#makes sense given some of the game features but hmmm I like some of the in-game sprites more than the official arts

[loregoddess]

ah wait, I finished Unicorn Overlord, I should update my icon to a UO character

[zhongrin]

🧦🧳🗝🕸

for the genshin ask game!! <3

🧦 who’s your favorite character personality/lore-wise?

zhongli zhongli zhongli, hands down! hyv i am begging on my knees. more morax tales please. and let us hang out fetch stuff for zhongli in events like in the archon quest, i miss him so much ;w;

🧳 what name card do you use?

zhongli's! it's been that since i got him and hit lv 10 friendship lol

🗝 are you saving for anyone? who?

zhongli's next rerun cause i'm not really interested in anyone else atm, even after seeing the banner leaks (i'm also very poor and only have 47 fates and given my luck.... yeah no that's not gonna get me anywhere ;;;)

.......... wait, i'm beginning to see a pattern here... but are we even surprised-

🕸 brag about something. can be some numbers you’re proud of, how long you saved for someone, a good artifact you got, whatever. just hype yourself up

ouhgsjdowhdk hmmm let's see

c0 al haitham coming home at 1 pity and winning 50/50 🌱

100% 50/50 win rate on weapons banner (as in, i always got the weapons on the featured banner, if that makes sense. homa continues to elude me tho orz. 5 weapons so far and hopefully counting 🤞🏻) ⚔️

that 173k wriothesley dmg 🥊

[semi-imaginary-place]

ffxiv 4.1

why's kugane the hub city for stormblood. Narratively Ishgard made sense for Heavensward because Heavensward is the story of Ishgard and the location features prominently in the plot. However the story of Stormblood is the story of Doma and Ala Mhigo's fight for independence if anything the two cities should have unlocked after beating 4.0. Kugane also makes a bizarre choice for a hub city from a lore perspective given how Hingashi is known to be isolationist

msq time! yeah i was wondering about the leadership question for ala mhigo. narrative direction seems to be going towards lyse but i do not think lyse makes a good leader and then she'd have to drop out of the plot and scions. politically raubahn makes a lot of sense for reasons i have already stated so far the writers haven't hinted they're going down this path

I wonder is skalla preserved anything the same way the dead sea scrolls were preserved by the salt.

the choices foldora's parents made mirror some of the choices we saw the domans made in that it really was the only way to survive, but doing so also further ensnared their nation as a whole and worsened the lived of everyone. watching your kind loving father get stoned to death by an angry mob would traumatize anyone really. its foldora's mom that has completely bought into the garlean propoganda and when its perfect that when she goes to them for protection when she needs then the most the garleans let her husband die to the mob and her daughter be stoned.

and how do you think the non hyur or the beastmen feel. i understand her mother though, she sold out ala mhigo so to protect foldora so that her daughter wouldn't be conscripted and wouldn't be forced to fight and there she goes joining the army anyways.

this probably got the strongest emotional reaction out of me out of the entire game so far

oh we are having a raubahn arc! as much as raubahn makes sense as a leader ala mhigo would unify under there's a lot waiting back for him in uldah. he's got many positions and responsibilities from the flames to the syndicate. his son is there and nanamo is basically his daughter. but at the same time they're both grown and pipin has proven himself capable of leading the flames.

can I say that nanamo's really brave. she's not a fighter she got fake assassinated/poisoned for months and she still wants to participate in politics.

you want me to go to the literal other side of the world to talk to a merchant instead of literally anyone in uldah the city of merchants. besides the east alderd trading company is run by lolorito you can't walk 3 steps without running into one of lolorito's men in ul'dah.

oooh girl do not help the monopoly. you got the advice now look for smaller salt businesses.

I'm surprised by the lack of fighting in this patch. i guess this is a shift in game design from arr where they wanted you to fight everything. for example in salt town the devs could have had you demonstrate to wildred how to kill monsters instead of just pointing out the weakpoints.

hmm so in the end it was personal. nanamo saved raubahn's life by chance but that was likely one of the darkest periods of his life and he swore an oath. if only the paladin quests could be this interesting.

representative government! republic! (ahhhh now if only doma did the same...). i do like how they showed a little bit of the messiness because real world tends to be messier. most irl revolutions devolve quickly into a series of worse military dictatorships.

huh what happened to that bit about letting him choose. i mean i guess raubahn felt like he had to honor his oath instead of doing what he actually wanted.

hmmm. wait we're not putting raubahn to work. he's one of the best generals on the continent if not the world and ala mhigo is in need of 1. an army given eorzea's stance on garlemald. 2. any sort of law enforcement, security, or organization given the power vaccum left by the imperials. 3. really any security look what just happened at the first council meeting. 4. governance raubahn has experience on the syndicate now too. oh no i wouldn't let him go back to being any old mercenary you aren't getting away.

yeah good they putting raubahn to work.

the rooftop garden is still intact? didn't the battle with zenos and the giant primal trash the place. hey there's a unique chamber orchestra arrangement of the ala mhigo theme up here.

[lordelmelloi2]

kiara

Sexuality Headcanon: Omnisexual. Its Kiara. She could fuck a computer fully

Gender Headcanon: Oh my god, its Kiara. Shes over there eating mermaid flesh. "THIS IS WHAT GOOD PUSSY SOUNDS LIKE *GEIGER COUNTER GOING CRAZY*", literally indescribable

A ship I have with said character: HansKiara, KamaKiara. KiaraRose is the bad end

A BROTP I have with said character: I don't think Kiara is capable of being "bros" with somebody. I do not believe she has it in her to do "bro" things.

A NOTP I have with said character: Hmmm. A lot of pairings with Kiara I think would be ill-fated, because I think Kiara is actually quite delicate and people would mishandle her, or try to get with her solely for sex reasons, and she's much more ladylike than that and secretly desires to be treated more humanely even if she is the way she is. To be honest I'm not fond of many GudaKiara things in any regards. I'm also pretty tired of the "putting Kiara and King Hassan in the same room and seeing what happens" sex jokes to be honest, I think King Hassan has the sight to see that Kiara is much more pathetic than she leads on but Kiara would become like a hissing kitten in his presence rather than joking about fucking him.

A random headcanon: Kiara can make games. Kiara is secretly the backbone of the gaming club in Chaldea because no one realizes that a decent amount of indie productions in Chaldea are through her computer. Kiara's the backbone of a lot of the hardware and software engineering parts of Chaldea (LOL hard and soft ware JOAKE) simply because people asked nicely and she said yes and was watched very closely to make sure she wasn't installing anything she could take advantage of. Because of her capabilities she's always getting approached for programming help all the time to the point where she openly sighs in exhaustion whenever someone comes to her with a problem. It's very funny to see her run ragged for once despite being a super wizard class A hacker

General Opinion over said character: I love Kiara, I think she has a lot of depth and nuance and she's not as evil as people think. I think people enjoy using her as a scapegoat because her character does feature a lot of sexuality, she's the original Beast-Whore where her sexuality is a feature of the evilness she's meant to represent. But I think she's a lot more detailed than just being evil and wanting to have sex. Because there's her background which reveals she's been basically traumatized and fucked up her entire life, and you can tell in the way she acts that she wants to try to reclaim some of the innocence she was denied in her childhood, although her method of approaching it is twisted because, again, she's been screwed over her entire life. But I also think there's more to her than even just those things, I think her capabilities as a hacker should be explored in a legitimate sense, I think her competencies deserve examination. In the Fate/Extra SERAPH manga the ideal, flawless society she created literally was a society in which there was no discrimination for the way people where, and on top of that, it was first in the medical field and had cured several diseases and had pioneered research in medical techniques and even for therapy techniques so people could live and survive. And it was all presented as legitimate. Maybe I have the wool pulled over my eyes, but I think it's intriguing that a woman who was bedridden and abused her entire life, when finally using her power as a savior and a leader decides to create a society where people will no longer have to suffer under their diseases or traumas and are given the tools and resources to make it happen......

[kingsuckjin]

Jimin's Body- Teaser

⫸ possessed Jimin x reader

⫸  Genre: horror, (Jennifer's body au)

⫸  Rating: M (18+ for eventual smut and very dark themes)

⫸  Warnings: (for this teaser only) demonic possession, blood, low self worth, mention of being a loner, question of a heart attack, embarrassing childhood story, Jimin might be being teased, hmmm Tae's house is haunted maybe?

⫸ About: This wasn't the party Jimin thought it would be. After the party you knew Jimin wasn't the person you thought he once was either... that is, if he’s a person at all anymore.

⫸  Words:1.8k

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

"Taehyung, stop fucking with everyone." You scolded as Jimin stared wide-eyed at the ceiling at the light that had just flickered out.

He had to look tough with you sitting in the circle right across from him on the brown, shag-carpeted floor of this basement that looked like it and its living room-like furniture hadn’t been touched or updated since the 70’s.

It was supposed to be a party, and there indeed was one upstairs blasting music but muffled by the floor above.

You were all supposed to be playing a childish and tipsy game of spin the bottle in the basement.

Jimin was supposed to kiss you. He had only come here because he wanted to spend time with you because you invited him, but so far nothing was going as planned.

"He's not fucking with anyone his house is haunted." Jungkook chuckled while Taehyung gave you a boxy grin. 

Jimin couldn't tell if they were lying or not, he didn't really know anyone here but you and Seokjin, who had already passed out on the basement couch across the room, oblivious to everything happening.

Jimin also thought maybe they were all playing a joke on him, he hadn't said a word to anyone but you and Jin since he had got here.

"He's not lying, I saw a ghost once when I stayed over. I don't even believe in ghosts." The rather stoic guy named Yoongi spoke with his arms crossed.

"Tell them the story Tae." Jungkook urged.

Taehyung's eyes flitted around the circle to each person's face, possibly pausing to add anticipation.

"A woman died in this house." 

"So what? People die everywhere, it doesn't mean a place is haunted." You spoke up, already seeming like you didn’t believe him right from the start.

"She was murdered," Taehyung added.

"Sure." You scoffed as you rolled your eyes.

"She was. Right here in the basement. She ran from the killer and hid in the basement and locked herself in the bathroom. She was supposedly very beautiful and vain. Sometimes if you look in the mirror and tell yourself how nice you look, she'll get jealous and appear, maybe she'll even steal your soul if you're pretty enough." 

Although Jimin had been a little scared at first. He couldn't help but stifle a laugh and a smile at how cliché Taehyung's ghost story sounded and suddenly all eyes in the circle were on him.

"What? You don't believe me?" Taehyung raised his eyebrows at Jimin.

"No one does, Tae. Even if the house is haunted you're obviously dramatizing it." You scoffed.

"I believe it," Yoongi muttered.

"Go in there and do it Jimin." Jungkook urged pointing to a darkened doorway in the basement.

"Oh Jimin, you made her mad." Taehyung teased as he watched the light above begin to flicker back to life just before dying again.

Jimin could feel the "are you serious?" look on his face that he was now giving Jungkook. He didn't know any of these people but you, and you were the one he was afraid of looking like a coward in front of. He cursed at himself in his head for laughing at Taehyung's bad ghost story. He should've just stayed quiet like he always did.

"Go on." Jungkook urged again, ignoring Jimin's surprised look.

"Guys don't. This isn't how you treat new friends. Can we please go back to-" 

"Too scared?" Yoongi now asked Jimin.

"No." He answered more confidently than he felt. Should he be scared? Probably not. Taehyung's story was shit and everyone in the room knew it. They were obviously just picking on him because he was a new friend and shy, right? Jimin didn't really have many friends until he started working at the restaurant with you and Seokjin, he was always just too shy and quiet for friends to really stick. But what if he simply just wasn't this time? What if he became the outgoing popular Jimin he always wanted to be and started over with these new friends. What if he pretended to be everything he wasn't? That’s why he came tonight, he thought if maybe he was all of those things finally, maybe you’d want him. He wasn’t about to mess up the charade he was doing okay at putting on now. 

Jimin stood from his place in the circle of new friends on the floor, trying to stop his nervous legs from shaking.

"So what do I do?" He was wanting to prove them wrong, show them that he wasn't scared and this was all bullshit, even though he knew in the back of his mind that this was how every horror movie and story started.

"Jimin you don't have t-" you were interrupted by a smirking Taehyung. Jimin wondered how he could be so chill about this if it was real.

"Go in the bathroom, don't turn on the lights, look in the mirror, and tell yourself you're pretty and genuinely mean it."

"Oh, so you can all hear me and laugh at me?" Jimin saw a new ploy to their jokes.

"No ones going to laugh at you." Taehyung was serious as he looked Jimin in the eye.

"You've got more balls than I do, new guy." Jimin heard Yoongi say as he looked towards the dark basement bathroom. Something about their suddenly serious tones of voices and the way they were looking at one another now made the fear and nervousness in Jimin’s stomach rise once again. 

"I swear if you're tricking him or you plan on actually making fun of him I swear I won't be your guy's friend anymore, I mean it." Your tone was deadly serious at the group and that gave Jimin some reassurance.

"It's not a joke," Taehyung replied in a way that took away any shred of confidence Jimin had left. What was worse, his new friends playing a prank on him and wanting to embarrass him or something actually happening? Jimin felt fucked either way but still made his legs carry him to the bathroom as he tried to shake off the unsettling feeling Taehyung’s story had left him with.

He wondered if they would stop him and tell him they were just kidding, but as he closed the door and the complete darkness took over the room, he lost any hope of that happening.

The bathroom smelled musty unlike the livable rest of the basement. Although it was a full bathroom with a sink, tub, and toilet, the walls were unfinished. It just felt like someone had given up on the room long ago. 

Jimin placed his hands on each side of the cool, white porcelain sink and looked at himself thoroughly in the mirror in front of him. How was he supposed to tell himself he was good looking and mean it? Jimin felt like he was a timid, friendless, freak. Even this incident reminded him of a sleepover he had in first grade where he got scared and peed his pants and all the boys laughed at him. He knew you'd never want him, not when he was too shy to finally make a move, not when you had all of these cool guy friends.

