklav backwards

○ "is your boss here right now"

○ Lets himself in sometimes to say hi and to check in like once a month but he has a key

§ "how do you know him"

§ "uh do u remember how I said I was throwing a bar mitzvah ? He's invited"

□ 15 deception, works

□ She goes to the back

○ Nothing suspicious looking in the shop aside from the normal weirdness you'd expect from a wig shop bc it's just head mannequins

○ An elf walks in

§ "hey . Yo"

§ He nods

§ Doesn't necessarily look like he needs a wig

§ Wearing a tricorner hat like gwash

□ Makes idle conversation

□ "interesting things happening in the city, eh?"

® Heard abt the house that got blown up

® "oo . What's the juice ? What's the juicy gossip my guy"

® They say some kind of explosion

® Says he's more into politics

◊ "of course he is"

® "well I concern myself w the affairs of princes and princesses"

◊ Talks abt making deliveries

® "well many of them r comfortable . Of late I was able to make a v special acquaintance who essentially helped me w smth I needed doing"

◊ "I'm adam nice to meet you . Is it impossible to explain or "

◊ What's this guy's name tho

◊ Says he's good at making ppl happy or sad ???

◊ "you're like a performer"

◊ "do smth for us"

} He lost his silver handkerchief

– Can turn silver into gold, flicks it

– Admits puppetry is not his particular area of expertise

w Name is Jamboreal

w Nat20 insight check

w Looks different but it's the other guy

w Oh it's the guy the disguise guy your handkerchief bruh you really forgot about your own doings n stuff

w AHAHAHHA I SEE IT NOW OOPS wow I was really off

• Clerk lady comes back in

○ Brings back note of smth

§ We'll just sneak back later at night ig

§ Adam gives her a gold and says he'll take her purplest wig

□ Brings out a fluffy purple toupee

○ Wig shop closes around dusk

○ "do you want this wrapped"

○ "do you want to come to my bar mitzvah ? I'm turning 14"

○ Jamboreal is haggling a price down

§ Concept: take asyna to the zoo

□ Adam runs intelligence check for a 

□ Uh are we going to the zoo ? We're going to the zoo

□ There's a bunch of animals

Pause; next time we’re going to the zoo

[strifesolution]

Hey! I saw you posting about yogscast and I've been thinking of getting into like their Minecraft series, but I have no idea where to start as it seems they are spread on several channels? Do you have a good series to start? [I've never never really watched any yogs before except for their Dnd series lmao]

(SKIP TO THE TL;DR AT THE BOTTOM IF YOU JUST WANT A SIMPLE ANSWER!)

Ohh! Okay, I can answer this! Yes! Hope you don’t mind me making this public as a reference for everyone!

The Yogscast Minecraft series, unlike a lot of let’s plays, does follow a plot. Some series are more plot/roleplay heavy than others, and in general there’s a line between character and person. That’s why certain episodes are more important than others. There’s a wide range of channels the series are hosted on, some of them still active, some not so much…

DISCLAIMER: These series started in 2010. Some of them hold up well- some not so much. You’ll find people you like more than others. Some members are still cool. Some kind of suck now. In fact, there’s even series with members that aren’t part of the company anymore I’ve been a fan since 2012 and have probably not even seen half of these series. It’s all about watching the first few episodes and deciding if you want to continue.

Anyways! There’s three main categories of series. Tekkit, Complete Pack, and Everything Else. Let’s start from the beginning

guide:

*  =   Plot Heavy (the more stars the more roleplay)

>  =  Personal Favorite (the more arrows the more I like it)

Bold  =  Fandom Favorite

“Everything else”

Minecraft: Survive the Night

I recommend just the first episode so you know who the two main members are. I haven’t seen the rest of the series in a few years and it’s just vanilla minecraft so it’s kind of boring. Be my guest to watch the rest

***Shadow of Israphel

Takes place directly after the vanilla series, lot’s of characters and plotlines. Unfinished, but often considered the best old series

>Voltz

Just… a lot of messing with explosives and rockets. Two series going on at the same time that overlap (here and here- take your pick) Not relevant to the main series, but funny. if anything, JUST WATCH THIS EPISODE!

*Yoglabs

The overarching storyline- what makes everything connect. Mosts of the episodes are just shenanigans, there’s a few that are important to the storyline: THIS (and part two!) being the most important one. Definitely give that a watch.

Alright, those are the miscellaneous stories. Let’s get onto the good stuff

“Tekkit”

Tekkit refers to a modpack focusing on a lot of machinery and magic differences. The first world was most a fun test world between a few members, with the second being the real starting point, multiple series going on at the same time involving different groups of members. Most series are listed here.

You don’t really need to watch anything from the first world since it’s not that connected to the storyline, except for WAR (has two points of view, here and here, which is SUPER important for blackrock (see below.)

The rest of the series are in the second world!

>>Jaffa Factory

One of the first series I watched in full when it first came out. Highly recommend. Lots of shenanigans

Sipsco

Happens directly next to Jaffa Factory, so you’ll get both sides of the story in either one, just chose the one you like more and run with it instead of watching both if it’s too much. A lot of ridiculousness, but really funny, especially if you end up liking the two main members

Duncan’s Laboratory

Solo player (mostly,) I haven’t watched this series in full and not in a long time, but if you like Minecraft mechanics then it’s pretty good. Relevant to Blackrock (again, keep scrolling)

>Tekkit with Nilesy and Hannah!

Nilesy and Hannah have their individual series seperate from this one, but I’m not listing both since this one’s good without having to watch a ton of extra stuff. Mostly just fun minecraft here.

>Tekkit with Martyn and Toby

Unfinished, silly series. I’m just putting there here because I’m biased I love the people in it a lot, even though it doesn’t really hold up. However, if you do check it out, it’s not the best thing Martyn and Toby have done, so just ask me to recommend some better series they’ve worked on together!

Rail Bros Inc.

Not a series I was ever into, but pretty different than the others, as it focused on specific mods and such, so check it out I guess!

>>>***The Blackrock Chronicles

Considered the most scripted and roleplay centric, I highly recommend Blackrock as a starting point after you’ve watched a few episodes of everything else. It does hold up- it’s funny and angsty and the creators did a fantastic job. By watching this series you’ll get a hold on the stuff the Yogscast does and enjoy it.

“Complete Pack”

Considers a ‘sequel’ to the tekkit would with a lot of the same versions of characters, just with a bunch of new mods. If you’re going to watch any of these series, watch at least a bit of tekkit so you get the different first, I guess? But again, since there’s SO MUCH CONTENT you can skip around a bunch. A ton of series aren’t listed here just because I’ve never watched them lol

>>>Moonquest

Direct sequel to Jaffa Factory, except arguably better!

*Sipsco Space Program

Also a sequel To Sipsco. Same situation as last time, but with less moonquest overlap. More plot

*>Evicted! (and the continuation, Owl/Cat Island)

Continues to follow Nilesy and Hannah’s story, these two are relaxing to watch IMO

>>Hatcorp

Just a bunch of business and building shenanigans, absolutely hilarious.

**>>Flux Buddies

If you liked Blackrock, you’ll like Flux Buddies, basically. There’s a lot of content overlapping with others in this series, so it’s a good Complete Pack starting point (again, like Blackrock)

*Magic Police

A good series to watch the first few episodes of to get a hold of what’s going on in the server. Good if you like the members.

**>>>Blood and Chaos

Unique series since it’s not a commonly explored mod, and, again, good dynamics if you like the people in it

(I’m putting these two next to each other since they both have prequels (Magic Police’s here and Solutions in Chaos here) on the Chaosville server- which is more youtubers than yogscast specific. They’re not as good as the main series, but maybe watch the first and last episodes to understand what’s happening? Your choice)

About The Overarching Plot

If you watch Clone Labs (seen above) as well as other Yoglabs episodes, the whole idea is that multiple versions of each player exist at the same time, which is why these series can happen with characters having different knowledge. You can pretty much piece together something sinister is going on at Yoglabs, pitting their clones against each other and such. But it’s a very vague plot the fans have to put together, making the series so unique! You’ll always see different interpretations of their characters and lines, and sometimes people you didn’t know even existed pop up in fanart. You get the idea

_______________________________________________________________________

TL;DR

Blackrock if you like plot/roleplay, Jaffa Factory if you like shenanigans, Shadow of Israphel if you like both! Lastly, here’s a classic that just… shows what the Yogscast are like.

[royvdhelart]

So...as I've been sick for the last week, I kind of needed something to cheer me up a bit and something to get the Art-passion flowing again. So, I decided to finally redo Emil's reference sheet, as I never liked the old one, after designing him a new outfit <3

This was a bunch of work but boy, I can not recall having this much fun with a drawing and I'm actually hella proud of it for once :D I hope you like it as well!

--- Just to be clear btw: This Art is NOT for free use. ---

Callname: Emil/Baltazar Full-Name: Baltazar Emil A'zam Duman Jaren Qazir Languages: Common, Dwarfish (future: draconic)

Age: 26, born on the first day of June Sex/Gender: Male Height: 1,95m/6'4 Race: Human Class: (Lore) Bard (level 9) (future: Draconic sorcerer)

Background: Entertainer/Noble Sexuality: Bi-Romantic

Favorite Instrument: Violin. Alignment/Personality: Neutral Good, optimistic, Drama Queen, charismatic, polite, group-mom, party-guy, curious, creative. Flaws: Drama Queen, has a big mouth and turns into an awkward/clumsy dork when he has a crush on someone. More about his family: https://sta.sh/014wc8gu8y2p Background: Baltazar was born on the first day of June in the city Setus. He was the 7th and youngest son of a wealthy merchant family, having 4 brothers ( (35) Amin, (33)Kareem, (30)Jarah, (27)Gabriel, and ( and 2 sisters (Farah (31) and Iris (35) above him.  Baltazar had always been the "runt of the litter". Tall but lanky, Emil wasn't strong, and always out searching for trouble. This often caused him to clash with his parents, who really wished Emil would become more serious instead of going on about silly adventures and hanging around in inn's every night. Actually just fearing for his well-being.

