#random country troll i made up is here too

[missescalientee]

Hypothetically, how would things go if Niccolo and Gryffin somehow wound up in Lonesome Flats while Niccolo is still a kid?

In this context, how would little Niccolo feel about Country trolls and their music? Would he have gotten along with Country trollings his age?

They'd probably end up there via Gryffin getting brave and just kidnapping his own child instead of sending him back to Cecile lmao

The one rule is no outside music which Gryffin is fine with as long as Nicky's safe, this would've taken place before the incident which hasn't been revealed yet.

Niccolo would probably love Country music, not as much as his home music or the secret third music in his heart, but he'd like it a lot!

I think he'd also get along with some of the country trollings they're also probably a bit rough and tumble, but I feel like less so, and they would be more comfortable chilling out as well

Niccolo would be a lot more open by virtue of having a father who's encouraging him and supporting him rather than pulling away like he had been before. Without either of them having Cecile looming over them Niccolo becomes kinder and more accepting early on, and Gryffin is a lot more confident!

[brights-place]

Hiii hope I'm not sending this at a wrong time 😅

Can we have some headcanons for queen barb marrying reader ?. 👰‍♀️👰‍♀️💐💍

Barb X Wife! S/O

Pairings: Barb X Reader

Warnings: Fluff, mild cursing, THE GAYS ARE GAYING!

A/N: I have never been so happy with this request! I'm literally writing an whole fanfiction instead of headcannons cause THIS! THIS IS TOO IMPORTANT TO BE JUST HEADCANNONS!

Barb X Wife! S/O pt 2

You and Barb had been dating for about 7 years and you were always supportive with each other but you did have an argument when she wanted to unite all trolls you thought you all were going to understand and learn each others different styles of music.

You didn’t think you’d end up watching your girlfriend try to take over the world. You spoke up about it but she was so close to actually collecting all the strings about it and she was gonna quit since she noticed the look of discomfort in your face but continued to do it anyway even though you told her that you felt something would happen even though she knew your gut feelings were always right she waved it off…

Now she stood at the stage watching the strings of the diffrent music tribes Techno, country, rock, funk, and pop fade in her hands as poppy ran to her partner Barb stared at the two before looking towards you wanting you to comfort her but she noticed how you looked away with an look on your face she knew well enough to read.

After the world tour incident she apolgized to everybody and literally had you scold her for so long she started to get into you degrading her which lead to some stuff if you know what I mean 🤭

She had proposed to you right after her concert dedicating songs to you which made you flustered and would take you to the rooftop singing rock songs to you that you loved as soon as she got on an knee you knew what she was gonna do “Barb…” you uttered Barb nodded looking away.

Barb definitely hasn’t been practicing proposing to you for the past 2 years after she realised she wanted to marry you “(Name) Uhm shit I forgot what I was gonna say…Fuck” Barb said looking away as you giggled cupping her face as she cleared her throat “Loving you is a knee jerk reaction. I cant control it and if I could believe me, I would. You walk into a room and my gravitational pull isn’t down. It’s you. Like you’re the Center of my world and I’m constantly falling. Falling, Falling to you and for you and hopefully with you… (Name)” Barb took an sharp inhale as you teared up slightly “If you stay with me, I promise to make you smile everyday with my weird jokes and random kisses. I promise to hold your hand when you need someone to walk with through the storm. I promise to share my food with you, give you good massages and laugh at your horrible stupid jokes that I love so much…” you gasped abit at the end “my jokes are hilarious!” Barb snickered “Sure babe… there are a million reasons why you should stay with me and be my wife… if you’d like to be?” Barb said looking away as you smiled nodding quickly tackling her to the floor and kissing her deeply

You pulled away as she held you close tearing up “Rock on…” You giggled “damn right” You said kissing barbs face as she blushed. Once you tow came back inside you were met by King Thrash and other rock trolls congratulating you two for getting engaged and soon planned together an wedding sitting side by side as you two talked about different things for the weddings.

Currently you two where wondering where exactly it would be hosted “It could be hosted on where we first met?” Barb suggested as you hummed thinking to yourself “Barb we met at volcano rock city plus I wanted to invite our friends from outside of volcano rock city our temperature here is much different were use to it but they might not be” “They have to suck it up I want our wedding it to be fucking rocking!” You giggled cupping barbs face giving her an quick peck on her lips as Barb smiled “god I want to fuck you right now” Barb uttered placing an hand on your waist as you sighed pushing her head away smirking at her “Barb keep it in your pants” “I want you to be in my pants though” Barb groaned.

The wedding ceremony was a perfect mesh of elegance and rock 'n roll theme. The rock 'n roll themed wedding was a perfect mix of elegance and rock 'n roll vibes. The wedding was held inside a vintage like building where King Thrash and Queen Thrash got married at… Barb wanted to be wedded their for her mother and father even if he mother couldn’t see it she wanted her father too.

It decorated with edgy yet classy rock 'n roll accents. The venue was decorated with dramatic black walls, featuring white accents and gold details. The venue was completely transformed into a vibrant and fun rock 'n roll theme, featuring colorful stage lighting, edgy punk rock decorations, and musical elements such as vintage rock instruments and neon lights. The tables were adorned with dramatic black table cloths and edgy black tablescape decorations, making for a perfect venue for rock 'n roll lovers.

An altar had an mix of your favourite flowers and barbs favourite wilted flowers together As Barb stood at the altar gulping sad she fixed her suit slightly as music started to play an rock n roll wedding music. Barbs suit was crafted with a bold punk rock vibe, featuring accent buttons and bold silver spikes on the jacket and black leather pants. The jacket was shaped with a dramatic collar, giving it an edgy yet stylish silhouette, while the pants featured a bold and dramatic drop-crotch style. The pants and jacket were completed with punk rock accessories such as a silver spiked neckband and belt while the shoes were crafted with a bold spiked detail black leather. Barb inhaled sharpley as riff patted barbs shoulder since Barbs bestman was riff.

You stood at the other end staring down the aisle with a nervous look on your face as you wore a wedding dress featured bold yet elegant details combining the dark and mysterious vibes with the elegance of traditional wedding dresses. The dress was beautiful and was crafted with stunning lace and satin fabric, featuring bold accents of black and deep red velvet. The bodice was shaped with a low neckline and dramatic flared sleeves, while the skirt fell in a dramatic and elegant drape, creating a chic and romantic silhouette. The gown also featured dramatic black ribbon accents at the waist, giving the gown a sleek and stylish edge. King thrash was guiding void down the aisle as rock trolls awed at your outfit as satin and chenille high-fived eachother impressed by their work.

Poppy started to tear up and bawled on her seat as branch soothed his partner chuckling. You stood infront of the altar staring at Barb who smiled softly “Your beautiful” you two say in sync before giggling at eachother as the pastor spoke telling the basics as as always before motioning for babe to start with her vows as she gulped and spoke nervously “Well damn it’s just like when I propose to you I’m so nervous… I can’t even believe I’m saying it out loud cause I know I’m gonna be made fun of by my people” Barb said smirking as others laughed in the crowd

You smiled at her as she took out a piece of burnt paper “Don’t ask why it’s burnt… I may have threw an bitch fit” Barb said as you sighed “God damn to Barb” you said giggling as Barb spoke up once more “"In the darkest of times, you are the one who lights up my world. In the most joyous of moments, you are the one who makes it all the more sweet. My days would be bleak and desolate without you, and my world would lose all its meaning. You complete my heart, my soul, my life. Without you by my side, nothing makes sense. I vow to cherish your presence, hold you close to my heart and be there for you through thick and thin. Through every hardship, I promise never to leave your side." Barb said looking up to you before freaking out when seeing you looking up holding back tears “(Name-)” “I can’t cry cause my Massacra was 48 Dollars!” Barb giggled “How do straight people do this without crying?!” You complained as Barb agreed.

You sighed looking down at your own piece of paper with vows on it “Barbra… how do I even start this? Your so fucking chaotic” you started as Barb chuckled with others in the crowd “babe you zealous hard rocker at heart, who loves the members of her Tribe and our music but you also love me… when I first met you… you mostly shielded yourself with a rough exterior but you actually has a softer side that you mostly expresses around the kids in our Tribe but also with me” you whispered cupping Barbs face as Barb smiled softly “I promise to hold your hand when you need someone to walk with through the storm. I promise to share my food with you, give you good massages and laugh at your horrible stupid jokes that I love so much… I will listen when you tell me about how horrible your day was when you come home from work. I promise to you in my arms when you feel like your whole world is crashing down. I’ll make you see that there are a million reasons why you should stay with me… and why you should marry me and you did… Barb I can’t wait to have this new chapter in our lives” the pastor smiled handing you two your rings as you placed them on each others ring finger.

You both were wearing a skull ring with you having a red ruby and Barb having an (Gem of your choice) as hers the pastor soon spoke “You may now kiss the bride!” Barb may or may not have grabbed you by the waist dipping you to the floor and kissing you happily with an large smirk as others cheered while rock n roll trolls screamed doing the rock symbol with you and Barb doing the same while kissing each other happily.

reblogs + comments are appreciated ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

©brights-place 2023 — do not repost on another platform, copy, translate or edit my works! if you fit my DNI list please don't interact

[xxnomadsxx]

okay, we know how Branch found the feral things and started a grey troll village in your nomads au. And how Creek ended up in the village. BUT, how did the rest of the occupants come to be? Did they willing leave their kingdoms? Were they abandoned? Did they get lost and lose hope of anyone ever coming for them before they met the feral creatures and the others? I really wanna know some backstories.

Oooooo-This is a tough one.

Everyone in the village has there own story for why there their. These are a few examples I thought up of how they got there.

Pop: There are very few Pop trolls in the grey village (mostly due to their toxic positivity of always looking on the bright side for normal Pop trolls ) they basically were separated from the main tribe and didn’t find the putt putt trolls on there way out when escaping. Soon they lost all hope of finding the tribe and went to live in the wood (it went reeeeaaallly bad) a few were eaten and the rest went grey, they were kinda just wandering around for a few years till the (very few) nomads and feral (trolls?) showed up. They were taken in and found Branch there too. The grey pop trolls also were told were the village was but they didn’t go back because they were too ashamed about being grey.

Funk: There is a group of funk trolls in the village who all came in at the same time. They were researchers who were left behind by vibe city and had no hope of getting back to the always moving ship, so they went grey and were later found by a small hunting team and Branch while trying to create some traps to keep them safe (there are more funk trolls I’m just showing off random examples of how trolls got here)

Classical: There are a few classical trolls who can’t fly in the village due to wing injuries. The injuries go from difficult to stay in the air, to broken beyond repair, and looking at how there body is shaped (they have the bodies of LITERAL babies can they walk?) I don’t think it’s easy for them to get around since symphony vill is probably mostly made to fly around. It got too difficult for them and just left going grey in the process. 

