#might actually put this post in the pinned instead of the old one

[grifffins]

🔮 The Fool’s Journey (Into Trouble)🔮

Lilia Calderu x fem!reader

tags: Older Woman/Younger Woman, Slow Burn, Alternative Universe, No Magic AU, Age Gap, Oblivious Lilia Calderu, Yearning, Fluff

summary: I was just looking for a job, not an existential crisis—or a crush on my eccentric, older boss who calls me ‘baby’ like it’s nothing. Now I’m working at her tarot shop, falling harder by the day, and she has no idea I’m flirting. Desperate, I turn to my chaotic friends for help. What could possibly go wrong?

wc: 3.5k (Chapter 1/?)

a/n: this is like the first time posting in forever and I’m kinda scared, but Lilia&aaa really got me writing again. I’m so gay. No magic, just chaotic friends. Also, I aged Billy up because I can’t write kids.

also on ao3

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I’d been looking for a job for what felt like forever. The kind of soul-sucking search that made me wonder if I was doomed to an eternity of scrolling through online postings, drowning in rejection emails, and contemplating whether selling my soul to a demon might be a viable career option. But then, one rainy afternoon, tucked away in the classified section of an old newspaper, an actual newspaper, for God’s sake I found it.

"Seeking shop assistant. Must be comfortable with the mystical and the eccentric. Call: 555-3827."

Did people even put ads in newspapers anymore? And who still had a landline in this century? Curiosity got the better of me, and before I knew it, I was dialing the number, half-expecting it to connect me to a dusty relic of a shop run by someone who spoke only in riddles.

Instead, a smooth, lightly accented voice answered. “Yes, hello?”

And that was the first time I heard Lilia Calderu.

The shop smelled like old books and incense, and the air had that thick, mystical quality that made you feel like you’d stepped into another world. The walls were lined with shelves stacked haphazardly with tarot decks, worn-out copies of books, and shelves of delicate crystal spheres that seemed to hum with some unseen energy.

And then I saw her .

Lilia Calderu stood behind the counter like she’d stepped right out of an old eccentric novel. Her dark curly hair, streaked with grey, was pinned up in a loose bun, with wild tendrils escaping to frame her sharp face. Those deep brown eyes, sharp as a blade, met mine with an amused glint. She had the air of someone who had seen it all and was quietly entertained by it.

“You must be y/n.” She smiled, and something in my chest tightened. “I must say, I wasn’t sure anyone read the paper anymore. Yet, here you are.”

I nodded, feeling far too awkward in her presence. “Yeah. Thought it was a joke at first, honestly.”

She laughed softly, an elegant sound that sent shivers down my spine. “Many people do, but this shop has its ways of finding the right people.” She extended her hand. “Welcome to your new obsession.”

And boy, was she right.

Lilia mostly handled the tarot readings, slipping into that almost trance-like focus as she read fortunes with an effortless grace that made me want to sit there and watch her forever. My job was…well, everything else. Cleaning, organising, taking inventory, manning the register when she was busy. The shop wasn’t exactly bustling, but it had its steady flow of customers mostly the kind who came in with wide eyes and a quiet reverence, seeking answers in the cards.

Lilia and I quickly fell into a rhythm. We’d talk about everything and nothing in between customers, and though she had a dry wit and a quiet confidence, there was a warmth to her that made me feel at ease.

Unfortunately, I also had an embarrassing, all-consuming crush on her.

And Lilia, bless her oblivious heart, did not pick up on my subtle flirting. At all.

I’d linger a little longer when we brushed past each other. I’d compliment her hair, her outfit, the way she shuffled cards like it was second nature. I even tried playful teasing, asking if she’d ever read my cards and tell me if I had a shot with someone older and devastatingly charming.

Nothing. Just a soft smile and a gentle, “Ah, love is such a mysterious thing, isn’t it?”

I should’ve given up.

But instead, I called in reinforcements.

Agatha, Jen, Billy, and Alice had been hearing about Lilia this and Lilia that for weeks. It had gotten so bad that the last time I brought her up over drinks, Agatha groaned and banged her forehead against the table. “y/n, I swear to all the gods, if you don’t make a move, I will.”

Jen sipped her wine, nodding. “I feel like I know this woman better than my own mother at this point.”

Billy leaned in, far too intrigued. “She’s hot, though, right?”

“Billy. ”

“What? I’m just asking.”

Alice, ever the voice of reason, gave me a sympathetic smile. “Alright, we need a plan. Operation ‘Get y/n Laid’ is a go.”

I choked on my drink, while Jen rolled her eyes. “Or, you know, date. ”

Agatha smirked. “I vote chaos.”

And so, it began.

The plan was simple.

Step one: The coven (as my friends liked to call themselves, despite having zero magical abilities) would ‘accidentally’ drop by the shop to scope out Lilia. Subtlety was not their strong suit, but I’d given them a strict list of rules— no embarrassing me, no obvious flirting on my behalf, and under no circumstances could Agatha challenge her to a tarot reading battle.

Step two: Once they confirmed Lilia was, in fact, into women (something I was still trying to figure out without outright asking), they’d casually encourage me to ask her out.

Step three: Success. Or mortifying failure.

I should’ve known better.

The day of the plan, they arrived with the grace of a train wreck. The bell above the shop door chimed, and in they strolled. Agatha with her signature overconfidence, Jen trying to look composed, and Billy and Alice whispering conspiratorially behind them.

Lilia, who had been arranging a set of tarot decks, looked up with mild interest. “New customers?” she mused.

I winced. “Uh, yeah. Friends.”

Agatha stepped forward, extending a hand with a grin that was far too wolfish for my liking. “Agatha. Nice shop you have here.”

Lilia took her hand with that calm, effortless grace. “Thank you. I do my best.” She glanced over at me with a raised brow. “I see y/n has been spreading the word.”

Alice beamed. “Oh, you have no idea.”

Kill me.

Lilia was polite but wary, and I could tell she picked up on something , whether it was the fact that they were clearly vetting her or just the general chaos my friends brought with them. But she handled it like she handled everything else: with quiet amusement and a touch of suspicion.

I could also see the way she lingered on me when she thought I wasn’t looking, the way she’d glance over when Agatha not-so-subtly hinted at my interest in “older, experienced women.”

And when Billy, in all his chaotic energy, ‘accidentally’ knocked over a shelf, Lilia just sighed and gave me a look that said, this is your problem now.

God, I was so gone for her.

I didn’t know if the plan was working, but when I caught Lilia watching me across the shop, her expression softer, more contemplative than usual, I had a feeling things were shifting.

I just had to make sure I didn’t screw it up.

The coven’s “casual” visit stretched far longer than I’d anticipated, and Lilia, ever the picture of grace and patience entertained their probing questions with a wry amusement that had me both sweating and swooning.

“So,” Agatha drawled, leaning casually on the counter, “how long have you been in town? A woman like you must have quite the stories.”

Lilia smiled knowingly, her dark eyes glinting. “Oh, I’ve been here longer than most would guess. The shop’s been in my family for generations, though I suppose I’ve... modernised it in my own way.”

Jen, ever the detective, sipped her overpriced coffee and murmured, “Modernised? You still have a landline.”

Lilia shot her a look that could cut glass. “It has a certain charm.”

I stifled a laugh behind my hand.

Billy, who’d been poking around the shelves, suddenly perked up. “So, Lilia, do you do, like, love spells?”

I nearly choked on air.

Lilia tilted her head, tapping a perfectly manicured finger on the counter. “Love spells are tricky,” she mused, her voice low and velvety. “You can’t make someone fall in love, you know. Only... reveal what’s already there.”

My face burned so hot I thought I might spontaneously combust. Agatha shot me a smug grin, and I swore I’d kill her later.

Lilia, however, seemed unbothered. If anything, she was watching me with a knowing glint, as if she’d caught the edge of something in my expression.

“Love is a delicate thing,” she continued, her gaze still on me. “It’s best handled with care.”

Jen snorted. “Tell that to y/n.”

I groaned. “Alright, you guys have had your fun. Let’s not traumatise my boss any further.”

Lilia’s lips quirked up. “Oh, y/n, it takes much more than this to rattle me.”

And with that, my brain short-circuited.

Once I’d finally wrangled my friends out the door—after no less than three separate goodbyes and a thinly veiled attempt by Agatha to invite Lilia to a “casual” group outing—I collapsed against the counter with a groan.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled into my hands. “They’re... a lot.”

Lilia chuckled softly, arranging a set of tarot cards in a neat pile. “They’re delightful.” She paused, her voice quieter. “They care about you.”

I peeked up at her through my fingers. “They do. Sometimes too much.”

She gave me that soft, unreadable smile that made my stomach twist in knots. “That’s never a bad thing.”

There was a moment of silence, comfortable yet charged. I watched her work, her fingers deft and graceful, and I couldn’t help but imagine what they’d feel like trailing over my skin.

Which, of course, led to me blurting out the world’s most humiliating sentence.

“So, uh... are you single?”

Lilia’s hands stilled. She looked up at me, one perfectly arched brow lifting.

Oh. Oh no.

I swallowed thickly. “I—I mean, just curious. You know, for... um... business reasons?”

She stared at me for a long beat before a slow, knowing smile spread across her face. “Business reasons?”

I wanted the floor to swallow me whole. “I’ll shut up now.”

To my absolute horror, she looked amused . “No, I don’t mind the question,” she said, voice smooth and far too indulgent. “Yes, y/n, I am single.”

My brain froze. “Oh. Cool.”

I was going to die. Right here. In this shop.

Lilia leaned on the counter, eyes twinkling with mischief. “And you?”

Me? Functioning? Unlikely.

“Uh, yeah,” I stammered. “Very single. Like... aggressively single.”

She laughed, a low, rich sound that made my knees weak. “Aggressively?”

I groaned. “I have a lot of free time.”

She gave me a long, thoughtful look, and for the first time, I saw something flicker in her expression, curiosity? Interest? God, I hoped so.

“Well,” she said finally, “perhaps we should do something about that.”

I blinked. “Do something?”

Lilia just smiled. “You’ll see, baby.”

I was definitely going to die.

I called Agatha that night in full-blown panic.

“She called me baby, Agatha. She called me baby. ”

On the other end of the line, Agatha groaned. “And you didn’t throw yourself at her feet?”

“I panicked!” I hissed. “I just stood there like an idiot and nodded!”

Jen’s voice chimed in. “Classic y/n.”

Billy snorted. “You need to make a move before someone else does.”

Alice, ever the gentle voice of reason, hummed. “Maybe she’s interested in you, y/n. She wouldn’t call you ‘baby’ if she wasn’t, right?”

“I don’t know,” I whined. “She’s so cool, and she’s older, and I feel like a dumb kid around her.”

Agatha clicked her tongue. “You’re not a dumb kid. You’re a hot, chaotic disaster, and that’s charming. Now, listen, next time you see her, flirt intentionally. Make it obvious.”

“Oh yeah, because that’s gone so well before.”

“No more subtlety,” Agatha said firmly. “You need to show her you’re serious. Flirt, y/n. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“She could laugh in my face?”

“She won’t,” Alice assured me. “She hired you, didn’t she? That means she likes you.”

I sighed, flopping onto my bed. 

The next morning, I walked into the shop, determined. Lilia glanced up from where she was rearranging the display, her smile soft.

"Good morning, y/n."

I swallowed hard, shoving down the nervous energy bubbling in my chest. "Morning, Lilia."

She tilted her head, observing me for a moment. "You look... focused today. A special occasion?"

"Oh, uh... just trying to be more productive," I said quickly, forcing a smile and internally cursing myself. I had one job: flirt. Be charming. Sweep her off her feet. Instead, I was standing there like a starstruck teenager.

Lilia gave me an amused glance, completely unaware of the internal screaming happening inside my head. "Well, productivity is always admirable," she said, turning back to her tarot deck. "Let me know if you need something to do, baby."

Baby. There it was again.

I nearly tripped over my own feet on the way to the back room.

Later that evening, I flopped onto Agatha's couch with a dramatic groan. "It's hopeless."

Billy, sitting cross-legged on the floor with a bowl of popcorn, rolled his eyes. "You're hopeless. There's a difference."

Alice patted my knee reassuringly. "Tell us what happened this time."

I sat up, rubbing my hands over my face. "She called me baby again."

Jen raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"And?" I repeated incredulously. "I blacked out! Just stood there like a moron and stammered something about productivity!"

Agatha groaned, sipping her wine. "You are acting like the least seductive person I have ever met, and I have literally watched you seduce people before. What happened to that y/n?"

I threw my hands in the air. "That y/n wasn't crushing on someone three times my age who also happens to be the most sophisticated, intimidating woman I've ever met!"

Billy snickered. "You're acting like she's some kind of ancient vampire."