As a proper noblemen's son Baltazar was learned etiquette from a young age, getting schooled by a wise old teacher (Nazim), who had years of experience teaching his older brothers and sisters. Emil wasn't the best student however and caused quite the frustration to his teacher. He skipped classes, pulled tricks on his teacher and rarely did the work he was expected to or find some kind of way to do his tasks with the least effort possible. Emil was much too busy learning plays out of his head, creating new songs or just dreaming about what it would be like to be actually free, to travel the lands, slay monsters, be a hero, to do such boring and repetitive tasks. It didn't matter anyway, he was the youngest, he would one day be married of to a rich woman/man and that would be it. He often worried about this future, a future, which in his opinion, could only become boring. The moments he spent on stage, telling people silly stories when he played his violin, were the moments he actually felt alive, at those moments he could feel a kind of power flowing through him, which could vaguely be described as a warmth but different. To him, it seemed that all that they wanted to do is take that from him, make him "more serious" as he would never honor his family's name as a simple entertainer. One day Emil had pushed his parents too far, he missed his teacher's lessons again and had a big fight with his father. All Emil's frustration and fear for the future came out at that point. Which ended with Emil, angerly saying that he was going to leave the city and that he would prove them that he would become worth something, he would become a great entertainer, a Hero even, his name would become known! With that, he packed his stuff and left the next morning. Quite quickly Emil found out that traveling was definitely not as easy or fun as he expected and regretted his decision quite quickly as he started to run out of gold, the city Setus was mostly surrounded by desert and small villages, where there was no way for him to make any profit. After traveling for days, he decided that he really wasn't ready to cross an entire dessert after having a nasty run-in with Goblins. He finally reached a cross point between three larger cities. He decided to travel between the cities, to try out work as an entertainer to earn some gold. For a few years, he played music at inns, took on small roles in plays and did some odd jobs to earn some extra gold. In these years he discovered the kind of power within himself again, a power which he studied and could control more and more each day as he got mentored by another bard called "Rafael". Who saw potential in him. Eventually, he learned how to control magic with his voice, movements, and music. Even though he enjoyed entertaining, with his new found powers and being able to do whatever he wanted, he realized he became somewhat stuck there, unable to grow, he was running out of ideas for songs or tales. But what was he supposed to do? He couldn't go back home and wasn't confident enough of his abilities yet to go on actual adventures alone, as he and Rafael split up after a year, his powers seemed mostly passive, supporting at most. Contemplating his options, he almost stumbled over a black panther which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. He looked back at the table which the large black cat was laying against, sitting around it he saw what could only be described as a perfect example of a knight in shining armor drinking a large pint of... milk? and a younger somewhat odd hooded figure, bright red with a large bird emblem depicted on his back in gold. Emil was immediately intrigued by the curious figures, decided to buy them a round and started talking to them. The knight was apparently the Paladin called Adil Fahd, somewhat of a folk hero, who he actually recognized by name as he had heard it before. The hooded young man was called Yashan, a Phoenix sorcerer from far away, this apparently meant he knew a lot about setting things and himself... on fire, he was apparently on a holy mission to find a religious artifact called the Sun-Stone. He spends the rest of the evening talking with the adventurers and eventually convinced them to let them join their group. A few months later, they met their newest members to the party "Kakaah" a odd but smart Kenku Rogue and a sassy Fighter called Ustrom and with the party complete they would face many adventures, from fighting as gladiators in the area of a savage dwarf Island, to Dyeing Ogers hair to get out of trouble, surviving many of Adil's bad ideas, dangerous sea-trips, a trip to the Underdark, meeting the Evil beholder called Kazejux, retrieving priceless artifacts,  fighting a Demon called Kalahai who is wanting to take over the world... and many more and many more more to come. Extra/Random Facts about Emil: - Emil is a very charismatic and likes to flirt but is absolutely terrified of sex because of a mix of bad/silly experience and anxiety. He gets nervous about the subject and panics as soon as things become too hot and heavy. - Emil has a huge weakness for smart and dorky, guys/girls <3 - He learned the tips and tricks about being a Bard from a Bard called Rafael, with whom he has a somewhat competitive-love/hate friend-relationship as their friendship got a little complicated at the end of their showbusiness-partnership. Rafael is a stereotypical bard, very charismatic, party-animal and somewhat of a nymphomaniac. - Emil used to own a tiger when he was younger, who he shared with his brother Gabriel, which is supposed to be depicted on his bracers. Gabriel, after being reunited with Emil again 3 years after Emil left home, decided to also engrave his name into the bracers, in a way, so he'd be with him on his adventures. -Emil grew up with two mothers and a father, his biological mother is called Anjah, she is smart, smoll and scary, his second mother is called Dolunay, Cool, collected and wise, and his father's name is Azam who is intimidating but too sweet for his own good. His parents are in a Poly-romantic relationship and don't appreciate the "He is rich so he has more than one wife"-talk/ habit, the relationship is shared between all of them and they all love each other equally.

- Aside from the strings, his Violin is made out of Wood, Gold, and Ivory. It's called "Yarro" and is named after the Yarrow Plant. - He was thought to shoot his crossbow by his older brother Amin, who is good at handling most weapons known to that region, and an avid collector. Currently, Baltazar owns a magic Heavy Crossbow which is able to cast the spell "Tenser's transformation". - Emil is familiar with wearing drag or being scarcely clothed on stage as he used to be a part of a show in an "Entertainers-bar" for about a year. His drag is now one of his costumes next to his dessert robes... this job wasn't one of his favorites... but it was where Rafael discovered him, which would change his life forever. (He is dangerous with a pair of heels.) - Emil recently acquired a sentient cape, called Thanatos, a cured copper dragon with a ton of attitude. He allows Baltazar to Fly, be resistant to fire and look very extra. - His feather ear-ring is supposed to resemble a phoenix feather, however, he has no clue if it's real, as he bought it on a market from a somewhat sketchy guy. - Emil lost his finger for a while after using a magic artifact to save his ass... (Future: luckily he was able to get it back!) - Emil has a birthmark on his left hip. - (When compared to the real world) Emil would have a combination of Arabic/Indian/maybe a bit of Egyptic heritage. - Emil Knows gods exist but isn't necessarily a follower of any. More Baltazar: - https://romyvdhel-art.deviantart.com/art/OC-Spectrum-Meme-DnD-Characters-724820026 - https://romyvdhel-art.deviantart.com/art/DND-Reference-Baltazar-Emil-Qazir-707607613 - https://romyvdhel-art.deviantart.com/art/DnD-Sketchdump-VIII-717548901

[nordpolen]

So in an attempt to figure out what my character feels about her situation, I’ve written out basically a short story detailing one scenario of how a confrontation with her feelings could go. While it’s not likely that this scenario will happen, since it’s DnD and therefore a shared roleplay experience with my DM, however much we think alike. But I think some of the arguments could come up. And if not, atleast it was a good writing practice I suppose. Very dialogue heavy though. I need to work on that. 

Anyway, under the read more link there will be OC stuff. Feelings. Bad writing. And all that kinda stuff. Feel very free to ignore. I’m just putting it out here because it’s cathartic. 

"What are your intentions towards Marko?"

Mirai gave me confused look, not quite understanding my greeting to her. I supposed it was a bit rude, but I didn't particularly feel like making pleasantries. I was having a shit week, and the fact that I had to have this conversation at all only made it worse.

"Marko? How do you know him? And how do you know abou-" I cut her off.

"He's my brother. Answer the question." She stared at me, mouth slightly agape at my harsh tone, but also at the fact that I had said brother. She knew I had adoptive brothers, but she also knew their names. Marko wasn't one of them.

"You brother is dead. You told me so." She narrowed her void eyes at me, trying to read my face for any deception, a hint of joking. She found none.

"He was. Now he’s not. I had him resurrected. He was still dead when you met him, though. Now answer the godsdamned question."

She flung up her hands in exasperation at my words.

"Fine. I like him. He's nice. We're having fun. Is that so bad?"

It was the answer I’d expected. Still I couldn't help but feel disappointed for my brother. It was a conflicting feeling for me. I wanted him to be happy… And I wanted her to be happy too. But some small part of me had thought that that happiness would’ve been with me. I had thought that maybe, once I was done ensuring the happiness and safety of my family, and gotten my revenge, I could have come back to Yamato, been happy here. While I didn't like the assassinations, I had been good at them. Even better at stealing. They would’ve taken me back.

I could have made a home there, with her, if she would've had me, and if her father would’ve allowed it. Small chance, knowing Mirai’s father’s protectiveness over his daughter, but a girl could dream. Now, I supposed, it was time to wake up and stop dreaming. It was time to be a woman, who was in control of her feelings. A woman, who could let her brother be happy. A woman, who would let her brother make his own mistakes, but also a woman, who would protect him from the danger he didn't even know existed yet.

"Is that all it is? What if it evolves beyond that? What then?" I didn't look at her as I said it, it still hurt, it hurt so much, to look at the woman, who I’d still up until recently had been seeing in my dreams, and now instead see my brother's lover.

