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g-perla · 4 years ago

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The ACOTAR Series is a Romantic/Gothic Horror Stage and Only Nesta Got the Memo

Not even SJM knows what’s going on.

Ok, this is going to seem off the rails but bear with me.

So I'm a big fan of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (top 5 books and all that jazz) and I was thinking about it because it deals with themes of the Other and the supernatural, Nature as Character, the overlap of the animalistic and human, blurring of established binaries...fun, Romantic shit like that. Interestingly, this overlaps with how SJM illustrates her world and characters a lot of the time, hence why I was considering it while working on my Nesta project. I’ve mentioned before that Nesta really gives me Byronic heroine vibes and that’s a character construct of precisely this literary tradition.

I started thinking about Heathcliff and Cathy and how they're ridiculously extra and just feel the most intense emotions towards each other but also towards literally everything (nothing half-assed ever, this is a Romantic novel after all). I then remembered how so many people ship them, but like in earnest, in a totally aspirational way. It's not a #cursed ship to them at all. It's...romantic to them not Romantic. I even read often that people quote it at their weddings, specifically the infamous "two souls" quote.

Then I had an epiphany. I was like "wait, what if SJM is one of those people?? What if she has the energy of a Cathy/Heathcliff earnest shipper and that's why all her ships are messy??" Because if that is the case, my friends, oh boy oh boy would it explain so much. I will post some sections from Wuthering Heights:

Doesn’t the acotar series seem like a 1/50 dilution of that energy?? And that is barely a taste of all the spiciness this book has to offer. To illustrate further: SJM gave us the F/eysand suicide pact and the near-death battlefield Nessian scene. One is certainly more outlandish than the other, but both are the result of intense emotions. To that Emily Brontë raises the following: Heathcliff asking the sexton to dig up Cathy’s grave to see what’s up because her ghost has been haunting him since he personally dug up her grave 18 years prior and she has been haunting him ever since. He later demands to be buried in the same exact grave when he dies so they can decompose together. They both married other people though which only adds to the mess. (I am not lying to you the Romantic tradition really gave us these gems lmao. As an aside, Mary Shelley was also a writer of the Romantic tradition and she confessed her love to husband Percy Bysshe Shelley on her mother’s grave. Her mother was liberal feminist icon Mary Wollstonecraft by the way which only makes this even more amazing. Additionally, biographers believe that the Shelleys also had sex there. Talk about Romantic 😉.)

Then I had ANOTHER thought! (Dangerous)

If we read the series from the point of view of just another YA high fantasy things might get a bit boring because the world-building is honestly lazy and the magic system is pretty soft, which isn’t a pre-requisite in high fantasy (The Lord of the Rings has a soft magic system) but it's not the norm and it doesn't pay off in this series. Not to mention that the plot is pretty lackluster and derivative. To add to that the romantic and sexual relationships are questionable in their healthiness and consequently are the source of much argument in the fandom.

But, dear reader, if we think about the ACOTAR series as being a sort of thematic and ideological 21st century YA homage to the Romantic tradition of the 19th century (within which Gothic Horror also lives), things get REALLY, REALLY SPICY.

No longer do we just have a romance fantasy with messy, hyper-emotional, animalistic characters who constantly partake in morally grey situations rife with dubious dynamics. No longer does plot really matter. No longer do we require quasi-scientific descriptions of the world and the magical system. No! All that matters now are the characters and the mood. Now we have potential! Add a lot of Nature ambiance: expanses of dark woods, great mountains, the unknowable and sublime energy of the ocean, a violent rainstorm/hurricane/tsunami, an impending snowstorm whose intensity reflects the growing emotional intensity of the characters as the story goes along (I’m looking at you impending snowstorm in acofas that curiously matches the growing complexity of Nesta’s emotional state). Blur the lines between any imaginable category: life and death, human and animal, known and unknown, Self and Other, beautiful and monstrous, good and evil, masculine and feminine, the list goes on. Most importantly make your readers uncomfortable by frustrating their desires to sort things into easy binary categories and don’t apologise for making them question their assumptions about the world, morality, gender, and any other kind of previously constructed Order.

Basically write the story with Dionysus-in-a-Greek-tragedy energy and bring to us mere mortals artful Chaos.

Once that is done we can have a literal Romantic/Gothic Horror story. The Acotar series could have been this unapologetically, with the added element of being told through the eyes of the "Cathy" character instead of through the lens of a third person getting second-hand accounts about what went on. This whole series is honestly enough of a chaotic mess of Byronic-like heroes and heroines and cursed familial relationships that it could have been that. That alone is peak entertainment. The problem, however, and the main reason why I can’t really say that this series truly delivered this wackiness is that SJM committed the act of not fully committing to the bit (very un-Romantic of her, I know). Now, I am not saying that SJM actually intended this. I’m just saying it really could have accidentally been this genius with some tweaks. Unfortunately, she made the crucial mistake of trying to justify too much, trying to make things too neat, too tidy, too sensical (in other words: the reason we really can’t have nice things).

I could end this here, lamenting the potential of what SJM had set-up for us were it not for one element, one gift:

Nesta

OHOHOHO DO THINGS GET GOOD HERE SO BUCKLE UP

Most of the characters refuse to fully commit to the bit in their desire to satisfy modern sensibilities, by which I of course mean they want ridiculous things like political power, to conquer lands, to be a Girl Boss, to get married, have kids, celebrate holidays, converse about mundane things, be relatable, etc. You know, pretty pedestrian stuff that only requires a bit of genetic luck, a sprinkle of energy, and the right circumstances within the world of Acotar. I would like to reiterate the beginning of this paragraph: most of the characters.

Let’s say you’re stubborn and you decide to still read the series through the lens of the Romantic/Gothic tradition, what happens then?

The most hilarious thing (for the Nesta stans that is. The antis would probably hate this)

Nesta, based on what we know about her through Feyre and the limited amount of other scenes, is the only character who really takes the performance seriously. She's the only one that SJM hasn't managed to confine through justification. Nesta just shows up and simply refuses to make sense (her POWER what a queen 👑). She is endlessly fascinating because she just exists in her world on her terms, established categories be damned, and in this manner she frustrates not only the sensibilities of the characters in the stories but those of the reader as well. This double duty is, I suggest, the result of the other characters not fully inhabiting the nebulous world of Romantic characters and thus being a little too plausible and understandable even if they are not justifiable.

Ok, you may say, but I relate so much to Nesta. I do understand her. I don’t justify all of her actions, but I understand where she is coming from. (You’re not alone, friend. I like to think these things too. Alas, we are but plebs).

To that I reply; Nesta does things, certainly, and we can spend hours trying to explain through extrapolation, educated guesses, and personal experience why she did those things, but the fact is we really don't know why. We are never explicitly told. Our insight into who she is and her motivations comes predominantly from the understanding of her youngest sister and from our own interpretation of the actions she takes. I must make clear that our own interpretations are rooted in pre-established assumptions about what is sensical and orderly in our own world and in our own lives. We cannot interpret with the tools available to us that which may be, by definition, unfathomable. It is simply paradoxical. Nesta, as we currently know her, is a construct derived from a limited number of scenes and our interpretations and projections of these scenes. Even the scenes where we get third person narration don’t explicitly tell us her motivations and her logic. For all we know there really is no comprehensible reason for her actions and that is endlessly amusing to me in how utterly Romantic it is. Acosf may and likely will change this of course, but as it stands, Nesta is a whole Romantic character. Her divisiveness in fandom and in the narrative could be due in part to her refusal to fit the discrete categories available in her world and ours.

Isn’t that wonderful?

To illustrate this a bit more I will share some details SJM gives us about her/ elements she sets up that fit in with the characteristics of the Romantic tradition (these are not exhaustive by any means):

The absolute pettiness (and extra-ness) of being so angry at her father’s inaction that she is willing to starve to death to see if he does something.

How in Acowae she is described as shifting between emotions as if she were changing clothes and feeling everything too strongly (probably to the point of destruction)

She is constantly being compared to animals, even when she is still human. Granted, SJM compares everyone to animals, but that strengthens the blurring of lines between usually discrete categories. It is still most powerful when used as a comparison when she is human because it dehumanises Nesta.

Often, SJM describes her characters as forces. Forces of nature, for example. Acofas is full of details like this in relation to Nesta. There is a storm brewing leading up to the solstice party and it is in full swing when she arrives at the townhouse. The language used there suggests that Nesta herself may be the storm (against the onslaught of Nesta). It really adds to the Maleficent energy tbh.

She is often associated with death post her transformation

She is Other even to Others. She was Made like Elain, Feyre, and Amren in a sense, but the process of her specific transformation differentiates her greatly from the others. As it is, she doesn’t fit in anywhere

Her intense attachment to her femininity and its expression are at odds with the ideas and assumptions about the performance of womanhood and a woman’s role in her world and even in ours. She is unapologetically feminine in her physical presentation, but her character, her thoughts, and possibly even desires transgress the unwritten rules of acceptable femininity (unfortunately there still are abject expressions of femininity in our ‘”progressive” mileux

She displays in many of her actions a disrespect towards authority and to the status quo. This is particularly notable when her intensely polarised sense of right and wrong is aggravated.

Her self-destructiveness. This is referred to most strongly in Acofas, but I would say she was remarkably blasé about self-preservation in Acowar as well

She is described as intelligent, cunning, ruthless, attractive, and prone to debilitating extremes of emotionality. All of these are characteristics of Byronic heroes, a subtype of the Romantic hero

Here are a bunch of quotes that touch on many of the elements that I have discussed above:

“I looked at my sister, really looked at her, at this woman who couldn’t stomach the sycophants who now surrounded her, who had never spent a day in the forest but had gone into wolf territory...Who had shrouded the loss of our Mother, then our downfall, because the anger had been a lifeline, the cruelty a release. But she had cared--beneath it she had cared, and perhaps loved more fiercely than I could comprehend, more deeply and loyally.”

--Acotar, emphasis mine, note the strong emotions. This is a recurring element for Nesta.

“Cassian’s face went almost feral. A wolf who had been circling a doe...Only to find a mountain cat wearing its hide instead.”

--Acomaf, animal comparison

“Nesta is different from most people,” I explained. “She comes across as rigid and vicious, but I think it’s a wall. A shield--like the ones Rhys has in his mind.” “Against what?” “Feeling. I think Nesta feels everything--sees too much; sees and feels it all. And she burns with it. Keeping that wall up helps from being overwhelmed, from caring too greatly.”

--Acomaf, emphasis mine

“I knew that she was different [...] Nesta was different [...] as if the Cauldron in making her...had been forced to give more than it wanted. As if Nesta had fought after she went under, and had decided that if she was to be dragged into hell, she was taking the Cauldron with her.”

--Acomaf, Nesta had her own plans for the Cauldron what a queen

“Something great and terrible.”

--Acowar, referring to her eyes. Oooh, spooky Nesta 👻

“The day she was changed, she...I felt something different with her [...] like looking at a house cat and suddenly finding a panther standing there instead.”

--Acowar, a two in one here: difference + animal comparison. Boy does SJM really go heavy when establishing Nesta as Other.

“‘Not in flesh, not in the thing that prowls beneath our skin and bones...’ Amren’s remarkable eyes narrowed. ‘But...I see the kernel, girl.’ Amren nodded, more to herself than anyone. ‘You did not fit--the mold that they shoved you into. The path you were born upon and forced to walk. You tried, and yet you did not, could not fit. And then the path changed.’ A little nod. ‘I know--what it is to be that way. I remember it, long ago as it was.’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’“

--Acowar, show don’t tell gets thrown out the window here, but it is useful for the present purposes

“What if I tell you that the rock and darkness and sea beyond whispered to me, Lord of Bloodshed? How they shuddered in fear, on that island across the sea. How they trembled when she emerged. She took something--something precious. She ripped it out with her teeth. What did you wake that day in Hybern, Prince of Bastards?

What came out was not what went in [...] How lovely she is, new as a fawn and yet ancient as the sea. How she calls to you. A queen as my sister once was. Terrible and proud; beautiful as a winter’s sunrise.”

--Acowar, who knew rocks, darkness, and the sea were such gossips, but look how many connections to nature! To be compared to the sea, a significant example of the sublime, is peak Romanticism. If any of you have read Moby Dick, think about what the ocean and the white whale might have represented there and how that might relate to Nesta.

“I think the power is death--death made flesh.”

--Acowar, Feyre referring to the possible nature of Nesta’s power. Alluding to her powers possibly being related to death is quite significant because that is something most of us cannot comprehend, nor can most of the characters. For Nesta, a “reborn” but very much living character to have death associated with her is a strong blurring of the lines. The case of her being labelled a witch is similarly significant as it solidifies the elements of the supernatural while simultaneously comparing her to pretty much the only exclusively female-coded monster in western pop culture. I will touch more on this when I do my study of Nesta through the framework of Barbara Creed’s Monstrous Feminine.

“I am not like the others.”

--Acowar, we love a self-aware queen.

“Nesta took in his broken body, the pain in Cassian’s eyes, and angled her head.

The movement was not human.

Not fae.

Purely animal.

Purely predator.”

--Acowar

There are a lot more details and quotes that support this interpretation, but I didn’t write them all down in my archived notes. This post is obscenely long, however, so even though there is more to be said, I’ll leave it for another day. If you made it this far you really are an MVP and probably love Nesta to a concerning degree like me. Please rest your eyes if you’re actually reading this 😂

I’d love to read about any other takes and thoughts that might have come to your minds after reading this monstrosity,

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thesibyllinebooks · 5 years ago

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Percabeth Parenting: Grandma Sally

Percy couldn’t stop repeating the phrase over and over in his head. He was a dad now. He looked down at the babies he held in his arms. If it weren’t for the pink and blue bracelets on their wrists, Percy would have a hard time telling who was who. He loved Annabeth. He loved his mom. He loved his friends. But the love he felt for his twins, nothing could rival that.

“You did amazing,” Percy said, looking at his wife. Annabeth sat up alertly in her bed, looking at blueprints on her laptop. Leave it to Annabeth to be concerned with her work just an hour after giving birth.

“Thank you Percy,” Annabeth said sincerely. Even though her cheeks were flushed and her hair was a sweaty mess, Percy never thought she’d looked better. He’d never been more in love with her than he was now. She looked fondly at her babies overtop her computer. Sitting there, looking at Percy hold their twins like he was the luckiest man in the world was worth the seventeen hours of labor. “Have you called Sally yet?”

Percy nodded. His face lit up when Cassie- no, Theo, according to the blue bracelet-yawned. “I’m surprised they’re not here yet.”

“Me too,” Annabeth agreed. She closed her laptop. “Come here,” she said gently. Percy stood up carefully, slowly making his way to the hospital bed. He wedged himself in beside Annabeth. Gently, she lifted one of the twins into her own arms.

“This is crazy,” Percy said, still staring at his newborns in awe. The impatient part of him wanted them to open their eyes finally. He wanted them to walk and talk too, but he knew he’d have to wait months for that. “We have kids.”

“I know,” Annabeth agreed. She kissed Percy on the cheek. “If they’re anything like you, we can say goodbye to sleeping for the rest of our lives-”

Annabeth and Percy looked up as they heard a loud shout from outside the hospital room. Percy’s black eyebrows wrinkled. “That sounds like-”

“Sally!” A man shouted. Percy recognized the voice as his step-father Paul’s.

