#marcel medici thicker than

[shamelesslyaddict]

The worst part about reading Thicker Than is not being able to ever pick between my majestic and composed Medici or my rough and excitable Iliya

[nsewell]

lord medici e lady blackwell ❤️🧛can't get over this gorgeous piece i commissioned from @valcubust of my mc nika and her ro marcel from the amazing interactive fiction, thicker than by @barbwritesstuff.

bonus nika sketches under the cut with some 'not this shit again expressions' that are too good to leave out.

[wolfcat-hybrid]

Why dress up for tribute when you could wear THIS instead

( @barbwritesstuff :] )

[Image description: two digital drawings featuring Marcel Medici and OC Francis Blackwell in a brightly lit open-space penthouse. In the first drawing Marcel stands with one hand on his hip and the other pinching he bridge of his nose, looking stern. He's wearing a black suit with a matching waistcoat, red tie, and white undershirt. Marcel is saying "What. The fuck. Are you wearing." in all caps. He's looking towards Francis, who's nonchalantly leaning back with his hands in his pockets. Francis is wearing a tee shirt and gray sweatpants. In the second image the camera has turned to make the front of Francis's shirt visible, which he is grabbing the bottom of and looking down towards, still nonchalant. The tee shirt is dark gray and features white text reading "I suck dick with these on" over a picture of white plastic vampire teeth. Francis is saying "Which part is confusing you". With his back towards the viewer, Marcel now has his hand on his forehead, seemingly exasperated. End of image description.]

100% of my drawing ideas are from funny posts that cross my dash I swear

Marcel's stupid suit took up the majority of the time I spent on this -_-

[gwygle]

once i read about marcel's grandpa-core outfit i had to draw him

marcel belongs to @barbwritesstuff from her inprogress if Thicker Than

[jpriest85-blog]

Couldn't sleep last night so I drew more @barbwritesstuff Thicker Than art depicting Lady Roxan Blackwell and Lord Marcel Medici looking dapper AF while dancing in the shadows.

Marcel and Roxane's dynamic is facinating, even with Lord Medici being known to have a fondness for fledglings someone like Roxane is a pleasant surprise. She's an intelligant woman with a medical doctorate, which was almost unheard of for black women when he was still human. She was able to accomplish something like that during her brief human life which was considered only a dream for anyone that wasn't a wealthy white guy for a long time. Which also makes her death especially tragic considering Lawerence took her life and free will to serve his ambitons, stealing Roxane from her infant son. It's all too familair to Marcel who's seen so many beautiful and promising black women and girls over the centuries lose thier lives because an entitled wealthy man wanted to use them for his own success and comfort. It's why Marcel never knew his own mother after being born on that damn slave ship. Is it any wonder they both became so close after knowing each other for 5 short years? Even with Marcel orginally aproching Roxane for stratigic reasons, he genuinly enjoys her company as he got to know her. Likewise as much as Roxane hates the court Marcel is one of the few people there who makes things tolerable.

[not-sewell]

the fact that i can be OBSESSED with not one but two loverboi (gn), low-key snobbish vampires with a monster complex in this economy is INSANE

[binteractive]

Mouse-drawn rendition of my chess match with Marcel

me, shoveling a handful of his pawns down my gullet: yo this chess shit is easy

marcel: ohhh i can't not fuck her

Speaking of Marcel's chess game, it got me thinking about how he thinks, especially in relation to things like duels or what have you. Marcel is skilled at chess and fencing, which are both incredibly strategic activities but also ones that have, for lack of better words, "tried and trued methods". Kind of similar to how video games have "metas" or basically, "a generally agreed upon strategy by the community", which can also be seen by the community as "what is currently THE general best way to play and win".

I played with a Doctor background and chose to train under Marcel to unlock Path of the Shadow, so I don't know if this affects anything regarding blocking mind reading since I assume any mental powers would be in the Path of the Masters.

Regardless! I went into the chess game with this hypothesis about Marcel's character and how he approaches situations like chess matches or even fencing matches (I'm an ex-fencer, so I did consider the connection): as mentioned above, there are "generally agreed on strategies". With that in mind, the thing is, sometimes complete newbies can best masters at their given skill because they have no understanding of which moves are exactly the best. For example, choosing a "non-standard", or more accurately "nonoptimal" starting move at chess to force chess masters to adjust in real-time rather than go by a memorized opening theory. This then may frazzle someone because now their opponent is no longer going "by the book" and they are under pressure to adapt quickly.

It's basically a complete noob beating a master because the noob isn't employing Finklerunger's Gambit even though EVERYONE uses Finklerunger's Gambit! And the master has no prepared counterstrategies against people who don't use Finklerunger's Gambit!