Jimin placed his hand on his cheek and let his thumb drift over his lips. Have you ever once thought he was handsome? Just once? If you did you wondered what you thought about. Maybe you liked his lips and thought about how good they would feel pressed to yours… or even other places on your body.

Maybe you liked his hair and thought about how nice it would feel to run your hands through it. Perhaps his body? As a dancer, Jimin knew his body was in shape but was it good enough for you to imagine on top of you?

He finally came to the conclusion that maybe he had more in the looks department than most did. That was when he let the words pass his lips.

"I'm attractive." 

The affirmation felt good, he had never once thought to do this before. He continued to look over his features and think about what you might like about him.

"My lips are nice, my hair is nice, my body is nice and I'm so attractive. I'm pretty." 

Jimin began to understand that the others in that room weren't him, they were nothing like him. He had things that they didn't, many things they didn't. Even in the kindness department, Jimin had a leg up, after all, who sends a new friend into a bathroom to scare them? Did they even want to really be friends with him? Probably not. Perhaps they did this out of jealousy. They were probably jealous Jimin was better looking than them, he was a better person than them. They wanted you and couldn't have you, Jimin could.

All Jimin could see in the mirror was darkness all but the beautiful features of his face. He didn't feel the smirk that erupted on it, but he saw it in the mirror and it felt so right.

"I'm the most beautiful here. I am."

Jimin was so lost in himself that he barely noticed the shadow right behind him, reaching out for him with its dark, spindly fingers each tapered to a claw tip.

Jimin did however see the dark liquid begin to drop from his nose, run down his full pips and chin before dripping onto the white porcelain sink in front of him. 

He doubled over with the sudden pain in his chest that hit him faster than a lightning strike. It felt like his heart was being tightened in a vice.

He collapsed completely onto the cold, cracked tiled floor in the dark grunting with a ringing growing overwhelmingly loud in his ears as he waited for the squeezing in his chest to pop his heart like a water balloon.

Could anyone hear him? Surely someone had to. What was happening? He wondered if he was suffering a heart attack. Was he dying?

The pain was so terrible and felt like it was lasting so long that Jimin had tried to dig his fingers into the tile until his knuckles turned white.

Over the piercing ringing, Jimin could hear soft whispers that didn't make sense at first. The whispering of a woman. The longer he listened as his vision began to fade, the more he was able to make sense of the words.

"Let me in. I can make your dreams come true. I can give you everything you want, just let me in Jimin." Whatever it was knew his name, and it knew about you and how much he liked you. it felt like whatever the voice was was burrowing around in his brain looking for something.

Jimin felt weaker and weaker as his struggling against the pain lessened the more he decided to give up.

"Fine." Jimin had struggled to say, but once he did, everything stopped. Everything turned black, even his thoughts of you had melted away into the darkness.

[ink-l-ings]

Jedi Mindtricks

HAPPY STAR WARS DAY EVERYONE! Ok, so I couldn’t resist writing a little something for our resident Star Wars fanatic islander, Gary. Especially since his leg tattoo is a deconstructed lightsaber! I envisioned this happening around the time of the cake challenge. Much fluff in this fic, I see... Pairing: Gary Rennell x F!MC Season 2 Word count: 823 Summary: Geeks together 🥰 Gary and MC discuss a mutual interest

‘Do, or do not. There is no try.’ You said with a grin waggling your finger at Gary as you both casually walked in the direction of the bedroom.

‘Oh my days,’ Gary laughed loudly as you walked together. ‘was that a Star Wars reference?’

‘It might have been.’ You grinned, a small laugh of your own penetrating your sentence.

Gary stopped in the middle of the empty room and turned to face you, an excited expression strewn across his face.

‘I... you cannot understand how excited I am right now.’

You smirked at him, he rolled his eyes. ‘Alright, maybe you can. But like, you like Star Wars?’ He asked with a huge grin and small bounce ‘Babe, seriously? You?’

‘Hey! I’m not always this glamorous you know, there’s a lot about me that isn’t shown in front the of cameras.’

‘Mmm, I know.’ He said with a dreamy smile. You slapped his shoulder playfully. ‘But yes, padawan. I am, and forever will be, a Jedi Guardian. Blue happens to be a favourite colour of mine.’ You silkily smiled, pointedly glancing into his beautiful crystal blue eyes. Gary looked like he was about to burst with excitement.

He schooled his face, and frowned ‘what if I were to tell you I was a Sith inquisitor?’

‘I’d know you were lying, you’re far too honourable for Sith mind games. You’re a Guardian, just like me!’

‘You’re bang on’ he laughed. ‘To be honest, I thought you’d be more of a consular’.

‘I was torn for a while, I mean, I’ve ended up being diplomat here too many times.’ Gary took your hand and gave it a squeeze. ‘But given the situations we’d be facing, I’d be the action type over diplomacy. Especially when Sith are involved. I probably would have run off with Revan if I’m being completely honest.’

A smirk grew over Gary’s features ‘how do you feel about the whole no attachments thing?’

‘Pffft as if that would work for me. Life is many shades of grey, especially when I run into very buff, hot blonde, sensitive Jedi Guardians. I’d be a gonner’

Gary laughed as he pulled you into his arms, circling them around your waist. ‘And as if I wouldn’t be drawn to a beautiful red headed, force wielding wonder, like you. I’d be devoted. Hmm, let’s just not worry about passion and dark side stuff, aye?’

‘Hmmm, agreed!’ You kissed him deeply. He leant into the kiss, eyeing you suspiciously as he pulled away.  ‘Figured out my tattoo then?’

‘I figured it out on the first day. It’s one of the reasons I picked you.’

‘And my Nan thought I was bonkers for getting it. Thank you tattoo!’

You laughed.

‘You wanna see my cosplay pics? I still have a couple on my phone...’

Gary’s jaw dropped. He watched you wide eyed and speechless as he gripped a hand over his chest. ‘Oh wow, are you alright?’ You asked quickly, concern flying across your features.

‘Babe. You have no idea what you just did to me.’ He said roughly, regaining some of his composure. You chuckled.

‘Oh, so now probably isn’t the best time to tell you that as well as being a session musician, I’m a freelance cos player at main events in London? Like comic con?’ Gary looked at you completely lost for words. His heart was hammering in his chest as he watched you, he didn’t think he could be even more head over heels for you, how wrong he had been!

‘Not just Star Wars characters either...’ You laughed softly enjoying the shocking effect you were having on him. You turned your expression sultry. ‘I’m Commander Shepard, and this is my favourite store on the Citadel.’

Gary threw his head back with a deep groan as he bent his knees in a small bounce. His eyes connected with yours in a smouldering glance. Your smile stretched as you thought about the perfect Star Wars line to send him over the edge. ‘Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.’

Gary growled. He surged forward crushing you to his chest and quickly pressing his lips to yours. His tongue urgently swept over your lower lip, enticing you to open. You followed his lead and let him dominate the passion in your embrace. He couldn’t get enough. You felt him reach down and lift you off your feet, throwing your legs around his hips. He began walking, you could barely make out the movement over the mind blowing passion consuming your senses.

You pulled away to catch your breath, sighing deeply as he kissed up your neck.

‘Wait, where are we going?’ You asked quietly.

‘Shower.’ He said huskily. ‘I need you. Badly.’

You chuckled happily, pressing yourself against Gary’s hold, kissing him deeply and running your hands through his hair and nape of his neck. Gary groaned again and sped up his pace to the bathroom.

————

[dmsden]

The Ulven

Hullo, Gentle Readers. In this month’s Homebrewin’ It...you know, someone pointed out that I could’ve called the articles Homebruin...because I’m a bear. Hmmm...I dunno, what do you folks think?

But anyway, this month, we’re looking at a race I created for my own D&D campaign, the Ulven. This article's art is by my good friend DBruin. You can find more by him at @dbruinart on Twitter. Thanks, buddy!

I always liked wolves and wolf-like humanoids, so I wanted one in my campaign. The Ulven were my first attempt at building a 5e race from the ground up, including sub-races. I hope you like them. As I will try to always do, they can be found in the Homebrew Index of D&D Beyond for use in your games. You can find the link at https://www.dndbeyond.com/races/21035-ulven

Hailing from many different climes and places, the wolf-like ulven rarely intermingle with other races. They are a cautious people, rarely giving their trust to outsiders and preferring to live in the company of their insular, almost xenophobic packs. Ulven claim large stretches of wild terrain as their pack's territory, hunting in a nomadic lifestyle that largely resembles that of an actual wolf-pack.

Ulven believe that they were raised up from normal wolves by a Primal Spirit they call “the First Hunter”. They venerate the First Hunter, who called them up from four-legs to be the Spirit’s packmates. They will sometimes leave part of their hunt’s bounty for the First Hunter,  normal wolves.

Wolf in the Fold

Ulven resemble large, humanoid wolves. They have a thick coat of fur all over their bodies, and their head has distinctly lupine features. Their claws are vestigial, but they retain their powerful jaws and can bite fiercely. They walk upright on plantigrade feet and have smaller tails than their four-legged cousins. Fur color is most commonly white and gray among Winter Ulven, or red and gray among Firest Ulven. Eyes are generally yellow, although green, brown, and hazel are also possible. Blue eyes are extremely rare and are often thought to denote a natural shaman.

Their builds are powerful but rangy, emphasizing speed over strength. They tend to favor loose clothing that lets their fur out to avoid overheating. Boots and shoes are very uncommon, as their hands and feet have thick pads that protect them as they walk or run.

Fierce but Shy

Most ulven prefer to be left to their own devices, rarely desiring to meddle in the affairs of other races. They are often referred to as xenophobic by other peoples, but it is more truthful to say that they are wary, perhaps having picked up some of the natural hostility most humans have towards normal wolves. They deliberately choose remote regions where they do not compete with others. The Forest Ulven know well those lands claimed by the elves of Neldorin, for example, and give their hunting grounds a wide berth.

When outsiders do stray into their territory, however, they are met first with warnings and then with ferocity. They are unwilling to give up or share their territories with anyone, as many hunters find to their terror. If a hunter properly placates the pack, however, the ulven can become more accepting, in some cases even “adopting” hunters from other races into their social structure.

In some rare cases, a curious young ulven may decide to leave the pack behind and go out as a “lone wolf”, seeking adventure, or following an important personal quest. It is almost always this situation which creates ulven adventurers. These ulven usually come to feel like their adventuring party is a new “pack”, and some never return to the old one.

Children of the Wild

Ulven live in harmony with nature as best they can. They do not build homes, preferring a nomadic existence. They do, however, make tents out of animal hides, and all have a karruk, a collection of bones, fetishes, shells, stones, and other natural items that they hang on the doorway of their tent as an identifier. Lone wolves out for travel often carry an item from their family’s karruk with them, wearing it as they travel and hanging it on their door or over their bed to feel that they’re carrying their pack with them.

There are few clerics among the ulven, as they often follow the druidic ways, but their clerics tend to venerate gods of nature as well. Druids are far more common, and they are treated with great veneration.

Ulven Names

Ulven have secret names only used among other ulven. These names are almost never given to outsiders, unless an ulven comes to consider someone close enough to be like a packmate. They keep public names that they use among outsiders, in those cases when they trade with others.

Male Names: Aharak, Gerrar, Turvek, Ulvath

Female Names: Beshara, Dothkai, Eluhana, Verree

Clan Names: Greywind, Keeneye, Sharpnose, Swiftpaw

Ulven Traits

All wulven shares certain traits in common.

Ability Score Increase

Your Dexterity score increases by 2.

Age

Ulven come of age around 15 years old. They typically live to about 75.

Alignment

Ulven are keenly aware of how much the pack means to them. They tend to be of Lawful alignment and lean towards neutrality.

Size

Ulven tend to be slightly shorter than humans, with wiry builds. You are Medium in size.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Bite

Your powerful jaws are natural weapons, which use can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit, you deal 1d6 + your Strength modifier piercing damage.

Pack Tactics

You have advantage on your attack rolls against a creature if at least one of your allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.

Keen Senses

You have advantage on Perception rolls that involve hearing or smell.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common.

Forest Ulven

Smaller and lighter than their northern brethren, these ulven dwell in the forests of Neldorin.

Ability Score Increase

Your Wisdom score increases by 1.

Arboreal Affinity

You have advantage on all Stealth and Survival rolls made in forested terrain.

Nature's Gift

YOu know one cantrip of your choice from the Druid spell list. Wisdom is your spellcasting modifier for it.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Sylvan.

Winter Ulven

Larger, hardier, and stronger than their southern kin, these ulven dwell in the frozen north of Jotunheld.

Ability Score Increase

Your Constitution score increases by 1.

Thick Coat

You have resistance to cold damage.

Arctic Affinity

You have advantage on all Athletics and Survival rolls made in arctic terrain.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Giant.

[rosenpacht]

Mark’s INFJ explained

So I know I said I might do Johnny or Taeyong’s MBTI, because I’ve been getting some ideas of what their types might be. But honestly, I’m a bit scared to post it because both of them haven’t claimed what their types are, and I don’t want to seem like a miss-know-it-all. That’s why I haven’t posted about them until now.

But THEN… I have been absorbing all this comebacks–SuperM’s and NCT 2020. And SuperM’s just all over youtube right now that I just constantly watch them. And then I don’t know how, one day I was pondering on what type Mark would be. And I was having this conversation with myself:

“Mark seems like an intuitive person, because he likes to overthink the smallest things sometimes–he seems like an Ni to me. But he’s also such a people person, like he’s one of the most considerate ones, so probably have a big Fe function also… hmmm, a NiFe… what type has a NiFe function stack? *googled it* Oh! It’s INFJ. Now let’s check what he says his type was…”

And it really was INFJ. wow. I honestly never know what his type was, and I was just guessing things. So, that’s why I decided to dissect a little bit about INFJ and the examples that I’ve found in Mark.