The fact that it hurt made me feel guilty. After all, I was the one who hadn't dared to ask her in the first place. I was the one who had been too slow, who had put her aside for my own goals. How could it begrudge my brother for his courage to do what I hadn't dared? I was lousy. The worst. A horrible sister. I started pacing back and forth.

She sighed, and sat down at the table, taking the only chair in my dingy inn room, carefully watching my pacing, confused and slightly annoyed.

"So, what if it evolves further? I thought you'd be overjoyed that your brother found someone he's happy with. And we're basically already family, Freya! You've been with the group since you were a barely a teen. We would be real family."

Her naivety grated on my nerves. Did she really think that her father, her father who had been so strict, kept her away from others for so long, would simply be happy with whatever first foreigner mutt his daughter picked up as a son-in-law? I knew my brother was worth his weight in gold, but I also knew how most people in this country felt about foreigners.

I spun around and faced her, my voice coming out in a shout that seemed to catch both her and I by surprise. I had never yelled at her before. Said mean things, yeah, as she had done to me, but I’d never yelled. That would've been overstepping my boundaries. She was the heiress to a crime empire. Even if it wasn't recognized by law, she was as good as nobility. Another reason I had never made a move.

"Have you even given this a single fucking thought, Mirai? Do you think you can just waltz into your father’s office with my brother in tow, and he'll go ‘Oh, I’m so happy for you’? How naive are you?" I saw the anger rise in her eyes, now that I was actually looking at her, and she responded back in a biting tone.

"It doesn't matter what my father thinks, I can make my own choices! What's he going to do? He can't keep me locked up forever. Someday I’ll have to take over from him. He might as well get used to me doing what I want."

"As if you're the one who would bear the consequences! You've never been the one who was punished when you stepped out of line. If you ran away, the maid who was supposed to look after you got flogged. If you didn't do your lessons, your father would have your teacher's hands burned. Do you really think your father would hesitate in removing my brother if he thought he would become an issue? I know you don't think about anyone but yourself, but I care very much about my brother and I’m not letting him get hurt because of your selfishness!"

Mirai sputtered in indignation, her normally calm and even voice growing shrill.

"You're calling me selfish? It's not my fault that I was born into the family I was! I want to live my life too! Is it too much to ask that I get the chance to choose what I want to do?"

"Yes!" I shouted, taking a step towards the table, where she still sat. "It is too much to ask when the consequences will fall on others than yourself!"

She snorted at me, grabbing the sake bottle at the table besides her and taking a long swig.

"Consequences. You would know about that wouldn't you. Always so busy taking everyone's problems on yourself. Gotta help you family, gotta make money for your dear Ettie, gotta get revenge. We can't all be a fucking self-sacrificing saint like you." She challenged, and I took a step back as if she'd hit me, or stabbed me with a knife.

It stung, because I felt the truth in what she said.

She continued. "You never do anything for yourself. The few times I’ve seen you with anyone has been after drinking, and you never talk to them again. Too scared that you'll get attached and forget your ‘sacred duties’?" 

I tried to muster up a defense, but I couldn't. My ‘sacred duties’ as she called them weren't the reason why I’d never been with the same person twice, as few as the people I’d ever been with were. I'd never been with anyone more than once because I’d still had a crush on her. Every time I’d tried to be with someone, it had been an attempt to forget her, to move on, but then we would meet the next day, and train, and the glint in her eyes would make me fall once more.

"That's none of your business." I said tersely, looking away, cheeks aflame, and eyes burning. I felt like crying, and I didn't want to admit that I knew why. This was the end of it, I knew it would be. I would have to let her go after this. Even if something inside me said to fight for her instead. Fight who? My brother? She was a person and could make her own choices. I had no right.

Mirai saw something in my face, something that made her stand up and walk closer to me, carefully, like she was afraid to scare me.

"You're ashamed, aren't you…" She said, and I clapped a hand over my face, as if that could shield me from her searching eyes. "Is it because you're jealous? Because I’m taking your brother away from you?"

Her voice grew softer, and she reached out one slender grey hand to me, callouses from holding a dagger in training marring the skin slightly. I jerked away.

"Freya, you know I would never take your brother from you, there's no need to be jealous on me." I removed my hand from my face to look her in the eyes.

"Jealous? Why would I be jealous of you?”

I knew I’d given myself away the moment the last word left my lips. Mirai wasn’t stupid, and she could read my tone. We’d known each other long enough.

I immediately turned away from Mirai, hoping that she wouldn’t figure it out, hoping that she wouldn’t realize what that meant. I eyed my cloak by the bed, and then the distance to the door. I could make it quickly, but that would leave the issue unresolved, a loose end. I hated loose ends.

“If you’re not jealous of me…” Mirai said, almost sounding lost in thoughts, “then who…” The small ‘oh’ that then fell from her lips made the embarrassment burn in my cheeks again, and I regretted starting the conversation at all. Her next words sealed my doom. Or atleast that was what it felt like.

“You’re not jealous of me. You’re jealous of Marko.” She said, matter of factly.

I refused to look at her. She was right, but she couldn’t know that. And more importantly, Marko couldn’t know. If self-sacrifice was my defining trait, then it was also a family trait. If Marko had even an inkling that I liked Mirai, and had liked her for years, he would give up any claim. He would stop pursuing her, to give me a chance. Love didn’t work like that, I knew that. Just because he gave up didn’t mean that Mirai would then turn to me. But he would still feel bad for ever having pursued someone I had an interest in. He would give up the chance of love, as to not hurt me further. As much as I loved my brother and wanted to give him the world, he would do the same for me. It would leave all of us unhappy.

“Look at me.” She said. When I didn’t, she stood up and walked over to me, grabbing my face and turning it to her. I let her, almost letting myself lean into the warm touch of her hand.

“No. You’re wrong.” I muttered weakly. I couldn’t even convince myself of that. Mirai searched my face, my eyes, and then her eyes fell to my hand, where my left thumb was rubbing the small scar on the side of my second knuckle on my index finger. I immediately stopped the motion, even if I had already been given away by my tell.

“Liar,” She said softly, voice somewhat dark, yet sweet. I tried to wrist my face out of her hand, but she tightened her grip.

“All these years and you never said anything. Didn’t do anything about it.” Her brows furrowed, and she looked… hurt. “Did you think I would wait for you? That I wouldn’t find someone while you took care of your family? They’ve always come first to you. Do you really think it’s fair for you to be jealous now when you’re the one who put everyone else above yourself? You created this situation yourse-“

“Don’t you think I know that?!” I said, finally pulling my face out of her hand, and turning around, chest heaving at the sorrow stuck in my chest, sobs wanting to tear themselves from my body. I took a deep breath to calm myself, then one more, and one more again. I didn’t turn around, and she stayed silent.

“I know, I know that it’s not fair to have expected you to wait for someone you didn’t even know liked you. I know it’s not fair to bring it up now, not now when you’re both happy. I… I just can’t help feeling sad about it.” My voice broke as I said it, the admittance, causing tears to start pouring from my eyes, no matter how much I tried to stop them. I just wanted my brother to be happy, and now I was the most likely cause for him ending up hurt. I had called Mirai selfish, but I was the one truly selfish in this scenario. If could have kept my feelings to myself, and simply done the ‘protective sister being worried about her brother’s safety’ spiel, then everyone could have gone on with their lives, and I could, in time, have gotten over myself. But here I was, ruining everything. I was so caught up in my own head that I didn’t even notice Mirai coming up behind me.

She grabbed my arm and swung me towards her again, once more grabbing my face, and pressing a very unexpected kiss to my lips. It was soft, not a true kiss, but it made me stop crying from sheer surprise. And then I ripped myself loose, almost falling backwards in my attempt to get away from her touch. She let me go, and simply watched as I pressed myself to the wall, sputtering for something to say.

“See. Now you know what it would have been like.” She crossed her arms. “Not that exciting, I’d say, but you can stop wondering about it. That was the issue, no? That you wouldn’t know what it felt like.” I simply stared, my mind blanking for something to say. Mirai had kissed me. Mirai, who I had a crush on for 7 years. Mirai, who was my brother’s lover. This was more than I could handle right now. Mirai continued.

“We would never have worked out in the first place, and I think you know that Freya. You think you will be able to give your attention to someone when you’re done making sure everyone else is happy. But there will always be something. Someone will get sick, or someone will need your help. And you will run to help them and tear yourself apart doing so. I don’t like being second place. Besides, you need someone who will take care of you, like you try to take care of everyone else. Someone who will stop you from trying to sacrifice your own happiness. I’m not that person, and I know that you know that.”

I closed my eyes, exhaling a sharp breath that stung in my chest. She was right. There would always be something, and while I did care for Mirai, always had, I had never put her first like I did my family. Not even once. I suppose that was telling of my feelings for her. Apparently not that deep. I wasn’t so sure about the last part of her statement though. I wasn’t a person to be taken care of. I hadn’t been so for a long time. I was better when I took care of myself. Nonetheless, I breathed out the answer.

“I know.” And with that, it felt almost as if a weight had been lifted. It still hurt, and it would probably take a bit of time before the hurt truly stopped. But it would stop. It was as if a thread had been severed. Perhaps not cleanly, but it was finally cut.

I faced Mirai, looking into her face, her eyes watching me like a hawk, face carefully blank. But I saw her tail twitch in a slight 8 shaped pattern. Her tell. As well as she knew me, I also knew her. She was nervous. Had she done the right thing? I wasn’t sure. I’d preferred she hadn’t kissed me, even if it was the wakeup call I needed. It felt wrong when she was with my brother. But done was done, and I couldn’t say that it hadn’t been necessary.

