#normally I answer rule-breaking asks ooc to tell them off

[bigscaryblueberry]

(Hey, I just want to give a couple of reminders...)

(1. Please avoid sending the same ask more than once. It may take time for me to answer it, but a response will come eventually! I just might be answering other asks first, and I tend to receive asks at a faster rate than I can answer them. Also, on that note, I’m sorry that ask responses are extra slow this month... I think it’s a bit of a combination of depression, burnout, and slight busyness with other things... Hopefully, I’ll be able to get back to normal speed next month. But in the meantime, please try to be patient, and if you’re worried about whether or not I received your ask, feel free to message me about it instead of sending a duplicate ask, so I can confirm with you that I have it in my inbox.)

(2. I can’t believe I need to say this again, but please do NOT send NSFW asks. I just received one that I had to delete... I’m actually not sure if it was truly genuine, or if it was just trolling, but I feel the need to make this reminder just in case it was the former. I want this blog to be safe for all ages, so Spade King will not answer any questions about sexual topics, and plus even as an adult I am repulsed by it... Please respect that, thanks.)

[dianapana]

SH Day 9 – Never Have I Ever

@sasuhinamonth

Rated T, Modern AU, OOC

Oof , for this one ideas just wouldn't come to me, so once again I looked through older stories I never finished and found this one which I thought fit to a certain degree. I didn’t really wanna go the normal route of the game itself, so I just interpreted the prompt as a new experience. I hope you enjoy, ~Love, Dia

It wasn’t uncommon for people to randomly sit down at his table, especially if those people were girls. They’d stumble onto the seat and act like it was all an accident, like they didn’t see him and thought the table was empty, or that they tripped and ‘landed’ on the seat. Other times they’d ask if they could sit because there were no free tables anymore, granted this last excuse happened to be true once or twice, but usually, it was just a lie and the two would sit in awkward silence for a few moments staring at each other with a number of empty seats all around.

However, the person sitting across from him was a girl he saw around the diner quite often, urgency written all over her face. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her, but the situation didn’t faze him at all, thus he continued eating, putting 2 French fries in his mouth and slowly chewing, waiting for her to state her reason and purpose.

“I need you to pretend we’re here together” Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her. “My ex just walked in and I’m not in the mood to deal with him. If I’m here with someone, in this case you, he’ll either leave me alone or he’ll at least leave sooner.” His eyes moved to a guy that was just walking to the counter still obvious to his ex-girlfriend. “Please…” her eyes were begging him to help.

Sasuke sighed and pushed his milkshake her way. “It’d be strange if we were here together and I was the only one that had ordered something” Her pale eyes lit up like Christmas trees.

“Thank you so much. I’m Hinata by the way” She gave him a genuine smile. He nodded her way.

“Sasuke. I’d shake your hand but that would look strange since we’re supposed to be here together.”

For a second, silence fell over their table but Hinata started giggling at what he just said, her laugh could have also been intertwined with nervous laughter for it was a little too loud for Sasuke’s own liking, either way, he couldn’t help but smirk her. Naruto would freak if he saw Sasuke talking to a stranger, a girl no less, and not only that, but he was actually putting in the effort to help her and maintain a conversation. He had never willingly had a conversation with a stranger before.

Sadly Hinata’ sudden laughing fit turned the attention of a white-haired guy, also known in Sasuke’s head as the girl’s ex, to them. The said guy looked their way, moment in which Sasuke noticed the myriad of feelings showing onto his expression, he seemed to go from hopeful to confused to slightly irritated and then settle for putting on a fake smile and strolling their way.

“Hinata, long time no see, how are you?” The ex-boyfriend looked at her and gave Sasuke a not-so-subtle glare. He took in their table before raising an eyebrow and immediately asking another question, essentially cutting Hinata off before she could answer his first question. “Matcha milkshake? I thought you hated those”

“Oh, I used to yea, but I think they changed the receipt here. I tasted one sip from when Sasuke ordered one last time and it was pretty good, so today I wanted to see for myself” She said smoothly and took a big sip of her, well…his milkshake. “And I’ve been pretty good. How about yourself?” She smiled way too sweetly at him.

“Uh…can’t complain” He took another second to examine them again. “Well, I was actually thinking maybe we can get together and have dinner sometime next week?”

“Dude, you don’t ask out a girl when she’s already out with another guy, that’s just fucking messed up” Sasuke said, without actually meaning to his voice got deeper and he glared at the ‘ex-boyfriend’. He didn’t care that he and Hinata weren’t there together for real, it’s a universal rule you don’t ask out a girl if she’s there with a date, that’s just a douchey move.

Hinata was grinning at him from behind her hand, her eyes glittering with amusement. Sasuke had to admit something to himself, the strange girl was pretty, but she was even more beautiful while she smiled.

“Chill dude. I didn’t think this was a date” he said raising his hands as if trying to say he meant no harm. “I mean who the fuck brings a date at this shitty diner” He whispered under his breath, but both Hinata and Sasuke heard him and their moods turned pretty dark. Sasuke’s instinct was the punch the guy’s lights out, another new feeling he hadn’t experienced, at least not because of a girl. He is usually in control of his emotions and rarely loses his cool.

“Sasuke wanted to go have a sweet picnic in the park near my house, which was so thoughtful and sweet, but sadly the weather didn’t agree with him because it started raining. That’s when I remembered how I wanted to taste the milkshake, so I proposed we came here to wait for the rain to stop.” Sasuke had to admit, her lying skills were top-notch, her story had a natural flow to it, she composed a strong and believable narrative with pretty much no holes, her delivery too added to its credibility, fot she spoke with such ease. Hinata reached for his hand that was on the table and squeezed it while spreading her web of lies. Sasuke noticed the ex-boyf rolling his eyes, and a part of him felt utter satisfaction from the jerk’s annoyance.

“Whatever. I gotta bounce anyway. See you around” He turned and started walking out the diner without waiting for a reply. Sasuke snorted when he noticed that the ex didn’t even purchase anything. He was lost in his own world of trash-talking the guy but was got distracted by the petite girl in front of him that whispered not so quietly “I fucking hope not.”

“Well, that was fun.” He smirked at her. “Let me guess, bad break-up?” Hinata sighed and ran both hands over her face.

“The worst. It was a set up and we went on a few dates which were fine I guess, but I just didn’t really want a relationship at the time, or at least not with him. Either way, the break-up itself took like 3 hours cuz he just wouldn’t accept it.” She took another sip of his milkshake and gaged. “Oh god, I forgot how awful this tasted.” She said more to herself, it didn’t take her a full second to turn beet-red.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry this is yours. I d-didn’t mean to drink from it, it just happened. Let me buy you a new one” She got onto her feet but Sasuke grabbed her wrist and forced her to sit back down.

“Don’t worry about it. You barely drank any”

Had he been in his right mind he’d tell the girl to buy him extra fries too for the trouble and then he’d tell her to scramble. But for some reason or another, he didn’t want her to leave just yet. He pulled the glass back to him and drank from it just to prove to her everything was fine.

“I don’t understand how you can drink that. It’s not even sweet” Her nose wrinkled in disgust, Sasuke didn’t throw the world ‘cute’ around easily but she looked adorable.

“I hate sweets. So, this is perfect” Her jaw dropped, she looked like he had just said he hated puppies and his mother. Hinata blinked a few times, closed her mouth and opened it to say something, closed it back again. She looked genuinely confused, like someone that hated sweets wasn’t meant to exist.

“I-I don’t understand. How can you hate sweets? T-They make the world a better place. Don’t tell me that after a shitty day you don’t go home to eat a gallon of ice cream with a dozen of cookies because I will not believe you”

Now it was his turn to gag just thinking about the amount of sugar in the ‘snack’ she described. His reaction repulsed her.

“Oh wow. I’m perplexed. I had no idea people like you existed”

The fact that she said it with straight face made him believe she honestly didn’t think that what he said could be true, which for some reason he found extremely funny.

“Huh, you learn something every day.” She said with a smile, it seemed she had gotten over her confusion and found the whole conversation quite as amusing as he did.

A waitress came over to take Sasuke’s now empty milkshake glass.

“Would you like anything else?”

“Could you please bring me a veggie burger and a blueberry lemonade? And some fries too” She ordered and it relieved him that she did, he hadn’t had a lunch companion besides Naruto in a while.

“I’d also like some fries and another matcha milkshake”

“I’ll be right back,” The older woman said and left right away. When he turned back to the girl before him, she was staring at him with a small smile on her lips so he raised an eyebrow at her.

“I was sure you’d tell me to leave, or tell the waiter you’d like the bill and left yourself.” She put both of her hands on the table and played with her bracelet. “I’ve seen you around the diner. You’re not the…most welcoming face here and I’ve also saw you get up and leave on multiple occasions when someone sat at your table”

Her cheeks were a shade or two darker and she didn’t look at him but rather looked at her fidgeting hands. She was embarrassed for admitting she noticed him way before this encounter, she was nervous that she had crossed a line. What she said was true, he knew he wasn’t the nicest person but he did genuinely enjoy her presence, also he’d been in a number of situations where he would have liked someone to pretend to be there with him so he’d escape an acquaintance or a fangirl. Plus, the very same day Naruto told him he should do an act of ‘kindness’ a day or his karma would turn bad. He didn’t believe in the nonsense his blonde friend talked about, but when she sat down she looked in so much distress even he didn’t have the heart to tell her to leave.

“You’re right, But, you looked frightened, I’m not heartless,” He said in a neutral voice and Hinata blushed even redder. His lips twitched upward. Where did her confidence and acting skills go?

“I-I-I didn’t mean you are heartless…just…umm, uh” she was at a loss of words.

“It’s fine. You didn’t offend me” Hinata looked up at him relived.

“I didn’t? Oh, that’s really good, because I didn’t mean anything rude by what I said” her shoulders relaxed and her blush faded, not completely she was still a bit flushed but not quite as red as before.

“Since you knew there was a chance, I’d leave why did you sit here?”

Her smile softened a little. “Have you ever seen a person and had the urge to talk to them? For them to be your friend? I don’t mean to sound creepy, but every time I saw you here, I always wanted to talk to you, I just never had the courage. I guess the situation gave me the opportunity to do so. And I’m quite glad because, I don’t know about you, but I’m having a pretty good time talking to you” her cheeks flared even redder with each confession, for some reason admitting her thoughts in front of him was embarrassing. “Oh, just so you know, I’ve never done this before. I just had a pretty bad day and didn’t want it to get worse by having to be in his company for long.”

Their talk continued for a while longer until finally, their food arrived. The older waitress placed their orders on the table.

“There you go. Enjoy your food”

“Thank you” Hinata nodded at the waitress with a smile.

“I have one more question.” Sasuke said as Hinata took a sip of her lemonade, but gestured with her hand for him to go on. “What happened? When he was here you were a very smooth talker, but when you thought you offended me you seemed to be drowning in your own words”

Her blush came back and Sasuke decided he quite liked how she looked with it. She played with the tips of her hair, rolling it onto her finger. “W-when I was little, I was extremely shy, I couldn’t even look at strangers, my parents entered me in acting classes in hopes that I’d get over it. It didn’t really go as planned. I’m a lot better now, obviously but I still get anxious easily. Even so the acting classes did help me, when I’m in a crisis I seem to calm down and I’m able to collect my thoughts” She looked a bit over his shoulder in deep thought. “It’s like a defence mechanism but it doesn’t always work. Case in point when I o-offended you, which I’m sorry about again”

“I see…also you didn’t offend me, I told you this before. You only stated your opinion, which was true by the way”

She smiled at him once more and they started eating, it wasn’t complete silence, they made small talk asked about normal things, hobbies, friends, school and all that. Once they were finished and Sasuke asked for the bill since it was getting pretty dark and the rain finally stopped, he noticed her playing with the bracelet again.

“Something wrong?”

“Huh?” she looked up at him confused.

“You were fidgeting your hands like you did before when you were nervous. Is something bothering you?”

Hinata opened her mouth. They had spent about 2 or 3 hours together and he was able to pick up some of her habits already. He did seem like the type of person that paid attention, he was quiet but observing. Without meaning to she associated him with one of those old people from the park that sit on a bench and watch everyone pass by, like they don’t belong to this world, they just witness it, they are watchers that see the smallest details.

He didn’t know what she was thinking about, but her smile was beautifully tragic, she seemed sad, or at least contemplative.

“I was just thinking how much I enjoyed our…lunch? Dinner? And was wondering how awkward it would be to…a-ask for your number m-maybe?”

He also liked when she stuttered a little. “I don’t see why not. I enjoyed myself as well”

If only Naruto saw him give his number to a girl, the blonde would never let this slide, which was also why he’d never tell his blonde best friend about the petite blue-haired girl that made his ordinary day a little bit extraordinary, she proved that sometimes doing things you’ve never done can have a good end result, in this case talking to a stranger and pretending to date led to a pleasant evening and hopefully a friend and maybe more.

[faelapis]

i wanna talk about characters having “writer clairvoyance,” to borrow a term from lindsay ellis, and how it doesn’t make characters smarter.

one of the most common complaints about... pretty much any piece of media, is that the characters aren’t smart enough. this is often literal, people want the characters to be adequately intelligent and observant to answer their most burning questions, to explain plot points you think bears questioning.

but like... there is such a thing as doing that too much. if people acted irl on the level of writer clairvoyance hyper-awareness some want fictional characters to act, you couldn't walk out the door without someone being like "hang on... why are you carrying a bag? i've never seen you carry that bag before :/"

 let's say you were a fictional character, and something WAS up with the bag. there's a plot-relevant ancient scroll in it which will let any wish you make come true or whatever. 

if you’re the type to care about realism - the vast majority of people irl would not question you carrying a bag. the audience screaming that someone needs to ask about the bag or take it from the protagonist to find the secret scroll? that's because you, the audience, already know about the scroll. 

you have access to information about what’s suspicious or bears questioning - the characters don’t. you screaming that it’s “so obvious” or how “stupid” the characters are doesn’t always mean unrealistic writing. unless the character is acting comically suspicious, there's no reason anyone would think to ask about every little thing. they’re busy living in the world, not solving it.

therefore, as a general rule, i think the reason characters ask questions is more important than asking “enough” questions to satisfy an audience who are approaching this as a mystery to be solved, which the characters aren’t.

also - sometimes, even if a character doesn’t know something, and are aware that they don’t know it... that doesn’t mean every question is worth asking. 

it all comes back to character motivation. not just if they know that there’s something to question here, but do they CARE? is this something the character actually wants to know, or just the audience?

there could also be other factors obstructing a well-placed question. like whether they have know the right person to ask, and feel like the person will answer it.

i’m going to take steven from SU as an example here, because i have seen a couple people acting like he’s this silly naive boy who doesn’t question anything.

number one: he does. quite a lot, actually! 

they’re just questions that make sense to his character - he cares about the questions, and have enough information to ask them - instead of questions only those with 4th wall writer clairvoyance would ask. 

for instance, steven (above) asks the crystal gems to confirm whether his mom shattered pink diamond, because this is something deeply upsetting to him - he wants it not to be true. he wants to believe in a perfect mother idol he can live up to. he questions lapis taking the tower, because he doesn’t think gems should fight each other. he asks bismuth to watch garnet, because he’s naturally worried about her in her current state.

steven tends to ask why people are doing things he thinks are bad, because he wants to believe in them. again, caring about something is paramount to asking. a bunch of random weird magical stuff around him happening, is often as mundane to him as the bag example. he’s used to being weirded out and traumatized, as well as not knowing things. so he’s not gonna question every time a monster shows up. sometimes, he’s just “used” to stuff that the audience thinks he isn’t, because they see him first and foremost as a child.

as in some of the gifs above, steven questioning things can also be subtle - quick moments where his expression shows that he feels or realizes something is wrong, not always as literal questions. in these gifs, he questions what he thought he knew about pink’s shattering, and the surface-level utopian nature of the zoo.

also, there are times when you can tell steven is too frustrated to ask a question, or knows it won’t be answered. this is a big thing in episodes like “steven’s dream” and “lion 4,” where he knows the gems will keep hiding things from him, so he essentially says f you and seeks answers on his own. 

and... he has every reason to think that! there are plenty of instances where the gems chastise steven for wanting to be involved in gem stuff, especially early in the show. on the emotional side, them hiding things insults him, and so, he starts to go behind their backs, against their wishes, and to seek other authorities.

a big theme in a show like SU is also that there is no authority who has the answer to everything, even when you wish there was. 

i think a real issue here is that the audience is frustrated they don’t get to know everything... but the characters don’t either. they just know their own perspective, which is inherently flawed. that is a sublime writing style - a lot of stuff is just implied, perhaps only to be guessed or assumed from the soft worldbuilding, because the world is “bigger” than the characters. this is generally well-done and consistent. it’s thematically sound, how there are no true experts who know everything, or know to question everything in this sassy, ooc way.

personally, i also think it often is better writing to limit a character’s questions, because it shows awareness of the difference between what the audience vs characters know, and their motivations. i think emotion should precede it (and yes, sometimes, characters are too emotionally distraught to notice every little thing, this is normal and doesn’t indicate bad writing.)

it also often just makes for lazy media criticism - well i can think of something the character (living in the moment, stressed out of their mind, trying to survive) should ask, so it’s bad writing that they don’t!

...i’m gonna go ahead and say it would be bad writing if they questioned everything, regardless of motivation, relationships, human flaws, and emotion. 

also, having a character actively ignore their emotions and act like a logicbro is often a defense mechanism to hide how afraid they are of being wrong. ahem.

personally, i can think of more examples of the opposite of “not questioning enough” - the character asks something, or is questioning something in an overbearingly sassy way, and i have no idea why. it seems to just be so the writer can show off how “smart” they are for being right, even if they don’t have a real reason to reach the conclusions that they do. or to be "self-aware,” like making a “wtf, that doesn’t make sense!” 4th wall breaking joke with no subtlety.

i’m guessing a big reason i’ve seen this complaint several times with steven now is that i think the “norm” in cartoons, especially ones with a certain “witty” humor, is leaning towards being too sassy and questioning, beyond what a normal person would ask. this is a big issue with shows like gravity falls and atla - characters will ask things just to show off how smart they are, just for the writer to vent about something they want to question, to ask about plot only the audience would ask about, or just to set up an answer. they often ignore the flow of a scene, or the emotion, because the characters don’t “really” live in the world. they just exist to be sassy / “intelligent.”

often, i’m frustrated that there’s no organic motivation behind a given question, and they’re oft asked far too conveniently - “okay, the shittiest parts of our audience wants to be handheld, lest they call something a plot hole... so we need a scene where a character says ‘x doesn’t make sense!’, so then we can have another character explain why the plot is good, actually.”

so that’s my little rant for today. there are certainly times where something should be questioned and the characters in a given piece of media don’t... but i also think a lot of the time, the audience just has generalized frustrations when they don’t like a show, and are looking for any way to express that. they want to intellectualize it, so they’re grasping for a way to vent about how stupid they think the characters are.

[asterroidd]

sho the todorki

↬ pairing: shouto todoroki x reader

↬ synopsis: you like him, he likes you. the problem? sho's in the friend zone and so it's up to mina, the resident match maker, and company to give you guys a lil push.

alternatively: sho being a dork, hence the title

↬ warning/s: profanity lol, a lot of second hand embarrassment, two insufferable idiots, idk if this is too ooc of shouto but just take this dorky version of him

↬ note: a fic dedicated to @puredivinity​ that serves as a welcome gift for joining the sho simp club. luv u mara despite all the cursed images i send

    Class 3-A has four unspoken rules:

    Number one: never play music out loud beyond 8 pm (tried and tested by Denki himself, got blown up by Bakugo)

    Number two: don't leave your room at 2 am or a certain grape pervert would harass you

    Number three: refrain from mentioning crocs to Kirishima. Just don’t.

    And number four: never tell you or Shouto that both of you like each other (just for the sake of entertainment)

    It had become customary to not break these four rules or those who dare break it is rumored to have a thousand year duration of bad luck to be passed down generation after generation.

    That said, Mina was fed up with the mutual pining you and Shouto clearly exhibit. For two years she watched both of you shy and fluster with one another. His face beet red while you a fumbling mess. Truly a sight to behold. It was like watching a romance movie in real time, but without the stupid opening track. 

    At first she thought it was cute, it all started one morning during her first year in U.A. You forgot your jacket that day after waking up late and thus have to rush to get on time. Aizawa would have your head if you weren't there in homeroom. So in your idiocy and frantic state, you forgot most of the essential stuff and that includes, of course, a warm jacket.

    Mina watched as Shouto stared at you from across the room.  With tense shoulders as his gaze constantly drift from your form to his jacket. Her mouth curled upwards, interested with the current situation. It was not every day one could see the infamous Todoroki Shouto so nervous.

    She eagerly kept her attention on him, watching as Shouto got up from his seat and slowly made his way to you with shaky legs. Shouto, barely uttering a word, shoved his jacket to you and rushed back to his seat. At that moment, Mina already knew something was blossoming between you and him.

    And so it basically became her life mission to make sure you and Shouto end up with one another. She made the promise two years ago, and yet here you both were, two dorks that has a crush on each other but couldn't confess even if the world ends that very moment.

    Was it difficult to watch? Yes.

   It took all of Mina's entire being to not push his head into yours. She knows the consequences if one breaks the fourth rule. Two years had already pass and graduation is around the corner, she refuses to accept that both of you aren't a couple. As Class 3-A's resident cupid and match maker, she is more than determined to make sure you and him both end up together. Mina would not be inherently breaking rule number four, just gonna give you guys a lil' push with the help of a friend. And that friend is one that possesses an electrification quirk.

    "Okay, what do we tell (____) tomorrow?" Denki asked.

    Shouto looked over his written notes one last time before nodding and giving his answer, "I'll ask them if they want to have coffee."

    "Good! Make sure to?"

    "I'll make sure to keep eye contact and. . ." he halted, going over his notes once more. "And make sure that I'm smiling."

    Denki flashed him a grin. Clasping a hand around his shoulder and lightly patting it afterwards. "Now, don't forget the lesson I've taught you today. It is important that your date goes smoothly with (____)."

    Shouto eagerly nodded, stars dancing in his eyes. His heart clamored inside his chest, beating in a quick tempo comparable to that of allegro. Sweat accumulated on his palm, in which Shouto then hastily wiped it on his shirt. Despite nervousness bubbling inside his stomach, Shouto admits that he is excited to ask you out.  "Do you really think (____) and I would be a great couple?"

    "Of course, dude! Right, Mina?" Denki turned to his friend. She gave him two thumbs-up, giving fuel to Shouto's confidence for tomorrow's event.

    Now that Denki is done giving him an hour-long lesson about asking you out and things to do in a date, Mina was sure everything would go smooth as butter. Like, what could go wrong? Despite Shouto being a dork and foreign to the concept of love, he still has that natural charm that had some swooning for him.

    Though, she spoke all too soon.

    Mina facepalmed, dragging her palm across her face as Shouto stood frozen before you. She and Denki should've seen this coming.

    "(____)," he started, his voice cracking at the end. Suddenly the discoloration and grime in between the cracks of the wall looks interesting. He kept looking everywhere but you.

    You tilted your head to the side, "What's up, Sho?"

    Heavens above, Shouto loves that nickname.

    The male fiddles with the ends of his shirt, his tongue twisting and throat closing which makes it hard to speak. After class had ended, Shouto came up to you asking if he could talk to you somewhere private. He led you to the area behind the gym where no students are on sight. Well, that is except for Mina and Denki who closely followed behind to make sure Shouto wouldn't mess up his chance. The two stayed low, making sure they are well hidden behind the bush nearby.

   This was now the moment; the perfect chance for Shouto to ask you out after practicing his lines over and over again. It was a simple question: ‘Do you want to have coffee with me this weekend if you are free?”

   Should be easy enough right?

    "I- well- uhh. . ." he scratched the area behind his ear. "D-do you maybe want to free?"

    Shouto paled, he'd done messed up.

    "Wait that's wrong—" he took a deep breath. "Are you coffee this weekend?"

    Really? Really Shouto?

    "Shit— wait! Coffee this free??"

    Can someone take this lost child away?

    Denki bit his inner cheek, hands tugging his hair from second hand embarrassment. He had fate on him; had fate that Shouto had rehearsed enough the night before in asking you out. Guess he was wrong.

    "What do you mean by that?" you voiced out. You were beyond puzzled, unsure what to make of the situation. First he asks to speak with you in private, now he's a stuttering mess. Could it be that he's confessing? Asking you out?

    Your heart quickened at the thought. You were ready to say 'yes'.

    "What I mean is uhh. . ." Shouto wished he has his written notes. "Are you weekend for this coffee?"

    "YES!!" you shout without thinking.

    Wait, what? Hold up.

    "Aight, I'm forcing these two to kiss each other." Mina announced. That’s it. She lost hope for the both of you. You and Shouto need professional help. She adjusted her position, ready to get up and intervene. That is until Denki lay a heavy hand on her shoulder.

    "Wait," he motioned his head to you. Mina huffed, sitting down once more.

    "Sho. . ." you start, a soft smile on your face.

    "Y-yes?" damn, Shouto is such a stuttering mess.

    "Do you want to grab a coffee this weekend? I mean, if you are free?"

    He blinked, your words slowly being registered in his brain. There was a buffer, like an old computer processing 10 kilobyte worth of data. His brain was stuck on 78% in the progress bar. Then, it dawned on him; the cogs and gears turning. It took a full minute for Shouto to understand. "I-. . .I’d love to!" he managed to stutter out.

    Welp, at least that did the job. Denki and Mina released a sigh of relief. High-fiving each other despite the obvious fact that Shouto failed his task.

    But hey, beggars can't be choosers. All's well, ends well.

    You can't believe it.

    You have a date with Shouto. THE Todoroki Shouto. The guy you've had a crush on since your first year in UA. The one that swept you right off your feet the moment you laid your eyes on him. The friend that always had your back. With him struggling to ask you earlier, could it mean that he likes you more than a friend?

    You let out a squeal, pressing the pillow flush against your chest. In total, you've replayed the scene from memory for over fifty times already. You couldn't even concentrate in doing your homework. So you thought instead of doing your responsibilities, you opted to celebrate by screaming and running around your room in glee.

   It wasn't everyday you'd get a douse of serotonin.

   You’ve waited for this day since forever. Day dreaming about Shouto being your significant other; holding hands with him, wrapping your arms around his torso, and kissing his lips.

   The thought brought forth another pterodactyl squeal from you.

   Oh gods, what would you wear? Should it be casual? Semi-formal? Formal?

   A wedding dress??

   No one told you a date was this stressful. You groaned, prying opening your wardrobe cabinet to quickly plan out an outfit. You can’t afford to look stupid and, dare you say, cheap when you’re on a date with the most sought after male in UA.

   Meanwhile, Shouto is also panicking.

   “Look man, you messed up once but that’s okay!” Denki cheered him up. “Experience is the best teacher.”

   “I know but. . .” Shouto took one deep breath, burying his face in his hands. “I-. . .I just froze up the moment I was in front of them.”