“Oh, gods,” he sighed. He lifted Cassie into Annabeth’s arms and slid out of the bed.

Percy opened the door to Annabeth’s room. The sight worried him, frightened him, and made him want to laugh all at the same time. His mother held balloons and teddy bears. Paul grabbed onto her arm with one hand, and held Estelle’s hand with the other. Sally was currently arguing with one of the nurses.

“Ma’am, visitation ended three hours ago,” the nurse pleaded.

Percy knew the poor nurse didn’t stand a chance. “Well, I’m sure my grandchildren didn’t choose what time they were born. And we didn’t drive all the way out here in the middle of the night to be told we can’t see them!” Sally argued back. Her eyes flashed with anger. He’d told his mom the hospital likely wouldn’t let him come visit so late at night but of course, that didn’t stop her from rushing Paul and Estelle out of bed to get to the hospital.

“Ma’am, visitation begins tomorrow morning at ten,” the nurse said shortly.

Sally shrugged. “We’re here now. And we aren’t going anywhere.”

Percy stepped in before things could get hairy. “Mom,” he said, approaching his family and the nurse.

“Percy!” Sally’s eyes lit up. She handed her presents off to Paul and gave her son a rib crushing hug. “Congratulations! I can’t wait to see the twins, even though this one here-”

“Is doing her job,” the nurse said angrily. She looked like she wanted to hit Sally with her clipboard.

“These are great,” Percy said, looking at the balloons and teddy bear and raising his eyebrows at Paul in amusement. He wondered where his mother got them at such an hour but decided not to ask. Paul clapped him on the back in congratulations. Percy bent down to hug his little sister.

Percy stood up and turned to the nurse. “Look, this is my mom. Is there any way you can let my family in? She’s really not going to take no for an answer, trust me. These are her first grandkids.” The nurse looked at Estelle in question. “She’s my sister.”

Percy gave the nurse his best pleading look. He hoped it would cancel out Sally’s threatening one.

The nurse sighed, probably realizing she didn’t get paid enough to argue. “One hour, she said firmly.” She barely got the words out of her mouth before Sally took off behind Percy, practically skipping.

As soon as Percy opened the door, Sally let out an earsplitting squeal when she laid eyes on her grandchildren. She rushed to Annabeth’s bedside, her eyes welling up with tears in record time. Paul and Estelle looked excited, but not as excited as Sally. Sally looked as if she’d just had her own babies.

“Oh my,” Sally breathed, beaming at Annabeth and the babies. “Can I hold them?”

“Of course,” Annabeth said. She grinned as Sally gingerly picked up first Cassie, and then Theo.

“Hello, I’m your grandma Sally,” she whispered to the babies. “Are you two finally going to tell me their names now?” Sally asked without tearing her eyes away from her grandchildren. Estelle moved in front of her so that she could see the twins for herself. Paul put the teddy bears and balloons on the counter in the corner of the room. He greeted Annabeth and congratulated her.

“Cassandra and Theseus,” Percy said. “Cassie and Theo for short.”

“Greek names. How perfect,” Sally said. “I’m so sorry I’m crying. I just- I’m you two made it. I know most demigods don’t-”

“Yeah, Mom,” Percy said. He didn’t want to think about that right now. But he had to admit that he was blessed. He had the best mom in the world, the best step-dad in the world, the best sister in the world, the best wife in the world, and now, the best twins in the world. Life was truly great.

“He won’t admit it but Percy cried too,” Annabeth said with a smirk. Cried was putting it lightly. While watching the birth of his twins, Percy blubbered like a baby in a mixture of excitement, horror, and overwhelming emotion. He’d thought Annabeth hadn’t noticed, seeing as she was busy giving birth at the moment, but apparently she had.

“Just a little,” Percy relented.

“I think I saw a snot bubble or two,” Annabeth said. She winked at Estelle, who laughed.

“Look, I’ve never had kids before,” Percy said in his defense.

Annabeth snorted. “I sure hope not.”

Sally stared down at Theo. She’d passed Cassie off to Paul, who was gently putting her in Estelle’s arms. Estelle and Paul sat in the two chairs. Percy watched as Estelle stared down at her new niece. It dawned on him that they were closer in age than he and Estelle were. Percy cracked a smile at that.

Sally finally looked up. “Have you talked to your father?” she asked. “You have to tell him.”

Percy shook his head. “Not yet.” He was sure had he told Poseidon, he would have abandoned his godly duties to visit. Percy had no problem waiting until his twins were a little older to introduce them to Poseidon and the rest of the gods but he knew his father would turn him into seafoam if he waited that long. But he also just wanted a moment of calm and quiet. In retrospect, he should have known not to expect that from his mother either.

Sally nodded understandingly. “I’m sure he’ll be excited.” Her eyes trained on her grandson once again. “They look just like Annabeth,” she noted.

“Well, Aphrodite did promise to bless them with attractiveness,” Percy said with a shrug. He could already tell they were going to have his black hair, which was enough Percy for anybody.

Percy sunk back into the hospital bed and put his arm around Annabeth. She rested her head on his shoulder. He smiled at his family fawning over his babies. He was excited for everything to come, knowing full well raising the twins would be nothing short of interesting. He was excited though, to know his children were going to have two loving, dedicated parents at home, something neither himself nor Annabeth had had. He couldn’t wait to dive into fatherhood. Percy hoped he’d be a great parent. Then again, he’d learned from the best.

#percabeth parenting #percabeth #percy jackson #annabeth chase #sally jackson #pjo/hoo #heroes of olympus #hoo #pjo #pjo fanfic #fluff #fanfiction #request #quarantine reads

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fivegoldpieces · 6 years ago

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Talks Machina at Gen-Con Q&A Highlights

Note: This only has the audience q&a portion. Cast answers are transcribed, side-comments and banter are only included if they are relevant to/answer the question posed. Apologies in advance to mobile-users if the read-more doesn't work - this is tagged as #long post if you want to blacklist it.

[[MORE]]

Q: For Matt; might we expect any possible homebrew releases coming out in the next year or so, like dunamancy?

Matt: I have plans. I can't say anything because I want things to be cool and surprising. But I have plans don't worry. It's not that I don't care, it's that I don't have time, but I'm working on it.

Q: For Taliesin; what would make Caduceus really angry?

Taliesin: I will say that he can get angry. It does happen. Juvenile disrespect does eventually get to him. Not a fan of pranking. I mean, you know, everybody's got some layer - there's some stuff. No one's that serene all the time. No one.

Q: For Taliesin; at the end of the Call of Cthulhu oneshot, you mentioned that you had a lot of mouse traps set up. I was just wondering, were the shadow people the most dangerous thing they could've released, or was there a more dangerous horror waiting that they managed to avoid?

Taliesin: I mean, if the cats had been released first, that would have definitely been an interesting thing. The cats would have been a problem. Also, if somebody had died really early, I was setting up a series of rules for dead players to continue to interact, which would have been really really unhappy and bad. And terrible rules for the things that were living behind the glass, and if you were stuck behind the glass, you were right there with them and they could really mess with you. Thankfully none of that happened.

Q: For Matt; you have the Tal'dorei Campaign Setting - I was wondering if you were going to do one for The Mighty Nein campaign?

Matt: I don't have a lot of time. Campaign settings are extensive. I'd like to eventually do something like that. I have materials, it's just assembling them in a way that can be legible by a non-crazy human being that I am. Hopefully! We'll see as time goes on. At the moment, we're consumed with this animated series that you guys helped make happen. Super excited about that. Keep an eye out as time goes on, because hopefully I'd like to get around to that. That'd be awesome.

Q: For Matt; what the hell was up with the undead vibe on Jamedi Cosko?

Matt: Yeah, that's crazy huh? That's a pretty weird thing. Yeah, there was something about him that gives off an undead vibe. Wonder what that means? I appreciate the question, but I don't know if that'll come back into play in some time. Let's see if it gets explored at some point, and if not at least I could tell you at the campaign wrap-up.

Q: For Travis; for the animated series, a lot of the characters have iconic catchphrases so I was wondering how you're going to translate "I would like to rage"?

Travis: Are we going to "translate" that? I think he's just going to say "I would like to rage". Yeah, we are definitely keeping iconic lines, moments, interactions, all those things will be there just as they were.

Taliesin: I'll also add to that - if you want to see somebody doing that and taking things that shouldn't actually work in-game and making them work in-game, Jody Houser is doing a great job in the comic book series of making you feel like somehow Matt is intertwined in everything that happens, it's kind of cool. Check it out!

Q: For Taliesin; a lot of comparisons have been thrown around between Fjord and Percy, and something that I noticed was Uk'otoa is being much more insistent than Orthax was - do you think if Orthax was as insistent and as keen on punishment, Percy might've gone a similar direction as Fjord?

Taliesin: Honest to God, and this is just from watching, I don't think Percy had nearly as strong a will as Fjord does. Watching Travis play Fjord was definitely like, "I did not have the balls to pull that off, oh my God." Percy was never about the hard choice, it was always about "what's the option C that I haven't figured out yet, there's a way to game my way out of this, if I just keep talking I can get everything to work" until the very end. Like chicken? Percy doesn't play chicken.

Laura (using Vex's voice): From firsthand knowledge, Percy does curtail very easily.

Matt: If you actually recall, Percy didn't even make the choice. Scanlan did for him.

Q: For Laura; when can we get a Caduceus tea set?

Laura: Oh, I heard a lot of "ooh's". Who would buy a Caduceus tea set? [audience applause] Well, shit, maybe I should look into it.

Sam: That's so many more people than who voted for me.

Brian: Not to be That Guy, lets just see how long his character lives, before we start making merchandise around him.

Q: For Sam; you are kind of the king of over-the-top and ostentatious whether it be with your character design, or your flasks, or things like that, and especially your outfits at the live events - how do you come up with these over-the-top creations and also how on earth do you plan on topping last night?

Sam: That last part will be hard. I think next year, I'll either come out totally naked or I'll just be so basic - pleated khakis, a polo shirt, I don't know. That outfit last night, it was pieced together from several different stores, I'm sure CritRoleCloset will figure it out at some point. But it was a challenge putting that together. And then, my fellow cast members, like two weeks after I bought all that weird stuff I wore, they were like, "hey let's go goth". So. Fuck you guys.

Q: For Travis; with Fjord's recent decision, do you see him changing outfits to fit his new or old persona?

Travis: I don't think so. Most of Fjord's armor was very piece-mail stuff that he got either from working on the docks, or stuff that he got from Vandren, or items that he was given just as he sort of accrued time and responsibility where he worked. I think that stuff's very dear to him, especially coming from an orphanage where he didn't have any possessions, so all those things that are actually his are very dear to him. He might add to those things, but I think underneath they'll stay there. He might augment them or change them a little bit, in the same way you would draw on your jeans in school or whatever, but that stuff's his so it means a lot to him.

Q: For Travis; after Fjord severed his pact with Uk'otoa, was there a larger fear in telling Beau and Jester what had happened, since he had been traveling with them the longest out of the Nein, or did his journeys with the Nein make that fear equal across all of the party?

Travis: I think actually he was worried about telling Beau and Jester the least, and maybe Caduceus in there as well. He knew he would hear about it from Nott, and Caleb had already sort of started to call him on his shit and saw through a lot of that stuff. He also regards the group as very powerful, so I think a lot of it is turning to his very powerful and talented friends and saying, "I don't have any of that anymore, I hope I can still play with you guys." Legit though, the response was amazing. It was absolutely incredible. Jester is so gregarious and loving and joyful and exuberant that I don't think he was worried about that, I think he was actually looking forward to telling her as one of the first people to know. And Beau is second-mate, so like ride-or-die or right?

Q: For Taliesin; I can totally be wrong for this, but just reading body language and facial features, there do seem to be moments where you're kind of just like, "I'm done with this" - I just kind of want advice, like how do you keep playing when your energy level might be low or you don't like where the story is going?

Taliesin: Oh, that is never "I'm done with this", what you're seeing is the "I'm trying to make sure no one notices that I'm reading my backstory notes". That's me reading, frantically. I'm a big believer in terror, terror is a great way to keep me up. "Oh God, I don't remember anybody's name, oh God how many siblings do I have oh God."

Marisha: Well, also you write your backstories like the Silmarillion, it's like, so intense. I'm like "my dad was mean to me" like that's my backstory.

Q: For Sam; based on the amazing reaction we've had to your DnDBeyond theme and the Critical Role theme, when can we expect a parody version of the 2010 hit "Like a G6" by Far East Movement as "Like a d6"?

Sam: Oh wow, that's good.

Marisha: Not to be that person, it already exists. The Library Bards did it. So, you should check it out. I mean, do a cover, Sam, I don't know.

Sam: There are more songs incoming, just so you know.

Q: For Matt; you say dunamancy can alter the reality and the fate of the person that wields it - is this an affront to the Raven Queen?

Matt: I would say, given the fact that elements of dunamancy deal with the manipulation of probability, destiny, things like that, the Raven Queen is probably not that cool with dunamancy. Just throwing that out there. One of the few things she's probably like, "Really, guys?" So yeah, I'd say you're on the right track.

Q: For Laura and Travis; do you talk to Ronin about your campaign?

Laura: So, Ronin, every Thursday night he stays with a babysitter at home, but he watches the opening of the show. Like, he loves the theme song so much. I sing it every time I change his diaper.

Travis: Same, like I know there's songs that parents sing to their kids - he's heard the damn theme song every day of his life.

Brian: But do you guys change the lyrics though, like "You shit your pants, I'm cleaning it up now", you know what I mean?

Liam: My kids bust into that song constantly. We cannot play a board game or anything. Someone goes "it's your turn" "TO ROLL" every time.

Q: For Marisha; I'm a huge fan of Jocks Machina and hopefully we'll get to see them on the channel one day - will Beau ever join Jocks Machina?

Marisha: What are the requirements, are there prerequisites for joining Jocks Machina? You're kind of the authority on this.

Travis: Guns. Abs. Likes to lift heavy things. Likes to break a sweat. Likes to whoop that ass.

Marisha: Check. Check. ...Check? Check. Hell yeah.

Q: For Matt; this is a rather involved conspiracy theory question, so excuse me - last year when the party was in Shady Creek Run at the Landlocked Lady Inn, they first arrived and there was a doorman named Champ who Keg knew. The next morning, they went down and there was a new doorman who said he'd been working for the Marduns for a few months and had bright red curly hair and vibrant green eyes and acted rather enigmatic and shady and shifty and was saying they should listen more and that he hoped that whatever they were after, they were on the right path. Later, once they recover everyone, Jester is asking the Traveler where he was, and he says he was always there. So my question is this: was that character the Traveler in disguise?

Matt: [several moments of silence]

Matt: That'd be pretty interesting, huh? That's a unique observation. I will confirm nor deny.

Q: For Matt; now that Fjord has effectively broken up with Uk'otoa, what do you think would be a more compelling storyline, or what are you most interested to see: him continue to take levels in warlock, possibly with an Archfey patron, or paladin...?