I wiped away the tears that had started drying on my face and straightened up.

“Don’t mention this to Marko. Any of this. As much as you think I’m self-sacrificing, he takes that to another level.” She smiled, clearly a bit more at ease now that I wasn’t a crying mess anymore.

“It’ll be our little secret.” Her smile widened. “How embarrassing for you, having a crush on me for seven years. Ah, I’m so sad I don’t even get to tease you properly about it. Emika and Taro would laugh their asses off.” Of course she would immediately start teasing me about it. I rolled my eyes. The reminder that she had her fair share of annoying traits helped me feel a bit better, and also slightly sorry for Marko. He was the one who would have to deal with her from now on after all.

“Oh shut it.” I finally grabbed my cloak from the chair and moved past her to the door of the room. I looked back over my shoulder.

“Take good care of him. And please, please try to be careful with your father. I don’t want to have to gather 25.000 gold worth of diamonds for a resurrection again. Nor do I want to hunt down you father. And you know I will if I have to. Marko comes first, always.”

Mirai laughed. “There you go again with your self-sacrificing. Always so dramatic.” I rolled my eyes again and headed out the door. Feeling a bit lighter than I had felt ever since I discovered their relationship.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Mirai watched Freya leave, the smile fell from her face, and her brows furrowed one more, as her face shifted from teasing, to a softer, worried expression.

“You two remind me so much of each other. Perhaps that’s why…” She stopped herself from taking that thought any further. She had made her choice. While she knew she wasn’t right for Freya, she couldn’t help but feel that Freya could have been right for her. But this was one of the times where she wouldn’t be selfish. Because Mirai truly believed that Freya needed, and deserved, someone who would see the hurt girl behind the independent façade. The girl who truly believed that she needed to put herself last to be worthy of even just a scrap of love. The girl who tried to pay back any affection she was given with acts of service, tearing herself into pieces in the process. Marko, however many traits he shared with his sister, rested much more in himself, and that was what Mirai adored in him. She hoped Freya would find someone, someone who could teach her that she was worthy of love too.

[astormyjet]

July 19th 2017 - January 7th 2018. Summer, Autumn and the start of 2018.

Ho boy. I have been useless at keeping this updated. Things got super busy with RA, working with the kids and just generally getting out and doing more, rather than being a shut in. I lie. I’ve been studying Japanese, doing more outside of school socially and sportingly AND playing more video games. But either way, I haven’t been chronicling my time here as much as I used to.

Ok, so summer. I went to Tokyo for a holiday some time in July/early August. I met up with Maya, one of the cool kids from up north that had actually contacted me about JET stuff before they got here the year after I did, I also met one of my sempai, who actually taught as an ALT alongside my Uni Japanese Uni friend who came to visit me in January last year. So that was a hilarious twist of fate. Tokyo was A plus as per usual, but I don’t see myself living there in the future. Too expensive, too busy. Too many people.

After getting back to Matsuyama, the new ALTs came. They’re all fab. Some of us oldies and a bunch of the newbies play DnD together now, so that’s taking some of my weekends. 

When they first got here, Miriam (the other RA) and myself organised a beach welcome party, we made a kick ass sand castle inspired by Matsuyama castle. We then destroyed it with a big rock. We also beat the crap out of a watermellon on the beach while blindfolded in an attempt to recreate an “authentic beach experience”. Basically in their first couple of weeks, RA duties saw Miriam and I making sure they were settling in all good and running/presenting at Ehime Orientation alongside the other RAs and the PAs. That was both fun, challenging and terrifying. 

Junior High sports day was in September. I jumped in on the white team, or rather the white teams 3rd years basically yanked me into their tent and told me I was their cheerleader, they even got me up doing their chant and dance. I love them all so much. They’re such genki, kind and hard working kids. It’s going to be hard for the last few months of teaching at my base school after they all graduate in March. I’ll have to change schools in August most likely as that is what happens here in Matsuyama to fourth year JETs. It’s probably time for a change, but with the new changes rolling out at Elementary school, I’m seriously concerned about the future of the JET Programme in Matsuyama...side note...our BOE still has no idea how they’re shuffling the new classes at ES 3rd and 4th grade is going to work...when everywhere else on the island had that sorted out last year.....argh. 

Halloween itself was pretty rough for me and a couple of my students. Along the route I bike to school, there is a few bridges with pretty high drops. From the hospital near my house to one of said bridges an ambulance and a police car kept pace (in early morning traffic) with me. By the time we got there, there were already a bunch of police cars and a group of the local community standing on the bridge pretty somberly. I made the mistake of looking down into the river and there was a guy who’d jumped. 

My students were standing nearby and one of the community members suggested that the four of us walk to school with the kids, so we did. It was pretty bleak, the kids weren’t really sure how to process it, neither was I to be honest, but I’ve been in a similar situation a couple of times with friends at Uni so I think that kind of helped me talk through some of what was happening with them. We got to school, informed the principal of what had happened and then the day went on as per usual.

Suicide here is a pretty big issue, luckily for the students and community it turns out the guy was from elsewhere in Matsuyama so it’s impact wasn’t as strongly felt in the community. The community has made efforts to reach out and support the family of the victim and the kids who saw the aftermath are being looked after as well. Thank god. 

I am a little bit worried about how they’re going to react to the whole Logan Paul thing that’s happened recently, and I am incredibly worried about who is going to be at school and who isn’t come the new term, as that is when youth suicide rises, but there’s very little one can do about stuff like that except keep an eye out for and support those who might be dealing with mental health issues.  

On a lighter note, Matsuyama Autumn Festival in October was fun as usual. I made my way down to my school block area and joined in with the community there. The shrines were beautiful, I saw a dragon/lion dance for the first time in real life. I got to hang out with a bunch of my students and their families and generally just put myself out into the community down there which has opened some pretty cool doors for me.

In October, Miriam and I were also in charge of sorting out the yearly Halloween Orphanage visit for the Chuyo region. It was stressful, but rewarding. The kids at the home are all getting so big! I really feel for the staff who take care of them, there’s so many. This year they actually provided costumes for the kids to wear, and boy did that go down a treat. We had a good time. The Christmas visit went along in a similar fashion. Stressful, difficult to co-ordinate, but we all survived.

Skills Development Conference happened at the start of December, it was as per usual, not fantastic. Basically the workshops were more of the same and the speaker this year was bloody useless. Japan is so frustrating in respect to educational change, despite how many JTEs and ALTs ask and suggest changes or improvements, it’s basically screaming into the void. 

After the last day of school, I ended up going to Osaka for Christmas break. I left on the 26th December and came back on the 30th. In that time I spent my first day up in Kyoto, where I hiked Mt. Inari in the snow...it was pretty cool. Figuratively and literally.  The shrine, Fushimi-Inari Shirine and the tori gates are a lot more beautiful than photos can capture. It’s eerie and quiet, but it’s also a peaceful place, if you go earlier on in the day, like before 9am as due to it being a tourist hot-spot, it gets busy fast. In Osaka I went to Nipponbashi and then a bunch of the surrounding places. I didn’t do as much shopping as I thought I would, but that meant I had a bunch more money to spend at USJ. 

USJ was unreal. I loved the Harry Potter world portion and was impressed by the Spiderman ride as well as a couple of the other smaller attractions. I avoided the Minion theme park like the plague, but probably would go if I go again and it’s still there. I also went to Osaka castle, but the museum portion was closed due to it being New-year break fro Japan, so next time. I also went to a cat cafe called Mocha which was really clean, relaxing and the cats were super well cared for. I saw the staff grooming the cats and cleaning the room while I was there, so they’re on to it. I also went to an owl cafe. I got pooped on. Apparently it’s lucky. The owls again were well looked after and the staff were on top of the animals welfare. Basically I had a blast in Osaka and have some ideas  of what I want to do with my partner when they come over in May. Yay!

On the 31st I climbed up the Shiroyama-park hill to Matsuyama castle and watched the last sunset of the year. It was pretty lackluster, but it was a nice way to end the year. I spent the rest of the evening curled up in my room with the heat on and watching Kohaku uta gassen. 2017 wasn’t a bad year for me, it was just an average year. I think now that I am a little more established in Japan, but coming towards the end of my time on JET (only 2 more years! CRIKEY), I’m starting to think about, and panic a little, the future. Like I have no idea what to do after this, but I know I want to stay abroad, but weather that is in Japan, England or Canada, I don’t know. I don’t know if I want to go back into study, or if I want to stick to doing odd jobs with my somewhat useless BA in English, Linguistics and TESOL Minor. I enjoy teaching, and I enjoy working with kids and young adults, learning from them and encouraging them to reach their goals, but I don’t know if I can find a good, stable job with my current qualifications. 

On New Years day I went to the big mall and lined up for lucky bags, I got the Pokemon Center one. I was stoaked, as initially I’d been in the wrong line, but 10 minutes before the doors opened I saw the right one, jumped in and managed to get one of the last bags!!! I also went and bought new running shoes and a Nintendo 3DS  for an early birthday present.

On my actual birthday, I went to work, hung out with the Volleyball kids, the table tennis kids and made paper cranes for the kids graduation in March. I then came home, ordered Pizza and spent the evening on my DS and PC gaming. It was nice. 