   “And that’s normal!”

   The moment you and Shouto parted ways, the male immediately went to Denki for some follow up consultation. Sure, he can fight villains face-to-face without batting an eye. Could freeze half of his enemies without a drop of sweat. Unleash an inferno of fire to defeat his oponent. Tolerate a bunch of fans shoving cameras up his face to get a close-up picture.

   But Todoroki Shouto, for the love of god, couldn’t ask you out without freezing in place and become a stuttering mess.

   “Lighten up man!” Denki nudged his shoulder. “Unleash the tiger inside you.”

   “But I don’t have a tiger inside me. That would be anatomically incorrect.”

   “Look—that’s not the—. . .what I mean is—uhh. . .nevermind. . .” the blond struggled with his words. He had to be careful with what advice he throw at Shouto. That man takes things way too literately. “What I mean is, toughen up. Have confidence on yourself. You’ll have (____) falling for you before you knew it.”

   Which will be easy since (____) is a simp for him, Denki thought.

   Shouto raised his fist then clenched it, determination washing over him. He gave one brief nod to his mentor (that is the personification of Pikachu).

   He can do it. Todoroki Shouto could do it.

   He’d go over his lines a thousand times before the date. He’d make sure he is 110% prepared before the weekend. Denki had made a dent in his schedule just to tutor him how to make you fall in love with him. Shouto wouldn’t let this go to waste.

   Yes, this man is prepared and is on a mission he couldn't possibly fail.

   Scratch that, Shouto’s a mess.

   He pulled the end of his sleeves, his legs bouncing up and down. The male bit the inside of his cheeks, was the weather hot or was it just his insides burning up. Shouto couldn’t sleep the night before, his mind kept him up. It was like 17 browser tabs are open, with three of them frozen, and he doesn’t know where the music is coming from.

   Due to the jitters getting the best of him, Shouto arrived at the agreed destination. . .two hours earlier than what was expected.

   Which wasn’t a problem anyway, since you did the same.

   You huffed, doubling over and placing your hands on your knees. You had ran from your house all the way to the cafe just to make sure you weren't late this time. In attempts to catch your breath, you’ve failed to notice your date standing just a few feet away from you. The minute Shouto laid his eyes on you, fire sparked deep within his heart. Someone pinch him and tell this wasn’t a dream.

   “(____),” he walked close to which startled you.

   “Sho! You-. . . you’re early!”

   “So are you. . .”

   Then silence fell between both of you. Talk about awkward. Who’s idea was it to get these two idiots in a date? If anything, both of you should’ve just left it on mutual pining and save it as a story for the grandchildren.

   Shouto cleared his throat, hands scratching the back of his neck. “Well, since we’re both early. Why won’t we enter the café?”

   You nodded, your voice box failing you. Inwardly, you were screaming your heart out. The embarrassment was just too much for you to handle. You doubt that Shouto would want a second date at this point.

   And so you lagged behind him, keeping a feet distance away from the male. You have a hard time looking at him without making a mess for yourself. Blood rushing your cheeks, it was hard to ignore the butterflies fluttering inside your stomach.

   The café was quite small. A handful of potted plants hung outside, the store’s name written in calligraphy, and a few customers visible from the window. The establishment was newly built, Ochako introduced it to you about a week ago. The cheesecake they sell is to die for—it was definitely worth the hefty price.

   A small chime went off as Shouto opened the door. Then it hit you; the strong smell of coffee. You were not a big fan of the beverage, but you’ve got to admit that the scent was pleasant. Without prior warning, Shouto lightly held your hand in his. His thumb gliding over the back of your hand a few times. You took in a sharp inhale, eyes widening at his gesture.

   This is what they do in dates right? Shouto recalled his notes.

   So this is like a DATE date?? Not a friendly date? Somebody pinch me right now, you thought.

   “We should find a table,” he spoke, eyes refusing to make contact with yours. You’ve managed to stutter out an agreement, too occupied with the feeling of his hands. It was so warm—just the way you imagined it throughout the years.

   You could finally die now in peace. Goodbye cruel world.

   Soon enough, you and he are situated on a table near the window. Neither of you dare start a conversation, because god forbid another awkward interaction. Years worth of watching romance series could have never prepared you for such an instance. You wished you should’ve consulted some of your classmates—especially those who have experience in the topic of dating—before coming here yourself. You could try and message them, but you wondered if it would be rude to pull out your phone and ignore Shouto. No, you wouldn’t take the chance.

   “Uh- So how are you, (____)?” he asked, pulling you out of your thoughts.

   “Oh, uhhh—. . .” how does one even speak again? “I’m doing well, I guess. . .?”

   That was lame, (____). Lame.

   “How about you?”

   Shouto was silent, you figured he didn’t hear you so you repeated yourself once again. All the while not looking at his direction. It would be better if you don’t see his face or you’ll turn into a puddle of mess.

   But seconds seem to drag to minutes, and that got you concerned.

   “Sho—“ you cut yourself short, realizing that he was staring at you with a lovestruck expression. He looks at you rather softly, like how one would look at a small pet one happens to cross by while walking. The way Shouto kept his gaze at you made you insecure. Was there something on your face? Hair? Shirt? Oh gods, did you smell?

   You wished that, right then and there, the earth would swallow you whole.

   “Sorry I was just. . .” he faltered in his sentence, gulping down his saliva. Shouto then turned his head to the side, a blush ever so present on his cheeks as well as the tips of his ears.

   "Sorry, you're just—just so cute in that outfit that I can’t help but stare."

   His voice was quiet, barely a whisper but you heard it, ironically, loud and clear. Your hand found its way on your mouth, blood rushing to your cheeks as a result of his compliment.

   “Tha-thank you. . .” you’ve managed to croak out, looking down and fiddling with your nails.

   Just. WOW. You can’t believe it. Never once did Shouto commented on your appearance throughout the duration of your friendship with him. What he did was just. . .just so unexpected from him. You find it hard to believe yourself.

   All these years, you’ve hidden your feelings for him. Trapped it inside a chest and swallowed the key yourself. Him falling for you is comparable to that of pigs flying; it was impossible to happen. Yet both of you sat there, like two dorks, a blushing mess while refusing to make eye contact with one another. For once, maybe this time, you could tell him how you feel.

   “I like you. . .” you voiced out your thoughts. It took you a minute to realize what you've done. You let out a small gasp and directed your attention to Shouto. He was also looking at you, baffled. He went silent, his jaw went slack, and eyes wide open, trying to find the words to reply.

   Oh boi, did you made a mistake?

   “(__—“

   “BECAUSE YOU’RE MY FRIEND!” Your jaw tightened, declaring it all too loudly just in case he rejects you. “I like you because you’ve been a good friend to me.”

   You hope you were doing this right.

   Unbeknownst to you, Shouto felt his heart break into two after hearing your added comment. His shoulders slumped down, sadness clouded his features.

   “I. . .I see. . .” he muttered. “I like you too,” he said after a pregnant pause.

   Your whole face lit up. Now it was your turn to look at him with a baffled expression. There was a twinkle in your eye, is this it? The moment of your life?

   “Because you’re my precious friend.” Shouto plastered a smile on his face.

   Oh. Welp, Mina and Denki tried.

   RIP to both of you, forever pushing the other in the friend zone.

ya’ll want a bakugo version of this? (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) ✧

[findingjoynweirdstuff]

so are dreamons canon? i read your post a while back and agreed, but since foolish has mentioned them on this livestream, i feel like it isn’t something to brush off. idk just wanna see your thoughts since you’re my go to for lore :) love the essays btw

(warning: the answer to this ask goes on a bit of a meandering tangent, I apologize lol. Basically just a train of thought, no solid theories yet)

Dreamons canon maybe? Maybe??

DreamXD canon? I mean like, beyond McDonald’s? Like the OG DreamXD lore might actually be canon?

I mean, not like it matters a ton since DreamXD’s not gonna be a big part of the lore as we know, but...

That’d be really interesting if it were canon, and what Foolish said lines up with what we know. Dreamons can only possess one person, the Egg can brainwash many. 

But OG DreamXD lore my beloved

“I think he’s one of those rare species…I think it’s called a transmuted Dreamon, which means he quickly swaps between the two. But I think when we did the ritual, we got rid of the “Dream” part and kept the ‘Dreamon’ part, and now, I think…”

“Dream’s ghost got back into his body when he — that’s how he levitated!”

“Yeah, so he must have been full Dreamon when he levitated up! But now I think he’s back to regular old Dre.”

“We are mad scientists…we have just played god! And it worked!”

(DreamXD logs in)

“We’re not gonna talk about that…like I said, he has two. Two of them. That’ll be something we’ll have to tackle next time.”

(DreamXD comes zooming in to punch Tubbo)

“YEP! YEP, THAT’S A DREAMON! THAT’S A DREAMON!”

“If my theories are correct, Fundy…I think every person has a Dreamon.”

(Then in the next stream)

[of the two states] “One which is probably possessed by a Dreamon, and one which is his normal self. And what we did is, we split those in half last time, didn’t we? And now Dream is actually Dream, but…I’m gonna put this name in the chat, I want you not to say it out loud…”

[He types “DreamXD” in chat]

He implies that’s the Dreamon one.

So basically, Dream had two states and the Dreamon Hunters split them, and that’s when DreamXD -- either a Dreamon himself or possessed by one to the point of becoming one (the way Tubbo describes it, those things seem to be interchangeable -- if you’re possessed by a Dreamon, you are one) first appeared. So now DreamXD is a separate entity.

And then you’ve got the Egg, whose vines can be turned lime green with Church Prime water. And Dream himself is the sole enforcer of the Holy Land’s rules and /kills anyone who breaks the no-kill rule, the Holy Land is only a neutral zone because he designated it as such (as he brought up during Quackity’s revolution) and implied that the Holy Land’s power could be revoked if he chose.

Dream attempted to destroy the Egg the first and only time he met it (and his meeting with the Egg has been mentioned in canon multiple times, so we can assume that wasn’t just an OOC bit), so it seems like Dream and Church Prime are an oppositional force to the Egg, DreamXD is god but maybe also still a Dreamon, and the Egg is more powerful than Dreamons but can be resisted with the power of Church Prime.

It’s like rock paper scissors lmao

So Dreamons were mentioned in relation to the Egg, a comparison to it, which means the Egg is not a Dreamon.

But what’s neat is that Foolish actually brought up the idea of Dream being a potential ally for or against the Egg in his lore stream, he didn’t know which. 

And Bad brought up Dream to the Egg as “the green guy -- you’ve met him” when telling the Egg the news about Tommy’s death.

And Tommy brought up the Egg during his last prison visit stream.

And Bad brought up the Egg as well during his visit and Dream said he remembered meeting it in both.

Dream’s meeting with the Egg keeps getting brought up, so it’s safe to say that him attempting to repeatedly break it with Sam, making an effort to clear out the Blood Vines, and him being creeped out by the Egg is also canon. 

Bad was first to meet the Egg. Sam was second...and Dream was third. Even before Puffy, even before Antfrost.

And there’s clearly some sort of meaning behind the colors, behind lime green being a “purified” version of the Blood Vines washed off with holy Church Prime water.

And then you’ve got the freaking book.

What about Bad and Sam made them safe to give the secret of the revive book to, I wonder? 

Bad: “Information about what?”

Dream: “Mmmm…I think that it puts me in danger if people know I have this information. I can’t clarify what it is, otherwise – I don’t think – you wouldn’t – it wouldn’t be a danger to you, but to other people, that…”

Bad: “Oh…okay. I’m really curious now.”

Dream: “I…we’ll find out.”

Sam: “Wait, so you’re saying…Schlatt traded you information to join his side, which you accepted, so it must’ve been valuable.”

Dream: (chuckles) “I think it’s the most valuable thing on the server!”

...

Dream: “I think that, in pertaining to the prison, it may be important, but – so maybe I’ll have to tell you guys once the prison’s construction is done, but…we’ll see.”

“It wouldn’t be a danger to you.” 

To Bad and Sam...the only other two people to have met the Egg at the time...why?

We finally found out what the book is, but there are still some hints Dream gave about it that remain unexplained.

What does the book have to do with the prison? Why might Dream *have* to tell Bad and Sam what it is once the prison was finished?

And...who was the original prisoner the prison was meant for, anyway? We know it wasn’t Tommy, Tommy wasn’t the prisoner in the original plan Dream commissioned the prison for...

Dream: “It’s just an option, because if you can’t kill somebody, you might need to lock them up.”

Can’t kill somebody...but Dream then goes on to tease secrets about a book that literally gives him the ability to kill people and bring them back?

The only person Dream can’t revive, at least that we know of, is himself, because you need someone else to "click respawn” for you. If Dream dies, death is permanent. He’s the only person no one can kill without risking that.

The book has something to do with the prison, something about the Crimson and the color green...everything’s vaguely connected but we don’t have the answers to start putting the pieces together yet.

What does it all mean...?

Time will tell!

[izur-x]

Glitch nagito x reader

Note: Sorry if the character is ooc

Two months after the entrance ceremony

"Yukizome-kun, i assigning you to be assistant homeroom teacher of the first group of the 77th class.""alright, principal kirigiri!" Yukizome answer.

Principal kirigiri Putting his elbow on the table and clenched his both hands, he look at yukizome "You've just graduated, so it may be difficult." He smiled softly "but I'm counting on you." Principal kirigiri said and then back to his poker face.

And all of a sudden

Principal kirigiri look down and say "kizakura-kun." Kizakura, who is sitting on the couch with his hand on his mouth, "sorry, sorry. I was drinking too much last night..." With an awkward smile, and he's back, putting his hand on his mouth, he look like he's about to vomit.

Principal kirigiri look at yukizome who is looking at kizakura "sorry, it's just like what you see, the homeroom teacher isn't too serious, so i think you may have some trouble." Kizakura free his hand from his mouth and bring the other hand up, "it's okay to treat the class like's it's your own!"

"I will! Leave it to me-" Yukizome bring her hand to her chest and accidentally hit it pretty hard causing her to cough, principal kirigiri sweat drop, yukizome walked to the door and say "please pardon me for that!" With one hand up and one to her chest, she closed the door, and walk to 1-b

As she infront of the class slide door, she entered "good morning!" "Wait, there's only four of you?", "Good morning." The ultimate princess said, the ultimate yakuza let out 'hump' while his legs on the table, "what's this? A women I've never seen just came in." The ultimate japanese traditional dancer say, "um, may we know who are you?" The ultimate photographer said with a sweatdrop.

"Starting today, I'll be your teacher, yukizome chisa." She tilled her head to the side with a closed eyes smile "it's nice to meet you!" "Oh, this one look's like's she'll be fun to break. Her sosial position, organs, life, and more!" Hiyoko said, yukizome show her Charter, "don't you worry. Your teacher has lot's of life insurance." With a smile like it was nothing.

"I give praise to thee." Sonia said "that isn't how we speak in japanese." Mahiru replayed. "Hold on, where did kizakura go?! He's our homeroom teacher." Fuyuhiko shouted, "if you're talking about kizakura-sensei, he's hung over and vomiting." Yukizome replay to fuyuhiko question, "again?".

And then, the door slide open reveal the ultimate nurse "sorry! I'm late!" And she trip with a VERY interesting pose...

"You do this every morning. Are you a bot? You stupid klutz of a women." Hiyoko scolded mikan"I'm sorry!","there, there... That's makes five person's" yukizome try to calm down mikan, "this may be everyone for today" sonia said to yukizome "but, (y/n)nee-san isn't here yet, that's strange!" Hiyoko bring her one hands to her chin.

"Huh, what are the others kids doing?","i don't know, and i don't care. But of course i care about mahiru and (y/n) nee-san only." Hiyoko said with a grin on her face, mahiru sweatdrop and look at yukizome "beside, attendance at this school isn't mandaroty, isn't it?" She look down, "you just need to properly train for you skills and pass the practical exams." Mahiru finnish her words, "i...i was trying to attend class-" mikan words got cut off by fuyuhiko shouting at her, make her to apologise.

Yukizome face palm, "i see... You all have these disappointing relationship, don't you?" With a disappointing tone, "this is crisis that's need to resolving!" While transformation to a blue maid outfit, kinda..

Everyone sweatdrop, "you're our Senior?" Mahiru with a surprise tone, "youth only come once. It will never return!" Yukizome walked to the back of the classroom while both of her hands on her waist.

"However, you don't even care about your classmates." "You kids are all..." "Rotten oranges!" She point her fingers at the students, "huh?!" Mahiru, hiyoko, and fuyuhiko let it out at the same time while mikan let out an 'eek!'.

And there's—

"Rotten oranges?" Sonia ask, as yukizome scolded the students, "meaning that you guys can't continue like this!" She pointed her fingers again, "let's go and bring back all your rotten friends!" "We're going to take back your lost youth!"

And just like that they looking for their classmates.

Time skip.

As they found peko, "alright! Four more to go! The door of youth is right before our eyes!" "Are we still continuing?" Mahiru ask, hiyoko is complaining and teruteru being a pervert as usual getting hit by bamboo sword by yukizome.

"Now, the next one should be them?"

As they walking "i know they should be around here..." as yukizome look at her notebook and the rest is following from behind, "when he's involved, nothing good ever happens to me!" Kazuichi complaining while he rub his back of hos head with he's hands.

And then there's a truck and hit him everyone shouted his name.

And there, a two persons standing infront of the vending machine, "that's weird..." He keep pushing the button, while the girl nodded, "i put in a thousand yen and pushed the button, but nothing is coming out." And he stop pushing the button, "im so unlucky." He sigh, "the machine is probably broken." The girl said while rubbing his back for comfort.

He realise something falls from the sky, he grab (h/c)nette head, pulling her head to his chest and the other hands on her waist, the girl seems okay with it, and a truck falls from the sky hitting the vending machine, and machine let out a sound showing that he's got the lucky one, the drink's start to come out from the vending machine.

They still hugging each other while looking down at the machine, "what, i really am lucky afterall!" Nagito komaeda the ultimate lucky student and (y/n) (l/n) the ultimate prodigy's after prodigy's, they both release the hug and start to pick up the drink's.

As they picking up, y/n want to pick up one cans someone grab it first and hands it over to y/n, she look at her with no motions at all "here." Yukizome keep her hands still (Y/n) takes the cans out of yukizome grip slowly.

As they arrive at the class, nagito laugh, "you wanted to meet a scum like-" (y/n) hit the back of nagito head, everyone sweatdrop at (y/n) actions, "stop saying that your a trash." Nagito look at (y/n) with his hands rubbing the pain on the back of his head and laugh.

Yukizome lift up her left arms "alright! Now there's only two left." She slammed with hands to the teacher desk, "everyone get yourselves ready!", "Eh?! Im exhausted! My legs are broken!" Mikan walked up to hiyoko and ask if she was alright, and ofc hiyoko scolded her.

Yukizome tell the class to start cleaning the classroom, mean a while she looking for the two students, everyone starts to clean.

Time skip.

As yukizome return with chiaki and ryota, everyone done cleaning, "yes, we'll keep going like this tommorow, too!" Yukizome said with cheerful tone, "tommorow as well, you said?" Gundham open his one eyes and look at yukizome "in this school, as long you have talent, i heard you were free to choose whether to attend class." Gundham continue.

Yukizome cross her hands "true, that's what the school rules said, but..." (Y/n) bring her attention from looking outside to yukizome with a blank eyes no spark at all, yukizome place her one hands to the desk, and look at everyone "there's more to life than just a talent. Interacting with others will build a Character and help you make a memories." "Let's help make something more important than talent shine - Your hope" yukizome continue her speech.

"Hope? That's sounds wonderful." Nagito said with a closed eyes smile, and then he put a normal face and bring he's hands up to his chin and sais "but... I already have one... Well, more hope for me, can't believe you guys-" nagito look at everyone, he was confused by everyone come to silent, no one said anything and then—

"HUH?!?!" Everyone shouted at the same time, yukizome, teruteru, kazuichi, mahiru, hiyoko, sonia and fuyuhiko walked up to nagito and asking who is it, "wah! Who is it, nagito?" Yukizome ask him with excitement "what?! Can't believe you got one before me?!" Kazuichi breakdown "no one want you, you know." Hiyoko said mean things to kazuichi, "have you do 'it' with her?!" Once again teruteru got punch by yukizome.

Nagito laugh at everyone behavior and point to someone and say "that's my hope if you asking." They follow his fingers lead them to.....

"(Y/N)?!?!"

(Y/n) once again look the window and then shift her attention to everyone with bored eyes "what?", And everyone keep asking the same thing with nagito to (y/n).

And of course (y/n) answer the questions one by one, and then she stop, she got up from her seat walk to the window, open it, and jump out of it.

Everyone shouted except nagito, as a future husband childhood friend (+ best friend) he walked to the window, but first he bow to the teacher and everyone else, and joining (y/n) everyone look through the window to see if they are okay.

The fact that they're fine from falling us shocking, everyone sigh relief and packing their stuff and go to their dorm

For (y/n) and nagito, they didn't life in a dorm, they life together outside the campus, peacefully, no shouting, no chaos, as they walked to their house, the classmates minus chiaki and ryota, don't forget about yukizome, following them, as (y/n) and nagito stol walking "well this is our stop." Nagito grab (y/n) hands and kiss it.

(Y/n) look at nagito action, she avoided nagito face because her cheeks is reddened a bit, "let's go, what are we waiting for?" Nagito ask her with a warm smile, the group who spy them is dying, especially kazuichi and teruteru.

Nagito step closer to (y/n), grab her right cheeks and slowly lift her head to Making her look at him and....

Everyone look at them intensely wishing them to kiss, it's obviously nagito noticed it, although he was originally want to kiss (y/n) but not in the public, (y/n) open her mouth a little and close her eyes.

Nagito bring his face close to her, they're not kissing, only a small gaps between their lips, and yet their breath becomes heavy, they stay for a while like that, holding each other really close and then they parted away.

The group is currently crying, they can't handle it so they back to their own dorm, and then nagito took a chances to actually kiss her, (y/n) look at nagito who is not looking at her, she follows where's nagito was looking and see their classmates walking away with tears and yukizome who is crying, shouted 'youth' repeatly with both arms up.

The couple looks at them sweatdrop, nagito hands still gripping on (y/n) cheeks and waist, he brings his attention to the women who he's holding, moving his hands from her cheeks to the back if her head and start kissing her jawlines.

(Y/n) shocked and covering her neck and look at nagito, "w-why did you do that?" (Y/n) wanted to back up but nagito hands still on her waist, "hm? Oh, just.. forgot it." Before (y/n) can answer that, a pairs of lips touching (y/n) lips, pulling her to a kiss by nagito.

(Y/n) eyes shot open, shock for a second and then giving in, and finally they parted away, nagito smiled at (y/n), he let go her cheeks and grab (y/n) hands, walk in to the house.

I'll make a part two out of this

[jackkodiac]

Oh boy this is fun. Extremely long post ahead. Beware of ooc drama.

@holydestruction

"If someone has an issue with another mun, please do not send yourself ‘‘anons’‘ or have your friends send ‘‘anons’‘ as an excuse to try and attack/punish other muns."

Neither I myself, nor any of my friends know who sent the ask. I avoided answering it for 3 days because Ollie and I had not finished discussing the final outcome. I went into Ollie’s DM’s SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE of this ask to try to finally clear the air and have some kind of answer. The ask made me uncomfortable, and the 2 previous ones had as well. It had been sitting unanswered for 3 days before everything blew up. 

"Once someone has blocked me I keep it at that and respect their wishes, and i normally don’t give a fuck about the petty vagueposts on here--in fact, check my rules for how i generally approach situation."

Please show me where I apparently vagueposted about anyone??? I didn’t even tell my closest friends about the problem until today (5/2/2020) when I was informed of this callout post, let alone make vague public complaints about you OR Ollie. I blocked you knowing you would likely block me soon anyway. 

"However, if someone is coming up to me saying that people are posting things like this, and bringing private matters public while spreading misinformation then I’m going to respond."

No I’m pretty sure I didn’t air any dirty laundry, unlike you? I spoke the truth; in the end I did not get a choice. I got an ultimatum. And I dropped the subject after that ask. Good to know you have someone stalking my blog for you though.

You posted a screenshot of my ask response; a request to have the subject dropped bc I was hurt by a situation I couldn’t do anything about. How horrible of me.

"Hi yeah since you blocked me and Ollie is rarely on Tumblr any more cause of this exact shit right here, and you’re trying to vilify the mun OVER FUCKING WORD BARBIES, I’m stepping in to tell you top stop playing the fucking victim when I have chat logs of you trying to hold Ollie emotionally hostage."

Like I said, I blocked you knowing you would block me eventually anyway. I blocked him too, because I figured the same thing. He specifically stated to me in his last Discord message, and I quote: “After this conversation, I really do think it’s best that we don’t talk again.” So I blocked you both to deter the possibility of accidentally engaging with either of you again. As. Requested.

Also, it hurt knowing you have full reign to npc his character when I was denied even the possibility of npcing a *background relationship*. So yes. I blocked you. I could not forsee us ever interacting in a positive manner, so I cut my losses.

I am not sure how you think I’m “playing the victim” as if I wasn’t also hurt by his words and actions? There were no winners in this argument and you blaming all of it on ME is the actual vilifying.

Also good to know that wanting to talk about something instead of being told I have to end it on the spot with no explanation is “holding someone emotionally hostage.” I guess I will just have to avoid discussions with people ever again bc talking ooc is evil now!

"Ollie tried multiple times to contact you over this issue because they wanted to stay in contact."

This is actually true! Ollie contacted me to talk about general things as well as the topic of our characters a few times over the last month. I did the same thing just as often. He would contact me to say hi and ask how I was doing, we would small talk. I would contact him to show him pictures of my cat bc he liked them! We would small talk. Occasionally we actually would start to discuss things. Then we would either get busy, go to sleep, or have to go to work, and the discussion would end. Other times we had to stop because one or both of us was too stressed out over various factors and the topic was strenuous.

"Every time, you brushed them off begging Ollie not to have them break up because, as you stated, that was the only thing you had to look forward to that made you happy."

I did not brush him off EVERY time. Sometimes we started to get somewhere. He asked to stop talking just as often, if not more times, than I did. And while I did say the ship was ONE of the only things I was looking forward to, I did not say it was THE only one. The epidemic has been stressful on everyone, and with both of us being “essential workers” the external stress is even harder. I enjoyed having something to talk about when I got off of a hard day at the warehouse. I wasn’t ready to let go of that when HE even offered to have them work it out in the first place. 

"You then ghosted them for days that rolled into weeks, and Ollie would have to contact you AGAIN."

Correction: I left Ollie ALONE for days at a time, after he would request it. He would leave my messages unanswered just as often? But I didn’t complain about it, because that is something he has always done. We don’t always have time to stop and talk. He would get stressed out and I would drop the subject AT HIS REQUEST until he brought it back up. I think that is actually considered respecting someone’s space.