I glared. "She might be, okay? I don't know her life."

Jen smirked. "You could get to know it. Y'know, if you asked her out."

"That's not how this works!" I groaned, leaning back against the couch. "I need subtlety. "

Agatha rolled her eyes so hard I was worried they'd get stuck. "y/n. Sweetheart. You've been subtle for weeks, and she hasn't picked up on a damn thing."

"She has to know," I insisted. "She’s too smart not to have figured it out."

Alice smiled kindly. "Or maybe she’s just... not looking for it? You said she’s wary of the age gap, right?"

I sighed. "Yeah. I get the feeling she’s aware of it, but she doesn’t say anything. It’s just little things, like, if I compliment her, she brushes it off like I’m just being nice. She never takes it seriously."

Jen hummed thoughtfully. "Sounds like she's putting up a little barrier. Maybe she's worried it's inappropriate?"

Agatha smirked. "So we need to show her it's very appropriate."

Billy nodded eagerly. "Okay, Get y/n Laid 101 is officially back in session."

"Can we call it something else?" I muttered.

"No," Agatha said flatly. "This is what we're calling it." She leaned forward, her eyes gleaming. "Here's the new plan. We need to escalate. No more lingering looks and awkward compliments. We go big. We're talking bold flirting, unmistakable signals. She won't be able to ignore it."

I groaned. "Agatha, I don't do bold. I trip over air when she looks at me for too long."

Jen smirked. "Then it's time to fake it till you make it."

Billy grinned. "You know what would help? A little jealousy."

I groaned again. "No."

"Yes," Agatha said, pointing at Billy. "Yes. We make her jealous."

"Guys, this isn't a teen drama," I whined. "What am I supposed to do? Flirt with some random customer in front of her?"

Agatha snapped her fingers. "Exactly!"

Alice frowned. "That seems a little childish."

Jen shrugged. "It could work."

I buried my face in my hands. "You’re all terrible."

Billy patted my arm. "We're terrible, but we're effective."

The next day at the shop, I was feeling good. Confident, even. The plan was simple, escalate my flirting game, but not with Lilia just yet. No, I needed to show her what she was missing. And I was good at flirting. Really good. Just… not with her. Lilia was an enigma, a walking temptation wrapped in decades of experience and elegance, and I turned into an absolute idiot in her presence.

But with other women? That was easy.

The bell above the door chimed, and I looked up to see a gorgeous customer stepping in, tall, blonde, and effortlessly stylish. She glanced around the shop with interest, her gaze landing on me, and I caught the faintest flicker of a smile. I could work with that.

I straightened my posture, strolling over with a relaxed smile. “Welcome in,” I said smoothly, letting my voice drop just enough to be inviting. “Looking for anything in particular? Or just... browsing?”

She smiled, intrigued. “A little of both, I think.”

“Oh, mystery.” I leaned lightly on the counter, letting my fingers trace the edge of a crystal display. “I like that. Means you might need a guide.”

She laughed softly, tilting her head in a way that told me she was enjoying this. “And I suppose you’re volunteering?”

I grinned. “I’m more than qualified.”

We slipped into an easy banter, her eyes bright with interest as I smoothly navigated between flirtation and shop talk. She leaned in a little closer, and I let my gaze linger, deliberate and playful.

And then I felt it.

That unmistakable presence.

I glanced up and yep. Lilia was watching from across the room, her dark eyes focused, her expression unreadable. She was leaning against the shelf, book in hand, but I could tell she hadn’t turned a page in a while.

I ignored the way my pulse jumped and turned my attention back to the blonde, offering her a charming smile. “So,” I said, handing her a small charm, “this one’s for luck. Not that you look like you need it.”

She laughed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “You’re good at this.”

“I try.”

Lilia’s voice cut through the moment like a blade, smooth, unhurried, but somehow commanding all the same. “y/n.”

I turned, heart skipping a beat. “Yeah?”

She strolled over, eyes flicking between me and the blonde. “Everything alright here?”

The blonde woman, oblivious, smiled. “Just getting some expert advice.”

Lilia hummed, arching a brow at me. “I see.” There was nothing in her tone that hinted at jealousy, but something lingered beneath it, something sharp and assessing. “Why don’t you help me with something in the back when you’re done?”

It wasn’t a request.

I swallowed. “Sure, just a sec.”

The blonde handed me the charm with a wink. “I think I’ll take this. Lucky, right?”

I rang her up, feeling Lilia’s presence like a shadow at my back the entire time. When the customer finally left with a lingering glance over her shoulder, I turned to Lilia with what I hoped was a nonchalant smile. “What’s up?”

She studied me for a moment, then gestured toward the back room. “Come on.”

I followed her, nerves prickling under my skin. Was she... mad? Intrigued? God, I couldn’t tell. She closed the door behind us and crossed her arms, regarding me with that maddeningly unreadable expression.

“Flirting with customers now?” she asked, tone light but with an edge I couldn’t quite place.

I shrugged, leaning against the wall. “It’s good for business.”

Lilia’s lips twitched, but she didn’t quite smile. “Mm. I suppose it is.”

Silence stretched between us, heavy with something unsaid. She tilted her head, studying me like she was piecing together a puzzle. And then, just as quickly as she’d pulled me aside, she turned back toward the shelf, and pointed at the boxes to unpack, business as usual. “Well,” she said, voice as smooth as ever, “let’s try to keep things professional, baby.”

And there it was again. Baby. The way she said it effortless, affectionate, and utterly devastating.

I cleared my throat. “Got it. Professional.”

But as I left the back room, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Lilia wasn’t quite as unaffected as she seemed.

That night, I sat at Agatha’s with my head in my hands. “She pulled me into the back room.”

Jen perked up. “Wait, what? ”

Billy nearly dropped his drink. “Define ‘pulled into the back room.’”

“Not like that,” I groaned. “She just... I don’t know, it felt like she was calling me out for flirting, but it wasn’t clear if she was mad or—”

“Jealous,” Agatha supplied smugly. “She was jealous. ”

Alice, ever the voice of reason, frowned. “Or she thought you were being unprofessional.”

Agatha waved a hand. “Unprofessional, please. y/n’s been working there for weeks with no complaints. She definitely noticed.”

Billy grinned. “What did she say exactly?”

I sighed. “She told me to keep things professional. Baby. ”

Jen’s eyes widened. “She called you baby again? ”

I nodded miserably. “I’m losing my mind.”

Agatha leaned in with a smirk. “Then we escalate. She’s watching now.”

I groaned, burying my face in a pillow. “Why is this so hard?”

“Because you actually like her,” Alice said gently. “And that makes everything ten times scarier.”

I peeked out from the pillow. “So what do I do?”

Agatha smirked. “You keep flirting, y/n. But this time, aim it at the right woman.”

[jiminsass-istant]

WHO MV ANALYSIS: BRILLIANT STORY TELLING, QUEER CODING AND MORE

I have a lot to say. And yes i positively feel like a clown that this post comes right after jimin said "go ahead, misinterpret everything hehe". This might be a long one, so settle in. Also, if you are looking for this as some kind of validation for any ship, I'm afraid it might not serve that purpose (BUT keep reading!). This is simply an analysis of MV elements and cinematography in its purest form appreciating the brilliant work done by Lumpens and his assistant directors.

Part 1: Start of the story of a man in search of love

Let's start from the very beginning. Many of you have already figured out that Jimin is telling a story here (I'm not wrong yet Jimin, dammit). How do we know this? Look at that mini TV. Yes, this mini TV is actually our bookmark, our storyteller. In it's first appearance, it says "play" with a man walking at a normal pace, imitating jimin here, who is also walking.

Elements to notice here:-

The 'ONLY' signs on the road which mean these roads have only limited accessibility when it comes to directions. In my opinion, it symbolizes the rules that this world imposes on us. And here comes jimin whining/asking why he hasn't met 'her' even if he sees her at night? (imagines her) and thinks about her.

2. Also notice how it says "BLISS" on the neon sign but the world he's in is basically pre-tornado winds - there are papers flying, cars on fire, safety barrier tapes, even the mini TV is on fire. The flyer for the song says "who is!! Tornado of love" and basically serves as a warning that the 'tornado of love' is approaching soon.

3. Reference to 'Closer' (than this?) on the billboard with a man on it. Looks like a reference to a movie or song of 1995 which I haven't been able to find out yet. [help me]

Part 2: Searching gets more desperate

Moving on, we see Jimin entering the part of street with an old, dilapidated building in the background (so much to notice here!!)

Elements to look out:

Firstly, look at the mini TV which still says 'play' but the man in the TV is now running instead of walking. Just like how Jimin's steps are faster now, he's on his search for 'her', but he's getting desperate.

Notice the engineers in the background? Yes they are engineers- they have plans, measuring devices etc. And they are working to "renovate" the building. Interesting choice of scene right before a tornado... let's found out why-

Notice that on the right side to the entrance of this building, there's "B-1" written on the walls, but one could also read it at "13 1" At first glance, that's what it seemed like to me. I think people renovating a building whose name looks like a "13" is symbolism for jimin trying to heal/renovate/repair his heart/emotions/past traumas. It's about him still being in that phase where he is healing/ trying to heal himself by trying to find 'her' OR maybe he's trying to find 'her' when he is not even completely healed himself.

See the TV on the shopping cart on fire because it will be referenced later. Put a pin on it.

Part-3 Theatrics

With a flash of retro cable TV like lights, the perspective changes - as in now you are watching inside the mini TV. I'm talking about this part, when he changes direction and goes to the girl. So many interesting things happen, I'm giddy thinking about writing it.

Elements to notice:

I can't help but think of the words 'auto calibration ' that flashes right before Jimin does that cunty choreo with the female dancer. 'auto calibration ' literally means 'standardization' or 'correction' . I don't think people realise how queer coded it is. 'coded' being the keyword here. It could also mean 'standardized' as in the way we view idols as these perfect people with perfect dating lives.

3. The car is on fire- so yeah whatever is happening cannot be good. Everything is still chaotic and doesn't make it easy

2. The mini TV now shows various images with a heart '<3' symbolizing that he is engaging in some kind of relationship, but this is literally the biggest 'drama' ever. Because look at this scene- it's pure cinema..

"So many people to see" - people watching them date/engage while making a whole show out of it. There's also an ambulance nearby because obviously an idol's dating life shown to the public can leave people hurt and offended. As Jimin and the girl dance, they are literally in front of a local theatre called the 'OASIS'. My interpretation is that a celeb's dating life is literally 'theatrics' for the public. They are reduced to nothing but characters for entertainment, and worst part is that the public isn't happy either. No wonder, making it extremely difficult for Jimin to find true love. Special mention where the girl has him in a chokehold, quite literally an uncomfortable position, entangled with each other- or at least that's how the public views them.

3) In the same scene we see that the mini TV has tumbled down along with the shopping cart which was on fire, hence setting the car on fire too lol. Brilliant attention to detail.

Part-4 - where Jimin gets more desperate to find true love (in the past!)

As soon as the dancers leave, we see the huge billboard fall down and if i go with all the clues we have been getting, especially the travel show...it is WILD.

Because people are focusing on the possible OST called "Keep going", but DO YOU NOT REALISE HOW HUGE IT IS THAT JK IS REFERENCED IN A ROMANTIC SONG? dropping from the sky with 'who' written on it??!! "Who" without the questions or exclamations. I'll let you go delulu mode on that one. Moving on-

You must have noticed that to show a change in phase/scene, they have used multicolored flashes and change to 90s TV perspective. The same happens now after the billboard drops but the important thing to notice is the "rewind" on the screen now. Which basically means jimin going through different people is a thing of the past.

3. The crow/raven seen multiple times in the MV. Either way, a crow or raven is not something we see at night. They come out only at times of 'unnatural exceptions' like storms, earthquakes etc because they are not nocturnal creatures. While Jimin was trying to find love, there was definitely something happening which wasn't natural for him or was out of his comfort zone/he was not himself.

4. Another instance of queer coding I noticed was both men and women walking past him, similar to Like Crazy MV. It had a different symbolism in LC because he was trying to stay in the dream. But here people walking past him clearly means possible romantic partners. And he keeps stopping, keeps trying his luck with different people, almost always failing. OR- it could mean there are people of both genders walking past him but he never goes for the men in the past.

Part-5 - The tornado of love finally arrives

Now it says 'Play' on the screen meaning we are now in the present again. The tornado has built up, Jimin looks more confident, more smug as the tornado gains momentum behind him.

A flash of light, fireworks erupt as he sings his heart out. Even after the tornado is completely gone, the sparks and short circuits and destruction continues, meaning the 'tornado of love' arrived and certainly did a number on him.

Finally, we see him on a much calmer path. All cars lined up. He owns his life now. The situation is under control, the cars with lights on, ready to go.

