#its a bit messy but thats what i was aiming for since i want more loose lines and to not worry about it too much

[mirioho]

epel has the prettiest hair color hands down

[corvidshipping]

modern au red/milo dump while i try to get myself together to answer asks nd work on ATJ:

(tw for alcohol mentions near the end, also this is an EXTREMELY long post, its so long that even after i split it into categorized sections each section could be its own post)

CLOTHING

milo absolutely has no sense of fashion. i feel like this is basically canon - for the styles at the time, he dresses fairly basic, mostly focused on looking put together for his job (definitely dresses aimed more towards how he would like to be treated by his peers, despite his actual position - then again our best example outside of the expedition is when he's about to deliver what he considers the most important presentation of his life, so who knows, maybe he usually dresses like a slob). aside from that his main concern seems like practicality and comfort. his wardrobe is dominated by earth tones - beiges and greens set with white and greys. all of that taken into account, i can see him dressing like this in a more modern era:

basically- a lot of cardigans, usually collared shirts or comfortable turtlenecks (since he does still occupy a research position at the smithsonian, even if only in title), big ol' coats, khakis and chinos and slightly stiff dress pants complete with ironed creases. i can see him wearing similar clothes outside work, just more comfortable - jeans and knitted shirts, henleys, more turtlenecks, and comfy cardigans over short sleeved shirts. i dont really see him wearing a lot of prints, i think he'd veer more towards solid clothes in lighter colors, but maybe he has a few. hes definitely the kind of guy to think of wearing the single graphic tee he owns as "bold and wild".

im very married to the idea of him wearing converse though. i cant explain it. milo in converse keeps me going in this world

hes kind of broke so i think maybe he got the converse secondhand maybe? or a gift of some kind. aside from the converse i can see him wearing a lot of oxfords and maybe wingtips

i want to see him in a hawaiian shirt so bad. i am losing it at this thought. he buttons it all the way up to his neck like someones awkward dad. milo wears a hawaiian shirt to "let loose". he wears it with like, khakis. or knee length jorts AHHHHDJHDSGJHDSJGh

a tie??? does he wear his hawaiian shirt with a tie???? does he think it makes it look cooler?????????? i am sobbing

red is the COMPLETE opposite. in the canon 1914 setting, red is already very rebellious for an AFAB person of their era- theyre openly a suffragette, they frequently refuse to wear skirts even in public and dress in mens clothes even before they were openly nonbinary, despite not being accepted into the male-dominated research fields and colleges they continue to educate themself with or without help, they purposely aim for an "unfeminine" silhouette when they dress, refuse to wear corsets, etc. (spoiler alert- there's a clear reason they get on so well with audrey in ATJ)

theyre also easily mistaken by people that didnt know them prior to their transition for being just a very small/young cis man- even though they canonically have a very soft "traditionally feminine" face

so basically, in any era theyre set into, red is always gonna aim to be ahead of the curve- both in their personal beliefs and practices and in their fashion. theyre also very androgynous in their clothes, although they tend to aim a bit more masculine (thats partially due to the era though, and having been forced into skirts exclusively for their entire life- i think in a modern setting where its more acceptable for AFABs to dress and act in a less hyperfeminine way, theyd be more okay with a fluidity in their gender presentation).

all that taken into account, i can see them dressing like this:

lots of baggy clothes, especially baggy jackets and shirts. they like loose fitting high waisted pants like JNCO jeans, cargo pants, etc but they arent averse to pencil legs. they rarely ever wear skinny jeans or drainpipes though. messy hair is a lifestyle for them- their haircut is definitely home-done

you know how in BICSTLY they used to have really long hair before they cut it? in a modern au i can see them impulsively doing the cut at like 3am and waking milo up at his door cause they screwed it up and he ends up having to help fix it (even though hes literally no better at cutting hair than them. worse even)

definitely have an undercut bob- bob on top, shaven on the bottom layer. they might end up growing their hair into a mullet at some point if they get bored. probably dyes their hair all the time out of boredom and then regrets it later and has to use dye remover.

lots of ripped tights and fishnets, leggings with big loose crop tops, big hoodies, safety pin jewelry and homemade jewelry. maybe some sticknpokes.

all that said, they still know how to dress in a professional situation. since its a modern au theres really nothing holding them back from the education and career they canonically want but cant get in the 1910s, so i imagine they would work at the smithsonian as well, maybe their father helped them get the job? potentially in that case they might be his assistant- after all, he trusts their opinion on artifacts more than anyone else's.

at work you can still very much see the punk/skater/grunge/goth style but its more understated- turtlenecks, high waisted and looser dress pants, lots of black, slightly unbuttoned collared shirts with a loose overcoat and no tie

since i elaborated on milos shoe taste i may as well elaborate on red's: they definitely wear converse as well, probably newer than milo's since their father is fairly wealthy and they can afford it. they also have a doc martens collection. they have a pair of demonias but they never wear them and milo is really the only person to even know they own them, let alone see them in them. they really dont like to wear heels much, but they own a few just to play around with. they have a bad habit of wearing any laced shoes untied, but they never trip over the laces. they also use lace code- their most-worn Docs have purple laces on the right foot and yellow on the left. some of their Docs have (reclaimed) pink laces.

has an extensive pin collection including feminism pins, anti-racism pins, punk-related pins, skater-related pins, and pop culture pins (80s music, modern music, old movies, etc)

MUSIC TASTE

milo's into a lot of older music- stuff from the 50s is his favorite. really into jazz and ballroom style stuff. his favorite band is queen, i think- he likes the old-fashioned sound, the jazz-chamber-ballroom influences, the diversity of their lyrics, and the complexity between the guitar riffs, the basslines, and freddie's vocal runs as well as the vocal harmonies.

sometimes he hums good old fashioned lover boy to red and they two-step in the living room in their pajamas :pleading:

also very into rush. yes, he is a rush guy :pensive:.

also listens to a surprising amount of lo-fi? he really likes stuff that remixes older music with hip hop and lofi elements, like earl grey. nearly exclusively into instrumental stuff but also very into louie zong. he listens to it while he works a lot.

knows a lotttt of foreign artists, especially niche ones. fuckin LOVES casiopea

red's spotify is a goddamn mess. everything from 2000s emo, to classic 70s punk, to post-punk and new wave, to 90s pop, to rap. they cant be easily classified at all

their favorite bands are oingo boingo, prince, queen (they listen to a lot of their harder-rock music, but milo knows theyre into the ballads too. theyll never tell anyone else though), doja cat, lil nas, fall out boy, and billie eilish.

red recites the intro monologue to lets go crazy very seriously to make milo laugh, sometimes. they get very into it with their facial expressions. sometimes it devolves into a full air guitar/keyboard/drum and wild dancing session. milo does not know how to participate in this but he loves watching them have fun with it. sometimes they pull him off the couch to make him dance with them, though

they are a huge sucker for dark pop, vaporwave, retrowave, EDM, hip hop, emo, punk... etc etc. anything that combines any two or more of those genres in an original or interesting way gets their attention right away

there's a lot of sharing between the two of them- even though their music tastes are so different, they like a lot of the others taste, and theyre always up to listen to whatever their partner is playing.

red is a huge softie, and milo has found them more than once listening to or humming something he was playing for them the other day because it reminded them of him

speaking of which- in the 1914 canon, red can play piano. i think that carries over to a modern au, where they could play piano and by extension keyboard. i like to think they experiment with a lot of instruments but i doubt they ever really mastered any others. maybe theyre okay at drums or bass?

they learned to play and sing teo torriatte for milo, as a surprise. when they first performed it for them, they had everything set up for when he got home from work- the lights were dimmed, they had candles lit around the keyboard, they draped stuff in cloth to make it look pretty, they scattered flower petals around. when milo walked in and saw it all, he almost proposed then and there- the only thing that stopped him was that he would kick himself for the rest of his life if he did that without a ring.

HOBBIES/ACTIVITIES

milo is still an avid chess player in this, but i like to think hes in some kind of groupchat or text or discord server for it. he doesnt necessarily consider any of the others in the chat close friends, but he does know them all by name

he tries to get red into chess but they never really get it

he tells them all about the stuff that goes down in the games and they just. do not understand. but they love listening to him get excited about it anyway

"red you're not gonna BELIEVE this, eddie played an italian game on star today! i thought for sure she would see through it since everyone knows it but she slipped and he beat her in like, 13 moves! i wouldnt have believed it if i hadnt been there!"