Disclaimer: the theories I’m about to insert are from various sources on the internet, so you can look it up.

INFJ Cognitive Function stacks =

Primary function: Introverted Intuition (Ni)

Secondary function: Extroverted Feeling (Fe)

Tertiary function: Introverted Thinking (Ti)

Inferior function: Extroverted Sensing (Se)

the exact opposite of Jaehyun’s (ESTP = SeTiFeNi)

For this part, I’m gonna be talking a lot about the first and second function and insert some instance that I found on Mark. The italic words are quoted from various sources.

Introverted Intuition (Ni)

Ni is the way that someone perceive their inner world (in their mind). This function leads their train of thought. Ni usually tends to store informations in separate data that connects to each other, forming some kind of a pattern. They have it all inside their head. Ni primary user is known as a genius or smart person (especially INTJ, shoutout). I’ve known an INTJ person and he’s like just so smart, and not just academically.

They just have everything inside their head, all this information and patterns of what might happen if someone did this, or if they did that. Some even say that Ni primary users are like a psychic because of how they’re able to predict what would happen. And this is not in a psychic kinda way, just that because they have everything mapped out inside their head already, and they can just pinpoint what will happen next if A happen or if B happen. Because Ni mainly focuses either on the future or what happens in the present that remains unknown or unprovable. Does that make sense?

Extroverted Feeling (Fe)

Fe as a secondary function basically is how the person based their decision on. Opposite to ESTP (Jaehyun’s MBTI), which secondary function was Thinking (Ti), an Fe user makes decision based on feelings. And because it’s Extroverted, it usually depends on other people’s concern. In Mark’s case, he probably thinks of how his decision might affect other people. Whereas Jaehyun probably will make decision logically, like how things are supposed to make sense.

Fe also the way INFJ process their emotions. This is the first Extroverted function in the function stacks, so this is also the tool to communicate to the outer world–or people. We can already see from the outside that Mark is quite the emotional guy, very considerate, caring, etc. I mean, his emotion is so palpable on screen. You can tell when he’s mad, you can tell when he’s flustered, you can tell when he doesn’t like being told to do something that he doesn’t want to, you can tell when he’s uncomfortable in some situations.

Ni and Fe together

“An NiFe often feels like their whole brain is working at once. On good days, it feels like smooth and cohesive movements of data headed to a single point on a horizon of discovery, but in times of stress, it seems more like a chaotic whirlwind of thoughts and emotions.”

I realized something recently when watching NCT videos and interviews. Mark often times get teased (mainly by Haechan lol) whenever he was about to say something on screen for taking too long to speak. And I kinda understand why Haechan does that (other than him being an absolute brat, bless his soul). I kinda realize that Mark sometimes over think what he wants to say, or that he has so much to say that he doesn’t know how to filter his thoughts. This is actually a cute trait in my opinion.

And when he does say it out loud, he often times gives out a deep answer to a simple question. To me, I think this is a good thing because when you’re an artist, people tend to want to know detailed things about you. So when he gives out meaningful answer, it’s always a juicy information for fans or the interviewer themselves.

I also found this clip that’s soooooo fitting to the quote above….

He just had an “Aha” moment very briefly, and I can just see the gears in his brain just spinning so quickly. We can see that he was saying something, but then his brain discovered something and told him to say it out, but then just as quickly his brain also was like “Nope, nevermind”, and this all happen in a nanosecond.

And Johnny was just spot on… Something did happen inside Mark’s head.

And the fact that Mark knows what happens inside his head, means that he’s a mature INFJ.

I kinda find this little bit very cute actually….

Moving on…

“Another feature of Ni is that it tends to bring up needed insight and stored information at exactly the right time, without much effort to consciously recall what is needed. Unfortunately, this automatic drive to bring relevant information into the forefront of consciousness can result in negative patterns, like over analyzing problems that have no immediate solution to the point that they can become fixated or obsessively worried.”

I feel like this clip kinda represent the aforementioned traits, just  a little though…

I mean… I agree with Kai. Dude, it was just a game, why are you thinking so much about the meaning behind why this person was given that board to solve??

Baek’s response is probably mine if I was there lol…

Anywaysssss!

That’s what I think about Mark being an INFJ. I might read further about the type and make some correlation to Mark. PEACE OUT

[sunarintoes]

Dear Whovever: [Kenma]

Synopsis: You and Kenma are both best friends and youtube gamers however you want to be more than just best friends so you decide to ‘man up’ one day and write a heart felt confession in a minecraft notebook before then putting it in Kenma’s personal chest.

WC: 3K

TW: slight swearing :)

[Episode one]

[recording in 3… 2… 1… start!] 

“Hey gamers, Kodzuken here with Tulip-but-make-it-yellow! I've done a few Minecraft videos with Tulip before, but thought I'll start a new series that will be posted every Monday.”

“It's called Minedays with Tulip and Kodzu”

“I- no, Tulip. I'm not sure what we’re gonna call it. But you guys will know- obviously since it's the title of this video.”

You whine and pout into the monitor, “Kodzu I think Minedays is a cute name.” 

Instead of replying Kenma rolls his eyes and hits you ingame. “Should we introduce the challenge and get it started?”

“Yeah that's a good idea!” 

“Well, it's about eleven am right now, we have until eleven pm to build a Minecraft house from a random topic,” he pauses and moves to the side to point to a sectioned spinwheel, “on this bad boy,” whacks the spinner, “we have eight different themes, in a sec I’ll spin it and whatever it lands on will be what we have to build.”

You let out a high pitched ‘hmm,’ “I feel bad for Kuroo and Hinata, they’re both going to have to edit twelve hours of footage down to 10 minutes!”

Kenma chuckles, “fifteen minutes actually.”

This time you roll your eyes. “Hurry up and spin it you fool! I want to get buildinggg” 

Smiling, Kenma moves back a bit and spins the wheel, after thirty seconds full of anticipation the wheel finally stops and its small arrow is pointing at- “Yes! Cottage core theme!” you yell out while Kenma groans. 

“Really? That's lame why couldn't we have ‘Lucifer’s Bedroom’?” 

You poke your tongue out to the monitor - which Kenma could see, after all, you are in a Discord call with him. “Don't be sad just because you're prancing in my turf…. Looooooser!”

Kenma playfully glares towards you, “You’re on! See you in twelve hours!”

Unfortunately, the difficulty of building a cottage core house in the woods - in survival mode, proved more difficult than planned. 

“We spawned in a desolate area huh? Barely any flowers!” you hear Kenma make a sound of agreement as you sink into your comfortable ‘gamer’ styled chair. 

“Don't tell me you've given up? Just because you can't find any flowers?” 

You scowl at his cocky tone however your mood does a one-eighty when you suddenly get a good idea. “Ok everyone! I know what I have to do! I'm going to restart in another place because this isn’t working!”

Kenma makes a sound of surprise, “you're restarting? It's been an hour already-”

“Yeah and we have, like... eleven more.” Kenma sighs in response, “better get a move on.”

For the most part, the two of you kept quiet - not wanting to let the other know how well you were doing. However one look at your phone only to see that your twitter has blown up, you decide to take a short break, after all it has been four hours of you sitting on your ass playing Minecraft. Once you open Twitter you're met with a barrage of tags and mentions - all of which screaming ‘KenYn’ and ‘Kodzutulip.’ You felt heat rise to your face, you - yes you, Ln Yn with the online alias Tulip-but-make-it-yellow, has a big, fat, humongous crush on your best friend and fellow youtuber - Kenma, aka Kodzuken aka the cutest guy in the world. To make it worse - or better, you couldn't really tell, was that many of your viewers shipped you with him - as did his viewers. 

You are of course, happy with this but you can’t help but wonder if Kenma feels the same way, does he feel weirded out by all this shipping content? Does he find it uncomfortable? Does he find it unsettling to be shipped with his in-real-life best friend?

“Hey Yn?” Kenma calls softly, “you've been looking at your phone for the past ten minutes and your face looks sad.”

You instantly look up to meet Kenma’s face and try to find the right words to say, “I… I’m just kinda tired and eventually got distracted!! Sorry Kenken!”

Kenma visibly cringes at the old nickname - the one you gave him in primary school, “if you say so… better get your head in the game though - my mansion looks epic.”

Your eyes narrow, “mansion? The theme is cottage core!” Kenma quietly chuckles in response, “a mansion can still have a fairy aesthetic, you should know that”

You huff in faux annoyance as you place your phone away and ‘get your head in the game’ just as he requested. “Be prepared to be crushed! I am the cottage core guardian!”

There are ten minutes left to your’s and Kenma’s excruciatingly long Minecraft challenge, your ass hurts from sitting on it for almost twelve straight hours - including bathroom breaks. When the buzzer rings the two of you step back from your respective buildings and make your way to the starting point - which had been marked by a stack of 20 or so dirt blocks. 

“Well that was twelve hours of eye straining torture,” you say as you stretch your arms. 

“You're tired already?”

“Kinda… I can't wait to go to sleep after this.”

“Weak, I’m playing Battlefield as soon as this is over.”

You roll your eyes and scoff, “this is why you look like a living corpse in the morning…”

Kenma looks you dead in the eyes and with a completely serious face he says, “yeah but you love it.”

You choke on your spit at his boldness, “y-yeah I guess.” 

If you were being honest, you were not the best at reading people and it was dark in Kenma’s gaming room, the only light coming from his three screen/monitor computer setup, but you think you see a light blush creep up to his cheeks. And you hate it, you hate when he says things that make your heart flutter, you hate it when he just sits there and the digital glow accentuates all of his delicate features, but what you hate most is yourself. You hate yourself because you have fallen in love with your best friend, you hate yourself because you know he doesn't like you back and you hate that you continuously give yourself a sense of false hope. 

“Yn… you want to stay up and game with me don’t you? ”

You sheepishly look to the side, ‘mayhaps.’

Kenma sighs looking at you with a soft face as he whispers “then I won’t play Battlefield and I’ll go to bed and so will you, ‘kay?”

You smile tiredly at him, “sounds like a deal.”

“We'll get back on at the same time tomorrow and we’ll do the final part of this video - the reveal. Until then.”

You smile and wave at the camera “cya soon~”

[recording over]

After your call with Kenma ended you got ready for bed but for some reason, no matter how tired you were, you just couldn't fall asleep - your mind was screaming obscene ideas that you couldn't help but contemplate. At first it was just wishful thinking but then came a thought that refused to leave, ‘confess.’ 

It was a tempting thought, but how? Surely you couldn't just say ‘hey Kenma I've liked you since high school lets date!’ yeah no, that was a horrible idea. Maybe if you confessed with some originality he would be more likely to accept but for now, you were going to do your best to go to sleep.

[Episode two]

[recording in 3… 2… 1… start!] 

In the morning you woke up feeling refreshed and excited for the day to come, Kenma had texted you and asked if you were feeling up to recording the reveal from last night and episode two today and of course you said yes. 

The video goes on without any troubles and soon you find yourself staring at the computer screen at eleven once again. 

“Remember to like, subscribe and comment below on who you think won this round.” Kenma’s voice is soothing - if you had to describe it you would say that it is silky like honey and smooth like dark chocolate; or maybe you would just say his voice is perfect. Kenma waves to the screen monitor, “hello? Earth to Yn! Are you dead or something? You look like a zombie.”

It takes a while to register, you weren’t really paying attention to the words he said as you were more interested in the way he sounded. You sit up and smile into the camera, “I'm awake… thanks for caring!”

He scoffs and swivels in his chair a bit, “I don't care about you, you're just my idiot best friend and flatmate.”

You playfully narrow your eyes, “well this idiot flatmate of yours helped you bake apple pie so you wouldn’t starve to death!”

“Hmmm, I guess. Well I'm going to head off. I'll see you later.”

You smile softly, “yeah I'll see you later, i'm just gonna stay on for a while.”

Kenma looks at you with an intrigued expression, “you're going to stay up longer? Better not be in this world, that's cheating. Want me to stay up with you?”

You roll your eyes and giggle, “it's all good I want to fix my house up in the other world. I'll see you tomorrow.”

He sighs, “if you say so.”

[recording over]

Your chair rolls back as you stretch, “maybe I should confess to him through a Minecraft journal…” you jump up. “Thats it! Thats a great way to confess! Its original and Kenma would appreciate it…. If he accepts my feelings that is…” 

You groan and slump back down into the chair, “maybe it’s best if I don't confess at all. No! I've wanted to do this for years! If he doesn't like me back it's all good! Maybe I just won't do this on a stream!”

You reach over to the bench and pull up your phone, “who to call, mmm ok let’s call Alisa I’m going to need some emotional support!”

“Hey gamers, Kodzu here in another Minecraft live stream, today we’re just in mine and Yn’s regular world and i'm going to build a house - a cottage to be specific,” he pauses and looks at the comment section; ‘no Yn isn't here right now, no Yn won't be joining this video, no I didnt know shes streaming at the moment, yes my favourite food is apple pie, yes I have a calico cat, no Yn is not my significant other, yes we are just friends.’ Kenma moves back and takes a breath, “wow you guys sure are interested in Yn huh? Maybe I should get them in more videos, might get more views that way,” he laughs a bit.

“Let's start off by heading to my base, I have the materials I’ll need there- oh uh what's this?” Kenma pauses as he stares at the foreign object, “I don't remember having a written book in my chest… maybe Yn went in here and put it in?”

Kenma stares at the book for a while before he opens it, only to be shocked. The comment section notices the blush on his face and continue to spam him with questions:

[kodzusbabe]: what's in that diary!!

[Kenmastan]: hahAAAHHA LOOK HE’S SO RED IN THE FACE

[piefacecutie]: ^^ omg you're so right @/Kenmastan hes so cute 💓

[Kenmaxyn]: I hope it's a confession!