I truly appreciate the storytelling in WHO MV. Lumpens Sir delivering as always. And I would love to know which things were Jimin's ideas but he wouldn't share that with us would he?

Let me know what you think and discuss in the comments if you want to.

[kodakreations]

@fragilehiggs

HOW TO IMPORT HIGGS 3D MODEL INTO BLENDER / MODELS FROM GAMES INTO BLENDER

figured id make this a post because it’d be easier.. might help other people too!!! on how to put higgs into blender. you probably know some of the stuff i’m gonna explain but for good measure will bring up. this is extremely long because its the sort of thing i wouldve massively appreciated but i unfortunately instead basically had to figure it out going off of little to nothing

—

blender is a 3d program that allows you to import models from games into there which can then be rigged, posed, and animated. people take these models from games using programs called ninjaripper or greyhound. essentially this just goes into the files of the game and takes out the assets. if it’s an asset, it can be taken out. you would then have to rig the model yourself (basically put a skeleton to pose it.) this takes very long and is inconvenient.

luckily, people do this for you. you don’t need to rip your own assets out and rig, which is a hassle and you usually need to pay for these useful programs. a great spot for getting models that have been ripped from games is deviantart. however, there is no telling how these models can perform. they could be badly rigged, or could have messed up textures. unfortunately, such is the case for the one and only higgs model… https://www.deviantart.com/kanbara914/art/Death-Stranding-Higgs-XPS-864224744

the good news is that i fixed the textures. the bad news is that the rigging is absolutely beyond busy. he is poseable, yes, but the amount of points there are makes it really hard to. i’m yet to figure out a better way and might start ripping and rigging my own models. despite having fixed the textures i am unsure if i can export the fixed version. thus.. another tutorial will come through on to do that. unfortunately it takes awhile. all of this requires lots of patience, trial, and error.

so, now, how exactly do we start? FIRSTLY, we need to revisit downloading blender. the current up-to-date blender will NOT work. you need to download blender 2.80, NOT anything else. well, how do you get an older version?

in order to get an older version, navigate to blender.org/download/previous-versions/ and scroll down a bit to you see ‘download any blender version.’ here is a good tutorial but i believe that it is a little outdated so i will explain it furthermore. https://youtu.be/WmlijP9D67o?si=QHhpOQ_D_0LWJP9M this is the one i followed however so, the premise is the same.

we click on download any blender version and it looks quite overwhelming. dont be too worried, you just need to look closely and scroll till you see Blender2.80 . we then click on that and you need to find your operating system. im going to assume you run windows, and if so, pick blender-2.80-windows64.zip from the list.

navigate to your files, and then open up the zip file that you just downloaded. click blender 2.8 again and then what you see is going to look a little busy. dont be fooled, its actually not. just scroll down and find blender.exe. press this and itll bring up a simple process -- all you should have to do is press a few buttons and optimize it like any other download for an application such as blender. it should be installed like regular blender, and if its not on your desktop, simply go to blender.exe in your files in applications. i recommend pinning it to your taskbar.

here comes the next step. there is something called xnalara. i will keep the history of it rather brief but its quite interesting. xnalara was an older program that allowed people back then to rip models from games and import them into the xnalara program. that program is rather old and i rather not use it, however, im thinking about looking into it. its good to use blender regardless because of its studio-accredited attributes. its professional.

some awesome dude later down the line created something called a xnalara add-on for blender. this allowed you to download models ripped from games posted on deviantart that are optimized for xnalara. the file name for these xnalara optimized models end in .xps . these will not regularly be imported into blender, because it doesnt support it. however, this add-on will allow you to do such.

im going to explain how to download it but watching this video regardless is essential. you will probably need to go back to it now and then.

since youre particularly interested in importing higgs, i will keep it relatively broad but touch on his model a bit more because i am more familiar but this process applies to most models. navigate to https://www.deviantart.com/kanbara914/art/Death-Stranding-Higgs-XPS-864224744 and scroll down into the description of the post. click on the link, mega.nz/file/y88wyQpS#eDkcsSmW… so on and so forth. it will ask you if you want to leave deviantart and click the link again to go there.

you're now in MEGA. this website will allow you to store downloads for people, and i can assure you its safe. i would never download anything im not sure of -- my PC is my baby lol. look down to the bottom right and youll see "SAVE" and "SAVE TO MEGA." pick save. it will download, and you need to look to the top right and click where your downloads are. this will take a couple minutes, grab some water and a snack. when its done, click on it in the tray to open it.

youre going to be overwhelmed by everything you see. do not fret! just close it, dont unzip it. just make sure it exists. you can close MEGA and deviantart now. you now need to refer to the video i linked if you want to follow along with more resources. we need to install the XNALARA add-on for blender 2.80 which can allow us to put it into blender.

before i continue i want to say, being familiar will blender as a whole will be an insane help. unfortunately the only way i figured out some of the stuff that i did was because i knew how to just going off of the program. most tutorials will not have answers for this small issues... but i most likely do especially for this specific model.

here is the add-on. https://github.com/johnzero7/XNALaraMesh . github will look relatively the same as it does in the video. look to your right, youre going to see a bolded 'releases', and under it, XPSTools v2.0.2 or something along the lines of that. you dont need to see the other releases, it's best to have the latest one. click on it.

its going to open up the description of the file. the above is important to note because it says it works with the blender that you just downloaded. if there are any issues for whatever reason with using blender 2.80 (approximately the version from ~2020) those are other versions which are applicable. for the sake of my sanity im gonna explain how to open it in blender 2.80 .

go down to the bolded 'assets'. under it you will see 3 links -- click on the first one which ends in .zip . it will download in the download tray. if your computer tries to flag it or anything as unsafe, click away from that and allow it anyways. this program has been used by thousands for years. it will soon finish downloading. MAKE SURE THE XNALARA ADD ON IS SAVED ON YOUR DESKTOP!!!

go ahead and open up blender 2.80 now. if you have the newest blender installed already make sure youre picking the older version. it will open a terminal alongside of blender, while its running. dont close it. click general.

if you have never used blender, please watch a video on the basics such as this one. https://youtu.be/Z8sg0nHNTTo?si=zjR4aBHVF8XX_Qdn this is the only way to realistically be able to attempt messing with said model, unfortunately. unironically, rendering roblox avatars was a huge stepping stone and aid to my experience with this. i genuinely recommend you do it before you try and do something like this. here is an amazing, step-by-step tutorial that needs no explaining out of the video. https://youtu.be/kpALOtLhX-Q?si=4UrhkBTIK5qYOBfS

from here, this is a much better tutorial to follow >> https://youtu.be/8mqUqob3P3o?si=14a50v88IPZx6O8Y . find yourself at the time stamp of 1:46, the previous is the steps you have already done. go back to blender if you have made it this far, lmao. click on the cube and delete that motherfucker.

look at the top toolbar. it says things like file, edit, render, window, etc. you want to pick edit and scroll to preferences. youll see many options but youre going to want to click add-ons on the left. then, at the top left, click install. go to DESKTOP and click XNALaraMesh.2.02.zip and click install add-on from file on the top right. make sure its the ZIP. this is gonna bring you to a menu with potentially many other downloads. scroll down till you see XNALARA if so. MAKE SURE IT HAS A CLICKED CHECK MARK ON THE LEFT.

go down to the three bars on the bottom left and make sure to save preferences. you can then close that and go back to blender. it will now be one of your downloaded add-ons available! go to the top left again and hit file, import, and XNALARA / XPS. itll hover and youll see another option. make sure to pick XNALara/XPS Model (ascii./.mesh/.xps) . click it and pick Load an XNALara model file.

this will open up your file explorer within blender. click desktop and click on the higgs model you saved earlier. clicking it will lead to 2 files, click xps.xps . press Import in the top right. it will take a hot minute to pull everything into blender, be patient. once its imported scroll inwards and look at the son of a bitch. the rig is gonna be highlighted orange and hes gonna be gray. click to anywhere other than the model and face the enemy.

due to the shading settings, his textures arent showing. simply go to the top left where you see 4 ish circles, the second one should be selected. select the one to its right, viewport shading, and give it a second to load his textures in. its gonna look nothing like him. youre gonna have to fix the textures, brave soldier.

--

will post another tutorial if you decide to go through with this or if anyone does because unpacking all of that is such a pain in the ass but i promise it isnt rocket science. just not gonna do it if it isnt asked for because i spent 3 hours figuring out how to fix it the first time i imported his model -- the creator says nothing about this on the download or how to fix it unfortunately and its quite janky :(

if you even made it this far in reading, congratulations, youre a winner. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS AT ALL PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ASK and i will answer them to the best of my ability.

SAVE THE IMPORTED MODEL TO REVISIT!!!!!!

[feartoxinjelloshot]

EDIT JAN '25: i'm pinning this post to my blog since it's more recent than the last pinned post; however my au is in constant motion/development and this may not be entirely accurate in the present day. it should still give a general idea of what's going on, though. i might make an actual starter-guide info post to pin one day.

also, this chart contains a clerical error. cass/orphan's background color should match the 'court of owls' domain instead of being blank.

SURPRISE! a shiny new relationship chart for (mostly) all of the current cv members! needless to say it is much... MUCH bigger than the old one i made back in 2022. i'm not even sure i put that one on tumblr. i've also included a handy key image for clarity.

some important notes:

A. this chart is not exhaustive - as unfortunately i am constrained by 1. my memory and 2. the amount of colored lines i can put in there without it getting incomprehensible. if you think something important/obvious is missing i probably either forgot, or it just wasn't physically possible to get into the image. take it with a grain of salt!

B. the "domains" aren't necessarily literal - it's more of an arbitrary mental categorization system and less of a guarantee that two characters are directly positively associated with one another. a shared domain can mean that characters either 1. share overarching narrative involvement (i.e. harley and the joker), 2. are involved in a significant conflict of interest (i.e. the al ghuls vs the court of owls), or 3. have spent significant time within or dwelling upon a particular part of the overworld (the sewers, arkham hospital).

this chart is also not set in stone! i change and develop details of this au all the time and that includes the interpersonal relationships of various characters.

also, the plaintext of the heads, and the old chart (circa 2022) for posterity:

[things-about-cars-in-posts]

Hey i was reading the bisexual cars post [ed: as one does] and i have a question What the fuck is up with the shift in the V6 clio?

I mean, the whole front console looks just like my clio's (except the wheel bc mine is newer and pointy instead of round) until the air controls in the center. And then BOOM, ugliest shift i've ever seen in a sportscar

Here's a closeup for the benefit of the viewing audience:

So, we have the shift knob itself on the top, and below it what I assume is the reverse lockout collar (for the unaware, while in some cars you need to push the shifter down to engage reverse, others lock you out of it with a little collar under the shift knob you are to pull up). Under those there is an alcantara shift boot - or should I say Alcantara, since it's the brand name of the material sold by Alcantara S.p.A., Italian company producing it since the 70s. That's right, they pulled a Velcro™ on ya. Under all that, the console itself, whose poor shot at a nicer finish makes it clash with the rest of the interior and whose need to place the shifter high enough to be reachable results in it looking like it was placed on an upside down bowl. So much so that I assumed the console was actually what OP found so unsightly. But a check with him contradicted me - he really was referring to shifter and boot.

I think I can see why. Now, an Alcantara®™ shift boot and a polished spherical shift knob is not an uncommon arrangement for sporty cars.

But as you can see, usually shift boots have much more of a pyramidal shape to them with any sagging or bunching being at the bottom - seen especially clearly in the mr__grip shift boot I got my very own Golf (and yes, I got the shift knob to match the boot to boot :D)

As you can see, shift boots usually taper no a very narrow top, sometimes not even getting to the shift knob and leaving part of the shift rod exposed, as seen to a bit of an exaggerated extent in my application.

[Wanna know how bad my shifter needs an overhaul? That's not neutral, that's first.]

Whereas in the Clio V6, when the boot gets to the collar, there's still so much boot left that it just bunches up around it, which combines with the collar and the knob's unflattering lower crease to create the impression that someone put a warm sweater on an old lamp post.

But hey, it could always be worse. Check out the Mercedes Sprinter.

Oh, right. This isn't the Tumblr of old.

There.

Links in blue are posts of mine about the topic in question: if you liked this post, you might like those - or the blog’s Discord server, linked in the pinned post!

[primofate]

I hope this is okay to ask but would you ever consider putting your age or age range in your pinned? (Unless I missed it somewhere!) I like your work a lot but wouldn’t feel comfortable interacting if you’re a minor.

I'm not offended by this ask at all, but I sort of find it...ironic?

If people put their age on their profile, is that an automatic truth? Is it just an instant truth and you believe them immediately when they say they're 18+? I found it meaningless to put my age, because anyone can just put a random number, but I understand why others would find it comforting.