"yes sweetie please tell me more" (barely disguised pained expression)

red is a skater and a regular at the skate park by the smithsonian

most regulars there know them by name, they can spot a newbie a mile away

they have a sticker of a broken tv with a skull inside of it on the underside of their board, its become recognized as a symbol of them unofficially

since theyre so regular and have been going there a lot longer than most of the other skaters that frequent the place, a lot of what they say is kind of just accepted as the rules

they have a bad habit of lecturing new kids who show up without knee/elbow pads or helmets at the very least. all the other skaters enforce it too. kids dont end up showing up without protective gear very often after their first visit

they brought a first aid kid and left it there and everyone has kept it stocked pretty well without them having to have much input. its kind of just a communal first aid kit

they once drew the broken tv symbol on the inside of a half-pipe and everyone started calling it red's ramp after that

they also started calling the bowl at the center of the park the Soup Bowl and now thats just accepted as the name. some of the newer kids genuinely thought that it was called that by the park and were shocked when they found out it was just a random nickname red gave it one day

theyve brought milo a few times but hes extremely awkward on his feet and could never really get his balance on a skateboard, and quite frankly red is afraid of what might happen if he tried even a low ramp, so he usually just sits at the rim of the bowl while red skates around

everyone knew he was their boyfriend before they even met him. a few of the regulars called him by name right away. one of them was certain red had brought him before.

but no

they just talk so fuckin much about him that its like they already know him

aside from skateboarding, red is pretty good on rollerskates/blades

they tried to take milo to a roller rink once but it was a disaster and they ended up going home, changing into pajamas, ordering chinese food, and marathoning movies till they fell asleep on the couch together. so not a total loss

theyre both very into movies. red is deep into horror and milo likes indie/art movies and just Cannot handle horror at all, but they both agree on old movies, from the 80s and 90s to like the 30s.

red has shown milo some of the classic horror movies and the niche old ones (from like the 40s) since theyre not difficult to stomach

every so often when red brings up wanting to see a horror movie milo is like "aw babe we can watch that tonight i promise it wont be bad" and he genuinely thinks he can handle it this time

he cant

he never can

it is always a lie

red ends up holding him every time and talking him to sleep, but it thankfully never causes like a major panic attack or anything like that

they love going to museums together, of all kinds. they love art museums. they also go to aquariums and aviaries

sometimes they like to go to other history museums and criticise the veracity or accuracy of exhibits/translations, all in good fun of course. theyre never actually being mean about it

SIDENOTES/UNCATEGORIZED

they both used to work at starbucks, when they were younger and before they worked at the smithsonian. they worked at separate stores 2 blocks from each other.

milo cant stand soda or carbonated drinks, red can and will chug a java monster in order to survive a long workday if they must. milo is constantly concerned for their health and wellbeing

they r both lightweights when it comes to drinking. they can split a six pack and both be falling-over drunk by the end of the night.

given the changes in beauty standards people DEFINITELY think milo is more attractive than they would in 1914. cmon. hes a lil twinky nerd. you think people wont eat that up?

he never really catches onto the flirting much though

did u think i would forget ki/da and the others? youd be wrong.

i simultaneously like the idea of something similar to the movie happening, but also just like... ki/da just being a regular person living on the surface. in either case they r all friends still

in the case of ki/da just being a regular person on the surface- i like the idea of atl/antis just being A Place in this au, maybe its a bit of a closed off country though? like, not many foreigners live there and to get there you basically need to be there as a diplomat or a scholar

maybe ki/da visits DC as a diplomat? she is a princess, after all

red meets audrey online cause they both yell at the same misogynistic asshole on twitter

they exchange discord names in the replies of the tweet and tell the guy not to interrupt them while theyre talking in his replies

i like to think red and milo are selected to go on an academic visit to atl/antis (to learn about the culture, with permission of the king), and audrey ends up as the mechanic on the ship during the visit and theyre like (spiderman pointing meme) at each other

red and audrey have so many inside jokes that they basically speak a different language. milo gets some of the terms from context and pop culture (they use "so very" in real life- as in "wow, that shirt is so very.") but he is hopeless to learn all of it

one of their inside jokes is any variation of "milo hot girl summer" and they REFUSE to explain it to him no matter how much he begs

milo wears that iconique tank top on the ship and they say it literally any time he bends over, picks anything up, reaches for anything, moves, BREATHES. he is bewildered and at this point concerned

(in truth, the joke came from red taking a really blurry picture of him in a short sleeve shirt where he looked pretty cute and captioned it "milo's having a hot girl summer rn" and they just could not stop repeating it once audrey met him IRL)

they have a minecraft world. i do like to believe that every so often vinny finds a way in- theyre never sure how- and griefs the shit out of them by blowing up EVERY. monument.

this post is getting long bc im enraptured by the idea of an atl/antis modern au so im cutting it off here but expect WAY MORE later

[mingjue]

give us the good werewolf!! i Must Know More

HEEHEE...............

ok BASICALLY, this will obviously be focused on Qinghe/the nie bros, so just for ref

Nie - Werewolf

Lan - Satyr

Jin - Elven

Jiang - Mermaid/Waterfolk

Wen - Draconic

WWX is vampire bc hes stupid and gay

Mingjue is half Elven, but you wouldn’t think he was asides from the big ears, Huaisang is full ‘wolf; jgy is elven/dryad; Wen Qing & Wen Ning are draconic/waterfolk

(For those who see this in the tags, this isn’t Om*g*v*rse or A/*/O do NOT touch this if u like that shit)

NOW, for actual werewolf content

The way the pack works in Qinghe is still pretty similar to clans in canon, just slightly different

Mingjue and his direct family are the head family Of Course, and they secure this position via duels/fighting should another family want to take over; these duels are common under stressful times, but Mingjue has been able to keep it held down. 

The duels are like.....scheduled ahead of time, and are held in a secure area; the rules are that you can’t kill your opponent, that if you win you must treat the wolf who lost, + only the wolf who challenged the leader can fight, no one else (and vice versa, only the leader can fight) can join in, And More

like you cant aim for vitals, use teeth beyond taunting, fights cant be scheduled during/near full moons, and the fighters must choose whether they will both fight in humanoid form or wolf form

 Clan elders supervise the fight, and have selected specific soldiers that will help break up the fight if anything goes wrong; doctors are also on stand by bc these fights get BLOODY (esp w mingjue)

Huaisang nearly loses his position after pretty much being back-to-back challenged for his position, which instilled the rule that duels can only happen three times a year. He’s managed to win his duels with his own tricks, but they can still end pretty bloody

Ranking is not much different due to the clans wanting consistency (also im stupid and gay)

The nies end up becoming the most medically advanced due to how dangerous shifting is; they develop medications to ease pain, different magic stuff to control body temperature, etc. etc.

and actually the Nies are known for being pretty wolves

TYPICALLY a fully shifted wolf during a full moon aren’t the prettiest things to look at; most commonly their fur is patchy, their limbs are obviously distorted, faces look mutilated in a sense, all that

BUT, due to advances in cultivation & medicine they’re able to be calm after a shift, so they’re able to keep up w personal hygiene LMAO

Mingjue personally is almost obsessive with keeping his fur a certain way to be both 1. Handsome :) 2. intimidating as hell; he has the advantage of getting rlly thick hair from his Elven side, so his pelt is flush. but he also leaves some of it “messy” and puffed out for the intimidation bit

huaisang keeps his completely brushed n smooth and he’s usually nested in his bed when he shifts. he was also blessed with the fullness in his pelt, but his chest/belly and thighs are more ‘bare’ compared to mingjue.

they also braid what parts of the fur they can; mingjue and huaisang have LOTS of braids as usual

ALSO the most common pelt color is black with white/lighter pelts being on the uncommon side, second most common are dark creams/browns/reds with black snouts/heads/legs/etc. 

Mingjue has ruddy brown + black snout/legs/all that; Huaisang has brown w black ticked (i have NO idea what the dog term is for that, its like the tips of the fur is black??) 

both have bright amber/yellow eyes

ALSO THEIR TAILS...........

ok. PRIMARILY. they dont have tails in human form, BUT, it’s possible, and it’s something that puppies/young disciples will usually let show??

Mingjue ONLY shows his tail when hes in private with someone close, like Huaisang or Xichen, and he Knows they won’t be walked in on. He just has this Thing where he’ll be fucking humiliated if someone else saw it. he also has rlly long fur on his tail so its PRETTY, he just thinks its childish

Huaisang on the other hand kept his tail out until he became the sole leader of the pack, save for like, banquets he attended with Mingjue bc mingjue would tell him to Quit It.

getting rid of a tail is an hour long process so mingjue has to watch the time to get huaisang before they go anywhere

if theres no time to hide a tail, tuck it in ur pants so it doesn’t move and hide it under layers

just. a tail in humanoid form is a different context than just seeing it when they’re shifted, and again a sign of childishness.

puppy ears in human form can also happen but it’s discouraged heavily because of the possibility of damaging ear canals.