Techno: There once was a dead techno troll who had some troll eggs with them beached on a nearby river to the village, they took in the techno eggs (The eggs HAVE to look like fish eggs right.. RIGHT?!) the trolling when they hatched just sorta knew there mother was gone and were born grey. they grew up in the village which didn’t…really help them get better and just sorta caused them more issues.(there have been a few lost techno trolls who had damaged fins to the point of not even being able to go back)

Rock: A lot more rock trolls live in the village then the other genres, mostly cause of their more feral and aggressive personalities (they look like biters) so some just had bad experiences in there lives that it just became too much and they just ended up Leaving volcano rock city. There is a rock troll who can’t hear in the village, and due to his deafness he felt like a freak to troll kind since he couldn’t even listen to music (which is kinda a big deal) he left and turned grey wandering the woods until he was found by some feral(trolls?) who have done the same routine of taking in grey trolls a lot at that point.

Country: There aren’t to many country (I feel like it would be harder for them to turn grey since they show how sad it can get in Lonesome flats) but the some who do show up have tons of kids, a while back a couple of country trolls were deemed criminals for liking another genre of music and playing it too loud, to which they were promptly kicked out of town, who later turned grey from getting forced to leave there only home. They were found fighting predators by a hunting team. (this was way before world tour so a lot less tolerance for other music)

Subgenres: There are some subgenre groups running around, like indie trolls, steam punk trolls, some grunge too (and many more) they usually are abandoned or just turn grey from living a isolated lonely life or some other reason like family was killed or taken by huge predators or what not.

Honestly most of them stay grey or go darker in color because they live in the village. It isn’t really going out of its way to help them get their color back but is really just a home for them. Growing up there influences many of the kids born there to turn grey or go grey later in their lives.

There are many other reasons why any of the trolls would be here these are just random scenariosthat I thought up to show as examples

[skyhawkwolf]

Thanks for the tag @3cosmicfrogs!

I sadly haven't read masses recently but have a mix of books I have read and enjoyed or books I would like to read:

-House on the Cerulean Sea: a cute addition to the genre of Cozy Fantasy. I'm a big fan of urban fantasy that is mundane so this fits that nicely. Effectively a queer romance with some mild political tones in the background but it is primarily a story about a 40 year old learning to love life (and another man).

-My Name Is Monster: a really interesting character analysis from the headspace of a difficult character to like, but well written and very engaging concept that tempts you into liking the character. It's a semi sci-fi, ish plot based in a post apocalypse from the perspective of the soul survivor: a woman who doesn't care for humanity. The story follows her rebuilding her life and coping with the loss of the world despite her unsympathetic world-view. Honestly, a shot in the dark from the library but I loved it.

-Who Fears Death: Holy shit did I love this one. So it's very dark Sci-fi fantasy, that deals with very real and very difficult issues such as FGM and Sexual assault through the lense of Fantasy/sci-fi. It's set in post apocalypse Africa (I don't believe a country is specified) about a girl who is an outcast due to her being a child of sexual assault, the book talks about the girl's life and desire to learn magic and her taking revenge for her mother. It's very dark and quite gritty but beautifully written and absolutely gripping.

-A Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes: I really enjoyed this one, I need to finish the fanart I was making for it!!!! A really fun character piece about how Coriolanus Snow becomes the antagonist of the Hunger Games Trilogy. Great world building, fab characters. God it made me hate snow so much and love Lucy Grey.

-The Martian: A man who was part of a mission to Mars is abandoned by his crew after an accident and is left struggling to keep himself alive on Mars whilst he waits for a rescue. I heard good things going in, but that didn't prepare me for how DAMN funny Andy Weir is. I think I read this in like a night. Gripping as hell, witty and just a blast!

-The Lieutenant: Okay this was another random book I picked up from a charity shop. Historical fiction based on a real story. About a British man who ends up going on a mission to colonise Australia and study it's stars, the book is about him meeting an Aboriginal girl, who teaches him her language and they become friends. This was honestly a book that surprised me with how well it portrayed the aboriginal people, I expected propaganda or racist undertones, but it was well written and really empathetic, and (from what I read after) very accurate to real life events. The book changes the names but William Nicholas Dawes was the real man and the name of the girl he made friends with is recorded as Patyegarang and HOLY SHIT IS THIS GIRL SUPER COOL. If you don't read this book, please go read about Patyegarang and William Dawes! 1. 2. 3.

~~~

Circe is next on my list I reckon. Followed by Hail Mary and Dead Water. And At some point. I need to read Chalice of the Gods.

~~~

Anyway those are the books I read that isn't me rereading the Percy Jacksons again. The others here are on my to read list. A bit of a mix and honestly too many of them were just me picking up a book and going 'Huh. Why not?' in a library or charity shop.

Tagging wise here you go, I hope my mutuals enjoy! @ihatecoconut @quinthelurker @bardtothebone @missmacfire @charm-troll

Tagged by @erisenyo, ty for the tag! The game is to share 9 of my favorite books from the last 12 months, or 9 books on my TBR list for this year.

The top 3 (black tides of heaven, galactic hellcats, and sol majestic) are on my TBR, and the bottom are some of my favourites i've read (and am currently reading, in the case of August kitko). I've counted the murderbot diaries as one whole book but obviously it's an anthology of 7 short ones.

as you can see, i'm currently on a bit of a queer scifi kick! Here are my reviews of them:

She who became the sun & he who drowned the world (by Shelley Parker-Chan) wins this year's award for Most Tragic Most Brainrotting Yaoi!

Children of Memory (by Adrian Tchaikovsky) is the 3rd installation in the Children Of Time series and wins Best SCIENCE fiction! i am scientifically shooketh as we said back in my day.

The Murderbot Diaries (by Martha Wells) wins Best Protagonist! SecUnit i love you, never change.

The Kaiju Preservation Society (by John Scalzi) wins Most Entertaining Read! it's short, it's sweet, it's on acid... strongly recommend this one if you're looking for something playful and easy.

August Kitko and the Mechas from Space (by Alex White) wins Somehow The Gayest Book On This List. this is THE queer scifi/fantasy list and this book still takes the cake. giant sentient robots invade earth and the protagonists decide they must play Music about it, it's great. Get in the fucking Vanguard, Kitko!

again, i was tagged 3 days ago so i'm sure this has lost momentum, but i'm tagging my Beloved Mutuals @skyhawkwolf, @tavina-writes, @woobifiedvillain, @frodo-of-the-nine-fingers, @lgbtlunaverse and anyone else who wants to join!

[shitstheysaid]

This may be out-of-brand, random, and quite a long read, but please spare some time to read. I just want to share with all of you who stayed in this blog despite my frequent long absences, that I am from the Philippines. Yesterday, May 9, we had our national elections that will decide the 17th president of this country. And it was rigged. The son of the dictator who ruled this country in terror for 20 years was said to have won. Blatant misinformation drives through all these years that repainted the martial law as the golden years of this country, and the commission of elections fucked us up, and now I'm terrified. The elections were sold long before it even began.

You know how fucked up it felt when Trump got elected? That's how we feel rn except that this is much, much worse because Marcos Jr. is an actual useless elitist git with prior multiple tax evasion cases, a liar, and was actually jobless for the last 6 years since he lost when he ran for the vice-presidential seat. He presented no platform during his campaign and refused to join debates that will clear up his aims for the country against the other aspirants. There are hundred thousands of unaccounted deaths and still missing and tortured during Marcos' martial law. His family has 7 counts of graft and corruption cases against them and an outstanding 203B pesos debt on estate taxes. In addition to this, the stolen wealth from all the years they reigned is yet to be completely recovered. The debt created by their regime is still being paid by this generation and the next. That famous ridiculous woman who owns thousands of shoes named Imelda Marcos? That's his mom. He is backed by oligarchs, troll farms and fanatics who nearly treat him as king.

The vice presidential seat that is separately elected here, was given (I refuse to believe that they are actually elected) to the daughter of the current president whose most prominent legacy is the deaths caused by his war against drugs. She was equally brutal in her leadership as the mayor of her hometown.

The other front-runner in the presidential race Marcos was up against was a woman who sowed hope to all of us. Leni Robredo made me believe in radical love. As the then vice-president, she spearheaded countless efforts against COVID-19 and other natural disasters. She became the beacon of hope and shone a light on the goodness we can offer to our nation. It may sound fanatical, but it's so far from that. It's even the other way around. Her campaign birthed a monumental movement of volunteerism. She made us feel that there is still a possibility of a government that genuinely cares for us and is willing to listen. For the first time in my life, I actually care about my country. Not just in passing, but I really felt it from within me.

But now we are going to be under another Marcos again. And I'm terrified and heartbroken for my country.

People are vigilant. The youth is reeling in anger. Some are even out in the streets, protesting against this incoming administration. But I fear that it is to a lost cause. The proclamation is tomorrow, May 11 and despite the countless cries of anomalies and irregularities in this election that gives all the reason to announce a failure of election, the commission on elections is continually turning a blind eye against all of it.

The regime under Marcos Sr. from 36 years ago could get me killed just by this post alone. And we are afraid that history may repeat itself. Some of my countrymen have forgotten the atrociousness of the Marcos' dictatorship through historical revisionism and we are going to work hard against it from within.

Just like I said, they fucked us up and we will never forget that.

Please reblog this and spread it. Also, if any of you could spare me some more time (this became too long. I'm sorry.), watch this documentary streamed for free on youtube to get a clearer picture of what we are against.

6 years is a long time, but we will not be backing down.

[mikaharuka]

Winter Light Rambles + Apricity Outtakes

Clearly I haven't been good about posting the "daily last line" stuff since I'm not writing as quickly as I'd like to, and today will likely be similar since I'm writing slower right now. So... today, I decided to post something else. First are some random rambles, and second are two excerpt outtakes (from the newer Apricity, not the old one):

...I say that, but I'm definitely going to use them somewhere.

-

So... @udaberriwrites and I ramble about a lot in the DMs. Or rather, I ramble and she listens 80% of the time (and vice versa the remaining 20%). She's absolutely the perfect enabler - and here's proof of that:

In some distant, theoretical future centuries from now, I could see vampire!Mike walking around spritzing people with water when they get too annoying and/or horny in his presence.

For sure, I see Beau going scared/horny on main and Mike saying something petty about it. Would totally happen.