Matt: Part of what I really enjoy about this game is how the players continuously surprise me. I'm down to see what journey Travis wants to take. I'm curious to see how he takes this next path in his journey and which elements he wants to maintain, what direction he wants to go - he seems to be really finding interest in the Wildmother and talking to Caduceus about that, and that's kind of been an element of breaking that pact at the time, so I'm curious if he's going to continue down that path or see this as a blank slate to continue to grow. I'm interested to see the different decisions that Fjord takes, and Travis does through Fjord, and kind of adjust and build the narrative for that character around that. I can't say I have a specific path that I'm hoping for, because I have no idea what Travis's direct interest is, beyond just the actions he's taken in the game. Yeah, I'm just excited to see where it goes. I really love the idea of not knowing that as the Dungeon Master. As much as it's me building and world-planning, many of you out there who run games as GM know the most exciting part of the game is after all that prep, coming to the table and the players completely surprise you, and you kind of have to think on your feet and go with it. That's the best part of the game for me.

Q: For Marisha; what inspired you to play Beau a bit more shaken about her near-death than some of the other characters?

Marisha: Well, I was at 2 hit points the whole time - Liam can attest to that. So you know, I was kind of role-playing that. Shit's crazy man.

Q: For Liam; so you play your characters, both Vax and Caleb, very emotionally without any hesitation, and you're an experienced actor. What I wanted to ask was, something that people who try to emulate Critical Role don't realize that can happen when you try to put yourself into the character and get emotionally invested is character bleed. I was wondering how you deal with that, if you do at all. Like, if something really emotionally devastating happens to Vax or to Caleb, how does it affect you and how do you deal with it?

Liam: These feel like synthetic memories, so any time the superimposed fantasy friend gets killed or has to leave or whatever happens - that shit we carry around and get upset about. Every time we leave on a cliffhanger and someone's gonna die, we think about it constantly. Vax helped me sort through things, but made me more loyal and determined and willing to take chances - which in life I generally try to avoid conflict. Caleb, I still kind of drive around and think about him and still go, like "why did you do that?" He's really messed up, if I just think like, fireballs and cats like it's fun, and we can make dick jokes and it's fun. But if I really take a minute, I just go "Oh". I feel bad for him, I feel really bad for him. I have fun playing the game, and I love these guys, and I feel bad for my character.

Follow-up Q: Do you have ways that you learned to process that, like if you're at home feeling bummed about something that happened on a Thursday night, and you're like "man I need to get out of this funk"?

Liam: Yeah, I pull my head out of the game. I'll play a game with my kid, or watch a movie with my wife, or go running. Running is great. Not for your knees, but everything else. Or spend time with these guys out of the game. There's lots of ways. We're really invested in their stories, so it sort of drags along like coattails wherever we go.

Matt: To give you examples too, when he says "hanging out with friends", the group that's there, your friends that are in this game that you trust enough? You should all also support each other when those dark moments happen outside of the game. Whenever we lose a character in the game, we have like a wake. We go to an Irish pub that we go to often in Burbank, and we all get drinks and we have a wake for that character. And it's part of that process too. Even though it's imaginary, there's a part of that experience and journey that's come to an end and that deserves its respect as well, and we're all there to support the player. As a playing group, be there for your friends who may be going through that experience, because even though it is make-believe and it's a game, that is still a loss. And that's not a bad thing either. Loss is an important thing to process, because life comes with loss. Part of the wonderful experiences of role-playing games is that it allows us a safe space to explore very positive and very negative emotions in a healthy way and make us better people for it. So just be there for them, be supportive, and be the best friends and co-players you can be.

Liam: Part of the reason, I think, that we get upset when these fictional characters are killed is because we're playing this game of imagination together, and we form a chemistry together where we're like "we get to do this together, and it's always like this, and you're always funny like that, and you're always intense like this" and we really love that chemistry. Then somebody gets killed and they're gone, and that chemistry, which is something that we're like addicted to and love, that chemistry is gone. Like, when Molly was gone. Beau and Molly had this great "fuck you" "fuck you" butting heads thing - that's gone. We're actors, but anyone who plays this game extensively, you love the sort-of second life that you create for yourself and then when the character is gone, you don't have that unique mix anymore.

Q: For Laura; I really love how you play Vex and Jester, even though as two characters, they're pretty different from each other. But sometimes, you have an instance where like, your Laura shows. So I actually just wanted to ask, what was the biggest disconnect you've ever experienced between player versus character? If you've ever felt like, you as a person, as a player, would never ever make a choice in a situation versus what your character would do in that same situation.

Laura: I feel like everything my characters do, I wouldn't do in real life. Like, especially Jester. Travis and I have had these conversations: the joy of playing a character like Jester or like Grog, where you don't have to filter yourself - everybody, I assume, has these random really stupid things that pop up in your brain and you don't say them because everyone would judge you, and they're weird - and as these characters, you just embrace it, and it is so much fun. Talk about character bleed - it is an issue that I deal with now, because Jester has had that effect on me, and so I tend to say stupider things in real life now. No, but I would never deface anything in public, I would never steal anything.

Travis: You're not gonna attach any dicks on the walls.

Laura: I would not attach a dick to a wall in public. Or anywhere. I do eat a lot of donuts though, that's on me.

Q: For Matt; we've explored several places in the multiverse in your games, like the City of Brass, the Feywild, places like that - are there any places in the multiverse like the Astral Sea or somewhere that you, either as a player or as a GM, would have liked to have gone but have never had the time or resources to do?

Matt: Interesting. I do have some places that I really would like to explore, whether in this campaign or campaigns down the road. Astral Sea is interesting, it's a really weird amorphous plane, and I just love the prospect of one day throwing an Astral Dreadnought at these poor guys. He's my second to the Tarrasque. Oh they're fun, they're a good time. I've always loved Planescape. The City of Sigil would be great for obvious reasons of course. So I can be like, "no guys, this is where I learned my wrong pronunciation". But the City of Doors is awesome. Lady of Pain is a great element. Those who watched the Search for Bob oneshot, there was a Lady of Pain reference dropped in there. If you missed it, you can go back and look. Maybe there's a few doors in Sigil that lead to Exandria, who knows. Think about that for your home campaigns, huh? I want to go into some deep Abyssal planes too. We've been to the City of Dis, we've seen a little bit of the Nine Hells of Baator, though maybe not the harsher places. There's so many to explore!

Q: For Sam; Matt has said on Twitter that one of the ways you guys handle the pressures of the Kickstarter and the intense dramatic moments in the campaign is by checking in with each other and checking in on each other's mental health. I know you take on a lot of responsibilities with doing the DnDBeyond ads and the songs that you write and also your characters are often joking around with other characters and giving them a hard time so I was wondering, from your perspective, if you could give some details, without giving away anything too personal, on how to properly mentally check-in with your fellow players and just help everybody and check that everybody is doing okay.

Sam: Well, I'm learning from these guys, as we go, how best to do that. I'm weird in that, as weird as I am on-screen, I don't really talk very much when we're off-screen, or I keep my stuff to myself, more than some of these guys do. But they have, in the last few years, helped me sort of connect more with my best friends here. You know, we do check in a lot with each other, thanks to Matt and thanks to all of us. For instance, yesterday morning we all had breakfast together. It was really nice - we just talked about stuff, and it was just great to just sort of reconnect with everybody. I'm not an expert at this in any way, and in fact, on this stage, I am the least good at it, but I have endeavoured to become better at it. Opening yourself up to your friends and feeling comfortable enough to share your past or your worries for the future with your friends and not getting any judgement back is like, the greatest gift. If you have that with one person, it's amazing. If you have that with all of these people? Holy moly, it's the greatest thing in the world. I've tried to be better at sharing my stuff with them and being there for them. That's all I can do.

Q: For Marisha; in campaign one with Vox Machina, there's a lot of powerful badass lady NPCs, so if by chance, it all worked out timewise, who do you think Beau would be most likely to have a crush on?

Marisha: Kima. Yeah. Keyleth very much emulated Allura, and really looked up to her and kind of looked at her as a powerful female figurehead and took notes for leadership through her. Beau would just wanna fuck.

Q: For Liam; what do characters do in the campaign that you find funny no matter how old it gets?

Liam: Everybody throw in on this one. I'll never get over Laura waggling her eyebrow every third word in the game.

Taliesin: Slow snicker every time there's even vaguely a possibility of a dick joke.

Travis: I'd say every time there's a pain reaction out of Nott. It is hysterical to me.

Liam: I like any time, just the concept of death comes up or Molly - anywhere, in the game, out of the game - one of these people would be like, "Like you, you're dead!"

Laura: Uk'otoa.

Q: For Laura; do you think the volcano would be a good spot for Traveler on?

Laura (using Jester's voice): Okay here's the thing. Like, I totally did at first and I need to talk to him, because I think that now it's probably not, because it wasn't very expansive really, as big as I thought it would be, and there wasn't like a lot of beds, and like, no real good food. So, I don't know how many people are coming, but like, even just getting to the nearest hotel was really difficult, you know?

Matt: I love the idea that half of your sketchbook is Jester's tiny Yelp reviews of locations in Wildemount.

Q: For Laura; with all of the throwback to Vox Machina and Whitestone in the week before, how are you feeling with all of it?

Laura: I'm feeling very nostalgic.

Laura (using Vex's voice): Also, I would love for everyone to come visit.

Marisha (using Keyleth's voice): Me as well.

Laura (using Jester's voice): And also, if we did, I think we would cause a lot of problems.

Marisha: New pitch - Travelercon at Whitestone. We know the food is good, lots of lodging and room and board, no dead people in trees anymore.

Laura: All of the residuum that you could ever hope for.

Brian: And endless booze.

[Panel end]

#critical role #talks machina #long post #my hand is now broke #transcript

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fireandseaweed · 6 years ago

Text

Build It Better || Jason and Percy

Jason and Percy work to rebuild a library that was ruined by the civil war.

Somehow, it felt amazing to be back to work again. Jason had felt stagnant as he had recovered from his injury, and while the physicians may have cleared him, his therapist kept cautioning him that a profound and permanent injury like losing his eye would take time to get over on the inside, even though the outside had healed. The Praetor in him had decided to ignore everyone’s advice and get back to work as soon as he was physically able to however, and the target of today’s efforts was a library that had been damaged by the civil war that was only tenuously over. A rustling behind him let him know that Percy had arrived, and Jason pushed his long blonde hair over half of his face as he turned to greet his friend, “I really hope you brought coffee.” His smile was apparent in his voice as he went to hug Percy, “Because I was out of pods at home and didn’t have time to swing by the store before I came here this morning. It’s good to see you, P…. well… to half-see you.” What was the point of being grievously maimed if you couldn’t joke about it?

The war had taken a toll on everything. Looking at Jason, it was clear to Percy that he was a living testament to the stress and damage that the war had caused to so many. “I brought more than enough to get us through the morning, we’ll have to restock in the afternoon but we can cross that bridge when we get to it.” He held out a thermos flask full of coffee. He’d made it to Jason’s taste as best he possibly could, knowing that they would need it to get through the trials that today would inevitably bring. Though Percy looked forward to tackling a challenge that wasn’t trying to run a sword through his stomach. “Well I know I don’t look half as amazing as always, I even did my hair for you.” He winked playfully at his friend, doing everything that he could to keep the air light. Despite Jason’s leaps forward in progress Percy was still fearful for his health. But he could bubble wrap the world for his friend. It just didn’t work like that. “Everyone else should start arriving soon, but they know what they’re doing, I don’t. So faithful comrade, what is our first task of the day?”

Jason couldn’t help but laugh at Percy’s preparedness and his jokes. He took the thermos thankfully and poured himself a glass from it, standing with his hand on his hip and looking at the semi-ruined building around them. “Well your hair looks amazing as always. You’re a vision of beauty. Aphrodite herself is jealous.” Taking a long sip of his coffee Jason shrugged, “Well… Hephaesteans are covering the actual construction of the rooms that need to be totally rebuilt. They’re much faster at it than I am, but you and I are doing interior work. There are shelves that need to be rebuilt and common areas to make welcoming again.” Long scarred fingers gestured to a far corner of the large room, “I was actually thinking we could start in the children’s section. We made them live through a civil war… the least we can do is put their library back together again for them.” Pulling a small notebook from his back pocket he opened it and passed it over to Percy, “We’ve got most of the furniture assembled already. I was just thinking we could build a couple low shelves for them, and then paint everything so it’s bright and welcoming.” Books had always held a soft spot in his heart, and he was eager to pass his love for them down to the younger generations. He cast a quick look around them to make sure nobody else was round and then pulled his long hair back into a low ponytail, keeping it out of his face. Percy had seen him lose his eye in realtime… surely the web of scarring that covered the left half of his face wouldn’t be too gruesome for him, “What’s new? We haven’t had a chance to catch up in awhile. I’ve missed it.”

Smiling at his reunion with his best friend in the world, Percy nodded and opened his own thermos. Steam rose from the black liquid and settled into the crisp chill of the early morning air. New Rome was never bitterly cold, but it could take on a pleasant fall chill. Pouring the obsidian coloured liquid into a travel mug, he carefully screwed everything back together Taking a long sip of very strong and very sugary coffee. Sighing somewhat contentedly as the bitter sweet taste settled on his palette, he nodded gently. “She has always been jealous I’m sure, two good looking demigods that remain outside of her reach must be infuriating.” He winked once more before turning to the task at hand. “Well, the children’s section seems as good a place as any to start with hermano, we can work around until we’ve fixed everything.” Pausing he scratched at his beard and shrugged. “Nothing new to report since the war came to a screeching halt, which is kind of nice. I like not having anything to say. Which is a weird thing to say.”

Jason tugged his loose flannel around him as they sat and savored the fall weather. Ancient magic and San Francisco’s natural weather endured they never saw snowfall but when the fog rolled in off the bay it could get chilly. It made the coffee doubly welcome. They wandered to the children’s corner and Jason set down his large box of tools, accumulated throughout his tenure as Pontifex. “That’s sort of nice though? To finally have nothing new. It seemed like every day was a new horror and now… some blessed silence.” He scratched at the blonde scruff on his cheeks, mimicking his friend as he traced a thin scar that marred the fuzz. “Tell your mom I’m sorry I haven’t gotten back to her email yet. I’ve been a little overwhelmed trying to catch up on everything that happened while I was gone trying to get put back together.” He laid the notebook with plans out on a table and started dragging pieces of wood, measuring and marking them carefully. “How are you doing though… since the war’s sorta stopped.”

Percy could never find it within himself to lament the cold weather, summer had always been his favourite time of year. The return to Camp Half Blood for a few months was always something that he savoured. “We certainly deserve it after everything that we’ve been through,” Percy replied with a nod as they strolled through the ruined and soon to be renovated building. Stepping through an arch, he crossed the room and joined Jason, sipping at his coffee as he walked. Pausing he smiled at what he remembered to be a charming space and hoped that they would be able to recreate it once more. “She won’t mind, she knows more or less the way things are... “ he remembered how relieved she’d looked to hear the news that they weren’t fighting anymore. Pacing over to the notebook, he carefully observed them before moving to help Jason move the wood, allowing his friend to mark them of his own accord. “Honestly, much better. Not constantly being on edge is a change that takes getting used to, but I like it, like a lot.”