Instead of relying on the age posted, maybe get to know a blog a bit more before following them? Asks like this are the reason I am so grateful to some of my followers for keeping up with me and the bits of my real life I have posted about. They know I'm married, they know I have a child. They know that I have a job and an adult life to keep running. Of course if you are new here I understand why you would miss that information (but tbh I've talked about my little one a few times already, and from other asks you would know I'm not a teen mom, cause some people might go there).

Just saying, maybe get to know a blog a bit more before following or interacting? But point taken and though I still don't find it necessary to put my age I'll just put a disclaimer that I'm old enough. I might actually be more ancient than all my followers. *insert eye roll*

Edit: actually, ill leave the disclaimer out. You can unfollow if you feel uncomfortable following a blog with no age on it. 🤷‍♀️

[rookinthecrownest]

Why Lucanis has eldest daughter of an immigrant family energy, from the Eldest Daughter of an Immigrant Family (involves some projection on my part ... don't keep reading if you don't want to see that lol)

Constantly worried about the family's wellbeing (even when they are being silly goofy guys like Illario) and expected put the interest of the family above their own (hello fellow collectivist culture friends)

Was never really going to be allowed to explore their own interests and desires even if they like/enjoy what they end up doing (what's that old joke - about the only 3 careers an immigrant kid can have lol) -> see "My life has never really been my own. So much has been determined for me"

Carries the crushing weight of being 'The Golden Child' - always expected to succeed/be perfect/etc. You're the one everyone pins their hopes on. Fun times!

As a follow up to the Golden Child issue, living with the uncomfortable feeling of being compared to your cousins/siblings in terms of how well you're doing on certain arbitrary parameters like wealth/education instead of parameters that actually matter like...idk, general life satisfaction, happiness ??

As a follow-up to the follow-up: The pressure (and anxiety) to KEEP that Golden Child status active because you see how the Black Sheep of the family gets treated (See: Illario)

Your failures will NEVER be yours alone. You don't have that privilege. They will always reflect on The Family (may apply to both Lucanis and Illario tbh). This one might be flimsy as I don't think we have any direct examples of this, but I don't think it's exactly a reach either.

Feel free to add anything I may have missed! This isn't meant to be an exhaustive meta post. Just some ramblings.

[eolewyn1010]

Downton Abbey Fashion 85 - evening dresses in 1925

For once, I actually feel let down by Rosamund’s evening dresses and have to rely on Cora to pull this off. Odd, but I’ll take what I can get.

First gown is dusty Crawley purple, and I like it a lot better than I often do dusty Crawley purple. Or 1920s fashion on Cora, for that matter. That’s because she has mostly bid the structural drop waist farewell; this is all smooth silk satin and rhinestones and glitter. We get a lovely boat neckline, glittery swirls and this pair of vertical strips down the back, the necklace tying right in there, plus the design from the drop waist down her skirt that I think is faking the good old Egyptomania loincloth tie. 1920s fashion had some weird influences, and putting them into sequins made them no easier to recognize.

Why did it take so long for Cora to get to wear this? I love it! What a wonderful shade of red on her, and the diamond cutout incorporated in her back design, and the curving layers of her skirt? This is gorgeous. It’s also five tons of more rhinestones and some floral branches spreading between the more generic vertical lines of glitter because…has anyone ever looked into horror vacui in the 1920s?

Gold lamé is back, and honestly I could have done with a little less of it here. I don’t know, it might be personal taste, but I think it doesn’t pair well with this shade of lavender, and the layered round-over-straight neckline doesn’t look very elegant. I do love the toga design of the top though and, in all fairness, the dress did look okay before Robert vomited his stomach ulcer over it. Lovely earrings, too, but Cora, why on earth do you wear a silver tiara to a gold cloth?

This is imho one of Cora’s prettiest dresses over her entire post-Edwardian run, and definitely my favorite of the season. And the only halfway clear picture I got of it is this lousily-lit dinner table shot? Ugh, anyway. This repeats the boat neckline and has a lovely combination of pale turquoise and gold, which is interesting because both Edith and Mary wear an evening gown of that color scheme at separate points during the season. Cora’s take on it is a damask with a swirly silverish leaves-and-flowers motif, framed in two strips of golden lace. I may be wrong, but I think this is one of her dresses with a capelet configuration in the back.

Because Cora loves these drapey capelet thingies this season. Dusty purple is back and, regrettably, so is the drop waistband. Cora, love, just take the belt off. I know it sparkles, but it just breaks the flow of your lace drape and gives you a pouch when you don’t really have one. Admittedly, the belt is the only point of interest in the front; without it, the dress looks a little boring, but the lace is pretty and I just love how it cascades down her back. Nice jewelry, too – check out the hair pin with the three circle ornaments.

Not content with flowy capes alone, Cora also really loves her lace this season. The cape is a little more conservative, covering the naked part of the back instead of dipping with it, but it’s still shiny and drapey, and this might be the first off-white dress since the end of Edwardian fashion that I really like on Cora. The zigzag hems, the layering of the skirt, the brown and gold peeking out from beneath the silvery lace? It all adds up to such an elegant appearance.

Okay, so, I’ve seen a ton of these deep V wrap front dresses over the course of the show, and asymmetry is a well-established feature of the 1920s, too. I think combining the two had more of a sloppy effect than intended. Come on, the way that left boob is sticking out there is not the toga look you were going for. The cape and skirt asymmetry work better. Ah well, we still have pretty shiny fabric with beaded flowers all over it, a nice combination of warm silver with dusty purple, pearl trims for all eternity, a shiny necklace and earrings I really enjoy… and that simpering Cora smile that makes me wonder at what point exactly Elizabeth McGovern grew tired of her role being mostly reduced to that effing smile.

Last one is Cora actually leaning into the golden-brown scheme that becomes so popular over the second half of the season. Fine; I can handle one relatively boring dress, and even this has a lovely brocade going for it. I’m just not sure about that bit of golden lace tacked to the front. It looks like it’s trying to be a jabot on a neckline that is not made for a jabot? Oh, whatever; it’s just adding a bit of structure.

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

Rosamund’s only evening dress this season that has some color, so I don’t get a good look at it. Honestly, this looks a little pieced together. The meander of the neckline isn’t picked up anywhere, I’m not sure I would combine this style of slit sleeve with a vest overlay and gathered shoulders, the necklace is a bit too clunky to blend in with the vest’s decoration. Hm. It sure is teal-y and glittery?

Hurray, the generic black-and-golden evening dress returns! I’ve missed it so. I do really love Rosamund’s fake bob hairstyle and the pins and clips she uses to hold it up, but the dress is. Hm. It’s just okay. It doesn’t do anything new with its shape or rhinestones, and it’s too cowardly for a spot of color.

I’m not sure if the base silk satin dress here is a brown shade or a deep plum purple, but it already has a bit more of my favor than the previous dress just for the cowl neckline. And for the jewelry actually contrasting its background instead of fusing into it. But the main object of interest in this look is obviously the shiny coat. Is this gold lamé again? I won’t think about that trend too hard; it’s got lovely patterns woven into it and a bit of a drape. Good enough.

Another black-and-golden combination – I will make it past them yet. Pretty dress with a rose motif, and Rosamund seems to have borrowed a page out of Cora’s book and tries out the capelet style. I do like the drapiness of this dress; I’m just oversaturated on the gold.

I think this would have worked better if the sleeves, which look incongruently boxy, had been replaced by “sleeves” made of fringe of that length. Seriously; it would carry the same stripey effect that the crepe is going for, it would drape more charmingly on her arms, it could be repeated in a skirt underlayer, and Rosamund definitely can afford super long fringe. But then she probably also could buy something else than black-and-golden brocade for a change.

Almost there. This one mixes things up a tad by having a curlicue lattice of golden embroidery on top pf black chiffon, on top of a brown satin layer. Rosamund brings back the short slit sleeves because they are basically a Rosamund staple at this point, and the mass of embroidery and sparkly bits at least gives the dress some gravitas. And I’m out of here!

[gyaru-tau]

Ok so I've been seeing a lot of critique posts on The Realm and how things are being currently run and I figured I might as well throw my hat into the ring as a guy who is generally passionate about game design. I wanna go over all the moving parts in the server so far and talk about why I feel they do or do not work. Does that sound fun? I hope so. I'm gonna start with the factions, because if I'm being completely honest they are. the root of the problem. If you consider most if not all of the issues so far, they can all be looped back over to the factions as a sort of "inciting incident" to everything. so. Whats up with the factions? How did this all happen? The big issue with the factions that we are still seeing the effects of happened on day 1 of the event. They did something that they should NOT have done, and that's tying the gameplay mechanic to the pre-established cliques in the server. By no fault of the players who were just doing whatever they felt like at their own pace, the Kingdom of fools just so happened to become the most noticeable thing from the moment you spawn in, with foolish already recruiting people in long before the factions were ever established. Now, as a result, the factions are highly unbalanced, with yellow having a much greater number than blue or green. Along with this, there is now the red faction which is also imbalanced against blue and green, and to my understanding, there was also no choice in the matter of whether or not they had to actually be in this faction. For the undecided players, they have to choose a faction whether they want to or not. All of this is what kinda snowballed into literally everything else. Such as!! The weekly item collection quotas.

At a surface level, having a weekly quota to complete to incentivize people to play on the server each week seems like a really good thing! But this is offset by a couple of things right off the bat. The teams are of course imbalanced, and while that doesn't really matter competitively, it has led to the item amounts being increased for yellow to try and balance things back out. But this does something that's kinda becoming a theme on the server, which is instead of going back on one bigger problem, they tack something new onto the problem to fix it. But as a result, all it does is create another problem, or worse, two problems!! Put a pin in that since we got an example of it later. The other issue is that the punishment for failing is a pretty big one; that being losing a life. The reward for completing it is kinda boiled down to short-lived relief until you gotta run it back and do it all over again. And that kind of gameplay loop can be pretty stressful to deal with due to. The many issues regarding the life system.

Once again, I feel like the life system on its own has no issues! It's essentially a different flavour of hardcore minecraft, which encourages players to be more cautious and risk-averse, while also making them do something high-risk in order to get their lives back. On its own, it's a pretty good, straightforward system. But. This is quickly offset by how many things can fucking kill you. For starters, mobs are already more dangerous. I believe they're at hardcore difficulty at the start and that's already a lot, especially if you aren't a hardcore player, but on top of that, there is the threat of losing a life if you can't complete the item quota, and NOW there are other players who are supposed to just go out and kill people, adding yet another thing to worry about. The life system is starting to become a little bit too intense as a result, with there being more and more things you have to pay attention to and worry about.

And maybe all this isn't so bad. But there's an issue I'm beginning to see and it loops back to that thing I said about adding new problems as means to fix old ones. Snails?

As funny as it is to take a page out of wild life's book and give players with too-high levels immortal snails that decrease their levels, I think it is planting seeds for a much bigger potential issue, and that is the introducing of constant new gimmicks in what is essentially supposed to be a vanilla+ minecraft server. Instead of going to the root of problems and reworking them from the ground up (which, mind you, is very possible to do this early on in the server's run), gimmicks are introduced to get rid of the problem. The more problems there are, the more gimmicks there will be. And too many gimmicks will stop being fun and start being hard to keep track of and annoying. Gimmicks are a longevity killer. So. What can be done to fix literally all of these issues?

It might disappoint some to hear that the answer is sadly and simply put; you have to kill your darlings. Take it from me when I say that sometimes, getting rid of the aspects you love most can sometimes be the very best thing you can do for a project, and can even result in something that you love even more. So let's take this from the top here. Here is my jot list of things that could be done for each of these problems to fix them (this post is long enough as is):

change how the factions are structured entirely. Don't split them up based on cliques, and instead, make people group up with whoever they want, granted those groups are evenly split.

each group has to collect the same item every week. same item, same amount. OR make them all collect really similar items, i.e; one group collects oak saplings, one collects spruce saplings, and one collects birch saplings

Instead of punishing players for not completing the weekly item collection challenges, reward them for completing it! give them tons of skill points or helpful items. have players race for first second and third!

Don't limit the challenges to multiples of one item. Spice things up every week! First team to collect every music disc! First team to complete a scavenger hunt we made! First team to conquer a bastion together! Get creative with it so not every challenge is just grinding for objects!

make the challenges optional! You don't have to participate at all if you don't want to, and your only punishment is getting a smaller share of the team's reward.

please just let people decide for themselves if they want to be in the hostile faction. Or no faction at all! don't force them to choose. That's no fun.

if people are too high leveled, make a lower level cap and slowly increase it as time goes on or players complete more challenges! maybe increasing the cap can even be a reward!