The idea of Carlisle effectively summoning Mike to point out the obvious to him and low-key chastise him over it somehow while also helping him find a solution... it feels right, somehow XD

Honestly, Carlisle occasionally gives off that same sort of FML, "best to just walk away" vibe when Edward goes full troll/unhinged. I suspect that's Mike's and Carlisle's true common ground XD

-

And, to end... here are two outtakes:

From (would-be current) Midnight - Mike + Carlisle:

“You should take some time for yourself. You seem rather exhausted.” “What about the earlier stuff?” “That should not be a concern anymore. I made sure of that.” Mike definitely did not want to know what he meant by that. “I see. That’s reassuring.” “I have certain things to take care of. Take care of yourself.” <Carlisle leaves, Mike stands there watching him>

From (would-be current) Indigo - Mike + Edward:

**Note, the year 1563 in this bit is outdated. I pushed Edward even further back in time in the world I have now. I do love this bit, though, so I will be writing it in a similar way when I get around to Indigo.

“Vampire.” “Vampire.” “Vampire?” “Vampire.” “Seriously?” “Seriously.” This asshole was thoroughly enjoying the situation, wasn’t he? “Okay then. Moving right along. How old are you?” “I’m eighteen,” Edward replied, beaming at Mike. “Okay, smart-ass, I’ll rephrase the question. How long have you been eighteen?” “...for a very long time.” Mike sighed. “Put a number on that, you petty bastard.” “Okay, okay, hold on…” Edward placated him before looking down and counting his fingers. If the Black twins’ account was correct, then this guy was at least… “457 years. I’ve been eighteen for 457 years now.” … Mike stared at him silently for a few moments before looking down to count his fingers. Four hundred. Fifty. Seven. Years. … No way. But the math was correct. Mike looked up to face the… centuries-old vampire. “1563.” “1563.” “1563?” “1563.” “Seriously?” “Seriously.” This again. Mike sighed. “You sure don’t behave like a 475-year-old person.” “What does a 475-year-old person even behave like, anyways?” “Not like you, that’s for sure!” “Of course not! Because I’m not 475-years old!” “Right. You’re not 475-years old. You’ve simply been eighteen for a very long time. My bad.” “Exactly.” What the hell was this conversation, anyways? Mike put his head in his hands and sighed. This whole situation was beyond surreal, but he could worry about that later. “You weren’t originally American, then. This country didn’t even exist at the time.” “Correct. I was originally from London.” “You’re English... and 1563… so what was that, Tudor England?” “Indeed. In fact, Elizabeth I ascended the throne in early 1563.”

[gaming]

Streamer Spotlight: A 1000 Years

A 1000 Years has been streaming for about a year and a half and is one of the fastest-growing full-time variety streamers on Mixer. You can find her playing anything from Apex Legends to Call of Duty, Dead By Daylight to Overwatch, and even PS4 exclusives such as Detroit: Become Human and The Last of Us. She loves being interactive with her AlienFam community and being able to create a safe, positive place for anyone to tune in to every night to escape daily life struggles. This year alone, AlienFam has reached over 55,000 followers and over 500+ subscribers, and donated over $13,000 to various charities last year, both local and national bodies, like The Foundation for Suicide Awareness.

What's the story behind your gamer tag? 

Years ago, my mother gave me an Xbox 360 for Christmas, and my cousin helped set it up. My cousin asked her what she wanted the screen name to be, and she said a 1000 years because that was her favorite song by Christina Perry. Family is essential to me, and I am grateful that I get to carry this piece of my mother with me through my career.

Was there a specific moment that made you want to get into streaming? 

I decided I wanted to start streaming after long nights of battling dark times. I needed a place to go and get out of my head. I thought going live might help me find people to talk to, laugh, and build new friendships around the world.

How do you approach toxicity and mental health?

Unfortunately, being a female in the gaming industry can get pretty tough. Behind a computer screen, people can say the most ruthless things. I remind myself that it’s just words from some random stranger who is battling something in their personal life; that’s why they feel the need to attack me. I try not to even react to trolls because it only feeds their addiction to online bullying. I look at it, brush it off, and focus on all the kind people in my stream. If you spend too much time getting caught up in the negative, rude people online, you’ll miss out on the positive, loving part of your community.

What is one of your favorite memories from interacting with the gaming community? 

My favorite memories from interacting with the gaming community are the messages I get from my community about the positive impact I’ve made on their lives. I’ve been there through some peoples’ first children, marriages, new friendships, cross-country moves, break-ups, passings, losses of jobs, etc. Receiving messages from them about how tuning into my stream helped them get past rough times in their lives makes an incredible impact on me since I turned to them for help. Being able to go live every night and potentially add a smile to someone’s face during a dark period means a lot to me and keeps me going.

How is Sushi doing? 

Sushi, formally known as just merely Fish, is our stream pet. The community submitted names for our stream pet Beta fish, and they decided on Sushi. He is doing awesome and is spoiled.

If you had to play one game for the rest of your life, what would it be?

If I could only play one game for the rest of my life, it would easily be Kingdom Hearts 2. That game has such an incredible story, graphics, gameplay, and personal connection to me. I remember being young and playing it all night with my little sister back when she was just a baby. I will always hold that game close to my heart, and no matter how many times I play it, I’ll always love it the same.

Thanks, A 1000 Years! Make sure to give her Tumblr some love and check out her streams here! 

[blooeyedtroll]

Home on the Range

Rated PG-13ish Lolz. For occasional cussing and maybe innuendos(?). Lolz. This can also be read on Ao3. Feel free to read it there if you prefer.

More art scattered though out this fic, hope you like it!

Hello friend! Welcome!  

This is a One shot fic that takes place in mine & @messybitch802 ​‘s : 

Efflorescence AU. 

This is the beginning of our tale, I hope you enjoy.

This is in Hickory’s POV. I thought this would be a fun way to introduce Bloo and Messy. It also seemed fitting since Hickory will play a larger part as our tale unfolds.

However, I’d like to think this could be enjoyed as a fun one-shot Hickory & Dickory fic as well. This fandom needs more Yodel Brothers content!

Big thanks to @jade-green-butterfly ​ and her random ask that kicked my butt in gear, giving me the inspiration to finally start writing:

Anyway, let’s get to it. Enjoy!:

HOME ON THE RANGE

"Rock Trolls... no doubt about that.”

The rugged, orange haired Troll put down his hammer and stepped away from the task at hand. Fence work could wait. This needed his immediate attention.  Around this time of day he'd expect to see, at most, a tumbleweed passing by the entrance to the Ranch. Maybe. Nobody ever came out this way. Not since he'd been here anyway. At a good clip, it was about an hour trek away from Lonesome Flats. Which suited his needs perfectly.

The perfect place to lay low and still blend in.

"Bist du sicher?" whispered a muffled voice behind him.

"Of course I am. Now hush, I'm gonna check it out. Stay in character. An’ be ready, just in case."

The orange haired Troll patted the front of his jeans, freeing them of a satisfying amount of dust from the day’s hard work and checked his reflection in a nearby trough. Grinning as he placed a straw of wheat that was kept in the brim of his hat; between his teeth.

Perfection.

Who would guess otherwise, that the reflection in that water, was anything but a genuine Country Troll?

It took a lot of work shopping, trial and error, but he did it.

Well, they did it. The four legged, rugged, handsome, Country Troll was in actuality...two Trolls.

Two brothers to be precise.

Yodel Trolls by the names of Hickory and Dickory. 

The last Yodel Trolls by their accounts, and they happened to be the best damn team of Bounty Hunters and Mercenaries in all of Trolldom.

For good reason.

The best tool to their disposal was their ability to blend in. So much so, it was only until it was “too late” for their marks, by the time their true colors were revealed. And this disguise has been their best yet.

Hickory, though the youngest brother, was the much taller of the two. So he was the face to this particular get-up. Making Dickory to be left with the tail end. Literally. Understandably, this was not ideal for him. 

And he definitely made it well known on many occasions how he felt about having to play a literal “horse’s ass”.

But by gum, was he the best ass you could ask for.

At this point, Dickory had mastered the art of synchronizing with Hickory's movements, in such a way, it was now practically impossible to spot anything amiss. It was as if they shared one mind while under the guise of this centaur-esk being.

And while Dickory was fairly sour about the whole situation, Hickory found himself more and more, fond of living day to day as a Country Troll. Very much so to his brother’s shagrin. The look, the music, the lifestyle...everything.

It had been two months now since the brothers found themselves here, in Country Music territory. However, last anyone on the outside had heard about them, was that they had "yodelled so hard, an avalanche fell on them"...or something? Which was just what they wanted. For the time being anyway.

The brothers had struck a deal with their last mark. 

For his freedom, he was to spread said rumor, so the Yodelers could lay low for a while.

Queen Barb, of the Hard Rock Trolls, was no stranger to the two brothers. As a matter of fact, she was one of their most frequent clients for the past few years. Which suited them just fine. Well, almost. The last few jobs they did for the young Queen, left a bitter taste in Hickory's mouth. Not so much for the tasks she asked of them, but because of something she said and what he saw on their last few visits to Volcano Rock City. Maps. Marked up. Plans of some sort. Hanging everywhere. The young ruler, looking the most tired he'd ever seen her, yet looking as if ready to burst from being too tightly wound, at any moment.

"Hopefully next time I see you dudes, one way or another, we'll all be singing to a different tune. It's gonna be so Rad."

Whatever was going on, both Yodelers agreed that it was definitely not worth getting caught up in. They could just feel it. Deep down. They were hired to track Trolls down and do what needed to do, to get by.

Both of them could be shady characters at times, but they had decent moral compasses to live by. So they told themselves.

That's why the presence of Rock Trolls at this moment made Hickory's blood run cold. Could it be possible somehow, some way, they had been found out? That whatever Queen Barb was up to, she was looking for them? What is it that she’d need them for anyway?

No. Their plan worked perfectly. Blend in as a Country Troll, lay low for a while, only do the occasional "job" when the opportunity presented itself, just until the Queen of Rock cooled her head or went through with... whatever she is planning.

Not a soul knew about Hickory and Dickory being here.

Well.

Unless you counted, July.

Miss July, the owner of the Ranch. A rather interesting Troll.

A Pop-Country Troll. The only mixed genre Troll around these parts. Unlike her four legged, centaur, Country loving neighbors; she walked on two legs... well, hooves. Her appearance could be compared to a more "Satyr" like build, with a perfect blend of both genres in her appearance. The bright colors of a Pop Troll, but the sturdy build of that of a Country Troll.

A Tough, stern older lady-Troll, with a heart of gold.

Running this place all on her own, while tending to her extremely elderly parents.