“Damn straight we do. The Senate should fund a month long cruise for us with all the shit we just went through.” Jason had missed a lot while he’d withdrawn to recover, but he’d missed this most of all. The world felt right and balanced when he was with his best friend. He pulled Percy into a quick half hug as they walked before releasing him again, “Well tell her sorry anyway. She’s top of my priority list as soon as I get a spare moment.” They worked in quick harmony, Jason measuring and marking the boards and Percy sawing them. He listened carefully as Percy talked, smiling and nodding along. “I feel that. I know being that adrenaline fueled that constantly isn’t good for you. So I’m glad things are at least moving toward peace and calm. We needed that. Our society needs it. We’re too few under the shadow of too many threats to fight ourselves as well. Did I tell you I resigned my post?”

“There’s barely a senate left,” Percy replied remembering the five senators that remained after seven had been arrested for crimes against New Rome, “but perhaps after we’ve cleaned up the city and fixed the mess that we made then we can take a break. I’d love to go home.” He paused, thinking longingly about his mother’s apartment. Taking Gabby for walks through the park. “I’ll relay the message, she’ll undoubtedly take that as permission to give you an unwanted care package, so dibs on that.” He smirked as they moved wood in silence for a second before shrugging. “Especially after the last few wars, there are fewer of us than there have ever been before and it is unnerving to say the very least. We’re in a very vulnerable position right now. Our population used to be in five figures, we’re slipping dangerously close to four…” he winced at Jason’s news and sighed, “I’m sorry to hear that, and I’m sure that the city is sorry to hear it too.”

“We can seize the assets of the arrested senators and use those. We should anyway, to pay for the repairs to the city. High treason used to get you executed. They should count themselves lucky that we’re no longer enforcing that.” It was hard to keep the anger out of voice, and a tiny bolt of lightning bounced between his fingers and the measuring tape he was holding. Jason had seen too many good men and women buried because Senators had broken their sacred oath. “Perseus Jackson keep your dirty hands off my care package. If Sally “The Best Mom On Earth” Jackson makes me a care package I’m using absolutely everything in it. I’d never disrespect her like that.” He chuckled drily as they worked, shaking his head, “Like I told the Senate… the Republic may be immortal… but I am not. I’ve given enough to this city; blood, sweat, tears… I gave it a goddamn eye. I’m 23 years old and I’ve never had a life of my own. I deserve that now, and I think it’s time I started actually having the things I deserve. I had a lot of time to think while I was healing.”

“That’s hardly something that I can do,” Percy replied with a laugh, “I don’t think that the people of New Rome would be willing to accept me taking control of some of their assets.” He shrugged for a second and laughed. “I don’t favour the death penalty,” he replied with a sigh, “but everything that has gone on makes me wish that we could achieve a semblance of stability.” Smirking gently, he laughed. “I can’t make you any promises, a Sally Jackson care package isn’t something that I would be willing to give up. Not for the world.” His mother was a wonderful cook and her care packages were legendary. It had been too long since he had received one. “No one could ever expect you to give anymore, I’m glad that you’ve finally had the clarity of thought to rest and allow yourself to heal.” Dusting his hands off, he flicked through Jason’s notebook and began moving the marked pieces of wood over to a workbench. Grabbing a saw, he began cutting the shelves down to the appropriate dimensions. “It’s nice, getting to do something this mundane.”

“I didn’t say you could do it… I just think it should be done. We’re going to strain the coffers of the city rebuilding after a splinter group forced a civil war on us. Someone has to pay and it shouldn’t be the citizens whose lives were thrown into insanity.” Jason smiled broadly at his friend, laughing into the sunny emptiness of the library, “I will fight you, Jackson. I will absolutely fist fight you over your mother’s cookies. They’re worth it.” His own mother had been too far gone in mental illness by the time he could form memories of her and it was only after he’d met Sally that he realized what a mother was supposed to be like. “You say that, but the Senate seemed shocked. I’ll still be around to help, but I’m done leading. Let the young ones take over. While we’re talking about taking the things we know we deserve you need to start doing that as well. I know how hard you work. You need to rest just as much as I do.” He paused in his work and watched his friend cut boards down to size. “It was always my favorite part of my job. The building. It’s nice to do things with your hands. Simple things that will help people.”

“Maybe, but we’re hardly in the position of democratic strength that we would need to be to make that sort of movement, any attempt at grabbing Roman money would be met with resistance and speculation. It’s simply the truth I’m afraid.” Pausing for a moment longer, Percy smirked brightly before laughing with his friend. “Don’t try it Grace, you’re not going to win a fist fight when it comes to my mother’s cookies, they are the stuff of legend and I’ll love them until the day that I die.” Raising an eyebrow gently, Percy had to admit that he found it hard to believe that the former Praetor Jason Grace would ever step down from leading his people. “Are the young ones ready to take over yet?” he asked thoughtfully, “Have they had enough time to make the decisions that we are making right now? Will they make the right decisions?” He sighed gently, almost sadly. “I don’t know if I’m ready to let anyone handle that burden yet, I don’t think anyone is ready for it.” He paused and shrugged. “I always assumed that the flying would be your favourite part of the job if I’m honest…”

“I’m starting to see why the Republic turned back into the Empire. Though that’s how we end up with another Octavian. May he burn in Hell.” Seeing Percy laugh made Jason laugh and for a moment he forgot all about their trials. They were just two idiot friends fighting over cookies. “I’ve got a fucking handicap, Jackson! I deserve cookies! Plus if you’re gonna take advantage of my ability to use handicap parking now you bet your ass I’m taking the cookies.” The conversation turned serious and Jason sighed, moving from measuring wood to screwing it together when Percy had cut it. “Were we ready? How old were you when you saved the world for the first time. The second. The third. I don’t think you’re ready to make the decisions until you’re forced to make them. I can only hope I left them a good example.” He cringed slightly, fingers rising to his scarred face, “Honestly… I haven’t flown since the rescue mission.”

“I’m also starting to see why so many people are discontented with the fact that politics doesn’t work, maybe we should install you as emperor and use your new found power to bring about a new benevolent reign.” Percy laughed again, knowing that there was no chance that Jason would ever agree to anything like that. This entire scenario was absolutely insane and he should’ve known better. However part of him wished that they could take control of their own fates like that. However unethical it might be. “Just because you’ve got no depth perception doesn’t mean that I’m going to let you eat all of the fruits of my mother’s labour, those cookies are my birthright.” Pausing, Percy sighed sadly and shook his head. “Sure, we weren’t ready, but just because we had to do something really difficult doesn’t mean that we have to force the same upon our friends. We can at least help them into it first….” he sighed sadly, “Your flight was hardly to blame, there’s only so much you can do against siege weaponry.”

Jason couldn’t suppress the actual shudder that coursed through his body, “I’d sooner die… literally die… than be installed as Emperor. I don’t ever want that much responsibility or power. I hate so think about how it’d change me. “Just because I’ve got no depth perception… like it’s a mild thing… I LOST AN EYE FOR THIS WAR!” He laughed heartily, knowing Percy would end up giving him at least one cookie. He always did. “It also doesn’t mean we have to keep doing the difficult things if it’s getting to the point where it’s detrimental… which at least for me it feels like it is. I’ll always be around for people to come to for advice… I just don’t think I can be front and center anymore.” Waving his hand Jason went back to assembling the shelf. They’d had this fight several times in the hospital, “It doesn’t mean it wasn’t to blame either. But that’s beside the point.”

“Jason,” Percy pouted gently, a mischievous glint in his eye, “I can’t believe that you would ever speak like that, because that my friend is quitter talk right there. I know for a fact that my best friend, the great Jason Grace is no quitter.” Smirking gently, he laughed alongside his friend, doing his best to avoid daydreaming about the blue chocolate cookies that his mother had made him in his childhood. Nodding, Percy smiled. “I know you need out. If I’d been through half of what you had then I’d be right there with you. And I get that you want me to take a step back, and I gotta be honest with you J, I don’t think I can just yet. Soon. Once everything’s back to something resembling normal. But right now I think I can really make a difference.” He knew that Jason had. The war would’ve been a very different affair without the tactical mind of Jason Grace. Not to mention his rather thunderous abilities. “You should get back up there, you can’t stop riding a bike because you fell off one time.”

Percy’s pout was a weapon of impressive magnitude, but Jason had built up a resistance to it over the years, “I don’t quit many things. But I don’t think demigod life should ever be managed by one person with autocratic power. That’s just asking for disaster right there, and let’s be honest. We’ve endured enough disaster.” Their conversation took a serious tilt and Jason set down his tools, taking a moment to squeeze Percy’s shoulder, “I know. You always make a difference. That’s what you do you’re just… the quintessential leader… I just worry about you a lot. This life takes a toll on us and I think I”m just now realizing how grave that toll is.” One small shelf assembled, Jason set himself to sanding it down, making sure any rough edges were gone and the chance of any child getting a splinter was slim, “I will… eventually. It took a lot out of me trying to carry the four of us last time… So I think until I am permanently healed…. Or at least as healed as I’m going to be, I”m going to keep my feet on the ground.”

“Your father rules all of the gods with a relative fist of iron, I know there are some exceptions to that rule but for the most part is true. I’m just playing devil’s advocate but if anyone was going to be my Emperor then I would want it to be you over someone like a Karavadra or an Arcadi or one of the older Roman names,..” Percy paused for a moment “I don’t trust them, even now.” Pausing, Percy thought carefully about what he was coping with. Despite the war being over he slept less than he had before. Nightmares plagued his nights and he rarely slept more than six hours on a good night. On a bad night he had to make do with two or three. “I know I should step back and let someone else do the work, I know that I’m not the only one that could do it all but if I can make a difference then I feel like I should, I haven’t sustained what everyone else did, somehow I managed to avoid a mortal injury… so I can keep going…” he trailed off and shrugged as he continued slotting wooden beams into the appropriate slots that had been pre-carved into the wall. Carefully lining everything up, he too began sanding the wood down until it was smooth to the touch. A coat of varnish would need to be applied, but for now it would do. “I know you’re healing, but I would hate to see you grounded.” He wasn’t sure if it was necessarily comparable but he couldn’t imagine never swimming again. The idea that Jason hadn’t flown since the accident seemed alien.

“Any Emperor would be met with distrust by whichever ethnic group they didn’t belong to. The only autocratic way to govern New Rome would have to be with a pair of Regents. One Greek. One Roman.” It was an intellectual exercise he’d considered when it had been revealed that half the Senate had been committing treason, but ultimately Jason thought there was no way for any one or two people to ever rule New Rome without disaster befalling them. “I”m worried about you. I’m worried about all of us.. All the old generals. You, me, Frank, Annabeth, Hazel, Leo… I’m worried if we keep doing this for too long we’re going to lose out on ourselves. But as long as you think you’re doing okay, I’m okay with it too. Just know that anytime you need a couch to crash on for a night of mindless gaming and junk food… you’ve got a key to my place.” One shelf down, Jason moved onto making the next set, “I won’t be grounded permanently. I’m just… I’m not there yet. Soon. I promise. But I don’t think quite yet.”

“The senate obviously isn’t working,” Percy replied, “I don’t really believe that we would be better off with anyone installed as an autocracy in place of a democracy but at least things would be somewhat less complicated. Currently we live in a world filled with more danger than we know what to do with. I hadn’t realised how important politics was to that mix…” Pausing for a moment longer he tried to imagine a solution to this problem. But politics had never really been his area of expertise. He was a commander and general most importantly and first, everything else came after that and the ensured safety of his Greek and Roman friends. “I know that we are all vulnerable, this sort of thing really takes a toll. But my people, OUR people need me to help them and I know that if I didn’t then I would really regret it…” pausing for a moment, he reached up and scratched his beard thoughtfully. “I won’t forget your offer though, I plan to abuse it actually.” Nodding gently, Percy smirked and shrugged. “You’re no idiot, you know exactly what you’re doing.”

“I agree that the Senate isn’t working. If it’s so easy for over half of them to be corrupted to the point of trying to enact a genocide, clearly we need a better form of government. That being said…. I don’t know what we could do to substitute it.” Somehow even the discussion of these weighty topics didn’t weigh Jason down, and he thought it was probably that he was talking about them with Percy and not someone else. Everything seemed to be easier with his best friend around. “I know I know I know…” he waved a hand dismissively, “You’re ever the altruist and I’m ever the worrier. It’s the same song and dance we’ve been doing for years now.” He laughed and leaned over to brush some sawdust out of Percy’s beard, “You better, mountain man Jackson. I’ve got games that need playing and there’s pizza that needs eating.” Jason splayd his fingers, watching a tiny twister form in the piles of sawdust on the floor, “I know. But flight seems so intrinsically bound to the mission now that I’m having trouble divorcing the two. But… it’s a work in progress and yes before you ask it is something I’m talking to my therapist about.”

“I hope that we can work together to come up with something that meets everyone’s needs. Ideally something that includes both Romans and Greeks. I don’t see it working if we aren’t able to govern ourselves at least a little bit.” Percy ran a piece of sandpaper over the wood, carefully softening and sculpting it all into the way that he knew was best. Or at least that he hoped was best. In all honesty woodwork wasn’t his best arts and crafts at Camp Half Blood. “You don’t need to worry about me, it isn’t even a time of war anymore. Nasty words are the worst that I’ll have to deal with and considering no one is swinging a sword at me, that is certainly somewhat refreshing. I really appreciate it actually.” He smirked as he stepped back from his now completed shelf and moved onto the next task. “I won’t pry into this anymore if you don’t want me to, I just want you to get better. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.” Pausing for a moment, he hauled more wood and kept marking it off.

“Sometimes in the dark nights when it all looks like it’s going too much to shit I wonder if Hera really did the right thing, bringing our two peoples together. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade my friendship with the Greeks for the world. But when things have been going poorly, they’ve been going catastrophically poorly. Is there a way for us to jointly govern that doesn’t end in civil war? I’d like to think so but I’m just not sure what it would be.” Jason arched his eyebrow, or at least attempted to; it had proven difficult to regain muscle control and he wasn’t always successful in his attempts to be incredulous via facial expression. “I will always worry about you. Always. Though I am thankful nobody’s trying to stab you anymore.” Stepping back, Jason looked at the shelves they’d assembled and smiled, a soft private expression representative of the happiness that creating instead of destroying brought him, “We should probably varnish these fuckers. Get them nice and ready to go.” He grabbed the can and popped it open with a screwdriver, shrugging as he did, “I don’t keep secrets from you. It’s hard. Getting better. It still hurts sometimes and I still try to blink and nothing happens and I run into walls because I can’t quite judge how close I am yet. It’s a process, and I’m going along on it, slowly but surely. I’ll get better eventually, but you’re sweet to worry.”

“I wonder about the wisdom of every single decision that the God’s have ever made, we decide our lives and yet they still interfere. They tell us we all have a great fate and yet we are the ones that bleed and die for their wars.” Percy paused, rage had bubbled inside of him at the mere thought of the god’s interfering in his life. “I don’t think that changing things is an option. Gods you know that I wish there was a switch that we magically could’ve pressed to make things better. I just hope that there would be a real attempt to make things better.” Frowning gently, he sighed as he ran a piece of sandpaper over a corner that he wasn’t quite happy with yet. “Varnish them seems to be the next logical step,” he replied with a laugh as he watched his friend slide a screwdriver into the top of the can of varnish and opened it. “I’m not sweet to worry, you’re my best friend and I want to look after you as best I possibly can.” He paused a moment longer before sighing. “I just wish that we’d be able to make everything the way they were before all of this shit happened. We’re not closer to discovering who caused all of this. We’re not closer to doing anything but fixing this city. I just want to know it won’t get broken again.”