OH ALSO, another reason why like, the nie clan has that GIANT ass wall surrounding its city, is because they go on total lockdown during full moons. 

puppies are a fucking MESS to deal with, and they run like. constantly. If they’re still it’s because they’re either eating something or they’ve passed out from exhaustion. Huaisang was a TERROR when he was a puppy and mingjue still has a scar on his arm from when he went ballistic from pent-up energy

SO! There’s different parts of the city where puppies and young wolves can run around, destroy shit, eat whatever, wrestle each other, all that, and they’re HEAVILY supervised by elders/adult wolves who have better control of themselves during fullmoons

the only wolves who can leave the area during a fullmoon are Mingjue and Huaisang, and maybe like, a really well-respected elder or two, but that’s it

and despite popular belief this is actually the WORST time to attack Qinghe. Every wall is guarded, everyone is in a state where they can mutilate someone thats usually considerably stronger than them in human form, and Everyone is on high-alert whether they’re destroying a tree or nearly unconscious

theres also areas in the city sealed off for weaker/sickly wolves who are taken care of by capable adults, citizens of other species, all that

full moons aren’t hated in qinghe! they’re quite fun if you’re a werewolf; the areas for Going Ham are usually packed with different stuff u can mess with, you just have to watch ur back

they also aren’t that violent bc again, intense supervision by elders and the like; and they’re becoming more and more festival like with cultivation and medical advancement

then of course, the sword situation is still very much the same; my version of werewolves are like, slightly allergic to silver, but piercing one or having silver near won’t kill a wolf. the most it will do is give them a rash :/

all of their jewelry/accessories are made out of different metals because of this, esp since Qinghe is rich with that (+jewels/gems bc i love that hc so much)

THENNN i think last thing for now, they DO wear some form of clothing in wolf form, MOST of the time

typically there’s enough fur to cover privates, but its not unusual for there Not to be enough fur, so there’s specially made hanfu for full moons that are custom made for each wolf

basically being a seamstress in Qinghe will Get You Places, bc tears will happen, people will want them adjusted if they’re passing them to another family member, fashion choices, etc. etc.

Mingjue normally wears really simple hanfu and dachangs (the like, over-robe thing), but xichen bought him a specially made hanfu that he likes to wear during really important events, should he be in wolf form :)

huaisang buys new full moon hanfu every few months He Likes To Sit And Feel Pretty By Himself............(Or Maybe For Jiang Cheng If He Visits..........)

[churchsplayground]

“. . .”

The Pawn Symbiote - LF symbiotes

Pawn is only 33 years old, having been spawned at the life foundation (1986) as part of an anti-symbiote project. They are considered the second oldest of the siblings, however, they all are the same age, except the Knight symbiote.

Pawn is referred to as She/Her currently, however, this is subjective and based only on their current host's gender. They do not retain any personal preferences.

Pawn has a fixed height of 7′3″ as a humanoid, it does not change despite the host. -

Pawn lives at the LF with her siblings and parent symbiote in a special container just for them.

It should be noted Pawn does not possess a mouth on a regular basis, and for this reason, is a strong silent. That doesn’t mean they don’t talk, they speak when they want. Only rarely do you see them actually forming a mouth, they often just use a lot of gestures, somehow people still know what she’s talking about (or at least her siblings).

Pawn is a sassy, silver-tongued, she-devil of a symbiote, she can often be seen causing trouble with her sibling Rook. Breaking out of their containment, causing on-site property damage, just being rebellious in nature, acting out much as teens do, it seems they haven’t quite matured enough to grow away from this phase.

Pawn is extremely silent and sneaky, for this, she has earned her place as being able to do more things even the most talented human assassin could pull off. She is often paired in ‘missions’ with her sibling Bishop due to his particular skill set. Pawn doesn’t often abide by the mission’s rules often taking a more messy, bloody approach to things. Ignoring her brother bishop most time due to his passive nature.

Pawn is the LF’s most aggressive symbiote runner up to their parent symbiote, she is often the problem when it comes to keeping staff safe.

Pawn only shows tameness towards Amy, only allowing her to work with and host the symbiote. Pawn has attempted to kill many tester hosts/volunteers that were not Amy or her mother Samatha. Pawn is considered a highly dangerous and problematic symbiote. Often seen putting up fights or flat out trying to kill some staff that was not to her liking.  

Pawn is a very murderous symbiote for reasons unknown, a possible fascination with human death is most likely the cause. Despite this, the symbiote does not seem to be corrupted by this mindset. Only words that could describe her are Chaotic Lawful, she has reasons behind her madness and only seeks the better good... that is, with a little fun on the side.

Big warning… DO NOT sneak up on pawn or her host when bonded unless you want to become a target practice dummy or rather, a dead body. It’s really your choice, they rarely miss, I don’t think you’ll be too lucky for them to miss either.

Unlike her sibling Bishop, she does not take well to foreign symbiotes often treating them as pests and lower life forms. She doesn’t have much respect for the symbiote species often calling them things rather than beings. Then again she is from the same species, in a way she doesn’t think too highly of herself as being part of the species either. All in all, she’s kinda racist towards herself much like her sibling Rook.

Pawn is a little bit more knowledgeable than her siblings on the human world having had been around Amy when she was younger she was often told of many things the child was learning of, learning those things herself when her mother Samatha brought Amy to work.

Pawn stabs first and asks later. She doesn’t care if someones screaming in pain, she’ll get them to talk one way or another.

Two words: Sadistic goo.

Bonus: Pawn looks like she has six eyes, however, she only has four, the top set being fake, why is anyones guess, possibly just to make her loser brother Bishop feel lonely being the only symbiote in the family without more than four eyes (besides Knight that is).

Symbiote Specific Abilities:

Pawn is able to make sharp spears and blades from themselves and is extremely good at welding them having a lot of training doing so. Pawn can make anything from a short dagger-like blade to a long spear being able to impale. Pawn has a wide selection that she is able to create.

Pawn has an extremely good sense of aim, being able to throw these blades just about anywhere and in anyone, for this reason, Pawn is considered an assassin.

Somehow speaks without a mouth, how is unknown. Maybe it’s in people’s minds, maybe the sound is just coming from somewhere?

Minor - Much like her sibling Bishop she’s deathly quiet.

Minor - Pawn has sharp almost blade-like growths on her arms that can be quickly used to cut things like, rope or maybe throats. They are amazingly durable.

She only has:  A. Wits B. Stabby stabbers C. 100 sneak

Human Host - Amy Bergg

Amy is 5’9” and of the lastest is 27 years old

Amy has been working for LF for 7 years now, earning the job almost as soon as her mother had retired only due to the fact Pawn shows extreme violence to unknown hosts.  

Amy is most likely only part of the symbiote project due to relations with her mother Samatha and the known fact the Pawn symbiote is hostile to all other human hosts besides her mother and herself. Both Amy and her Mother are the only civilians accepted into the project.

Amy has known of Pawn’s existence since a very young due to her mother being unable to get someone to watch her daughter whilst she worked. Amy has a very close relationship to this symbiote for these reasons and is currently the only person able to host the symbiote without terrible repercussions.

Amy.. acts exactly like her symbiote. Sassy, doesn’t take shit for anyone. No wonder they get along so well. They’re the match made in heaven and they’ve known each other since a young age. Maybe thats why?

She secretly, might, possibly, ship her two co-team workers. I mean. IF she did, she would say they have some serious cute dynamics with each other and they both should stop being dumb with each other.

Amy loves her symbiote with all her heart because they’ve known each other for so long, they have a very close relationship, much like best friends.

Amy doesn’t treat her symbiote with no regard even if the LF says they symbiotes are not sentient she thinks otherwise, ever since she was little it felt like she was talking to something real, not fake. She thinks the “Are only acting human so that you’ll sympathize with the parasite and achieve a lasting bond so they can use you.” Is kinda bull. 

Bonus: Use to date Patrick (Knight’s Old Host) back in the day. “Patrick? I haven’t heard that name in years, you know he was a total charmer! I wonder how he turned out after all these years? Me and him use to date, haha. Too bad he had to move away because his parents kicked him out, I kinda miss that sweet smile. Bet he’s got a cute girlfriend now!”

< Special Notes - LF issued Warnings:

This symbiote is considered highly dangerous and extreme caution should be exercised around it.

Due to the [2016] symbiote incident. This symbiote is not to be taken off grounds unless instructed or permission is granted. >

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

Hey guys- Here’s the second one! Pawn’s ref, I have one more ready soon, I might have another one after that because I haven’t posted anything on the Knight symbiote!

As always if you’d like to know more about them you can always ask here. I always answer, unless the ask gets eaten or I’m stumped for an answer.

Also ~ In the keep reading undercut, you can find more 1 more drawing, don’t get to excited its just the one that was included on Bishop's ref! So nothing new at all!

Timestamp: January 19th, 2020 Related Links/Continuations: Siblings Ref - Bishop, (+1 coming soon)

- LF SYM HOSTS GROUP PICTURE -

Significance: A group drawing of all the LF symbiote hosts. This including Amy as a half drawing, meant to showcase all the hosts just having a group photo. This is included in all the symbiotes refs.

Left to Right: Zachary Ohenn (Bishop), Noah Keil (Rook), Amy Bergg (Pawn)

~ Thanks for reading ~

[queenofkings121-blog]

Duties of a Queen

[\Oh my gosh guys this is so messy! I wrote it in a walmart parking lot awhile back. Forgot about it til now. For what its worth, I hope y'all enjoy this./]

Warning: angst[?], violence [a but graphic]

A lone tear rolled down her cheek as she saw her betrothed placing a sweet kiss on lips that weren't hers.