[ynhater]: @/Kenmaxyn from who? Cause I didn't do it and I'd be the only one for Kenma oppAr

[kennismaken]: I hope it’s Yn! They’d be such a cute couple

[applepudding]: umm? Kodzu! Why did he get up and leave??

[ynhater]: babe come back!

[Kenmaxyn]: OMG MAYBE IT WAS YN !!!!

After your late night call with Alisa, you decided it would be best to just do it and then ignore Kenma for the day - well, not ignore him per se, just simply decline all his Discord calls and Facetime calls so you could put off being rejected a little while longer. You woke up with a throbbing headache that you could only blame yourself for, after all you are the dumbass who stayed up until God knows when just to write a heartfelt confession. Eventually the angst of waiting for a message from Kenma overwhelmed you and here you are now; streaming Overwatch to get your mind off of a certain someone.

“Ah no! Cant believe that stupid Hanzo got me! What a pain!” you frown at the screen and let out a sigh, “the round is over… bummer. Well while we wait an eternity for the next round I guess I should answer some of your questions… oh? I didn't know Kenma was streaming, no I’m not dating him… “ you feel your heart sink as you read the next comment; “what do you mean Kenma ran away after reading a book? Was he unhappy?”

The next moments felt like a blur, your heart was heavy and you felt tears well up in your eyes and somehow you missed the sound of someone breaking into your apartment and then your bedroom. Within a second you feel someone wrap their arms around you from behind, your body tenses up but immediately relaxes when you recognise the perpetrators scent; sweet yet salty, like caramel toffee.

“Kenma! W-what are you doing?”

“I like you too… I have for so long.”

Your eyes widen and it doesn't take too long for a smile to appear on your face, “I'm so glad to hear that.”

You feel him smile into your neck as his embrace tightens, “finish up your livestream so we can talk please.” 

“You don't need to tell me twice!”

It is eleven at night once again, but this time you’re not sitting alone in your gaming chair, instead you're sitting on Kenma’s lap - in his gaming chair as he slowly runs his hands through your hair and softly kisses your neck.

“So everyone’s pretty much freaking out over us huh?” you hum in response, “we’ve been officially together for what? Five hours?”

“Correct you are.”

You smile and hold up your phone while you continue to cuddle into him, “smile baby, I want the whole world to know that you're my player two.”

[Bonus - the love letter]

Dear Kenma,

This must be so strange - finding a journal in your chest. 

I have wanted to tell you this for quite a while and I guess I have never found the write words to say; or the right way to for that matter,

But I love you

I have loved you since our first year at Nekoma

It's been a while hasn’t it?

I'm sorry if this inconveniences you, makes you uncomfortable or makes you never want to see me again; 

Just let me continue for a little while longer because I need to get this off of my mind.

I love your smile - especially the rare one where you really smile, where your eyes crinkle and your cheeks begin to hurt 

I love your voice - it’s smooth and silky, like honey being spread across bread

I love your scent - it reminds me of salted caramel,  I can never get enough 

I love your mind - the way it works to make me laugh, make me calm and all else

I love your lips - not necessarily in a sexual way, but more so in the way you talk and speak, they move softly and slowly in a way only your lips could move in.

I love your body - how although you're hunched most of the time you still possess a fine elegance in the way you move. How at times it reminds me of a graceful swan floating down a lake. 

I love your hands - they are so pretty and dainty and soft, I want to hold them all day and all night

And most of all;

I love you

I love you in your entire

I could go ahead and pick the parts I love most and least but then you would no longer be you

I love you in your entire

Flaws and all

I know this may not be the most romantic, especially considering you’re reading this through Minecraft and I've never done this before but I had to let you know

Love 

Yn

Taglist: [open] @ladyrenart

note: sooo this is another style that i tried and i have mixed feelings about it :) also if you can’t tell,,, i’ve never written a love letter before :’)

[inevitably-johnlocked]

hey steph! how long would you say you spent on sorting out fic recs and tagging them and all that stuff? just curious because i really wanna start a fic rec blog too

Hey Nonny!

UGGGHHHH Tumblr deleted my entire response, so I’m going to just jot out what I remember.

Depending upon how long you’re willing to spend, a LONG time. You guys have NO idea how much work it is, and how much off-tumblr time I spend doing it. When I keep saying “it’s a full time job” it really is. The blogging you guys actually see takes about 2 hours, from filing my blog to answering a few asks here and there, but the rest is ALL filing my fics and creating lists. 

Now, mine is “perfected to my liking” after two years of trial and error and headaches, but yeah, if you’re serious about becoming strictly a fic rec blog, prepare to put in a lot of time and effort. BUT to be fair, I’m ridiculous in my sorting and organizing... I have a weird OCD thing where I need stuff sorted in a certain way, and it takes longer than it probably should. But it works for me and it has become very streamlined now that almost all of my Ao3 bookmarks are finally sorted. In the beginning, when I decided I would start reccing fics, it was only meant to be a here and there thing, but then people kept coming to me more and more and that’s when I decided I needed to keep an offline list. So here’s some tips from me to you:

Keep offline lists. Tumblr fucks up enough that you WILL lose interest in redoing a big 50-fic list if tumblr decides that nope, today I don’t feel like posting your file because you didn’t refresh your page BEFORE typing it out.

Going along with the above, keep an offline masterlist of your read-and-tagged fics. All the recs I give you guys? They’re all on one of three list masterlists I have offline: GO Recs, FFNet Recs, and Ao3 Recs. This will be SO much easier for searching for topics when making new lists.

Do the lists WAY ahead of time. This has given me back many-a-Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday nights because I prep my lists ahead of time.

Develop the “public” system of filing for your things, and use that for your Masterlist, so you don’t have to redo it every time (so like don’t have just Ficname by author if that’s not what you want to do for your recs). For example, my system is this, emphasis included: Fic Name by Author (Rating, wordcount, Chapter count || WIP/AU if applicable || PODFIC LINK if applicable || list of personal and/or author tags here, even if they spoil the story; i’ve found some people with triggers appreciate that I tag EVERYTHING I find in the stories) – Author’s description or personal description if there isn’t one. Series link if it’s part of one. This way, all I have to do is copy-paste it into new documents for each list, and then copy-paste the whole list into the Tumblr doc. 

Also, re: the above, do the layout in Tumblr if you’re doing a Tumblr rec blog. It keeps the formatting consistent and I don’t have to fix it between Ao3 and FFnet if I just copy-paste everything into a blank Tumblr doc, and then copy paste THAT onto the masterlist. Trust me on this one. 

Draft everything. This goes along with all the above. I always “start” a list and put a big header so that I can find it in my drafts (that’s why they have the big bold H1 headers on them) and then hit “draft”. Then keep a list of your drafted fics in your preferred method of organization. I keep everything in Text Edit RTF files. I believe Alexx told me once she did spreadsheets. Either way, develop a system BEFORE jumping into this thing, because you will EASILY get overwhelmed if you aren’t used to high-stress levels.

Tag fics as you read them. Trust me on this one. Because it will save you MONTHS of re-reading every single bookmark so you can properly file fics. I do this on my Notes App with the story title, and then all the tags I know are popular requests or are for lists I know Nonnies have asked for.

Keep CONSISTENT in your tags. Don’t tag one thing O!verse but another Omegaverse. I had to redo a lot of my older tags because CMD+F was pointless on a document I purposely made to streamline the process.

USE Ao3′s TAGGING FEATURE for your bookmarks. Just make sure that if any of your tags are spoilerific, make sure you keep the rec private.

File EVERYTHING as soon as you bookmark it. It will save you a LOT of hours of going through all your recent bookmarks to file them. 

That said, HAVE A FILING SYSTEM if you’re keeping everything offline. Keep separate documents for each list... Trust me on this. I used to just have one document each for Fluff fics, for example, and put subheaders in them, and it just got messy and annoying as my fic reccing became more common and plentiful. Instead, have a nice list like this, for instance:

The grey dots next to some of them are old filing methods that I need to fix and pull out. Also, as you can see, every time I finish a list, I file it into Posted and start a new list appended with a Pt number. It just keeps the system moving smoothly. I also have a system for the coloured dots; Grey is Old and refile, Orange is drafted on Tumblr, and Orange and Green means it’s drafted and ready-to-post.

I also have an offline “drafted posts document”:

That also has a system as you can see, but it keeps me knowing what I’ve already got drafted on Tumblr if I forget to tag the files with the colour dots.

It looks tedious and complicated, but I promise you, it’s really simple once you’re familiar with my method. Which is why I’m saying, you need to develop this kind of system REALLY early rather than 2 years later like I did. This drafted posts list is only recent as of... February I believe is when I started it.

Hmmm. Ah, yeah, so you can see it’s a lot of work, and this is why I absolutely dislike HateAnons negatively criticizing my lists, because it IS a lot of MY free time, between 8 and 48 hours a week. But if you truly enjoy sorting and organizing like I do, it’s a bit easier to cope with. So, yeah, whenever I tell you guys “I need some time away” this is why, and usually I switch to playing video games or doing art, both of which I miss doing on the weekends. I’m trying to keep the Tumblr stuff to mostly Weeknights these days, so that it’s an extension of my day job. Funny how I have less free time working at home than I did when I wasn’t; because I feel obligated to always be on my computer now, and I hate that. Like right now, I just bought 2 new games to play and I haven’t tried them yet because I’m always working both day-job stuff AND Tumblr stuff on weekends. 

So yes, that’s another tip: Don’t let it consume you, and set a schedule. Don’t feel obligated to answer every request. When I am tired and I just genuinely don’t have the energy to dig through 1000+ fics to find 2 or three for an obscure ask, I usually make it an interactive ask – not only does it encourage community involvement and a sense of belonging for everyone, but I also discover new fics to read too! I am IMMENSELY proud and happy that my fic lists have essentially become “fic exchange” grounds. Before it was only on one or two lists, some timid new authors added their fics to my big lists, but now, since people SEE that I add their fics hidden in the notes to the main post, now everyone is happy to share their faves on the main lists AS WELL AS the smaller single asks. I like to think of myself of a “curator of happy things” so that’s what I like to do with these. 

That said, you have to also decide if you’re going to be this interactive as well. Because that adds an ADDITIONAL hour or so as you make a separate “MFL” document and file those too. It’s time consuming, but totally worth it because if I’ve read the fic, all I have to do to that post in my MFL list is add my tags and file that block of text :)

I hope I helped you out a bit, Nonny, and I hope you guys enjoyed seeing a bit of my process. If I can get OBS to work on my laptop, maybe I’ll do a short video so you guys can see me doing it live. 

Anyway, sorry this got long. :P

[cirex101]

SWTOR: The Sith Empire makes no sense

I love The Old Republic.  I love the fact that each class gets their own story, with their own companions and love interests.  I love that the story and animation has only gotten better with each new expansion. However, it’s not a flawless game.  Others have already pointed out its gameplay flaws, so I won’t cover them.  Instead, I’ll just be focusing on the major pet peeve I have about the story, and a certain design choice mad by Bioware.  I’ve got several pet peeves (the Jedi Exile being reduced into a one-note fangirl of Revan, who’s already overrated, the very fact that there’s a Revan cult within the Empire that, logically, really shouldn’t give a damn about him, KOTOR 2′s companions being ignored, the Knights of Zakuul being hyped up as some sort of elite ‘grey’ order when they’re really just the blandest Force-sensitive mooks ever, etc, how the design team went full lazy and just ripped off the aesthetics of the Original trilogy’s rebel Alliance and Galactic empire for the Republic and Sith Empire respectively), but all of them pale compared to this one.

It’s about the Sith Empire, specifically, demographics within the Sith Empire.  To do that, let’s go back in time, to that far off era of the 1990s, to the reason why we even have the KOTOR era in the first place.

The Tales of the Jedi comics, originally published by Dark Horse, takes place thousands of years before the movies, and introduces us to the origins of the eternal conflict between the Jedi and the Sith, as well as really dumb protagonists (looking at you Gav and Jori Daragon, especially Gav).

Time for some backstory for those of you unfamiliar with this era: Thousands of years ago, the Jedi had a schism between Light and Dark, and naturally, Light won.  Rather than executing the last of the Dark Jedi, the Order chose to exile them, putting them on a spaceship and sending them into deep space.  Unfortunately for the galaxy, the Dark Jedi stumbled upon Korriban, home to the red skinned Sith species.

Now, the Dark Jedi would come to rule over the Sith, and through alchemy, managed to find a way to interbreed with them, continuing on their bloodlines for generations to come, with their descendants becoming the ruling Sith Lords.  By the time of the Great Hyperspace War, having more human traits such as five fingers and less pronounced tendrils/spines was considered a mark of having a lot of Dark Jedi blood.  Compare and contrast Naga Sadow and Ludo Kresh (left and right respectively).

TOR players will know what happens next; Naga Sadow, now ruler of the Sith Empire, invades the Republic, and is defeated.  The Republic and Jedi then enter a campaign of genocide against the Sith, wiping out the entire species save for Sadow’s followers, who had already fled, and those who followed Vitiate AKA the Sith Emperor AKA Valkorion, into the Unknown Regions, and Dromund Kaas, and other holdouts.

Vititate’s fleet of exiles will be out focus.  Now, anyone who’s read the Tales of the Jedi comics will know that the Sith Empire is made up entirely of the actual Sith species, which is divided into castes.  Now, by all forms of logic, the entirety of Vitiate’s exiles should look like this:

I don’t know about all of you, but I’m seeing an awful lot of red faces here.  Now, the Sith spent twenty years in space, until eventually rediscovering Dromund Kaas.  Again, logically speaking, they really shouldn’t look all that different from when they first set out...