The biggest problem right now is that a lot of the current decisions are squishing down the initial concept of player freedom by forcing them into factions, not letting them level up how they want, and punishing them for being good at the game. These kinds of issues can't go unnoticed for long, especially if more issues start to pile up on top of each other. If the players are ok with how things are then that's all that matters, but these are just my personal critiques as someone who really wants this server to be able to stay alive.

[mdhwrites]

Is Amity a Good Person?

This is not if she's a well written character. A judgement of that is a part of this but the bigger point is just: Is Amity a 'good' person? Does she appear to actually care about others? Does she choose selflessness over selfishness? Etc. etc.

And part of this is going to be subjective. To some people, not being mean is enough to make someone nice. Other people will ask for a bit more, especially out of a fictional character. Hell, you can even see it with most fictional parties. The lancer character who is meant to contrast against the hero is usually a pretty dickish person but you might still call them good because even if they're cursing while doing it, they are still putting their life at risk in order to save a town or the like. Meanwhile, you probably wouldn't call Vegeta a nice person, even by the time of Dragon Ball Super because he is still mostly selfish, even once he's explicitly no longer trying t get stronger regardless of the consequences to others.

So what does Amity do that is actually nice?

...

........

Oh, were you expecting me to start listing things she does? Because I have bad news for you.

See, one hang up I have with going "Amity always wanted to be a good person and so even if she loses her drive, motivation, etc. she gains the personality of a good person," is that Amity doesn't do fucking anything to earn that. She isn't unpleasant. After S1, she isn't trying to murder people or actively bullying people but like... Cool, you upgraded from Mega Bitch to Background character. Why do you claim that's a new personality instead of the death of one?

Because being a 'good person' is actually more complicated than just not being an asshole. Being nice to your friends? Of course you're nice to your friends. You care about them (put a pin in it). Noticing when your partner is in pain and wanting to help them? You supposedly love that person, much like why you might be nice to family, so OF COURSE, you put in a little extra effort.

A good person, at least in a narrative, doesn't need the excuse. They help because it is the right thing to do and then their personality dictates how they go about doing so. Maybe they write wiki pages to share their knowledge in a free way so people can benefit from it. Maybe they help out at a soup kitchen because it gives them a chance to be more directly kind and they have the time for it. Or maybe it's just that when they see someone who is potentially having problems, they risk whatever it may lead to be asking this complete stranger if they're okay.

Amity doesn't do this. In fact, as far as actually giving a shit about anyone other than Luz, she's AWFUL at it. Hunter is her kindest moment to a theoretical stranger in the series but it is still characterized by her being suspicious, judgemental and not giving him a chance until the dude is suicidal and has drawn a dozen parallels between them. Even then, she does it as part of mimicking Luz, at least with the joke she immediately makes of how 'this always works for Luz'. Then you have poor fucking Willow. This is a girl that Amity abused, especially for her powerlessness and helplessness, for YEARS. Amity even knows explicitly why Willow should hate her. What her crimes are. But... Then 'good person' Amity, showing 'care' for her friend, treats her as powerless after having thought she didn't need to do shit to be allowed to come to Willow for advice (Labyrinth Runner and Falls and Follies respectively). That is TOTALLY someone who always just wanted to be a good person and is dedicating themselves to that instead of any of their old dreams and desires.

The only person or thing she puts any effort into post S1 is Luz. She doesn't care about anyone else besides that. Belittle Eda for not focusing on taking of Luz in a tangible way during Eclipse Lake? Check. Feel justified to give marching orders to literally everyone in the house just because she's Luz's girlfriend during that same episode? Check. Including Willow, who she has done NOTHING to make up for at this point? Check. Hell, even further: Not give a fuck about stopping Boscha while Luz could just step out of the splash zone around Willow during Winging it Like Witches? OF COURSE NOT. She only gets involved once Boscha's only focus is going to be on Luz.

That. Is not. A good person. Not if the only people who matter are those she deems are worthy of mattering. Changing from actively crushing those other people to just being entirely indifferent to them and their plights is not as a big of a deal as you all seem to think it is, not for it to become the only defining trait of a character's personalities and motivations.

Are they evil? Bad? No. But anything beyond nice is giving such a character a LOT of credit. A rogue isn't Robin Hood just because they only steal from the rich. If they're still lining only their pockets and the pockets of their friends with their thievery, they're still selfish and self centered, they just have code. That's called Lawful Neutral, or Lawful Evil, in D&D for a reason. Not any form of good.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[lavernius]

Oh gosh its so hard to pick just one part that I’m the most curious about!!! BUT the crown chicken definitely got me wondering about other wildlife + plants you have for Chorus, and how they’re used by or effect life for Chorusans 👀 ~GHR

Oh god this was sitting in my inbox for forever and I forgot about it.

I'm bad at explaining things in a concise manner so here's a passage from my (extremely corny) everyone lives AU where the team is discussing wildlife post-war instead :-) Not exactly a detailed answer but it features a cursory glance at my headcanons for this topic.

For once, they're actually talking about something important. Tucker's reading something off his datapad while Epsilon scrolls through documents for him. "Yeah, so…Kimball, Grif, and me were talking about focusing on ranches instead, which would take some work, but it's better than most alternatives."

"Honestly? Thank god. The not-chicken is fine, but it gets boring when it's the only meat to choose from." Simmons prods at something on Grif's plate, almost like he's bored. "It'd be nice to have more diverse options."

"And we're not just having the old 'SC zap us some cows because…?" Sarge asks. "General said she'd put a pin in the idea and never got back t'me."

"We don't know how they'd interact with the environment. They might die from eating the grass here." Grif swats Simmons away. "Or introduce a million diseases that'd force us to use the Procreation Temple again."

A resounding god, no passes round the table. Locus shifts uncomfortably, and Lopez glances over to see a confused furrow in his brows. ⟨You don't want to know,⟩ Lopez tells him lowly, and Locus just nods in agreement.

"Chorus's got a lot of endemic species, but most of them are bugs and plants. Not to mention the rodent problem. Edible, but not exactly enough to sustain everyone. Only a few clusters of bigger animals." Epsilon pulls up some pictures and spreadsheets on Chorus's fauna. "But anything's an option."

Tex leans over Tucker's shoulder to look at the diagrams. "Is food really a problem? Seems like we're doing fine as is."

Washington shakes his head, swallowing his sip of water. "It's not, but a lot of our current solutions are reliant on either the UNSC or the temples. Santa says there's no problem with us abusing the temples to our advantage, so long as they stay intact and respected. Kimball would still prefer avoiding it becoming a crutch. She wants Chorus self-sustained and independent."

"Huh. I'd just keep abusing the temples if the AI running 'em said it was okay." The ex-Freelancer leans back, arms crossed. "She's real picky about it, ain't she?"

"Just honorable and thorough," Carolina says, almost defensively. Tex nods as though she doesn't even notice Carolina's vague hostility toward her. "Our research teams have been studying wildlife since the war ended, but after we rediscovered the domesticated gallus corona, the rest of them stopped being a priority."

"There are a lot of really familiar animals out here. I mean, I was with most of the teams doing early research, and you can tell just by looking," Simmons hesitates briefly when everyone's attention turns to him, but continues to tap around on his own data pad. "There are at least three species that closely resemble bovine, which could be a good start. We don't know how the meat is until we cut them open, though."

"We could farm the fish, too. I know some of the Chorusans have eaten them before, anyway," Doc points out. "It'd be good to consider for anyone who can't eat the other meat."

Tucker taps on his data pad, making note of the suggestion. "That's possible. But, like…I feel like it's more of a pain in the ass because then we have to build docks and boats and nets and shit. Buoyancy and water research. A ranch is mostly just buildings and a fence, like how the coops are just a decked out building frame."

"Unless you have ideas, Lopez, since you're probably going to be in charge of most of the building process if we construct docks," Carolina interjects. Lopez is startled by the attention drawn to him, scowl deepening.

⟨Ideas, sure. The dock won't be hard if someone can get me specifics on the water properties of the build site. But I can only handle so much water myself.⟩ He shrugs. He's more interested in the idea of working on boats, but whatever. ⟨I can draw up blueprints, but I'm more accurate when I just build.⟩

Tucker makes another note. Grif holds a hand up. "We haven't really bothered interacting with the wildlife yet, is the problem. We don't know if any of them are, like, sapient. Or particularly murderous."

"We can get a squad together for it." Epsilon takes over Tucker's notes to add some of his own. "We have heavy weaponry, power armor, and a bunch of sharpshooters. A vicious animal can't be that bad."

"If the pirates could hunt them to near-extinction for sport like the assholes they were, I doubt it'll be that bad," Tucker snorts, humorless. Then he flinches and looks across the table at Locus. "Not that—I mean, you—it's—my bad."

[snugglesquiggle]

I have a question, how do you structure your stories? like Hostile Takeover for example. What is your technique on plotting?

there are two answers to this question. “do as i say”, and “do as i actually do”

here’s the most direct and unhelpful to this question: to plot stories i think really hard about what would be cool to happen in the next chapter. then i write five chapters and now journey and destination are both unrecognizable and my crops are dying

for all that it doesn’t much matter, Hostile Takeover actually has the unique distinction of being the first story i’ve both outlined and polished. while i have a lot of stories that are written like stories rather than summaries, and while i also have a lot of outlines, usually i end up with one or the other

on 2023-10-31, not long after reading Tessaract, i had a thought about how to structure a J/Uzi dynamic. (it was your classic ‘what if Uzi reminded J of Tessa?’ idea, but back in 2023, i didn’t see anyone else thinking of that yet)

i noodled on the thought some, ended up crossbreeding this idea with an old V/Uzi idea that didn’t pan out, and the pieces started clicking together

now, to be clear, at this point i still had no plans to write this. i wasn’t a fanfiction writer. instead, i pulled open up a brainstorming channel on discord and starting typing. i didn’t stop typing till long after it had grown far, far too long to post on discord

i wrote 10k words that day, in fact. if you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know this is a pretty common pattern. i think of a story idea, lock into hyperfocus, and yap a whole novella trying to explain why the story idea is so cool

if you dig around on my site, you can find a few example of outlines written in this fashion. the fact that i went on to flesh out that outline with actual prose is what seems most miraculous about hostile takeover — without exception, this is the step that has killed every other outline

but i’m really getting off track here. you asked about how to structure stories, so circling back to talk about my outline process rather than my fleshing-out process seems prudent. (but put a pin here, we’ll come back to this later because there’s a big caveat to mention)

also i should probably put a read more thingy here for the people scrolling past this

there’s a difficulty in me talking honestly about outlining, because i barely structure my stories, at least consciously. i first notice an idea is really cool, and i think about who in my friends list i’m going to subject to my bullshit explain it to, and it naturally adopts an “okay, but before i can get to that, you first need to hear about this so that everything hits just right” and on and on until i’m starting off ten pages away from the actual point.

but i guess there is a structure even in that, because i’m not consciously thinking about these sentences i’m writing either, yet that’s not because i don’t know how to structure nouns and verbs, it’s that i’ve spent so long thinking about them that i don’t need to anymore.

there’s something deceptively, lede-buryingly coy about me acting like i have any difficulty talking about outlining. i think my tumblr audience largely doesn’t know, but i’ve been writing essays about how to write for years. outlining might be the thing i’ve written about the most!

the three most relevant are, “Ur-Development”, “Outlines as Temporarily Embarrassed Drafts”, and to a lesser extent, “Pacing is Madness”

Embarrassed Drafts is the one i’d suggest you read, if you’re going to read one, because it’s specifically my response to a friend asking me a very similar question (i.e. “how does one start plotting a story”)

Ur-Dev is an old essay, written two years ago a this point, and i’m not linking it because it’s a bad essay. mediocrely written, and i don’t fully agree with its prescriptions as much as i once did, but it was still a major turning point in how i thought about stories. it’s essentially my take on the hero’s journey (part of why i dislike it)

but the outlining essay was written before i wrote hostile takeover, so i have about a year’s more experience now. so here’s how i would boil it down in 2024

telling a story is just raising then answering a question using drama and detail. now, drama comes down to how you write characters, detail comes down to how you write prose (or render images) — but the questions themselves? that’s what plot is

vaguest of all, this is questions like “what happens next” or “how does it end?”

but these questions suck because they ask you to draw the rest of the owl. the really good questions are ones like “how does this happen” or “why is she like that” — they’re directly prompts for you to explain

now, i don’t think think in terms of questions. like i said, i think of cool stuff first

if you read or watch videos about how to write, you’ll quickly run into the idea of “plotters” and “pantsers”, and i think the essence of this distinction is whether the answers or the questions come first

and how best to answer this ask depends on which you are — do you have a premise that you want to explore and find a story in, or do you have a payoff that you want to lead the reader to appreciate?