This idea of "noob-fu" can be applied to fencing, and even video games like competitive Pokemon! Because the idea here is that masters at these games are so used to (and sometimes outright wedded to) what is the tried and trued strategies or the meta to the point that they can be blindsided by unpredictability or people who don't play the game by the rules they and other masters like them know. They are confined by the strategies they and other masters typically employ to the point that they hadn't even considered the very possibility of someone doing something that ISN'T The Very Best Possible Move, even if that possibility was always right under their noses.

Where was I going with this? Right. I just thought it was an interesting thought regarding Marcel and his strategic thought process. Since we're still pretty early in the game, I don't think that it's a case of Marcel being unable to think creatively or outside of the box at all, so much as I think he likely tends to put more trust in what he knows. He sees an opportunity and he takes it. He creates situations to put pressure on one of your most important assets and expects you to scramble.

At the same time though, I think the chess match comes down to knowing your opponent. Again, very, VERY applicable to fencing matches (or really any sort of one-on-one martial art) and competitive video games: a big part of the game is knowing your opponent and how they will behave, predicting what they will do, and playing around them.

Skip this paragraph for light spoilers about the Ch5 chess match: For example, you know that Marcel is too good of a player to make simple mistakes like leaving certain pieces vulnerable, so you don't take the bait, which opens up the avenue to win (or at least it did in my file).

It also kind of got me thinking. Again, I may not be 100% right about this read of Marcel's character because it is still fairly early in the game, but it did manage to lead me to victory in this situation. It made me think about the ways in which the MC and Marcel have gotten to know each other and what they may not know about the other yet, if ever. I dunno. I just like him very much lololol

Anyways I am sorry for this gigantic word vomit! (シ_ _ )シ It was just an interesting thought I got while playing against Marcel and I wanted to share it. As someone who has never played chess ever, I was proud of myself for beating him on my first attempt (or I guess technically my character's fourth attempt lololol) I didn't expect to fall this deep for Thicker Than and its characters, especially considering that I haven't played Blood Moon yet! (it's now on my next to play list o(^∀^*)o)

from: @binteractive

💙💙💙

You're right... about pretty much everything. He's been playing this game (be it chess, fencing, or being a vampire) for a long time and is very good at it. The way to beat him (and to seduce him funnily enough) is to be a bit unpredictable.

[redwayfarers]

get to know me - nero

was tagged by @thevikingwoman, ty <3

tagging: @lavampira, @accidentallyadorable, @archesa, @just-eyris-things, @lilas and whoever else wants to <3

three ships

cassmel bc they're THE otp of all time

nikartoirel bc yeah they're also <3 to me (also viking i feel you on minor character hell lmaoo)

and since i recently played thicker than... let's go with my mc gisella and her vampy lover marcel medici (bonus points for my blood moon favs, angelina and farro)

last song

espresso by sabrina carpenter bc i'm that bitch i guess

last film

kung fu panda 4, it was so good ;;; plus the subs were well translated so the jokes landed in both languages

currently reading

nothing as i read my uni books at breakneck speed so now i'm on a writing spree and working on a little piece for the lesbian visibility week over on my main blog!

currently watching

nothing bc i can't make myself watch shit anymore, sadly

current obsession

gw2 + thicker than + wayfarer (cassander to be more specific)

currently craving

for my moon sickness to go away :pensive:

[barbwritesstuff]

Marcel is a romanceable character in my interactive game Thicker Than

Name: Marcel "Medici"

Gender: M

DOB: Date Unknown, 1784

DOD: 31st December, 1813

Height: 183cm

Build: Lean

Skin: Black

Hair: Black

Eyes: Brown

Skills: Armed combat (fencing/bladed weapons), Language (Eng, Fre, Lat), Path of the Shadow

It's the man you saw at court, the one that wore the dark suit and sat as far away from the Night King as possible. He looks totally different here. His stern, tailored suit is gone, replaced by a button down shirt, brown blazer, and a plaid peaked cap. He looks almost twee. "Lord Medici?" "Please. Call me Marcel." He sits beside you and smiles. The gesture looks so natural, so human, you could almost believe… if you didn't see the wickedly sharp hook of his canines.

Marcel is the vampire Lord Medici, a member of the Night Court. He rules over a small but prosperous domain that boarders with Blackwell's and is very interested in forming an alliance... of sorts.

Marcel has served on the Night Court for many years and is bored of playing things safe.

A lover of the finer things in life, Marcel can often be found enjoying music or art, and has been known to sponsor a variety of different creative works. He is a fencer and good at fighting with a blade, both in formal and informal settings. He can be charming when he wants to be. He can also be dangerous when he needs to be.

Marcel's vampiric powers manifest in control over the darkness, known to some as 'the path of the shadow'. He can teach these powers to a vampire eager to embrace the darkness as an ally.