And yet TOR would have us believe that, somehow, in the twenty years it took for them to make the trip, they now looked like this:

Hmmm... there’s something not right here.  I only see one red Sith, but there sure are a lot of humans (also they’ve ditched their “Sword & Sandals except IN SPACE” fashion for one that’s clearly just shamelessly ripping off the movie Empire, but that’s another story).  

In fact, if you look at the game and all its side material, it shows that humans are the majority species in the Empire, with the Sith Purebloods as a minority, having been bred out by the humans.

So we come to my major pet peeve with TOR, the one that I still haven’t found a satisfactory answer for.

Where.  The Hell.  Did all these damn humans come from?  

They weren’t part of the original Sith Empire, oh no.  Tales of the Jedi showed us page after page of red skinned individuals with spiky faces and tendril mustaches.  They never even saw a human before Gav and Jori Daragon showed up one day and set the plot of Tales in motion.

Now, the Sith could have picked them up along the way, or when they later re-established their Empire, but that doesn’t add up with what TOR presents us.  The only humans interacting with the Empire were from the Republic, and they were the Sith’s enemies.  It’s possible that the Sith ould have captured humans and made them slaves, but then why would the Sith allow these humans to then operate their ships, or serve in the military?  Instead, TOR gives us a pretty blatant retcon, which is that these humans have suddenly always been a part of the Empire.  In the Foundry Flashpoint, where an Imperial strike team assassinates Revan, it’s revealed that around 98% of the Empire has red sith ancestry, despite now being majority human, with the exception of Purebloods, who are biologically human, but possess red skin and other features.

Are we expected to believe that humans somehow outbred and absorbed the red Sith?  Again, that’s ridiculous.  There were only twelve Dark Jedi who introduced human (or humanoid, given some of them looked alien) bloodlines into the Sith genepool, and their descendants made up the ruling class.  Even then, Lords like Naga Sadow, who had the most human features, and therefore the most in common with TOR’s Purebloods, was the exception, not the rule.  Sith like Ludo Kressh were the rule, and they looked pretty damn alien with their four fingered hands, large face spines and tendrils, and pronounced teeth.  That’s not even accounting for the rest of the species in the other castes.  What the hell happened to them?  They should still be around, making up the majority of the Sith Empire.

TLDR: Bioware, in their attempt to evoke the movies by making the Sith Empire resemble the Galactic Empire as much as possible, committed a pretty blatant retcon that made humans the majority species rather than the red Sith, for which they still haven’t given a satisfactory answer.

[jovialyouthmusic]

Girls’ Night Out

A multiple AU piece of fun featuring my female LIs

The girl’s night out takes an unexpected turn, and the author has to step in

Word Count 1709

A/N Just one more chapter after this virtual romp. Partial nudity, some swearing and still NOT SUITABLE FOR UNDER 18S

6 Help...

‘Well crap’ said Lucy as Lizzy went limp and crumpled. John rushed forward to catch her ‘What now? I didn’t think she’d react that badly’

‘The plan was for us to change everything to our timeline’ John said. The three women gaped at him as the music stopped. His expression changed as he realised he’d given the game away.

‘Hold on a minute – this was planned?’ asked Sophia, sobering up swiftly. Her head whipped around to the stage, where ‘Snake’, ‘Glad’, ‘Brake’ and ‘Sebastien’ stood sheepishly in their strippers garb. ‘Bas, is that really you and not another version?’ She demanded. He cleared his throat.

‘Now Sophia…’ he started, but she stormed up to him and poked him in the chest. Defensively he placed his hat over his genitals.

‘So you couldn’t leave us to enjoy ourselves – you had to stay in control’ she hissed. Behind her, Lucy suddenly laughed

‘But Soph – look at them!’ she crowed ‘They stripped for us, for fuck’s sake. They’re way out of their comfort zone. I think that shows real dedication’ Sophia stood back and looked Bastien up and down. He did indeed look extremely uncomfortable.

‘Humph’ she retorted ‘Well sadly the game’s up now. What have you got to say for yourself?’ Bastien spoke, regaining some of his composure.

‘Sophia, my goddess’ he started ‘Tell me you didn’t enjoy yourself. You said – no, screamed - and I quote, Come here lover boy, I’m your gal.’ He folded his arms and gazed at her. It was Sophia’s turn to look sheepish.

‘Well okay, I have to admit you did a good job’ she admitted ‘I never thought you’d be comfortable doing something like that’

‘You know I put my best into whatever I do’ he said, his tone soothing. ‘Les helped – we watched some videos…’ at this, Lucy snorted

‘Wow, I’d like to have been a fly on the wall for that scenario’ she guffawed. Now it was Charlotte’s turn to speak. She glared at her Drake

‘How could you?’ she growled ‘You put me up on stage for everyone to see’ He hung his head in shame, hat covering his groin.

‘I’m sorry Charlie’ he said ‘Was it really that bad?’ He looked at her hopefully, and Lucy nudged her

‘Come on Lottie, it was pretty damn funny’ she prompted. Charlotte sighed heavily ‘and look at him’ Lucy went on ‘He’s almost as hot as my Drake. Tell me you didn’t enjoy it just a tiny little bit?’ Charlotte shrugged in defeat.

‘Very well, it was rather - stimulating’ she replied, then rounded on her man ‘But don’t you ever pull something like that in public again’ Drake nodded, and John was next to speak

‘Lizzy’s coming round – I’m going to take her somewhere more familiar if you don’t mind. It was a pleasure meeting you all’ and in the blink of an eye they were gone.

------

Slowly Elizabeth’s senses came back to her. She lay on her back on some padded surface, head propped up on a firm pillow. It was quieter, and the flashing lights had stopped. The soothing strains of a string quartet filled the air along with a soft murmur of voices.

‘Lizzy – it’s okay, you’re safe, my darling’ she heard her fiancé say, and slowly she opened her eyes. ‘Take it slowly, don’t try to speak just yet’ Above her she saw the vaulted ceiling of the assembly rooms, and to the side was a finely painted screen. She lay on a chaise longue, hidden from the sight of the others she could hear on the other side. She raised her head a little to look down and confirm what she knew - she wore her ballgown and satin slippers, not the skin tight transparent leggings and short dress that her companions had chosen for her.

Beside John stood Morag, gazing at her with concern. She passed her hand over her forehead and handed her a glass of water which she sipped gratefully, sitting up carefully.

‘You gave us quite a turn, young lady, passing out while you talked with your beau’ she scolded ‘I know you’re excited about the wedding but you really should eat properly, or you’ll faint at the altar.’

‘I’m sorry Morag’ she said ‘I promise I’ll remember to have breakfast tomorrow’ John stood by her side and placed his hand on her wrist. She smiled up at him.

‘I had the strangest dream’ Lizzy started, and John smiled, leaning forward and speaking softly so Morag could not hear.

‘Are you sure it was a dream?’ he winked, opening his closed hand to reveal a bow tie. Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to protest, but he silenced her. ‘Only you and I know’ he whispered. Morag tutted

‘Now then, you know I cannot leave you two alone. Stop your whispering now’

‘Morag, we will be married tomorrow. Can you not allow us five minutes together? I promise we will do nothing improper’ Lizzy entreated her chaperone ‘I only want to talk privately with John’ Morag crossed her arms and harrumphed

‘Very well Miss Elizabeth, but don’t make me regret my decision. You always were headstrong’ She went and stood a few feet away, still in sight but out of earshot as long as they spoke quietly.

‘What happened?’ Lizzy whispered ‘You appeared in your uniform – were you going to take me up on stage for all to see?’

‘I would not have held you up for scrutiny my dearest, never fear’ he assured her ‘The plan was for all to change and for us to be here together. I was going to dance with you as is appropriate for our time’

‘Were the others to follow?’ she asked

‘You wanted time alone with me’ he said ‘But somehow when you fainted and I brought you here, Morag appeared to look after you’

‘I didn’t get to say goodbye or thank them for looking after me’ Lizzy said ‘Will we see them again?’

‘I cannot say for sure’ he replied ‘I hope so’

‘Can we still dance?’ she asked ‘What about your injury?’ He smiled

‘It seems in this place in between worlds, all is possible’ he said ‘The only obstacle is Morag. How she came to be here I know not’ Lizzy sighed

‘If we knew how to contact our author, perhaps she could help’

------

I sat at my screen, scratching my head. My characters had really kept me guessing. First a request for a mock up of Edinburgh, complete with bars and clubs, then for videos of male strippers performing, now one for research on dances popular in the Regency era. I hadn’t really put two and two together, as due to the health crisis in my own world, although I had time on my hands, I hadn’t felt that writing was much of a priority. I sighed and closed down my document to find ‘my’ Bastien waiting.

‘Hey Bas, what on earth is going on?’ I asked warily.

‘You’d better come over and find out’ He smiled. Wearily I put my hand to the screen and felt the tug that took me through to the virtual world. We stood in one of the waiting rooms, sterile and white, and he was there, supporting me with a hand to my waist. He leaned forward to kiss me on the cheek. I rubbed it, feeling the blood rise to my face.

‘Thanks Bas – I’m sorry I haven’t been on much. There’s – a lot going on lately and I haven’t felt up to it’ He held my hand and squeezed it

‘I’m sorry to hear it, but it’s good to see you. Your characters have been – well, things got slightly out of hand’ I placed my palm over my face.

‘Yes’ I sighed ‘There were some odd requests. Tell me the worst’

‘Well, somehow the pairing from your Regency period became self aware…’

‘That’s odd, the readership is pretty low, and it’s not been going long’ Bastien shrugged

‘Well there’s a lot of spare energy sloshing around so things have been a bit crazy’ I made a gesture for him to continue. ‘So your regency heroine was first – and Lucy, Charlotte and Sophia took her under their wings. Did you not see her when you helped them make that mock up of Edinburgh?’

‘Oh dear, either I wasn’t paying attention, or they deliberately hid her’ I conceded. ‘I just thought they wanted a bit of fun’

‘Well that ‘bit of fun’ was a hen night for Elizabeth’

‘Oh my goodness, I wrote her wedding night but it’s going to have to be redrafted, and there’s a few chapters to go before we get there’

‘Well I think she got a bit restless, then their partners got wind of it. My counterpart was not happy for Sophia to be out on the town without backup’ I snorted with laughter

‘I specifically wrote her as being able to cope for herself’ I scoffed.

‘You also wrote her Bastien as being very good at his job’ he pointed out ‘His background of chasing Leo round the nightclubs and dives in Europe made him a bit antsy’

‘Hmmm, I didn’t specifically write – oh hold on, there was the storyline with him meeting Damien in New York when he was following Leo’  Bastien nodded

‘Exactly. Well, anyway they ended up in a club, and the men gatecrashed as strippers’

‘They what now?’ I gasped ‘Oh heck, now the requests for the videos of Magic Mike make sense. Go on, what happened then?’

‘Elizabeth was – kind of overwhelmed’

‘Ohhh dear, poor lamb’

‘It’s okay, she fainted when her John arrived’

‘John is self aware too?’

‘Uh huh. Anyway, the plan was to spirit her away to the Assembly rooms in regency time so they could have a little time alone before the wedding’

‘And did that happen?’

‘After a fashion. Apparently their chaperone turned up and they’re stuck with her’

‘And that’s why you called me?’

‘That, and it was a good opportunity to reconnect’ I sighed

‘Okay, we’d better go and sort things out. I’m going to start by rounding them up at the club - ready?’ I took his hand.

‘Ready’ he grinned.

[shera-dnd]

The Princess of Power - Part 1 Being She-ra

Y’all asked for some GM lore and here you have some GM lore. Featuring some Mara lore for some good measure (I did tell you most important NPCs were based on real people)