i’m ambidextrous myself, i’ve gotten good results from either approach, but i identify as a planner just because i can never feel comfortable starting paragraph unless i already know what the last word is.

but both kinds of writers are producing the same thing in different orders. the structure that arises when you raise and answer questions has three steps: presentation, transition, and conclusion. (or if you prefer, beginning, middle and end)

to make this all less abstract, let’s sketch out an example. i have a whole vault of juzi fic ideas i dont have time to write but one of them is based on a simple idea: what if Uzi pointed her gun a little lower when she fires the first shot in the pilot, taking out N’s core?

and since i’m the one writing it, this will lead back to juzi somehow. that already gives us two tentpoles to structure a story around

my first piece of advice for the presentating the beginning is that stories should start in a state of ambiguity or falsehood. what every the story is about, whatever the big question might be, in the beginningwe must not know the final answer.

to see what it looks like if you don’t do this, imagine we wrote the fic like this. Uzi kills N. she goes “holy hell” and does a fistbump, and walks back to the outpost high on her accomplishment. she tells her dad and her classmates about how she killed a murder drone, and they’re all impressed. she goes to bed feeling super cool. the end.

now in fairness, it’s all about the execution. this could very well be a good fic! (i think there’s a nice oneshot to be written in the sheer novelty of uzi actually doing what she planned to in the pilot and winning her dad’s respect and stuff). but i think a good fic would only be good by virtue of adding stuff that’s not there in this short summary.

this summary isn’t a good story (arguably not a story at all), and there can exist one-paragraph ideas that are good and story-shaped

the problem is that all those scenes of uzi walking back and talking to other drones don’t add or explore anything that wasn’t presented at the start with her killing N. it doesn’t inform the audience of anything or transform the ideas, it’s just a repetition of the “Uzi killed N” core idea

here’s an improvement. it goes mostly the same — Uzi’s thrilled, the whole colony is proud of her, everything seems great, but then that night when she goes to sleep, there’s a tremor of unease. she’s remembering the battle without the thrill of digital adrenaline, and did she see that yellow cross flicker to fear a frame before the end? that night, she has nightmares, witnessing silver hair and yellow eyes torn apart as she watches.

this is would be a pretty cliche story, but i do think it’s a story, and it illustrates what i’m talking about. here, we’ve decided the core question is “how does Uzi feel about killing N?” and the this fic starts with a false answer to that question (“she’d think it’s awesome”), and builds to the real answer (“she’d actually feel a bit guilty about it”)

but here’s another angle. uzi killed N the same way she canonically killed J at the end of the pilot — this implies that after Uzi leaves, we’ll wind up with eldritch N worming it up. we know that material collection starts off pretty stealthy, so we might imagine that when J and V return, N’s corpse has already skittered off.

J could be thrilled to be rid of a synergistic liability (or maybe she knows he has backups), but V would be shattered. her whole reason for playing along with killing workers was to protect N. maybe she spends night after night searching for sign of him, or sinking into a depression, but either way J immediately grow frustrated with her tanking productivity.

meanwhile in the outpost, there’s celebrations at Uzi’s accomplishments — but one drone is giving her a very significant look. for once, Lizzy and Doll aren’t laughing at Uzi. Lizzy’s smiling with all the rest of them, of course, but Doll has a calculating stare. that night, when Uzi goes to her room, Doll’s waiting for her, red eyes shining the dark, a cheerleader jumpscare.

Doll has a question. she watched her parents be killed by murder drones. but her father managed to snap a picture of it. she shows that to Uzi, asking if the goth killed that drone. she hadn’t. Uzi expected disappointment, but Doll smiles. excellent, she says. i’m going to kill this one — you may assist me. Uzi’s indignant — assist her? excuse me? she’s the hero here! Doll doesn’t respond, simply stating to meet in the locker room after cheer practice if she’s interesting.

i’m getting carried away here, so let me stop before i outline a whole fic. the point here was to illustrate the other way to draw a proper story out of a premise.

more complex than correcting a false answer to the question, you can extrapolate a chain of answers. characters react and make plans and new scenarios arise as a consequence of what happened before.

what happens when j & v arrive to an empty nest? what happens when Doll and Uzi work together to take down V? in order to answer these questions, you have to go step by step

now, there’s hidden magic even in this tutorial. i could have written this scenario any number of ways — i chose to have Uzi make it home, instead of encountering V and J in the spire, or along the way back. i chose to have J and V react in a way that pit them against each other. i chose to have Doll want to recruit Uzi rather than be jealous, and i specifically chose to have her appear all creepy-like in Uzi’s room.

part of plotting stories is coming up with these ideas and making these choices as to how events progress. some of these choices make for better stories, but it’s hard to give much specific advice for learning how to generate and evaluate these idea-seeds — “keep reading and writing stories” will get you there, though

i do want to highlight how i already i can see neat beats to steer this nascent story towards. for instance, what does Doll and Uzi’s partnership look like on the every day level? wouldn’t it be interesting if, riding on the wave of fame and appreciate Uzi gains from her heroics, Lizzy and Doll tried to integrate the goth into their clique — genuinely preparing her to be popular?

but ideas are honestly cheap. the beginning of the story is all about presenting interesting questions to the reader. the middle of the story is all about exploring, developing, and working out the answers to that question.

the word i used earlier is transition, but transition to what? you can’t really understand middles or what their purpose is until you understand endings.

many centuries ago, the greek philosopher aristotle said something i love to repeat. the conclusion to a story should be surprising, yet inevitable. (i think there’s a single word that captures this spirit: ingenious. or perhaps even just creative)

this is why i insisted that a story should start in a state of ambiguity or outright falsehood regarding its core question. the final answer can’t be any surprise if it’s something we already knew, so we should be uncertain or falsely sure until the very end.

that can’t be all of it. after all, “Uzi kills N. will she go home or stay in the spire?” is a question we start off unsure about. but this can’t be a core question, because there’s nothing surprising nor inevitable her choice either way. it’s filler worth eliding over, as i did in my summaries above.

except we can make it a more interesting question. what if Uzi wanted to scavenge more than the railgun macguffin from the murder drones lair — what if the murder drones had tons of useful supplies that she could bring back to the outpost. …but her railgun is in cooldown and as she looks around the base, she sees clear signs there are other murder drones.

so, is Uzi the type to risk it, or play it safe? posed that way, suddenly it not only seems like she would stick around in the spire, but it also feels like it’s satisfying writing to resolve the dilemma this way.

…except, remember that she nearly died in her fight with N. remember that he stuck her hand with his nanite acid, and this time he’s not around to kiss it better. uzi can barely hold her railgun, let alone scavenge for supplies.

(her return to the outpost will play out differently, won’t it? instead of celebrations the next morning, she’d probably stagger in, exhausted from pain and oil loss, wake up in the repair bay with her concerned father giving her a stern talking to.)

but i digress again. you might notice that i’ve incidentally been demonstrating what it takes to craft a middle here. story transitions are all about drawing out the reasons why a plot point ought to go one way or the other, pitting them against each other and crowning the victor.

payoff needs to be earned; transitions are about building toward the conclusion. if stories about about answering a core question, why not just write out the question and the answer? “what happens if Uzi kills N? she’d feel guilty about it. the end.” that’s lame as fuck. you need the triumph and celebration, to see Uzi getting the recognition she always craved, so that when she lays down and feels that one atom of guilted unease tug at her, it lands like a poignant gutpunch in miniture.

middles are so hard because they serve two contradictory purposes. you have to convince the audience that this is all building toward the final conclusion, and you have the convince the audience that it’s not gonna turn out that way at all ;]

surprising, yet inevitable. too inevitable, and the audience loses interest in the predictable slog. too suprising, and the audience starts to think you’ve lost the plot and forgotten what the story is supposed to be about.

there’s another stumbling block for endings. remember worm N? what was i cooking with that? there’s a very similar version of this post where i never mentioned or thought of material collection at all, and just said Uzi kills N like she killed J in the pilot and continued plotting out the rest.

i can already tell you, i have ideas for where that story goes from there, and right now worm N doesn’t factor into any of them.

it’s a loose plot thread. sometimes, in the process of trying to answer one question, you raise another that you have no interest in answering. but the audience has no way of reading your intent, so they could be following along expecting a synthesized "Giggle." and never getting it.

really, there’s a whole host of missteps i probably should have brought up before now. sometimes, you try to raise a question and the readers dont catch it, or they don’t care for it. it’s not enough to ask “what if Uzi kills N?” (though fanfiction has the definite advantage that, because we’re murder drones superfans, we already care enough about these characters to be piqued by that alone). you have to convince the audience that this is a really interesting question, and they need to see where you’re going with this.

but i dont know how much of that is a question of plot stucture vs writing well generally.

so let’s start wrapping up this essay

you can explain a lot of otherwise finnicky writer-speak through this lens.

what is a hook? it’s the core question the story aims to resolve. it’s the protagonist’s goal, it’s the mystery, it’s the crazy what if scenario.

what are stakes? it’s the possible answers to the question presented early on, especially ones that that would be bad for the characters we’re invested in.

what is setup? it’s plot points and exposition that give the reader the pieces that’ll eventually click together into the final answer.

what is tension? it’s pieces that don’t fit; it’s setup for one of the bad ends specified by the stakes.

what is payoff? it’s when all the build up finally arrives, in spite of all the tension, at the answer promised by the hook.

so, what is my technique for plotting a story? start with the hook or the payoff. whichever one comes first, i know that the other has to be different, inverted via a surprising twist. then figure out what faultline of conflict runs between those two points. what interacting plotlines must collide to transform one to the other?

after that comes the detailed work of crafting lines of logic that follows that flow.

and this, finally is where i pull out the pin in that big caveat i mentioned thousands of words ago — this is where i finally start talking about Hostile Takeover.

i mentioned that i outlined Hostile Takeover from start to finish in one day, producing a 10k word first draft. but in a meaningful sense, that outline was not hostile takeover (on my computer, i now have it saved as “Lethal Acquisition”)

Hostile Takeover is 186k words, and barely covers the first thousand words of the outline. here’s what that looks like

Chapter 1

j&v are out hunting drones. v’s making a mess as usual, and j’s a bit annoyed at her splashing oil all over her. then, on the visor of one dead drone, the absolv glyph flashes. v gets super spooked and it leaves her off balance for the rest of the hunt and j ends up calling it early

back at the spire, j’s trying to do a debrief or postmortem of their last hunt but v is all of out of sorts, unresponsive. (she’s having flashbacks to cyn). this keeps going until j’s about to do something invasive — reboot her? mess with her configuration? — but n steps in to protect her, saying he’ll talk to her and get her back to normal without hacking her. j rolls her eyes, but leaves them to it.

j’s mad, and copes in a private room while straightening her hair. she rants to herself about their quota and how at this rate they’ll never make best team. n’ll fail, he usually does, and when he does then j can reformat v, but till then she’s stuck with two synergistic liabilities. fuck it, j will just go on a hunt on her own. she’s better than them anyway. she’ll fill their quota singlehandedly if she has to.

Chapter 2

j is interviewing the new disassembly drone. at first, she’s relieved at her team getting an extra hand, but it quickly becomes clear this drone is even more defective than v or n. in fact… a lot of this isn’t adding up. she’s missing the last few hours of her memory, one of her sensors is offline — this isn’t a disassembly drone, is it? j requests some data transfer so she can confirm the drone’s identity. uzi of course refuses, starts to run — but j easily overpowers her. with her sensors offline she cant be sure she didn’t just attack one of the company’s drones for no reason, so she checks uzi’s memory.

it’s becomes obvious this isn’t a murder drone, but she plays back her fight with the drone from another pov. she sees uzi’s shock at seeeing a murder drone. but her first thought was: pigtails? why does it have hair? why does it look so… immaculate? j’s laughs. because she’s just that great. but then her eye is caught by something else: the sick as hell—, excuse me, highly effective magnetically amplified blah blah

j steps out of uzi’s memories and sighs. with uzi pinned, she sighs and starts monologuing. uzi struggles to get up, but it’s ultimately in vain, so she has to suffer through it. uzi says, “i can’t believe i lost to the one murder drone on copper-9 who monologues. j’s like, you should feel honored, toaster. do you think i monologue for anyone? i’ve killed thirteen drones today. do you know how they died? she presses a claw to uzi’s throat.”snip, sip. i’m not v. i don’t make messes." “so why?” she holds up the railgun. “this. it’s a remarkably effective weapon. shoddy, unreliable, but the concept? if it were manufactured to jcjenson��s standard of quality… well. do you think your colony’s walls could withstand this?” uzi’s eyes hollow, then she’s like, “ha, outpost three has the finest doors in all of copper-9. my dad made them. do you think i’d create something that could destroy them?” “oh well, it doesn’t matter anyway. all of this is tragic preamble. it never mattered. because you’re a worker drone, and my orders are clear. you would have made a good disassembler.” “is that a compliment? just fucking bite me. i’m nothing like you.” “are we really so different? ha, what am i saying, of course we are.” j stabs uzi and it’s over.