I haven’t made my New Years resolutions yet, but I think I’m going to do something similar to what I did last year and write a list of 25 things to do before I am 26. I got about 20 out of 25 things done last year, so I’ll carry over the five I didn’t manage. I have my first shot at my Karate Blackbelt on Wednesday, I don’t think I’ll pass this time around (dammit, why are test fees so expensive), but I think that getting it by the end of the year is on my list. Along with JLPT N3.

I signed my re-contracting paper before I went away, so I am definitely here until August 2019. I’m equal parts excited for the changes in the Elementary school English Education, and dreading how poorly our BOE has been planning it out. But we’ll just have to see. Until next time, this has been Kai, the 25 year old, sleep deprived and slightly Jaded 3rd year ALT.

[hollowphobia-casual]

MY AMAZING FRIENDS Part Seven. the revenge of the Prequel to the sequel

So anyone new to this, hi, this is a massive list where I tell everyone about how great my friends are, why I love them and just how much they mean to me! It’s shrunk and grown over the years as friends have gone away or I’ve gained new ones, but it doesn’t change the most important things, these are the people I want in my life more than anything. SO, normally I’d post this list around December Christmas, cause, it’s meant to be a treat, a Christmas treat, as I can never get out presents to everyone and I felt it meant something important, well Christmas has come early, why? Cause life is hard right now, people are scared, things are getting tougher and it’s just so frustrating seeing all the people I care about disheartened and worried, I want to do something important for them, so I’ve decided to post the list early, for the people, who need it the most.

@mistercrowbar

BEHOLD probably one of the most important people in my life right and I don’t mean that lightly, Crowbar has been everything to me, a friend, a teacher, a companion, a voice of reason and even a critic, she’s taught me so much about art, myself and even the universe we currently inhabit, seriously this woman is a wealth of knowledge you would not believe. But more importantly, she is my friend and I care so much about this girl, I want nothing more than her absolute happiness, if I could give up everything just to see her smile, I would, she’s been in such dark places and battles them everyday, I’d do anything to stop that from ever happening to her again. she has done so much for me, hell she became a friend to me when I was a nobody and I still am, she encourages me to do better, to push and challenge myself every day, I owe her so much, I care for her so much. Please do yourself a favor, check out her amazing artwork and get to know this beautiful person.

@nightmargin

MY GUUUUUUURL, Holy fluffy apples infested with Caterpillar demons, when I first met this girl, she was awesome, as we talked, she was more awesome, her ideas, her imagination, if she didn’t go somewhere, I’d imagine the world would implode for making a mistake, AND NOW MY GURL MADE A GAME AND IS ACTUALLY BEING PLAYED AND ENJOYED LIKE IT’S THE NEXT UNDERTALE! For better or for worse. I always believed in her, I can’t ever recall a time where her art style a beautiful mixture of darkness and whimsy has ever disappointing me, I’m so proud of her right now, i wish her nothing but the best going forward and if you’ve not bought her game Oneshot, WHAT ARE YOU DOING.

@articbleu

Oh hey is this one of the greatest people ever, why yes it is! Artic’s determination and drive is, MIND BLOWING, I always feel like I’m trying to catch up to her, but in a good way, I’ve also never met someone who agrees with me so much, from video games, story structure and politics, it’s actually a tiny bit creepy. BUT IT A GOOD WAY. When I first met this amazing blazing comet of a woman, she was drawing rose themed anime girls for Original character tournaments, now she has her own store, plans on making a comic and has been in several zines, like, WHAT and, and the best part, SHE AIN’T SLOWIN DOWN. She is such a kind and thoughtful person, fueling with the fires of determination and passion, there is something inside Artic that could fuel the planet. Go check out her art blog, Go check out her store, IMPROVE YOUR LIFE.

@tuz-ohtopia

Have you ever met someone who you graverly underestimated and regretted, I SURE HAVE, I’ll openly admit when I first met Tuz back in the days of Deviant art, I didn’t think much of him, CAUSE I WAS A FOOL. His story chops, his character designs and his overall whit and personality is probably some of the best things you’ll ever run into, if you ever get the chance ask him about his amazing DnD campaign that he runs with some of my other fave nerds, the plans he has are stellar, I just wish I’d gotten to know him better. This guy is pure gold.

@knifetotheback

the moment when you’ve refereed to someone by their nickname so much that just becomes their name, meet Smudge, I met smudge somewhere most people regret to meet their friends, IN A ROLEPLAY GROUP, and at the time I didn’t really know smudge that much, we’d chatted by not a lot, not until I have the pleasure of having them as a player in my DnD game, and while they did grind on others nervous, I am surprised to find someone who put so much effort and emotion into something they cared about. Smudge is a person who is open to criticism and willing to sit down and talk about problems, a rarity in many things, but also very enthusiastic and supportive of peoples decisions, I’ve not had the pleasure of talking to smudge much due to their work. But I do miss them, very much so.

@sunshinedrago

have you ever met someone who screamed excitement, I don’t mean figuratively, I think my ears have actually ruptured thanks to this wonderful human, I’M SENDING YOU THE BILL. This beautiful person, whose actual name I can’t ever type correctly..., is so full of energy and wonder, she is a delight to have in my DnD games just because of the drive she brings, even if it does get the better of her at times. They are also some who actually gets some of my strange interests, such as slice of life anime and cute shit with no shame, it’s beautiful. But more importantly they are a person, a real down to earth person who actually understands people, it’s a rare thing to see and must be treasured, like the dragon she wishes she could be.

@GrittySugar

LOOK AT THIS BEAUTIFUL MOTHAR FUKAR, when I first met this wonderful person she was a funny silly girl who did fun silly, DARK, comics, it was amazing, (Hellen X Ralph OTP), but NONE of us, were prepared with all the stuff she has done recently, the animations, the videos it’s also just so! I am so happy and proud for her, this is a person whom I competed against at one time and got to talk about silly things with and now look at her, look how far she has come and she’s still going. If you haven’t go to her youtube channel, check out her shit, DO YOURSELF A SOLID.

@roseillustrates

Speaking of beautiful people, here is someone I’ve sadly neglected, she is a beautiful friend whom will also be Bubby to me, her art is dark, twisted and fucking amazing! And she herself is also amazing. Some whom I miss dearly and wish I held onto so much tighter, cause I barely get to see them much, their head is swimming with such, amazing potential and stories, like, my god, please, I beg you, do your self a service and check them out!

@ssksscrapboard

BROOOOOOOOOO, I have missed you! but it’s nice to see you’ve been keeping busy, like seriously people if you are looking for fun expressive art that captures personality and humor check this guy out, he has a really addictive style that is fun to look at, with well designed characters, all detailed and simplistic, it’s so fun, he himself is a great guy, probably one of the friendliest guys I know, easy to talk to and always encourages. Please check him out, look at his art, enjoy his humor, all that fun stuff.

@spesiria

Well, well, well, if it isn’t the person whom adore the most, or at least one of them, god I miss you, your activity is either lost in the sea of 639 people I follow on tumblr, or simply you’ve just disappeared. I really wish I had the chance to talk to you more often as you are such a lovely and interesting person, you are the best, I miss you.

@thelovelyghosty

I met this lovely loveable through a friend of mine and I’ve not regretted it, she might have, but not me. She’s fantastic and very smart, probably WAY too hard on herself and probably puts more effort into her writing than I have ever done, I love the time I spend with her, she always make me smile. I hope to spend more time over the following years getting to know her and hopefully making her smile.

@hunnylou0

When I first started out on Devinatart Lou was one of the first ‘big’ artists whom I had the privilege to get to know, it was so weird at the time and to think that I’ve manged to continue following someone whose been such a big influence to me all this time really means something, I know I’ve sadly not been the best of friends, but I have been trying to keep in contact and I hope nothing for the best for this person, she’s such an interesting and fun individual, I hope I get the chance to meet them in person and thank them, please check out her stuff, commission her if you can.

@nickala

Sometimes you need someone who knows what your thinking to make life a little easier, this is my person! Nicky is an amazing girl, she has a great sense of humor, a level head and has a job at cutting up guts and gore, best, person EVAH. Also! Also! She has some dope ass art that will just blow you away with it’s creativity and design work, her colour it’s all just, FWAH! Not to mention with the top included, she’s a person whose helped me realise I’m not.., a freak, to be quite honest, for the longest time I knew there were others out there like me, but I never, connected with them, I felt that I was always on a different wave length that life was just, impossible to understand, then I sat and talk with Nicki and she has helped me so much with stupid brain things and I could never thank her enough, for listening to my insane ramblings and just being a great friend.

@valbey

MAN WHAT AN ASSHOLE, okay, okay not ‘completely’ true, this dude has been with me since my days in college and even went on to be my roommate, for better or worse and despite how we can sometimes get on each other nerves, he still tries to understand and respects my opinion, sometimes, dick, But he is probably one of the most level headed and thoughtful people you’ll ever know, who is also doing commissions, please check him out and call him a dick from me.

@doodlediddydaisy

Do you know many people whom you could say ‘If it wasn’t for them, I don’t know if I’d still be here today?’ Well meet the godsend here, in the literal sense, she saved me during a very dark moment in my life, where I was depressed, unmotivated and scared about the future so much, I was an emotional wreck and she manged to help me, I owe my life to her! And now she’s happily married and I don’t get to speak to her much -cries-, but I’m not gonna be down, why? CAUSE SHE’S HAPPILY MARRIED’, that doesn’t happen a lot to people, so I’m so glad it’s happening to her, and I know she has been through a rough patch this year, but I’m sure she can pull through, she is a strong person.