“Well… to be fair… I do not think a great many of their decisions are made with wisdom. They may be millenia old but they still have the decision-making skills of toddlers, and I’ll say that to any god’s face at this point.” Jason heaved a great rumble of a sigh as he carefully dipped a paintbrush into the can of varnish. “You’re very sweet to worry and I won’t let you forget that. Just because I”m your friend doesn’t mean much these days, but I appreciate the concern.” Percy’s sigh made him smile crookedly, “Well… I wouldn’t hate that. I’d certainly be a whole mess more handsome if we could pull that off, but, we can’t. So all we can do is try to rebuild and move forward as best we can and hope that the New Rome we’re leaving for these kids is better than the New Rome that was handed to us. Certainly less treasonous.”

“None of them would dare to do anything to you, especially considering who your father is, but then there’s also me and your sister to contend with.” Percy smirked gently, pausing for a moment longer before he kept working, “besides, isn’t being edgy all about criticising the authority that runs things?” He smirked once more and focussed on his brushwork. “We’re more than friends, we’ve been through so much, we’re brothers in arms and you know that gives us a bond that few will ever experience.” He sighed gently and slipped his hands into the can of varnish, his brush running along the grain of the wood as he did his best to evenly apply fine layers. Finally content with the work that he had done, he set down his brush and poured them two more mugs of coffee, handing one to Jason as he leaned against the wall to think. “It honestly feels better that we are helping, rather then killing. There’s been too much violence.” He laughed. “I feel like we can’t go five minutes without talking about the shit we’ve been through.”

“Yeah except maybe my father’s jealous wife who stole a bunch of my memories and stranded me across the country. You know… like one does to their stepchild.” Percy’s smirk made him chuckle, “I’m too old to be edgy, Jackson. Just get me my walker and my oatmeal and get me in bed by 8 and we’re all set.” watching Percy work carefully gave Jason a moment to pause and settle into the moment, a sensation extended when Percy paused as well and passed him a mug full of coffee, “Well… to be fair… the shit we’ve been through has been pretty much our whole lives for a couple months. Now that we no longer have to try to run a counter-offensive we can resume being normal people again. I did a lot of Netflix watching when I was recovering and it took some serious effort to convince myself it was okay to just sit. I didn’t have to be doing something all the time every minute.” He set his mug down and turned the shelf they’d just finished around, digging his pocket knife out of his jeans and carving his initials in the back of the shelf before passing the knife to Percy, “Come on. Right next to mine. When we’re long dead and gone at least this will still be around to prove we did more than wave swords around.”

“Don’t pout too much about that, you’re not the only one who had to put up with that. Besides, you ended up in the nice camp where they teach paper mache and feed you roasted meat 24/7.” Percy laughed before continuing. “I ended up in the Camp where they make you run marathons in full gear and you’re trained by a ravenous wolf she-goddess.” He smirked and shrugged once more. “I don’t even last till eight most days, seven thirty and I’m out like a light,” that wasn’t true at all. Percy rarely slept. Over the years the amount of sleep that he got had gotten less and less. “How have you managed to convince yourself of that?” he asked with a nervous chuckle, “I don’t remember the last time I was able to sit and do nothing but watch TV. I know it’s partially the ADHD, but I can’t do nothing. I have to be active in at least someway.” He sipped at the strong coffee before taking the pocket knife from his friend and carving P.J. into the wood. “We should draw a love heart,” he said as he began carving a rough heart around their names, “then everyone will know that we’re best friends forever.”

“Hey I was raised by a ravenous wolf she-goddess and I turned out mostly absolutely fine thank you very much! It isn’t my fault they coddle you guys with arts and crafts.” It sounded like a lie when it came out of Percy’s mouth, but Jason didn’t call him on it. Even between best friends there were some secrets and Jason didn’t burden Percy with his. Sleep was never given to demigods freely, they’d all learned to make due. “Well to be fair it was also the bed rest I was on where I couldn’t do too much or the doctors freaked out at me. Makes it pretty easy to just lay in bed and chill. But you know me. I fidgeted a lot.” He laughed as Percy drew the heart, tears streaming down his face, “No I think what they’ll think is that Jason Grace was dating way outside of his league. But I’ll get you one of those split BFF necklaces if you want. We can match.”

#p: jason #f&gwriting #para #build it better

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jisungjuice · 7 years ago

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Pansy x Percy anything tbh 😂 miss you babe!!

The office + betting AU that doesn’t have any prompts ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Pansy should have never gone out to drink with her coworkers

They were rowdy and loud and always wanted to play stupid games instead of letting her finish her firewhiskey in peace

Unfortunetely, sometimes it was requiered to intereact with them in social gatherings

And now she was being forced to try to outdrink her immediate superior, which turned out to be one of the most annoying people in the office, albeit not quite as rowdy as the rest of them

Percy Weasley rolled his eyes as his mates sat him down in front of Pansy and placed two shots in front of them

“This is stupid,” Pansy repeated for the hundreth time. “I don’t get anything out of it if I win, which I clearly will.” She signaled at Percy, who was scrawny and already looked drunk

Percy sneered at her and pushed up his glasses. “Let’s make it more interesting, then.”

She and Percy had always butted heads ever since her first day at the office, and even though he was a pain in the ass, he was the only one with a sharp enough tongue to match Pansy’s

“If I win, I get to decide what you wear the next work-week.”

There were whistles and hoots all around and Pansy smirked.

“Same if I win, then. Deal?” She extended out her hand to him

He took it. “Deal”

Pansy poured the shot down her throat without a second thought and watched Percy do the same

After the third shot Pansy wasn’t even aware of other people anymore, she simply knew that her shot glass was getting filled and that Percy had his blue eyes on her as he matched her drink by drink

Everything was hazy and confusing, all she could see was blue and red, her whole body numb as she somehow kept managing to swallow the tasteless liquid

Across the table, a hand reached out to her before everything went black

Pansy woke up the next day and whished she had died the previous night

She learnt from Daphne that she and Percy had both passed out after the thirteenth shot and been carried home by their respective friends, which meant that they both either won, or lost

If she knew Percy, he’ll be waiting for her first thing Monday with the most terrible outfit imaginable, so Pansy wasn’t about to be outdone

She picked out yellow neon sweeatpants with matching jacket and equally bright shoes, because she couldn’t imagine anything looking worse on a ginger like Percy

But Percy’s clothes for her were so much worse than she could have ever imagined

A bright fucsia prom dress with shimmering shoes and a fucking tiara

They stared at each other a full minute before taking their respective outfits and going into their offices to change

Nobody got any work done that day

But Pansy’s choice for Percy was definitely the winner on Monday

That afternoon after work she went shopping again, and bought the most humiliating, high-school style suit she could find, complete with a pink flowery corsage

Everyone gathered in the break room that Tuesday with high expectations as to what Pansy and Percy would make each other wear

To her horror, Percy pulled out the most vile and tasteless mini dress and completed it with heavy steampunk boots, which made Pansy feel like a goth streetworker

Nevertheless, she wore it all and stood up proudly, never letting Percy see that he got to her, and he did exactly the same

By the end of the day she could look into the mirror without cringing

Wednesday’s outfits consisted of ripped, faded jeans, a jean buttondown, jean jacket, and cowboy boots for Percy

Which didn’t look nearly as bad as she had pictured in her head

And Percy had brought her the ugliest pair of man slacks from the 80’s, along with suspenders and a tie dye t-shirt she was pretty sure he had made himself

Percy had won this round, but Pansy would be ready for Thursday

She waited outside of Percy’s office, already wearing ballet outfit he had chosen for her

Joke was on him, though, because Pansy looked amazing in tights

She couldn’t wait until everyone saw what she had picked out for him

It was about the most un-Percy thing ever and he would be humiliated

Percy stepped out, but nobody was laughing

Not even Pansy

By now she had his sizes measured perfectly, so she selected the leather trousers two sizes too small and the death metal band t-shirt was actually hers

They could all practically see Percy’s bellybutton and yet no one was laughing

The leather jacket even had the words ‘Daddy’s Girl’ on the back, why on earth was Percy looking so confident?

Maybe she shouldn’t have chosen doctor martins when she could have chosen something like some very high heels

Damn it, high heels would look amazing with this outfit too

No one seemed to dare to say a word, and their coworkers left, some of them giving Pansy pity looks

She got to her feet, angry and flushed, most likely from having to wear the pink frilly mess while Percy enjoyed the victory that day too

All day she had to sit in her desk and watch Percy walk by while wearing something that should have looked laughable on him but simply…didn’t.

When she got home she took a long bath and tried to find the motivation or creativity to come up with the final outfit for Percy, but she felt so confused and frustrated that she thought she’d just take a pillowcase

When she arrived at work, no one was waiting in the break room, and she didn’t see Percy anywhere either

She finally found him in his office, the door locked

When she knocked he let her in, and Pansy thought he looked slightly more uptight than usual

But maybe that was just the lack of midriff showing

“No outfit for me?” He asked her as he sat behind his desk

Pansy shrugged. “Would you consider wearing a paperhat that said ‘bonehead’?

Percy smiled and then pulled out a bag with the clothes Pansy had made him wear yesterday and his face got slightly red

“Would you wear this today?” he asked

He had never asked before, simply handed her the outfits

“You don’t have to go out if you don’t want.” His voice hoarse, his face even redder. “Maybe just wear it here?”

Pansy couldn’t move, she was too shocked, too baffled, too…intrigued

“Would you wear it again, too?” she asked

Percky quirked an eyebrow. “Maybe. In my house? After a date?”

Pansy felt her knees weaken, but she extended out her hand to him anyway.

“Deal.”

#nxrcissamxlfoy #wow look at this i completely ignored the prompts #sorry #i wrote this whole thing and then realized i never actually used any prompt lines #also i cannot be fucking brief #anyway #parkweasel #pansy x percy #these 2 are so hot without even trying #hprarepairnet #mine

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rohdutch · 7 years ago

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I don’t know anything about movies so do it. :-D answer as many as you can from 1-60

Oh my gooooodddddd. Soph this will be my death. Okay, okay, I got this.

1. A movie you’ve seen most times in the cinema.

I’ve never seen a movie more than once in theater, but I kind of wish that I would’ve gone to see Gifted more than once bc crying in the theater is an e x p e r i e n c e.

2. Your most rewatched movie.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

3. A movie you quote on a daily basis.

I just quoted Mean Girls earlier today.

4. Favorite movie soundtrack.

The Greatest Showman.

5. Top 5 films of your favorite actor and actress.

I’ll choose Sebastian Stan for this (even tho Richard Armitage is my favorite):

-the Bronze

-I, Tonya

-the Martian

-the Captain America trilogy

-Gone

Meg Ryan:

-Fan Girl

-Anastasia

-Sleepless in Seattle

-You’ve Got Mail

-City of Angels

6. Top 5 performances of your favorite actor and actress.

Seb’s are the same except replace Gone with Political Animals, his performance as TJ is iconic and I’m so sad they ended that show. Meg’s are the same too.

7. A movie storyline you wished you had actually lived.

I’ve always dreamt of being apart of the Fast & Furious movies soooo

8. A movie that reminds you of your mom.

Any of the Star Wars.

9. A movie thar reminds you of your dad.

Grease.

10. Favorite movies from your childhood.

My parents didn’t care what I really watched as a kid so a lot of my favorites consist of actual kids movies and horror movies. Disney movies like Robin Hood (I loved both Disney’s version and Prince of Thieves), Mulan, Cinderella, Aladdin, Lion King 2. And then other movies like Underworld, Van Helsing, Halloween, and Resident Evil. I had a strange obsession with the third Resident Evil.

11. Favorite quote(s).

I can’t remember the exact line, but “that kid from Brooklyn who didn’t know how to walk away from a fight, I’m following him,” which Bucky says to Steve in the first Cap film. And obv any Mean Girls quote.

12. Top 5 female performances.

-Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter-Emilia Clarke in Me Before You-Helen Mirren in Winchester-Michelle Pfeiffer in Grease 2-Michelle Pfeiffer in Stardust

13. Top 5 male performances.

-Martin Freeman as Everett Ross-Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange-Sebastian Stan in the Bronze-Leonardo DiCaprio in the Departed-Jack Nicholson in the Departed

14. Favorite year for movies.

I don’t think I have a specific year? Although 2018 has been a fantastic year for movies so far. I do have a preference for movies from 90s and early 2000s.

18. An underrated actor.

A year ago I would’ve said Sebastian Stan, but he’s recently been doing a lot of big things and has like four movies he’s doing that he plays a main character in. Now I’ll shoot for Blair Redford.

19. An underrated actress.

Emilia Clarke. People need to appreciate her more.

20. An underrated director.

Taika Waititi.

21. An overrated actor.

I’ve never cared for George Clooney tbh.

22. An overrated actress.

I love her, but Scarlett Johansson.

23. An overrated director.

Woody Allen. Not even sorry.

24. A film you wish you had seen on the big screen.

Every MCU movie besides Guardians of the Galaxy and Black Panther. I watched Black Panther with my sister and saw Guardians at a drive-in. I had to wait to see all the others :(

25. A movie you’ve seen that you think no one else here will have heard of?

Like Sunday, Like Rain. Please watch it. It’s absolutely amazing.

26. Favorite movie characters.

Oh my gosh. Okay. Doctor Strange. Bucky Barnes. Thorin Oakenshield. Lance Tucker. Everett Ross. Jason Bourne. Owen and Deckard Shaw. There’s more, but that’s who I can think of rn.

27. A film that was better than the book.

I personally prefer the Hobbit movies over the book, but the book is great too.

28. Best Remake.

The Goodbye Girl!

29. Your first favorite actor.

I wanna say it’s Josh Hartnett? Maybe Paul Rudd?? I loved the Halloween movies as a kid and Josh was in H2O while Paul was in the Curse of Michael Myers and I loved them both. As a kid I didn’t really care much about the actors, but I’ve realized a lot of people I liked in movies as a kid are now some of my favorites.

30. Your first favorite actress.

Like I said, loved the Halloween movies. Jamie Lee Curtis. Also Milla Jovavich.

31. Favorite animated film.

I will always, with my entire heart, love Lion King 2. I still have the VHS tape.

32. Your most anticipated films.

Ocean’s 8. Robin Hood. Solo. Ant-Man and the Wasp. Incredibles 2. I wasn’t that into Venom, but after seeing the trailer, I’m pumped.

33. Last movie that disappointed you.

The Apparition was made a while back, but i didn’t watch it til recent and I really didn’t like it whatsoever.

34. Last movie that surpassed your expectations.

Like the Apparition, Dance of the Dead was made a while ago, but I watched it about two months back and oh. My. God. It was glorious. Watch it. It’ll be worth it.

37. Share an unpopular film opinion you have.

I love romance and I don’t mind seeing it in movies that don’t necessarily need it. I mean, of course I draw the line somewhere, but for example, Kili and Tauriel’s romance in the films? I know it wasn’t in the book, and a lot of people didn’t like it, but I loved it.