That's one of the reasons he never expected any visitors here. Nobody in town wanted anything to do with Miss July or her family. Didn't much like associating with “their kind” if they could help it. Though you'd never hear them say it in polite conversation. But that suited Miss July just fine. That's how she liked it. Ever since Miss July and her folks suffered a terrible loss to their family, decades ago, she rarely went into town if she could help it.

Which on one such occasion, is when she stumbled upon the Yodelers, in their first attempts at putting together their  “Country Persona”.

They had been camping not too far from her Ranch and the Town, when she found them both, struggling to even walk in time together, in a pair of poorly made four legged pants.

July took their word as Gospel. That they were just fulfilling a lifelong dream of wanting to, in some way, be a Country Troll. So she offered them a place to stay and to show them the ropes on what it meant to be a Country Troll. If they agreed to work for her at her family’s Ranch.

"Until you feel you can stand on yer own four hooves!' She teased.

It could be easily wagered that July being an outcast in her own community, could be a factor of sympathy she felt towards them, making her wanting to help any way she could, and possibly what made her not judgmental in the least. That, and as tough as she put herself on as, she was sweet as apple pie, through and through.

Which did make Hickory especially, feel guilty about not being more upfront with her. As much as he could be anyhow.

Especially so, when the occasional “job opportunity" presented itself around Lonesome Flats during the Yodelers free time. Turns out, there were plenty of Trolls who had a bone to pick with others, or needed matters settled around these parts. Not to mention, crooks-a-plenty to turn in.

But both brothers always repented.  By being very diligent working for Miss July on the Ranch. Anything she needed done, got done. It was the least they could do for what she had done for them for these last two months. So the last thing needed was for anything to get ugly around here.

As Hickory approached closer and closer, he could feel his brother tensing up.

"Easy.” He whispered under his breath, smirking, patting behind him in attempts to calm his hotheaded companion. While still maintaining a nonchalant and calm demeanor.

Having spent a fair amount of time in Volcano Rock City for past jobs, and even on several occasions for other clients; needing to spend time incognito as Rock Trolls, it was fairly easy to recognize them from afar.

Upon closer inspection, it did come across as rather curious to see them wearing Country attire. They couldn't be trying to blend in, could they?

No. Not by the way these two held themselves.  

One Troll in various shades of blue in appearance, the other in peculiar shades of green from toe to tip. Both faces, still covered by wide brimmed hats. The blue Troll's demeanor was nervous right from the jump. Their green companion, holding them by the hand, grounding them. As if to keep them from sprinting away at a moment's notice. Both looking tired from the trek they must have taken from town to get to the Ranch property and from the sun's unforgiving afternoon rays.

Nothing but what seemed to be electric guitars and simple backpacks on their backs. However, these were definitely the most impressive guitars Hickory had seen in all his life.

The blue Troll’s, from what he could make out, was sage in color and looked as if it was made of some large critter's battered wing. Almost bat or reptilian in nature. The green Troll’s guitar, an imposing, venomous violet, crafted by what could only could be guessed as being once the claw and stinger of some scorpion-type critter. One he certainly wouldn't want to tango with. 

Lackeys of Queen Barb’s? No... couldn't be.

"Nobody knows we're here"

"We've been so careful."

He repeated over and over to himself. Almost mantra-like. He really had no reason to be this paranoid he kept reminding himself.

“Who are the most feared Bounty Hunters and Mercenaries in all Trolldom?”

“The Yodel brothers. That's who.” He smirked at that last thought. Puffing his broad chest a bit more, in response to his inner pep-talk.

And no Troll, no matter now--

"H--Howdy!" The blue Troll, clearing their voice, shakily called out.

"Right fine day, isn't it?"

The traveler seemed to ease into the drawl like putting on an old pair of comfy shoes, and with each word, their confidence seemed to boost. Stepping forward from their green companion, they removed their wide brim hat and gandered up at Hickory, with a small smile that damn near made his heart leap through his throat. In a good way?

That was...unexpected.

His usual quick witted mind and tongue, on the spot turned into a train that just left the station.

Those eyes. Absolutely pierced him right through. Large, inquisitive, pale, cerulean eyes. Staring right at him under dark lashes, and surrounded by a cascade of cobalt freckles.

The closest shade of color he could compare those eyes to were a color he hadn't thought of in ages. Snow. Snow that as a Trolling he played in. Usually when you found yourself making forts or laying in heeps that came up so high, you would look, and you'd catch the glimmering sunlight, shining through it. A shade of blue that just melted you to the core and drew out a smile, without you being the wiser.

"Right fine.”  he responded. Recovering from his wandering mind.

No time to be side tracked by an adorable, freckled, blue-eyed Troll. With sweet, curvy features, who has solid looking muscles that look they could easily crush--

"How can I help you? You folks seem a bit far away from home. Don't get a lot of Rock Trolls around these parts.”

Thank goodness his voice seemed to be the one on track; at the task at hand.

“Oi! What’s that supposed to mean?”

The green Troll stepped forward, hotly, removing their own hat, as to glare directly at him. Sizing him up. Only a tad taller, but much more lithe in figure to their companion. Definitely much more fierce. Not just in attitude, but in appearance. Their eyes, deep as sapphires. Teeth, the bottom row protruding two large tusk-like lower canines. Ears, pointed back and just as sharp as their claws, which he found himself one the other end of, being pointed at. Just as he felt his hair prickle, preparing himself for what was bound to happen next, the tension was immediately neutralized.

"It's okay Mess” The blue Troll cooed, calming the green one.

"Sorry to just come on over uninvited, but uh, does a Troll named July still live here?"

"You mean Miss July? Sure does. Why, if You don't mind my askin’?"

"Well you see, she's my... can--can I please talk to her? If she's around here today?”

A good long pause washed over the three.

Hickory could feel the trepidation radiating from Dickory behind him as he swished "their tail' in annoyance. Normally, if this was any other situation, it'd be too bad for these two. He'd send them right on their way, or worse if it came to it. They seemed capable. They had guitars, they were Rock Trolls. Random Rock Trolls, showing up, asking for not himself or his brother, but Miss July. Out of all the Country Trolls in Lonesome Flats.

But the waves of anxiety radiating from this freckled Troll were massive; and when their friend wasn't staring daggers at his direction, they were gazing so tenderly and sympathetically at them. These weren't agents of Queen Barbs. These seemed like folks on a sad mission of delivering news, or something of the like. They looked as though this was the last place they would ever want to be.

Dickory always insisted that Hickory was too quick to let his heart think first before his head when it came to their line of work. He didn't see it that way though. Hickory thought himself a good judge of character. Hell, that's why they found themselves in this situation now. Tipping his hat in a friendly manner, he smiled at the two.

"Well, why dontcha follow me then. I'm sure Miss July is making lunch right about now. You folks are just in time. Name's Hickory"

"Messy." replied the green.

The blue Troll remained silent.

"Adorabull got yer tongue cutie?" he teased

Those freckled cheeks lit up in seconds, a flushed lavender. Too cute.

"Somethin' like that' They smiled sheepishly.

All the while, as Hickory walked with the two up to the main building on the property, they stuck to idle chit-chat. About the weather or the nearby town. They passed by many of the fences that housed just some of Miss July's critters. As well as a few stables, paddocks, a decent sized workshed, and the small house the Yodelers had been staying in since they arrived here. It was once they passed that particular building, the blue Rocker stopped in their tracks momentarily. Just staring. Almost trance-like. They only moved again once Messy had firmly grabbed their hand and they followed.

Finally, they reached the main building's porch. The family home. Without any prompting, the two travelers waited at the bottom steps of the porch. Hickory nodded, thinking that might be best. He walked up to the open door. The wafting aroma of today's lunch filling his nostrils. Chili with sweet rolls? If he wasn't mistaken, he could smell fresh squeezed lemonade too. Knowing better to barge in while she was in the Kitchen...

"Pardon me, Miss July?" he called out.

"Dammit Hic, I told ya once, I'll tell ya again. Lunch is on when I ring the damn bell, that's when it’s good and ready!"

Hickory couldn't help but chuckle. That July was a firecracker.

"It's got nothin' to do with that Miss. You see, You've got yourself some visitors."

"For the last time Hic, just call me Jul--"

July emerged from the doorway, holding in each hand a glass of lemonade with mint garnish. No doubt as something to appease the Yodelers until lunch was done. As soon as her eyes met the two travelers, she stopped dead in her tracks. Glaring at them something fierce.

"These two are the visitors I was talkin' about."

"Rock Trolls, huh? Here? Whaddya want?"

The blue traveler, clearing their throat, voice cracking; they smiled, eyes glazed and sparkling with unshed tears. Staring at July as if a secret wish had been granted.

"Aunty Ju-Ju? It's m-me. It's Bloo. I'm home."

Bloo? That Bloo? Could it really be? Hickory didn't need to dwell on that too long though. July suddenly yelped out loud, in such a way that it startled absolutely everyone. Including herself apparently because those glasses in her hands dropped and shattered to bits.

"You couldn't be-- w-what kind of game are ya playin’ at?!"

July at a loss for words. This was serious. There she stood, knees buckling, lip quivering, tail thrashing. Unable to look away from the Troll in front of them at the end of her porch. A look of torment across their face.

Slowly, the freckled Troll smiled sadly, and reached behind their back for their instrument. Hickory acted quickly, putting himself between the two. Staring intently at the Rocker. They stared back, as they slowly brought the instrument forward.

"Please. Let me play?"

Hickory's nostrils flared, biting down hard on the straw in his mouth. How was he so stupid? Well, he wouldn't be fooled this time.

*~strum~*

Though the guitar was imposing and electric, with a stroke of their hand, it played a long, twangy, unmistakable, Country cord.

Silence.

Laying a hand on Hickory's shower, July gently moved him aside, her attention almost trance-like on the player. Waiting.

As if they understood, they shifted and picked up their guitar in earnest. Strumming again, but to a much more upbeat melody. Much more upbeat than most Country music Hickory had heard around town that he grew to enjoy. This sounded more... Pop? Much more like something he'd hear July singing on a day she was in a particularly good mood. Or something July’s elderly mother, the Pop Troll of the family might hum.

That's when they began to sing along, starting off slowly and gaining strength with each note. A large smile on their face as tears cascaded down their round cheeks. As if putting on the show of their lives. It was raw, and beautiful.

"She loves rock ‘n’ roll,

they said it's demons’ tongue,

She thinks they're too old.

They think she's too young,

And the battle lines are clearly drawn.”

“She's a wild one,

with an angel's face,

She's a lovely Troll in a state of grace,

When she was three years old on her daddy's knee,

He said you can be anythin’ you wanna be.

She's a wild one.

Runnin' free."

“She has future plans,

and dreams at night,

they tell her life is hard,

she smiles, sayin’ “that’s alright”, yeah!”