Chapter 3

j’s dragging uzi’s body back to the corpse spire, so she notices when the absolv glyph flashes on her screen. “oh uzi, even in death you’re interesting.” instead of placing uzi with the other corpses, she stows her away in her room.

the next day, j’s flipping through the schematics she stole from uzi’s memories, trying to reproduce them and failing, growing increasingly frustrated. that worker drone wasn’t better than me. n stumbles across her like this, and he smiles. oh j, have you taken in interest in human technology? she snaps at him, then regrets it a moment later. say n… she contemplates giving him to specs to puzzle it out, then stops. nevermind. she doesn’t want to share uzi’s schematics. why?

v hasn’t had her fill of oil in a while now, and is getting hungry. she checks the spire’s corpses for dregs, most of them cold and congealed, or empty, but there’s one fresh, warm one, brimming with oil. did someone forget to drain this one? v doesn’t question her luck, tears off a limp and eagerly feed.

j walks in on this.

Chapter 4

seeing v feed on uzi, j attacks v. (in the course of the battle, she bites v and feels that familiar sour taste of another disassembler) j says “that was mine.” “ugh, someone’s stingy. aren’t we teammates?” “aren’t we disassembly drones? you wouldn’t be so hungry if you were doing your job. did n talk sense into you yet?” “you have no idea what you’re talking about. you think you’re in charge, but you don’t understand anything.” “i understand that i’ve given you an order. this drone is mine, and you are not to feed on it. am I clear? by disciplinary code 31c, insubordination will result in—” “i get it. i’m sure overheating is just what i need to get back to hunting. your drone tastes like shit anyway.” j glares at her, and v glares back. then she leaves.

j watches uzi’s corpse. the absolv symbol is faint, flickering. despite being dead, claw right through the motherboard, there’s still electricity humming through her. her oil is still warm. even in death. “oh uzi, uzi, uzi.”

n is bouncing a ball towards v while v occasionally, carelessly, knocks it back. despite her apparent disinterest, n is consistently able to catch it, and he whoops in joy. v sticks a knife through the ball when j shows up. “j”. “that’s captain j to you, serial designation v.” she rolls her eyes. “am i going to get flagged insubordinate for reminding you of something?” “why, it is foundational to jcjenson’s philosophy to maintain and open and receptive relationship between employ—” “that’s corporatespeak for no, right? i was thinking about what you said, j. we’re disassembly drones. so it seems odd to me that you haven’t disassembled that drone you keep in your room. you know that’s the whole point, right?” j lunges at v. (n watches on with concern.) “while we strive to remain open and receptive, I can’t but feel your reminder isn’t more than a dressed up personal attack on my intelligence and capability. and that—” “—is insubordination, yeah yeah. whatever j, that’s not the point and you know it. disassemble it. you know what happens if we don’t.” “what happens, v?” she asks sweetly. “you don’t know. neither of you know. neither of you remember. ugh. can you trust me, j?” “i trust results, v. there was a time, not too long ago, when i thought i could trust you. maybe we’ll go back to that.” “i’m not playing games, j. if you take too long it might be too late.” j grins. “that sounds like a lot of employee incentive, doesn’t it? get back to work, v.”

back in her room, j is calming her nerves by fixing her hair. she glances at uzi. she fixes uzi’s hair too. then, she connects to her system, and checks to see how her abberent processes are handling the lack of motherboard. she pings and gets a response. she’s excited (why? shouldn’t she disassemble uzi?), and queries the system for a log of activity and errors. and that’s when she finds op codes that are very familiar from diagnosing herself and her teammates, and never any worker drones. it’s repairing itself. it’s draining its oil reserves. just like us. “we really aren’t so different, are we? maybe jcjenson did send me a new teammate”. J feeds uzi some of her spare oil, piles on the parts of discarded drones hope it’s enough mass for repairs to commence.

what you’ll notice about this outline is that it’s mid as hell. all of the most interesting parts of HT aren’t here. now, some of the drafting process involved repurposing later beats earlier than expected (the first tessa flashback was at the start of chapter 6, acting as a sort of bridge between “act one” and “act two”; and N and V’s hunt together repurposes some ideas i planned to introduce in battle among a field of windmills) but that can’t explain all that bloat and sprawl.

it would be a understatement to say HT grew in the telling. it’s not so much outlined as loosely inspired by the outline.

i say that in the tone of a joke, but this represents my new outlook on what outlines are for. it’s not like guidelines in a sketch layer, where subsequent inking and rendering might refine bits of anatomy and tweak the pose while being defined traced over what came before. it’s a musician improvising new melodies and chords while playing an old standard.

the outline is the prototype, the test run. it’s a route from A (the hook) to B (the payoff), but it’s just one route through the landscape. it lets you get familiar with the terrain, spot some of the landmarks and hazards, but it’s a birds eye view; when you’re traveling on foot, you’re going to have to diverge, and you’re going to stop and smell the flowers.

the embellishments that define what HT really is are nonetheless the result of applying these principles at the lower level, though.

the outline called for an AS glyph to flash on a random drone’s screen just because. wouldn’t it be more of a payoff if it’s hidden in the catacombs beneath a church the squad has to battle to penetrate? and if there’s a whole spooky solver cult, that definitely suggests other plot developments, and this is how things compound and snarl

this post has gotten long. maybe, just maybe, i managed to convey a thing or two about how i plot stories.

thank you for the ask and for sitting through all that; i hope it wasn’t too long and rambling.

[s0lar-ch3ri]

yippee new pinned

yeah, ik, a new pin? but the other one felt too fucking long for me okay??

also its my blog so yeah anyways:

(image id: a banner with a purple background and gold accents. in the middle is big yellow text that reads "This user was apart of the July-RWI 6th RPF event." END id.)

(image id: a banner with flowers and white accents surrounding it. in the middle is bright pink text that reads "This user was apart of the July-RWI 2st RP event." below in smaller white glowing text reads "THIS BANNER WAS MADE BY @/S0LAR-CH3RI ON TUMBLR" END id.) (the slash is not there in image, i am making sure it doesnt tag me)

hey there, im the sapphic bigender slut running this blog! i use any pronouns, though i prefer he/her/it/sol (this can change so yeagh lmao). i like dogs and have some ill talk about, but im mostly a blog about writing and ramblers (with some art posts mixed in, youll know where to find them below soon)

if you want more info on the blog, check out this carrd! (and if you want to know what my past 2 old pinned posts looked like...)

-link to the 2nd or the one before this one -link to the 1st or the first of them all

i run a shit ton of rp blogs. like A LOT of absurb ones. luckily, one of my rp blogs (@oncewaskas) has a full list of the others and shit in their pin! also my friend muffin has a big big fucking rp blog list go check it out rn its so big and cool also check xem out please please please please please please they need more attention xeyre so so cool JUST RAHHHHHHHHH

(update on the thing above: heres a link to the post with all of my blogs, not just jrwi non-oc blogs)

now for tags (do be warned, there is A LOT.) (for fun im putting in parenthesizes all the refs the tags has if theres any) (also ive tried seperating them into categories where they match and shit): -

#not my usual content = might be more serious, just something i dont normally talk about (example: something that happened to me) #silli promo = im probs promoing my fics or smth #chilling in solar lights = just talking lol (sun reference) #op is not okay lmao = mostly on my older posts, im just going batshit insane bout smth - #cheri's insane again = theories >:) [i have several theory tags, this is for the more crazy/out there theories, example being my hair thief theory] #theories with cheri = like GTMTMP (game theory minus the mat pat) but for series i watch instead [also for the lesser crazier and more tame and/or plausible ones] #the rambler. = character/interest rambles

#the hair thief theory... = a theory i made a while ago that somehow got more insane as i researched - #cherry's fruity art basket = posting my own original art (like a fruit basket, also a lot of my characters are gay so yeah) #cheri's art findings = reblogging other peoples art, whatever form it may take (like fruit findings, another basket thing) #the (genderneutral) sons of this solar sun =talking about my ocs (i use gendered words ungendered, sun reference) #the bright smoothie of words = my writings (light and sun ref) #prepping for the shiney smoothie = talking about my writing and possibly also art (my writing tag is about a smoothie) - #the generator is back :) = ive used the trauma generator i found to meme something - #kingdoms of chaos = my old dnd campaign i played AND my first ever! (name of campaign) #in space chaos = the dnd campaign i curently am in, probs will talk about it saterdays (when its staerday here i mean) cause thats our campaign days (play on the name "kingdoms of chaos", if the campaign does get an actual name then im fucked lmao) #the chaos plans = a dnd campaign i wanna set up and dm for friends {wont be posrting this one much as 2 people who i want playing the campaign are on tumblr. unless they block tags then i cant do shit} (name play for "kingdoms of chaos") #gnashing teeth baby <3 = another campaign im in, probs gonna talk about this one the most (name of campaign is gnashing teeth, in reference to "WELCOME BACK TO JUST ROLL WITH IT BABY", "[insert thing here] my beloved <3")

#bowl of flesh <3 = in part about my friends campaign rambles, but has been more about the bowl of flesh, a tag my friends nelf lei and mayday are not allowed to peak at (thing in their campaign) - #the pancake incident = the time i went crazy in comments to get a post to 10k notes (WE HAVE A LINK!! here it is for those unable to use the imbedded ones and what not: https://www.tumblr.com/b0nkcreat/730895614697766912/hello-everyone-i-would-just-post-the-image-here?source=share&ref=_tumblr) #ghe ersaer saga = the saga where i show off/talk about me fuckass erasers #the 2 birdies :) and gay se- = a tag for the stupid joke i have with my bud ev about the necklace with the fucking birds - #the autism is inspired?? = i found something that for whatever reason inspires me to write or whatever #just like a cool rock = like a cool rock, something interesting i found and must show the world #ohhhhhhhhhh me boobies saving for a03 = some actual writing advice thing ive found that im gonna save lol

-

#new info dropped for my brain = saving smth just cause rather then interesting #sending to the catagorized fan rays = saving fandom things (fan like fandom, rays like sun rays)

-

#*points at me* GAY = im experiencing immense attraction and you will comply (ref to how people point at others and call them gay for silly shit) - #the light in life = my dog has arrived (light and sun reference, you get it) #the fire of the sun = treasures, my dog for the tag above, brother (sun has fire) - #answers from the aster caster = ref to mythborne [a just roll with it oneshot] and a name i like, basically for asks lol

-

#a sun spirits dance. = for if im playing my sona or whateves lol

-

#jerwee supreme = a tag containing almost all my jrwi rambles (just roll with it in its shortened from is pronounced like jur-wee, weeb supreme is condis role in condicord which im in) #ghostly gazes into future eps = my fake transcripts, might be only pd but we'll see (reference to a line in a pd intro rap from will)

#the primed timing rambles = rambles about my littol au smiles

--

now with those out the way, i do have a mythborne related series im starting up, and you can suggest things i write! the way to do so is in the carrd i mentioned before. since i can, im mentioning those series now!

#the rats rise again! - the aforementioned series, will be drawn if requested (you can mention it on the form in like the complaints area lol) #game theory minus the matpat - i talked about it before, the carrd has all the info you need, yeah #Paranormal Callings (And How We Got You Out) - while i do wanna start it, to me it makes more sense drawn out in a comic like style, and id need to make a couple so i dont feel bad on leaving it out

--

heres mutual/friend/family tags:

#jrwi by non jrwi enjoyer = im talking to my non just roll with it friend on just roll with it [will be used for them in general, not just jrwi, its just mostly jrwi] #epic artist = im talking about my niece #silly billy goose = im talking about my cousin #SEXY MOTORCYCLE!!! = ive finally given into urges and started talking about my lovely (ex gf now friend) (a nickname for them based off an old tumblr post thing i dont remember) (not really used here any more) #piss dolphin mutual = a fun tumblr mutual i have on here (based off a fanfic line they wrote) #soup bubbles on the blr = another fun mutual i know (accidentally called them soup when their nickname was soap, soap has bubbles to it, reblogging their posts puts them on my tumblr dash so blr) #my enablerrrrrr = FELIS TIME YAYAYAYAAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAAYYY ("enabled" by them to do stupid shit like writing silly things) (i also write fanfics so yeah)

have a question? check the carrd or just ask lol okay bye

starting a collection of images because i can:

^ tags can be found on @/okcoolthanks i just dont have the energy to link post

[lookbluesoup]

Starting Fresh? Or testing it out???