38. Favorite Oscar win/speech.

This is a tie between two speeches that happened right after one another at the 2017 Oscars. Gael García Bernal’s speech before presenting an award, and the Zootopia directors’ speech when they came up to accept that award. It’s truly a wonderful thing and I remember watching it and being so grateful for people like them.

39. Biggest Oscar snub(s).

Literally. Every. Time. Leonardo. DiCaprio. Lost.

40. Who do you think is overdue for another Oscar nomination/win?

Tom Hanks.

41. How many movies have you seen (rough estimation)?

Close to 1,000, I’d think.

42. A movie that made you go ‘wtf was that’.

The Apparition and The Shape of Water. At least The Shape of Water was actually good 👀👀

43. A film that scarred you.

Oh my god, I don’t know the name, but it was something that was on tv at like 2 am when I slept in the living room one time as a kid and it terrified me. It was something about werewolves and made me question my love of werewolves for days.

44. Most movies watched in a single day.

I once watched 7 of the Fast & Furious movies in one day.

45. A film that always makes you cry.

Gifted. I cried three times when I saw it in theaters and I cry every time I rewatch it.

46. A film that always makes you laugh.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

47. Movies that you think everyone should watch (not necessarily your favorites).

The Jason Bourne series. 10 Things I Hate About You. Blended. Back to School.

48. A movie that took you a couple viewings to appreciate.

Princess & the Frog. Now it’s one of my favorite Disney movies.

49. A book that you want to see adapted to the big screen.

Either I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson or Stalking Jack The Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco.

50. A book you really, really, really don’t want to see made into a film.

I love the third Percy Jackson book so so much, and I’d kill to see that scene where they’re all on Apollo’s sun chariot on the big screen, but if it turned out like the other two Percy Jackson movies I don’t think I’d ever forgive myself.

54. Favorite coming-of-age film.

Like Sunday, Like Rain.

55. Favorite superhero film.

The first Captain America just bc it’s nostalgic for both me and those characters, and Doctor Strange. I love the Winter Soldier too so I might as well include it.

57. Movies you know you should watch, but can’t bring yourself to do it?

Thor: Ragnarok. That’s the only one I’m absolutely sure that I need to watch.

58. Favorite genres.

I’m a big rom-com and action geek tbh.

59. Least favorite genres.

Not a huge fan of paranormal type horrors, but once in a while I’ll find one I like (like Winchester).

60. Biggest movie pet peeve.

I’m not too picky, I guess? I just don’t like when they don’t give enough details so the story doesn’t make sense or they mess up and the facts don’t match up.

Yep. It’s official. Sophia, I’m dead.

#i hope the layout of this isn't weird bc i spent so long making sure it didnt end up as a block of text #i skipped the ones that had a fill in the blank or ones i didnt have an answer to #this took me so long omg #soph i hope youre happy

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melonoverlord · 7 years ago

Note

Val for all the ABCs asks

A: Aptitude

1. what are your oc’s natural abilities, things they’ve been doing since young?

She’s been tinkering as long as she can remember. Her early childhood is a little fuzzy but she knows she’s been building little robots out of scrap metal and letting them run around town.

2. what activities have they participated in?

She’s the chief technician on the Freedom Vessel and also technically was a spy on Biomia but she was spying for herself rather than an organization.

3. what abilities do they have that they’ve worked for?

Learning how to talk to people. She’s only had her sisters and her eventually girlfriend on Biomia, but now there are people who love her that aren’t like seven and fourteen, so it’s a strange feeling being able to talk about herself without taking care of them.

4. what things are they bad at?

Following orders. She escaped her own quarantine when she was shot four times in the back because she was bored and wanted to celebrate Castor’s birthday with him.

5. what is their most impressive talent?

Definitely designing tech. She worked on B3rT13, Phoebe (the bot, not her sister), Ciri’s tear ducts, Ravi’s arms and legs, and Nivviah’s trident.

B: Basics

1. what is their hair color?

Brown

2. what is their eye color?

Brown, a little darker than her hair.

3. how tall are they?

5′0

4. how old are they?

5. how much do they weigh?

185 lbs

C: Comfort

1. how do they sit in a chair?

One leg over each side of the chair, leaned back, arms crossed. She’s a definite manspreader.

2. in what position do they sleep?

In fetal position, hugging herself, sometimes hugging Phoebe as well. If she’s dead tired she’ll just sprawl out anywhere and usually B3rT13 will eventually carry her to bed.

3. what is their ideal comfort day?

Snuggled up to Ciri or Castor, her favorite siblings, and watching old horror movies in their pajamas. Anytime Val can get away with not wearing a bra, she will.

4. what is their major comfort food? why?

Strawberry ice cream. It was the first food she was given when she was in the hospital after she tried to commit suicide. It was really when she and Tam became drinking buddies because he said “I know eating food probably will hurt for a bit, so I brought you ice cream.”

5. who is the best at comforting them when down?

B3rT13, actually. Ciri’s the best for the physical comforts and reassurance, but B3rT13 is there to say “Hey, you made me and I’m amazing, so fuck you for thinking you’re not amazing too. And if anyone says that you aren’t, I’ll hit them with my hammer.”

D: Decoration

1. how would they decorate a house if they had one under their name?

A lot of natural light since she’s a vent gremlin who only gets artificial light from lamps, an entire floor dedicated to being a workshop so she can separate work from home and let all the upstairs be places for her to call her own, including a guest room. She’d also have pictures of her family and friends set up everywhere, even someone silly like the bathroom.

2. how would they decorate their child’s room?

More blankets and pillows than a child probably needs, a shit ton of plushies that she finds online (and some from Who), and a mini fridge to store enough snacks so that even if something happens to her, her child will never have to go hungry.

3. how do they decorate their own room?

Val’s room on the Freedom Vessel is a #mess, because half of it is split into her workshop. On her side, she shares her bed with Phoebe and at times B3rT13 when he decides to sleep in her room. She also has the only stuffed animal she brought from Biomia, which is a ratty stuffed pig she calls Rumplepigskin.

4. what type of clothes and accessories do they wear?

She usually wears jeans and a baseball tee, but when she needs to be dressed up, she’ll wear slacks and a blouse. You’d have to tie her down to get her into a dress. But she also wears the beanie that Ciri made her.

5. do they like makeup/nail/beauty trends?

Nah, she usually doesn’t wear makeup or do her nails because when working with metal, paint is easily chipped.

E: External Personality

1. does the way they do things portray their internal personality?

She is very meticulous about the personality she portrays which is a carefree, somewhat lazy, girl who just happens to be one of the greatest technophiles of the age. If she’s currently dealing with her trauma, those feelings will slip out but for the most part the persona she puts on isn’t who she really is.

2. do they do things that conform to the norm?

Valerie Anne Read has never conformed to the norm and will continue to break away from the norm until the day she gets blown up on some backwater planet.

3. do they follow trends or do their own thing?

Val never really cared what the trends of the time were since they tended to shift every couple months or so. She only tends to follow trends if she enjoys it herself.

4. are they up-to-date on the internet fads?

It took her a while because technology is a little behind on Biomia, but once Percy introduced her to the internet, she is on it and catching up as fast as she can. Right now she’s very into space twitter.

5. do they portray their personality intentionally or let people figure it outon their own?

There are about fourteen different layers to Val that she lets different people figure out. You’d have to know her for a long ass time before she let out everything to you. Even her sisters didn’t know everything about Val’s true feelings.

F: Fun

1. what do they do for fun?

Crawl through vents, play nerf guns with Castor, Ravi, and B3rT13, and teach B3rT13 different swear words and lewd gestures. Right now his favorite word is “cunt”

2. what is their ideal party?

Lots of wine, chocolate, and a nerf gun fight with everyone on the ship. She’s already working on her power poses. She doesn’t super love giant parties, but she’s welcome to one if it has all her friends.

3. who would they have the most fun with?

Her favorite sibs, Castor, Ciri, Flor, and Percy.

4. can they have fun while conforming to rules?

Nope. Nearly every rule that the Freedom Vessel has, she has broken. Luna had to make a specific set of rules for Val just because she kept breaking the main ones. One of them is “Stop putting food in the vents even if they don’t expire”

5. do they go out a lot?

She hasn’t gone on a lot of missions (the Therion mission was actually her first one ever), but she went out a lot on Biomia to at least look at the clubs even if she never went in. But she’s very interested in the casino on Helios and is ready to lose her money.

G: Gorgeous

1. what is their most attractive external feature?

She has a beautiful soft butch aesthetic which includes a rad pixie cut that perfectly frame her large brown eyes.

2. what is the most attractive part of their personality?

Even in the tensest of situations, Val can manage to light up a room with her jokes and keep everyone at east. She also has a nice thing to say about everyone, even if it hidden in a joke.

3. what benefits come with being their friend?

You won’t be caught dead without cool tech. Val’s given electric tridents, a sassy robot, electricity-absorbing suits, arms and legs, and yes, she is working secretly on Ravi’s rocket knees. Just don’t tell Ciri. She’s waiting for his ninth birthday.

4. what parts of them do they like and dislike?

Her hair is one of the softest you will ever see and you will want to run your fingers through her hair for hours. She also loves her chub and makes shabby chic look like a snack.

5. what parts of others do they envy?

That they don’t have to hide pretty much everything about themselves and can have honest relationships.

H: Heat

1. do they rather a hot or cold room?

Cold room. If her room gets to hot all the tech starts to malfunction. It’s easier to heat up tech from the inside than to cool it down.

2. do they prefer summer or winter?

Winter. She hates being hot since the summer on Biomia can get sweltering and she had to live outside on a hot metal rollercoaster cart.

3. do they like the snow?

Not really. The only snow she was around was slush, and slush looks nasty, especially with all the dirt on the street.

4. do they have a favorite summer activity?

Cannonballing into the pool and getting water all over Tam because he complains that his hair’s going to frizz up.

5. do they have a favorite winter activity?

She loves building snowpeople. She’s only seen a heavy snowfall once on Biomia where there was actually enough snow not to turn to slush, and she loved building a snowman with Isa and Phoebe. They gave it a carrot dick.

I: In-the-closet

1. what is their sexuality?

Harold, she’s a lesbian.

2. have they ever questioned their sexuality?

Biomia’s one of the planets that still restricts by sexuality (at least in the legal code), so it was expected that she would have to be with a man. It didn’t take her long to realize that she was much more comfortable being with women.

3. have they ever questioned their gender?

Nope, she’s always been comfortable in her gender. She does tend to dress more masculine than feminine though. She’s a soft butch.

4. would/was their family be okay with them being LGBT?

Her sisters never cared about her sexuality, and both of them probably queer as well (though both were too young to act on anything), but all they cared whether about if they were safe and if Valerie was happy.

5. how long would/did it take for them to come out?

She told her sisters when she first starting dating her girlfriend, but really only had to formally come out once, which was a little after she turned sixteen.

J: Joy

1. what makes them happy?

Tinkering in her workshop, eating oreos, crawling through the vents and scaring people, drinking wine and watching trashy TV with Percy and Flor.

2. who makes them happy?

Ciri, Castor, Flor, and Percy. All her favorite brothers and sisters.

3. are there any songs that bring them joy?

‘Young Volcanoes’ by Fall Out Boy, ‘Miss Jackson’ by Panic! at the Disco, and ‘It Don’t Mean a Thing’ by Ella Fitzgerald

4. are they happy often?

She hasn’t been happy in years. But she thinks she’s on her way to happiness now that she has more friends.

5. what brings them the most joy in the world?

B3rT13 and knowing that her inventions are having positive outcomes.

K: Kill

1. have they ever thought about suicide?

Yes, and attempted it when she was 17.

2. have they ever thought about homicide?

Absolutely. She’s still itching to get back at Biomia for taking her family away from her.

3. if they could kill anyone without punishment, would they? who?

Honestly, the entire Council of Nine, her ex-girlfriend, and the bitches who shot her in the back on Therion. It’s a good thing Percy and Flor crushed them.

4. who would miss them if they died?

She’s hoping everyone on the Freedom Vessel, but she thinks Ciri, Castor, Flor, and Percy would probably be the most heartbroken.

5. who would be happy they died, anyone?

Pretty much everyone who had a hand in her sisters’ murders.

L: Lemons

1. what is their favorite fruit?

Strawberries. She loves strawberry anything.

2. what is their least favorite fruit?

Pomegranates. For some reason her mind always goes to spider eggs.

3. are there any foods they hate?

Pickles are still un-fucking-valid, no matter what anyone says. And that’s the tea.

4. do they have any food intolerances?

Dairy. Does it stop her from eating dairy? Absolutely not.

5. what is their favorite food?

Strawberry short cake.

M: Maternal

1. would they want a daughter or a son?

She already kinda had two daughters, so she’d be chill with any kid.

2. how many children do they want?

No more than 2 or 3. She doesn’t know how Ciri has like fourteen kids.

3. would they be a good parent?

She doesn’t look it, but Val did a great job raising Phoebe and Isa, a few mistakes regarding trust aside.

4. what would they name a son? what would they name a daughter?

A son, she’d probably name it after Castor or Perseus, but she could also see him being called Roman (after her name of Valerie). For a girl, she would definitely start with Phoebe or Isabella, but could also see naming her kids after Ciri or Florina.

5. would they adopt?

Absolutely. She knows what it’s like to be an orphan. Also there’s no way she’s having sex with a man.

N: Never Have I Ever

1. what would they never do?

Betray her friends or family.

2. what have they never done that they want to do?

She’s not going to lie, she really wants to sky dive. Flor promised to take her once by literally carrying her up and then dropping her before swooping down and catching her again, but Luna has always shot the idea down.

3. is there anything they absolutely can’t believe people do?

Actively like the capitalist, imperialist, and fascist qualities that Genesis has and try to uphold them. Also she can’t believe that people like eating fucking pickles, Castor.

4. what is the most embarrassing thing they’ve done?

When she first joined the Freedom Vessel, she completely trashed her room and broke pretty much every breakable object, and then Nivviah calmly asked if she would help her clean up and Val had to watch through tear streaked eyes as Nivviah patiently and silently helped clean up the room Val trashed.

5. have they done anything they thought they’d never do?

Join an international revolution.

O: Optimism

1. are they optimistic or pessimistic?

Optimistic, though she honestly doesn’t believe most of it. She usually says it so she can hopefully believe her own words in the future and to instill hope in others. She is very pessimistic towards herself.

2. are they openly optimistic, throwing it on others?

She tends to be optimistic around people just because she can’t stand to see other hopeless, but only really does it if they’re looking for inspiration. If they want to stew in their own sadness, Val will usually let them.

3. are they good at giving advice?

She’s probably given the most advice on the ship, mostly for relationships which she still doesn’t understand because she’s single as a pringle and her one and only relationship ended in two people dead. She is pretty good at giving advice though because it works out if people listen to her.

4. is there anyone in their life that throws optimism on them?

Ravi and Crumb, her sisters, and Percy.

5. were they always optimistic?

She was never really optimistic, except for her false optimism now. As a kid she was much more pragmatic and realist.

P: Personality

1. what is their best personality trait?

She is a ride or die loyal friend. If you get on her good side, she has shown that she is willing to risk her life for you and treats you as a sibling. If you’re her friend, there is close to nothing she wouldn’t do for you.

2. what is their worst personality trait?