“She’s a wild one,

With an angel’s face,

She’s a lovely Troll in a state of grace,

When she was three years old on her daddy’s knee,

He said you can be anythin’ you wanna be.

She’s a wild one.

Runnin’ free.”

"She's a wild one”~~

"~~Runnin' free.”  July finished and sobbed the last line.

"That was the song I wrote for your Mama... all them years ago..My Bloo. My little ‘Bloo-Jay’ came home!"

Hickory stood fully aside now, allowing the two to embrace, for what he now had realized had been the first time in more than two decades. An embrace that both warmed and broke your heart, all at the same time. This was July's pride and joy. Her niece. Bloo, the only child of July's older sister June.

June and July were extremely close sisters. Best friends even.

June was a very free spirited Troll who fancied herself a part-time singer at one of the local bars in town. On one of these trips to town, she met a traveling Rock Troll by the name of Ziggy. Busking for food and drink. Let's just say, it didn't take long at all until wedding bells were ringing and Ziggy was part of the happy family here on the Ranch. The couple waited a while before having a Trolling. The two were busy enjoying married life, Ziggy took June traveling, fulfilling her dreams of seeing life outside Lonesome Flats. And wherever they went, they were singing up a storm. When they returned home to settle down, at any bar or club, or bingo hall that would have them, they continued singing their hearts out. Occasionally even dragging July along. The three of them became inseparable. Especially after Bloo was born. The townsfolk even seemed to warm up to the entire, oddball family. It was all turning up roses for the family finally, after what felt like ages of trying to live in harmony. But it all came to a crushing end. 

Shortly after Bloo turned five years old, a serious, contagious illness spread throughout Lonesome Flats. Most folks who caught it, eventually recovered, but there were eight fatalities in the end. June was one of them. The family was torn to pieces by June’s passing. Ziggy just wasn't the same Troll after. A year passed and just as they thought things might slowly start looking up, Ziggy and Bloo were gone.

Apparently he had packed himself and Bloo up one night, and just left without a word. July knew he had family back home in Volcano Rock City, and figured that is where he would take Bloo to raise them. But July dared not go there. For good reason. A Pop-Country Troll, travel to Volcano Rock City?  Demand her niece back from a heartbroken father? While leaving her extremely elderly parents to fend for themselves? No. July would be turned away or torn to pieces. King Thrash at the time was feared for good reason in those days and most Trolls feared Rock Trolls the most out of all the other Tribes.

July and her folks basically moved on by learning to mourn the loss of June, Bloo, and Ziggy. They never expected to ever see Bloo or Ziggy again. Yet here Bloo was. Embracing their aunt, while Hickory and Messy looked on fondly. His smile grew wider as he realized how overjoyed July's folks: Clay and May, would be to see their grand-baby again. Something they thought they'd never live to see.

He could see it now that he got a better look at Bloo, as they were bombarded with kisses and hugs, that they did share a little resemblance to their Pop-Country Aunt. Though without a doubt, they took after their father Ziggy the most. No wonder Bloo wasn't easily recognizable at first glance, they looked so different in comparison to how they looked back then as a Trolling.

Who would have thought that he'd meet the Troll who's childhood pictures adorned the home he and his brother were staying in? Which happened to be Bloo's Old family home on the Ranch. The same house they had stopped to stare at on their way to the main house.

"Small world we live in!” He barked with laughter.

"Welcome home Miss Bloo, glad to meetcha." And he meant it, whole heartedly.

"Glad to be home again.”

END.

(Song used was Faith Hill’s ‘Wild One’. Tweaked for this story)

[skyriderwednesday]

Inside the Box

He'd often wondered what would come next. He'd had dreams about it, nightmares even. A possibility that had never crossed his mind however was 'break into this old chest I found in the attic, Moist'.

–

In which Moist thinks over a strange little task Vetinari has given him, and overthinks the man himself.

(G rated, 650 words, a little post canon)

Also on AO3

Revive the post office, Moist. Reform the bank system, Moist. Turn people onto the railway, Moist. Conduct the census, Moist. Get people to pay their taxes, Moist.  He'd often wondered what would come next. He'd had dreams about it, nightmares even. Walk all the way to Genua, Moist. Eat your own foot, Moist. Cut down a tree with a fish, Moist. Give an angry troll a manicure, Moist. Fight a manticore using only this novelty toothpick, Moist. All right, that last one was silly. Vetinari would at least give him two novelty toothpicks. A possibility that had never crossed his mind however was break into this old chest I found in the attic, Moist. It was just too simple. Sure, there was no key and the lock was an obscure foreign type that Ankh-Morpork locksmiths weren't trained for, but there were experienced thieves, bored lockpick enthusiasts, people who made ornamental chests like this one... that's all it was. An ornamental storage chest with something heavy inside of it. He couldn't work out why Vetinari was so interested in it. He was probably going to be very disappointed when it turned out there wasn't anything exciting in it, at which point he'd turn around and say it was a metaphor, thank you for your assistance Mr Lipwig, here's fifty dollars and written assurance that I won't have your head cut off this week. Moist would then resist the urge to point out that, as far as his research showed, no one had been legally decapitated in Ankh-Morpork for nearly a century, go home and proceed to wait for whatever random thing Vetinari wanted him to do next week. Perhaps I'm bringing back the Saturday Night Variety Performance and I want you to host it for some reason. Why was it never anything like go away and spend a nice week in the country, Moist?

Because he didn't like 'nice weeks in the country'. Those were boring. Quiet little cottages in the middle of nowhere were all right for some, but he'd be itching for something to do within hours. No, more likely it would be sit in my office and keep an eye on things while I spend a nice week in the country, during which the alchemists would probably blow themselves up again setting half the city on fire, which would somehow be his fault and—

Moist, you're spiralling for no reason again, stop it.

Not that he could see Vetinari enjoying a quiet week in the country either. Moist was pretty sure that if he was too far from the city for more than a few days, he'd start to twitch. Then again, things were getting very close to a Code Moustache on the Havelock Vetinari Facial Hair Scale of General Satisfaction. Of course, the H.V.F.H.S.G.S. was something Moist had made up, but maybe open this old box I found in the attic was something like his version of a relaxing little holiday. Or setting himself up for one at least. It wasn't a bad idea. Give Moist something silly to do, find something low stakes to occupy Vimes with, and Vetinari could more or less take a long weekend off to unwind, play chess, complete the crossword, finish a book or two, and whatever else he found relaxing. The mental image of Vetinari dozing off on a sofa with Drumknott's cat in his lap made Moist smile as he examined his tools and positioned the chest between his knees to get more light into the key hole. Put like that, sure. He had nothing against staying out of trouble and figuring out how to open Vetinari's old box. Who knew, it could turn out to have something interesting inside of it after all — but if it did, he wouldn't immediately sprint to the palace about it. After all, it was only Tuesday.

[dramaintherain]

What are your thoughts on the Seo Yea Ji scandal?

A sinister entertainment industry cemented on the purchase and sale of actors as commodities was shaken by a direct conflict between KJH and his agency, and one of the strategies used to deteriorate his resistance was through leaking out of context chat logs between him and his partner at the time in hopes of causing a sufficient amount of fallout -- needless to say the timing of this procedure wasn't random: Baeksang awards were weeks away, and I recall there was some media highlight over pay differentials between the leading actors in "Psycho But It's Okay." (this is a side note)

Once the chat logs were "made public" the whole narrative of the conflict between KJH and his agency shifted between a successful actor trying to leave a company (which didn't want him to leave due to monetary constraints) to Seo Ye Ji suddenly becoming the sole culprit of everything her former partner did wrong during the shooting of the drama "Time" (2018): in fact she was transformed into a supernatural entity, a succubus that preyed on innocent male actors and directors, and this simply clicked with how deeply misogynistic and patriarchal south Korea's society is.

Conflicting anonymous accounts of "bullying" appeared on social forums, then vanished, and then reappeared again all together only to be contested by actual people who worked with the actress in question (who also provided actual photographic evidence). Just yesterday the national public broadcaster KBS issued an apology over how they handled the media focus on Seo Ye Ji, and for delivering information without any facts/evidence to back it up.

But just as the ancient Greek philosopher Anaxagoras said, "nothing of what is born dies, but one thing separated from one part and added to another produces different forms." What began with agencies returned to them, again resulting in blunders and an ill concocted defence by SYJ's agency. In retrospect it would have been better had they coordinated a proper answer with KJH - who himself questioned the media narrative of "emotional manipulation" (his own medical records were leaked as well) - but who knows what was going on inside these closed circuits.

As much as I believe in scrutinising the wrongdoings of public figures (and non-public as well) I am not a Calvinist and respect the right to personal privacy when it comes to sensible subjects. A balanced, empirically based approach is required to achieve consensus, not engaging in emotional diatribes or participating in the echo chamber of suppositions. It is also worth remembering that south Korea does not does operate on the same consciousness of women's rights as (generally speaking) western countries do: an inoffensive hand gesture is treated as a grand crime against men.

What I simply do not accept is hearsay - be it from tabloids, youtube streamers, or random people on-line - being treated as definitive evidence. I have seen far too many female Korean celebrities like Park Bom or Sulli be mercilessly accused and targeted by unscrupulous blood thirsty trolls to the point of such resulting in absolute social alienation or the tragic suicide of a young woman. Does this mean I believe Seo Ye Ji is "innocent"? No, I believe what Seo Yoo Min - the director of her latest movie - said.

Everything else remains a great unknown left open to all kinds of speculative allegations, misogynistic fantasies, and the occasional whataboutism that fails to acknowledge how substance differs from matter. Anyway, I feel like I have expounded my 'thoughts' for long enough but if anyone needs a summary here it goes: both actors were treated poorly by the entertainment industry & netizens with SYJ receiving the worst of it due to how heavily patriarchal south Korea is. Allegations are allegations, and not some kind of universal truth.

[alovesongshewrote]

Douxtober Day 6:  A Lot Happens in a Short Amount of Time | Hisirdoux Casperan

Plot:  You remember the child surprise from the Witcher?  yeah, this was it’s distant cousin, the surprise child.  (No one is pregnant, I promise)

Word Count:  2,442

Warnings:  Children (and i ignore how both kids and adoption work)

A/N:  Oh look, a Douxtober fic!  no whump here!  And it’s technically a part of aaty (if you want it to be)

Tag List:  @furblrwurblr​ @einahpetsyarcip​ @sorrels-scribbling​ @anxious-stitcher​ @alive-and-afraid​ @animedweeb333​ @douxiesdamsel​ @saroski05

Life was a funny thing.  Sometimes you got tortured, sometimes you moved in with your boyfriend, his familiar, sometimes your boyfriend died and came back to life trying to save the world, and sometimes, you accidentally adopted a child.