@funktrash

MY GIRL HAS HER OWN FUCKING COMIC YOU SHOULD GO CHECK IT THE FUCK OUT, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR! Okay so I knew Hyper all the way back in my early days of creating mary sues and weeb art on DA, back then I wasn’t the best of guys, but I was amazed that someone could find my art.., inspiring, it was so..., INSPIRING! And I hope I leave or left some impact, even if I don’t deserve it, I’ve come to admit my faults and I don’t want to forget them, so I’m gonna do something good for this person who deserves nothing but the best. CHECK OUT HER FUCKING COMIC! No seriously, do it, it started out as an idea, that became a DA group and now it’s own work, if you followed her on DA do it, it’s so amazing to see these characters that you saw from her early days and see how far they’ve come! so, I’m just gonna grab the link and you better be clicking on it! [Link to Comic]

@clauseart

HOLY FLYING CRAB APPLES, MY GURL HAS HER OWN COMIC AND IT’S JUST SO, MMM, MMMMMMNG GOOD. When I first met her she did comics about a crazy girl with an over side pinwheel and I loved her for it, found out she was English and loved her even more, Now she’s writing a modern fantasy story where the real world and the magic community co-exist together, while a buff ginger haired lady punches the undead and has to baby sit a brat, CHECK IT OOOOUT, I want her to succeed so much, she is worth it, here is a link, if you haven’t checked it out, I’ll know. [Comic Link]

@velkro-bitch

I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR LETTING ME MISGENDERING YOU!, wait is it misgendering if they don’t apply to one gender or the other? Either wait, I love this person, they were the voice of reason in my DND group and continue to be a person who’ll always make me laugh and miss so much, they’ve gone off to live a successful and hardworking life and I could not be more proud of them, but it doesn’t hurt that I still them so much!

@a-trashcan-in-a-corner

You and your fucking sibling, I love this girl so much, funny, kind, compassionate and a no shit taker, they are a great source of joy and sadness, cause very much like their sibling, life took over and they had to leave my DND, I try to keep in contact, but as anyone who knows me, knows I’m terrible at that, but if you ever just want to talk to some this is someone whom is the best at doing that and is very good at playing sexy buff shy dudes.

@flunafloon

I WUB MY HEAD, and I’m a terrible friend again this year, I’ve not been as active and as friendly as I would like to be, MAYBE IF SOMEONE WAS ACTIVE ONLINE MORE AND DIDN’T HIDE, HMMM! but I seriously do miss you, I hope you are doing well and everything is going well for you, please take care of yourself.

@mercuziades

I love gothic art, I love this girl and I love her art! Sadly I’ve not seen much of her work of late, as sadly much with many friends I’ve come to know life has gotten in the way, but I’m always hopeful to speak to her more, when my life isn’t getting in the way, but to any and all out there, check out her work, if you love the Gothic esthetic and do mean romantic Gothic, the true Gothic, got do it. NOW!

@riyamilea

So, I’ve followed this person for sometime and I’ve only gotten to know them recently, which is strange, cause I’ve been following them since the rise OCT, and for anyone who still remembers the rise OCT, don’t you feel old now, HUH! But seriously, she has such an amazing body of art work, her designs are outstanding, her skill with anatomy and detail is breath taking and she’s so fun to talk to! She’s level headed, smart and never argues her opinion, she acknowledges other peoples points either adding to them or deconstructing them, talking to this person is a breath of fresh air. And I really hope I get to know them more.

@seriousmealtime

HERE’S SOMEONE WHO MAKES ME FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE, in a good way, I only met Sam briefly last year and thanks to some close friends we’ve been talking a lot more and what I love/hate about this person is they are always lavishing me in praise. IDON’TTAKECOMPLIMENTSWELL,LETMEFEELUSELESS! Sam is great and I love them to bits, their crude enough to get my stupid sense of humor, but kind enough to sympathies with, sadly Sam is dweeb and doesn’t upload any of their amazing art so I can sell it to you, but it’s amazing and if they ever do decided to get off their butt and actually show it, I’d highly recommended them.

@ioanaartblog

I remember meeting this girl after attempting to join a deviantart Roleplay group that went, nowhere and after talking for a bit and introducing them to Critical Role, we started a DnD group, that has lasted for about two years now. It is my first and longest DnD session that has taken up so much of time and energy as a creator and it all started with her, if it was for Ioana I wouldn’t have such wonderful memories as well as a burning desire to improve on what I have done, I’m so exictied each session to challenge my players and watch their reactions with what I have planned. It has meant to so much to be and it of never been possible if it wasn’t for Ioana, likewise, Ioana has gotten herself noticed in many ways, after watching Critical role she became inspired and now she has some of her artwork up for sale in the their official store, not joking, here is the link, [Shop Link] And now she is currently at university studying art and improve her skills, despite anyone else who’d of called it quits and ridden he coat tales of their first success, I’m proud to see her chase her ambitions.

@phantomdotexe

Sometimes it really helps to have someone to talk with, cause not everyone wants to hear EVERYTHING about yourself and we are flawed deep down, it’s what makes life so interesting, no one is the messiah. So I’m really happy I met her, she’s smart, funny and more importantly she allows me to be more open than I have ever been with some other people and she is very supportive, if not a bit nagging ‘why aren’t you in bed’ SORRY YOU GET ON SO LATE!, hehe but if you ever into anything, risque, I suggest taking out her library of work, she’s a writer you see and while her taste lends to the mature, it doesn’t stop it from being an engaging series of work, please check it out if you are into rope and gags, also send her a hi and let her know how amazing she is.

@dansome0203

Mother fucker, let me love you! This guy, besides me being envious of this skill to draw such beautifully curvaceous women, he is just such a nice guy, like, stupidly nice, He’s probably an alien, hmm. I’ve sadly not had the time to talk to him much STILL! God I feel like those assholes who refuse to talk their fav artist then whine about it on their art blog!...wait. But this guy, he just continues to surprise me, found out he’s not just a nice guy and an amazing artist, but he also runs a very good DND session! The stuff I have seen pour out of it has made me so excited if this guy ever plans to do some writing in his own free time.

@totalobelisk

A friend of mine for the longest time, who I’ve sadly not stayed in contact much with, cause I am a terrible human being. That said he’s incredibly bright and funny as well as creative, I’ve never met a guy who just doesn’t give up, he’s driven and determined, willing to do what he enjoys more than anything! I wish I had some of that drive, his work might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but hey, in the end, it matters if it makes him happy and he being happy makes me happy.

[feministfangirl]

Hey I just that evil smiling picture of you playing dnd. I was wondering what you did to become a good dm, I've been curious about playing the game for a while and I think I have to be the dm if I want people to play with lol. Thanks for any help

I promise I didn’t ignore you! I’ve been real busy this week, and wanted to treat this question with the respect it deserves. Thanks for asking me…and assuming I’m a good DM, lol. I try to be good by following the cardinal rule: if you and your players have fun, you win! It’s easy to think it’s you v. the players as a DM, but really it’s a story you’re all making together, you help keep it going smoothly but it belongs to all of you. Once you look at it all from that perspective it gets less stressful, for me at least. Now I know it’s kinda weird since I did kill my players in that picture you saw going around… But that was a one shot. And there were ample opportunities for them to reverse the tide, but the dice were not on their side. Anyway. I’m sure you’re looking for more concrete answers. Here are the most important things I did in learning to DM. 1. Watch D&D gamesI watched Critical Role for a few weeks. After years of being afraid to DM, Matthew Mercer made it look easy and fun. He told fun stories and had varied characters and his players were so invested! The more I watched the more I wanted to play. And the best part about watching Critical Role is that there are 102 episodes and counting. Tons of material to mine for ideas. Another good one is The Adventure Zone podcast. It starts out a little slow for my tastes but once you get into it it’s AMAZING. I love the story in this one, it’s a great way to show you don’t have to stick to typical fantasy tropes to have a great game. Any genre can be a fun game. While watching, I paid attention to what kinds of rolls the DM called for in situations, how many monsters you could throw before combat gets hazy, how hard it is to DM for lots of people, how long combat takes, how to describe effects based on dice roll, and most importantly, when to stone face your players and when to laugh like the evil genius you are. 2. Get tips from expertsOkay, so, now you think you could probably do the thing, but you don’t want to screw it up right out of the gate. I spent years too scared to DM because it seemed like there was too much to know. I went looking for words of wisdom and found the aforementioned Matt Mercer’s GM Tips. It’s a great series of videos that are short and helpful, split up by topic. Another great series of videos is anything from Matthew Colville, whose Running the Game videos are probably the second largest influence on my work as a Dungeon Master (after Matt Mercer). I also read tons of articles from the official D&D website, like the Sage Advice column. I read every Unearthed Arcana article and thought about how those adjustments compared to the Player’s Handbook. I signed up for the Roleplaying Tips mailing list run by Johnn Four, whose advice is probably the third largest influence on my DMing. I heavily recommend it also because it’s great to get a reminder to work on D&D every few days when a new tip arrives in your inbox. Seriously the best mailing list I’ve ever been on. He also answers questions and solicits answers from the community, so he’s a great resource for obscure wonders.3. Join a communityThis kind of follows from the previous point about advice from Johnn directly. If you’re really struggling with the density of the Core Rulebooks and are daunted by the many columns and tables, a community can help explain things. For instance, I had a lot of trouble parsing how exactly XP adjusted values work. I asked online, and someone helpfully pointed out the reference and made an example so I’d get how to use it myself. Tumblr is good, but I prefer reddit for D&D things. Some great subreddits are r/DMAcademy, r/DMToolkit, r/DnDBehindtheScreen, r/mattcolville (yes, that same Matt Colville), r/UnearthedArcana, and r/worldbuilfing.