*Alicia Keys voice* This girl is a liar! Because of the trauma in her life and what she feels guilty or scared about, she will never give a straight answer and you will have to unravel several layers to find the truth. Even her own version of the truth is skewed because of her own self-deprecation.

3. what of their personality do others love?

Ironically Ciri loves her honesty (at least when it comes to people not Val), her willingness to drop everything for her friends and family, her supportiveness, and her creativity.

4. what of their personality do others envy?

Ciri envies her ability to use humor as a deflection and her ability to say things that other people might be thinking but don’t want to say.

5. do they hate anything about their personality/about other’s personalities?

She hates that the personality she has now is a result of her trauma and wishes she could go back to how she was around five years ago.

Q: Questions

1. do they ask for help?

Only as a last resort. She wants to be able to show that she can do things by herself and will only ask for help if there is literally no other way she can solve it herself.

2. do they ask questions in class?

She asked a lot of questions about the Freedom Vessel, mostly to Nivviah, once she was comfortable to talk to people after she first arrived. It wasn’t even full on talking to her, but she wrote at least fifty questions in her notebook and gave it to Nivviah to answer, and to the best of her knowledge, Nivviah answered all of them. The questions ranged from “Where did Luna get this ship” to “Why is Oberon like that”

3. do they answer questions that make them a little uncomfortable?

Nope. She will change subjects, ask back an equally uncomfortable question, or just lie flat out. She hates answering questions about herself.

4. do they ask weird questions?

Oh definitely. She once asked Icio whether Theuthidans’ dicks were smaller fish (she may or may not have been drunk) and once bonded with Juniper on that month when everyone was on Theuthida where Dryads had tree vaginas (she was definitely sober and the question had been on her mind for those two months).

5. are they curious?

She’s a Ravenclaw, she’s got that curiosity that either gets herself killed or people freaked out.

R: Rules

1. do they follow rules?

Not in the slightest. She gives Luna and Nivviah a heart attack every time she breaks a rule.

2. would they be a strict or laid-back parent?

She was a pretty strict parent to Isa and Phoebe in the sense that they had to be back home by sundown unless they had specifically a “mission”, but was laid-back in the sense that as long as they stayed smart and safe, they could pretty much do whatever they wanted.

3. have they ever been consequenced for breaking a rule?

She was bedridden for a full day after she was shot in the back despite her protests, and now because of her suicide attempt, is forbidden from going into the infirmary alone and must be accompanied by an adult.

4. have they broken any rules they now regret breaking?

She does regret breaking her family’s rule of “everyone has to like your friend before they can come over” because she thought that she could trust her first girlfriend and ended up being stabbed in the back.

5. do they find any rules they/others follow absolutely ridiculous?

It shouldn’t matter that you’re lactose intolerant, you should be able to drink milk if you really want that milkshake. Also she hates that people still think that slavery’s an alright thing to do.

S: Streets

1. are they street-smart?

Yes. As she was a short, physically weak girl growing up on the streets, Val never was able to play hard, but instead play smart. Steal this, Valerie. Trick this person Valerie. Sneak into this place, Valerie. She had to stay two steps ahead of everyone else just to get a foothold in society.

2. would they give money to someone on the streets?

She never got enough money on Biomia to give it to those begging. And there wasn’t any people on the streets on Biomia. People either had apartments or the orphans lived outside the city limits, usually in the slums outside or in Val’s case, the abandoned amusement park.

3. have they ever gotten in a fight on the streets?

Just once, when she was twelve. She was trying to sneak into a hospital to get some medicine for a sick Isa and a guard (known to the orphans on Biomia as a Child Snatcher since they take children on the streets and send them to orphanages) tried to apprehend her. She was able to get away, but not before he got a few good punches in, and she got a well aimed elbow to the temple.

4. has anything happened to them on the streets?

She and Isa were once cornered by a couple of Biomian military agents for the Council of Nine, but for some reason was able to escape, despite them being the only ones there. Whenever she tries to think about it, she just knows that eventually their attention was drawn elsewhere.

5. are they cautious when out?

Val straddles the line between “I don’t care if I die” and “What if I die?” On Biomia she definitely kept an eye and ear out for everything, but now she keeps an eye out just enough that her friends aren’t attacked.

T: Truth

1. are they honest?

Val and Luna are tied for keeping the most secrets. Unless you take special care to get her to trust you completely, there will always be something about her life kept secret.

2. can they tell if someone is lying?

She can tell if someone’s lying to her but finds it difficult to actually pull out the truth. She usually lets subjects drop if she thinks they’re lying and don’t want to talk about it.

3. is it obvious when they’re lying?

She’s gotten lying down pat. Girl’s got a +7 to deception. She’s also lied to people’s faces (like in-game) and hasn’t been called out on it yet.

4. have they lied about anything they regret lying about?

No, she’s actually a little more open than she wants. If she could take her past and the trauma’s she’s faced to the grave, she absolutely would.

5. have they told truths that have been spread against their will?

She once told her ex-girlfriend about her work and then it spread to the entire Biomian government.

U: Underdog

1. have they been bullied?

She’s been verbally roughed up a bit by guards at different establishments, but she always managed to run away before it got worse than that.

2. have they bullied anyone?

She playfully bullies Ciri, Tam, and Castor just because they know that it’s all in good fun and because she knows that they can take it.

3. have they been physically attacked by a bully?

Thankfully no, mostly because no one cared enough about her family to attack them.

4. have they ever been doubted?

She was an orphaned who lived in an abandoned roller coaster. No one really expected Val would be as smart as she was.

5. have they surprised people with being good at something?

When Luna heard about a seventeen year old genius in Biomia, she expected someone strong, self confident, and mature, not a short, insecure child with a death wish the size of Earth.

V: Vomit

1. do they vomit often?

No, she’s seen enough stuff in the vents to keep her food down.

2. do they get lots of stomach aches?

She used to, but got so used to things in the vents that she has a stomach of steel now.

3. are they good at comforting someone ill?

She’s pretty good. Isa got sick a lot as a kid and would always try to make sure she was as comfortable as could be. She would forego all the blanket space so Isa could have most of it, and tried to get food for her.

4. what do they like as far as comfort goes?

Just being held and having her head pat.

5. do they burp, cough, or hiccup most when nauseous? when vomiting?

She hiccups, but mostly she just cries. She doesn’t like vomit in the slightest. It brings back to many memories.

W: Water

1. do they drink enough water?

Unless someone puts a glass of water in front of her (which usually is Ravi, Crumb because they’re the doctors or B3rT13 because he cares about his human and humans need water to live) she will not drink water.

2. have they learned to swim?

Nivviah and Luna taught her to swim when she joined the Freedom Vessel, after she was able to do things on her own.

3. do they like to swim?

She likes floating in the pool more than actively swimming, but she really likes doing handstands or cannonballs in the pool.

4. can they dive?

She can only do it from kneeling position, but once she tried from standing and landed in a belly flop.

5. can they swim without holding their nose?

Yeah. It took a long time for her to learn how to do it without getting water up her nose, but she’s fine now.

X: Xylophone

1. what is their favorite genre of music?

The one thing she can say she likes about Biomia is their music, and really loves jazz music, especially the ones that played at the speakeasies she would sneak into.

2. do they have a favorite song?

‘Young and Beautiful’ by Lana Del Rey

3. do they have a favorite band/artist/singer?

She has and will always be gay for Ella Fitzgerald.

4. can they sing well?

She doesn’t have the best voice, but she can sing decently. It was Isa who was the star of the family. She sang and danced on street corners while Val and Phoebe pick-pocketed.

5. can they rap?

She’s actually a pretty decent rapper and can keep up with most beats.

Y: You

1. how old were you when you created them?

I believe 17. My powerpoint for her novel is dated back to 2015.

2. what inspired you to create them?

I was writing a novel about lesbian space pirates that never got finished, and Val was one of the main characters.

3. were they different when they were first created?

Definitely. I accidentally gave her Phoebe’s personality when I made her a campaign character as novel Val is much more controlled, shy, and misunderstood (and went by Valerie). But I love both of them the way they are. It was sort of explained why Val now acts more like how Phoebe did, but it will be explained more in depth later.

4. do you enjoy writing them more than other characters?

She and Luna are my two favorite npcs of the campaign. I love all the love interests, don’t get me wrong, but Val owns my entire fucking heart.

5. what’s your favorite thing about them?

As a STEM major who feels the imposter syndrome very bad, I love that Val is a proud engineering girl who never feels like she’s not as good as she is. What gives her anxiety about her work is not whether she’s not good enough, it’s the unintended side effects of her invention. Also she’s chubby and gay.

Z: Zebra

1. what’s their favorite animal?

Platypuses. They just look like they’re not meant to exist and honestly, big mood.

2. do they like animals?

She has a hard time connecting to living things (both human and animal) and prefers to work with robots, but she thinks they’re cute.

3. cats or dogs?

Dogs. She’s afraid of bigger dogs, but she likes medium sized ones or the small ones.

4. what’s their dream pet?

She once saw a Tasmanian Tiger in one of the free zoos on Biomia and thought it was one of the coolest animals she’s ever seen. But a couple years later she went back and it was gone and hasn’t seen it since.

5. do they have any pets at the moment?

Technically Phoebe is a pet, but she prefers to think of the little bot as her daughter. And then B3rT13 is her asshole son.

#imaturtlebug #my characters #Valerie Read #genesis campaign

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rogerdvies · 8 years ago

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lEO give me movie recs. and song recs. and book recs. plEASE.

@nviles. i came inside from the nice hot sunlight to do this so you better appreciate it. i don’t watch a whole lot of movies i mostly watch tv series with friends when sick so i’m not sure but i tried. also don’t know what genres you like so i chose my favorite stuff from everything.

movies.

orange (movie): a japanese romance movie that made me cry three times on a plane it’s amazing you should definitely watch it i put a link to its wiki page so you know which one i’m taking about

the worst witch (netflix series): v v cute redo of an older series that was originally based off of a book series

hush (movie): if you like suspense/a little bit of horror, this was actually an amazing movie 10/10 would recommend

inception / source code (movies): both really psychological films and if you haven’t seen them please do (also i ship arthur/eames so hard in inception whoops)

1st coffee shop prince (series): this is a k-drama romance/comedy you can kind online with subtitles easily and for free and i love it so much

scrubs (series): a medical fictional tv series that is hilarious and everyone should watch because EAAAGGGGLLLLLLEEEE and also doctor cox is super hot and sarcastic 10/10 on my gaydar for an older man

grimm (series): 10/10 nick is hot watch it for him

mash (series): old military comedy tv series that i grew up watching because both my parents were military and they really liked this show

ghost whisperer (series): honestly idk i just love it my favorite episode is the lost boys one in one of the first seasons.

books.

night angel trilogy by brent weeks. it is about assassins. it’s so cool. this series messed me up so much don’t love any of the characters they will all break your heart.

mistborn trilogy by brandon sanderson. people with really cool powers that revolve around emotions and metal and its my all-time favorite series tbh but don’t fall in love with kelsier i did and it was a fucking trap.

newsflesh trilogy by mira grant. zombies. and journalists. and snark. lots of snark.

all the percy jackson books but you’ve read those already.

all of the maze runner books but you’ve read those already.

the testing series by joelle charbonneau. omfg i love this series no regrets think kind of like hunger games but better.

the riyria revelations + chronicles by michael j. sullivan. i’m in love with hadrian he’s the best. assassins and knights and gwen is also really badass.

brave new world by aldous huxley. it’s more psychological and it will fuck you up. i hate every single character but i learned a lot from it.

songs.

my entire spotify??

kick-ass/sassy songs:

no scrubs - unlike pluto, joanna jones

it’s you - molly kate kestner

fuck you - lily allen

ugly heart - G.R.L.

hold my heart - lindsey stirling

call me - le malls, lilianna wilde

like that - bea miller

dickhead - kate nash

anything ed sheeran

that’s not my name - the ting tings

NO - meghan trainor

sorry not sorry - demi lovato (ava gave me this one)

that’s my girl - fifth harmony

sit still, look pretty - daya

indie/chill songs:

devil’s in the backseat -lostboycrow

after rain - dermot kennedy (LISTEN TO THIS GDI IT’S MY FAVORITE SONG)

anything by east forest

anything by sohn (especially their tremors album i adore it)

holloway road - tat carosielli

still life - aqualung

the moss - cosmo sheldrake

ghost - jacob lee

planets and stars - pavvla

don’t come easy - isaiah

simple as that - tanya ryan (also one of my old yoga instructors isnt that cool)

moon & stars - jae jin

#leo answers #I DID THIS OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD I HOPE THERE IS ENOUGH #nviles

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thepalegoldmoon · 8 years ago

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All 60 asks~!

get to know me, pick some numbers. 1. selfieNone ATM, but you’ll see my face when I con update, (pro procrastinating on that haha) 2. what would you name your future kids?I’m trying to get a new baby Guinea pig from a friend and I’m gonna try to name it Roadie, if that shows anything haha (I’m never gonna have human children, but other animals probably haha) 3. do you miss anyone?Tbh is this even a question? When don’t I miss someone haha, yeah.. Kinda tbh 4. what are you looking forward to?Cons, moving out, making more money, just chilling with the only person I ever really hang out with anymore haha 5. is there anyone who can always make you smile?Yeah like one or two people, one and probably the most important one and the one of them being the cool ass mf who sent me this ask c; 6. is it hard for you to get over someone?Depends on alot of variables recently  7. what was your life like last year?Lonely, terribly quite, have really no one, maybe like two people, and they kinda just became by closest and probably most reliable (in the best kinda ways) friends I’ve ever had.. 8. have you ever cried because you were so annoyed?Yeah I think? I bottle up alot of my emotions. So when I get annoyed enough to cry. It’s that one thing that sent me over the breaking point and everything just happens in one big messy fit. It’s gross. •-• 9. who did you last see in person?Besides my immediate family (I see those annoying fucks everyday so they don’t really count I love them but eh) ummm I think it was this really cool guy, his name is Jay, I tag him in a ton of shit, yeah he’s really awesome!~ and my fave, but yeah I saw him for a con and it was amazing!~ 10. are you good at hiding your feelings?Idk some people say they can’t tell certain emotions. Or they don’t notice them, others say the exact opposite, it all depends on the people and emotions 11. are you listening to music right now?Nope shockingly, I’ve been jamming out to my old childhood anthems these past few days haha 12. what is something you want right now?Probably to just chill with someone, just kinda cuddle with someone and watch movies and conspiracy YouTube videos tbh haha maybe do some other cool shit with? Idk but that would be nice haha, and money to pay off some people haha, 13. how do you feel right now?Kinda lonely, a little tired, but over all calm and just veggin out doing nothing haha 14. when was the last time someone of the opposite sex hugged you? Two weeks ago I gave my friend Amanda a hug good bye, I ran into her at the fireworks show down the street from my apartment 15. personality descriptionYikes, a mess. I’m a scrappy cinnamon roll with a low key Lex Luther complex 😈Kinda explains why I want to legally change my name to Alyxxander… Hmmm haha 16. have you ever wanted to tell someone something but you didn’t?Tbh yeah, there’s lots of shit I’d love to say but don’t, wether for their protection or my own, sometimes some things are better left for better times or just never said 17. opinion on insecurities.They’re shit and we all hate them tbh but as long as you can find ways to get past them and have friends that support you and beat those insecurities down rather than make them worse, all is good!~  18. do you miss how things were a year ago?I don’t really know, like maybe some things, but tbh not much is really too different from last year. There’s a few things different hut tbh idk if that’s a good or bad thing anymore. I don’t really know haha 19. have you ever been to New York?State: yes, a few times, passing through and I’ve been to Buffalo.City: passed through but didn’t stay. I’d love to go one day though 20. what is your favourite song at the moment?hooked on a feeling (I make snapchat memes from that song haha,) 21. age and birthday?18 and May 28th!~ 22. description of crush.A have a few key words. L E G S. E Y E S. S M I L E. has the tiniest flatest butt, but I love it and think it’s real nice!~ ( Tbh doesn’t have the flatest ass out of all my friend group, but put of my closet friend group does XD) and once it’s relevant again H A I R. (( gee golly guys, I wonder who I described???)) haha 23. fear(s)Hahah many. Mostly personal ones but one I’ll be alright making a public one. Never being able to be there for my friends or those I care most about in any way at all.. Or to constantly cause them pain in some way..  24. height5'5/ 5'6? It’s been a while since I last got my height checked  25. role modelProbably Chris Evens, that gorgeous man, he’s the true captain frickin America  26. idol(s)I have alot but I can’t think of any of them ATM… 27. things i hateMany things.. But tbh just when people take credit for shit other people do, when someone bitches about how they should get something when they’ve literally done jack shit to get it, or when people act like a total douche just because something won’t go their way, wether it be a giant thing or the tiniest fucking thing… 28. i’ll love you if…Enjoy my forms of affections, I enjoy lots of hugs and cuddling kinda stuff.. Haha that or if we can do cool shit together and just be open enough to connect on some form of level. You gotta have the vibes man, ya know? 29. favourite film(s)The Danish Girl Lots of horror movies Any Tim Burton film The crow  30. favourite tv show(s)Voltron Steven UniverseAnd a bunch of old cartoons from when I was a kidEspecially invader ZimOmfg that was my shit  31. 3 random facts1.) I’m complete total trash, I named my most recent animals after overwatch characters, I have 6 now, 3 Guinea pigs (Dva(f) Aki(m) Oreo(m)), 2 gerbils (Mercy(f) Widow(f)), and a mouse he’s Junkmouse he’s such a Sweetie!~ and he’s teeny!~That awesome guy that sent the ask, Jay, yeah his idea with naming junkmouse and then I just kinda couldn’t help but keep it going cause it just fit too well, soon I’m gonna run out of names I know it haha