Now how about a little blast from the past, looking through the early stages of “The Princesses of Power RPG”

~~~

The Moon Opal was a calm place in the earlier hours of the day, most of its customers were the nocturnal type, leaving the store mostly empty and the perfect place to get some work done. It was at this serene time of day that a tired figure toiled once again at a task that had been bothering them for over a week now: Balancing She-ra

Project Etheria - a placeholder name - was supposed to be about collaboration and teamwork, yet someone decided that giving a player an extremely overpowered form, with insane martial and magical skills was a good idea and now it was their job to get that mess to work somehow.

Sure, it made sense for She-ra to be this strong, she is supposed to be the protector of the world, the key to the world’s magic, every princess had an element, but She-ra, the Princess of Power, was supposed to be the center of...the center of everything.

They grabbed a piece of paper and quickly began scribbling notes, there was an obvious solution staring them right in the face all this time and they finally got it. Oh they couldn’t wait to see Mara’s face when they showed her this.

“Hey, someone is feeling productive today” Mara greeted, apparently summoned by that errant thought.

“Mhm” they agreed distractedly, not even taking their gaze away from their work.

“Earth to GM” She joked, the mention of their name stealing their attention “You there, GM?”

GM, Game Master, they had been called that most of their life, but when Mara did it felt different. It was not a simple title or description of function, it was a name, their name, at least one they identified with more than they ever did with the one they were given at birth. She truly felt like she was greeting a friend and that made them happy.

“Sorry” They apologized, putting their work aside “Hey, Mara”

“Hi” She greeted again, cheerfully “What got you so excited today?”

“Rebalancing She-ra for the sixth, and hopefully last, time” They explained handing her their work “I removed most of the new Traits from She-ra itself and made it so she granted those to nearby princesses”

“I’m gonna have to rewrite my whole character sheet again, aren't I?” She asked, reading over their notes “Oh, I almost forgot!” She exclaimed,  handing them her own notes “I finished some more Lore on Etherian magic and the First Ones”

GM took the notes titled ‘Heart of Etheria’ and skimmed over them. They sat there silently reading each others notes. This too felt nice, Mara wasn’t a very energy demanding friend, even though she could be very loud and energetic when she wanted to, she also did not mind sharing moments of silence, they appreciated that. Unfortunately they were the ones to break the silence this time.

“The planet is a what!?” GM loudly blurted.

“A weapon of mass destruction” Mara stated, as if saying it out loud suddenly made it make sense “I thought the setting needed bigger stakes”

“We already have an invading alien empire, giant monsters and evil sorcerers” GM declared, but all they got from her was a shrug “I guess Mara, Princess of World Building would know better than me”

“I like that one, let’s use it in the book” Mara exclaimed “You got anything we could play while I change up my traits?” She asked, picking up her character sheet. It was her third one, the last two had been severely damaged from constant rewriting.

“Preferably nothing combat heavy then” GM pondered for a moment “Well, you had just finished a mission last time, so we could maybe have a chill scene in the Crystal Castle?” They proposed

“Perfect!” She declared, full of glee “I wanna flirt with Light Hope”

“Excuse me?” They asked “She is an AI”

“So…?” She didn’t seem to understand their point

“She is not programed for romance” They explained, a little exasperated

“Nothing a little love can’t fix” She said, with a shrug

“You’re not teaching a robot to love, Mara” They declared

“Hey, look at it this way: I’m preparing you for all the players who will absolutely try to romance everything and everyone in this setting” She explained herself “Also Light Hope is really cute”

“Miss me with that allo shit, Mara” GM groaned.

They played out a couple more scenes, testing out the new and rebalanced She-ra, along with some NPC princesses, against the Crystal Castle’s robot spiders and for the first time Mara seemed satisfied with the combat.

“Yes!” She exclaimed, as the last spider fell “You’re the best”

“I...hmmm...thanks” GM mumbled, not used to receiving compliments “You’re the one making the world, I just turn stuff into rules text”

“But that is the important part” Mara assured them “I can say what it means to be She-ra all I want, but it’s all pointless if the rules say something different”

“And what did the rules say?” GM asked, a little surprised. They were so focused on making She-ra balanced that they didn’t even consider that aspect of things.

“That She-ra is not meant to make people feel weaker, you shouldn’t feel like you’re less than them, you should feel stronger by being with them” She explained, her voice loud and full of excitement “Helping other be their best selves, that is what it should mean to be She-ra!”

_____

The Moon Opal bustled with people in the late hours of the night, its more nocturnal customers taking up the tables with games of all kinds, but if you got there early you could still grab a table for yourself and get some work done. GM was finishing up their notes on the new version of The Princesses of Power, when someone unceremoniously crumbled on the chair in front of them.

“Long day?” GM greeted, not taking their eyes away from their work.

“Long day” Adora responded. She opened up her back and began looking for something inside it “Sorry for jumping right to the point, but I still gotta pick up dinner” She explained herself, handing them a few sheets of paper.

“Oh right, your backstories” They remarked, taking them both and skimming over them “Why is Catra’s six pages long?”

“Because my girlfriend is the most competitive person in the planet” Adora groaned. Of course Catra would consider this a competition

“You two want to call dibs on any of the homebrew powers?” GM asked

“Nah, I’m good with whatever you send my way” She waved it off “and Catra doesn’t want any powers, because she wants to prove she can kick everyone’s ass without any”

“I’m not surprised in the slightest” They commented, reading through Adora’s story a second time, they couldn’t avoid the strange sense of nostalgia that came from it “What it means to be She-ra” they mumbled without really thinking.

“You said something?” Adora asked, perkin up on her chair

“Nothing” They deflected “Just had a few ideas for your character. Do you mind if I keep these?”

“Sure sure, we don’t mind” She handed it to them “If that is all, I should probably get going”

“I’ll text you if I need any more details” They stated “Have a good night, Adora”

“You too, GM!” She said, waving at them as she left.

They smiled and gave the papers in their hand one last read through. Oh Mara, you would’ve loved this one.

[lettersofwrittencollective]

The Pull (26/?)

Summary: The Ragnulf’s are one of the oldest lines of werewolves known. A gift from ancient times was given to the line. Though not all of the line will experience it. There are some who will experience a Pull. This Pull leads them to their true mate, a soulmate. The problem is, just because the wolf finds their true mate does not mean that they are the same for that person. .

Author: @lettersofwrittencollective

Pairing: S Stiles x Hale!Cousin OC (Reader)

ReaderWord count: 2617

A/N: I swear, I am not intentionally putting Void. He is coming:) Anyways let me know what you think of this scene! Let me know if you want to see more! Truthfully, interaction gives me life! So, comment, reblog, send me smashed keyboards, anything works 😘

<<Prev || Masterlist || Next>>

“I’m sorry you did what now?!”

“Tasha it wasn’t that bad! Allison's dad was there and it’s not like anyone actually got hurt. Plus we found out what the things are and that apparently it’s a Nogitsune that they’re looking for” Isaac tried to defend himself, putting his hands up in an attempt to placate you.

You growl at him somewhat menacingly and he seems surprised by your actions but before he can dig himself into a deeper grave, you point out, “Ok let’s not even dive into the supernatural aspect of the issues with you meeting up with the Yakuza. It’s the freaking Yakuza! You don’t just meet them and then go on your merry way and act like it never happened! There’s going to be things that come up later. God forbid you ever want to work in law enforcement, guess what that’s not an option anymore!” By this point, you’ve raised your voice and are just short of yelling at him while you pace back and forth, motioning at him in your agitated state.

“Tasha...”

“No Isaac! Did you know that the Yakuza has their own werewolves? Rumor is there’s even an evolved kanima amongst them. Not to mention they have different kitsune at different ranks!”

“Yeah, we actually um- met one of the werewolves.”

You freeze as the ice runs down your spine at those words. Slowly, you turn back to face Isaac as you school your features into a hard mask. You’re praying that he’s joking, that there wasn’t actually a meeting with the Yakuza a few days ago let alone one that had a werewolf present but his face is serious. He’s not trying to hold back a smirk or a laugh and you realize that he’s being serious.

“Do you realize how lucky you are that they let you walk away alive?”

“Yeah,” Isaac rubbed the back of his neck and this time you weren’t sure if it was because he was nervous or because he was upset, “Apparently the main guy owed Allison's dad.”

“That’s really not that reassuring. Besides, you do realize you’re not gonna get that lucky again in the future, right?” Your voice was small, terrified at the prospect of what was to come. He took a step towards you, calling your name, softly, and you stepped back while shaking your head. “This isn’t a game Isaac.”

Isaac took another step towards you and pulled you into a hug, “I know. If it makes you feel better, Allison's dad wasn’t comfortable with the whole thing either.”

Hugging him back, you breathed in his scent and listened to his heartbeat for a minute to ensure that he was alive. It’s a scent that has become as comforting as Aarics or Ro’s though not as soothing.

You’d had a sense of foreboding all afternoon. It’s been a couple of days since the Oni attack at the McCall house but you’d found yourself more and more anxious as time went on. While none of your friends or yourself had been killed by the creatures, you hadn’t been able to relax since that night.

Scott had caught Stiles up on what was going on while waiting for Rafael. Stiles has been worried about everyone but particularly Lydia but Scott had been able to reassure him. You had confirmed with Scott that he and Kira had also had the kanji for self on their necks and since then had been trying to figure out why yours was different.

Once you’ve confirmed with your own senses that Isaac is, in fact, alive and well you step back from him. As your stepping back, you feel your phone buzz and Scott is yelling for Isaac. He sounds stressed out but your phone is ringing and it’s late so while Isaac runs out of the room, you check your phone.

Seeing the contact, you swipe and lift the phone to your ear, “What’s up Ro?”

“Hey kid, so you didn’t hear this from me cause we’re still not sure and dad doesn’t want you to know just yet but, as your brother, I think you should know.” you’re about to ask what it is he’s talking about but he doesn’t give you a chance, he’s speaking so fast you can barely keep up with what he’s saying, “You know how you had asked if your mate could be human? Now we aren’t sure but we did find a mate that wasn’t a werewolf and we’re trying to find more on her. ”

You didn’t completely understand what your brother was trying to tell you and you’re sure that bein as tired as you are isn’t helping the situation. He’s talking about a priestess of some sort and you’re not sure but suddenly Isaacs calling your name and when you turn to him he says, “We gotta go. Somethings wrong with Stiles.”

“Ro I gotta call you back,” you say and hang up the phone, grabbing your hoodie before making your way out of the room to follow Isaac down the stairs.  

As you’re making your way down the stairs, Scott's phone is vibrating again, he answers and while you don’t usually like to listen in on cell phones because of the high frequency, you pay attention this time, “Hey, Stiles.”

“Did you call him? Did you call my dad?” You can hear the panic and fear in Stiles’ voice and share a look with Isaac. This is bad.

“No,” Scott assures and shakes his head, as if Stiles can see the motion. “Just Isaac and Natasha. We’re coming to find you. Can you figure out where you are? Try to find something to tell us where to look.”

“It’s a basement. I don’t… I think… I think I’m in some kind of... some kind of  basement.”

“Stiles is it a house?” you ask loudly.

Thankfully, he seems to hear you and, a moment later he’s saying, “No, it looks bigger. Like it’s industrial.”  The more that he talks, the more it sounds like he’s on the verge of tears and you can hear the shake in his voice when he says, “I think there’s a furnace but it’s cold. It’s freezing down here. I gotta… I gotta turn the phone off, Scott. It’s going to die.”

“Stiles wait,” you say at the same time that Scott asks him to wait.

Thankfully, it seems that Stiles listens as the line does not go silent and Scott asks, “What else is there, what do you see?”

“The phone’s dying I can’t talk,” he repeats, the frustration evident in his voice and while you don’t blame him you also don’t know how else to help if you can’t get information from him. Suddenly, Stiles is whispering and there’s a different kind of terror to his voice. “I have to go. Please...” he begs.

“Stiles, why you whispering?”

There’s a moment that’s tense and a knot forms in your stomach as you meet Scotts eyes. The next words out of Stiles’ mouth cause the Alphas face to pale considerably, “Cause, I think there’s someone in here with me.” Then the line goes silent.

Shit.

You look at Isaac and then Scott. No one says anything for a moment and you’re sure that they’re trying to put together a list of places where they can check but really, where is there to go?

“We need to call his dad,” you say as you go to reach for your phone. It’s as you realize that it’s not in your pocket that Scott grabs your arm.

“I promised I wouldn’t,” the young Alpha tells you with all seriousness, a pleading look on his face.

“Why would you do that?!” you practically hiss at him. “Of all the things -”

“Natasha he begged me not to.” 

“That’s not how that works Scott!” you yell as you throw your hands up, in exasperation, “He is missing and we need to call in his dad.”

“Natasha, please? I promised?” He looks torn and a part of you does feel bad for snapping. This is his friend and his territory so he’s gonna know better than you would about what his friend can and cannot handle. 

Crossing your arms, you huff, and glare at him before saying, through gritted teeth, “Fine, where do you want to start?”

You get it, you really do and, if you're honest with yourself, if you were at home and it was Aaric or Ro who had asked you then you probably would have agreed not to say a word.

Scott looks surprised that you agreed and you’re already regretting the decision. Just as you’re about to tell him to forget it, he seems to make up his mind. “Let’s start at his house. Get the freshest possible scent and go from there. I’m sure we’ll be able to track him.”

“What if someone else took him?” Isaac asks and you turn to him, giving him a look that you hope indicates how much he is not being helpful in this situation.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Scott shaking his head. “He was probably sleepwalking. But if someone else did take him, then there’ll be a scent there that shouldn’t be and we can track both of them.”

“Alright then let’s go.”

The three of you are out of the house and on your respective bikes moments later and making your way towards the Stilinski household. You can feel the worry and anxiety rolling off Scott and, surprisingly, off Isaac.

As you ride, your instinct decides that now is the perfect time to speak up, We should be going after him.

We are but we have to have his scent.

Do you really think we don’t know it?

And what happens if we’re wrong? Hmmm, you ask your instincts, If we get this wrong he could end up dead. Remember when we agreed that death happens to those around you? I happen to like these people. Sherriff would be devastated if something happened to Stiles and we know that Melissa and Scott wouldn’t take it well. Not to mention, I happen to like the kid. He’s passionate, funny, caring. He may be human but he’s someone I want on my side when a fight comes.