It just be like that occasionally.

And you could explain this!  You totally could, 100%.  This wasn’t just the two of you plus Archie and technically Zoe shoplifting a kid, there was a lot more to it than that.  

It was about a month after all of the Arcane Order nonsense.  You and Douxie, your aforementioned boyfriend, had returned to Arcadia.  Everything was calm and chill, which was a really nice change from the usual world-ending chaos.  However, Arcadia was still Arcadia, and that meant monsters.

You were decent in a fight, Archie could turn into a goddamn dragon, and Douxie had saved the world multiple times, so you took it upon yourselves to defend the town from the things that went bump in the night.  Besides, you wanted to give the rest of your troll-hunting friends a break.

This turned out to be a pretty good plan.  It kept the town safe, let Archie get some fresh air, and gave you and Douxie time alone.  (Remember kids, monster-fighting is a great activity for date night.)  Sometimes you dragged Zoe out with you, which she enjoyed more than she let on.

All was well, and then suddenly, kid.  

As has been stated, it be like that sometimes.  You know the child surprise from the Witcher?  Yeah, this was its distant cousin, the surprise child.  

You’d been caught in a battle with another friggin shadow mephit or ten, and it wasn’t going super well if you were completely honest.  Zoe was fighting on a roof, Douxie was stuck in a tree, Archie was trying to free Douxie from that tree, and you had given up on your usual weapon for a folding chair.  It was mildly effective, but not enough to save you.  One of the mephits knocked you to the ground, preparing to take a sizable bite of your arm before a blast of purple slapped the bitch away.  You got to your knees, looking out into the night to see a frickin eight-year-old, arms outstretched, purple light surrounding their fists.

“Uh, are you guys seeing this?”  

Zoe gracefully leapt from the roof while Douxie fell out of the tree he was in.

“The child?  Yep.”

“Ow.”

You winced, walking over to help your boyfriend to his feet, “Ah, you okay, babe?”

He nodded, although his focus was on the kid, who was taking out shadow mephits like a bawse.  You would have been confused, but hey, you could fight like that when you were that age.  Though that had come from years on the streets fighting for your life, so there was a place for concern.

“Hey, should we be helping them?”

“Yeah, probably,” you said, picking up your folding chair and yeeting yourself into the fray.

With the extra assistance, the mephits went down a little easier.  You and your gang made sure to watch out for the sudden child, but they were pretty damn capable.  It only took ten minutes for the tide to turn.  Douxie opened the portal to limbo, banishing the mephits from the material plane.

You took half a second to be excited before turning to the random frickin kid who just kicked all the ass.  Their expression was grim, with no trace of pride.  It was kind of a mood, actually.

“Hey, kid!  You ok?”

Their attention was yoinked from the pavement to your face, “I’m fine.”

You nodded, cautiously approaching them, “You fought really well.  Where’d you learn to do that?”

“Why does it matter?” their tone was biting and angry.  Or as biting and angry as a child’s tone could be.

“It doesn’t, I was just curious.”

“Don’t be.  It’s fine.”  Man, did this kid sound like a younger version of you? or what?  It was kind of scary actually.

“Alright, I won’t be,” you raised your hands in surrender, taking a step back.

This ‘fun’ conversation had caught everyone else’s attention.  Archie flew around the kid before landing on your shoulder, “They won’t, but I will be.  Where are your parents?”

“Don’t have any.”

Oh, mood.  For all of you, actually.  

“Do you have another guardian?”

“No.”

“Why are you fighting monsters at this hour?”

“Because I feel like it, ok!?”

Archie pulled back a bit, “It’s a school night…”

You gave the familiar a pat on the head while Zoe made her approach, “No, the cat is right, it is a school night.”

“Cat?  That’s a dragon!” you smiled a little as the kid finally acted like a kid.

“He’s a shapeshifter, actually,” Douxie said, almost making you jump.  You hadn’t realized that he was behind you.  Arch made his way off of your shoulders and onto your boyfriend’s.

“A sHAPESHIFTER!?” the kid cried, magic again at the ready.

“No, no, no!” you exclaimed, putting yourself between the kid and the cat, “He’s a friend. I promise.”

“Your words mean nothing to me!  I don’t know you!  Any of you!”

Ok, that was fair.  You sighed and got down to the kid's level, “Ok.  My name’s (Y/N).  The shapeshifter is called Archie, but that’s not his full name.”

The kid blinked a bit, lowering their hands, “Wh-what’s his full name?”

Archie flew down to the ground beside you, continuing towards the child, “Archibald.  Pleased to meet you.”

“It’s… nice to meet you too-?”  the kid sounded confused, and they were reminding you of yourself more and more with every second.  On the bright side, they dropped their hands completely, magic fading into the night.

“Right, well,” Douxie got on your level, kneeling beside you to meet the kid’s eyes, “I’m Douxie and this is Zoe-”

“‘Sup.”

“What’s your name?”

They hesitated, looking between you and Archie, who was currently sniffing the child.

“My name is Robin.”

You smiled, the ice officially broken, “It’s nice to meet you, Robin.”

You let the kid follow you home.  Through a bit of careful chatting, you learned that Robin was about eight, and their parents were wizards when they were alive.  After their parents passed, Robin was on their own, running around the country and fending for themself.  They reminded you so much of yourself that it hurt.  Now there was a child sleeping on your couch, arms thrown around Archie which the familiar didn’t really mind, and you had no idea what to do next.

You were sitting on your counter, a cup of coffee in one hand while the other messed with Douxie’s hair.  Zoe was at the kitchen table, lying limply across two chairs while her tea cooled in its mug.  Your lovely, lovely wizard boyf was leaning on the counter next to you, pretty relaxed considering the day's events.

“So, what do we do with this child?”

“They might have to stay with us for a while.  It doesn’t sound like they have anywhere else to go.”

Zoe laughed a little, trying to keep quiet for Robin’s sake, “You two just straight up adopted a kid.  Good luck with that one.”

“Thanks, Zo,” your tone was flat, but you too saw the amusement in this situation, “Thank god I studied medicine, honestly.  If I hadn’t we’d be sooo screwed.”

“Well, you know the people in this town,” Douxie moved closer to you, “Nobody tips.”

You nodded your agreement, kissing the top of Douxie’s head.

“We should be careful though.  These days, you never know where the next ‘end of the world’ will come from.”

“Eh,” you said, looking at Robin asleep on your couch.  They looked so peaceful, and you wondered if you ever looked like that at Robin’s age.  They reminded you so much of yourself, so much of what you had once been, “I think it’ll be okay.”

There was a moment of silence as you all lost yourselves in thought.

“Well, I’d love to stay and watch you guys sign the adoption papers, but I have a shift tomorrow, so,” the pink-haired witch jumped up from her chairs and wandered past you guys, “Later nerds.”

“Bye Zo.”

“See you tomorrow.”

You lept off the counter, picking up your mug and Zoe’s and putting them in the sink.  Douxie watched you, still leaning on the counter.  You moved past him again, and he wrapped an arm around your waist, pulling you to his chest.

“You’re sure we can watch this kid?”

You bit your lip, looking back at the couch before turning back to Douxie, “When I was that age, all I wanted was a home.  Somewhere safe where I didn’t have to worry about tomorrow.  If we can give that to this kid then-” you cut yourself off and shrugged.

Douxie smiled, placing a hand on your cheek, “I love you so much.”

You leaned into his touch, “Besides, we have Archie, and he took care of you, so…”

You both laughed a little at that, pulling each other closer.  His lips met yours in a soft kiss.  You pulled apart from the kiss grinning, but something in Douxie’s eyes confused you.

“Babe?  You good?”

“I’m better than good, darling.  In fact, I-” he cut himself off, looking behind him and around the room before patting himself down, “Oh, fuzzbuckets.”

“Babe?  What’s up?  What are you-?”

“I’ll be right back!”  he said, giving you a quick kiss before running out the door.

“Uh… ok.”

You ran a hand through your hair before walking through your apartment, making sure everything was locked and warded.

“Why are you helping me?”

You spun around to see Robin, clutching Archie in one hand and keeping the other levelled at you.  Purple magic surrounded both hands.

“Well, good morning to you too.”

Archie seemed displeased with your little joke, but he stayed silent for now.

“No jokes!”  were they- were they crying?  “Just tell me why!”

“Robin, I-”

“I was supposed to kill you!  I was supposed to find you and kill you but-” their voice broke, “But you aren’t-” oop, crying child!  Crying child in your living room!

“Woah, hey, hey, hey, what’s wrong kiddo?” you approached Robin slowly.

“Why-” sob “Why are you like this?”

“I ask myself that question every day,” you knelt down to their level once again, “You don’t have to do this.”

“I do!  I have to, or they’ll-”

“They?”

“They… the titans.  If I don’t kill Merlin’s successor then they’ll… they’ll kill me.”

A little smile crossed your face as you took Archie from Robin’s grasp.  The kid was so worked up they didn’t even notice.

“I was in the same place once, almost a thousand years ago.”

“No.  You aren’t old enough!”

You giggled a little at that, “Looks can be deceiving.  Back in the day, I was a spy.  I worked for some very bad guys.  They sent me to get information from Merlin himself.”

“Wh-what did you do?”

“I did what they asked.  I was scared and alone.  But do you wanna know what Douxie did?”

“Douxie’s old too!?”

“Yes, Douxie’s old too.”

“What did he do?”

“Well, he fought with me at first, but in the long run, he saved my life.  He wouldn’t let the bad guys hurt me, and now, we won’t let them hurt you.”

With a sob, Robin jumped at you, not with an attack but with a hug.  You were a little surprised, but you rolled with it.

“Please don’t let them hurt me.”

“We won’t.  I promise.”  you let Robin hug you for as long as they needed, making frantic ‘be quiet’ signs at Douxie when he came through the door.  He looked confused, but stayed quiet and snuck into the kitchen, waiting for you.

“Thank you.”  the kid said, looking a little embarrassed as they pulled away.

“It’s no problem kiddo.  Now, to bed with you.  It’s late and you are a child.”

“And the floor is made of floor.  Goodnight, (Y/N).”  

“Goodnight little bird.”

You made sure they were safely tucked in before motioning for Archie to follow you as you grabbed Douxie from the kitchen and silently dragged him into your bedroom.

“Ok, we’re adopting the kid.”

“I thought we agreed upon that already?”

“Yeah, well, I’m confirming it now.  That’s our kid.”

“And you’re not going to tell him about-”

“Time and place, Arch, time and place.”