"Do you know what that is, acyl? That’s putting the responsibility of YOUR HAPPINESS onto OLLIE over a FUCKING ROLEPLAY SHIP, ACYL."

And yet, his choice to make both of us retcon/cut down months of character development between both our muses ISN’T putting the responsibility of HIS happiness on ME? Ok. If you say so.

"Ollie explained to you now stressful and anxiety inducing roleplaying had become, and how miserable they were roleplaying this character for reasons that I’m not getting into and don’t matter right now. The point is, ollie explained how they felt."

And just as many times, I expressed that he did not have to continue writing. He said he was leaving tumblr and going to restrict rp to Discord. I said Ok I can work with that. He said he wanted to drop the character. I said Ok I can work with that; I have had many partners drop muses or leave the rpc before, and this issue has NEVER arose in all 5 years I have been writing this blog. The characters have either been killed off by the original mun or allowed to be npc’d in a background relationship. (Ie, implied that they occasionally hang out or talk. No large modding of anyone else’s characters.) Not once has someone started a huge ordeal over this.

"You then got MAD AT OLLIE, and LASHED OUT because Ollie deleted their blog, and told them that OLLIE SHOULD HAVE CONSULTED YOU FIRST???? AS IF YOURE ENTITLED TO THEIR BLOG??"

I was never once mad at Ollie. I was shocked and hurt by the last message Vwig had dm’d to Crow on tumblr before Ollie deleted the blog. I was concerned for Ollie over what had caused this sudden change. I had just gotten off an 8 hour shift at work and seen the aftermath, and I went into Ollie’s DM’s on Discord asking what was wrong. The previous night, when the characters had been fighting, I asked Ollie multiple times ooc if he was ok. I asked if he was bothered and he told me no multiple times. He said it was all ic and he was perfectly fine. I dropped it and the next I heard from him was THAT. I asked what was wrong, what had happened. I was concerned for my friend who just previously said he was ok. He said he didn’t want to rp vwig anymore and we started to talk about what to do since he was leaving the community. Not once did I say he had to ask my permission to delete his blog. I asked why he didn’t talk to me first about what had upset him, but I did not tell him he had to have my permission.

"YOU DO NOT OWN ANY RIGHTS OR GET TO HAVE ANY SAY IN WHAT OLLIE DOES WITH THEIR PROPERTY, NOR DICTATE WHAT OLLIE DOES WITH A HOBBY MEANT TO MAKE THEM HAPPY AND RELAXED. YOU DO NOT HAVE THAT CONTROL OVER OLLIE."

At no point did I ever express that I did. I expressed concern over his change in demeanor. 

"You DO NOT get to do nothing but guilt trip Ollie to try and make them do what YOU WANT. You DO NOT then get to try and use anger to INTIMIDATE Ollie into doing what YOU WANT. You DO NOT get to ghost Ollie after they try to reach out, and pin the blame on them. You DO NOT get to try and vilify ollie because YOU DIDNT GET YOUR WAY."

Good to know that expressing my own discomfort, and concern is suddenly all of these things. Good to know that trying to find out why we can’t work things out all of a sudden is manipulative.

Good to know that internalizing my pain over this fight and going out of my way to avoid talking about it to literally anyone in order to avoid vilifying him in any way is me trying to make him look bad.

"Ollie stated why they were uncomfortable with you NPCing their relationship, and it is your responsibility to RESPECT it. Even if you disagree, it is THEIR CHOICE."

Just as well, I stated why I was uncomfortable with retconning months of writing and development. But apparently it is not his responsibility to respect that and try to come to a compromise. I am the one supposed to only respect him and not expect him to respect me back.

TLDR; You claim I am out here slandering and defaming someone I have never once mentioned in public about a private issue. Yet you name drop and vilify me in a callout post, yourself. You are being a hypocrite, and I would appreciate it if you did not mention me again. Have a nice day.

[cursedserpenthq]

The Cursed Serpent has now been open over two months. I want to thank you all for making the first two months of this adventure so enjoyable. I am such a lucky admin to have reliable members who truly care about their roles, this group, and the other members. You all are so compassionate with each other ooc, are overwhelmingly inclusive, bring creativity to the group that I never could have dreamed of, and make being an admin so much easier. Your feedback, participation, and constructive criticism has made the group even better, and I can’t wait for all of the months to come! 

With all that sappiness out of the way, I have a few upcoming IC updates and some admin business to make note of. I know this post is lengthy, but it’s important. Please like the post once you’ve read it in full. 

IC Updates & Upcoming Happenings:

The votes are in and the next Jewel our crew will hunt down is the Water/Weather Jewel! As one of the crew members is a mermaid who was once part of the colony that protects the Jewel, I’ll be working with them to plan out the protection and the journey. While the path to the first Jewel was straightforward, the rest of the hunts will not be so clear. From now on, the journeys will take more time and include more twists, turns, and dead ends!

As you all are aware, we finished the main portion of our intruder plot about a week ago. The intruder will not reveal how to work the Memory Jewel to the crew. (After all, we have to give the crew some challenges when it comes to the Jewel itself!) Instead, the crew will embark on a journey to find someone who can help them work the Jewel properly. More information about this will come after our roles get a chance to rest and relax at Port Royal. 

Speaking of Port Royal, the crew will arrive this coming Sunday (May 10th OOC). On Sunday, you’re free to post starters set there. Feel free to continue and finish any threads from the ship. 

Our next discord event will likely take place the week of the 17th to give everyone time to get a few normal/non-event threads in during Port Royal. 

The lore has been updated with information from answered questions and plotting discussions in the discord as well as IC developments. A always, you’re welcome to ask lore questions and submit suggestions both in the discord and to the main. 

Admin Business:

With the state of the world right now and the stress all of us are under, I have done my best to be extra understanding when it comes to activity,  holding limited threads, and not posting opens. However, I’ve noticed that this is starting to impact activity on the dash. Please be aware that after this post is made, I will be looking at all character accounts weekly to make sure that no one is bubbling, opens are being posted and replied to on a regular basis, and that no one’s posting pattern suggests that they are only posting last minute to avoid being placed on the activity check. We are a group with a three day activity limit, and that will not change. This is the second time that I’ve needed to make an admin note on this topic, so from now on, official warnings will be given to those who are consistently breaking the activity rules. Of course, real life happens to all of us, me included. As you all know, I suffer from a mental illness, and even I have days where I simply cannot post. That’s okay. You’re allowed to need a day off. There are days where you’ll only feel like replying to one person for whatever reason. You are allowed to take hiatuses and not give me, or the rest of the group, a reason for it (as long as you let me know that you need the hiatus.) All I ask is that you communicate with me if you need to be off the dash for three or more days or if your activity will be spotty for more than a week, just so I know that you’re not starting a pattern of posting to avoid the activity checks. I appreciate and value all of you and want you to be here. If there’s someone or something on the dash that is making it difficult for you to post or hurting your muse, even if it’s me, a plot, an event, etc. - please come to me. I’ll do my absolute best to help figure out a solution. 

On the topic of coming to me with issues, I’ve been approached by a few members with the very valid concern that the pacing of the rp, even given our three day activity limit, has been too fast and is impacting the members’ ability to not only complete threads for the group wide events and plots, but also impacting their ability to complete personal plots. I hear you, I understand, and I’ll be making adjustments to the timing of events and plots going forward to help make sure everyone can tell their stories without feeling rushed. We will always be a group with regular plots and events, and because of our three day activity limit, we move faster than some other groups, but I do want to make sure that everyone has time to complete their threads and that they do not feel pressured to rush things. That’s not fun for anyone, and the point of rping is to have fun! With that being said, please remember that just because there will be more time between big events and plots, that does not mean your activity needs to come to a halt. There’s plenty to write about and tons of personal plots I know all of you have been developing! The point of the slightly slower pace is to ensure you all have time to tell stories, so make sure you’re taking advantage of that!

Additionally, I’ll be doing my best to give you all more information about plots and events beforehand and when they start. Hopefully, this will also help with the pace of the group and give you all an opportunity to tell your role’s story more fully without having to worry about when the next big issue will be dropped in and change everything. It should also help you all work your roles’ personal drama and storylines into the overarching plot.

When volunteering to help with group wide plots, or even just plots with other members, please be mindful of your time restraints and personal limits. Of course, there are some instances were we all believe we will have time to do something and then we realize we don’t. That’s okay. If that happens, please respectfully let the main or, if you’re helping with a specific character’s plot, the mun know so that we can make different plans and adjust. If you volunteer to help with someone’s plot, or if you ask for volunteers with a plot, please make sure you’re communicating with one another so that no one feels stuck or like they’re letting someone down. 

I personally think as a group we have done a good job of welcoming new members. I see the effort you all put in to make others feel welcome, and I appreciate it so much. I would love to see this continue. So, remember, even if you don’t love pre-plotting and prefer to jump in and assume connections/go off chemistry instead, make sure you’re answering opens, posting opens, and interacting with new members. We are a small group, so everyone knows everyone, and there’s no reason that your character wouldn’t know someone else on the ship or wouldn’t have some reason to interact with them. if there’s an issue that’s making you feel uncomfortable answering or posting opens or reaching out for plots, please come to the main ASAP so we can figure out a solution! 

Wooo, okay that was a lot! Thank you so much for sticking it out and reading the entire post. Remember to give this post a like! 

[rookieskrp]

ROOKIES, WE’RE HIRING!

Here we are again with our old friend the mod application! This is Carly coming to you, milking my ability to make these announcements while it’s still my job. This time...we’re looking for my replacement! I’m (half) kidding; I have a lot of responsibilities in Rookies and have been here for a very long time, so we don’t expect anyone new to take over that role. Lari will largely be stepping up as far as the relations role goes, but we need someone to help fill that space I’ll be leaving come the 2nd of April. More than that, we need to get Lari some help with her current responsibilities so she can take over mine with as little stress as possible. We’ll cover what exactly we’re looking for below!

We’re looking to add at least one more person-- possibly more -- to the team. 

Want to help?  Here are a few requirements:

You have to be willing to work with the current team. The admod team is a group effort and it will fall apart if we’ve got in-fighting. If the idea of working with any of us doesn’t really sound good to you, then this probably isn’t the job for you. If you don’t have a problem with any of us and are just nervous, we’re all understanding and excited to expand the team, so we’d encourage you to apply! You’ll also need to be okay with one of your ideas getting turned down. We’ll never turn down/change ideas without a good reason and we’ll always be happy to explain why we think things may not work, but if you’re going to get offended over us saying “no” or asking you to change something or put something on hold, then we’re going to have a hard time working together.

New mods will have a HUGE impact on RK, but won’t be reforming the RP. Whoever’s on the admod team will, of course, have a large effect on the RP. However, there are certain aspects of the RP that won’t change. If you’re trying to become an admod to remold the RP into something it isn’t, it’s not going to work out.

Drama is inevitable in RP, and RK admods field more of it than the average leadership team because of points and auditions, etc. Applicants need to be able to remain levelheaded in the face of conflict or problems arising. RK operates on a strike system, and in order to hand out strikes, all active staff members vote on whether something brought to our attention is strike-worthy or not. Applicants need to be willing to look over collected evidence of conflict and drama presented, and vote at the very least, if not screenshot and diffuse drama themselves. On top of this, they need to be able to stay calm and reasonable even when they get the same question 50 different times from 50 different members, and no matter who approaches them, and they need to be self-aware enough to know when to step back and hand an issue over to another member of the team. Don’t worry; we won’t throw you to the sharks when you first start off, and you’re welcome (and recommended) to point any drama out to one of the more experienced mods and let us handle it until you learn the ropes. Regardless, any potential admods need to remain collected and as unbiased and kind as possible in conflict, no matter who they’re dealing with, and be willing to act and maintain the peace in Rookies as things come up. They also must refrain from addressing any drama publicly, because the way an admod acts in drama influences the atmosphere of the roleplay very directly. We’re very serious about this-- any admod vague-tweeting or anything of the like will be subject to removal from the team.

Obviously, applicants need to be able to set their own personal biases aside for auditions and things like that. Because we’re a group, we can easily check each other on this, but if we see that someone is consistently pulling just for their own and/or their friends’ characters, it’s not going to fly.

Availability is important. You won’t need to be on every single day- however, you’ll need to be able to dedicate at least a few hours each week to mod duties. Keep in mind that the main and two of the staff team are currently in the GMT-5 (EST) timezone. Bianca is in GMT-3, Ume is in GMT-7, Lari is in GMT+1 and Keith is in GMT+8, so clearly we’ll consider people from any timezone as potential mods, but sometimes timezones can make communication complicated. It would be most convenient if any potential mods could be online when at least one other staff member is for easy communication and accessible assistance, but we usually read through any chats we miss due to timezones, and we’ll be able to make anything work.

Reliability! We’re looking for people who plan on being here for the long haul.

You’ve got to be able to keep a secret. As a mod, you’ll often know about stuff that’s coming down the pike before the rest of the directory, and you can’t tell anyone- even your friends. You’ll also need to keep how decisions were made a secret unless the team agrees to share details with the public, no matter how many people hound you for answers.

You’ve got to have a pretty good grasp of the RK rules. If you don’t already know them super well, don’t worry- you’ll learn quick. Just keep in mind that you’ll need to get familiar with them if you aren’t already.

So, what kinds of tasks will new mods be accomplishing?

It depends! On the current team, we all have our own roles and cover all the bases pretty well, though we’ve also done some rearranging based on the roleplay and the team’s present needs. Because this system has worked so well for us, it’s something we intend to keep up. The tasks new mods will complete largely depend on what you want to help with, and what tasks we feel will suit you best after reading through your application. It’s also possible that you may need to pitch in to help on tasks you wouldn’t normally complete if a certain mod needs help with their usual responsibilities, so some willingness to be versatile would be a great quality! Here’s what we do as mods and will be enlisting your help in, though no single mod should have to do all of this at any given time (that’s why we’re expanding the team!):

MONITORING THE DASH: This includes keeping an eye out for any rule-breaking (both IC and OOC) and reporting it to the mod chat as needed, as well as keeping an eye out for any good gossip for rknetizens/idolators! You also might have the opportunity to write gossip articles from time to time, or help with the many articles that go up on rknetizens weekly. With a dash as active as Rookies, and with as many characters as we have in a roleplay, we’re in desperate need of more eyes. This is always a hard job to keep up with, especially with Tumblr recently breaking so you can’t easily go forward and backward on pages of the dash anymore (Mod Carly’s preferred way of doing things.) The more people that can help with this, the better, as it’s something we always end up sacrificing for the sake of other aspects of the roleplay and something we think Rookies would really benefit from. 

DISCIPLINE: As mentioned earlier in the post, at the very least, you’ll be voting in what we call “strike trials” to determine when we need to take disciplinary action or not. We’ll also likely have you take screenshots of any drama you spot to aid in this process, and to let the mod chat know of any issues ASAP. To start off, the more experienced mods will do the disciplinary heavy lifting. As time goes on and you gain more experience we’ll probably share the responsibility of confrontation with you, and may even ask you to write up a dreaded strike message based on who’s available. We’ll never force you to do this if you aren’t comfortable unless you happen to be the only mod around in the face of a drama emergency, but if you’re willing to do this, it’ll put you ahead of the rest of your competition for this position. Lari will take charge of this when Carly leaves, but this is undoubtedly the area Carly had the most involvement in and the area we’ll be lacking the most once she leaves. It’s really important that we at least have someone willing to collaborate on the right course of action to take in dealing with drama, and important that you’re willing to help field some of this alongside Lari eventually, even if it’s not all the time.

UPDATING LISTS/GENERAL UPKEEP: This includes idol rosters, as well as the secret (not so secret now…) lists we have for muns and potential scandal information we collect. Aside from that, we also run advertisements for Rookies in the KRP tags from time to time, and you can help fill up that queue too. These are incredibly easy to forget about and can be monotonous work, and both the mun list and gossip list are currently quite out of date and in desperate need of help. This is one of the top responsibilities we need help in!

GENERAL OPINIONS, IDEAS, AND LOTS OF COMMUNICATION: The most important (and hopefully easiest) thing for a new mod to do is contribute lots of ideas, and give the current staff feedback on their ideas. Just having you present as someone to bounce ideas off of and having another perspective around is a huge help to us, so we’ll often ask you what you think about something, and how you think the best way to go about something is, and we want you to be honest! I’m an incredible vocal mod, talking in our chat all the time, and the chat will likely be a lot more quiet without me. I really want somebody willing to communicate a lot so it feels like the other mods aren’t missing a person on the team in this regard at all!

HELPING WITH CASTING DECISIONS: A lot of times, the current staff members in charge of casting events may go through it without enlisting your help, but sometimes you’ll be able to help! This might mean we’ll need you to read a bunch of solos and tell us your thoughts, other times this means we’ll just need you to go around and put all the contestants’ points into a Google Doc to speed up the process, or do some math. Other times, we may talk it out as a group the whole way through, and conspire on the best way to make a decision together. Because we have lots of staff members available to pitch in here, we won’t often need your help with this, and if you have a muse participating in the auditions or would rather not be part of the decision-making process for any reason, that’ll always be optional. This is an area we don’t need help in, but it’s listed here just in case!

WRITING AND SENDING OUT PROMPTS: Sometimes, we’ll send prompts out from rkevent to characters. This can be for a variety of reasons; most commonly, it’s for disciplinary action for trainees IC, though it can also be for special opportunities, including street casting or feedback from the judging panel about auditions. There was even a time that 50 prompts were sent out during evaluations, and a set of auditions where we sent out around 50 total prompts as well. Naturally, these things can take a lot of time, so we may have you help in writing these, especially if we have a lot to get to! More commonly, though, we’ll just have you do some of the monotonous work of sending out the prompts to everyone. Any prompts you do write will have to go through a more experienced staff member first, at least while you get the hang of writing from the perspective of the RK companies! This is once again a task that isn’t that important for you to do, given how many others we have available to write these.

And what kinds of things are new mods less likely to handle?

FINAL CASTING DECISIONS: As mentioned above, while we might enlist your help in the casting process, the more experienced staff members will make the final call here. This may change in the future, but to start out, you won’t be doing any casting on your own.

COMING UP WITH RK-APPROPRIATE EVENTS: Gab and Bianca do a great job of covering this as our event team, and you shouldn’t need to help with this beyond pitching any ideas you’d like and reading some things over for them or offering any input they might need from you.

THEME AND GRAPHICS: Since we currently have a graphics mod, everything that falls under this area is a job largely accounted for, though more experience on the team certainly wouldn’t hurt! You can definitely offer graphics and theme suggestions as well, and may even get a chance to do some, but don’t expect to be the main theme or graphics maker on the team!

DEALING WITH THE MAIN: This is a bit of a strange task to list as something new mods are unlikely to handle, but our current team has this on lock, so you don’t need to focus your energy on this at all unless there’s an emergency and no one can handle a queue.

VERIFYING POINTS: This means checking each of those verification forms the trainees turn in to make sure they’re properly filled out and that nobody’s cheating, properly tagging the submissions, and posting them in a timely fashion, however, Kyle and Keith handle this currently and don’t need any extra help.

Anyone who’d like to apply should send a submission to the main.

This is what we want to know, in as much or as little detail as you think is applicable (and if you know us, some of us write a lot, so don’t worry about boring us):

1. Do you meet all the requirements? (Any area you’re a little worried about or particularly confident in? Feel free to let us know) 2. Is there anyone you would be uncomfortable working with? (Currently on staff or otherwise. Please be honest! The last thing we want is to accidentally hire two new mods that don’t get along.) 3. Of the mod tasks listed, which are you most interested in taking on? Which ones would you rather not do? 4. Do you bring anything else to the table that isn’t listed above? 5. Is there anything else you’d like to say about why you want to be a mod and why you’d be good at the job? 6. Imagine you’ve been tasked with messaging someone who hurt another member in the group. This deed wasn’t deemed severe enough to warrant a strike, but the team agreed someone should talk to them about it so they know they were in the wrong. Take a stab at typing up your message to them. Feel free to make up specific details of this case, or be as vague as you’d like. Don’t worry about being perfect with this if you aren’t particularly comfortable dealing with drama; just do your best. 7. Extra credit: Imagine you’ve been put in charge of planning an RK event. It can be any kind of event from a monthly eval to an audition to a holiday celebration to a vacation/retreat (such as the language camp back in the day or the summer camp, more recently)- whatever you think of! Write up everything that would be needed for the event, start to finish. This includes both public posts as well as behind-the-scenes information (for example, if there’s a contest element to the event, how will we choose a winner?) If events aren’t really your thing, feel free to think outside of the box here and write up a potential rknetizens or rkidolators post, or come up with some other kind of suggestion. In fact, since our event mods are in tip top shape, we’d rather something out of the box! 8. That’s it; thanks for applying! Now, tell us your zodiac sign (sun, rising and moon) and MBTI type, or another fun fact about you. (This won’t affect your chances of getting the job, Mod Carly is just nosy and will never have a better opportunity to ask than this.)

Please send your mod applications in by midnight at the end of March 25th. We’ll be taking our time to go through everything, to decide, and to prepare to have you on board, so we can’t give you an exact date for when we’ll announce the new staff. If you’re chosen, however, we’ll let you know before the announcement goes up. Thanks for all of your support and interest in advance!

[ice-cream-nekogirl]

Young Love and an Episode of Friends (Bakugou Katsuki x Reader x Shinsou Hitoshi) PART 3

I had been asked by this person here @soseoky for a part 3 just to let our parents know that we’re alive and well and I thought ‘That’s actually a pretty good idea’ so I did it! :3 

Summary: Things are mostly normal now that you’re back home from Hell... but Bakugou and Shinsou are even more hostile towards each other than ever before. And your classmates can’t get enough of it. 

BTW SORRY FOR ANY OOC-NESS!!

Featuring: Lord Explosion Murder!! AAAAAND Our Fave Emo, Purple Boi!

You were a hundred percent sure that not many people can say that they escaped from Hell and lived to tell the tale. Yet here you were, telling the tale to your teachers, your classmates in the General Studies, Principal Nezu and unfortunately to some of the media to let the world know that you’re not dead.

And here you were now, returning to your house to your parents after watching a LOT of Friends with all of your friends that you thankfully reunited with, especially Bakugou and Shinsou. They walked you home since it was late and despite the fact that Aizawa was still pissed at them, he did let them go with you to take you home and let your parents know that you were alive.

You inhaled and exhaled deeply when you knocked on the door, a little bit nervous to see your parents after being gone for a week. And your world practically stopped as soon as your mother and father opened the door, their eyes going wide in disbelief when they looked at you. They were shocked, and yet overwhelmed with emotions as your mother teared up and started to sob, instantly engulfing you in a tight hug as your father quickly joined in. You realized how much you had missed them though when they hugged you so tightly and you closed your eyes and quietly cried as you hugged them both back. Bakugou and Shinsou could only watch the scene before them, neither boys would say it outloud, but seeing the reunion that they mostly made possible felt… really nice…

This is what heroes did. They rescued people and created moments like this for civilians and the free. And it meant even more since they saved someone that they both loved and cared for dearly.

Which is why your father had to reluctantly thank them. Well… he reluctantly thanked Bakugou, he kinda liked Shinsou but didn’t care for your childhood friend that much. But he owed it to the ash-blonde for bringing his child back home.

“I can’t ever thank you enough Katsuki… I knew that you and Shinsou would be able to save my (Y/N)… you… you saved my baby...” Your mother was more trusting of Bakugou, as she remembered the happier times when you and him were closer, even if his attitude started changing when you both started growing up. However, after nearly losing you and realizing just how much he truly did care for you, Bakugou planned on trying to rebuild that friendship you and he had in the past.

“What are friends for…?” Bakugou spoke softly, which shocked the hell out of you since he wasn’t the type to talk so soft. But he WAS in front of your parents after all…

“I always knew that you and (Y/N) had a special friendship~. I never doubted you for a minute.” And of course your mother had to point that out and making you and Bakugou blush rather horribly. “Mooooom!! I JUST came back from the dead! Don’t embarrass me!!” You whined and tried to hush your giggling mother. She always did think that some day you would eventually fess up to Bakugou and get with him. To put it simply, she sensed that perhaps you and Bakugou would have that beautiful childhood friend romance because of your quirky attitude and Bakugou overall having a soft spot for you. She thought it was adorable.

“Tch! That’s why I saved her!” Bakugou was quick to exclaim, still blushing heavily as he scowled and grunted, “Because we’re friends…” He added as fast as he could, hating just how red his cheeks felt and not seeing how annoyed your father and Shinsou looked.

“And I will forever be grateful to you Bakugou…” Your father on the other hand, was a lot sterner with your childhood friend and not as fond of him as your mother was. He wasn’t aware of how Bakugou treated you, but he did think he was a bad influence and didn’t like his attitude. 

“You too Hitoshi. You brought my daughter back to me… that’s something I will never forget…” He favored Shinsou, and as much as he didn’t like the idea of his child getting into a relationship with someone yet, he would hope that you ended up with someone a little kinder and more respectful like Shinsou. Him, he liked and thought he was a good lad, and didn’t discriminate against him for his quirk at all, finding it actually very useful for a hero.

Shinsou seemed to know that though, and he couldn’t fight the blush warming his face as he rubbed the back of his neck, “It was no problem… (Y/N) is… also my friend.” He said rather calmly, and you couldn’t help but smile and pat him on the back, “Hee~. Yes ya’ll sure are~.”

Of course, you were none the wiser, and just happy to be back with your family and your best friends. And you had no idea what your parents were really discussing when you had gone upstairs and let both boys follow you.

“Isn’t it romantic…? Katsuki is a softie for her… I can’t wait til she winds up with him… ever since they were little, I knew there was something between them…” Your mom had fawned a little bit, even though it was visibly annoying your dad.

“Sure… but Hitoshi’s a good kid. He and (Y/N) get along well, and they were in the same class together. He’s helped her study and focus on her studies.” Your dad was almost smirking when he thought about how well you got along with Shinsou, and at how your mom looked a bit annoyed now.

“Hitoshi is a very good kid, and an excellent friend to (Y/N)… but she’s had a crush on Katsuki since they were both 6…” She retorted, but your dad just chuckled, “She’s grown up since then though… and obviously she likes Hitoshi’s company…” He added, which actually made your mom smile and giggle a little bit. It was clear whose team they were on, but they knew that in the end things would work out somehow. Since both these boys did care for you and love you, warts and all.

All that mattered though was that their child was back home, safe and sound.

I’LL BE THERE FOR YOU~

Things went mostly back to normal for you, and your classmates asked you a shit-ton of questions that you quickly answered. The attention was nice at first until people wouldn’t leave you alone and so you waved them off and just went back to your thing…

Some of the nastier students called you names like ‘Hell Girl’ or ‘Zombie Girl’, but since those sounded really cool, it didn’t really bother you. You cared more about what you were going to watch at home rather than what your lame classmates thought of you…

“I have to catch up with SO. MUCH. Things you guys…” You had complained to Midoriya, Uraraka and Iida as you met up with them in the hallway and chatted with them a bit.