Your instincts are silent for a moment and you wonder if perhaps you’ve said or done something wrong. But a moment later, you can feel the growl in your chest, Then let’s get the scent and go.

Getting to the Stilinski house, you put your bike in park. A quick glance around and you realize that you recognize a car parked across the street.

As the group of you walk into the house, you ask the boys, “Why is Aidens car is parked across the street?”

To their credit, neither of them stop though they do hurry up and Scott has a key to let himself in, though he ends up not needing it. As soon as you enter the door, your hit by both Aiden and Lydias scents within the house.

Running now, you make your way up the stairs and find both Lydia and Aiden in Stiles’ room.

“How did you know? Did he call you too?” Scotts asking the redhead.

Meanwhile, you shake your head, “Lydia for the love of Odin please tell me that this wasn’t a feeling that you go.”

Lydia shakes her head, “I heard it.”

“Don’t ask,” Aiden warns, “It gets more confusing when you ask.”

“Guys,” you step past the two of them towards the bed.

“Not as confusing as that,” Lydia points out. There are red strings tied to a pair of scissors that have been stabbed into the middle of the mattress. The opposite ends are attached to different pictures.

“He uses red for the unsolved cases,” you whisper, remembering the night you’d worked on Barrow. Blue’s just pretty.

“Maybe he thinks he’s part of an unsolved case.”

“Or is an unsolved case.”

“Aiden, Isaac…” You turn to face them, “I will deball you if you keep it up.”

They both look at you, a look of scrutinization on their faces. You figure that they’re trying to determine if you’re serious or not and so you offer then a fanged smile before turning back to the pictures the red strings connect to. Eyes bouncing from picture to picture again, it takes you a moment to figure they’re probably not connected, “Scott w need to go find him.”

“Hold on,” Lydia begins, “is he still out there? You don’t know where he is?”

Scott tries to defend himself again and Aiden must feel your agitation because he reaches out and squeezes your shoulder. What you can’t seem to understand is why everyone else seems so calm in this.

“What else did he say?” Lydias asking.

“Somethings wrong with his leg. He’s bleeding.”

“I’m sorry what?” you turn to Scott. “You didn’t say that at the house. We need to go to the cops.”

Aiden backs you up, “Natasha’s right, tonight’s the coldest night of the year. It’s going to drop into the 20’s.”

“Wait, hold on-” Lydia cuts off the pending argument. “You haven’t told his dad?” When Scott doesn’t say anything, she clarifies, “Stiles is bleeding and freezing and you didn’t call his dad?”

“He made me promise not to. We can find him by scent. If he was sleepwalking, he couldn’t have gotten far, right?”

“You guys didn’t notice his jeeps gone did you?”

“That was probably my fault,” you say, raising your hand and addressing Aiden,  “I was more distracted with your car.”

Lydia’s pulled out her phone and is going through her contacts, “You promised you wouldn’t call his dad. I didn’t.”

“I’m with her, Scott. Sherriff’s gonna have more resources.”

“Wait, you guys, I can get more help. I can call Derek-”

“Already texted him, Peter, too for that matter.”

Scott gives you a look but continues, “I can call Allison.”

“Everyone except for the cops! Great idea!” Lydia snaps and you don’t blame her. You’re about two seconds from taking off to look for Stiles on your own. Roscoe may smell like other cars but the paint does have a small difference to it. If you can figure that out then maybe…

“You guys remember she only gets these feelings when someone’s about to die, right?” Aiden says and you walk past them towards the front of the house, pulling off your hoodie as you go.

Isaac calls your name and you ignore him. You would have outrun him but you needed to get your shoes off in order to be able to shift and when you’d stopped he’d grabbed your arm. Turning, you snarled at him but he tightened his grip.

“Natasha, we’re gonna go to the station right now.”

“Why is it that only me and Lydia are worried about him right now? Scotts just hanging out like his so-called best friend isn’t potentially dying and I get that you and Aiden aren’t his biggest fans but come on, he’s supposed to be pack and you don’t leave pack behind… we have to keep him safe.”

Isaac looks at you and tilts his head “hey - we’re gonna find him. I promise.”

Before you can respond, Scotts come down the stairs, “Lydia said there’s something here. She and Aiden are gonna stay behind. Follow me.”

“How long till we get there?”

“5 minutes in normal traffic.”

“Well, we’re in a rush. Better make it 3,” you say as you get on your bike and the three of you ride out of the neighborhood like Hades’ hellhounds are after you.

-

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-

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Posted 22 May 2019

[gold-eyes-vengeful-heart]

Marks

((Or: Runya gets a visitor. Featuring Maebh Macbalor from @semper-miles!

Technically the start of an arc lol))

===

Runya’s ear swiveled and he barely paused a moment in poring over the records before he called out loud. “Come in, Macbalor!”

Surely enough, Maebh slipped in with the most confused look on her face, shutting the door to the Pendants suite behind her. “How did you--?”

But he cut her off with the answer. “You went to see Blue, didn’t you?”

An awkward silence.

“...I didn’t realize you knew that, Runya.”

“Well,” he retorted, “I assume you don’t realize that at least now, we can hear one another even across shards. And,” he added with a wave of his hand, “that I am therefore keenly aware that he went into a bit of a tizzy when you showed up seemingly out of nowhere to ‘talk’ to him. I’m unsure what kind of reception you expected, given whose body you’re running about in--and I can imagine that the blood and body were all that mattered in terms of keying him to who his...intended pilots were supposed to be.” Not that he knew for certain that that was the case, but if it wasn’t the case he was a trout, and so he couldn’t keep the accusatory tone out of his voice when he said it. 

And she just looked down at that, coughing lightly. “Sorry.”

“He’s been yelling my metaphorical ear off in sheer confusion, Macbalor.”

“I said: sorry.”

“He was, for a moment, very convinced that you were a Silentius there to take him back, and it was only my intervention--when he showed me who you were--that kept him from doing something regrettable to you.”

She cleared her throat again. “Again, I said I’m sorry. I can’t do any more than that to fix it.”

“Hmmmm...” Well, she had him on that one, so he scooted around so he was properly facing her instead of glancing sidelong at her. The movement was so visibly stiff that she frowned even deeper, but unlike Sorin, she had the sense not to get up his arse about it. Then again, she seemed preoccupied with something, didn’t she? “But you didn’t come here to talk to me about Blue, I’m sure.”

“You care about him a lot.”

“Macbalor~,” he hummed. “You’re dodging the question.”

She huffed. “Fine, before I lose my nerve: what do you know about how our tattoos are related?”

...Ah. He stiffened considerably at the question, and his smile grew significantly more fixed. “You ask dangerous questions, Macbalor.” Very dangerous indeed, if she kept reminding him of Angerona so pointedly.

“You know that they’re after me, Runya. The entire Silentius family--”

“I know, Macbalor.” The three words came out dangerously flat, so much so that she folded her arms in front of her in that way she did when she felt the need to brace herself without actually doing that. “I imagine they’re not terribly happy with me, either--especially after I took the liberty of spiriting Blue away from them when they were clearly intended to pilot him in some manner.”

“But I don’t know anything about this, Runya.” She was bold, if anything. Courageous, continuing in this line of questioning even in the face of hostility. “About what they did to Angerona, what these tattoos even do...But don’t we both have reason to believe that you two were in the same project?”

She had that much right.

“That your marks and hers should be related, even if they’re not the same thing?”

She had that much very right.

“Wouldn’t Angerona want you to figure this out before one of them--who do know how these work, the Legatus used me to nearly kill Dae--decides to do something even worse with those?”

She had that much sort of wrong. And he was quick to lean his head on one hand, though it was very much a calculated move of feigned relaxation that his entire body did not reflect in the slightest.

“I think you overestimate how much a Silentius would care about some...what did they call you? An unintended side-effect of what they were aiming for. A mistake.”

She winced, but he just smiled.

“But you do have it correct that she wouldn’t want to sit back and let her mad father and equally mad sisters just carry on in making themselves superpowered to the point of being able to down even dear Daeyona, and we would agree on that front.” He shrugged one shoulder. “So I should help you, I suppose. Even if it’s against my greater sense of spite about this whole thing.”

For all he was very visibly displeased with her, he had to admit, she was stubborn enough to not be put off by it, even if she had to plant her feet a bit more firmly in an attempt to ground herself, he would assume. “I don’t care about your reasons for helping me, as long as you help me. At least for this. Your enemy is our enemy here, so I have no reason to think you’ll betray us. Or lie.”

“Come now, just ask your questions.” He was not particularly fond of playing games around the subject, when her very presence irritated him like a nettle down the back of his shirt. “Though I don’t claim to have all the answers. Or even most of them.”

“What aetherial purpose do these even serve?” She got to the point, didn’t she? “These felt like they were overly aspected to fire aether, and Sorin agrees after all that happened, so I can only assume--”

“If Sorin isn’t certain what’s going on here, then I’m not.” He shrugged one shoulder again. “He’s far more...sensitive to such things. And I was not particularly well-informed about the details and the purposes of what they were doing to me...” He scratched lightly at the bands of shimmering gold criss-crossing his neck. “Or what they were doing to Angerona, for that matter.”

His keen eyes picked up on her momentarily crestfallen expression, but he waved a hand. “But that doesn’t mean I know nothing. Or that I don’t have theories. Especially after freeing dear Blue, who seems to only accept me as an actual pilot, even if he knows how to talk to others too. And somewhat tolerates Sorin in the cockpit, but that may be more because I like him than anything else--”

“Runya.”

Sometimes he did need a forceful pull back to the point, but it didn’t mean he appreciated the interruption any, clicking his tongue judgmentally at her. “I wasn’t done yet, excuse you. But from what I understood from his...interesting little bout of panic, he fully expected you to just jump on in, and I can only assume that it would be completely possible for a Silentius. I also wish to add that he is an immense store of aether; you’re aware that my Resonance is less the result of distilled dead people and more intended to draw from my surroundings. In fact, I activated it when fighting that other Weapon, for quite some time, and his stores were barely fazed in the slightest. Why,” he added and held up a hand, “I’m uncertain, but given that it’s at least in part driven by these tattoos and yours are awfully similar...it makes one wonder if perhaps you were, instead of translating all that power into a not-quite-Echo, translating it into offensive aether instead.”

Well, now he was getting into it. Then again, he had always been fond of theorizing as a way of avoiding every other problem and thought in his head; some habits refused to die.

“Sorin claimed that you were using much in the way of fire aether, you said?”

“And draining it from around me to do it...” Now it was her turn to look thoughtful. “And it died back a little when she dragged me into the Tempest, Dae said.”

“So maybe that’s the intent of those tattoos, then.” He cocked his head to one side. “You’re merely intended to be a big weapon, possibly while in a big Weapon.” He smirked at the wordplay despite himself. “It would only make sense; clearly their way of attempting to induce an Echo in someone who didn’t have it at all was a wild failure, so may as well repurpose it into something useful, hm? And what better pilot than one that doesn’t need a machine to defend herself if she’s outside it?”

He spread his hands wide.

“I can definitively say that they were out to make weapons...the perfect human weapons. No matter what they had to do not just to everyone else, but themselves as well. The perfect melding of Garlean supremacy and the savages’ power that is their lone advantage over said supremacy.”

Maebh swallowed. He smiled wider.

“They’re certainly...what’s the word? Narcissistic enough to believe that they could manage it. They would never call themselves gods--that’s something for filthy primitive savages, not civilized people--but that power is certainly what they’re aiming for.”

“And he...got into my head how, Runya?” She looked down at herself. “Do these have anything to do with it?”

“Hmmm, maybe. If I could see him and what he has, I would have a better idea, but...I can’t, now, can I? But if it was giving him some sort of magical ability in general, it could be some sort of bizarre blood magic, in fact, that he was utilizing. Taboo though it is for most, or at least I’m under the impression it is, it is absolutely something he would be fine with doing to ensure that his property doesn’t get outside of his reach.”

She shivered, and he just blinked. “You know he absolutely would think that way about you, Macbalor.”

“That’s why I...never mind.” 

“And I’m not certain it matters, if dear Daeyona performed blood magic right back at him to get him out.” He chuckled. “She’s even more fond of darker aetherial arts; she just has those pesky ethics about what she uses them for, where he certainly doesn’t. And besides, just looking at the way your tattoos are arranged, I hold my doubts that one could work in a literal mind-control mechanism of such power without compromising how effective your actual fighting magic is.”

“I’ll admit...you may be right,” she conceded. “But no matter how he was doing it, what if he does it again--?”

“Fight.” His answer was so immediate he almost didn’t let her finish the question, and he leaned towards her with a smile like a knife. “He surprised you with that ability but once; he can’t surprise you twice with something you didn’t know. Fight him like your friends’ lives depend on it, because they will. You may not remember, what with the whole...you ripping Angerona out of her own head...”

His gaze bored into hers with unblinking intensity. 

“...But he’s the sort who would smugly take pleasure in making you watch yourself murder your friends if he got the chance. He was more than willing to pit his own children against one another in what might as well have been near-death matches to make them stronger.”

He had even been privy to a couple of them. He had been equally privy to how Angerona had always come out the worst between the three of them.

“I am,” he continued in a low tone like smoke, “quite convinced that sheer willpower has something to do with the effectiveness of magic. Whether you’re using it, or if it’s used against you. Otherwise, I’m certain I would have died a thousand deaths, instead of sitting right here in front of you, breathing the same air.”

He settled back down, though. “So. If he does it again, instead of simply rolling over and letting him take Angerona, put your all into stopping it.”

But now she was looking at him in a way that he was quite certain he didn’t like. “You’re being...very helpful, Runya. Thank you.”

Ah, that was what he didn’t like about it. Someone was being grateful for reasons that they very should not be. So he just narrowed his eyes to slits even as his smile stayed in place. “Do not, Maebh Macbalor, presume that I’m telling you all of this for your sake. I am telling you this to both keep that immense power out of Silentius’ hands...and so he can’t get his hands on what’s left of my best friend.” His expression darkened. “He does not deserve any bit of her after what he did to her. And if all I have left of her to defend is a body, I will, until someone sends me to the gates of the deepest hells and chains me there.”