'My heart belongs to you Gwen. It always has and always will. You know I'm only with her to secure the safety of this kingdom.

She knew that this marriage arrangement didn't begin with love, but she thought they had gotten there. She thought they were in love. Hell, they confessed their love for each other while in between the bedsheets the night before.

The situation would've rendered anyone broken, but Y/N wasn't weak. She straightened her posture, wiped the tear and made her presence known. Arthur and his lover were shocked. Y/N looked into the blue eyes she fell in love with. With a soft humourless chuckle she walked past him towards her chamber.

"Y/N!" Arthur yelled after her. He was hot on her heels. The prince nearly tumbled onto her when she stopped walking.

"If you are to apologize, don't. If you are here because of the treaty, leave." Her answer was simple. He ruined the chances of his kingdom being truly safe.

Y\N's kingdom, Nilanyth, was a small but lethal kingdom. It's got a quarter of the population of Camelot, but the 10 times the skill. All the citizens are required to learn how to defend themselves. Men,women, children. Its a four days ride from Camelot. With this alliance Camelot would've become the most protected kingdom.

Not only that, but what he said to Gwen wasn't the complete truth. Yes he loved Gwen, but he was happy and ready to marry Y/N. He was growing feelings for her but he's ruined those chances as well.

---

Arthur sat with his father for dinner but neither one ate. Uther because he had a lot on his mind, Arthur because the empty seat next to him was a reminder of his actions the previous day. He hasn't seen her all day and he could physically feel her absence. He would expect her to chuckle at something Gwain said, or reprimand Percival for being tall, but all he got was silence. It angered and saddened the Prince but he did not know why. He was about to speak when Y/N walked in.

She was dressed in her travelling gear and it confused both men.

"My King," Y/N said with a slight bow of her head before turning to Arthur. "Your majesty."

"Lady Y/N, is there a reason for this?" Questioned Uther.

"Yes, my King. I'm returning home. " Uther looked confused. "Before you say anything, allow me to explain." Uther nodded at the princess, all the while Arthur looked at her with a hurt expression. It was his fault.

"I will not marry your son. I simply cannot. I thought I could be in a love-less marriage but recent events proved otherwise. But the treaty stays. Nilanyth will assisst Camelot if the need ever arises. We will be allies and become a stronghold. Nilanyth will supply your people its protection, Camelot will supply my people with resources such as cattle and food."

"But your people are well off."

"This treaty is not onesided Uther, and I refuse it to be. My people are well off, but we do not supply without receiving. Selfish, yes, but it secures my kingdom."

"But it is not fair." Arthur piqued.

Aiden narrowed her gaze on the prince. "You know naught of being fair, nor taking care of those whom you claim to love. I do not expect you to understand this." She turned towards the king. "That is all. I return to my kingdom either with a signed treaty or not, it doesn't effect me nor my people at all. I'm merely doing this for your sake."

The King and Prince both relaxed their shoulders knowing that Camelot is safe, and it seems thats all they cared about. Her mother was right. True love is hard to come by when you're royalty. It seems everyone has different needs for a princess, but none for the girl.

"I bid thee a farewell and a safe trip back home Lady Y/N. The treaty will be signed before your departure. For what its worth, I am truly sorry that it didn't work out between you and my son. You would've made a fine Queen of Camelot." Uther replied. Y/N simply nodded and turned to leave. She desperately wanted the Prince to run after her and tell her that he made a mistake. That he truly loved her, but he sat still on his chair.

Y/N mounted her horse later that day with a stoic expression, and with a swift kick she left Camelot and the person who broke her heart.

---

It's been two weeks since the departure of Y/N and Arthur hasn't been the same. He's been moody, snapping at everyone, even Gwen. She was mad that Y/N could have such a hold on him even when she wasn't present. Her and Arthur fought more frequently, and made love less. When they did it was rough and quick, and void of love and affection.

Their fights have gotten more vocal and not a single ear within the walls of the castle were strangers to it.

"It's not a matter of you being a servant Gwen! Its a matter of you not being Y/N!" Arthur yelled and immediately regretted the words. The look on his loves face broke his heart.

"W-what?"

With a sigh, Arthur decided he needed to come clean. "Gwen, there was a time that I truly loved you. You were my world, but it seems that my heart yearns for someone else. Just as yours is." He wasn't stupid. He saw the glances and touches between Gwen and Merlin.

The two talked about what would happen for hours and came to a conclusion to end it. It wasn't healthy and they weren't happy together. Not anymore.

But Gwen went to her lover while Arthur went to his room. He wished to travel to Nilanyth but he knew he was unwelcomed. Especially after how he hurt Y/N. He knew he could go, but it would be for politics. Anything else, he would overstay his welcome. So, he settled for a letter.

---

Its been many moons since he sent his first letter. He would send one every week, and just like the week before, it went unanswered. He hoped and wished that she has been reading them. They would fall on deaf ears. He didn't expect her to answer. He heard of the passing of her parents not long after his second letter was sent. He desperately wanted to go and comfort her, but the funeral for the Royals was private. Only those in the Kingdom were allowed, and close friends of the couple from the other kingdoms.

The late Royal couple of Nilanyth fell ill with a sickness that no warlock, healer, or magician could heal. Y/N was heartbroken. She loved her parents dearly and to have them both gone crushed her soul. She knew the duties of being a Queen and King. Her father taught her that just because she was a female didn't mean she wasn't capable, and so he taught her the ways of a King as her mother did with being a Queen. He also taught her that having a man by her side is a mere accessory. That she didn't need a man to validate her. Her name alone should and is validation enough.

Y/N sat in front of her parents graves, along side of her ancestors, just staring at the headstones. A bitter smile came across her face.

"I miss you guys."

A warm breeze flew by and wrapped around the newfound Leader. The breeze was gentle yet had an aggressive feel to it. It danced around her, almost along to a song she couldn't hear. It felt like a hug from her parents. A hug hinting that everything will be OK. That she wasn't alone, never has and never will.

The Prince of Camelot seized sending his letters for his father had succumbed the same fate Y/N parent's had.

The two were now both crowned rulers of their own respective kingdoms.

---

Camelot was attacked by Morgana and her men and they nearly won if it wasn't for the warriors of Nilanyth. Just as they were about to slaughter the entire Kingdom, Riders of Nilanyth, being led by Y/N, rode in and swept the kingdom of the enemies.

Morgana screeched as she saw her people getting slaughtered by Y/N's warriors. Her eyes changed colors as she chanted a spell to discombobulate the new arrival. She smirked as Y/N's men fall unconscious. Morgana would've killed them, but she knew that whats left of her men would need morality boosts and in order to do so, they needed to kill. Morgana had just made that easier for them, but her thinking of her men would cost her greatly.

Y/N looked around and spotted the reason her men weren't able to fight. She charged her horse towards sorceror, but switched paths at the last second, riding for Morgause. Y/N knew that she had confused the sisters and used it to her advantage.

Y/N raised her sword, gripped the stirrups on her horse, and mightily swung her sword efficiently and effectively decapitating the blonde, as she rode by. She pulled the stirrups and signaled for her horse to stop and turn to face Morgana. She saw the black haired girl stare at her sisters headless body in shock. Y/N held out her blade and flicked her wrist, ridding her sword of the sorcerors blood, all while staring at Morgana.

From the corner of her eye she saw Gwain and Percival slowly approaching them. She shook her head and rode for Morgana once more, only to have her thrown off her horse by the use of magic. The Queen landed and hear a SNAP! and Y/N knew she had broken something, but she had a part to play in history and being dead wasn't it.

She had toughed through the pain, grabbing her sword and circled Morgana. The Queen ran and swung her sword purposely a bit too high. The force of her swing had caused Y/N to stumble forward. She turned quickly and aimed her sword at the enemy. Y/N looked over the sorcerers shoulder and saw the two knights in place. She stepped forwars and swung, partially hitting her target. She huffed and threw a steel star at Morgana. The latter turned her head and raised her hand to catch it. Just as she did Y/N rolled and sliced her sword towards the others midsection. Y/N ended on one knee, both hands gripping the handle of her sword, raised by her shoulder. She stood and turned to face Morgana. The sorceror laughed.

"You mis--" She was cut short as she coughed up blood. She looked down to her midsection and see her guts. Her eyes widened as she tried to fix herself.

Y/N raised her sword to her left, slashing to the right, cutting below her neck. Her sword flew slightly but she was quick to grab the handle, so that the hilt faced her, and swung her hand backwards sticking the sword into Morgana's head, ending her reign.

The two knights scoffed and Y/N smirked at them.

"She knew of your presenc. She assumed that I was going to be distraction, but distraction was not distraction, but merely a distraction to the distraction."

"I have naught a clue of what you just said Lady Y/N." Gwaine said utterly confused and tired. "Do you?" He asked Percival.