Douxie looked between you and his familiar, trying to figure out what he’d missed.  You sighed, knowing that this wouldn’t be something you could keep from him.

“It isn’t my story to tell but the kid was sent here to kill us, but they couldn’t.  Doux, I know that sounds bad, but Robin is eight.  I was nineteen when I was sent to spy on you and Merlin, and you know that messed me up.  We can’t let this kid-”

“I know,” he put his hands on your arms, trying to calm you, “(Y/N), I know.  We won’t let this kid get hurt the way you were, I promise.”

You said nothing, but you hugged Douxie hard enough to make him stumble back a little.  Archie shook his little cat head, but joined in on the hug, “We’ll keep them safe, (Y/N), that’s a promise.”

“Thanks, guys,” you pulled back, absolutely beaming, “I love you both, just a fun fact.” Archie gave your face a lil’ headbutt as cats are prone to do, but Douxie got that look again.  You were about to say his name when he pulled you close to him, his lips grazing your ear as he slipped something into your hand.

“I love you, too.  Marry me.”

There was a ring in the palm of your hand.  Douxie left a kiss on your neck before pulling away to look at you.

“I-”

“Yes.”

“Wait, I had a speech prepared-”

“No speech needed, just,” you kissed him for a second before pulling back, “Marry me.”

“I asked you first.”

“I asked you second,” with that out of the way, you got back to kissing.

Archie realized what had taken place before him and did the cat/dragon equivalent to a face-palm, “Really, Douxie?  The bathroom?”

I mean, fair point, the bathroom wasn't a traditionally romantic space, but love followed you and Douxie around wherever you went, so it didn’t really matter.  You laughed anyway.

“Thanks, Arch.”

The familiar grinned as much as a cat could, “No problem.  Congratulations, though.  I mean that sincerely.”

“Thank you, Archie,” you gave the familiar’s head a lil’ scratch before kissing Douxie, your fiancé, again (and again, and again.)

[onslaughtsixdotcom]

Scaling Up Dragon Heist

Around April or May of 2019, I started to run Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, one of the official WotC 5e hardcovers. I’m still not done with it, although that is largely the fault of COVID and my own extensions to the campaign. 

I think Dragon Heist is one of the better 5e modules by WotC. I think it’s got a strong playground for the characters, and Waterdeep has 30+ years of publication history to draw on. The release of the module also heralded in a HUGE amount of third party extension content, including the famous Alexandrian Remix. I hadn’t heard of this before I started running my campaign and having ideas about how to do it, so it didn’t influence me--although I’m sure we came to a lot of similar conclusions and ideas, based on common perceptions of what the actual flaws are of the module.

Still, despite those flaws, I think they help the module rather than hinder it. It gives the DM a shitload of room to improvise and draw in the margins, rather than some other 5e adventures which feel like they can’t be fucked with in the least.

Here’s the kicker: I started my adventure at level 4. We had a pre-existing party that I had run through the classic N1: Against the Cult of the Reptile God. (Fun fact: A map that I drew is the 3rd Google Images result for that. Woah.)

The party spent a few real-world weeks traveling across about 7 days of overland travel where I ran some drop in one shots; including Mike Krahulik’s Dusk (a Twilight parody) and a really fun 2 hour diversion where the players saw an ancient blue dragon take off the roof of a church during a wedding. Then they arrived in my city: Dawnharbour.

I don’t run the Forgotten Realms. I find it not to my taste. Most of the names suck. The lore is invariably boring or weird, and not the fun kind of weird. I was going to run Dragon Heist, and I was going to put it in my own city. I gave the players some justification previously for why they would want to go there: The cleric’s sister had been kidnapped by the Cult of the Reptile God and turned into a Yuanti; a snake person. The bard had stolen a golden statue of the Reptile God and wanted to melt it down and plate his violin with it. I told the cleric that they would need a high level magic user and someone in Dawnharbour could probably help them; ditto the bard needing a highly skilled magical blacksmith. The third player didn’t really care where they went since he was on the run from his home country. So, off to Dawnharbour. They reached level 4 when they got to the city.

I won’t bore you with the rest of the details of my city or everything I changed for the campaign. Instead, I’ll talk up some hard and fast ways to make the adventure work for a higher level party. Most of them revolve around the encounters. I’m assuming the party will start around level 4 or 5.

Chapter 1

The book opens with the players in the Yawning Portal, a famous tavern with a big ass well to a megadungeon underneath. (More on this later.) They’re hanging out doing whatever when a troll and some stirges pop out of the well. The book says that the players get attacked by the stirges while the owner of the bar, a typical Forgotten Realms 15th level Fighter running a fucking bar for a living deals with the troll.

A troll is CR 5. They can handle a troll. If they can’t, you have a bigger problem.

Next up the book leads them to a Zhentarim warehouse. When they get there it’s abandoned and there are (ugh) 3 Kenku. Kenku are like tengu if they sucked. They’re bird people who can only speak in mimickry, like parrots. They can only repeat words they’ve heard before. This is stupid as fuck (especially when a player wants to be one) but more importantly, they are incredibly weak. I think the kenku are just hanging out or they got captured by the Zhentarim who left them there after they bail or something like that. Whatever.

I put the Zhentarim there instead. I put like 20 Zhentarim. I used the Spy statblock; they don’t have a lot of CR and at level 4 or 5, the players are real slice and dicey about killing them. They can basically carve through two of these dudes in a turn. It was *really* fun to just have the players mow down these mooks. They used the 2nd floor to their advantage, casting Grease on the stairs and creating a bottleneck and then picking them off with ranged attacks and spells. I think I might have given the Zhents 1hp and treated them as minions (see 4e). 

I think I had the police show up after they were all dead; someone heard the commotion and called the cops. I think I also put an NPC there; I shuffled around a bunch of the NPCs the module uses. (They got their quest to save Volo from Bigby in the Yawning Portal; instead of finding Volo here, I think they found my equivalent of Renaer Neverremember.) There was a day’s break between this and them going into the sewers in the next part.

The sewer introduces the Xanathar’s minions. I believe a Duergar is actually there and I took this as a sign--I made most of Xanathar’s mooks Duergar, and then decided--this dude is a Beholder and he has a Mindflayer for a lieutenant. The Xanathar’s forces should ALL be classic D&D dungeon monsters, like rust monsters and umber hulks and ropers. This gives you a wide variety of weird shit you can throw at your players at different CR levels, and the idea of a gangster Beholder who thinks hiring a bunch of umber hulks to go shake down a local deli is fucking hilarious. But, it doesn’t make them any less dangerous. Throw some umber hulks or something in this lair. Go nuts--the weirder, the better. Xanathar’s crew should have no qualm about hanging out with a gibbering mouther or a carrion crawler.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2 is the least developed chapter in the book. It also revolved around a bunch of Forgotten Realms faction nonsense that I wanted nothing to do with. I used this time instead to formally introduce the Xanathar, the Cassalanters and Jarlaxle. After they foiled his plans to rig a goldfish competition (think a dog show but for fish), the Xanathar became convinced the players worked for the Zhentarim and invited them to have a sit down about their intentions; if they worked for the Zhents he wanted to formally declare war. The players hated the Zhents--they killed an NPC they liked back during N1, partially to set this all up. Xanny was cool with that.

The Cassalanters were a way to introduce a new player. They call up the Blackstaff to say, hey we have a magic item, can you send a guy here to deliver it? (Magic item possession is illegal on the streets in my setting, but if someone important hires you to transport it, then you can do it. This makes being a courier a very lucrative job; lots of people are just carrying around other people’s stuff for a living.) They almost immediately knock out the new player sent to pick up the item, and replace him with their dofflegagher. The idea was that the dofflegagher player would then infiltrate the Blackstaff’s organization.

Blackstaff is no dumbass and hired a random dude off the street--my new player. Then, Blackstaff hired the rest of the party to go rescue him--mostly as a ruse to snuff out the Cassalanters and get evidence that they were shitty.

When they encountered the Cassalanters, I used a Cambion; one of their servants turned into him. This guy slowly became a recurring lieutenant; he was basically the Goldar for the Cassalanter’s Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa. At the time, I hadn’t read any lore for Cambions; I’m not particularly concerned with monster lore the way the guys who make the game write it. I literally thumbed through my deck of monsters, saw this winged devil horn dude, and said, “Right on, he looks like he’ll work.” A Cambion is CR5, more than suitable for the encounters the party will have with him over the next few levels. The Fiendish Charm ability is fun and can really fuck with the players; I ruled, of course, that anyone under its affect would obviously be free if the Cambion was killed. Even after it was killed, he just kept on coming back, because he’s from Hell and killing him on this plane doesn’t really do anything.

As the players continue to face the Cassalanters, a go-to seems to be spined devils. This is fine but not very powerful for a level 4, 5, 6 party. Therefore I suggest supplanting it with barbed devils. They’re CR5. Adding one or two of those to an encounter with spined devils can make this a real fun encounter that isn’t too horribly overwhelming, especially if at least one of your martial characters has a magic weapon (which they fucking should; they’re level 5!)

IMO you can also introduce Jarlaxle in this chapter; a fun way is through his Zardoz Zord persona. It could simply be that Jarlaxle knows Volo (or any other NPC the players know) and wants to invite them to a free meal to get to know them. In my game, Jarlaxle operates openly as himself (I found it would just complicate things if he was someone else) and invited the players to his yacht shortly after they met the Xanathar, to formally tell them all about the Vault of Dragons, the Stone, and how everyone they have met in the city is after it.

Chapter 3

I am not the biggest fan of this part of the module. I think nimblewrights and similar creatures are really dumb and don’t fit my D&D world. A lot of the stuff in this chapter is investigation stuff, and you can play that out however you like. It doesn’t drastically need scaling up, though you may have to account for something like Zone of Truth that they might not normally have access to. It also helps if you do the opposite of the book, and make the police a bunch of shitheads who don’t care about the city--this way the players are actually motivated to help. I’ve seen a LOT of posts that open with “the fireball happened and my players shrugged and said they would let the police handle it.” Horrible! The police should either be incompetent, apathetic, or (best case) both. They don’t care who did this and if they did, they wouldn’t be able to catch them. Now it’s completely on the players.

IMO it also helps if you do the leg work to make the NPC someone they actually care about. In the book it’s an NPC they’ve never met but they have a mutual acquaintance through--it would be nice if they get invited to a dinner with this NPC or something similar prior to this. Or, change it to be any NPC they like who you don’t mind killing. Hell, they’re level 5 or 6 at this point--if they got a cleric, they can even cast Revivify and wake the dude up. They could even cast Speak With Dead and immediately find out who blew him up or what he was doing here!