He closed his eyes, though, and let out a deep sigh and just as quickly as that frightening intensity had arrived, it left, replaced by the smug expression of before. “If I find anything in the nodes’ records, I’ll be certain to share them with you.” He gestured at the silently-hovering Allagan creations. “But I’m afraid there is much to go over, and some of it is still locked away from us behind security layer after security layer.”

He had been hoping she would pick up on the dismissal, and thankfully for him, she did, bowing stiffly (if only slightly) at the waist to him. 

“Please tell me you haven’t been hanging around Domans, Macbalor.”

“Hmph.” She didn’t rise to the bait that time, though; clever, clever. So she could learn. “Can you tell Blue that I’m sorry, then?”

“Certainly.”

“And don’t get your ridiculous arse killed, Miqo’te.”

He stared at her retreating back, as she opened the door and slipped out, and he sent one last remark into it.

“Oh, don’t concern yourself with that, Macbalor. I’m not dying until they do.”

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

Welcome to FiveThirtyEight’s weekly politics chat. The transcript below has been lightly edited.

sarah (Sarah Frostenson, politics editor): Former Vice President Joe Biden’s team is talking a big game about an expanded electoral map with Arizona, Georgia and Texas in play, even though those states haven’t voted for a Democratic presidential nominee in two decades.

So let’s talk about just how feasible this strategy is. How competitive are those three states at this point? And what’s more, how does this strategy complement — or counteract — Democratic efforts to pick up Midwestern battleground states like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, or perennial swing states like Florida?

First up, Arizona. What do we think? Does Biden have a shot there?

geoffrey.skelley (Geoffrey Skelley, elections analyst): Of the three states we’re looking at, I think it’s pretty clear that Arizona is the most in play — and that Biden may even have the lead there, based on the limited polling we have.

President Trump won Arizona by 3.5 points in 2016 while losing the national popular vote by 2 points. So it stands to reason that if Biden is up 6 points or so nationally, Arizona is a toss-up, and that’s before we consider other things that may have shifted between 2016 and now.

nrakich (Nathaniel Rakich, elections analyst): I agree, although I have been surprised at the degree to which Arizona seems to have moved to the left since 2016.

sarah: What other evidence do we have that Arizona has moved to the left since 2016?

geoffrey.skelley: Well, unlike in Georgia and Texas, Democrats actually won major statewide contests in Arizona in 2018 — including the state’s marquee Senate race — and election turnout was nearly as high as the 2016 presidential contest, meaning that performance may reflect a broader shift toward the Democrats rather than just a side effect of the midterms’ blue wave.

nrakich: G. Elliott Morris of The Economist had an interesting newsletter item recently that showed how much various states have moved left or right since 2016, based on the 2020 polls so far. Arizona had the starkest movement.

And Geoffrey’s right that, if Arizona were still 6 points redder than the nation and Biden led by 6 points nationally, we’d expect polls of Arizona to show a tied race. But Biden has consistently led in Arizona polls so far.

Biden has the edge in Arizona polling so far

Presidential general election polls of Arizona conducted since March 1

Dates Pollster Biden Trump Margin May 18-22 HighGround 47% 45% D+2 May 10-14 Redfield & Wilton 45 41 D+4 May 9-11 OH Predictive Insights 50 43 D+8 April 7-8 OH Predictive Insights 52 43 D+9 March 10-15 Marist 47 46 D+1 March 11-14 Monmouth 46 43 D+3 March 6-11 Latino Decisions 50 42 D+8 March 3-4 OH Predictive Insights 49 43 D+6 March 2-3 Public Policy Polling 48 47 D+1

Source: Polls

On the other hand, I’m still somewhat skeptical of the idea Arizona has moved that much to the left. Some of the higher-quality polls, like from Marist and Monmouth, do have the race closer to a tie, whereas the polls suggesting Arizona has gotten significantly more Democratic (e.g., by showing Biden up by 8 points) are not coming from gold-standard pollsters.

sarah: One other thing about Arizona that makes me think it might be fertile ground for Democrats in 2020 is that Democratic Senate challenger Mark Kelly seems to have the upper hand against Sen. Martha McSally, and if that race ends up close — or flips blue — that bodes well for Democrats in the long run, as it’s more evidence that Arizona might be becoming more of a blue state.

nrakich: Yeah, Kelly has been a monster fundraiser. He’s taken in more than $31 million since the beginning of last year.

Although I don’t think a down-ballot race is likely to drive turnout for the presidential. If anything, Kelly might run ahead of Biden because of his money and great bio.

geoffrey.skelley: That’s fair, but it’s worth remembering that every Senate seat that was up in 2016 went for the party that carried the state at the presidential level, so the fact a Democrat is polling that well in the Senate contest is probably a decent sign for the party’s chances as a whole.

sarah: For sure. It’s less that a down-ballot race would affect the top of the ticket, but more that Arizona really might go blue in 2020.

It sounds like we agree with the Biden campaign’s assessment that Arizona is in play, so does it make sense for them to campaign there?

Or is there an argument to be made that they should keep an eye on it, but maybe not commit fully?

nrakich: I mean … both?

It’s a spectrum.

I definitely think Biden should spend more time and money in Arizona than in Georgia and Texas. But I still think Arizona is unlikely to be the tipping-point state, and Biden should spend even more time and money in must-win states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

geoffrey.skelley: Oh, they should definitely fully commit. Arizona gives them another possible path to 270 in the Electoral College. Arizona’s worth 11 electoral votes, so it could sub in for, say, Wisconsin (10 electoral votes) if Trump were to narrowly carry the Badger State.

nrakich: Now you have me questioning myself, Geoffrey! *whips out calculator*

Hmmm, Florida and Wisconsin were 3 points to the right of the nation in 2016. Arizona, as discussed, was 6. That’s not a big gap at all; maybe they do converge this year?

geoffrey.skelley: Another thing to keep in mind is that Democrats have been making inroads in the suburbs and dominating urban areas. Maricopa County (Phoenix and its environs) was the most populous county in the country to vote for Trump in 2016, but Trump only won it narrowly by about 3 points, and in 2018, Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema carried it by 4 points. So Democrats may be hoping for a repeat in 2020. Win Maricopa, win Arizona.

sarah: OK, it sounds like focusing on Arizona is smart for the Biden campaign, but maybe we’re a bit more skeptical of Georgia and Texas, the other two states the campaign has included in its “expanded” electoral map?

nrakich: Yeah. Georgia was 7 points to the right of the nation in 2016, and Texas was 11 points to the right. Given long-term trends, they have both probably moved a little to the left, but they have further to go than Arizona.

That said, Biden may well win those states — take a look at the polling there:

Georgia polls are extremely close

Presidential general election polls of Georgia conducted since March 1

Dates Pollster Biden Trump Margin May 16-18 Civiqs 48% 47% D+1 May 11-13 BK Strategies 46 48 R+2 May 4-7 Public Opinion Strategies 47 46 D+1 April 25-27 Cygnal 44 45 R+1 March 31-April 1 Battleground Connect 46 48 R+2

Source: Polls

Can Biden shock Trump in Texas?

Presidential general election polls of Texas conducted since March 1

Dates Pollster Biden Trump Margin May 8-10 Emerson College 48% 52% R+3 April 27-28 Public Policy Polling 47 46 D+1 April 18-27 University of Texas at Tyler 43 43 EVEN April 10-19 YouGov 44 49 R+5

Source: Polls

But if he does, he will probably already have clinched the Electoral College in the Midwest, Arizona or Florida.

geoffrey.skelley: Georgia is interesting. On the one hand, Biden could target the increasingly Democratic suburbs of Atlanta. On the other hand, it’s one of the most inelastic states in the country — meaning voters there are among the most likely to stick with their usual party regardless of which way the rest of the country swings — in part because its white voters remain predominantly Republican and its large black population is heavily Democratic, and there just isn’t a ton of movement there.

Additionally, if Democrats couldn’t carry Georgia in 2018 when the electoral environment was very pro-Democratic, that makes me skeptical they can win it in a presidential year, when partisan conditions could be more balanced. That said, if Biden is winning by 6 or 7 points nationally, that might be enough to put Georgia in his column, as Trump only carried it by 5 points in 2016. But as Nathaniel was saying earlier, that’s not a situation where Georgia is an integral part of Biden winning 270 electoral votes. It’s gravy at that point, though maybe it helps Democrats in the two Senate contests there.

nrakich: Yeah, Georgia is definitely inelastic. But on the other hand, Georgia has inched leftward (relative to the nation as a whole) in the last three presidential elections. And I think there is room for more suburban whites to move toward Democrats, not only in Georgia but also in Texas and Arizona.

sarah: That’s a good point, and I think a real question determining whether Georgia and Texas will be competitive is just how much the trends of 2018 — namely, suburban white voters moving to the Democratic Party — hold true.

This is an extreme hypothetical, but earlier this year, Nathaniel looked at what would happen if a state’s presidential vote was based strictly on how rural or urban the state is, and he found that Georgia would remain in the R column, but both Arizona and Texas would swing blue:

What if the urban-rural divide dictated the 2020 election?

The results of a hypothetical presidential election if a state’s urbanization were the only factor, based on the relationship between FiveThirtyEight’s urbanization index and 2016 presidential election results

State Result State Result Alabama R+16.0 Montana R+30.8 Alaska R+27.3 Nebraska R+8.2 Arizona D+6.1 Nevada D+12.3 Arkansas R+20.5 New Hampshire R+11.9 California D+17.7 New Jersey D+18.3 Colorado D+4.2 New Mexico R+12.2 Connecticut D+7.6 New York D+22.5 Delaware D+2.3 North Carolina R+6.6 Florida D+8.3 North Dakota R+23.2 Georgia R+3.6 Ohio D+0.6 Hawaii D+3.3 Oklahoma R+11.6 Idaho R+16.1 Oregon R+1.5 Illinois D+10.3 Pennsylvania D+4.1 Indiana R+5.5 Rhode Island D+11.6 Iowa R+16.1 South Carolina R+9.4 Kansas R+9.3 South Dakota R+27.4 Kentucky R+13.6 Tennessee R+8.3 Louisiana R+8.6 Texas D+4.5 Maine R+23.4 Utah D+1.7 Maryland D+11.5 Vermont R+25.9 Massachusetts D+13.2 Virginia D+1.0 Michigan R+0.3 Washington D+3.8 Minnesota R+4.9 West Virginia R+22.4 Mississippi R+25.1 Wisconsin R+8.3 Missouri R+8.2 Wyoming R+33.6

Source: American Community Survey

What do we make of this? Might Texas actually turn blue before Georgia?

nrakich: We have a tendency to think about elections through the lens of the decisive voters in the previous election, which for 2018 was suburbanites. But as I showed in that urbanization article, Georgia does have a lot of rural voters too, and there is still room for them to move even more toward Trump. So, actually, maybe those two trends will cancel each other out.

geoffrey.skelley: OK, but Georgia was still notably closer to going for Clinton than Texas — Trump won Georgia by 5 points and Texas by 9 points, which is a fairly sizable difference. And while Georgia may be more inelastic than Texas, Texas is not that elastic. Our 2018 elasticity score for Texas was 1.03 — not that far above the baseline of 1 — while Georgia’s was 0.90.

Texas is changing, but Barack Obama lost it by 12 points in 2008, which was a really good environment overall for Democrats.

nrakich: Yeah, there’s just too far for it to go.

geoffrey.skelley: As is often the case with questions about when Texas could go blue, it depends on how fast the political environment changes, but it still probably won’t happen until sometime after 2020, given what we know currently.

sarah: People seem to agree that the Biden campaign shouldn’t invest too much in Georgia and Texas if it comes at the expense of other battleground states in the Midwest or Florida. Is that fair?

nrakich: I think there’s a case for keeping your options open in Georgia. But the Biden campaign would be foolish to invest significantly in Texas. If Texas votes Democratic, Biden will already have won virtually every other swing state and, therefore, the election. It’s simply not a part of his path to 270 electoral votes — more like a part of his path to 400.

Also, Texas is an extremely expensive state in which to campaign, so it just wouldn’t be an efficient use of his money.

geoffrey.skelley: If Trump really is doing a lot worse among older voters than in 2016, it would be foolish for Biden to abandon Florida, which has one of the oldest populations in the country.

I could see reasons for Democrats to worry about Florida being a mirage after they failed to win the gubernatorial and Senate races there in 2018, but it’s just been too close in recent presidential elections to actually give up on it. Trump only won it by 1 point in 2016!

nrakich: Oh, I have strong feelings about Florida.

sarah:

nrakich: Florida is definitely still a swing state; it’s not as inelastic as the 2018 results implied. The Democratic nominees for governor and senator, Andrew Gillum and Bill Nelson, still outperformed Hillary Clinton in most counties; they just underperformed Clinton in a few key areas, especially Miami-Dade County. (This article by Florida Democratic consultant Matthew Isbell does a great job showing that.)

The reason for this is probably that their Republican opponents, Ron DeSantis and Rick Scott, did a lot better among Hispanic voters than Trump did. According to exit polls, Trump got 35 percent of the Latino vote in Florida in 2016, while DeSantis got 44 percent and Scott got 45 percent. In 2020, I don’t think Trump will be able to match DeSantis’s and Scott’s numbers.

So if Biden can pair Clinton’s performance among Hispanic Floridians with Nelson’s and Gillum’s among other voters, he can absolutely win Florida.

geoffrey.skelley: We’ve talked a lot about how Biden might be able to expand his electoral map, but he can’t afford to give up on Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. In 2016, they were collectively decided by 78,000 votes, and who wins them in 2020 will likely be consequential as well.

The bigger questions in the Midwest and Rust Belt are probably whether to invest in Iowa and Ohio, which Trump carried by about 9 and 8 points, respectively. Those two states might be harder for Democrats to win back considering how they swung hard toward the GOP in 2016 after backing Obama in 2012.

That said, Iowa does have some history of being pretty swingy. It’s also cheaper to advertise in Iowa than Ohio, and if we’re talking down-ballot races, there is more at stake there, too. Potentially four competitive House races and a Senate seat in Iowa, whereas Ohio has no Senate race and is likely to have only one or two close House races.

nrakich: Yeah, if Biden wants to be an effective president, he’ll need a Democratic Senate. IMO, that means he should give extra credit to Georgia and Iowa when deciding where to allocate his resources.

sarah: The balancing act that the Biden campaign will inevitably have to engage in isn’t entirely clear to me yet. How much will they actually invest in states like Arizona, Georgia and Texas versus doubling down on states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin?

Much of this will inevitably boil down to what the tipping-point state is in 2020, but one thing that’s hard to figure out is how much of the map already realigned in 2016. Put another way, does Biden have his eyes on states like Arizona because winning states like Wisconsin back will be difficult?

nrakich: But I think that’s the needle we need to thread: Arizona might be moving in one direction and Wisconsin in the other, but even in the “realigned” (really more “recalibrated”) 2016 map, Arizona was redder than Wisconsin.

geoffrey.skelley: It’s curious because some of this comes down to the national environment. Maybe Wisconsin is a point or two redder than it was in 2016, but if Biden wins by 4 or 5 points nationally, maybe that’s enough to carry it even if Wisconsin is continuing to move toward the GOP.

But how exactly that plays out in each state is hard to say.