2.) I feel like this should go out, cause this wasn’t on the ask lost but it should be hahamy favorite color is blue, but the color I feel with is usually yellow or orange

3.) I’m really into witchcraft and things associated, and I want to get better at it haha 32. are your friends mainly girls or guys?Ehhhhh, even cause I can only think of the three people I converse with the most or at all, I have one friend who identifies as female, another who identifies as female(I think) idk she’s a all over the place, and then one who identifies as male, so it’s kinda even but leans more towards females 33. something you want to learnMany things, mostly how to be a better friend, every language I can get for free on my Rosetta stone app, and ASL,  34. most embarrassing momentEhhhhh there’s two but they’re insanely personal haha 35. favourite subjectArt. Science. Spiritual/religious shit. Sociology. Animals. Games. Shows. Conspiracy shit. Scary spooky shit. haha (I’m not in school anymore so these are just random things I talk alot about haha) 36. 3 dreams you want to fulfill?1.) like to visit Asia or at least one other country over seas2.) get better at art or photography and maybe make a job out of it3.) just make it through life and enjoy what I can about it 37. favourite actor/actressActors: Johnny Depp, Allan Rickman, Eddie Redmaine.Actress: Helena Bonham Carter 38. favourite comedian(s)Adam Grabowski (seriously check this guy out, he’s a riot, the Disney princesses skit he does, one of the best, if not check out the board games one, 10/10) 39. favourite sport(s)Swimming and hiking are what I count as sports and I barely even do those tbh.. Sleeping and see how long I can stay in my house uncovered by society are my true sports. Tbh I went out for fireworks, and a con so far this summer, I’m doing great haha. 40. favourite memoryOoo idk any right now haha 41. relationship statusSingle Pringle, but I’m stick in the can, cause I ain’t ready to mingle. I got my eyes set on someone even if it won’t happen. But it’s nice to try at least c: 42. favourite book(s)I used to have one but I can’t think of it off the top of my head, I used to be hella into the Percy Jackson series though, Rick’s a good author haha  43. favourite song everYikes, I don’t know dude haha 44. age you get mistaken forEhhhhh either 14/15 or like 20/21 so not entirely off but like I’m either hella legal or hella illegal XD 45. how you found out about your idolI don’t really know,  46. what my last text message saysI K R ! ! ! ! ! ! LIKE SEE!!! 47. turn onsMmm not sure, but I’m up to find out physical ones c; haha but in all seriousness, just consent, respect, and open minded vibes. Just of I get the right vibes off you. 48. turn offsI don’t get the right vibes off you.Really extremely bratty kids. Rich or not. Just bratty ass kids. And people who have no shame or humility  49. where i want to be right nowTbh, my own apartment, either chilling with a close ass bud, or maybe traveling around, just somewhere else that seems more exciting or comforting. 50. favourite picture of your idolN/a 51. starsignGemini!~ haha 52. something i’m talented atI’ve heard??? I’m good??? at art??? And then I have negative ones but Imma keep those put of here ahaha, but I’m good at art??? And cooking??? /baking??? From what I’m told haha 53. 5 things that make me happy1.) My pets2.) Not being bothered when in playing my games/ When my house only has yours truly scurrying around the place3.) food, and chilling with a good show or movie4.) getting to chill with my friends and do cool ass shit,5.) getting the chance to give cheesy ass affections, whether it’s platonic or not, I LIKE TO SNUG ALRIGHT!?!?!? SNUGGINS ARE WHAT MAKE THIS WORLD GO FUCKING ROUND MAN LIKE SHIT.(Imma throw in a sixth one cause this is important)6.) getting to get turnt with some good friends and the Devils sweet green grass when I have the chance, (GONNA FOR MY MED CARD SOON B, HMU I’M EXCITE) 54. something thats worrying me at the momentTwo things, money (always), screwing shit up beyond the point of no return with my closest friend..  55. tumblr friendsI got like three? One of which is the only one I ever tag, or talk to haha, that’s this cool dude at the very top of this post here, yeah him!~ that little stud!~ c: 56. favourite food(s)All????????? 57. favourite animal(s)Ehhhhh, all?????????But mostly cats, and my pets haha  58. description of my best friendEhh mm, Well I’ll do my two closest friends ATM, Ok one super chill dude, described him a bit at the top, he’s got LEGS alright, and those eyes, fucking end me haha, but yeah, he’s really awesome, but hell he’s super complex, and that’s probably the coolest thing about him, he’s on a whole bunch of other levels my guy

Then the second one, she’s cool, she’s pretty quite, but low key really adventurous and pretty open minded and grounded, but she’s a cancer. So there’s that… Haha she’s reliable tho, she’s been there since kindergarten, so I feel bad not giving her a little credit. 59. why i joined tumblrMostly for my childhood friend Liz, but I didn’t know how to use this god forsaken site, but I found a new reason to back in like sophomore/ junior year, cause again Jay XD. I needed my daily fix of memes and this guys got the best quality memes alright? He is the meme king!!!~ XD  60. ask me anything you wantN/a

Thanks my guy!!!~ it was fun answering all the asks!~ (even if I lost them like five or six times haha)

#Jay #about my life #my asks

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skygatecreations · 8 years ago

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what up i was tagged by @kaitenkenburokuren

RULES: Answer all the questions, add one of your own and tag as many people as there are questions

not tagging that many ppl either.

not taggin no one because I pmuch know all of em pretty well and they all busy being awesome at life. but thank for the tag, these fun despite how smartass I sound.

under cut lmao <- same bro

1. Coke or pepsi? coke <-same

2. Disney or dreamworks? Disney has a higher hit vs. miss ratio with me, but Dworks got some good ones.

3. Coffee or tea? Coffee bro.

4. Books or movies? prolly movies. usually animated sh** that I use as ‘inspiring background noise’ and don’t actually watch a lot of the time.

5. Windows or mac? Windows cause it’s what I know best. Also I don’t tend to like Apple’s monopoly-ish-ness.

6. DC or marvel? Marvel pm strictly because I like the movies. No clue on comics...Also ol X-men cartoon Storm was my homegirl as a youngling. I honestly think she might have subliminally created the thing I have for white hair lol

7. Xbox or playstation? Playstation cause that’s what fell into my lap.

8. Dragon age or mass effect? no.

9. Night owl or early riser? night owl <- same

10. Cards or chess? cards...but preferably neither because I’m uncannily terrible at non-video games...k actually pretty bad at vid games too but the nons...Jesus Christ 8/

11. Chocolate or vanilla? Are we talking ice cream because that kinda important op. like get yer sh** together...anyway if yes, then Chocolate.

12. Vans or converse? probably neither. not usually my look...also I’m picky as Hell.

13. Lavellan, Trevelyan, Cadash or Adaar? ...what you just call me bro?

14. Fluff or angst? angst in certain doses. Also I’m picky even with that.

15. Beach or forest? both.

16. Dogs or cats? both

17. Clear skies or rain? both kinda - no like...that patchy sort of cloud+sun after it rains that makes the light look all awesome and sh**

18. Cooking or eating out? eating out, but if I learn to cook more it’ll probably be a harder call.

19. Spicy food or mild food? mostly mild. There if like, 1 at times very spicy food that hurts me but tastes freaking amazing lol but been trying some slightly spicer that my normal jam foods lately.

20. Halloween/samhain or solstice/yule/christmas? can’t decide. strangely apathetic at this...slightly concerned about myself now. thanks for the existential crisis, man.

21. Would you rather forever be a little too cold or a little too hot? maybe a lil too hot tbh. just increase water intake and *thumbs up*. cause a lil too cold makes the migraines worse. like ‘difference between vom-ing or not’ worse.

22. If you could have a superpower, what would it be? Flight bro.

23. Animation or live action? Animation. like good 2D Disney-ish stuff, not this eyesore bullsh** on CN these days.

24. Paragon or renegade? Apache attack Helicopter. idk.

25. Baths or showers? shower <- same...I like baths but I don’t have a plug for the tub so they don’t happen much...

26. Team cap or team ironman? shut up I haven’t seen that movie yet.

27. Fantasy or sci-fi? depends on the mood.

28. Do you have three or four favorite quotes, if so, what are they?

‘Fall seven times, Stand up eight’, ‘Don’t be afraid of dying, be afraid of not living’, ‘Fly as far into the crash as you can’ (or ‘drive’ if we talkin cars) ‘You panic, you die.’ ...idk, a lot of stuff I heard from people that are generally a lot braver and cooler than I am lol.

29. Youtube or netflix? Youtube. Can’t afford netflix. check yo privilege damn.

30. Harry potter or percy jackson? HP. not even close.

31. When do you feel accomplished? *bitter, empty laughter*

32. Star wars or star trek? Not a space opera fan but if I have to choose, Star Wars all the way. because it’s a little LESS space opera.

33. Paperback or hardback books? hardback but can’t say no to all the free classic ebooks that I’ve been finding. Bro. Read the Jungle Book(s). the REAL ones. That mess is epic. All movies made of it so far are SH** and it will anger you once you learn how sh** they really are.

34. Horror or rom-com? Rom-com if must choose. because I have an overactive imagination and I will have f-ed up dreams. My sleep pattern is sh** enough as it is lol...and yet I listen to a lot of ‘true scary story’ narrations...

35. TV shows or movies? tv shows because easy background noise

36. Favourite animal? MANY. Dogs, cats, horses, sharks...

37. Favourite genre of music? MANY. like...only criteria is “do I like it?’. notables are classic rock, epic soundtrack-y sh**, and I’m super hooked on synthwave right now...which basically means I like 80′s synth music...

38. Least favourite book? idk, if I dislike something that much I stop reading/don’t read. I guess Hunger Games series qualifies tho compared to everything I’ve read. Not a bad story, but I really...don’t like first-person perspective...so cringe. sooo shamelessly made for self-insert fantasies.

39. Favourite season? fall I guess.

40. Song that’s currently stuck in your head? toss up between Neo-tokyo and Running in the Night (totally freaking different vibes? told you I like a lot of sh**)

41. What kind of pyjama’s do you wear? usually-loose camisoles and soft pants/shorts, preferably of Jersey material. I dislike fuzzy ‘warm’ sh**. let the blankets do their damn job lol

42. How many existential crises do you have on an average day? my whole life is one big existential crisis.<- SAME BRO

43. If you can only choose one song to be played at your funeral, what would it be? Bruh that dark.

44. Favourite theme song to a TV show? tbh AS a theme song? ...probably Yuichi ikusawa’s WARRIORS from one of the Yugioh openings. Pretty damn epic. only up to a certain point of the full song tho (opening cut is fine). eventually he starts doing this weird actually laughable thing with his voice and ruins it.

45. Harry potter movies or books? Books. movies are good for book movies though.

46. You can make your OTP become canon but you’ll forget that tumblr exists. will you do it? OTPs are great but I have friends on tumblr and some that I I’m having active interactions with and are expecting stuff from me. I sacrifice the OTP for my duties. *salutes*

47. Do you play an instrument and if so, what is it? *more bitter laughing*

48. What is the worst way to die? anything slow. Bonus bad points if you are alone and have time to think of your fam and friends and how your end will effect them...that got dark again. moving on :)

49. If you could be entirely invisible for a day, what would you do? idk man, maybe just go around looking for wild animals to hang out with without their knowledge...or the risk of being mauled. Or go places I’d never go by myself because ghetto-as-hell and just chill.

50. If you could have personally witnessed anything in history what would it be? The first hop of the Wright Flyer. Dawn of powered flight bitches.

51. If you could understand animals but you could never understand humans again, would you? ...bruh. No. like I know a lot of people would think that would be cool and sh** but if you think ‘people just don’t get you’ now, imagine if you really were incapable of communication. like...sh** would suck. And you’d have to be a hermit somewhere with no money cause no/extremely limited livelihood options...is my adult showing? I feel like my adult is showing.

52. What is your most favourite album currently? I don’t really do albums. I pick and choose what I like.

53. What is your favourite TV show character? lots of them. usually the dudes with complex/’juicy’ backstories...which is pretty boring because a lot of people would probably say that. because those tend to be the most interesting.

54. What is something you were obsessed with as a child? doggies idk

55. Do you have any tattoos/piercings and if not would you like any? just single earlobe piercings.

56. Biggest pet peeves? hard to call. a lot of things annoy me lol. maybe people not taking responsibility for their own actions/bullsh**.

57. A place you’ve always wanted to visit? Close between Germany or Japan, I got family both places. Japan narrowly wins.

58. cheesecake or carrot cake? carrot cake if it good...and doesn’t have deer turds- I mean raisins. ...I think I got all of them? idk you see one I missed lemme know.

#lol I sound like such a smartass in these but I actually like a lot of this tagging stuff #I just usually don't tag other people because reasons above. Also I don't have that many friends. :)

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