"I think?"

Y/N laughed. "Neither do I Sir Gwaine and Sir Percival. Speaking of distractions, where is your King?"

"He and Merlin are taking care of Mordred. Why do you ask?" Gwaine wiggled his eyebrows.

"Duties. Nothing more, nothing less."

The two Knights stared at her receding figure in thought. Both thinking it is shame that their King had let such a wonderful person walk out of his life.

[nessiefromspace]

Bandit rhys x bandit timothy ? :>aybe bit of a gorey valentine aka making a ring out of.. bones? Proposel? If thats too much just something with them wouls be good too!

Bandits Tim and Rhys have been captured for the pleasure of an unknown woman, forced to fight in an arena everyday. When they escape, Rhys has a proposal. 

This is definitely gory, hope you like it! Rhys is an idiot

You can also read this on my AO3!!!

It had been days since Rhys had seen daylight, but he thanked his lucky stars that he could hear Tim sleeping in the cell next to him. It was a shitty cell, but it was just sturdy enough that they couldn’t easily escape. They hadn’t seen the bandits coming and hadn’t expected them to quietly capture them and throw them into a fighting ring. Now, they were cast against all sorts of skags, beasts and psychos for the entertainment value of some crazy woman.

In the soft glow of the light outside his cage, Rhys, with a hidden knife he’d stolen, whittled on a large piece of bone. He was making a ring. He worked on one every night in different sizes. He had no idea what Tim’s size was, but once they killed the woman, they would escape and he’d propose.

A day later, Rhys and Tim stood in the arena, but Rhys could not believe what they were facing. The crazy woman laughing at their misery, pressed a button to open the large gate. In stepped the largest robot Rhys had ever seen and he’d lived on Helios.

“What the fuck!” Tim growled, eyes large.

Timothy hardly swore, even while they’d been in the arena. Rhys took a hold of his hand. “We’ll get through this, I promise! I do have a plan…” He quickly told it to Timothy, who was calmer now that he knew what he needed to do.

“Got it!”

And then psychos and bullymongs were released. Rhys swore, pulling Tim away from the fight. As long as the bullymongs didn’t notice them, they’d be alright. They were all over the psychos, tearing into them, blood and limbs flying everywhere. The harsh crunch of bone in the bullymong’s jaws made Timothy shiver. He moved closer to Rhys as they made their way to the robot that shot lasers at them. They dodged and weaved, keeping silent. Focused.

Psychos ran and screamed, trying to escape from the arena, but the bullymongs charged, thrashing and ripping at their skin. A psycho ran towards them, arm dangly wildly, barely connected. Rhys winced as the psycho’s erratic movement forced its arm to detach fully, flying across the ground to their feet.

“NOPE. RHYS WE’RE DONE HERE!” Timothy squealed, jumping behind Rhys. He tugged Rhys’ hand, hauling him away from the screaming psycho and towards the robot. “Are you close enough, yet?”

They had been careful. Rhys’ hair had been shaggy enough that the bandits had missed his eye port. He activated it now and began to do his specialty. He began to hack into the robot’s systems, bypassing the firewalls easily. He didn’t focus where he was going, that was what Tim was doing. He would protect Rhys, he always protected Rhys. Timothy shot at the psycho, swearing at it.

“I just wanted to see what being a bandit would be like! Simple! But no! We had to be kidnapped by that bitch! Name one other bandit who’s been captured like this? Exactly! It’s just us!” He shot off a few more rounds, taking down a bullymong. If Rhys hadn’t been concentrating, he would have been extremely impressed.

Timothy shoved him against a wall, kneeling down and aiming, shooting anything that got too close. He prattled on, irritated, his aim sharper the angrier he got. Rhys let his guard down, trusting in Timothy completely. He worked his way through the security system, smirking as he clicked the last code into place.

“I’m in.” Rhys said, watching as the robot stopped shooting in their direction. He had full control and no one else could hack in. He sent commands to the robot, shooting lasers at bullymongs and stepping on psychos.

The crazy woman screamed. Moments later, the large gate opened and more psychos, skags and huge bullymongs ran out, fast on their trail. Timothy and Rhys made quick work of them, Tim shooting any that survived the robot’s destruction. Rhys turned the robot to face the view box where their captor sat. She tried to run away, but Rhys zapped her, frying her into a charred corpse.

Timothy cheered, pulling Rhys into a messy, dirty kiss. “You did it! I knew you could! You’re so incredibly amazing! Let’s get the hell out of here so we can have celebratory sex!” He tugged on Rhys’ arm, pulling him out of the arena, where they worked their way up to the view box. The smell of charred flesh was strong and grossly intoxicating. They covered their mouths, choking. There was a large charred circle in the woman’s chest. They moved around her, searching for the keys to get out.

When they came up empty they looked at the dead body. Groaning they looked at each other, shoving a fist out into the air, they pumped them three times. Rhys produced scissors, while Tim, eyes wide, groaning in misery, produced paper.

“Shit. This day sucks.” Timothy bent down by the woman. He coughed and choked, gagging profusely. “Fucking fuck it smells!” he choked. He reached into her pocket, searching. He frowned. “It’s not here.”

“What?” Rhys sighed. He thought for a moment. “Could it be in her… Room?”

Timothy stood and they both left, closing the door. They took large gulps of the musty air, clearing their sinuses. They moved about the place, shooting and killing any bandit that moved around freely. It was fairly easy to find the woman’s room, locating it in the cleaner part with the only door Rhys had to hack.

“Woah…”

“Ew!” Tim shivered, clinging to Rhys. “This woman was balls ass crazy.”

“Yeah, she was!” Rhys said, walking in. The room was decorated in black and bones. Lots of bones everywhere. There was a circle at the end of her bed made out of bones. They cautiously went in. Chains, whips and complicated strapped harnesses hung on the walls.

“Ew,” Timothy said, the idea of that crazy woman being sexually active, made Timothy shiver. “This lady…”

“Yep.”

“Who do you think..?”

From behind them, the door was pushed open. “Hey! You’re the assholes that killed our wonderful mistress!”

“Oh…” Timothy said, aiming his weapon at him. “Look, we just want out of here, where’s the key?”

Pouting, he crossed his arms. “I’m not going to tell you! You killed our mistress!”

Timothy grimaced and shot the bandit, his blood splattering on the black walls. They returned to search around. They were both hesitant to open drawers, not wanting to discover anything else, but they proceeded. Rhys found the key and pocketed it.

He turned to tell Tim, but stopped to watch him. He was strong, always stronger than Rhys and he always knew what to do. Rhys had no idea how he’d managed to get Tim to love him, but he vowed never to take him for granted. He met the ex-doppelganger in the middle of the room, pulling Timothy over.

He froze. “Why did you pull me in here? Rhys, we’re in the weird circle of bones…”

Rhys searched in his pocket for one of the many rings he’d made during their stay. He knelt down on a knee. “We’re out of danger, and I told myself the first thing I’d do is this.”

“What… Are you…” Tim asked, eyes wide.

“Timothy Lawrence, love of my life-”

“-Please don’t tell me you’re proposing-”

“-Will you be mine forever and-”

“-In a literal circle of bones-”

“-make me the happiest bandit by marrying me?” Rhys held out the carved ring.

Timothy’s eyes grew wide and he started to vigorously shake his head. “RHYS! You can’t propose to me with a bone ring in a CIRCLE OF BONES! I can’t even begin to think of all the bad omens this has!” Timothy tried to yank his hand away.

In a panic, Rhys tried to slip the ring on before Tim pulled away. It stuck at the tip of his finger, too small to fit any further.

“Seriously!?” Timothy yelled, shaking his hand and flinging the ring. He hopped out of the circle. “You are so lucky that didn’t fit!”

Rolling his eyes, Rhys stepped out of the circle and knelt back down in front of Timothy. “Timothy, love of my life, will you be mine forever and make me the happiest bandit and marry me?”

Timothy shook his head. “You’re such an idiot.” His lips curved in a smile and he rolled his eyes. “Yeah, of course I will.”

Rhys grabbed all the rings he’d made and sorted through them.

“This is what you did every night?” Timothy asked.

“I was determined.” He grabbed one and placed it on Timothy’s finger. It fit perfectly. Rhys stood and kissed Tim. “Okay, let’s get the hell out of here.” He tossed the rest of the rings away as they left.

[tciddaemina]

Campaign Dairy 1

Yesterday I ran my first dnd session as a dm - the first session in an entirely homebrew campaign of my own devising. I’d been looking forward to finally running the campaign for weeks, ever since one of my players messaged me out of the blue and asked if I was serious about wanting to run a dnd campaign, but when the time actually came to do it felt nervous. My stomach was in knots, and I had this terrible fear of messing it all up and disappointing. And well, it was a bit of a mess, but it was also really fun.

I’ve played dozens of dnd sessions as a player, but running the game is a different thing entirely, and theres something even more daunting about it when you’re faced with the task of taking all the things you’ve been planning and imagining in your head and putting them together in front of the players in a way that makes sense and still explores all the aspects you wanted to focus on. 