[barbwritesstuff]

I always get Iliya every time (because I figured out on the first try how to get him and I make sure to stop by and pick him up, esp because there’s the additional bonus of meeting Erin which sets her up in the second act), so I can’t speak for sure as to why people miss him, but if I could speculate I think there are a couple factors.

Firstly, I think in part one of the reasons people might not find him is because the choice isn’t “named”. When we say we want to explore other territories, for example, we see that we can speak to the nuns and we can speak to Marcel by name. Players know that those choices lead to interactions with characters, but they don’t know that going to the club will lead to meeting someone new, so that choice may not be prioritized. I don’t think there’s a great way to get out of this, since you can’t label a choice “hey this choice leads to Iliya” when we’ve never met him in-game, but I do think that might be a factor. (I think there are similar, but more significant, issues with how the choice at the end of chapter 4 about who to hang out with is presented that leads to a lot of questions you get about how to find Ravima or Erin or literally anyone other than Iliya/Tracy/Marcel, but I don’t want to go on about it if you don’t want to hear about it).

What I think is the bigger issue, though, is that you only get to do 3 things at the end of chapter 3 before dawn breaks. Because, if you’re playing for the first time, you don’t know which choice leads to meeting Iliya, it’s super easy to make different choices about how to spend your time that leads to missing him completely. If, for example, I wanted to hang out with Medici (who I know is a character that is named and who I can hang out with) and the nuns (who I know are vampire lords and, if I followed Tracy, know are involved with her somehow), then that leaves me 1 choice left and a 1/3 chance of finding Iliya. If we had more time to explore and got to do more things, I think that issues in finding him would be reduced. I think people have issues meeting Freya (along with some of the issues I mentioned in chapter 4 that I won’t get into unless you’re interested) for similar reasons.

This got really long and i feel like I came off very harsh so I want to emphasize just how much I love thicker than. I love how replayable the game is and I want to be clear that I don’t think that having some characters that are harder to find than others is necessarily a bad thing. What I will say is that I mentioned at the top of this ask that I always find Iliya. This is because (unless I specifically play thicker than just to explore the different choices at the ends of chapter 3 and chapter 4), if I’m playing a game from the start to the end of the demo, I always make the same choices in this chapter. Thicker than offers so much to find that is so fun to play through, but I have to choose whether to prioritize meeting the game’s characters or exploring and making different choices. I get Iliya every time because I prioritized figuring out how to find him the first time I played and I go out of my way to make sure that I unlock him every playthrough. If you don’t know what choice unlocks Iliya from the get-go, I 100% understand why players miss him.

Thank you so much for this. I know Chapters 3-4 are really messy and I think streamlining those may be a priority when it comes to rewrites/second draft.

I may put a force meet in for Erin and Iliya (and perhaps Freya) or I might not. But I think I need to find a way to make those chapters more streamlined and accessible, because a lot of people have approached me with navigation issues on those chapters in particular.

I just need to figure out how to do that from a coding perspective, which might take some time. I may change around the order of a few events or may even add in an extra chapter, but I'm not sure.

[shamelesslyaddict]

I just can't imagine marcel as the cowardly lion 💀😂

The results of the werewolf costume contest are in. Marco takes first place, Sergi second, and Izzie third. The three of them will have some time to think up 2nd round costumes that they can use to go up against the vampires.

Meanwhile, the vampires need to find their three finalists (and yes, not everyone here is a vampire, but they're batting for team vamp today).

[barbwritesstuff]

I came to ask if we could get some character descriptions for the female RO’s in Thicker Than (if you haven’t already ofc)

I've posted first four introduction posts for the first four ROs now. I hope they're okay. I sort of didn't know what to say, and I'm not very artistic. Plus I didn't want to include any major spoilers. If you have any questions, or if there is something you think I could do to make those posts better, just let me know.

[barbwritesstuff]

Thicker Than gang fashion?

Scrumptious ROs as always I see. I barely recovered from Sergi, now you're giving us Illya??? Ugh... 💘

Freya runs a funeral home, so she tends to dress in understated but semi formal clothes. Think simple shirt, blazer, and a dress skirt or pants.

Marcel likes fashion and tends to dress quite well. His favourite style is kind of... twee hipster... if that makes sense. When he's at court playing the part of Lord Medici, he dresses more conservatively. Just a black suit and tie.

Iliya keeps things simple. He likes clean, practical clothes. Nothing that stands out in a crowd.

Tracy changes her clothes so often it's hard to pin down an actual style.

But, whatever she wears, she looks good.

[barbwritesstuff]

the thicker than vampires are lucky that blackwell didnt turn a historian into a vamp. it would have been over for marcel the second he dropped the surname 'Medici'. there would never be respite from endless questions again.

What would you like to ask him, anon?