There are a number of other forums specifically for D&D that I have accounts for but never use, mostly because I am still recovering from my forum days… I won’t date myself and say how long ago.4. Google is your friend!I google everything I need for D&D. Sometimes, even though I know the information I want is in my PHB, the book is on my shelf and I’d have to search for the info. The internet can tell me what I need to know NOW. So! Here’s my advice for googling D&D stuff, along with some of my favourite links.

Rules: Include ‘5e’ or ‘fifth edition’ along with the keyword you’re looking for. This will reduce your chances of ending up on a site intended for players of another edition.Spells: Don’t google them, go to dnd-spells.com. Seriously. This website saves my life every time I play D&D. You can also make spellbooks for your characters and then generate pdfs before your game! It’s MAGICAL!Monsters: Homebrew monsters can be fun but be careful when implementing them in your game. If you need help building encounters (like I do), use Kobold Fight Club.Images: Google image search can get you really general or really specific stuff. If you want random images to inspire you you’re better off looking at something like The MET.Names: There is one site to end all sites for this. For all other generators, see donjon.5. Steal like an artistI have a lot of fun watching, reading, and playing other types of media and thinking, “I’m going to steal that for my game.” I love comic books for example. Recently, I decided to put Iron Man into my game. Not for any reason, just because it would be fun. I didn’t simply put Tony Stark as a rich human noble into my game and wait for my player to meet him so I could do my best Robert Downey Jr. impression. I thought about what makes that character exciting and recognizable and transported it into the steampunk world of my campaign. I changed his name and race. I made him an Artificer, a Gunslinger protective of his prototypes (*waves at Taliesin*), who could also build Mech Suits that are as much works of art as they are feats of magical engineering. I gave him an assistant with a romantic love triangle and let him loose in my world. It was so much fun to watch my player figure out my inspiration! Not every NPC needs this level of detail, but all your choices should circle back to 'How well would this work in MY world?’ By taking inspiration from the things you love, filling in the 'gaps’ to breathe life into your universe should come easily. I didn’t know Tran Intubi (Tony Stark) had a gallery of retired mech suits in his Tower but I described as such in-game. The description came naturally when I had a base inspiration to rely on.I hope that was more helpful than long-winded!

[coyoteajar]

I love them, pls tell us more about ya OCs ouo

Thank you very much!

A few more things about Jackson and Will (because I’m really focused on these 2 right now, but i’ll move on in a sec):

Jackson can’t cook

i mean…. he can? but not super well

he knows how to make simple stuff like eggs or pancakes or whatever, but that’s it. And it’s always pretty plain tasting. but it’s still better than Will because Will just won’t cook stuff (it’s effort and requires energy that he doesn’t have)

so Jackson will sometimes make Will some food. i mean, he “can’t be the only one to eat all of Will’s food, you know?”

Will and Jackson watch Buzzfeed Unsolved together

Will is basically Shane and this fucking baffles Jackson because

“I’m? A ghost?? You are literally talking to me, a ghost, and saying that you don’t believe in the supernatural?”

“I mean yeah, but you still haven’t shown me proof of that other stuff being real. And besides, how do I know you’re not just an exception to a rule? or even a ghost? i mean, we haven’t seen any others. so who knows?”

Jackson used to be ticklish

Will has a ban on puns in the house because once Jackson told one and it caused Will to let out a giggled snort and Jackson looked at him w/ these wide eyes and Will got super self-conscious but Jackson was like “no. it suits you.” and Will just stomps away because “shut. up.”

OKay, but let’s talk about the most important OC, which is Ryan Harper, my son.

Ryan is a recurring NPC from the DnD/DW campaign I’ve been running

He’s a gun-slinging rogue from the South

and he may not wear a cowboy hat, but he does wear a duster coat

and he’s very much the type to act overly confident and by telling bad jokes, and a touch of self-deprecating humor and finger guns. all because he’s dead on the inside

he’s like, constantly this close to a breakdown. or at least a panic attack, because what is with adventurers these days??

Ryan Harper deserves to be happy somewhere far from all this necromancy business, but for now he must suffer and i feel a little bad

I love my sad, gay son

and Ryan loves [name redacted: my dead, gay son]. And he should probably be trying to move on, but who needs to work through their grief in a healthy way?

some people?? form Thieves’ Guilds??? to cope????????

he also has some history w/ the leader of this really shady quild that seeks out God powers to protect the world or some shit? who knows?

don’t ask him about her though. he’s not exactly a fan. it’s… it’s a pretty long story.

and besides, you need to be a Level 19 Friend to unlock that tragic backstory

speaking of tragic backstory

that dude he loves? [name redacted]? Ryan defo blames himself for his death.

and well. i mean? he’s not wrong

because Ryan knows he probably could’ve protected [name redacted], but he was too much of a fucking coward and would rather run away again because he doesn’t want to watch another one of them die again and not be able to stop it even though he should be able to but he can’t because he’s not allowed and he knows it so instead he just. leaves

and if i’m being honest he probably shouldn’t be blaming himself, but the only other person who actually deserves blame for this situation isn’t even here anymore so he can’t exactly blame her anymore, can he?

so instead he’s left w/ himself and far too much time to think

which is when he helps to form the Thieves’ Guild

it’s also when he decides he no longer cares what happens to himself

which can come in handy when running dangerous missions

but conversely, it can also be super detrimental to missions

but uh… i think he’s getting better? maybe??

it’s up to my Players. but that’s a story for another time. (like in a year or something)

(anyway! fun facts about coming up w/ Ryan):

He was originally created because my sister, Lynn, had a character who was a part of the Thieves’ Guild and had a mentor-like/friend type of person in it

and i had a lot of ideas on how to tie in Player backstories and how to hurt their characters, so Ryan was gonna betray the Players in a bad way.

and he almost did

but then? i realized that wasn’t him?

this was getting close to the time when i was realizing that i really wanted to reboot the campaign, so i was constantly rethinking NPCs and plotlines

and I’m gonna be honest? Jes is the reason Ryan has become the character he is

because Jes did the thing that Players do by joining Ryan for the train ride. she completely derailed my plans (pun intended)

because Ryan was gonna start laying part of the trap during this bit

but now Jes was w/ him and also the new players

and I’d been debating this plot anyway

so when i played him in front of them, i just? changed how i’d been trying to play him?

he was originally being played more like Han Solo and then I was playing him like Flynn from Tangled (or Crowley from Good Omens)

and i realized i liked that version SO much more

(and so did the others, especially Jes)

so i played really into it in the next session and it made so much more sense to me

so i took that time to rewrite him (and a few other plot points)

so Ryan wasn’t some minor villain anymore.

and this actually is when i got closer to the current plot of the campaign

And this is when I decided to rewrite and reboot it all

and now Ryan is the rogue that we all know and love (or at least, me and Jes love)

Anyway, I also have some OCs from highschool that I’ve been updating off and on recently, if ya’ll are interested?

[rusalnaia]

WIP MEME

LIST ALL THE THINGS YOU’RE CURRENTLY WORKING ON IN AS MUCH OR LITTLE DETAIL AS YOU’D LIKE, THEN TAG SOME FRIENDS TO SEE WHAT THEY’RE WORKING ON. THIS CAN BE WRITING, ART, VIDS, GIFSETS, WHATEVER.

------

Got tagged by @ghoststrawberries and dude you have no idea what you got into I have too many wips.

I am the literal king of WIPs because my attention span is absolute shit so it’s gonna be long.  Als I’m icing my wrist and am not responsible for typos.  I’m doing this one handed with my non-dominant hand.  Also like 90% of these are mp100 /shrugs/

I tag @brostrid @zombie-x-lover @thesleepiestsheepy @chapticker @bitter-like-coffee but only if they wanna do it

ART

My interpretation of WOnder Woman I started like months ago.  I was told once that part of the Amazonian myth was that they would cut off their right boob to make shooting arrows easier.  Still kinda dig that.

Rough thumbnails of a Sailor Moon watercolor series I wanna do inspired by Alphonse Mucha.  And to give me an excuse to use my sparkly watercolors lol

Something I did as part of an art trade that I’d love to transfer and paint.  I just love sleepy platonic cuddles cut me some slack.  More mp100

Some sketches for mp100 chibs I’d like to maybe make as charms.  They’re all floating in bubbles idk I thought it was cute

Comic of a YYHxMP100 crossover where Reigen and Yusuke are old classmates and Yusuke keeps trying to coax Mob to work for the spirit world/fight him.  There’s a fieldtrip to the demon world so Mob and Ritsu can have fun/fight Yusuke.  Idk mate.

A page of Reigen’s with Kinda Sibling Rivalry!Reigen and Dimple.  I was working on inking it during down time at work when I got injured so IDK WHAT’S GONNA HAPPEN GODDAMN.  But I kinda want Reigen and Dimple to be petty and antagonistic to each other.

The second piece of a series I’m doing on the ~darker~ meanings of flowers from a Victorian book.  This one is ‘fragile’

/fuckin ojou laugh/ OHHOHOHO SO THIS my dudes is a sketch I did during a sleepless night after a series of ‘what ifs’ with a dnd mate.  It’s an Age Swap-Gravity Falls! Mp100 au.  It wasn’t actually gonna be a thing but I started writing an outline for fun and shared it with another dnd mate and now it’s gonna be a thing??  It’s a collab fic and holla holla chicken mcdolla I am EXCITE.  I’m outlining it and writing a few parts.  