Writing a campaign diary is my way of trying to keep track of all the things the players did and how that’ll impact the story, but also a self-reflection on how I think I did running the game. 

I know it’s a bit cliche to begin a dnd campaign in a tavern, but thats what I did. I put a lot of thought into how it should start - briefly considering a marketplace, prison (only very very breifly) and even thought about just cutting straight to the first action. And while these would have worked, none of them were quite right for creating the slight atmosphere of mystery I’m aiming for the first few sessions of the campaign. 

The premise of the campaign is a magical blight spreading across the region of Evergate - mutating whoever is infected into mindless beasts. The blight is still in the early stages, manifesting in a series of strange events. Travelers going missing from the road, caravans from the merchant guild being massacred travelling through the forest, and strange monsters appearing in the wilderness. The goal of the campaign is to discover and eventually destroy the source of the blight, but at the beginning the only thing the players are aware of is that there is a blight, a fact which is still considered wild rumor and conspiracy by the majority of the regions.

So the party begins the adventure knowing that there is something going on, but not exactly what it is or what its cause is. The purpose of the inn was to give them to chance to learn some of the rumors that had been circulating, learning a bit more about these strange happenings, and to maybe tune in to some of the political upheaval currently going on in the starting city. (Namely the recent death of the Lord of the City, Cor the Immortal, considered by some to be the savior of the region and others as a marauding tyrant who seized control of Evergate unrightfully). 

The party goes through the usual introductions right at the start, which went okay, but after that things started to get a bit messy. This was quiet literally my first time using multiple npcs and it was pretty sloppy. I didn’t introduce the couple of npcs I’d planned to have talk to the party as well as I should have, and while the argument I had planned between two npcs about the death of the Lord Cor did start out well, it quickly got out of hand. 

The initial argument evoked the response I wanted. One of my players had previously expressed interest about the city and the Lord Cor, his character being a local of the region, and we even rp-ed a past meeting between his character and the Lord Cor. By the end of it Gordon (the character) seemed to have a pretty positive opinion of Cor. Hearing about Cor’s death provoked the shocked response I was aiming for, leading to Gordon (the pc in question) ordering a stiff drink and listening to the argument intently, trying to figure out what had happened. What I hadn’t anticipated was another one of the pcs wanting to join in on the bar fight (in retrospect I should have expected it).

I made a couple of mistakes here. The first was that I didn’t say exactly how many friends each of the men in the initial argument had been sitting with at the beginning (and how much support they would have if they fight spread, which it did). My second mistake was knocking out one of the first arguers too early. The argument began between Theat Coalkindle, a dwarven smith living nearby, and Jin, a human mercenary. Theat was a keen supporter of Lord Cor, and when Jin attempted to make a toast to the tyrants death it started a vicious argument. These two came to blows over it, Jin drawing his daggers in response (a mistake that compounded later events. I should have just left it at unarmed brawling). Not that it helped him. Theat knocked him out within the first two rounds - which I think was the biggest mistake I made. With the argument and subsequent brawl I’d been increasing the tension, not only between the npcs in the tavern, but also between the npcs and one of the pcs - a dwarf named Varrick who was eager to get in on the fight. When I knocked out Jin I left all this tension with no outlet. One of the pcs was pumped for a fight, several npcs too, and yet I’d just knocked out the central tension behind the bar brawl. 

The result of this was me having to come up with several npcs on the fly to add to the fight to keep it going. I added in an orc mercenary, a companion to the first man (Jin) who’d been knocked out, and substituted him into the fight. For a few rounds it was alright - the brawl continuing between Theat, Varrick, and the orc mercenary, but after a moment it quickly got out of hand. By having Jin draw his daggers earlier I’d given Varrick the idea that the tavern brawl should be much more lethal than it was, leading to him antagonizing the npcs in an attempt to try and get them to draw their swords and have a proper fight. By this point the other Dwarf, Theat, had left the fight, leaving it centered on Varrick and the Orc mercenary. The mercenary dismissed the antagonizing, saying that if the pc wanted a bladed fight they should go to the arena - to which the pc’s response was to try and stab the mercenary with his pike. So. You know. That was good.  (A third smaller mistake here was having the orc mercenary refuse the fight by bringing up the Lord Cor’s laws and showing support of him even though Jin, the man who’d initially been disparaging Cor, had been one of the orcs companions. Minus points for inconsistency. )

Varrick’s attempt to just up and stab the orc mercenary resulted in the rest of his buddies getting involved - 5 heavily armored strong mercenaries who’d all just seen this gusty dwarf try to stab their mate. Varrick was therefore heavily outnumbered, alone against 6 strong mercenaries who were all getting pretty sick of his antagonizing. At this point it looked like there was only really one way to get out of these mercenaries just beating Varrick to death, so I took it. I had the mercenaries grab him (ignoring his actually pretty good strength roll resisting them. Sorry Varrick!) and dump him out in the street. Which was pretty humiliating for the character, and a little for the player as well. Not the most auspicious start for this character, but actually sort of in character considering his backstory as the disgruntled and unruly heir of a disgraced dwarven noble house. There was a brief moment here where the player almost abandoned this character and making a new one, feeling that Varrick was too humiliated, but in the end he stuck it out - Varrick folding back into the party later in the evening. 

Meanwhile, Nicholas (pc, dwarven war cleric) had attempted and failed (twice) to buy a cut of roast pork from the innkeeper and another one of my players was causing - well, maybe not as much havoc, but still quiet a mess for me to find my way out of. The character in question is a human man called Gordon, a gloomstalker ranger specialized in hunting the blighted. We’d agreed on this ahead of time, as well as the fact that detect poison and disease could be used to detect blighted creatures. Which was all well and good in theory - but a little bit tougher to manage when almost the first thing he did when coming into the inn was cast the spell, detecting the blighted man in the basement that was supposed to be a surprise for later. The blighted was the innkeeper’s husband, chained away and hidden from everyone by the innkeeper - who was trying to protect the creature that had once been her husband as best she could and pretend nothing was wrong. Gordon investigated where the blighted was, contriving a way to get into the back storerooms and kitchen trying to find it, and, realizing it was underneath him, attempting to find a way into the cellar. He even went so far as to attempt to interrogate the innkeeper on the subject, who lied (badly) and only just affirmed his convictions that something shady was going on.  

The rest of the party (sans Varrick, who was at that point lurking in a nearby alleyway and sharpening his pike, waiting for the orc mercenary to come out so he could shank him) get on board with Gordon’s investigation, helping reluctantly (one of them, a human sorcerer named Flint convinced that Gordon’s a crazy old man but still willing to help put his mind at rest. The other. Well who the hell knows what was going on in Nicholas’ head, but he was still getting on board with the action). Eventually, after finding the trapdoor to the cellar (behind the bar, padlocked, the innkeeper still watching Gordon suspiciously after his interrogation earlier that night), the party decides to buy some rooms at the inn and sleep for the night. 

This is when things get intense. My initial plan for the night was to have in inn go up in flames as part of a larger attack on the city of Penketh - which did happen. The players were woken in the wee hours of the morning by shouting and the deafening crack and groan of the ground floor of the inn succumbing to the flames. The first part goes (mostly) as planned. The players make good saves dealing with the smoke inhalation, and gather their things. Off the bat Varrick decides to jump out the (3rd floor) window, and actually manages a decent roll for it, landing on the road below without becoming a pancake. Meanwhile the rest of their party (Nicholas wearing only his socks, why) flee their rooms, heading down the stairs, only to encounter a triton woman and child collapsed on the landing of the first floor. Flint grabs the child, heading for the stairs, Gordon close behind. Nicholas, bringing up the rear, helps the triton woman along, losing some of his armor (which he’d been carrying in his arms) in the process. Flint and Gordon made it to the bottom of the stairs and to the ground floor back door - only for a flaming beam from the ceiling to collapse on top of them. Gordon cast entangle and caught it, which was good for them, they made it safely out of the building, but in the process party of the wall collapsed onto the stairs, leaving a flaming wreckage in Nicholas and the triton woman’s path to escape. Which is how a second dwarf, butt naked save for his socks, holding a sobbing coughing triton woman, ends up jumping out the window of a burning building. 

Which was all well and good - but had also derailed some of my plans for the encounter with the innkeeper’s blighted husband in the basement. I didn’t anticipate the use of entangle, and the collapsing beams were supposed to force the party to leave the inn through the main tavern room - where they would find the innkeeper Miranda slumped on the floor, her blood spilling in a puddle around her from her savaged throat as what was once her husband loomed above her. Instead what we had was two dwarves out the front of the inn (one with clothes, one without), and Flint and Gordon both in the back courtyard of the inn by the stables. 