Have been pondering retiring this blog and starting a new one. I've been running this one since 2018 or so and it's been a lot of fun, gone through a few fandoms, but it's also gotten... idk, bloated?

There's so much history here. Lots of old posts that resurface and over 2k followers (though about 96% of those never show up in my notes and I suspect many are dead accounts now)

Which is COOL, I'm not complaining about getting attention or follows. I'm very proud of that, actually.

But... more and more when I get on tumblr I feel obligated to treat it like a social thing instead of a creative thing. I feel I have to make sure I'm meeting these arbitrary "expectations" I've established for myself just because of how long I've been here and how my experiences in different fandoms have shaped my habits. It's a me thing, 100%, but its hard to shake. These days posting my thoughts, fic, and art, is often tinged with the fear of disappointing followers/mutuals.

Basically I've decided I like having a few good friends to hype with and be creative beside, but I don't really like being in a "fandom" and trying to keep up casually with LOTS of different people. I'm just not built for that kind of socialization and I get burnt out in the long run.

I miss being able to make things without the voice in the back of my head fretting over whether its something others will want to read or look at. I want to be able to focus again on just. Creating something. Getting lost in a character or scene or emotion. And sharing it to my blog because it's my blog and it's something I enjoyed making. Not as an effort to connect with other people, but as a way to connect with myself.

I don't think a new blog will just. Make all those hangups disappear. But I do wonder if the change of scenery might help

I might create one and just try things out for a little while, and move over there full-time if i like it. if i do decide to move i'll probably post an announcement and link to the new blog in a pinned post -- or at least make a way for folks to reach out if they're interested in finding me again.

For now I'm just putting it to paper and taking a harder look at how I feel

[gunslinginnhogtyin]

"Don't chase the rabbit" - Kairi (i sent one before this, you can answer one/the other or both if you so choose! <3)

Send me "Don't chase the rabbit" and your muse will be shown a random memory from my muse's past. // @as-above-rp

“Butch?”

Butch freezes in the midst of tip toeing past his father.

“Have ya finished cleanin’ the stables?”

Butch nods and his father glances back at him, bushy brows furrowed.

“I can’t hear yer head rattlin’, boy.”

“…Yeah, Pops, th’ stables’re clean. Can I go play with th’ baby cows now?” The child asks hopefully, wringing his hands nervously.

“Now, there’s plenty more work t’be done ‘round here… ‘sides, those fella’s are gonna be food soon enough. Best not to get too attached.”

Butch frowns at that.

“Don’t go tellin’ him things like that.” Butch’s mother, Beatrice, scolds as she enters the room, holding a large bowl of eggs she had just collected from the chicken pin.

“Don’t raise yer voice at me, woman.” Ernest sneers.

“Ain’t no one raisin’ their voice, ya bull. He’s six. F’he wants t’play with the cows, let ‘im.”

Butch smiles to himself, happy his mother is on his side but that quickly changes when his father snaps.

“Don’t tell me how t’raise my son.”

Beatrice sighs and rolls her eyes, making her way into the kitchen. “I really don’t wanna do this right now…”

“Do what? Yer th’ one pickin’ fights! You want that boy to be a WIMP!”

“Oh my lord, Ernest, honestly—yer overreacting.” Beatrice huffs tiredly, setting the eggs on the counter.

“Tch, I don’t expect you t’be showin’ ‘im anythin’ useful, anyhow.” Ernest walks over, gripping Butch’s arm and dragging him along as he walks out of the house. Butch stumbles along but doesn’t hesitate, knowing what would happen if he displayed any sort of resistance towards his father.

“Why don’t we play with the horses instead? I’ll show ya how to ride. Yer old ‘nough to learn by now, anyhow. And it ain’t a useless skill like cookin.”

The little blonde blinks in surprise and in an instant, he’s grinning excitedly. His Pops never wants to do anything fun like that; in fact, the last time he had asked, he got yelled at! He’s practically skipping alongside his father now.

Crossing the field, they come to a stop by a fence where a couple of saddles rested on one of the posts. Releasing his sons arm, he grabs one of the saddles and holds it out for Butch to take.

“You’ve seen yer ol’ man saddle up a horse b’fore. Go on.” The child reaches out to grip the saddle but when the weight of it is released by his father, Butch tumbles to the ground with it.

“G-Gosh, this’s… heavy! I don’t think—“

“F’ya wanna ride a horse, ya gotta put its saddle on! Pick th’ damn thing up.” Ernest says sternly, scowling down at his son. When his father took that tone, that’s when the fun was over.

While Butch watches his father wander off to retrieve one of the horses, he struggles to pick the saddle up. The thing weighs just as much as he does! When all is said and done, the six year old had managed to heave it onto his back, his legs wobbling with each step he takes towards the horse Ernest had led over.

“Go on.” He urges.

With trembling legs, Butch reels back and gives his best throw which actually isn’t all that great because the saddle comes crashing down on top of him, causing him to topple over with a yelp.

“Can’t ya do nothin’ right?”

Hearing a heavy sigh come from his father, he suddenly feels a lot lighter as that saddle is lifted off of him and fastened onto the horse, his father complaining all the while.

“If yer mother didn’t treat ya like a sissy, ya might actually be good fer somethin. When I was yer age…” Ernest continues to gripe on as Butch brings himself back to his feet.

He staves off the feeling of having the wind knocked out of him and moves closer to the horse, gripping the saddle just as his Pops had finished fastening it on. Then, he attempts to pull himself up onto the horse, struggling a good bit since he barely comes up past the horses mid section. He falls over more than once, losing his balance or his grip every now and again. After hearing some more chiding from his father, he manages to hop and climb his way up onto the large stallion, all by himself!

“I did it!” Butch exclaims tiredly but excitedly, carefully taking the reigns.

“Yeah, yeah—that’s th’ easy part.” His father comments with a scoff.

Giving a tug on the reigns, the horse begins to walk. A smile had found its way back on his face; he was doing it! He was riding a horse all by himself! He couldn’t wait to tell his Ma when he got back to the house!

The child’s excitement is cut short however when the horse suddenly begins to act up, as if it had been spooked by something. Neighing loudly in agitation, the stallion jerks about and thrashes, Butch hanging on for dear life and screaming all the while. Unfortunately he’s not able to hold on much longer, his fingers slip when in one rough motion, the horse bucks hard and he flies off, hitting the ground with a crack.

The moment he hits the ground, a jolt of pain runs through his body—his arm more specifically. Taking a deep breath in, the child clutches his arm and cries out, writhing on the ground in pain. Looking around frantically through blurry tears for his father, he finds his silhouette standing some ways away, just watching.

In another moment he sees his mother storming over to his father; he can’t hear any yelling over the sound of his own crying but he knows that’s what’s happening. A push, a shove, a slap, and a punch later, his mother is at his side, scooping him up into her arms carefully but quickly and rushing towards the house. He can hear his heart beat pounding in his ears and suddenly everything goes black.

When he comes to, he finds himself in his bed. His arm aches and he quickly takes notice of the splint holding his arm in place. Luckily his mother is at his side, easing his nerves with a soft song and brushing her fingers through his hair.

[renegade-skywalker]

just felt like posting some pics and head canons for my OC bard, Merit 🥰

~~~

(this is mostly backstory but I'll probably add to this later and pin it somewhere idk)

Merit has seven sisters. She’s technically the second-oldest but has undoubted Eldest Daughter energy. The actual eldest sister is Fable. Her younger sisters are Morning Glory, Daffodil, Dahlia, Harmony, Festival, and Jovial (Jo for short). 

Part of the sisterly dynamic is inspired by the Bennet family of Pride and Prejudice though it’s definitely not a one-to-one comparison. Like Jane and Elizabeth, Fable and Merit are the eldest and are very close, having shared a room for most if not all of their lives. Like Jane, Fable is unendingly kind and soft spoken. Unlike Jane though, Fable isn’t interested in romance or a partner at all and is instead intent on opening her own business or taking over the family bakery. Like Elizabeth, Merit is known to be brash but eloquent about it (Vicious Mockery lol) but unlike Elizabeth, she’s the hopeless romantic. Also like Elizabeth, Merit loves to complain but does so in a jovial manner. Like Mary, Morning Glory is a bit off-putting but nice and straight-laced. Like Kitty and Lydia, Daffodil and Dahlia are vapid and boy crazy but are also hilarious and tons of fun to be around. The youngest sisters are a bit like the triplets from Brave in that they are simply a menace.

Her father is a wood elf of indeterminate age (I headcanon that he rarely speaks about himself and only very occasionally drops mind-blowing lore about his past in passing before leaving the room without any further elaboration lol) and is a (no longer practicing) druid though he still pays homage to Silvanus and will occasionally take his troupe of daughters out of the city and into nature to pay his respects. He left his old life behind to wander for a while before stumbling upon the wonders of simply baking bread when in Baldur’s Gate working an odd job and he’s been there ever since. He finds kneading dough to be meditative and soothing, and now runs a bakery with his human wife Alys, who is Way Too Hot For Him. Not that he’s an awful or hideous person, he’s just very, very old and very, very quiet where Alys is quite gregarious and social. No one understands their relationship but it’s something Merit has always admired growing up even if it’s often confused her.

Not sure why but they were somewhat inspired by Holling and Shelly from Northern Exposure which I’ve been watching all winter. Idk just I think they’re hilarious. Also running a store/restaurant together is a fun dynamic idk. 

Merit is closest to her oldest sister, Fable, who she is also the closest in age with. Fable was born sick and her mother had a difficult time with the pregnancy to the point that she thought neither she nor the baby would make it. Fable is named Fable because the idea of her making it into the world was like a dream. After her birth, their parents feared another child wasn’t in the cards and might spell death for Alys, so when Merit was born she was actually named Marvel. She hated that name so when she was six she dubbed herself Merit, because anything ‘worthy of merit’ that she did had to feel earned, whereas Marvel just made her feel like a fraud. Her parents and Fable still affectionately call her “Marv” though.

Merit picked up a love of storytelling from working the bakery with her parents, hearing the customers talk about their various backgrounds, their day-to-day routines, their travels, etc. 

She fell in love with music at 12 when a famous bard came to the city and performed for a while, a half-high elf named Laurel, who took a shine to her interest and taught her how to play. They remained pen pals for years even after he left Baldur’s Gate exchanging verse and ideas for songs, however their relationship was… complicated, and quite frankly inappropriate. Merit did not see it for what it was until she was much older.

Merit has a bit too many interests and has dabbled in fencing, languages, history, the arcane, and even what little druidic magic her father has taught her (she’s mostly familiar with animal speaking and plant growth) though her main love is poetry, song, the written, sung and spoken word. Her greatest ambition is to write an epic poem that can be performed in parts, essentially acting as a dramatic tome as well as what essentially is a concept album in our reality

Part of the reason Merit cannot see any of her ambitions through is a mix of her changing attentions which change with the wind’s direction but also her family… she’s often had to return to Baldur’s Gate to help the bakery, and her younger sisters are known for getting in trouble...

Merit has worked her way into the merchant’s guild on her parent’s behalf and has also done some work for the Guild in order to keep her family safe and unbothered, which is a secret she’s kept from them but had done for their safety

Her work pays for the family property’s “protection” so to speak. This would also mean she’s already acquainted with Nine-Fingers Keene before the events of the game.

She’s actually sacrificed a lot for the family business and is happy to do so but it is also to her own detriment. Fable has been able to man the kitchens but not much beyond that due to chronic pain and flare ups. The next eldest sister, Morning Glory, has a head for numbers and will work the books and run the orders but is such a downer that it makes working with her a chore and a nightmare, she’s incredibly controlling and neurotic. The next sisters capable of doing anything, Stella and Selene, are in their early 20’s and would prefer to socialize, party, and snog their way through Baldur’s Gate rather than do anything else. The very youngest sisters, Verity, Amity and Jo, are all too young to do much other than clean maybe but Merit would prefer they have a childhood than work the family business. Plus they are known for playing tricks on people so it’s best they stay out of the way.

Merit feels like she’s already raised a village of children given how much she’s helped raise her sisters practically since she was able to walk so she had zero interest in bearing children of her own. Not to mention how much she’s sacrificed to help the family business, she hopes to one day be able to see all of her dreams and artistic ambitions to fruition.

Merit has a few songs that have gained some popularity but only within Baldur’s Gate seeing as she can never seem to leave for very long. She is most known, however, for her serial called Sea and Shield. It’s a crime serial about a disgraced Flaming Fist who enlists the help of the last person he’s imprisoned, a notorious pirate, who he sets free on the terms that she help him discover who committed the murder he was framed for. It’s relatively popular but the series is unfinished, plus due to being kidnapped and tadpoled she is very very behind her usual publishing schedule. She has no idea how to continue (or possibly even end) the story though so she was already in a pickle before the game events occurred.