Basically Mob is in place of Ford, Ritsu is Stan, Mogami is Bill and Serizawa and Reigen as Dipper and Mabel.  Seri is Ritsu’s ‘nephew’.  They’re related but they’re not sure how.  Kinda like ‘we’re just gonna call each other cousins because I don’t know what else to call you’ deal.  Reigen aspires to be a Paranormal Investigator (and is completely unaware that his idol is actually Ritsu.).  Trust me dude it’s gonna be good, angsty and goofy fun I am SO EXCITE.  Like my dude the finale is gonna be fuCKIN PAIN.  I’m so excited.

the sketch of a request I took

Vent art that I did and wanna transfer and paint

6ft (comic that may end up being written)

Okay so I just have a thing for Mob going missing for ~reasons~ but I really dig this idea because I’m diggin some of the plot twists.  But basically Ritsu, Teru and Shou are led to believe that Mob is dead and it’s Reigen’s fault (and they’re partially correct).  But nobody knows who Mob is.  So the hunt begins.

Baby Mob

More of a series of drawings but basically Mob is cursed and turns into a baby.  Reigen is 100% honest that he has no idea how to take care of kids and Dimple has to help.  Dimple also apparently makes for a great toy for teething psychics.  Learn something new every day, huh?  Oh but Reigen gets really excited that he can say fuck again lol.

FANFIC cause I’m a fuckin NERD

The Knife

Not the actual title but it’s the one I already talked about.  I don’t wanna give too much away but Teruki is in place of Lil Giddeon.  He’s a showman who is also a thug and he extorts local businesses for ‘protection’ against spirits under his control.  He’s fab as fuck.

Mob comes back RIPPED.  Like he’s fuckin SHREDDED.  But he’s also super cautious because boy has seen some shit while in the In Between.  He’s basically not sure what is real any more because ~spoilers~.

Shou has a raccoon son named Touichiro and I S2G Sandr if you change this we’re gonna have WORDS.

Also Ritsu’s powers manifest and automatically takes the form of brass knucks because....I just....think they’re cool okay it’s law they’re cool fuckin fite me mate

Hands

Based off of a post I made about Mob having scars on his hands and body.  Teru like hearing about them but it gets angsty.  /SHRUGS/  Sorry my dude but before I stopped (and then started again) writing everything I touched was angst.  Fluff is really new to me.  This can be read as shippy or they’re just really close friends.  Kinda up to the reader.

Dive

This....idk mate.  This might end up being written.  It WAS gonna be a comic but now that my wrist is fucked I might write it.  It’s the spiritual successor to my fic How to Lose Your Psychic but...it’s completely different in tone and there is pain.  Mob disappears and is missing for about a year.  It’s not a good year for all parties involved.

Burning World

I’ve already started this one but goddamn it’s looking to be a long one.  I don’t want to spoil it because it kinda relies on some suspense but there IS a reason why people are disappearing and a reason some people are not.

Some OCs are gonna be showing up fairly soon so I’ll tell you the notes I have about them.

Lieutenant(or Agent w/ a bg in the military) Reeves- assitant to Director Weaving, Head of the Bureau for Paranormal and Psychic Research.  Reeves is stoic, duty before dishonor.  Sequel=some serious regrets hoooooooooboooooooooooy

Weaving is A+ prick.

And from my notes cause I love ya

“SHUT UP!”  Takenaka yells without turning around.  “Stop acting like you don’t understand!  It happened so just shut up!”  He leaves for camp.

And~~

Serizawa gasps, eyes wide with mouth agape.  “It’s gone”

“What?”

“It’s-his...it’s gone.”

“You have to be more specific.”

“Kageyama’s...his aura.  It’s gone.  It’s never been-the only reason it should-would disappear is...”

He looks at Reigen.  Neither of them want to finish the thought.

“We’ll find him.”

Sleep Over

Another one I’ve already started and is actually almost done!!  But it could have a sequel or two if there’s interest.  Idk.  But Mob has a nightmare, Ritsu is terrified and Reigen handles it.  If there is a sequel Mr. Fluffernutter will make a reappearance.  So does his mom but I need a name for her;;;;

Remaining Ashes

A direct sequel to Burning World.  There is more pain and it is delicious.  There’s gonna be some OC spirits and their bg is sad but REALLY important to the entire story.  Government experimentation man, whatcha gonna do?

Oh here’s an excerpt (forewarning for uh...blood and stuff): 

Mob sees.  He sees blood.  He sees bone.

His blood.  His bone.

He’s laying on a metal table with only a towel draped across his lap for privacy.  His skin is cut, folded back on itself leaving bone and muscle exposed.  Mob’s eyes go wide and his mind goes blank.

Fight

Literally just that.  A brief study on the dynamic between Teruki and Ritsu as well as an excuse to write a fight scene because I NEED IT.  God I just need to write a fight scene I’m gettin itchy

/SHRUGS/ I think...thats’s it???  God idk.  There’s probably more that I can’t think of.  I kinda wanna do a sequel to Cold Ramen but idk.  Can’t think of anything yet.

[docandprof]

In Which I Socialized

Greetings fellow mortal,

I’m glad to hear that you’ve been keeping busy these past weeks! I was worried at the beginning of the summer that you would metamorphose into an actual couch potato. I cannot wait to get back home and hang out with everyone again! Before I move on, I liked your anecdote about the early morning cereal because I think that life can be full of interesting little moments like that, but they often go unappreciated. For me it’s like those nights where you fall asleep on the couch and wake up at 3am to the strangest shows, or getting home late and appreciating that silence of suburban nights under a moonlit sky. I love moments like that, especially since they remind me of the nuances of home life. I can’t say I’ve had too many moments like that away from the place I consider the home I can always go back to. Also, I wish you would stop vomiting so much! Nevertheless, I think it’s good that you felt a catharsis in it, and cast it in a positive light! 

As for my week, most of it was pretty laid back - just me and my books and PlayStation. Work has really slowed down too since we’re just waiting for a hundred schools or so to send us their information. One of my roommates did make Italian chicken for dinner one night and I got to know her better, so that was swell. However, if you ask about my weekEND, there’s some action. After work on Friday, a couple of our party got together for some DnD and substituted in our DM’s roommate so we could have a party of four. It definitely was hilarious and interesting. I’ll just say that 75% of our party is stuck inside a monster’s mouth and that’s where we left it. After fantasy adventuring, we headed out into the real world for some good old fashioned vocal entertainment - karaoke. I don’t think I need to explain this to you, because needless to say it was just a bunch of dorks singing badly and laughing about it, but it was good fun! If you haven’t ever done karaoke, you would probably enjoy it. I got home after that and woke up Saturday morning to two visiting friends! It was great to see them and catch up and just walk around campus and town and eat food. It was even better knowing that I’d be home in a week so that it could become a regular thing! And now, after running into a friend at church this morning, we are just hanging out on our laptops in the union, and you’re all caught up with my week. Ultimately, I feel like I had a lot more socialization this week than previous ones!

Now, if you were wondering about the impetus behind my question last week, the reason for it was that my boss has offered us all the opportunity to come back next summer in a next level position. Of course this is a good thing, and a great opportunity to have, but I just worry that it’s starting a cycle. I know it’s silly and a little arrogant, but I worry that the future could play out like this: I go back there next summer, do a good job, and they ask me to come back again the next summer and the next summer, after that I’ve graduated and they offer me a full time position and before I know it I’m forty-five and still working there. Now I know that I don’t have that offer and it’s unlikely, but I just feel like the decisions that I’m making now as a young adult will have a larger impact on my future than decisions used to in high school, like whether or not I did scholastic bowl. What I’m getting at is that I hope that in my pursuit of my dreams I don’t pass up any good, sensible opportunities. That’s all likely a worry for later years, but you know me. I do feel a bit better after church this morning though, as a visiting deacon spoke about Providence today. At the end of it all, I do believe God has plans for me, and one way or another life will work out - even if instead of getting bananas when I was expecting a lemon I end up with asparagus, it’ll still be alright. You said it well when you said we roll with the punches and learn to love what we have. That, my friend, is good advice for healthy, happy living. Which is actually a good segue (which is how “segway” is actually spelled I just found out!) 

Living healthy is not easy. That’s why it sucks. Because you have to work day in and day out. When we’re talking about lifestyles there isn’t room for “ehhh I don’t really feeeeel like it,” because that disrupts a healthy life, and instead characterizes an inactive life. I think it’s the fact that a healthy lifestyle demands a physical component that is so tiring. You and I just are not used to being active everyday, so in the beginning it is hard to get started. I think if you can maintain a healthy mental state and positive mindset, then the physical work will get easier. As someone who lives an admittedly inactive lifestyle, I’m not sure I can offer sound advice on the subject, but I can offer support when needed!

I won’t be able to get to your recommendation for a while, but I will get on that once I’m home! For my recommendation this week I will quote Gandhi: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” I’ve never liked litter because I happen to like nature, but I never used to do anything about it. Then I remembered this quote of Gandhi’s and I got up and picked up some trashing blowing away and kept picking stuff up when I saw it. So whatever it is you’d like to see different in the world or your own life, don’t be afraid to make the change. I think I will take a break from the heavy stuff this week and I will pose this (even though I haven’t seen Avatar): if you could control one of the four elements (earth, air, fire, water) and do cool combat stuff like in entertainment media, which would you choose? I expect a lengthy explanation of why you chose what you did and what sort of cool stuff you would do! I will see you in seven days!

Have a great week! And do stay safe.

Souls