However, the situation wasn’t too difficult to salvage. Gordon, being an experience ranger with the blighted as his favored enemy, recognized the shriek of the blighted within the building, quickly leading Flint down the alley to the backdoor. Meanwhile Varrick out front has spotted movement from within the burning building and had started combat, entering the burning tavern to face the beast - which mean I got to do the dramatic first description of the blighted that I’d been hoping for, even if it wasn’t as much as a surprise as I’d been planning. Between Varrick, Flint and Gordon they managed to take down the beast - Nicholas in the meanwhile still trying to put his armor on outside. Varrick was the only one to get injured by the blighted - which is very important. The blight is bloodborn, spread through open wounds, and Varrick sustained a deep cut while fighting the blighted - a cut that he did not disinfect within 10 minutes. So. Varrick now has the blight, even if it will take a while to manifest. I probably feel way too much glee at the thought of the upcoming rp as the characters realize that Varrick is blighted and he has to deal with slowly mutating and becoming a monster, eventually losing his mind and turning against the party if they dont manage to find a cure in time. 

I had a couple of other events lined up after the fire at the inn - all of which the players bypassed entirely. The first event was supposed to be another fight at the hospital - which had been the intended target of the fires around the on the city. The blighted who’d been secretly locked in the hospital for treatment got loose, attacking people in the streets around the hospital as everyone attempts to put out the fires and evacuate the hospital. I narrated a group of guards looking up at the hill and the fire burning there and crying “The Hospital! To the hospital!”, all charging up the hill. The players shot each other a look and very firmly decided they were instead going to flee the city through the closest second closest gate (the closest being in the same direction as the hospital). 

Which, okay, was consistent with their characters so fair enough. The main point of getting them to the hospital was to set up for a potential chase scene where the party chases a group of suspicious hooded figures from the scene of the fire - perhaps capturing some for interrogation and learning about the cause behind the arson in the city. They’d missed being able to do that at the hospital, but I still had them spot a group of suspicious fleeing figures as they made their way towards the eastern gate. Gordon, being the ranger among them and having the highest perception, noticed the group but decided not to take chase. So no chase scene either. I had considered that the party might not do the chase, or that they might to it and fail to capture any of the fleeing figures, so I do have things in place to deal with this, but their choice not to engage was still surprising. In retrospect if I’d made all the characters do a perception roll rather than just rely on Gordon’s passive perception may have prompted them to engage - putting the decision on the entire group rather than just Gordon. 

What happened instead was that the party made their way to the eastern gate where they found the gate chocked with a crowd of people all attempting to flee the city. Varrick in all his infinite wisdom decided that the perfect way to handle this would be to cast grease beneath the crowd and then walk over them. What resulted was a slippery hellscape as the panicked crowd began collapsing, their feet sliding beneath them and giving way. People were clutching each other, trying to stay on their feet, only succeeding in dragging their neighbors down with them. Varrick then attempted to walk over them, and made it about two steps before some poor soul grabbed his leg in an attempt to haul themselves upright, causing him to slip and join the churning throng of people collapsed beneath the gate. The rest of the party decided to stay back and wait for the spell to wear off.  

The session ended with the party standing drenched by the road outside the city, watching as brilliant beams of magical energy rose into the sky, summoning dark roiling clouds above the city as the mages of the city got their shit together and summoned a rainstorm to put out the fires.

I have somewhat mixed feelings about the session. I made a couple of big mistakes, mostly in the bar brawl, but also perhaps in letting Gordon sense the blighted in the first place, but despite it everyone seemed to have a lot of fun - not least when the grease incident caused Varricks player to laugh so hard he snorted water out his nose. It's my first time dm-ing, and I know I shouldn’t expect everything to go perfectly, especially when its a homebrew campaign, but I still can’t help lingering on some of the mistakes I made. Hopefully with more play I’ll get better at managing combat and things will go a bit smoother in future. All in all, I it went pretty well. Every with the few hiccups the players still all had fun, and so did I. 

I have no idea when we’re next going to play, but when we do I’m planning on writing a second campaign diary (and a third, and a fourth, but we’ll see).

[igot7idiot7]

Senior Year

Chapter 9: Magic

Mingyu x Reader x Wonwoo

Ch. 1 // Ch. 5 // Ch. 8

Genre: slice of life

Words: 1213

Summary: It’s such a great day to go out, isn’t it?

Warning: fluff

A/N: things i should do: write the essay thats due in two days. things i am doing: writing this fic lmao kms. also ive never been to a real carnival so pls spare me if i have any details wrong

Saturday, October 22, 2016

    He said, “Let’s get out of this town,” as you got into his car. His smile was wider than is had ever been. Heaven can’t help me now. You thought to yourself as he pulled out of your driveway. Mingyu’s plan for your day was unknown to you, his refusal to tell you what was going to happen made you nervous. Yet, here you are, sitting in one of your favorite places on the planet, with one of your favorite people. His hand lightly placed on your thigh. You blushed the whole car ride to the destination and he never stopped smiling. 

    “Oh my god, Gyu,” you laughed as he held out a huge cone of blue and pink cotton candy to you. Grabbing it from his hands you took a small piece and let it dissolve on your tongue. Usually you would refrain from getting such a large amount of the sugary floss, but with Mingyu’s appetite, it was for the best. 

    “Are you having fun yet, Y/N?” He asked as he took a large piece of the cotton candy. 

    You nodded in response. He brought you to the carnival that was currently happening in a nearby suburb. Already you two have gone on the kiddie roller coaster they had set up twice, ate a carton of popcorn, and went on the carousel. Since you’ve came to the festival, you haven’t stopped smiling, and neither has he. “So, what’s next, Mr. Date?” You asked him walking in front of him smiling.

    He touched his chin in thought, “Maybe a few games? I feel the sudden urge to challenge you, missy. You pick the first one.” He got closer and stole another large bite from the cotton candy. You pointed to the balloon popping game. Grabbing your free hand he ran over to the game and set down the five dollars to get three darts. “One for each of us and the third one we can both throw.” 

    You grabbed the first dart and aimed for the single turquoise balloon in the corner. Missing the balloon by half an inch. His dart hit a yellow balloon perfectly popping it. The third dart was already in your hand when he came up behind you, his hand wrapping over yours.

    “If you keep both eyes open your aim will be better.” He put his other hand on your shoulder. “And if you throw it flat,” he helped you prep for the throw and you released as his hand left yours, “You’re sure to hit your target.”

    POP! A pink balloon popped. You turned around to hug him, “Did you see that! We did it, Gyu!”

    He looked down at you and smiled. Looking up to the prizes hanging from the top of the booth, he asked, “Which one do you want? I think that pink dolphin would suit you well... But it might be bigger than you...” You hit his arm and playfully let out a huff. 

    “I’m not that small, you’re just abnormally large.” Your finger pressed against his firm chest. A laugh escaped his lips again, his dark orbs hid behind his eyelids. You looked back to the game master and pointed to the larger brown bear hanging next to the dolphin. He took it down and handed it to you. 

    “A young couple in love,” He smiled, “Some of my favorite customers.” Your eyes widened as an awkward laugh made its way to his ears. 

    Mingyu snuck his arm around your waist. “You bet! One of my favorite people right here.” He brought you closer and kissed the top of your head, resulting in a bright pink blush across you cheeks. 

    “Have a nice rest of you evening, lovebirds!” He waved as the two of you walked off. 

    The edge of the carnival stood a small building with badly painted ghosts and ghouls on the front. A large line surrounded it. You looked at it in disgust, pulling your bear closer to you.

    Mingyu pointed to it, “Hey.. Y/N you’re not scared now are you?”

    “Pft, what, no, not at all. Why would I be scared of a haunted house. Thats silly.” 

    “Perfect! Let’s go in!” He wrapped his long fingers around your thin wrist. The line was long but not long enough. Before you knew it, you were at the entrance where a woman dressed as a zombie took your ticket and escorted you inside.

    “Good luck, and try to stay away from the walking dead.” 

    “So that’s why you never went to the haunted houses with Mr. Beanie and I. Why didn’t you just tell us?” He laughed while rustling your hair. 

    You whipped a tear from your left eye, hitting him lightly on the chest. “Shut up, Kim. I figured it would’ve been obvious after 7 years.” 

    He wrapped his arm around your shoulders and looked down to you, “Don’t worry, you have me to protect you from any zombies comin’ at you!” He flexed he free arm, receiving another hit from you. Both of you laughed it off as you continued to walk away from the haunted house. 

    “Excuse me, but you also screamed, Mr. I’ll Protect You.”

    You sat next to him in the tight orange capsule. The bear he won sat on the other side. “Thank you for such an amazing day, Gyu.” A blush crept up your cheeks as you look away from his happy gaze. His smile grew wider as he nonchalantly stretched his arm across your shoulders. 

    “It was nothing really. I’ve been wanting to come to the carnival with someone special,” he winked at you, making you blush even more. You scooted your way closer to Mingyu to steal his body warmth. He blushed and looked out the side off the capsule, seeing all the lights of the carnival become smaller as the two of you slowly reach the top. 