“Whaaat? Surely they have to let you off the hook after what you’ve been through!” Uraraka instantly gave you her sympathy, “She’s right! After such an ordeal, you deserve some recovery.” Iida might have been a stickler for the rules, but you came back from hell. Even he thought that warranted a little bit of a break…

“I know right…? I was already in Hell, it feels like they’re trying to make this a new Hell for me to live in…” You chuckled and made a joke about your ordeal, but didn’t really see that it made your friends a little bit uncomfortable and concerned for you.

“If you want… I can help you with most of it (Y/N). You shouldn’t be doing homework after everything you’ve been through.” Izuku was so sweet to offer to do your work for you, but you chuckled and shook your head. “Izuku… god you’re a sweetheart and I love you but… I can’t make you do that… I’m just going to milk this for all it’s worth and just relax… as I always do.” You reassured your friend, and even though he was concerned, he still smiled at you.

And the four of you chatted away as you all entered the dorms. You might not have had a room here or even lived here but Class 1-A treated you like an honorary member since you got along with a good majority of them.

“Hey Shitty Girl.”

Bakugou surprised you by greeting you the minute he saw you enter the common room and even approached you and he growled at Izuku to back off, obviously not wanting your other childhood friend near you. Izuku got the message though and nervously giggled as he backed away, knowing that something definitely changed in Bakugou after you came back from the dead.

But you were hella surprised, since it’s been such a long time since Bakugou came to you. You were the one who had to go to him first. “Ohhhhh, Katsuki hey~.” You smiled widely at him though, more than happy to see him again as you brought your arms out to hug him. And adding to your surprise he LET you hug him and even softly hugged you back as soon as Izuku, Uraraka and Iida had left you both to yourselves.

Hugging you made him realize how much he had missed your hugs, so he held onto you even if the hug was just friendly, taking in the warmth of your body now that he knew that you were back, alive and well. He swore to himself that he wouldn’t treat you like garbage anymore; he’d still be his normal self but he wasn’t going to be as awful as he had been. You had no idea what was going through his mind, but he felt so nice and warm, and he smelt fresh of soap after finally having a shower.

Today was going better than you thought…

You even managed to talk to him, and he actually talked with you. Bakugou saw how much you were smiling, and it was both annoying and endearing, obviously he was aware that you were surprised by how much he started talking to you. He wouldn’t admit it, but he felt kind of guilty for that…

“I was just talkin’ to Izuku about the extra homework I gotta do... and I’m thinking ‘I was already in Hell, should I really be doing homework after that…?” You had asked with a little chuckle and Bakugou scoffed, “Are you just gonna use that fucking excuse for the rest of your life?” He asked you in his casual tone, no malice in it though and you could tell as you laughed.  

“YES! Because who else do you know has actually been in Hell and came back dude?”

Even though you were so cheerful and nonchalant as always, Bakugou wasn’t comfortable at all with how you casually talked about coming back from the dead and escaping Hell. It was terrifying enough to have been taken and held hostage by the villains, but thinking that you were dead for even a second with no hopes of you returning, and realizing that you were trapped in hell had scared the wits out of him. He couldn’t talk any shit though, since he never talked about how he felt during his own ordeal with the League of Villains and brushed it off whenever someone asked him about it.

And yet he hated that you were doing exactly that…

Maybe he had gotten somehow even more protective of you, but at this point he didn’t really care. There’s no way anything like that was ever going to happen to you again.

“Tch… let me see your damn homework later... it’s probably not even hard...” He muttered to you, and you couldn’t help but clap your hands cheerfully. That was more or less his way of saying that he’ll help you with it...

Meanwhile...

“They’re SOOOOOO cute together~! Bakugou LOVES her so much~!” Mina had started gushing to her other girl friends and the rest of the Bakusquad over you and Bakugou when she saw you both walking together. “Yup… if that’s not a crush I don’t know what is…” Jirou gave a little smile and agreed.

“Bakugou’s always liked her… even when he said he didn’t. I mean, I didn’t like how mean he could be to her at times, but I knew that it’s cuz he just sucks at showing how much he cares about her.” Kirishima actually knew Bakugou pretty well and how the guy functioned. He was well aware that Bakugou cared a lot about you, and how much he sucked at showing it…

“But Bakugou just sucks at anything involving feelings.” Kaminari kind of snickered though. He had flirted with you a little bit, and Bakugou always made him back off by threatening to blow his face off, so that was proof enough for the electric blonde that he might have had a thing for you. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they started dating soon…” Sero remarked with a smile. He had gotten along with you pretty well, and you talked with him the most of the Bakusquad and he knew that you definitely had a crush on his volatile classmate.

In short, the Bakusquad was feeling pretty positive about their leader’s chances with you.

At least until they saw you go into the kitchen…

And before Bakugou could attempt to follow you, he saw Shinsou…

The purple-haired teen stopped when he realized that he was being stared at. For a moment their eyes met and their stare turned into hostile glares… before they both quickened their pace to go and try and get into the kitchen with you first.

Mina, being the snoop that she was, had followed the two and hid behind the corner along with Kirishima, Kaminari and Sero. “Seriously…?” Jirou shook her head though at their antics, being the sanest member thus far…

You had no idea you were being followed though, all you wanted was to steal the Oreos (that you brought for everyone) and take them with you to a room to watch a movie at. But since you were sure that you must have been alone, you decided to try something dumb…

And so you bent over backwards a bit and placed an Oreo on your forehead, making sure that it was balanced. Focusing your eyes and balance as much as you could, “C’mon… c’mon… c’mon, c’mon, c’mon…” You held your tongue open, carefully moving forward to let the cookie fall at hopefully the right place, but instead of landing in your mouth the oreo slid down your nose and instead fell to the ground…

Your eyes widened as you felt a twinge of despair and disappointment upon seeing the poor cookie and all it’s crumbly remains on the ground. “Argh… dammit!” You exclaimed in frustration, mourning the Oreo somewhat childishly but perked up as soon as you saw Shinsou coming in.

“Wow… you look really busy…” He knew the weirder, sillier things you often did, and trying to catch oreos was one he was all too familiar with.

“Hitoshi~!” You had no idea that you were being watched by a few others as you quickly went over to hug the brainwashing teen. Mina, Kirishima and Sero were kind of shocked, but Kaminari was actually looking quite proud of Shinsou… he always knew that he had a crush on you. Despite how distant Shinsou was to him, Kaminari eventually got through to him and they became friend-ish with each other.

“Hey.” Shinsou replied to you casually with a little smile as he hugged you back. Hugging you felt right to him, especially since he was so much taller than you so it was like you were a perfect little fit. You were so soft and warm, akin to a kitten. And you kind of liked how tall he was, it was a safe feeling to hug your dear friend and you hummed contently when you nuzzled him a bit. You didn’t see his smile turning into one of his trademark smirks when he saw how PISSED Bakugou looked the second he walked into the kitchen. “What the hell are you doing here Eye-Bags?” He asked him roughly as the two of you pulled away.

“Katsuki~.” Of course, you knew that he was annoyed, but you nonetheless smiled just seeing him. Even though you sensed that an argument or some form of bickering was probably going to happen.

“You’re one to talk… you came in here too. And I don’t think I need permission to grab a snack. We’re not in elementary school anymore are we?” He asked Bakugou somewhat snidely, earning even more annoyance from the latter. Ever since you became friends with Shinsou, Bakugou’s had nothing nice to say about him and became twice as hostile towards him. You knew that these two didn’t like each other, so you tried to be as calm as possible. “Hey now… have an Oreo you two. They make everyone happy… they’re like so bad for you but dammit they’re so fucking good…” You held up an Oreo and kinda offered it to whoever took it first. Bakugou wasn’t one for sweets though…

“No shit… you eat way too much of those fucking things…” He wasn’t criticizing you or anything, but he was slightly annoyed by your… less than ideal snacking habits. It didn’t help that Shinsou did take the Oreo you had out.

“They’re very bad for you… and yet they make you feel as if they are good for you.” He said, and actually did eat the cookie you gave him, and you grinned and gave him a thumbs up, “You said it brother!”

Shinsou didn’t smile much but seeing you again and having you back was arguably his biggest reason to smile. Somehow you always got a little smile out of him, “Are you just going to steal them all again?” He asked you in amusement, knowing how fond you were of these snacks.

“Well I DID buy them ‘Tosh… and you know me, I’m a bit ‘cookie’ for these cookies.” You pointed at him with a grin, laughing at your latest pun which just irritated Bakugou and amused Shinsou.

“Oh my fucking god just stop it!” Bakugou quickly shouted at you for such a lame pun, as he often did. Your sense of humor was so corny it was stupid… almost stupid-funny.

Okay… THAT’S your worst pun to date…” Shinsou then remarked, even though the truth was he thought your dumb jokes were funny…

“You love them… both of you do!” You pointed at them both cheerfully with a big laugh, not exactly seeing how these two exchanged brief little glares. “But to answer your question ‘yes’, I’m going to steal these cuz I’m still celebrating my resurrection… after spending a week in a suffocating, dark, cold and bloody place that was my own Hell, I’m trying to take it easy…” You sounded like you were a little troubled, and the truth was you were and both your friends could tell as a flicker of concern blinked in their eyes. They really didn’t like thinking about how you suffered in that Hell, and so they both wanted to make sure that you were safe and felt comfortable… and yet it lead them to competing and trying to be there for you first.

“And so after re-watching all of Friends for the 10th, today I’m just gonna make the big decision of whether I should just binge-watch a Netflix show or watch a horror movie before Endgame~.” And yet you suddenly went from troubled to excitable when you told the guys your plans.

“You idiot…” Bakugou shook his head, clearly amused by what your idea of celebrating was, as was Shinsou. If there’s one thing they could agree on at all, it’s that they both found you endearing in your own… odd way. Not that there was anything wrong with you being odd, that was simply you.

However, neither one of you could tell that you were being listened to and partially spied on. Not just by the Bakusquad, but the Dekusquad too as Izuku, Uraraka and Iida refrained from going into the kitchen when they heard you, Bakugou and Shinsou talking…

~~I’LL BE THERE FOR YOU~~

“They’re going to see a movie together!”

After seeing you and Bakugou talking together again, Mina went straight back to gushing about you and Bakugou to the rest of the Bakusquad, as well as Yaoyorozu and the other girls, including Uraraka and Tsuyu.

It wasn’t like 1-A to indulge in gossip, but it was comforting to talk about their classmates especially after the latest ordeal they had to go through with losing you for a moment. “Guess Bakugou’s got a date.” Kirishima smiled wide just thinking about it, obviously happy for his friend as were Kaminari and Sero.

But not everyone was happy for Bakugou…

“That damn Bakugou… he’s the scariest one and yet he’s the one going out with a girl!” Mineta cried and bemoaned how the most violent and aggressive one in his class had managed to go out with someone. “It’s not fair… it’s so not freaking fair…!”

“Well Mineta, Kacchan and I have known (Y/N) since we were kids… she’s always kinda liked him…” But Izuku felt sorry for Mineta, so he attempted to justify the possibility of you going out with Bakugou, however neither him or the others expected some of his classmates to put their two cents in.

“I don’t know Midoriya, I mean it’s obvious that she has feelings for Bakugou but… to be honest… Mineta almost has a point… Bakugou isn’t really approachable, nor does he put any effort into such, not even with (Y/N), or you for that matter.” Tsuyu pointed out a very clear truth that surprised her friends and classmates, especially Mina and Kirishima.

“She’s right! I’ve seen how he’s treated her before this, he was so mean to her!” Uraraka supported Tsuyu’s statement by adding what she’s witnessed between you and Bakugou. “She’s told me about him too… honestly, some of the things he’s said are just uncalled for…” You and Uraraka were pretty good friends, so you tended to vent to her and Tsuyu about things that frustrated you, whether it was school or Bakugou…

“They’re not wrong. (L/N) and Bakugou’s relationship is like Ross and Rachel’s. Constantly on and off and somewhat dysfunctional, which isn’t really a good thing.” Todoroki agreed with both Uraraka and Tsuyu, even if he referred to Friends to describe your relationship with Bakugou. But hearing Todoroki of all people allude to Friends is what really shocked everyone…

It was official, you had successfully converted Todoroki to Friends.

“Well… okay yeah he’s not a saint, at all… but I saw the way he looked at her when she came back… and when he took her back home last night… I’ve never seen him look at anyone else the way he did her. I think he’s gonna try and be nicer to her from now on.” But Kirishima had to defend his friend somehow, even if he didn’t condone how Bakugou treated you before the ordeal.

“Maybe, but it took an ordeal like this to make him appreciate her more.” Tsuyu quickly stated after Kirishima’s heartwarming outlook on his buddy, “That’s correct~. And not only that… but compared to Bakugou… one other person was there for her every time she returned to our plane…” Aoyama really surprised Tsuyu by also supporting her side, and they all knew who he was talking about. “Shinsou Hitoshi. And it is especially because he has feelings for her… and deep down… I can see that there are some feelings for him that she may have~.”

Now that surprised everyone… except for Uraraka and Tsuyu, they had a hunch that Shinsou might have had a thing for you, and that you might have had some subconscious feelings for him too.

“Yeah! I don’t know Shinsou well, but I’ve seen him talk to her a lot! And she’s told me a lot about him too, how he’s a lot nicer than he acts. To her maybe, but still!” Uraraka was certain that she found out who’s team was on…

“Oui… their chemistry is undeniable… I knew it as soon as I heard them singing Brendan Urie’s songs together.” Aoyama definitely knew whose team he was on though, being a romantic at heart he thought that Shinsou would be a better match for you.

“Well…! That might be true, but she likes Bakugou! And he likes her too! I just know that those two are gonna wind up together somehow! He’ll be like the scary badass who defeats all those who dare try and harm her! And he’ll whisk her away into the sunset!” Mina was definitely for you ending up with Bakugou, and so was Kirishima.

“That’s right! Bakugou’s growing up and improving himself for her… like a true man!” It was no surprise that Kirishima was Team Bakugou, but Uraraka and Aoyama weren’t going down without a fight.

“Well maybe (Y/N) doesn’t need a badass who can threaten to beat up all of her enemies for her. Maybe (Y/N) would like to have someone to watch movies with and sing songs with and someone who will wait patiently for her when she comes back from a spiritual realm.” Uraraka’s feisty side was showing, which was kind of scaring Izuku.

“U-Uraraka…”

“Bakugou waited for her too!” Mina made sure to remind her that Bakugou waited for you to return, but Aoyama had a rebuttal, “Maybe. But before the ordeal, Shinsou never discouraged her from using her quirk and instead made sure she always returned safely.”

“He just wanted her to be safe! Her quirk is… it’s scary man you saw what happened! It’s more dangerous than I thought… I can’t excuse the way he acted before, but he knew her quirk had its drawbacks… and he wanted her to just be safe…” Kirishima wasn’t trying to necessarily defend Bakugou’s actions, but he understood why his friend wasn’t comfortable whenever you descended into the spirit realm.

However, bringing up that traumatizing moment did shut everyone up for a minute. Kirishima honestly had a point, but Bakugou shouldn’t have been so hard on you about it. Still, the memory of watching you just disappear like that haunted them as Izuku, Uraraka and Kirishima started trembling just remembering it…

Everyone was now a little bit calmer after hearing that, “I understand… but… I’ve seen how happy she is whenever she talks about Shinsou and every time they hang out. So… I’m sorry Kirishima, but I’m on Team Shinsou.” Uraraka didn’t go back on what she felt, but she was a little bit calmer now.

“And I’m on Team Bakugou!” But Mina thankfully brought the energy back to the room as she crossed her arms determinedly, “So am I.” Kirishima was on her side, and his friend’s side, he knew Bakugou would treat you better now. He had nothing against Shinsou, but he knew how you felt about Bakugou…

“I am also on Team Shinsou~.” Uraraka was relieved and thankful that Aoyama was on her side, even if it was over just a little bit of a shipping thing.

But this just made the others, especially Izuku extremely worried. Now he definitely couldn’t pick sides because Bakugou was his childhood friend and he liked Shinsou a lot. He would rather you just decide whoever you wanted and whoever you felt would make you happy. He wasn’t comfortable seeing his good friends just looking at each other like this was something worth challenging each other though…

“I respect your opinions you guys, but… it’s too bad (Y/N) and Shinsou are already watching a movie together~.” Although they came to a civil conclusion, Uraraka had to giggle and reveal what you and Shinsou were doing together.

“What?!” Mina perked up with wide eyes, seeing that as an opportunity to do some good old-fashioned meddling, “Not for long…!” She declared with vigor and pointed at the girl before she promptly took off running out the common room, “Hey! Wait up!” Kirishima followed her, wanting to somehow help her in getting his friend to get a moment with you.

“Hey! Ohhh… those two!” Uraraka huffed and squealed indignantly, but Aoyama put his hand on her shoulder, “Do not worry… I have a feeling that this will all work itself out~. (Y/N) will choose who she loves the most in time…” He said softly and optimistically to reassure the girl, and really surprised Uraraka.

Aoyama was so much more insightful than he let on wasn’t he…?

~~I’LL BE THERE FOR YOU~~

“BAKUGOU!!”

It’s like his classmates liked irritating him as the ash-blonde growled just hearing the loud screech coming from no one other than Mina, “What the hell are screaming for Raccoon Eyes?!”

“Uh… well dude… I don’t wanna tattle-tale but…” Kirishima felt a little bit bad, and couldn’t really say It, but Mina could, “Shinsou’s getting comfortable with your girl!!” She exclaimed rather loudly, making both Kirishima and Bakugou flinch, the latter because he heard Shinsou’s name…

“What?!” He shouted even louder than earlier, and the first thing he did was march over to wherever the hell Eye-Bags’ room was. “Go get her!!” Mina practically cheered him on, but the very angry explosive teen was too pissed to even care, “Shut up you! And she’s not my girl!!” He didn’t turn to face her because he started blushing…

You weren’t his girl! But that didn’t mean he wanted Shinsou with you at all...

No fucking way!

To be continued...

[ts-virgil-angst]

17 with Patton? Oh my gosh.

TW: trauma, yelling, deceit (he’s not in it much but he’s still there), mutilation (mostly talk), anything else just shoot me an ask

Genre: idk man there’s just a lot happening here.

Word Count: 3270

Summary/Prompts: “AmI The Villain?”

Notes: It’s a long one lads so buckle up. This one will also have no sequel. Probably. It kind depends on if I can think of anything else. Also Logan’s OOC because I’m rusty.

—–

Patton wasn’t sure there were many positive things Master Roman had said about him. There was, of course, the odd day when he was feeling lenient with his affection. And Roman was always giving him praise. But as for honest to goodness, heartfelt positive compliments? Those were few and far in between.

However! Patton was pretty sure Master Roman always meant it when he called him a hard worker. That was something Patton had always been and prided himself in. He was always there when it mattered most. In fact, that was just what he had been saying before giving him his mission for the day.

“Go to the other side of the wall,” Master Roman was saying, the rooftop breeze swaying his hair. Somehow, he never managed to look anything but regal. “Bring me any intelligence you can gather in a day. Do not disappoint me.”

“As you wish, Master.” Patton bowed deeply before turning on heel, the wings on his shoes springing out he leapt off the building, soaring through the air.

It always amazed him, every time he did it, just how beautiful the city was. Almost entirely made of large, grand buildings and statues. Gold and silver and platinum lined each structure gracefully and seemed to stretch on for forever. Patton would never get tired of looking at the city from above. There was something about a bird’s eye view that made it so much more to him. Seeing everything that he had helped build was awe inspiring every day.

Master Roman had a vision for the world to be beautiful. He was very set in his way and standards for what he considered beauty. Patton was just lucky enough to fit the bill.

Patton sighed, his good mood waning as he approached the Wall. Built nearly as tall as Master Roman’s Command Tower, the High Wall kept out all of the Unwanted. The Unwanted were, well, unwanted. They were unwanted by unwanted by society, unwanted by themselves, and most importantly, unwanted by Master Roman.

He braced himself as he set down on the Wall, taking in a deep breath of filtered air before slowly letting it out. The other side of the Wall was…sub-par to say the least. Everything was low and flat to the group. Houses, unlike in the Command, were squat little shacks that looks like they’d be knocked over with gentle breeze. The buildings here barely hit two-stories, and everything was drab and grey. Patton could hardly bare the barren and dying fields the Unwanted called home, but if Master Roman wishes it, then he would endure it. Besides, it wasn’t all bad.

With one final breath, he stepped over the edge, sliding down the smooth white structure before letting the wings of his shoes come out as neared the bottom. Dust was kicked up as he landed, and Patton let out a meek cough. No matter how many times he had to come out here, he was never used to the low quality of air.

As always, like a prophet, Virgil was standing there, ready to greet him. Even when Patton had first started to come out here for Master Roman, Virgil had been there at the Wall, greeting him and sequestering him away to a quiet place. Even though Patton had never met him and couldn’t be sure of his trustworthiness, he was sure that he could take care of himself. As gentle as he tried to be, he was more than capable of being tough.

“Welcome back,” Virgil signed, a small smirk on his face. As always Patton worked not to stare at the scars on his neck. Near as he could figure, something had attacked Virgil when he was younger causing him to become mute. That was one of the things that they silently agreed on: no personal questions. “Have a nice trip down?”

“You leave my shoes alone.” For whatever reason, Virgil liked to rag on his flying shoes. It wasn’t his fault he could fly on his own; only a few people were born with magick in their blood and sadly he wasn’t one of them.

Together they moved out of the open field surrounding the houses close the wall, moving toward the main street, then moving quickly into the closest house. He knew as well as anyone it was better he not be seen by most of the residents. It was best if he didn’t have to fight them—especially so early into his trip here. Even if he were to change out of his nice clothes or hide his clean hair, there was still something inherent about him that would let anyone know he was from the Command.

“So, how have you and the hubby been?”

“Logan?” He smiled again, shutting the curtains and plopping down at the kitchen table, kicking out a chair for him. “He’s fine. Still not your biggest fan.”

“But are you even a fan?”

Patton knew that he could, he would laugh. “Not particularly.”

“But you put up with me anyway,” Patton sang, furiously batting his eyes. Virgil rolled his, leaning back in his chair. “So, what’s new here?”

“You always ask the same question and I give you the same answer: nothing. It’s the same shitty hovel as always.”

“And you always know that that’s not at all what I mean.”

“Actually, there was something I wanted to tell you.” He stopped for a second, looking out the window. There was a shuffling sound coming from the door. “Watch out for Logan—” The door slammed open and Logan was silhouetted by the for just a moment. “—he’s a little pissy with you.” And in that moment, Logan rushed from the door, faster than Patton thought he could possibly move, and punched him out of his chair.

The impact sent him flying across the room and crashing into wall, shaking the entire house. Logan was there, above him, his glasses askew from the punch, gripping his shirt and pulling him up. “You have some nerve showing your face here.” He said through gritted teeth.

“Logan,” Patton kept his voice calm and level as he spoke. “Please let go of my shirt.”

“Not until you tell me what the hell that asshole you call a leader is doing to us.”

“I don’t know what you mean. Let go of my shirt.” In his peripherals, Patton could see Virgil get up from the table and close the door, the natural light falling away.

After a moment, Logan let go him, stomping away to the other side of the small house. “Your stupid, ignorant, self-involved, narcissistic sociopathic dipshit of a leader has started to send his armies here. It’s so subtle that most people wouldn’t notice, but I’m sure you’d recognize the little government peons if you saw them, wouldn’t you?”

With a flick of his hand, colorful smoke began to tumble out from his palm forming images—images of people he recognized. There was Dee, the creepy man in charge of tactics. There was Joan, Roman’s main source of entertainment, though Patton wasn’t quite sure what they did in terms of the army. And, of course, there were dozen move faces he recognized from the militia even if he couldn’t put names to faces. Weirder still, they weren’t in uniform. They were disguised in baggy, grey-brown clothing, dirt smeared and a little ragged.  

“I—I don’t—”

Logan clenched his fist, the smoke disappearing with it. “You don’t what? Understand? Then let me spell it out clearly for you: Roman is planning on trying to wipe us out. Again.”

“I—I—”

Virgil clapped drawing both of their attention. Without Patton even noticing, he’d moved from the door to the table again, sitting with his legs swinging. “Patton, you’ve never personally done anything to hurt us, but we won’t hesitate to fight you if need be. I know you worship the ground Roman walks on but understand that the reason I can’t speak is directly because of him.”

“What do you mean?” Patton was reeling. There was so much to take in from just that one image. This shouldn’t have been happening. There was no reason for Master Roman to do something like this.

Logan started pacing, hands opening and closing into fists as he walked. “When Virgil was younger—when we were children—Roman himself came down from his tower to slaughter us himself. Virgil was lucky, I supposed. He was only mutilated.”

“No, I-I don’t believe you.” His voice was shaking as he looked up at Logan. He was a lot of things, but for as long as Patton had known Logan, he’d never been a liar and was always offended when called one. And even now, the anger in his voice…there was no way he was faking it.

“Take off those rose colors glasses and see the world for what it is, you privileged jackass.”

Virgil hopped off the table, placing a gentle hand on Logan’s shoulder. He turned toward Patton, looking a little sad. “It’d be best if you left. We can’t risk a bigger fight breaking out here, so close to the Wall.”

Patton didn’t need to be told twice. He scrambled to his feet and was flying the second he got out of the door. Normally he walked away from Virgil and Logan’s place and closer to the wall before taking off, but this time—this time he needed to go. He needed to get as far away as possible from them and this place.

Even though he knew that Virgil and Logan weren’t fond of Master Roman, it was never explicitly stated. Never said in their many friendly debates about the Wall and Command because they knew Patton loved his home and his leader. He knew because no one outside the Wall liked Master Roman. Sure, he wasn’t the kindest to the Unwanted, but that wasn’t really his fault. The Unwanted were just unlikable by nature. Except for Virgil and sometimes Logan. But there were always excepts to the rules.

As he passed through the barrier, he landed hard on the wall, nearly twisting his ankle. He couldn’t be flying distracted, even if there was so much to think about just from that short visit. Virgil must have been mistaken though. There was no way Master Roman was so cruel as to mutilate a kid. There was just no way. It wasn’t in him.

Patton thought back to the sad look Virgil had given him as he Patton what had happened and when he rushed out of their home. The resigned look of someone who had dealt with pain and anger and was used to it.

Maybe… Maybe there was some truth to his story.

No, no! That couldn’t be. He owed everything to Master Roman. For his wonderful life and his good job and a home that didn’t lean or leak in bad weather. He had saved him from being an Unwanted. Saved him from that dreadful life. There was no way he could be a murderer let alone a child mutilater.

With two quick steps he launched himself from the wall, flying over the city once more. He couldn’t go back to quickly or else he’d have to face Master Roman’s anger, but he could hover around the city for a bit before returning.

As he flew over the city, admiring the want the gold glittered and the silver shined, he noticed something odd. People were generally everywhere this time of day. It was prime shopping time, the sun was in just the right position to provide enough shade to relax in outside, and there were always people outside practicing their magick. But right now, there was no one enjoying the shops or parks. There were just rows and rows of people on the main street in dirty clothes moving slowly.

He dropped to some of the lower building, peaking over the edge as quietly as possible without getting caught. Squinting, he looked over their face and then, with a gasp, pulled his head back over the edge. They were soldiers dressed as the ones he’d seen outside the Wall had been, imitating the clothes of the Unwanted.

No, no, no. This could have been. The Unwanted were a nuisance at best, taking up space that could be used for agriculture. But to send an army in disguise out…

This was Dee’s doing, he thought to himself. There was no way Master Roman would approve of such an underhanded tactic. It had to be him.

With his ankle still soar, ended up tripping over the edge, careening toward the group, but righted himself in time to land gently in front of Dee. He was heading the line toward the northern gate, sitting in a tent and going over some papers.

“A pleasure to see you as always,” Dee said before Patton could get a word out. “While I love your never-ending optimism and cheerful little notes, but I don’t have time.”

“What is this, exactly?”

Dee glanced up at Patton, smirking at his slightly haggard appearance. “Been crying recently? What over this time? Saw puppies that were too cute?”

Patton quickly wiped off his face. He hadn’t even realized he’d started crying. “No. Just… Just tell me what this is? If you did this without Master’s permission—”

Dee laughed; his head tilted back. “Without his permission? My dear Patton, I may not be as close to him as you are, but I am all about self-preservation.” At Patton’s blank look, he sat up in his chair, perusing the papers again. “No, Patton. He knows very well what I’m doing because he ordered me to do so. Of course, there’s no reason you shouldn’t know. Leo! Tell the next group to leave.”

“Why? What have the Unwanted done now?”

“What have they done? Nothing. They exist still, I guess. What’s it to you?”

“Nothing.” Patton turned on heel to leave, the new information whirling around in his head. It just didn’t make sense. For the longest time Master Roman had expressed no interest in it. He said that there was no way to use the people, so he couldn’t truly be bothered by them. That was what he had said whenever Patton came back from his visits. He only sent him over there to make sure there was no plans of breaking down the Wall. And for as long as he had been going, there had been none. Virgil wouldn’t have given him an explicit warning, but he would have done something to let Patton know—and he never had. They weren’t content to live the way they did, there was just nothing they could really do to change it.

Patton took to the skies again, suddenly conflicted about which way to go. For the first time, he wasn’t sure he wanted to go back to the Tower. For his entire life, he had never really questioned what Master Roman asked him to do and everything he did always felt so harmless. Check on the Unwanted. Give the army this tech. Take these shoes and keep an eye on the citizens. It never felt like what he knew it was now: espionage.

As much as it pained him, he knew what he needed to do. He flew back across the border, sneaking as quietly as he could manage. He couldn’t risk Dee seeing him on the Command side or the soldiers on the Unwanted side.

Quietly, he worked his way through the field, picking out Virgil and Logan’s house out of habit. He opened the front door closing it quickly behind him, only to feel a hand around his throat. His eyes barely had time to adjust to the change in lighting, but he knew it was Logan.

“You have some nerve showing your face here.”

“I—” Patton gasped, looking around the room, surprised to see more than Virgil. A few people he recognized from his fly-bys over the place and some he’d never seen before. “I know. I c-came to warn you.”

“About the army? Because we know.”

“N-No. There’s—” He tried to gasp again, but his vision was going dark, black blossoms blooming in his eyes.

He heard a clap and then suddenly Logan’s grip got tighter, then was gone. He crumpled to the ground, wheezing. Virgil appeared in front of him, a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Why did you come here?”

“There’s—” Patton let out a deep sigh. “There’s hundreds of them. Dee is letting them in, in small groups. Magick users, regular soldiers, and both.” At that he heard a few gasps around the room. “Dee is a highly trained tactician and he’s leading them. I’m sure he gave them instructions before sending them over, but I don’t know what it is.”

Virgil lifted Patton’s head up, gazing at his neck before sighing. “Why are you telling us this? You know that we won’t sit by while they attack.”

“I know. I’m—I don’t know. I guess I was hoping that warning you would help somehow?”

“Do you think this can make up for what you’ve done to help them?” Logan’s voice was full of venom as he spoke.

Patton looked up at Logan before casting his eyes down again. “No, I don’t. But I want to help. I want to be able to make up for my mistakes. I didn’t know that he was planning this.”

“Didn’t know or didn’t want to know?” Another person spoke up from the back. Patton vaguely recognized him as one of the few Unwanted who looked clean. His name-tag read Emile Picani.

“I didn’t want to.” Patton shifted folding his legs underneath making sure to keep his hands visible. “I never stopped to question all of the things I did. Or all of the terrible things I’d seen. I brushed them off, forcing myself to think that they were necessary. But they weren’t. Your trauma wasn’t necessary, Virgil. The constant policing of the people isn’t necessary, here and the Command. The aggression and wanton abuse everyone here feels and experiences everyday isn’t necessary. I never stopped to ask am I the villain because I was never made to feel that way.”

There was silence as he glanced around but Virgil was smiling. He was the only one, in fact, as he stood and held out his hand. Slowly, Patton took it, allowing himself to be hoisted from the ground.

Virgil didn’t let go as he signed, “Do you swear on your life you will help our cause? To help us in our mission and to do everything in your power, no matter the consequences?”

Patton couldn’t be sure if he would. Even though his view of Master Roman had changed, there was still a part of him that wanted desperately for what he learned to be a lie. He shook himself mentally. He had to do this—if only to make up for all the things that he had let happen.

“I swear.” As the words passed through his lips, he felt something burning on his on his skin, like words being cut deep with a knife. When Virgil pulled his hand away, a feather in beautiful rainbow colors was iridescently shining on his arm. It was beautiful.

In his head, a voice he’d never heard before said, “Welcome to the resistance, Patton.” Virgil was smirking, but unlike every time before, he could tell there was true joy and playfulness behind it—and it was then he knew the voice belonged to Virgil. “Welcome to the resistance.”

—– 

@wikkedwolff @mira-jadeamethyst @genderqueerwriter @raisin-oatmeal-cookie @finiteframe3 @frustratedwaffle @queerweare @zoeyheys @analogically-prinxiety @polysandershell @prinxietys @jadorefreedom @inalandofmythandtimeofmagic @thebaagelboy  @vampyrsarah  @deafinitelyfangirling  @agentflash18 @gaysaxaphone  @winds-and-stardust @the-laarmy  @cisnesincorbata @fugitive-angel @netzoflix @paragonofsophistication @angsty-anxxiety @kentato-kenreblog @hells-angel-hevens-demon @antisocialili @saltequeen @theanxofthethomas @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch @miniritzcrackers @ninjas-forever @citygjrl @maizieandbirds @thesmallestalien @stjernemaskin @deathshadowrules @nessie-drawgon @misty2-0 @kenanscloud @tea–ghost @massivehoagiepastahumanoid @aznasalon @lilreadergurl @fury-of-rome @spooky-ash-because-its-halloween @cosplayingdisn3rd @lunareclipse-13 @probablysomeproblems @choppedfestdelusion @julia-loves-cupcakes @aropicanipie @seukizuo 

[staliasjeronica]

Riverdale 3.10 Thoughts *Spoilers*

- Jughead deadass tried to make us think that Archie was dead when we knew for a FACT that he wasn’t. What a dick lol

- FRED SEEING ARCHIE AGAIN. MY HEART.

- So… it took you being attacked by a fucking bear… to realize that you should have come home/stayed home because Hiram is a crazy, whiny ass piss baby? You literally lost your girlfriend for that but great job you’re the last one to know baby

- VERONICA SEEING ARCHIE AWWWW MY POOR BABIES

- The fact that Archie thinks that he wouldn’t get recognized without red hair… lmao dude sometimes, somehow, red hair looks like brown (some variations of it, anyways, I’ve noticed) so your “disguise” is shit but we still love you baby

- Why would Archie think that Veronica would never want to talk to him? Just because he broke her heart doesn’t mean she doesn’t still care for him, or a part of her loves him. Probably this “new, darker” Archie that no one wanted. Literally the writers need to leave Archie alone he’s so precious and innocent and that’s why we loved him! Hopefully when we slowly get him back to normal he can bring Betty with him and make her realize what she needs in her life/love life and finally the show can rise to a slightly better show.

- I don’t like that Varchie have sex because of Reggie but for everyone hating on her… fuck OFF man she’s currently SINGLE so she can fuck who she wants… I just feel bad for Reggie bc my poor boy is going to have to watch Veronica make this hard decision of who she wants to be with and ultimately it may hurt him. And I don’t want that. But I don’t write the show so yanno what the fuck can I do?

- He got a root beer float so signify that he’s not the same Archie anymore (I’m guessing) uhhh alright sure

- “New vacant look in your eyes…” Jesus fucking Christ Jughead can you ever be considerate, like, ever? At least Betty is showing she truly cares about her future husband (because we KNOW they are endgame okay we KNOW THIS) 

- SO NOW THAT HE’S GONE THE SERPENTS ARE HELPING HIM? DUDE IF YOU WOULD HAVE SUGGESTED SERPENT PROTECTION BEFORE HE WOULD NEVER HAVE HAD TO LEAVE. I mean sure we needed to see a change to dark Archie (why the fuck was it a bear attack that did it though? A dream would have simply sufficed but sure) but wow you guys are horrible at plans if you come up with them wayyyyy too late

- I’m still mad at Jughead for sending Fangs deep undercover and risking his life to get his spot in the Serpents back. It’s clear that Jugrat has wanted to find someone to send in, but was too much of a whiny piss baby to ask, so he waited until he could pretty much blackmail/emotionally manipulate one of the Serpents and so he chose Fangs. (Also he did Choni wrong and Jugrat is dead to me until he finds some sense and ultimately ends up with Veronica)

- Can’t wait to see how much chemistry Archie and Betty have that Betty and Jugrat don’t

- I hate Betty but I feel bad for her about what her mom did. She’s so fucking mind washed and it hurts because the Alice we all know and love would NEVER do this shit.

- DADS OF RIVERDALE COMING TO INTIMIDATE HIRAM YES BITCH!!! FRED SAYING HE’D KILL HIRAM YES BITCH FP JONES NOT TAKING CONTROL/TAKING OVER FRED’S MOMENT YES BITCH

- Archie has to repeat Junior year? I mean it makes sense but I know the fear of not being able to graduate with friends… god lEAVE ARCHIE ALONE DAMMIT HE’S BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH

- REGGIE’S BIG ASS HAPPY ASS SMILE WHEN HE’S WALKING TOWARDS VERONICA I’M— HE’S SO FUCKING IN LOVE WITH HER MY HEART!!! He cares so much, she didn’t text him (because she was with Archie 😬😬😬) BUT HER PUSHING HIM AWAY MAKES ME SAD. I mean I know WHY it just HURTS

- “I get it, Archie’s back. Enough said” REGGIE FUCKING GULPED DOWN HIS EMOTIONS I’M SO SAD HE DESERVES THE WORLD.

- But also realizing that Reggie and Veronica were openly affectionate at school means that Betty and Jughead know? And they DIDN’T rat on her to Archie the second he came back? Mmhm ooc but thank GOD

- Oh yeah deadass forgot “Claudius” was a thing like he hasn’t been here for fucking years lmao

- See, this Hiram, the forceful “this is not a request” Hiram would have been a MUCH better villain than “I’m torturing this boy just for kicks” but wbk the Riverdale writers are on crack and can’t see/make a good storyline.

- We know FP becomes Sheriff which I guess will be good against Hiram and for the Serpent’s CRIMINAL ACTIVITY (fuck you Jugrat for not knowing how a GANG works you fucking idiot) but let me ask this… why the flying fuck aren’t they just giving SHERIFF Keller his job back? Like we know he knows how to be a fucking Sheriff so why are they going through the trouble of finding another one? Like what the fuck guys it’s NOT THAT HARD

- I wanted BARCHIE to study but BARCHIE AND JUGHEAD but I guess I’ll take what I can get

- FANGS MY BABY BOY. Thank God Barchie can be alone ❤️❤️❤️

- So because I don’t care about spoilers I already know who the Gargoyle King is (which I’ll rant about when it gets to that point) BUT IF HE KNOWS FANGS WHY DOES HE TRY TO FUCKING RECUIT HIM INTO HIS INNER CIRCLE LMAO *ps my baby Fangs looks so scared! If Jughead fucks this up and gets Fangs hurt I’m sacrificing him to Hiram myself

- “There he is” BITCH YOU CAN’T TELL ME BETTY IS SO FUCKING IN LOVE WITH ARCHIE LIKE WE NEVER SEE HIS THIS TRULY HAPPY!!!

- AWWW A WELCOME HOME/STUDY PARTY. Poor Reggie having to hear Veronica call him lover… but the angst… I’m here for it

- VERONICA SINGING IN SPANISH BITCHHH FUCK ME UP SHE SOUNDS SO FUCKING GOOD! But being able to see Reggie behind Archie reacting to Varchie is so angsty and incredible

- Archie having an anxiety attack my poor child LEAVE HIM ALONE JESUS CHRIST WRITERS

- See, this mind game shit that Hal does to Betty is where they should have gone. I mean, only that not the sudden ass black hood shit. THIS is a good villain. But they ruined it before it even began.

- Both Veronica and Reggie have a point. He’s different, but Reggie sweetie you gotta realize that he’s going through a tough time right now? I just know the writers are going to manage to fuck this up. God can’t they do ANYTHING right

- “You got some pretty big coconuts” ummmm what the fuck I didn’t realize Reggie was Cheryl… But again having Reggie get mad at Archie for having an anxiety attack is ooc and NOT THE FUCK IT Literally it pisses me the fuck off that they’re doing this to Reggie like sure he can be jealous but this is over the top and NOT IT THANK YOU NEXT

- “Hiram… no.” BITCH YES HERMIONE! Also I didn’t realize she had to appoint a sheriff but that still doesn’t answer my question as to WHY NOT SHERIFF KELLER? But the fact that she chooses FP is such a fucking “fuck you” to his Lodge saying last episode that I’m not going to search out lol.

- Hal being the OG Gargoyle King… wow… they really can only use characters they can make us hate, huh? But if he killed back then, why was he “normal” up until Betty’s stupid, somehow inspiring speech? IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE RIVERDALE WRITERS BUT I’M NOT SURPRISED

- Alice comes in every Monday? SHE WOULD NEVER. I mean of course rn she’s not in her right mind but he literally almost killed her? We know Polly was trying to get Alice and Betty to forgive him bc of her time with the Farm but come the fuck on why would Edgar want his “star recruiter and source of money” to visit her killer ex-husband

- I love how Fangs is getting more screen time but it’s scaring me because he’s not Betty or Jughead… and also what about his bEST FRIEND SWEET PEA. But Fangs looks so scared my baby!!! If anything happens to him… well you probably read what I’d do to Jughead

-What kind of fucking twig costume is that lmao and how is he making that weird growling sound (and why)

- SO FP AND JUGHEAD ARE HERE BUT WHAT ABOUT SWEET PEA WE KNOW HE’D BE HERE TO PROTECT HIS BOYFRIEND BEST FRIEND. Also we are NOT allowing another kid to be branded. We just aren’t.

- oh nvm he is here lmaoooo it’s okay I’m good now

- LMAO EVERYONE SCATTERS BUT THEY LEAVE THEIR KING AHAHAHAHA WHAT LOYALTY I’M QUAKING

- So didn’t we LITERALLY see Tall Boy die? I could have swore… or is this some mandella effect kind of shit

- So Jugrat what happened to “no crime” yet you kidnap a man and beat the shit out of him… so if he’s breaking his own rules lets kick him out YES LET’S DO IT But wow Jughead is so weak he can’t handle anyone calling Betty a bitch… even though she is…

- SO JUGHEAD GETS TO PUNCH HIM FOR CALLING BETTY A BITCH, RIGHTFULLY SO, BUT HE STOPS SWANGS FROM GOING OFF FOR KILLING THEIR FRIEND AND MOST DEFINITELY FANGS’ EX BOYFRIEND? Does Jughead deserve rights? let’s not discuss because that’s a BIG FUCKING NO

- REGGIE ON A DATING SITE MY BABYYYYYY he passed by all those girls bc he loves Veronica just saying :)

- First of all… Archie no sweetie you can’t cheat on your SAT’s… and Reggie just fucking spilled the truth oops

- NO JUGHEAD YOU CAN’T SACRIFICE YOUR “BEST FRIEND” but of course it’s going to happen…

- Did Betty just call Penelope “auntie” ummm no. Also Penelope gets screen time but Choni isn’t here to take their SAT’s? That is HoMoPhObIc

- “Are you one of those sickos who fantasize about serial killers?” Betty… your stupid ass does realize you’re basically talking about yourself, right? I mean obviously not in a romantic way that you’re insinuating but that’s still who you are. You and Jughead get your rocks off to serial killers and trying to solve them even though you’re shit at being detectives… but I’m all for going after Penelope so whatever

- Oh jk so it wasn’t Hal… damn my rantings about it are now void thanks Riverdale lol

- It’s funny how Betty never realizes these kinds of things despite how “great” she is at being a detective. She never gets anything until she’s told about it and that’s so fucking annoying. if you’re going to shove Betty (and Bughead) down our throats AT LEAST make her good at it

- “Because I will never be coming back here again” lmao we know Betty is going to come back like next scene lolol but alright

- RONNIE CRYING IN HIS BED MY POOR BABY

- It’s a good thing they didn’t ruin Archie by having him angry at Veronica. By him asking her to stay with him, we been knew that Veronica is one of his weaknesses. ALSO VARCHIE SEX MY BABIES.

- Am I just blind when tf did Archie get that cut above his eyebrow lol. Also he’s literally me taking a test aha

- “Why do you think I sent him instead of going by myself?” BECAUSE YOU’RE A COWARDLY CUNT THAT’S WHY

- Oh poor Hiram got shot… oh no… so sad… But if they think they’re making us believe he’ll die… we’ve literally seen him on set recently so this bitch ass of course will survive. Honestly just kill off who you’re going to kill off already and get it over with. I want to know if it’s worth it to watch the rest of this season!!!

- They’re really going to regress and make Veronica act ooc by thinking that Archie would actually try to kill Hiram… what shit heads. We know he’s going dark and wants Hiram dead but he would never ACTUALLY do it because he cares too much about Veronica. But also I know that’s her father but after everything he’s done why does she care that he got shot? I mean that’s like Betty watching her dad die… she wouldn’t care. But then again Betty is a mean bitch so her heart is darker lol

- SWANGS FREAKING OUT OVER ACCIDENTALLY KILLING TALL BOY AWWWW BABIES! But also does this mean Swangs didn’t take the SAT because Jughead made them babysit Tall Boy? I mean it makes sense bc Tall Boy would escape otherwise but my Serpent babies deserve a chance to get out of Riverdale. I’d want SP to become a doctor and yes slightly bc of his role in Hospital Show

— Imagine Sweet Pea becoming a doctor, and flipping off every person who told him he was just some lowly south side scum, and telling them he made it as a fucking doctor like come on I need this, he needs this

- Jughead doesn’t know what to do mmhmmmm great leaders need to be able to think quickly

- “Fangs sobbing” hey subtitles… STOP

- Fangs says “okay” as if “we’re gonna throw a party” makes absolute sense. What the… fuck? Also I LOVE my boys we know this but they KILL Tall Boy and Jughead’s okay with it but Choni steals an egg from his enemy and he kicks them out like a whiny bitch? Jughead is homophobic and we know he only kicked Choni out bc they could easily take over his Serpent King title lmao what a fucking loser, Jughead

- “Veronica and I broke up” um you broke up awhile ago just bc you had sex doesn’t mean you guys got together again but alright

- So speaking of Archie being on the run and breaking out of jail… why is he able to come back as if that didn’t happen? Wouldn’t they have a warrant out for him?

- SEE BETTY VISITED HER FATHER AGAIN.

- REGGIE COMING IN WITH A “CONGRATS IT’S A BOY” BALLOONS. HE REALLY LOVES HER SO MUCH HE JUST WANTED TO GET HER FLOWERS AND SHIT AND HE WASN’T PAYING ATTENTION I’M—

- Sweet Pea’s “woo” do I need to say more

- So now it’s canon that my boys drink alcohol but I’m definitely going to say it’s only for celebrations and shit okay? okay

- FP why the fuck would you scare them like that? Like, they get arrested for literally nothing and you roll up like a bitch… that was cruel

- Poor Fangs he’s so fucking scared… he can’t even be happy that he’s a part of the Serpents again (but ofc Choni doesn’t? Jughead you’re so fucking—)

- No… no you’re going to make Archie a fucking alcoholic? Really? Fuck Riverdale lives

- “It looks like a cell in here” FRED WHY WOULD YOU POINT THAT OUT TO ME NOW I’M SAD

[my-analogical-heart]

Am I The Villain? (Patton)

TW: trauma, yelling, deceit (he’s not in it much but he’s still there), mutilation (mostly talk), anything else just shoot me an ask

Genre: idk man there’s just a lot happening here.

Word Count: 3270

Summary/Prompts: “Am I The Villain?”

Notes: It’s a long one lads so buckle up. This one will also have no sequel. Probably. It kind depends on if I can think of anything else. Also Logan’s OOC because I’m rusty.

---

Patton wasn’t sure there were many positive things Master Roman had said about him. There was, of course, the odd day when he was feeling lenient with his affection. And Roman was always giving him praise. But as for honest to goodness, heartfelt positive compliments? Those were few and far in between.

However! Patton was pretty sure Master Roman always meant it when he called him a hard worker. That was something Patton had always been and prided himself in. He was always there when it mattered most. In fact, that was just what he had been saying before giving him his mission for the day.

“Go to the other side of the wall,” Master Roman was saying, the rooftop breeze swaying his hair. Somehow, he never managed to look anything but regal. “Bring me any intelligence you can gather in a day. Do not disappoint me.”

“As you wish, Master.” Patton bowed deeply before turning on heel, the wings on his shoes springing out he leapt off the building, soaring through the air.

It always amazed him, every time he did it, just how beautiful the city was. Almost entirely made of large, grand buildings and statues. Gold and silver and platinum lined each structure gracefully and seemed to stretch on for forever. Patton would never get tired of looking at the city from above. There was something about a bird’s eye view that made it so much more to him. Seeing everything that he had helped build was awe inspiring every day.

Master Roman had a vision for the world to be beautiful. He was very set in his way and standards for what he considered beauty. Patton was just lucky enough to fit the bill.

Patton sighed, his good mood waning as he approached the Wall. Built nearly as tall as Master Roman’s Command Tower, the High Wall kept out all of the Unwanted. The Unwanted were, well, unwanted. They were unwanted by unwanted by society, unwanted by themselves, and most importantly, unwanted by Master Roman.

He braced himself as he set down on the Wall, taking in a deep breath of filtered air before slowly letting it out. The other side of the Wall was…sub-par to say the least. Everything was low and flat to the group. Houses, unlike in the Command, were squat little shacks that looks like they’d be knocked over with gentle breeze. The buildings here barely hit two-stories, and everything was drab and grey. Patton could hardly bare the barren and dying fields the Unwanted called home, but if Master Roman wishes it, then he would endure it. Besides, it wasn’t all bad.

With one final breath, he stepped over the edge, sliding down the smooth white structure before letting the wings of his shoes come out as neared the bottom. Dust was kicked up as he landed, and Patton let out a meek cough. No matter how many times he had to come out here, he was never used to the low quality of air.

As always, like a prophet, Virgil was standing there, ready to greet him. Even when Patton had first started to come out here for Master Roman, Virgil had been there at the Wall, greeting him and sequestering him away to a quiet place. Even though Patton had never met him and couldn’t be sure of his trustworthiness, he was sure that he could take care of himself. As gentle as he tried to be, he was more than capable of being tough.

“Welcome back,” Virgil signed, a small smirk on his face. As always Patton worked not to stare at the scars on his neck. Near as he could figure, something had attacked Virgil when he was younger causing him to become mute. That was one of the things that they silently agreed on: no personal questions. “Have a nice trip down?”

“You leave my shoes alone.” For whatever reason, Virgil liked to rag on his flying shoes. It wasn’t his fault he could fly on his own; only a few people were born with magick in their blood and sadly he wasn’t one of them.

Together they moved out of the open field surrounding the houses close the wall, moving toward the main street, then moving quickly into the closest house. He knew as well as anyone it was better he not be seen by most of the residents. It was best if he didn’t have to fight them—especially so early into his trip here. Even if he were to change out of his nice clothes or hide his clean hair, there was still something inherent about him that would let anyone know he was from the Command.

“So, how have you and the hubby been?”

“Logan?” He smiled again, shutting the curtains and plopping down at the kitchen table, kicking out a chair for him. “He’s fine. Still not your biggest fan.”

“But are you even a fan?”

Patton knew that he could, he would laugh. “Not particularly.”

“But you put up with me anyway,” Patton sang, furiously batting his eyes. Virgil rolled his, leaning back in his chair. “So, what’s new here?”

“You always ask the same question and I give you the same answer: nothing. It’s the same shitty hovel as always.”

“And you always know that that’s not at all what I mean.”

“Actually, there was something I wanted to tell you.” He stopped for a second, looking out the window. There was a shuffling sound coming from the door. “Watch out for Logan—” The door slammed open and Logan was silhouetted by the for just a moment. “—he’s a little pissy with you.” And in that moment, Logan rushed from the door, faster than Patton thought he could possibly move, and punched him out of his chair.

The impact sent him flying across the room and crashing into wall, shaking the entire house. Logan was there, above him, his glasses askew from the punch, gripping his shirt and pulling him up. “You have some nerve showing your face here.” He said through gritted teeth.

“Logan,” Patton kept his voice calm and level as he spoke. “Please let go of my shirt.”

“Not until you tell me what the hell that asshole you call a leader is doing to us.”

“I don’t know what you mean. Let go of my shirt.” In his peripherals, Patton could see Virgil get up from the table and close the door, the natural light falling away.

After a moment, Logan let go him, stomping away to the other side of the small house. “Your stupid, ignorant, self-involved, narcissistic sociopathic dipshit of a leader has started to send his armies here. It’s so subtle that most people wouldn’t notice, but I’m sure you’d recognize the little government peons if you saw them, wouldn’t you?”

With a flick of his hand, colorful smoke began to tumble out from his palm forming images—images of people he recognized. There was Dee, the creepy man in charge of tactics. There was Joan, Roman’s main source of entertainment, though Patton wasn’t quite sure what they did in terms of the army. And, of course, there were dozen move faces he recognized from the militia even if he couldn’t put names to faces. Weirder still, they weren’t in uniform. They were disguised in baggy, grey-brown clothing, dirt smeared and a little ragged.  

“I—I don’t—”

Logan clenched his fist, the smoke disappearing with it. “You don’t what? Understand? Then let me spell it out clearly for you: Roman is planning on trying to wipe us out. Again.”