    “The lights are so pretty!” You reached yourself over Mingyu’s chest. 

    He looked at your dimly lit face, reflecting the light. He saw your eyes shine brighter than they ever had and vowed to never let that light fade. “Not as pretty as you...” 

    A giggle left your lips as you sat back up straight in your seat. You brushed your hair behind your ear. “Thank you,” you looked down and smiled sheepishly. 

    He had a sudden surge of courage race through his veins as he looked at your embarrassed face. His hand softly cupped your cheek. He’s handsome as hell, you thought. His puppy-like chocolate brown eyes and boyish grin had you captured. His messy medium brown hair went to just above his eyebrows, which were starting to get small beads of sweat. He was nervous but his conscience told him otherwise. You both looked each other in the eyes before your faces started to move closer to each other. You bit your lips lightly as his eyes started to shutter close. Lips collided messily, but softly. His lips fit yours almost perfectly. He smirked into the kiss before he pulled away. The two of you smiled, blushing harder than either of you had earlier that day. You rested your head on his shoulder until the Ferris wheel hit the ground once more. Leaving hand-in-hand. 

Chapter 10

[g33khq]

New Post has been published on G33k-HQ

New Post has been published on http://www.g33k-hq.com/culture/artist-spotlight-sara-woolley/

Artist Spotlight: Sara Woolley

BODYMOD: Are you woman enough to survive Bitch Planet?

Imagine a world where women are subject to punishment for being “non-compliant” and sent away to prison, literally on another planet! That is the premise of the smash hit Sci-fi series “Bitch Planet.” In this dystopian universe, when women are seen as being defiant and resistant they are sent to The Auxiliary Compliance Outpost, aka “Bitch Planet.”

  Bitch Planet

I recently started reading the Image Comics series (Bitch Planet by Kelly Sue DeConnick & Valentine De Landro) after first being introduced to Triple Feature issue #4 (contains 3 short stories in one book!) The short stories coexist in the Bitch Planet universe and you can read them without reading the bitch planet series and vice versa. However, it captivated my attention so I am now reading the initial BP series! Check them out Here: 

I’m going to focus on one of the mini stories from Triple Feature Issue #4: Body Mod written and illustrated by the super talented Sarah Woolley.

This original story is a perfect demonstration of an extreme sci-fi extension of today’s society.

Body Mod: Written and illustrated by: Sara Woolley

Triple Feature #4

Bitch Planet Triple Feature #4

RATED M

BodyMod is a sci-fi world where plastic surgery is a norm and done to the max. So extreme that there is literally a Build a Babe! Can you imagine, modifying bodies as a part of everyday life.

This mini story presents some touchy subject matter, heavy themes and can relate to society today, which is pretty disturbing. I think it’s alarming thinking of this world as a reality and potentially something that could be likely in the future when our youth is so heavily influenced by what’s trending in pop culture, social media, and “enhanced beauty”. Today’s beauty standards are already disturbing, and Body Mod demonstrates a perfect exaggeration of today’s society with a sci.-fi twist.

Here Sara takes us into the deranged world of BODY MOD.

1. How did you first get involved with the Bitch Planet series?

I met Kelly Sue DeConnick at Heroescon in Charlotte NC, 2 years ago.  She not only took the time to check out my work, but wrote to me after the fact to let me know she liked it so much she had passed Los Pirineos all around the Milkfed Criminals office.  I love work so needless to say I was totally floored.  It was really very cool of her. I sent her the 9th of april when it came out the next year and maybe a few months later we saw each other at ECCC in Seattle.  She was looking for contributors for the anthology, and asked if I would be interested.  HELL YES!

2. Congrats, as this is your first independent comic that you have both written and illustrated! How did you go about the process of accomplishing this?

When Kelly Sue asked if I wanted to be in the anthology she said “You do it all, right? Write and Draw?”  I said yes… and then panicked a little inside.  This story is my first professionally published solo work.  Up to this point I have always written with collaborators, for example the Los Pirineos Books which I coauthor with my mother.

3. Any issues, you faced or did you have the creative freedom to do you what you wanted with the story?

I definitely had a lot of freedom on Bodymod. Kelly Sue and the managing editor at Milkfed Criminals whom I worked with primarily, Lauren Sankovitch guided me through the pitching and writing process, but they gave me the space and encouragement to come up with and to pursue my own vision.  They had me come up with several different story ideas that would make sense in the context of the Bitch Planet Universe – but made me limit myself to very rough, brief ideas.  So I was able to really be broad about the story generation process without investing too much time into it.  My biggest issue was figuring out how to tell the story I wanted to in 8 pages.  I still feel like there was a 24 pages comic in there somewhere… but I tend to be long winded.  I learned a ton from Lauren and Kelly Sue working on this project.

4. You typically write children’s books, did you find it difficult working on this storyline, and how did it feel crossing over to more mature themes?

I felt absolutely fine with it.  I’m not a child, and I the work I generally read is not aimed at children.  To be honest, it actually felt very freeing.  However, the different content definitely confuses some people.  I’ve had fans of my previous books get a bit freaked out when they find out this is also my work.  I’ve been told that it doesn’t look like my work and seems like another artist did it.  I definitely don’t agree with that, but I can see where they are coming from.  I hate the idea of having to be pigeonholed into one genre of stories and one way of making art.  So… I’m just not allowing that to happen.

5. How did you come up with the premise for Bodymod?

The premise behind all the stories I came up with for the anthology came from the experiences of just being a woman navigating daily life. The premise behind Bodymod in particular comes from my feelings around the social pressures that are omnipresent in our lives every day asking that we conform to an idealized and unrealistic concept of feminine beauty.  Growing up I had my own struggles with body image. I’m 5’10 and just under 200 lbs, and I’ve been this size since High School.  Lets just say the 90’s were not kind to thick girls, and being strong was not thought of as sexy.  The anger and sarcasm present in the story is the current me, who feels great about who I am and what I look like, telling the world world just how little a fuck I give about fitting into a role and size I was never going to be anyway.    (steps off soapbox.)

6.  Although its sci fi, this subject matter touches some heavy themes pertaining to real life. How do some of the themes in the comic tie into issues our society faces today?

The whole premise of Bodymod comes from the idea of redesigning your body to be beautiful to the point of discomfort, in the story its taken to an extreme because the Bitch Planet, sci fi world allowed me to really push it.  However its important to understand that the cultural norms that Julie and Monica are assimilating to are not Sci Fi.  Whats the difference between lotus feet, stilettos that can only be worn in bed, or feet surgically altered to become mermaid fins?  Yes in my story the women essentially turn themselves into helpless pets, but all of them sexualize fettered women.

There’s a spread on pages 2-3 where Julie is on a bus and you see background advertisements behind her.  I had intended to make up some really jarringly misogynistic ones… until I looked them up. There is NOTHING I could come up with that was worse than reality.  ALL the ads on the page, including the magazine cover, are real.  I never stop hating this one ever time I see it:

7. Who has had the biggest influence on you in or outside of the comics industry, and how did they affect your life?

Ok now THATS hard.  I would say my mom has probably had the biggest influence on me, but I’m not sure if that is really what you meant.  She’s a feminist and raised me to be one too.  I wore overalls and did science experiments and was encouraged to be messy and do whatever I wanted to do better than the boys.  I am really very lucky.  She is a role model for me, but she’s also my inspiration, my writing partner and my biggest fan… which since we work on her memoir together maybe that also makes her, her own biggest fan?  hmmm…

8. What’s the most important “big idea” that you’ve learned in life – in or out of comics – and why is it important?

I’ve learned by watching the amazing comics pros that I am proud to call my friends that you must work hard, and I mean REALLY hard, to make comics.  That sounds obvious but its not.  There are a lot good creators out there who make very little work and just peter out.  But the truly brilliant ones work incessantly and when asked how they do it, discipline and tenacity is usually the common denominator.  I know an artist who told me he videos his comics commissions so he can see later where he is loosing time on them by “just fucking around”.  I know another who every time she is asked for advice says “Draw whether you are sick or well.  Draw whether to feel like it or not.”  Now, I’m not saying I’m like that, but I aspire to be.

Also what else can we look forward to from you in the near future?

I’m currently working on the next Los Pirineos book to follow up last year’s release of The 9th of April.

So hopefully by next year’s MOCCA I’ll have that one in hand.  FINGERS CROSSED.  I also have a book of watercolor sketch painting I did while traveling in Thailand for a month this winter.  I’m still trying to figure out the format of it.  Its a mixture of painting people and places on location… and all my meals!  I’m obsessed with food and theres no explaining just how good the food in Thailand is, so I painted it all to help mark it in my memory forever.  I might try including photos and recipes too… not sure yet.

To see more of Sara’s work visit: http://www.sarawoolley.com/  @saritajeanine

MOCCA ARTS FESTIVAL

Also catch Sara at Mocca Fest this Saturday & Sunday table A106

Society Of Illustrators

https://www.societyillustrators.org

http://www.sarawoolley.com/

https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/bitch-planet