“I—I—”

Virgil clapped drawing both of their attention. Without Patton even noticing, he’d moved from the door to the table again, sitting with his legs swinging. “Patton, you’ve never personally done anything to hurt us, but we won’t hesitate to fight you if need be. I know you worship the ground Roman walks on but understand that the reason I can’t speak is directly because of him.”

“What do you mean?” Patton was reeling. There was so much to take in from just that one image. This shouldn’t have been happening. There was no reason for Master Roman to do something like this.

Logan started pacing, hands opening and closing into fists as he walked. “When Virgil was younger—when we were children—Roman himself came down from his tower to slaughter us himself. Virgil was lucky, I supposed. He was only mutilated.”

“No, I-I don’t believe you.” His voice was shaking as he looked up at Logan. He was a lot of things, but for as long as Patton had known Logan, he’d never been a liar and was always offended when called one. And even now, the anger in his voice…there was no way he was faking it.

“Take off those rose colors glasses and see the world for what it is, you privileged jackass.”

Virgil hopped off the table, placing a gentle hand on Logan’s shoulder. He turned toward Patton, looking a little sad. “It’d be best if you left. We can’t risk a bigger fight breaking out here, so close to the Wall.”

Patton didn’t need to be told twice. He scrambled to his feet and was flying the second he got out of the door. Normally he walked away from Virgil and Logan’s place and closer to the wall before taking off, but this time—this time he needed to go. He needed to get as far away as possible from them and this place.

Even though he knew that Virgil and Logan weren’t fond of Master Roman, it was never explicitly stated. Never said in their many friendly debates about the Wall and Command because they knew Patton loved his home and his leader. He knew because no one outside the Wall liked Master Roman. Sure, he wasn’t the kindest to the Unwanted, but that wasn’t really his fault. The Unwanted were just unlikable by nature. Except for Virgil and sometimes Logan. But there were always excepts to the rules.

As he passed through the barrier, he landed hard on the wall, nearly twisting his ankle. He couldn’t be flying distracted, even if there was so much to think about just from that short visit. Virgil must have been mistaken though. There was no way Master Roman was so cruel as to mutilate a kid. There was just no way. It wasn’t in him.

Patton thought back to the sad look Virgil had given him as he Patton what had happened and when he rushed out of their home. The resigned look of someone who had dealt with pain and anger and was used to it.

Maybe… Maybe there was some truth to his story.

No, no! That couldn’t be. He owed everything to Master Roman. For his wonderful life and his good job and a home that didn’t lean or leak in bad weather. He had saved him from being an Unwanted. Saved him from that dreadful life. There was no way he could be a murderer let alone a child mutilater.

With two quick steps he launched himself from the wall, flying over the city once more. He couldn’t go back to quickly or else he’d have to face Master Roman’s anger, but he could hover around the city for a bit before returning.

As he flew over the city, admiring the want the gold glittered and the silver shined, he noticed something odd. People were generally everywhere this time of day. It was prime shopping time, the sun was in just the right position to provide enough shade to relax in outside, and there were always people outside practicing their magick. But right now, there was no one enjoying the shops or parks. There were just rows and rows of people on the main street in dirty clothes moving slowly.

He dropped to some of the lower building, peaking over the edge as quietly as possible without getting caught. Squinting, he looked over their face and then, with a gasp, pulled his head back over the edge. They were soldiers dressed as the ones he’d seen outside the Wall had been, imitating the clothes of the Unwanted.

No, no, no. This could have been. The Unwanted were a nuisance at best, taking up space that could be used for agriculture. But to send an army in disguise out…

This was Dee’s doing, he thought to himself. There was no way Master Roman would approve of such an underhanded tactic. It had to be him.

With his ankle still soar, ended up tripping over the edge, careening toward the group, but righted himself in time to land gently in front of Dee. He was heading the line toward the northern gate, sitting in a tent and going over some papers.

“A pleasure to see you as always,” Dee said before Patton could get a word out. “While I love your never-ending optimism and cheerful little notes, but I don’t have time.”

“What is this, exactly?”

Dee glanced up at Patton, smirking at his slightly haggard appearance. “Been crying recently? What over this time? Saw puppies that were too cute?”

Patton quickly wiped off his face. He hadn’t even realized he’d started crying. “No. Just… Just tell me what this is? If you did this without Master’s permission—”

Dee laughed; his head tilted back. “Without his permission? My dear Patton, I may not be as close to him as you are, but I am all about self-preservation.” At Patton’s blank look, he sat up in his chair, perusing the papers again. “No, Patton. He knows very well what I’m doing because he ordered me to do so. Of course, there’s no reason you shouldn’t know. Leo! Tell the next group to leave.”

“Why? What have the Unwanted done now?”

“What have they done? Nothing. They exist still, I guess. What’s it to you?”

“Nothing.” Patton turned on heel to leave, the new information whirling around in his head. It just didn’t make sense. For the longest time Master Roman had expressed no interest in it. He said that there was no way to use the people, so he couldn’t truly be bothered by them. That was what he had said whenever Patton came back from his visits. He only sent him over there to make sure there was no plans of breaking down the Wall. And for as long as he had been going, there had been none. Virgil wouldn’t have given him an explicit warning, but he would have done something to let Patton know—and he never had. They weren’t content to live the way they did, there was just nothing they could really do to change it.

Patton took to the skies again, suddenly conflicted about which way to go. For the first time, he wasn’t sure he wanted to go back to the Tower. For his entire life, he had never really questioned what Master Roman asked him to do and everything he did always felt so harmless. Check on the Unwanted. Give the army this tech. Take these shoes and keep an eye on the citizens. It never felt like what he knew it was now: espionage.

As much as it pained him, he knew what he needed to do. He flew back across the border, sneaking as quietly as he could manage. He couldn’t risk Dee seeing him on the Command side or the soldiers on the Unwanted side.

Quietly, he worked his way through the field, picking out Virgil and Logan’s house out of habit. He opened the front door closing it quickly behind him, only to feel a hand around his throat. His eyes barely had time to adjust to the change in lighting, but he knew it was Logan.

“You have some nerve showing your face here.”

“I—” Patton gasped, looking around the room, surprised to see more than Virgil. A few people he recognized from his fly-bys over the place and some he’d never seen before. “I know. I c-came to warn you.”

“About the army? Because we know.”

“N-No. There’s—” He tried to gasp again, but his vision was going dark, black blossoms blooming in his eyes.

He heard a clap and then suddenly Logan’s grip got tighter, then was gone. He crumpled to the ground, wheezing. Virgil appeared in front of him, a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Why did you come here?”

“There’s—” Patton let out a deep sigh. “There’s hundreds of them. Dee is letting them in, in small groups. Magick users, regular soldiers, and both.” At that he heard a few gasps around the room. “Dee is a highly trained tactician and he’s leading them. I’m sure he gave them instructions before sending them over, but I don’t know what it is.”

Virgil lifted Patton’s head up, gazing at his neck before sighing. “Why are you telling us this? You know that we won’t sit by while they attack.”

“I know. I’m—I don’t know. I guess I was hoping that warning you would help somehow?”

“Do you think this can make up for what you’ve done to help them?” Logan’s voice was full of venom as he spoke.

Patton looked up at Logan before casting his eyes down again. “No, I don’t. But I want to help. I want to be able to make up for my mistakes. I didn’t know that he was planning this.”

“Didn’t know or didn’t want to know?” Another person spoke up from the back. Patton vaguely recognized him as one of the few Unwanted who looked clean. His name-tag read Emile Picani.

“I didn’t want to.” Patton shifted folding his legs underneath making sure to keep his hands visible. “I never stopped to question all of the things I did. Or all of the terrible things I’d seen. I brushed them off, forcing myself to think that they were necessary. But they weren’t. Your trauma wasn’t necessary, Virgil. The constant policing of the people isn’t necessary, here and the Command. The aggression and wanton abuse everyone here feels and experiences everyday isn’t necessary. I never stopped to ask am I the villain because I was never made to feel that way.”

There was silence as he glanced around but Virgil was smiling. He was the only one, in fact, as he stood and held out his hand. Slowly, Patton took it, allowing himself to be hoisted from the ground.

Virgil didn’t let go as he signed, “Do you swear on your life you will help our cause? To help us in our mission and to do everything in your power, no matter the consequences?”

Patton couldn’t be sure if he would. Even though his view of Master Roman had changed, there was still a part of him that wanted desperately for what he learned to be a lie. He shook himself mentally. He had to do this—if only to make up for all the things that he had let happen.

“I swear.” As the words passed through his lips, he felt something burning on his on his skin, like words being cut deep with a knife. When Virgil pulled his hand away, a feather in beautiful rainbow colors was iridescently shining on his arm. It was beautiful.

In his head, a voice he’d never heard before said, “Welcome to the resistance, Patton.” Virgil was smirking, but unlike every time before, he could tell there was true joy and playfulness behind it—and it was then he knew the voice belonged to Virgil. “Welcome to the resistance.”

[brvckin-blog]

in all forms except physical i can write an intro, know that ( ! ) i’m mikhia, you can call me mikki if you want tho idc lmao, i’m eighteen, and i live my life by the word of park sooyoung. in her name we pray, amen! i’m always tryna come up with some kind of witty intro but LMAO that never happens and probs never will so this is it.......... this is what y’all get! if you wanna plot then read this shit and gimme a mf smash of that heart and i’ll hit you up! or, if you prefer plotting on d.iscord then you can find me over at YUKHEI’S WHITE GIRL LAUGH #5355 just like tell me who you are when i add you!

▶ BASIC INFORMATION

breckin rhee isn’t as innocent as he seems. on the outside they’re just another twenty-one year old junior who’s looking to get through college with a degree in biology, but let me be the first to tell you there’s more than meets the eye. although they were ingrid’s party buddy, they were the one who held her still while she was bound and gagged. hopefully nobody finds out what they did!

▶ BULLET POINT BACKGROUND

the following overview contains triggering topics such as abuse, drug use, manipulation, and murder. if any of these topics make you uncomfortable then please click away as your well being is a lot more important than the background of my character. however, just as an fyi, none of the topics are talked about in depth, just more-so mentioned!

growing up it was just breckin and his dad living in a big, isolated house at the end of a road where no one really cared to get to know one another. he never knew what happened to his mom, but he also never asked. him and his dad didn’t have the kind of relationship for that; him and his dad were never close enough to have personal conversations.

the two of them only spoke a handful of words to each other by the time the boy was ten and had been completely raised by a nanny. but then everything changed when she just didn’t show up one day and his dad decided to play the role of a parent for once. and, just like with his mom, he had no idea what happened to his former parental figure.

he was shit at it (go figure) and constantly yelled at breckin, even pushing him around and smashing his toys just cause he felt like it. he didn’t understand what he had ever done wrong and a part of him thought that this was just how every parent treated their child.

when he was twelve, he ended up finding an old camcorder and instantly fell in love with filming everything around him. it all looked so beautiful through a lens; untainted. but he was young and kids can be dumb. he ended up recording over one of the tapes inside and when his dad found out, he completely lost it.

apparently breckin had taped over an old home video of his mom, one that his dad watched frequently, and it became the catalyst for events that would change his life forever. it was the first time his dad was ever physically abusive towards him.

he doesn’t really have much memory of the event, but he does remember being at the top of the stairs filming before everything went black. he found out later that his dad had pushed him down the stairs, but it was ruled an accident and he was put back into his care after he healed.

things only got worse from there with his dad constantly telling him that he was a monster, that no one would ever love him, and that no one would care if he died. these things clawed their way down his throat and found a home in his lungs until he felt like he could no longer breathe.

as he got older and a little colder, he started fighting back and it ended up just being a big brawl between him and his dad all the time. they would literally beat the shit out of each other multiple times a week until, suddenly, it all stopped when he was sixteen.

his dad remarried and the woman brought in two younger children. then, suddenly, his dad was someone else entirely. it was like the bitter old man had been replaced by the most wholesome being in the world. he acted like a completely different person and it pissed breckin off. but it also inspired him in a way; it changed his outlook on the world around him entirely.

so he changed his personality too, became the picture perfect son who played sports and got good grades. he held up his image well, but the monster his father always told him he was never went away. it just waited under his facade until the perfect time to strike.

it was after his first real girlfriend that he decided he liked hurting people. he liked breaking their hearts because it made him feel like a god. he was the perfect boyfriend, dating girls and boys and anyone that was dumb enough to fall for his tricks. he would make sure that he was all they thought about, that they were sure they were in love with him, and then he would rip the rug right out from under them.

nothing made him happier than watching them cry and beg him not to do this. they looked so ugly and broken and he couldn’t think of anything more beautiful. he liked seeing people at their most vulnerable, got off on humiliating them.

it was around that same time that he also got into drugs, cocaine specifically, and it helped to perk him up; it helped to make him not look so dead inside. he was a great actor, but the eyes are the window to the soul and his held nothing inside.

with his new life planned out, breckin made the decision to go to college and major in biology with the hopes of getting into med school and becoming a doctor like his father. in some weird way, it was almost like he wanted to be just like him, to show him that he was only monster because of him.

it was at his high school graduation that he found out what really happened to his mother when she suddenly showed up trying to act like everything was ok. in his mind, he had already come to terms with her death, deciding that his father more than likely killed her. but the truth hurt a whole lot more. she had just left........ left him with a monster who didn’t love him. and, not only that, but she had a whole new family with two children (his half siblings) and one of them was even close to him in age. it enraged him and, so, the next morning he cut the brake line in her car and killed her off permanently. she was dead to him so dead she would stay.

when he left for uni, he constructed a backstory where he was the son of a pastor who graduated as valedictorian and blushed when complimented. none of that was true, but it didn’t matter. everyone would believe him and would never question it so it didn’t matter.

at freshman orientation, he found his first victim and really set everything back into motion. he began dating anyone and everyone before ultimately cheating on them, and breaking their hearts in the worst possible way all while holding up his perfect little persona until the end.

it was a cruel game, but he was able to keep others quiet about who he really was either through blackmail or through them being so humiliated that they left school and moved away.

over the years though as he’s gotten busier and has gotten closer to graduating, he’s really been too exhausted to keep up his facade as much so he’s basically half himself and half good church goin boy lmao!

▶ LIST OF SECRETS 

obviously no one knows about these (unless we’ve plotted something out surrounding them) so keep these to your ooc self beetch! i honestly just wanted to throw ‘em down here because my memory is shit!

breckin plans on going to med school after graduation so, in preparation for becoming a doctor down the road, he will oftentimes practice on willing peers who are looking for a little extra cash.

he has a weird obsession with death but, more specifically, what comes after. it’s something that no one knows the answer to so he has taken it upon himself to try and figure it out. how, you ask? think flatliners. he hooks himself (and other people occasionally) to a machine then injects them with a drug to stop their heart. they die, the two minute countdown begins, then they’re resuscitated. he’s been getting a little too brave lately though and letting himself flatline for longer periods of time.

even though those two things in particular could get him not only kicked out of school, but ruin his chances of getting into med school, there are others that would pretty much bury his entire reputation six feet under. since he was in his early teens, breckin has been living a sort of double life. he pretends to be a nice boy who only has good intentions, but he couldn’t be more opposite. he loves breaking hearts, hurting others, and humiliating them. more often than not, he dates people solely for that.

even though he doesn’t need the money, he loves attention so he started up his very own little artistic porn blog on tumblr (throw it back to when that shit was still allowed). he began when he was a freshman and has accumulated around forty thousand followers in that time. he never shows his face or anything but he posts pretty racy photos and sells pictures, videos, and audio recordings to those that are willing to pay.

breckin has a very packed schedule between studying pre-med, playing sports, and keeping up with all of his other extracurricular activities that he doesn’t find much time to do normal things like sleeping, eating, etc. this has pushed him to find other means to sustain him that mostly include divulging in various drugs of choice.

▶ POTENTIAL PLOT IDEAS

these are just barebone ideas that could and should be expanded on. but, again, they’re only ideas and i’m really open to plotting just about anything? especially if you have smth in particular that you really want filled, please don’t be afraid to come to me about it! all plots are also open to any muse of any gender!

TEAMMATE(S) — breck is really into sports (specifically more aggressive ones) so if your muse plays any such as: football, lacrosse, hockey, etc then hmu! we can do full blown rivals, playful rivals, mates who just help keep each other motivated to do their best, etc.

HALF SIBLING — if you read the background info then you’ll know that breck’s mom pretty much disappeared then showed back up with two new kids who are his half siblings. however, one of them is pretty close to his age so it’d be cool to have them around? especially considering the fact that he ended up killing their mother yikes! even though they obvs don’t know that it could make for some good writing to explore them finding it out in the future!

ROMANTIC(?) — i’m talkin fwb, exes that he’s played, one night stands, etc. considering the fact that his schedule has only gotten busier and busier, he doesn’t really have time to date around like he used to but he still has needs, damn, so essketit!

PARTY BUDDY — breck likes to party a lot and likes to get fucked up so he needs some friends who’ll humor him and who can keep up with all of his wild shenanigans.

DRUG DEALER — with the amount of shit he does (both personally and otherwise) he could keep your character completely funded himself lmao! hes got a lot of money so let his dumbass give it to you!

NEIGHBOR(S) — breck doesn’t live on campus cause fuck that hes too old for it and he hated it anyway so he lives in an apartment which means your muse? could be his neighbor idk this is super vague but we could do a lot with it just trust me!

SECRETS(?) — considering a couple of his secrets are a little out there it’d be kinda cool to have someone in on them. like, with his whole experimenting on people thing and basically killing them then bringing them back to see what they experienced ya....... could be fun literally someone gimme it!

[clockworkrotten]

{OOC PSA}

Alright. I honestly wasn’t going to be made to feel like I have to justify myself to the entire LazyTown fandom, but apparently, this whole thing with Talon has blown up out of proportion, because I’m being generally ostracised by almost the entire fandom for something that I haven’t even explained my full side of. I’d like to make it clear that I’m not making this post to slander any one person in particular, nor to tell anybody to think negatively of Talon, nor to ask for unblocks/etc, because if you’ve already pushed me away, sent me hate, or gossiped bad things about me over something you haven’t even asked me about, then I don’t want you to unblock me. Stay mad. I’m writing this for no other purpose than to get this off my chest, and to clear my name, because I’ve been penned as some toxic, abusive person, and that is not even remotely close to the ‘me’ you think I am, and I’m not going to be publicly slandered over something you’re not even fully informed about. If you still hate me after this, that’s your problem, but I’m going to, at least, explain my side, and tell you why I’ve mutually cut ties with Talon, and why I reacted the way I did during our separation. Explanation below the cut.

I’ve known Talon...probably since I first started this blog. We never really had anything bad to say about one another. In fact, we usually defended each other when the hate would roll in. When Stefan passed away, we became closer, and started talking more frequently. Eventually, Talon admitted he had a crush on me, over Twitter. It was mutual, and a few days later, we entered a relationship, together. Everything was going great. I felt comfortable with him. One thing I’d always laughed & joked about, even before entering a relationship with Talon, was that I don’t do well around kids, and that I would never want to raise one. I always made some funny (yet true) comment about preferring to raise dogs or hamsters, etc, and to that, Talon agreed. However, that changed, one day, when I mentioned in general conversation (yet again) that I just couldn’t raise a child happily. He offhandedly told me that he wanted a child (with laughing emojis, etc, etc), and of course, I was pretty shocked, because we’d always just been mutually (or so I thought) more inclined to be crazy pet people as opposed to family makers. I questioned him (I honestly thought he was joking, at first), and he just kept replying with “lol”, etc, with more laughing emojis. I continued to question him, and it didn’t really seem like it was something he was willing to discuss, or even acknowledge, until I eventually just asked him, outright, to have a conversation about it. I asked him why he hadn’t told me from the start of our relationship that he was planning to have a kid, and he kept avoiding the answer with phrases like “I don’t know”. I asked him where this left us as a couple. I got the same response. “I don’t know”. I got the general feeling he wasn’t even really thinking about it or taking it seriously, but I thought that, maybe, it was just the way he talked, since he’d never been one for long, detailed replies. I went to bed, and the next day, he apologised to me for not telling me from the start that he wanted a kid (he said he didn’t know how to tell me without damaging the chances of our relationship), which I accepted. He also told me that he’d changed his mind, that he no longer wanted a child after listening to me re-explain the reasons why I didn’t want one (my mental illnesses, too much responsibility, money, etc, etc), and since relating to it/realising he was in the same situation, that he probably couldn’t handle a child, either. He had, in his words, told me that he had “no intentions of letting me go”, and for once, seemed to give a genuine, thought-out answer. I thought it was unusual that he could suddenly change his mind about such a big life decision like having a baby, so I made him promise that he wasn’t just masking his desire for a child for my sake, and that he genuinely had realised parenting was a bad idea for him personally, to which he promised. Something just seemed a little bit off and immature about the whole situation (him not being honest with me about what he wanted, him being suddenly able to change life plans he’d told me he’d had since he was a child), but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I felt like the ordeal did bring us closer, in the end, because we established a ‘openness and honesty’ kind of rule. I moved on from that situation. We continued on as normal for a little while, and I was starting to develop deeper feelings for Talon, which I expressed. We never said the ‘L’ word because I don’t think either of us were quite there, but I was definitely catching deeper feelings for him, which he told me he was also feeling. We were getting pretty close. A day later, completely out of the blue, I woke up to see I’d received a message (hours before) that started a conversation before we’d even greeted one another. It simply said something along the lines of ‘hey, I think I jumped the gun a bit, I’m not emotionally stable enough to be in a relationship, I understand if you don’t want to be friends after this” (emoji heart). I was taken aback. He’d literally never, ever implied that to me, before that moment. He’d always expressed how great we were together. Can you see why I was hurt? I felt betrayed & like I had been taken for some kind of idiot. Previous to our relationship, Talon had always publicly expressed (mostly over Facebook) that he was lonely & wanted a relationship really badly. That is why I felt like I’d been used. Given how things turned out, I genuinely feel like he probably didn’t even want ‘me’, at all, and that he probably just wanted somebody to like him romantically. That was the only explanation I could rationally come to for him to have lied to me about wanting a child (if he was serious about the relationship, he would have been upfront), and for him to just randomly exit the relationship after we’d literally been expressing the previous days how so mutually happy we were that we’d found one another. I don’t think he ever had a crush on ‘me’. I think he was happy to be validated by someone entering in to a relationship with him. I felt like my emotions had been played with, because the break up was honestly just so spontaneous and out of character for how we’d previously been together just days before it. He probably realised he wasn’t attracted to me, and that he was actually just attracted to the idea of me. Maybe, that’s not true. I don’t know, but that’s my thoughts on it. I would have accepted that he’d realised he just didn’t like me romantically, had he not told me just days before that he was feeling a deep connection with me. I felt like I’d been treated like somebody’s fling. I had already felt like he wasn’t taking the baby situation seriously (but had moved on from it), but the spontaneity of the breakup honestly just proved to me that he wasn’t taking any aspect of the relationship seriously, at all. I’d sent Christmas gifts abroad to him, and given that he hadn’t even received them at the point of our breakup, and given that I was understandably hurt by the sudden abandonment (which didn’t seem to come from a particularly sorry place, nor carried out in a mature manner), I told him to give the gifts to his next fling. I didn’t expect a reply from him, but I didn’t expect him to react the way he did, either. I had a reason to be upset. He made me feel like he was genuinely getting attached to me, only to just up & leave for a reason that seemed to come completely out of nowhere. If he had genuinely felt like the pressure of a relationship was too much for him, then why had be been telling me how happy he was in ours? The way he sent me the breakup message felt too casual. I really don’t feel like I’d been taken seriously, at all. He blocked me almost immediately after I replied to his message. Of course, I was going to feel like he’d just taken me for a ride. That being said, I expressed to my close friends, explicitly, that I did not mind if they remained in contact with Talon, and that I just personally didn’t want to contact him, any more, because I felt like my emotions had been toyed with. I still continued to indirectly defend him when he received anon hate (people would reblog it on my dash), saying that he was always a good friend to people & a decent roleplayer, and that people really shouldn’t be sending anon hate to him, because I knew that he wasn’t any of the things he was being accused of being (useless, hated, etc), etc, etc, and that I just felt like he had treated me, in our personal situation, unfairly. I’ve been linked to posts on Talon’s blog where he’s made passive aggressive posts, clearly directed at me, like “who the FUCK needs relationships, seriously, what a waste of time”, and also “Lies have been spread about me”, etc, as though I was the one who did HIM wrong, and as though I’d been telling people things about him that weren’t true, which I haven’t; ask anyone if I’ve told them anything about him that I haven’t typed out in this post. I’m no longer defending him after being made aware of those posts. He’s clearly got some kind of grudge against me for reacting negatively to being randomly thrown away, even though he told me in the breakup message, “I understand if you don’t want to be friends any more” or whatever the line was. Clearly, he doesn’t understand the weight of how he made things, and I don’t know what he’s been saying about me for people to directly address the situation & call me toxic/abusive, or if it’s even Talon, himself, sending those anons (it may not be, he may be completely innocent), but I’m still receiving hate, and I’m still having people who were supposed to be my friends and RP partners BLOCK me over my personal decision to not be buddy-buddy with Talon, and I’m just not here to be publicly slandered over any of this absolute fucking mess. So, there. That’s what happened, this is my candid opinion on the matter, and it’s all out there, now. I’ve said my piece. Think what you will of me. My conscience is clear.

[zydrateacademy]

Roleplaying 101

Over the years I’ve spread this post around. Takes about 10-11 forum posts to get it all down and it’ll be one of the few posts I give a “Read more” break on. It has gotten a bit taxing to transfer it between communities, so I’m going to bring it here at long last to give a proper, singular link for people who wish to learn.

Currently, this post is in the form of Conan Exiles. I usually give my own little edits and “notes” depending on the game of the community I’m posting it in. So if you see this floating around, it won’t be in the same form most of the time.

Now, let’s get to it. (Very, very long post)

I will give credit where this is due; All this information has been borrowed from my old RP server on World of Warcraft. Most of it will be copy/pasted... However I may give a few edits to try and make it the most relevant to this particular game. If you find any references to WoW (Or even SWG, where I had posted this before), I apologize. Still, when it comes to MMO/RP terms, many of them can be interchangeable.

RP 101: Welcome to a RolePlay

Is it "role players" or "roleplayers?"

This is a question I've thrown in myself (IE: Not from the original source).

The answer is; Both! I can't debate on which one is more grammatically correct (That's for people smarter than I) but I can tell you that in our community, referring to "role play" or "roleplay" is acceptable.

“WTF is up with the (( )) ?”

Bracketing is a form of indicating one is speaking out of character. It can look many ways. Double parentheses (( )), singles ( ), brackets [ ] or any number of other bracketing form. The most common is the double parentheses.

By indicating that one is speaking out of character, they are saying “You are speaking to the player right now, not the character.” It’s good to know the difference (in case the character is particularly abrasive).

Sometimes a group will indicate that Group chat is automatically OOC while /say is automatically IC. In such a case, when speaking in group, (( )) is not necessary. There is no standard as to what channels are IC and which are OOC. It is entirely subjective depending on who you’re with…. With one exception.

"/say Chuck Norris ROXXORS!"

…. Please don’t. When you consciously engage in RP, normal local chat should be assumed to be IC. If you speak OOC in Local, please bracket. No, not everyone does it. No, not everyone is going to be bothered by it if you talk about Chuck Norris, your latest Facebook picture or how much cheese it takes to make a really good Welsh rarebit… but why start off in bad habits? If you want to play on a role play server then start off in a good way and keep good habits all the way through.

"Dude! Why are you wearing that armor?!"

Some MMO's have a cosmetic function, though that's not applicable here. However here at Exiles, you might find that some people wear some of the barest of clothing. What this is called is an "RP outfit", something we wear that makes a bit more sense in the context of our interactions.

Thankfully in Exiles, you can wear a variety of things while still being able to contribute in RP-PvE.

"How do I find the role players?"

This is always the toughest part. It’s easier if you know someone on the server and they can drag you around and introduce you or show you where the events are. Otherwise you have to rely on your own detective ability.

Step one: Read the forum of the realm you have chosen (though hopefully you read them before you joined). Before you jump on there going “HEY! WHERE’S THE RP??” make sure they are not a hive of scum and villainy. Be sure they aren’t a putrid den of RP hatin’.

Step two: Talk to other people. Whether you meet them in a group, on the street, see them fishing in blue overalls, talk to them. Ask questions. Make it a point to reach out to others. Let them know you are new to the server and trying to make contact.

Summary

Being a roleplayer can be a fun and rewarding experience. You can meet some incredibly imaginative, creative, and fun players. There also tends to be a higher maturity ratio among role players. The most important thing to keep in mind though is you are coming to us. Don’t come to us with a LAWLRPSUX attitude because you are a guest. The rules of the house were set long before you came along. If you respect those that choose RP because they are roleplayers, you will have a much more pleasant experience. If you give it a chance, it is very likely you will find that RP brings an extra element of "adventure" to your game. One much more unpredictable and fun than anything that could be programmed in.

RP 101: Role Play Etiquette Is there such a thing as Role Play Etiquette? Certainly there is! It may not be so obviously called that but you can usually tell when someone is breaking it. How can you tell? By listening carefully to what others say. I’m going to try touching on the subject of RP Etiquette. Mind you there are hundreds and hundreds of RP pet peeves that individual RPers might have that I certainly can’t cover, but I will try to cover some of the most common ones. I will also discuss how to know if you’re breaking RP etiquette and possible alternatives or solutions to such behavior. Making role play fun for everyone is the goal. So let’s work towards that goal together. Interrupting Active RP Like in any real-life conversation, it is considered rude to interrupt a RP conversation that is going on. Though often role players are more open to others joining in, it is usually wise to try to determine if others are welcome before jumping in. The simplest and usually fastest way to do this is to send an OOC whisper. Something along the lines of “(( I see you are engaged in role play conversation. Is this a private conversation or may others join in? ))” Quite often you’ll find that role players are seeking others to join them. But be prepared for the times when it is a private conversation not open to others. There is also the technique of simply listening in to see what is going on with the conversation. Don’t worry! Mom won’t scold you for eavesdropping this time. In life, you can catch a few lines of conversation quickly and determine if it is something you can join or if it is a private matter you should step away from. Snowplowing This is the term I use though others probably have different ones that mean the same thing. Snowplowing is stepping into someone’s active RP conversation and overwhelming it with YOUR rp. You plow right through with what YOU want to talk about without regard to what is already going on. Not good. Everyone gets their time in the spotlight. It does not have to be your time every time. If there is already an active conversation going on or someone’s RP plot, don’t snowplow through it with your own plot. A good example. We were all at RP night in Stormwind one evening enjoying some casual conversation, doing a bit of fishing, a bit of drinking, and sharing some bawdy jokes. Up walks Darkandspooky (I’ve changed his name to protect the guilty). Immediately he begins spamming us with his description (in the form of bad emotes) and starts in with bizarre behaviors that are meant to reinforce the fact that he is “dark and spooky” (which I will discuss in a later article). Now the characters already present either continued with their conversation as if he hadn’t interrupted, or reacted in the way people who had imbibed large amounts of alcohol would. He seemed terribly upset that the other characters didn’t appropriately react to his all-powerful “dark and spooky”, but that was because he was trying to snowplow his way into the existing RP. It simply didn’t fit and forcing it wasn’t going to make it fit. There are much more subtle ways to introduce your RP thoughts, ideas, plots or conversations. RP conversation, like real life conversation, flows and convolutes and changes. It may start out as a conversation about the fish in the canals and end up discussing whizzing off the docks in Westfall. You never truly know where it is going to end up or what roads it is going to take in between. So if you’ve got something you would like to bring into the conversation, listen to it. Follow the flow. Bring it in carefully where it fits rather than trying to force it on others. Trying to force it where it doesn’t fit has a tendency to go over like a turd in a punch bowl. Sometimes conversations don’t go down the paths that would best fit what you want to talk about. Sorry sweets, but that happens sometimes. It doesn’t mean you are a bad role player. It doesn’t mean the others are trying to be rude to you. It simply means that the conversation flowed just like in real life. It is unpredictable. That is what makes it fun! Hovering Now there are two different forms of hovering. One is rude and one is not. Telling the difference is subtle so pay attention. The first form of hovering, the not-rude one, is the person sitting to the side just listening to the conversation. Maybe casually emoting something once in a while. The shy character that just wants to be near people but really doesn’t want to interact. Sometimes the hovering character has a player that is being pulled away from the keyboard frequently so lets the character sit quietly as the conversation scrolls across the screen and catches up on what is going on when they return to the keyboard. I’ve done this a number of times. This form of hovering is okay and is also a great way to learn things. By keeping the ears open and the mouth shut. The hovering that is irritating and rude is of a completely different variety. The character that walks back and forth past the conversation participants over and over and over and over again…. but never says anything. The character that sits right at the edge of the conversation (usually with their back to the others) clearing their throat, emoting other trivial things such as spilling a mug or tying their shoe or picking at the lacings on their trews…. but never says anything. They make it clear they want to rp too but are not doing anything to reach out the hand to play. As a matter of fact, their behaviors generally are not something others would comment on. If I see someone picking at their fly I’m not going to call attention to it. The latter form of hovering is a behavior that is guilty of waiting for contact. I discussed the difference between looking for contact and waiting for contact in a previous article. Inclusion isn’t a one-way street. In order for others to include you in conversation, you have to do something that they can react to. Simply wandering back and forth isn’t sufficient. I’ve seen characters just wander back and forth for twenty minutes not saying or doing anything but then getting upset because they weren’t included in the conversation. Role players are not mind readers. In order to be part of the conversation they have to be given something that they can comment on or notice. Don’t be shy. Try speaking out. It can be something simple like asking for directions or commenting on the weather. Be creative. God-moding This is by far the singlemost irritating rp behavior out there. God-moding is when you do something that affects another character without giving them leave to decide their own actions or opinions. An extreme form of god-moding would be emoting that you stab the other character, killing them instantly. It can take other, more subtle, forms though. If you emote something along the lines of another person’s character noticing that your character has eyes red from crying, that is god-moding. A better choice would be to emote that your character rubs at eyes red from crying and leave it up to the other player as to whether they notice it or not. Sometimes characters have reasons for not noticing things. Many role players won’t come flat out and tell someone they are god-moding. That is, perhaps, a fault many share. Generally they will ignore the god-moded behavior and continue on with whatever they were doing or simply ignore the character guilty of it. If you find yourself being ignored or legitimately snubbed and you truly do want to improve, don’t get angry, ask the person about it in whispers. Usually others are quite open to helping eager role players improve their rp skill. Manners, Manners, Manners! In general, role play behavior should mirror real life behavior. The same rules of manners still apply. Take time to think in these terms and you will find smooth role play laid out in front of you. Inclusion in role play also takes effort on both parts. Don’t just wander around doing nothing and get upset when you’re not included. You have to try too. Remember, everyone gets their time in the spotlight. It may not be your time at just that moment but it will be eventually. Patience is the key. And as with all things involved in role play, be creative! Even if your attempt to reach out and be involved is awkward, it gives a place to start.

Disclaimer: All views expressed in this article are the opinion of the author. She does not claim they are the only way to RP. Hopefully someone will find some merit in the article but as with all RP, it comes down to personal preference.

Character Building Part 1 - Introduction & Personality So you want to create a role play character. You want this character to be interesting, be attractive, be loved by those around, have others to interact with regularly, etc. How do you go about it? As a writer and role player for 20+ years, I’ve learned a few things along the way about character building. I’ve made many of the mistakes that afflict new writers and role players and have seen firsthand the results. It is my hope that some of what I have learned the hard way can make character building less painful for venturing into the role play realm. Because building a good character is such a far reaching topic, I will break it down into a series of articles to make for easier reading. Fun Everyone wants their character to be fun to play. If the character isn’t fun then what is the point in logging in and slogging through the levels? I’m sure we’ve all created a number of alts then abandoned them for various reasons simply because they were not fun. First thing you need to look at is what do you find fun? Do you like being by yourself or being in large groups? Do you like one on one interaction? Do you like funny, light-hearted RP or do you like more serious and dramatic? All of these must be considered when building a character. Interest Everyone wants to have an interesting character. After all, if the character isn’t interesting then what is the point in having him or her around? There are several factors that play into whether a character is interesting or not; Personality, Appearance, Believability, Weaknesses, and Background. These are just boiled down because sometimes factors overlap but this is a good starting point. Let’s Talk About Personality Try to create a personality that not only you can enjoy playing but one that others enjoy interacting with. That is if you want interaction with others. If the character bites, insults, or otherwise abuses others about them for no apparent reason and with great frequency, you’ll soon find yourself without anyone to interact with. This goes for drama llamas too. (See definition below). Now I’m not saying every character has to be Polly Pureheart, but they should have enough redeeming qualities that there is something to bring others back to play. First generalization you need to consider is do you want to play a good guy or a bad guy? This may seem like a silly thing to consider, but it is the beginning point of your personality. Don’t worry, there are bad guy characters that are cool beyond belief and others certainly do want to interact with them. Good Guys: First off, not all good guys are of the Polly Pureheart variety. By being a “good” guy, that could be as simple as someone who works hard, helps others, brings food to their sick aunt Patty. Then there are the extreme good guys. If you’re going to play a good guy, you need to think about the level of the character’s goodness. Now, as with many things, there are areas of gray. Not everything is black and white. Perhaps the character is mostly good in that they do not try to actively harm innocents. They try to be good but sometimes what may seem good to them, is not so good to others. During the course of play, these types of situations will also help shape the character. Bad Guys: Not all bad guys have to be of the kitten-eating demon variety. Someone who is greedy or a bit of a megalomaniac can be considered a bad guy. Perhaps it is someone who feels they have no choice in what they do. It doesn’t mean they are not a fun character just because they are a bad guy. Some bad guys are obviously bad, but they are so cool and suave about it we continue to be drawn to them. I use Dr. Doom from Marvel Comics as an example of a cool bad guy. He’s bad, he’s a megalomaniac, and he wants to kill the Fantastic Four… a lot. But he’s cool. If you can create a bad guy with the element that leaves others saying “Wow. That character is bad… but cool!” you’ve created a good bad guy. Common Personality Traps: When creating your character, there are a few common personality traps that you should try to avoid, otherwise you may have others rolling their eyes at your character or just avoiding it all together. Mr./Ms. Perfect: The character that is so pure, so heroic, so sweet, so loving and so GORGEOUS that everyone should lust after them and want to be their friend/lover/pet/champion. Nobody is that perfect. Others like to interact with characters they can in some way identify with. Why do they roll their eyes at Mr. Perfect? Because he is not believable. Disbelief cannot be suspended with this type of character because they do not exist in life. (Zydrate's Note: In RP communities, this is generally referred to as a "Mary Sue") Superbad: Superbad is a character so evil they eat kittens on their Cheerios, happily slaughter their way through Stormwind on a daily basis and steal Ol’ Emma’s water bucket just for laughs. In general, they treat everyone around them like crap. And they are sooooo bad nobody in the universe could ever hope to quell them! This one should be self-explanatory. Who wants to interact with someone that treats everyone around them so badly? Where’s the fun in that? If people enjoyed being treated like crap they’d go back to High School! Even bad guys need some redeeming qualities. Drama Llama: “Oh my life is so tragic! It is more tragic than yours could ever be! There is nothing that could ever be done to make my life less tragic! And nobody else cares!” /eyeroll Yep. Nobody else cares. You know why? Because the drama llama seeks only for everyone else to fawn over her while she whines and wallows in misery. How is that fun for anyone but the llama? Others expending their energy trying to make someone feel better or help them out and that person continues to wallow. Eventually people run out of energy to expend and go off to do something fun. The one factor these types have in common is extremes. Anything taken to extremes gets real old, real fast. A good character has a balanced personality. A good character is not only fun for the player, but fun for those around as well. Zydrate’s Note: A lot of this section had to be omitted because it had an emphasis on World of Warcraft Lore. Sorry about that. Character Building Part 2 - Background Every character has a history of some sort buried away somewhere. This history filled with experiences shape the character’s personality, reactions, quirks, hobbies, style – everything about them. Sometimes finding that background is the most difficult task in character creation. Don’t worry, we’ve all been there. Often times you have to play the character before you can fully flesh out the background. Many role players and writers refer to this as “giving the character time to tell you about it” or waiting for the character to start “talking”. No, they aren’t suffering from delusions or multiple personality disorder. This is simply giving their subconcious imagination time to brew up what it needs to fit the character and manifesting it in a way that is easier to translate into written or role played form. Taking time with the character, seeing how a few things play out, is usually the best way to build a background. If you have it all written out before you ever set foot in the world with the character, can sometimes be very limiting. The last thing you want to do is restrict yourself and the character you play beyond your ability to have fun with them. That being said, you should have a general idea about where they come from before you let them speak. Here are a few tips to help you get started. Know The Lore You don’t have to be an absolute fiend about knowing the lore of the game to create a feasible background, however you should have a general idea of the history of the race you’re going to play and some idea of timeline. Avoid The Eyeroll There are some common backgrounds that I see from many new role players that leave me rolling my eyes. I’ve heard the same comment from other long time role players as well. While this is RP and you are more than welcome to play what you like, if you want to interact with others and avoid the eyeroll response, try to avoid some of these common background traps. The Vampire While you may think its cool and spooky to play a vampire, when you announce to other players that you’re a vampire, you leave many of them rolling their eyes and putting your character name on a mental – if not actual – ignore list. If you want to play a vampire, check out Vampire: The Masquerade and its subsequent additions. It’s a very good table top game for vampires. The Daughter/Son of (Insert Major Lore Character Here) It's generally considered bad form to make your character be related to a known NPC. It simply feels like you're trying too hard to seem "special" or "distinguished". There are MANY other ways to go about this, make sure not to fall into this trap. The Catgirl Whether it is born to a druid in cat form or the product of a mating between a druid in cat form and a wild tiger, it’s overdone, and simply put – ridiculous. You may think you’re being so creative with your cat-tail hanging down and your furry ears and you’re pointed teeth peeking out of your mouth, but if you go around claiming you’re a catgirl (or boy) don’t be surprised if you’re not taken seriously. The Trauma Llama Everything bad that could ever happen to a character has all happened to this character at least twice. Now while bad things are a part of everyone’s history, nobody enjoys a trauma llama that wallows in it, spouts it to every person they meet on the street, and tries to one-up everyone else’s traumatic events. If the trauma of the character’s life is the be-all, end-all of their background you’re going to have a difficult time getting anyone to take an interest. This is a game meant for fun. Trauma can, and does, help shape a character, but it shouldn’t be the sole focus of their life and history. Where is the fun in that? Think Creative Without Being Outrageous It is possible to create a wonderful, interesting, and colorful background for your character without being a victim of the eyeroll. Your character doesn’t have to be the leader's illegitimate half-demon catgirl in disguise to be interesting or fun to interact with. Don’t try to force importance, validity, or take any aspect of the background to extremes. A good background is like a good personality; well-balanced and feasible. Do not underestimate the power of the ordinary. The Background of your character does not have to be grand or outrageous or even noteworthy. It is merely a tool to help shape the personality of the character, to help guide their actions and reactions when you play them. It’s there to give you something to talk about on occasion. What’s wrong with being a mere notekeeper? A mere Soldier or Apprentice? It isn’t the background that makes the character, it is how you play the character that makes them. It is how that character acts and reacts with others. It is their views, their loves, their dislikes, their mannerisms. Let the character make the character. If you’re creative and confident enough to do that, you’ll do just fine.

Character Building Part 3 - Appearance Tips For Writing A Good Description When writing a description for your character, remember that there are five senses; Sight, Sound, Taste, Touch and Smell. Now it is unlikely you’ll write what your character tastes like. I know I don’t usually walk up to someone I’ve just met and lick them. Touch might be a bit awkward, but there are some situations where this sense should not be written off entirely. Your most commonly used sense in descriptions is going to be sight, however sound and smell have their own validity. Sound This could cover the sound of their voice, the rattle of their armor, the beads on their shirt. There are many things that could be incorporated into the sound of a character. Remember to listen to your character’s appearance when writing about it. Smell The sense of smell is one of the most powerful we have. It can draw us to someone or repel us. There are many things that could stimulate our sense of smell. Does the character wear any scented oils? Are they consistently sweaty? Do they smell of grass? Herbs? Close your eyes a moment when writing about the character and think about how they would smell. If something stands out, then put it in the description. Sight This is going to be the sense most characters will touch first. What they see will be a key indicator in other’s first impression. Some of the basic descriptors are hair length, color (if it is different than the avatar), build, height, and weight. Some of the more detailed descriptors are eye shape, color, face shape, jewelry worn, or condition of clothing (neat, ragged, dirty, etc). Then there are outstanding features. Outstanding features can cover a number of things; missing limbs, eye patches, limps, anything of that sort. Large ornamentation, visible body paint, oddly colored stripes in the hair. Something that would stand out. These outstanding features should most definitely be included in the description. Be creative on these. Don’t go for easy. Take some time and think about the character and what, if anything, might stand out. And be sure to include at least something on how they dress. Loose fitting, ragged, neat, armored? Think about that as well. And while I realize this is, indeed, a fantasy game, understand before you write “this person wears armor, even while sleeping”, that you understand (from a person that has worn plate armor for several hours on end on numerous occasions) that armor is uncomfortable. It is bulky, difficult to move in, noisy, stiff, and pinches in places that a body was never meant to be pinched! Mannerisms should be considered when writing a description as well. Does this person flinch when new people approach? Do they have a notebook they carry with them at all times? Is their hand constantly on their weapon? Do they have a teddy bear tucked under their arm? These sorts of observations in the description give a bit of insight into the character’s personality. Something that can be seen to support their actions and reactions when we encounter them in actual contact. Keep It Simple Now that I have told you all the wonderful things you should think about when describing your character, I’m going to confuse you by telling you to keep it short and simple. I can hear your cries of “Foul!” from all over, but honestly, especially when it comes to an in-game addon description, few people will read one that is overly long and complicated. We don’t really need great details about how many buttons are on the character's shirt or which direction he laces his boots. Give us the most obvious in the most succinct manner possible. Having a novel for a description will actually hinder people reading it. Avoid God-Moding When writing a description, god-moding involves describing a trait and how the reader feels about that trait. Avoid writing things such as “Your jaw drops when you see her enormous bosom.” Honestly I couldn’t care less about her bosom. I’m not in the habit of looking at them. I have one of my very own that I have to look at every day. That is an extreme example but they are out there. However there are others that are more subtle, but just as incorrect. For example if you were to write “He is the most handsome man you have ever seen.” How do you know? Whether a person is handsome or not is a matter of opinion. You should never try to force an opinion on someone else. Let them judge whether they find that character handsome or not. Instead of telling us he’s handsome, tell us about the traits that YOU think makes him handsome. Describe the dark skin, black hair, golden eyes – whatever! But don’t tell us we think he’s handsome. Description Only Please When writing a description, especially for in-game addons, do not include information such as the background of the character or what kind of personality traits they have. We can’t see that, hear it, smell it, the first time we encounter that person. A description is just that; a description. Do not include information that is not apparent to the senses of other players. By putting in that information you’re expanding the length of the description unnecessarily and making it less likely anyone will read it. If they want to know that, they’ll find out when talking to the character! Avoid The /eyeroll Now I’m not going to try to tell you what your character should look like; only you can decide that. What I am going to offer are some tips on what will elicit the /yawn or /eyeroll response. Many role players when first starting out want a character that is particularly handsome or beautiful. There are probably a number of psychological reasons behind this and I won’t attempt to delve into them, however I can point out a few of the most common appearance traps. The Scar This is a harsh world our characters live in. Some scarring might to happen. If that is the focus of your character’s description, then it is not a very interesting character. Where extreme scarring is rare IRL and shocking when you see it, it is so common in role play descriptions that it seldom elicits more than /yawn. If your character has scars and there is a reason for them, by all means, write about them, but don’t just use them to make the character “cool”. Chicks don’t dig scars. There are literally hundreds of ridiculous description traps that I could write about here, but that would make this article far too long. I’ll try to summarize and make this all fit together in a final bit of advice. • Keep it simple • Think with your senses • Avoid description opinions • If it sounds even slightly ridiculous to you, it probably is. Zydrate’s Note: I've omitted a couple others that were noted on the source, such as "The Buxom" and "The Cyber-Bait". Players here (Conan Exiles) would probably be less concerned considering half the point of this custom server is to ERP. Still, I'd recommend being a bit classy with it. Build a character for world interaction, and sexual encounters will come regardless. Sexuality is just a mere footnote to a character's complexity. Don't drown others in it, but there's no need to shy away from it either. And one final bit of advice, especially if you are new to role play; if you have a friend who also role plays, get them to read your description and give an honest evaluation. Tell them they MUST be honest. Having others read it and tell you what works and what doesn’t work is a great way to learn.

Character Building Part 4 - Weaknesses Throughout these articles I have discussed the need for balance. One of the features that make a character well balanced is weaknesses. Their weaknesses will contribute to their personality, behaviors, responses to others and different situations. Weaknesses are woven deeply into everything about the character and provide a more well-rounded personality. After all, nobody is perfect. Weaknesses contribute greatly to who a character – or person – is. Well-crafted weaknesses are just as important and interesting as any other element of your character. It would be impossible to determine a character’s strengths without weaknesses to offset them. Weaknesses can also provide something to work towards. If, for example, the character is scared of dogs, that provides a goal to work toward; overcoming that fear of dogs. Types of Weaknesses There are certainly many types of weaknesses, but they can be most easily broken down into two; Psychological and Physical. Psychological weaknesses are those that spring from the character’s own mind. Whether it is a fear of heights or narcississtic tendencies, they are self-defeating weaknesses. Psychological weaknesses are, in essence, controlled by the character’s own mind, which makes them especially difficult to overcome. They may have been created by some severe trauma in the character’s past or perhaps some other event that brought it on. However it came to be, it is part of the character and may or may not be something that can be overcome. Physical weaknesses are of the sort that affect the character’s physical appearance or abilities. Physical weaknesses can also cause psychological ones that are closely intertwined. A physical weakness might include a missing limb, sensory loss (blindness, deafness), vertigo, or some sort of disease or condition such as allergies. Physical weaknesses can be caused by injury, disease, birth defect or any number of other factors that can affect physical appearance or ability. Severity Not all weaknesses are of the debilitating variety. Some are small, just little quirks of a sort. Some are humorous, some are sad, some are so outrageous we find ourselves trying to fix the person we encounter with it simply to have it gone. Sometimes we give our characters weaknesses without even realizing we’ve done so. Is your character bigoted toward another race? Do they drink to excess? Are they lazy, dishonest, scared of the dark? Do they have a teddy bear that must be with them at all times? Are they promiscuous? These are all weaknesses that help to round out the character. When deciding the severity of your weaknesses, however, be sure that you don’t write yourself into a role play corner and leave yourself with a character that is unplayable. I have a friend that wrote a character that has issues with his foot. Severe enough to keep him from adventuring. He recently realized that this made it very difficult to get anything done with the character and is working on a role play reason to make the character viable again. My friend is an excellent and creative RPer so I have faith he will have no problem coming up with a creative and believable way to make this happen, but it helps to illustrate the point here. All things in moderation. Don’t defeat yourself and your character before you’ve even started playing it. Reasoning If you are going to build a weakness into your character, be sure there is a believable reason behind it. Do they dislike the Strangers because one of them stole his prized shield? Are they repulsed by the smell of the clockworks? Did they lose their left pinky toe in the fight with Vanaduke? Be creative but be believable. The weaknesses must fit the persona, not just be tacked on because you think they are “cool”. In-Play Happenings Sometimes weaknesses can come from happenings in current RP. These can either be temporary or permanent, depending on the situation. Whatever the case, again, make sure they are believable. When coming up with other happenings that influence your character, make sure it is not something you’ve already done to death. If your character is possessed by demons every Tuesday, others are not likely to give the reaction you’re looking for. They are more likely to roll their eyes and relegate you to a forgotten corner of obscurity. Avoid The Most Common Trap The single most common weakness trap is “Sir Buford is afraid of failure.” Now, if played properly, this can be a valid weakness, however quite often it is seen as a cop-out for someone trying to run Mr. Perfect who never has failures, and has no weakness. Remember, weaknesses can be fun! They don’t have to be huge and traumatic. Be creative and go with what fits the character. 

Character Building Part 5 - Believability & Summary Over the course of these articles I’ve tried to give some basic tips on creating a believable character. Most role players want a character that is fun to play and fun for others to interact with. After all, if we don’t have others to interact with then we have no true role play. It is like writing a story with nobody to read it. Vastly unfulfilling. One thing holds true for all creative endeavors; if your audience, or in this case those you interact with, do not enjoy your story/character, they will find someone else to play with. You will find your sandbox sadly empty. Believability is an important factor for any character you create and hope to play. If other players do not find the character believable, then this dampens their enjoyment and they will gravitate elsewhere. What makes a character believable? Many things actually, but most importantly are the traits that we can identify with. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing an undead mage, bi-pedal cow, or cloven-hoofed warrior of the Light. If your character has traits we can identify with, and if they are presented in a reasonable and logical way, the character can be believable… and likeable. Watch out for extremes. If our character is always emo, flogging themselves about how horrid they are, that gets old real fast. If the character is perfection itself, can do no harm or wrong, that also gets old real fast. You don’t have to push the character over the edge to be interesting. I can’t say it enough; Do Not Underestimate The Power Of The Ordinary. So many people out there are trying to build RP heroes and gods and whathaveyous. Trying to capture fame by forcing “importance” on their character. Trying to steal respect without earning it. In all things; looks, personality, background; the ordinary can be the most fascinating and extraordinary thing to others. What you may see as ordinary, may be the most incredibly fascinating trait to the next person you interact with. Give it a try. 

Role Play 101: Romance in RP- The Good, The Bad and the Ugly Now before you start to point and snicker, muttering about “cyborz”, notice the title is ROMANCE, not ERP. We get plenty of that too but there's plenty of reason to be mature about it all. Romance and sex are friendly concepts in many settings, this server more than some. Romance can cover a wide range of emotional depth from the friends that exchange flowers on occasion to full fledged lovers or marrieds. Role playing romance DOES NOT mean cyber just like reading a book that has romantic elements does not mean reading porn. The Good If you choose to involve your character in romantic relationships it can bring in another level of role play that is interesting and a good development tool for the character. It can also bring pleasant interaction and memories for both the character and the player to counteract the war-stricken and depressing world they live in. It’s a way to see that even in such terrible times, life does go on. There is hope and there are things to take joy in. Emotional beings need that. If a mind is constantly bombarded with the awful with no respite, eventually it will break down. The Bad Sometimes RP romance can be taken too far; too seriously. Always always always remember IT IS RP. IT IS NOT REAL. I have seen people who’s characters are involved in romantic RP begin to believe that it is an actual relationship and when one of those involved plays another character or spends time with other friends, the other gets jealous or angry. These are pixilated images inside a box of computer parts. They are not real flesh, bone or emotion. They are story characters that we play with and read about but do not really exist. Do not fall into the trap of thinking they do. The Ugly I have seen RP romances turn sour and because one party or both have taken it too seriously, when the RP romance fails, it destroys the friendship between the players. I have also seen it go so far as to fracture guilds. Bands of friends choosing sides because one or two people pushed it too far. Truly a sad affair and one that should NEVER be allowed to happen in RP. Rules For Romance In RP While this list may not be all inclusive, I will try to provide at least a beginner’s guide for those looking to involve their character in RP romance. Much of this may seem like common sense but perhaps, for some, reading it will drive it home and give pause before the ugly rears its head. 1 – The most important! If you forget everything else, do not forget this! – RP Romance is not real. It is an interactive story development. Nothing more. 2 – The character your character is involved with has a player behind it too. This player usually has other obligations such as real life, other friends, guild members, other characters that they want to play as well. Don’t try to monopolize their time. 3 – Don’t let your time be monopolized either. If you have other things you wish to do, be sure the other player understands this as well. 4 – “Intimate” role play should be decided on in advance by both parties. Set your boundaries and stick to them, or be respectful of the other person’s boundaries as well. 5 – Make sure all boundaries and limitations are clear and understood. Do you only have time once a week to dedicate to RP? Do you have another character that you want to spend time on as well? Do you want to be able to spend time leveling as well as role playing? Make sure it is all clear. 6 – If something comes up that is going to keep you away from contact for a while, let the other person know. Heck, let all your friends that you play with know! They’re your friends. If you just disappear without a word they worry about you. 7 – The other player likely has other characters that they want to play too. These other characters may become, or already be involved, romantically with characters that are not yours. This is acceptable. Do not get jealous or snippy because the player wants to spend time with other friends too. This comes back to both #1 and #2. Making It Work Now there are many factors that play into whether romance can be feasible. First off, it is not likely the characters are going to be able to spend as much actual time together as a couple might in real life and trying to do that will cause issues of its own. However there are still ways to have the characters “be together” in down times that will fit with the RP and won’t leave anyone feeling pressured. Zydrate’s Note: There was a whole section about fading to black and "It can be assumed..." but this is (Conan Exiles). Most romance and sex is actively roleplayed. It might be assumed that characters spent the night in bed together and when you log off, the other has gone on a hunt. Many ways to play it. Combining Objectives Are you questing in similar areas? Level ranges? Have the same instances you need to hit? So make them into a RP session. Grab a group of like-minded individuals for that instance and RP as you go. Run around the countryside with your RP muffin and complete quests while engaging in conversation and the occasional stolen kiss. Be creative. RP doesn’t always have to be just sitting in a bar in Stormwind. You can RP and accomplish other tasks as well. Schedule It Set up a time or day that you and your RP partner are scheduled to hang out together in game. That way neither of you gets lost in the shuffle. Maybe every Wednesday you meet for RP dinner at the Blue Recluse. Perhaps Friday is the night that you both have set aside to kill monsters. Be creative and keep it interesting. Maybe all you want to do is sit in a chair and talk all night. That’s good too. By scheduling a day/time to do it then you avoid the hit or miss of scheduling differences. Write It A great deal of story can be created and told through written RP. Most guilds associated with RP have a place for storytelling. By creating a written story coinciding with the in-game RP, there is a great deal more information and development of character that can be accomplished. So you’re not the greatest writer in the world. How will you get better if you don’t practice? Use your spellchecker and your grammar checker and then learn as you go. Share the story as it grows and give it the details that we cannot see or experience in game. It’s a great way to tie everything together when actual play time is limited. As with anything, communication and respect are very important when involving your character in RP Romance. Have fun with it. Be creative. But always remember, it is just RP. 

Role Play 101: Drama In RP: How Much is Too Much? Every story must have some conflict or drama to be interesting. When it involves RP, how much is too much? Every player has their own tolerance threshold for character drama. Some are going to have a fairly high tolerance, some are going to have a fairly low one, and some it will depend on what they have recently been involved in, how believable the drama is, and how original it is. Personally, I only rarely create major dramatic threads for my characters. Why? Because they get real old, real fast. I rarely get involved in other people’s major plot lines. Why? Same reason. Part of the problem with major RP threads is the time commitment. Most major drama threads require a commitment of time either in game or in written RP that many folks have trouble making. This is a busy world, things happen and the larger the storyline, the more people involved, the greater the chance that someone will have trouble meeting the time obligations due to real life. There is also the interest factor. I can attest to the fact that after waiting for days on end for the next person to do their part, interest wans. You want to move on, do other things, spend your time on something that is moving rather than wasting it waiting. RP Is For Fun The one point I cannot stress enough is that RP is for fun. It is not supposed to feel like work. It is not supposed to create stress. It should leave all participants with the feeling that they enjoyed themselves. It should not leave anyone feeling bruised, angry, or in any other way stressed out. I realize that many people find the long, drawn out, dramatic role plays fun but I ask you, for how long? For whom? Please stay tuned as I explain. At one point in the rp community on my (old) server there was a chick, we’ll call her Chiclet to protect her identity, that wasn’t content unless she was surrounded by huge dramatic rp. If there wasn’t huge drama going on that she could somehow switch the spotlight to her, she would create it. She became a bit of a joke among role players with her “weekly demon possession” and people quickly learned to avoid her. Now there are many reasons why Chiclet became a joke. First off there was the overuse of old plots. She had been possessed by demons no less than four times that I am aware of. One possession well played (which I have never seen done) can be an interesting plot. More than that and people yawn and walk away. It’s too much! It is not believable and if it was poorly done the first time, the second and third won’t be any better. Chiclet never allowed for down time either. It would be wave upon wave of huge dramatic RP. She was possessed, she was dying, she was pregnant, she was pregnant with a dying possessed catgirl… You get the idea. After a while, others get tired of expending their time and energy. Finding The Line There is a definite line in dramatic RP and some people are very good at not crossing it. Others, not so good. The difficult part is finding that line in the first place. RP is meant to mirror reality in many ways. Even though we're in a fantasy setting, the aspects of life, of believability are what draw people back. They want a glimpse of people, situations, places, creatures they will otherwise never see. They want a story to entertain them for a few hours here and there. They want to interact with that story and influence it and have it affect their characters in return. Because this is a fantasy setting, we’re pushing the line of believability every day. However, you can push the setting believability line a lot further than you can push the character believability line. Characters should mirror life much closer than any other aspect of your story. Their life path and how they deal with it are the elements that will draw others back or repel them. Life is full of ups and downs. I know for a fact that there are times when it feels like it is nothing but downs, but truly there are ups too. When looking at a character as portrayed in RP there are a few things to consider when planning their plot. First off, if you only give the character down moments, never any up moments, you’re going to turn others off really fast. The character that is the perpetual downer that ONLY has bad things happen, has them happen three times a day, and is so traumatized by every single one of them that they can never be happy is not very interesting. People reading, or participating in, a story like for things to get better. Like for the character to have ups as well as downs. After all, if nothing ever gets better, what is the point in trying? People don’t like to have hope killed. Hope keeps us, as human beings, plugging along through our lives even when things are bad. If the characters in our entertainment have no hope, it creates a sense of fear that we have none either. How the character deals with it is another point that can draw people in or repel them. Time to talk honestly here. Overall, tragedy makes people uncomfortable. We feel helpless in our lack of ability to fix it. Sometimes we can do something to help ease it, but overall, we’re not truly comfortable again until it is gone. If we can watch that character actually work towards improving their situation, we can follow the story with pleasure because it builds up that sense of hope. The “mud puddle” character is not going to accomplish that. What is the “mud puddle” character you ask? That is the character that falls into the mud puddle and instead of trying to climb out, just sits there, splashing around in the dirty water, saying, “Oh no! Oh no! I’ve fallen into a mud puddle!” Because we only see the characters for such a small amount of time, every moment that we do see them that is influenced by the downs is going to be magnified. Because we don’t see the flashes through the day of them just staring at the sun daydreaming, or sleeping peacefully at night. What we do see is intensified by the short amount of time that we see it. Some drama is great for a story. But give your “readers” breathing space or you may find yourself RPing alone. Now if you are sitting there insisting that your character is defined only by tragedy, then I have nothing further to say to you. You’re stuck in the mud puddle, you don’t want to get out, and nothing anyone says is going to convince you otherwise. However if you’re the one reading this that wants there to be more to your character that a string of cheap misery tricks, read on! No Firm Numbers Nobody can give you firm numbers on how long you should wait between dramatic events. RP, like life, should be fluid. It should not be forced. Let it flow and take it’s own path. If it feels too soon for something else to happen, likely it is WAY too soon. The owner of the character is always the last one to recognize this. While many role players will say their character “talks” to them, we all do have some control over the path they take. And you should exert that control on occasion to make sure the character is not only fun to play but fun to interact with. Role playing alone isn’t nearly so much fun! If you’ve played out a major dramatic storyline, give your character some time off. Let them run around doing mundane things for a while. Take them fishing, to an evening out in a pub, for an afternoon walk in the park with their pet worg. Let them live a normal life for a while. If your character has a tendency towards depression, give them a few moments of “uptime” here and there. Let them enjoy themselves while questing with others or find something they do enjoy for a while. If it is something they’ve done alone, let them talk to others about it. Eeyore is cute, but after a while his bummer attitude gets a little old. Be Creative As with anything involved in rp, be creative. Down time doesn’t have to mean dull time. With a bit of creativity you could even make sitting on a curb eating cheese interesting. Be imaginative! Is there something simple that you don’t often play out with your character? Well, try it! Something totally off the wall that they’ve never done? Do it! The really fun part is the “why” behind it. Give it a shot! Try walking through a city, but don’t just walk! Interact! Set up a macro that has the character nod at those they pass or bump into them or something else. Nothing is going to be perfect every time. Nothing is going to be audience captivating every time. But if you keep trying, keep testing new things, keep the audience entertained without forcing depression down their throats, you’ll have more fun than you could imagine. Gloom, despair and agony are not the only path to interesting role play. I have said it before in other articles; Never underestimate the power of the ordinary. Make it a challenge for yourself to take something ordinary and turn it into something extraordinary. So you’re standing at the mailbox reading a letter. What can you do to make it fun? Interesting? To draw others in? Giggle at the letter? Start talking back to it as if the author could hear you? If walking through town, what can you make happen by tripping over that warpstalker’s tail? Make it a challenge to yourself. Take an ordinary situation and challenge yourself to make it something else. If you like, come back here and tell me about it. I would love to hear your story and I’m sure others would too!

  RP 101: The Difference Between "Looking for Contact" and "Waiting for Contact" The single most common complaint I hear from role players is either “nobody RPs anymore!” or “I can’t find anyone to RP with!” My first instinct is to ask, “Does that include you?” You see, there are lots of profile's running around out there that say “In Character, Looking For Contact” but are you *looking* for contact, or *waiting* for contact. There is a distinct difference. Looking for contact is the act of putting out effort to find, create, or otherwise engage others in RP. Waiting for contact is sitting on a bridge, saying nothing, waiting for others to engage you. Do you see the difference here? In a perfect world, we would all have RP dropped into our lap whenever we wanted. This is far from a perfect world, however, and in order to find RP, you also have to be willing to put out some effort. If everyone just sits around waiting for RP, when is it ever going to happen? Someone has to take the initiative. How can you tell if you are looking or waiting? Through a simple analysis of your own in-game behaviors. Do you approach others with their looking for contact tag up? If someone you don’t know comes up while you are engaged in conversation do you try to include them? Do you walk while in town instead of run? Do you put on RP clothes? If you answered no to these questions, you are waiting. Looking for contact does involve some effort but is not as difficult or scary as you might believe. I’ll try to provide some tips and hints to set you on the right path to finding the RP you crave. Clues To Finding The Role Players Now just a name is not always enough to pick out who role plays and who does not. Watch behaviors too. Walking in town is always a good indicator. Wearing “street clothes” rather than armor is one too. Are they a member of a well known RP guild? If you see them talk in /say, is it IC? There are lots of subtle indicators, and some not-so-subtle, that can lead you closer to someone who would be more receptive to role play. Making IC Contact Lots of people have difficulty making first contact IC. Called “first contact fear”, hopefully I will be able to provide some tips here that will help others to overcome this. Don’t worry! You are not alone. Everyone has felt that first contact anxiety at some point. It can be overcome. The most common question is “Why would my character talk to that person?” Why indeed? This is where you have to be creative! It doesn’t have to be something profound. Find an excuse. If you wanted to strike up a conversation with someone in real life, what would you do? It could be as simple as complimenting their clothing or if they have a pet, comment on that. Comment on the weather or ask for directions. Use your imagination. All it has to be is something to get the conversation started. Making OOC Contact When you simply cannot come up with an idea to start a conversation IC, resort to OOC. Send the person a whisper OOC. Something along the lines of /tell Person (( Hey! I notice you have you're speaking IC. Would you like to RP? )) Don’t let fear keep you from at least trying. Most people are either going to be receptive or tell you if they are about to log or leave to go to a raid or whatever. Sometimes you may not get a response at all. Don’t assume this is a snub. The person may be on a stealth afk. Or they may be wrapped up in drama over other channels. Or they may simply miss it in the spam. Because this is a typed medium, be sure you give plenty of time to respond before you move on. But don’t let one failed attempt keep you from trying again. It is only through trying that we ever succeed. Events Another way to find RP is to attend events. Small weekly gatherings or larger events thrown open to the public are a great way to make contact with others. Yes, this may mean giving up an evening of Vanaduke runs, but if you want to find RP, you have to make the effort. Check your forum for events. Also check any guild forums you frequent or other forums tied to your interests. Ask around among people who are well known on the server. Likely they will know of any upcoming events or where to find information on them. When you attend events, be sure you don’t just sit on the side and wait for others to talk to you. RP is a two-way street. It takes effort from both sides to make it happen. If you attend a ball, mingle! Talk with others, compliment their clothes, comment on something you hear in passing. Once again, be creative. You are looking, not waiting, remember? If there are no events coming up, consider organizing one. That isn’t as complicated as it may seem either. See my previous article on Hosting A Role Play Event for ideas and information on this fun and rewarding process. Don’t Be A Wallflower Apathy kills RP. I cannot say that enough. If we all sit around and wait for RP to happen then who is going to initiate it? We must all put forth effort to make it happen and keep it alive. Don’t expect others to bring RP to you. Step out of the safety of silence and look for it. Don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t work out every time. That’s normal! The more you try, the more success you will have! If you sit around like the wallflower at the prom, don’t be upset if nobody asks you to dance. The next time you find yourself complaining about there not being any role play, ask yourself what are you doing to get some going. With a little bit of effort, we can make more RP happen for everyone! 

Zydrate's Note: The first part of this next article was personalized for the actual writer of all this, but it all leads up a very specific point so I'll simply replace her bio with, well, mine.

Role Play 101: The Other Side of the Pixels I’m going to touch on a subject that all players, not just role-players, should keep in mind. It may seem like it has nothing to do with RP and therefore has no place in this series of articles, but I assure you it does. It has a very firm place in all interactions we have online and I hope people will read it and take it to heart. Who Am I? Who Are You? Hi. I'm Zydrate. I like to write stories and play video games. My home life is not terribly impressive; I'm 29 and I work as a bagger in a grocery store. I enjoy the job but it does not pay well, and thus puts a strain on my home life. I live with my brother, mother who in turn also lives with her mother. My brother has mental issues which prevent him from getting a job as well. My entire family has various forms of depression of varying severity. I have dreams and daydreams, I think every day about what I'm going to do the next. I have wishes and goals and theories. In other words, I am a human being on the other side of that computer; a real person with real feelings that can be damaged by carelessness. Just as I am sure you are too. It’s a tragedy that so often that fact is forgotten or blatantly disregarded in a world that conducts so much of its business, communication and social interaction online. We may be utilizing a heartless machine to communicate, but the being doing the communication is still human and should be treated as such. Sometimes it’s far too easy to forget that person on the other side. Many times it is incredibly easy to misinterpret something that was typed or to type something that seems fine at the moment but might act like a fiery brand on the temper of the person on the other side. Other times it is far too easy to hide behind the Great Wall of Internet Anonymity and be an ass. Verbal vs. Electronic While a study in human nature determining what the exact percentage of our communication is nonverbal is nigh impossible, fair estimates put it firmly somewhere between 85-95% with 93% being the most common approximation. So that means that approximately 93% of the meaning of our message is conveyed through nonverbal cues; tone, volume, inflection of voice, facial expression, body language and eye contact. Literally hundreds of messages can be conveyed through half a dozen spoken words by the nonverbal signals we send. Our world is moving deeper and deeper into the digital age. The average person conducts somewhere between 40-60% of their daily communication electronically, either by email, text, chat programs, social networking sites, etc. Each year that amount increases as electronic communication becomes faster, cheaper, easier. Our youth grow up in a world where instant, anonymous communication is the norm. Yet none of those forms allow for nonverbal cues. Now considering the message conveyed in the two previous paragraphs, is it any wonder that it is so easy for drama, cruelty, depression, anger and frustration to explode so fast and so painfully over the internet? The Great Wall of Internet Anonymity It really is easy to hide behind internet anonymity. That dark little voice in the back of your head that reminds you that person doesn’t know you. You don’t know them. You don’t have to look them in the eye, you don’t have to acknowledge their feelings, you don’t have to witness the pain you cause. We are empowered by being anonymous. This freedom from having to acknowledge others as sentient beings with viable feelings and emotions that should be respected leads to hordes of people across the cyberverse that display little or no regard for others. They don’t know that elf/troll/dwarf/noob/pug personally so they feel no responsibility to treat them with common courtesy. I’m sure there are a number of people that have stopped reading by now or will stop shortly but think really hard. Examine your behaviors and really look at them. Consider them from the other side of the computer. “Noob.” “WTF! Idiot!” “You suck!” “OMG you can’t heal/tank/dps!” It’s so easy to type. It is so easy to picture the fingers typing the message. But when the same messages are directed back, they don’t feel very good, do they? You feel angry, hurt, confused. It’s even easier to lash back because we feel justified in our anger. “They started it! I’m going to finish it!” syndrome. Sometimes the messages are more subtle. How we type a phrase always has the chance of being misinterpreted. Wording is a very tricky matter if you don’t pay attention. Study the three following sentences and see if you can pick out which one is the best and why the others might cause problems even though they all say the same thing. #1 - “If you don’t pick up your dps you’re going to get kicked out.” #2 - “You even going to try getting your dps up, noob?” #3 - “Your dps seems a little low. Do you need some help figuring out why?” #1 – The other person has just been threatened. It might have been meant as a warning or advisement, but the more common interpretation is going to be seeing it as a threat. Being threatened causes a person to become defensive; feeling the need to defend/protect themself. The most common reaction is going to be to strike back. #2 – The other person has just been insulted. When typed it might have been meant in a joking way however there are no nonverbal cues to communicate that so the more common interpretation is going to be as a deliberate and cruel insult. Once again, the person has been put on the defensive. Most common response is likely to be the same as the threat. #3 – It should be obvious that number 3 is a more correct path to prevent hurt feelings and explosive drama. I hope to many it is, but it’s also easy to forget. In number three it has been communicated that there may be a perception that something is wrong and there is an offer to figure out why this is so. There is no accusation, no insult, no threats. Nobody responds well to threats, insults, accusations in any form. Always think about what you are going to type before you hit that enter key, sending it into someone’s face. One should never feel justified in cruelty. You may be stuck in that group of idiot puggers. Sure, someone may be acting like an ass. Does imitating that behavior make us so much better? In-Character Is Not an Excuse What does any of this have to do with Role Play? It has quite a bit actually. You see I can’t tell you the number of times I have witnessed someone using role play as another wall to be cruel. One more excuse to hide behind. Not only are you anonymous behind a computer, you have yet a second face to use as a shield. One that is imaginary. I have seen “characters” mob another one with hate filled comments carrying on for days to the point where the receiving player is so hurt and upset they lash out, hide, quit or engage in defensive behavior. Then the phrase “Oh it was IC hate” is flippantly tossed out as if that makes it all better. I, myself, have been the target of in-game hate mail thinly disguised as role-play from not only an anonymous player but character as well. Insults bordering on OOC or some of them blatantly OOC meant precisely to be cruel and cause damage. Hidden behind an excuse of “but it’s in character”. IC anger/hate/maliciousness/cruelty should be understood and explained before ever beginning. If it happens spontaneously out of the blue, communicate with the other person and make sure it’s okay. Discuss it and maybe come up with a fun plot, rather than one person feeling abused. If IC hate/anger/drama starts to hurt the player, they need to speak up reasonably about it and the other party needs to be willing to drop it and move on to something else. Period. (Zydrate’s Note: I actually like to chime in after a heated IC argument. I like whispering the person with something along the lines of "That was fun! " to make sure that the other player knows that there is no ill will. This usually opens up a bridge, "Oh, okay. They're civil, I can arrange something with them at a later time". Because there is part of our brains that if there's absolutely no OOC contact, we will attribute the character with the player. It's wrong, but it's a natural occurrence.) The moment a player expresses that a role play behavior directed at them is bothering them out of character, the other person needs to stop and the players need to consult. Maybe a compromise can be found, maybe the characters just need to not be in the same stories or they need to pretend the other doesn’t exist. Either way, it cannot be allowed to continue. The player’s needs always outweigh the role-play. Don’t think that someone is being too sensitive because one character abusing their character bothers them. Our characters are extensions of some part of ourselves. Whether the character is the law abiding paladin, the pocket-picking rogue, the puppy-sacrificing cultist, they are the creations of the player. They are that player’s work. When creating a character for role play or writing we always put a bit of our heart, our soul into that character. Without it we could not make that character seem real. However even that tiny little piece of ourselves that we build into each character can cause pain and we need to be aware of that. Courtesy is not so difficult. If you want to interact with someone’s character, especially in a negative way, it is basic courtesy to communicate with them. Especially if it seems feelings might be getting hurt in the interaction. Whether in role play, in groups, on the forums or in chat, it is important to break down that wall. Don’t use the Great Wall of Anonymity as an excuse to be an ass. Courtesy is not so difficult. Kindness goes a very very long way. One tiny bit of kindness could improve a person’s day one hundred fold, prevent weeks of drama, and does it really cost so much to spare? It doesn’t take very long to examine what you type before you do so. Let’s put faces back on the person we communicate with. Hi. I’m Zydrate. It’s a pleasure to meet you and I hope we can be friends. I will be kind to you even if I feel you are not kind to me because I know on the other side of that screen, we are not so different.

How to Have Living, Breathing Emotions Now this is a section that I thought up entirely on my own. You may even notice it has a different writing style, as I'm told I have a "conversational" tone, informed by my several years of blogging experience. So this piece will be entirely original. This has been bouncing around in my head for some time, and is something I've struggled with when I interact in WoW-RP. This new guide is just as much for me as it is for all of you. Employ the Senses Earlier in this guide, we read about using three of the five senses when it comes to character creation and description. This continues to apply in every day custom emotes. When approaching an unfamiliar face, you need to give them a sense of who your character is. Tell them what they might see. Is their armor clean? Are they wounded? What quality of weapons might they be carrying? Do they look out of breath? In WoW, there are complete AddOns that help mitigate some of this but in Conan Exiles, we must lay a little bit of groundwork for our interactions. Throughout conversations, try to pepper in mannerisms. In real life, none of us are stone cold when having conversations. We move our hands, we look around the room, we continue about our business shuffling papers or making sure we're productive while speaking to co-workers. Starting an RP post with a custom emote rather than dialog is the best way to go about this. For example, Livia will tend to clasp her hands when something excited her. Other ways to do this is to show that your character is "shaking with excitement" which illicit a visual of something practically bouncing on their toes about a fun prospect. That's just one idea of many, and will go a long way in helping your character feel more alive in any given interaction. Your character is a person. Act like it! Avoid the Two-Line Curse Understandably in dialog-heavy situations, you want to quickly react to what your partner is saying, especially on heavier topics. That's a fair assessment but it's still not an accurate way to look at it. Tying into the point above, your character should often be emoting properly about anything that is said. A widened eye to signal surprise, that kind of thing. I might be repeating myself here but too often I see emotes out in the world such as; Livia turns the corner and sits upon the stool, thinking and taking a swig of her glass. What does that accomplish? What can other characters do with that information? Who cares? The dreaded one or two liner especially in a fully written custom emote (as opposed to pure dialog) gives nothing for the other characters to work with. Typically, we're also not mind readers. Do not pad your custom emotes with idle thoughts, unless you accompany it with physical tics and cues that may give us a hint to what they may be thinking. Better still, just write those tics and keep the thoughts for yourself, and give the partners their own mini-game to try and suss out what your character is thinking about the situation. Balancing Size and Time Don't get me wrong. Seeing paragraph-full posts are often times a joy, and have been the primary source of thinking of this post because I want to employ their mastery and help others along. There is however, a double sided issue. On one hand, there's a lot to reply to. Notably, if they have multiple dialog that can branch into multiple reactions and replies. On the other, the effort the player puts in their posts can easily sap time. Taking several minutes to type of fifteen lines kills a lot of time, and we all have places to be eventually. Some need their sleep, some need to get to work, or sometimes there's several people involved in the interaction and the conversation has the chance to completely derail if someone has to reply to something said several posts and minutes ago by a character that apparently went into a small coma for the time it took for them to type it all out. See what I mean? Again, it is always a mixed blessing. Sometimes great posts like these make people feel inadequate as a writer and roleplayer. Instead of feeling sorry for yourself, use this information. Borrow their style. Pick it apart, figure out what makes it so great, and eventually employ it into your own writing. I've met several great writers that have pushed me to be a better custom-emoter. Whether I have or not, time will tell. Hopefully, I just want to help pass it along and help everyone emote better. In a way, we're all actors here. We take on a role and we write it out. I just hope this tidbit helps.