Moving on, there’s the Gralland Villa. I retooled the name to actually sound like a good name; sue me. 

The book has a bunch of Zhents hanging out here. A simple way to make this dramatic and hard is to pull the trigger and make the players fight their way in. The stone is right here at the villa and they need to steal it. Sounds simple enough.

Things got complicated for my party when a recurring NPC appeared. She was an ex girlfriend of the bard in our party; they were both Tieflings. She now worked for the Zhentarim and was basically their second in command. And she was here to steal the stone, come Hell or high water. The bard, still in love with her, was perfectly content to let her steal it and even cover her getaway. The rest of the players, not so much, but when the chaos was ensuing and she was literally running past them with the stone in hand, made the decision that it was smarter to try and help her escape and then figure out how to get the stone from her later, than try and get it from her now.

This led literally directly to chapter 4.

Chapter 4

By now it’s obvious: I used all 4 bad guys.

I ran through the chapter and picked the coolest maps and best encounter ideas, including the rooftop chase, the theater, the sewer and the courthouse. I weaved them together carefully, and all the changes I had made to the groups paid off when they entered the theater, chased by barbed devils and our Cambion friend, only to have an Umber Hulk with the Xanathar’s logo painted on his face crash through the stage, flanked by two Duergar. Add in some Drow gunslingers and it was a fucking party.

(the large hexagon is where somebody cast Darkness; the big scuffed circle is a grody spot on my grid tiles. I still need new ones...)

The courthouse had a great scene where the Cassalanter dofflegagher impersonated the chief of police, interrogating the players for the code word to activate the stone (I added one; who cares?) until the real chief of police showed up! The players had to do an entire encounter with this guy while handcuffed; thank god for verbal only spells, right? 

From here the stone ended up with the players, and then it ended up with Jarlaxle who they are working for. Jarlaxle attuned to it and told them the Vault of Dragons is inside Undermountain; 3, 5 levels deep? Who knows? And it requires 3 keys: The Crown of Asmodeus, the Ring of Winter, and the Robe of the Archmagi.

I gave these 3 magic items to the Cassalanters, the Xanathar and Manshoon. This is a pretty common hack and it means the lairs in the book actually get used. I made up one of the magic items (Crown of Asmodeus) and stole another from a module I don’t intend to run as written (the Ring of Winter is, I believe, in either Tomb of Annihilation or Storm King’s Thunder). They’re fun!

So the rest of the campaign has been the players bouncing between going deep into Undermountain, the megadungeon underneath the Yawning Portal, and going to the 3 different villain factions to steal their shit. 

The villain lairs are NOT statted for level 5 players AT ALL. The players have no hope of actually killing ANY of the villains at level 5; to fight the Xanathar is a pure TPK at level 5. But at level 8, like where my players are now? One of them died and then got Revivified; the others all survived or made their saves when they were hit by death or disintegration. (In the spirit of the Xanathar, I rolled every eye beam randomly, rerolling if I had used that ray in the last round.) That’s about the best you can hope for with a Beholder IMO! 

The rest of the lairs you can mostly run as-is. Any very low CR mooks, basically anything lower than 1 or 2 CR, I would probably replace with a higher CR variant. We’ve already discussed what you can replace them with above, and if you’ve made it this far into the module, you should have a pretty good sense of what your players can handle.

[pyreo]

Hi I want to talk to you about The 10th Kingdom

Almost two decades ago the world’s best ‘modern fairytale’ fantasy tv series was made. Before all the new ones with edgy writing and bundles of CGI. While I visited @sugarkillsall we watched it and found out the whole thing is actually on YouTube so I can freely advise everyone to CHECK THIS SERIES OUT this very second. 

It’s sometimes silly and campy but when you get to the end it smacks you full across the face with the most genuine, raw character development. It brings me to tears even 20 years later. It has the guy from Blade Runner in it.

The story: all our old fairytales are the true history of a world in a parallel dimension. Separated into 9 kingdoms, it’s been 200 years since the golden age of the Five Women Who Changed History - Snow White, Cinderella, Queen Riding Hood, Gretel the Great and the Lady Rapunzel. Snow White’s descendant, Prince Wendell, is soon to be crowned King of the 4th kingdom, but an evil Queen imprisoned for years has been plotting her escape and revenge against his family. 

In New York, a Central Park waitress named Virginia ends up finding the gateway to the fantasy realm with her father Tony. She rejects the idea that it’s her destiny to stop the Queen, but will find out the world of magic and legend holds answers she has wanted for most of her life. They also meet Wolf, a half-wolf man who embodies hunger and lust in the way Big Bad Wolves do, sent to infiltrate them on the orders of the Queen, but who falls in love with Virginia at first sight. (He reminds me of an Edward Cullen written well - in constant despair over his conflicting urges but hamming it up to its fullest extent) (Also after Virginia rejects him he spends the entire series trying to find ways to improve himself until he can be worthy of her)

The series references many typical fairytale aspects and tropes, but is centrally tied to the story of Snow White, her grandson, and the stepmother who tried to poison her child with an apple out of jealousy. Virginia’s story is one of finding how to trust and love again after emotional trauma, and that the relationships you make yourself are stronger than the ones you’re born into.

Each episode comes to 1h20m long and there are 5 episodes. (These youtube vids run longer because part of the episode repeats and can be ignored, I assume to evade copyright rules)

Episode 1 (above): The opening of a portal in Central Park enables the two worlds to overlap. The Evil Queen escapes prison and turns Prince Wendell into a dog, who escapes to our world trying to find help before she takes over his entire realm. He returns with Virginia, her father Tony, and Wolf trying to catch them, transported through a magical travelling mirror. [Starts a little slow but doesn’t rush the characterisation]

Episode 2: After a prison escape, the mirror ends up on a boatful of random antiques, and the group chase after it to try and return home, requiring passing through a forest patrolled by the remorseless Huntsman. Virginia’s natural empathy gets her cursed. [6/10 slight unfortunate racism that wouldn’t fly nowadays]

Episode 3: The evil Queen’s supposed partner in crime, the Troll King, has gone rogue and is ravaging villages in the 4th kingdom against her plans. The mirror has ended up in a little country town and been set up as a prize in the annual village fair - for the winner of the best shepherdess competition, which Virginia must now try to win... but the Peep family, descended from Bo Peep herself, always take every prize. [10/10 repeat everything said in a west country accent for best viewing experience]

Episode 4: After discovering that the mirror is up for auction in Kissing Town, the group need to find a way to drastically increase their wealth to bid on it, and attempt gambling. However, the innate romanticism of the town nudges Wolf and Virginia closer, and puts Wolf in a crisis. They then trek to the underground dwarven mines in search of answers and find some unexpected ones. [Yeet that singing ring out of here 8/10]

Episode 5: Prince Wendell - or rather, the Queen’s fake Wendell, a dog in the body of the Prince, is finally to be crowned King, and dignitaries from every kingdom will attend. In a swamp Virginia discovers the forgotten crypt of the original evil stepmother, and learns how to defeat the Queen - and then doubts that she can go through with it. [GHGFG HEART HURTY]

And I’m going to spoil a little part near the end for how important I think it is, when Virginia meets the actual Snow White. The woman who was targeted for death for her sheer beauty. The legendary woman who was known objectively as The Fairest of Them All. She appears and she looks like this. 

She is not young and she is not thin, and she is the most gorgeous person the realm has ever known, and she retells her tale in her own words, from fleeing her home to biting a poisoned apple. She comforts Virginia for not knowing how to navigate a world, her world, of dangers and risks. 

“You’re still lost in the forest. But lonely, lost girls like us can rescue themselves. You are standing on the edge of greatness.”

“No I’m not! I’m not, I’m nothing... I’m useless.”

“You will one day be like me. You will be a great advisor to other lost girls. Come. Stand up.”

Virginia barely remembers her mother and has never had good loving advice from anyone and has grown to pretend she doesn’t need help, and gets one fleeting moment where she can admit her vulnerability and fear of being too worthless to be loved. And the most renowned woman in this universe tells her she’s going to be amazing. 

This short series is both a love letter and a deconstruction of the genre and it did it earlier and better than the slew of other modern ones which followed. It ties a magical fantasy together with a very complex and understandable emotional heart. Please give it a shot if you want a relatively short series with great characters to settle into! 

And if none of that convinced you, I’m begging you to watch this clip:

[dreamsinger-rose]

Reply to @somuchflippinglitter’s commentary of my TWT Branch’s Character Growth Post

(Did anyone notice how often we see Branch in monochrome in TWT, basically Gray Branch again?)

Hi! @somuchflippinglitter I’m actually happy to see such a long, thoughtful post. You make some good points, and there are other points that, if I may, I’d like to explain my reasoning more clearly. BTW this is a verrry long post that I thought would work better as a separate post rather than a reply to a reply.

The original post (scroll through the comments to see the commentary I’m replying to)

https://dreamsinger-rose.tumblr.com/post/616517422712848384/twt-spoilers-branchs-character-growth

Some of Branch’s actions can be seen as out of character, yes. For me, the main one is how much more mature he seems in some ways, such as not acting as sarcastic as in the first movie, but I have assume that he’s had at least a year of being social and developing meaningful relationships with the other trolls, who no longer regard him as the ‘crazy guy who lives in a bunker and still thinks the bergens are out to get us’, because he did turn out to be right. So he has less reason to be sarcastic, and more reason to care what other people think of him.

Yes, Branch was definitely the “love interest” here. But because he was, he was the one person with the influence to make Poppy listen when it really mattered. Also, I guess you could say it was “rubbed in your face”, but then, he literally told her he loved her in the first movie (which could have been friendship-love). I can see two reasons for Dreamworks to emphasize his love-interest status: to clearly tell the audience he’s IN love with Poppy, and to show he’s grown emotionally-open enough to make the choice to confess to her. This also implies time passing and character growth.

I looked up the symptoms of PTSD and he fit all of them, (in the first movie). But his PTSD wasn’t caused by the singing and dancing that attracted Chef to capture his grandma, it was caused by the trauma of her loss and his subsequent guilt and grief. The ‘not wanting to sing or dance’ was a symptom of his PTSD, not the cause itself.

That’s why after Poppy and the others comforted him and didn’t heap blame on him after he confessed how it was his fault his grandma got killed, Branch’s grief, and especially his guilt (and self-blame) lifted, and right afterward we started to see him healing. His symptoms began to subside. That “happy shout” came after his confession, not before. He was able to sing when Poppy needed it, and that broke the no-sing/no-dance block in his mind, and that helped him heal even more.

I personally have been considering Trolls Holiday canon, and TBGO as an alternate universe, since we know both have wormholes and thus it’s canon, ironically, for there to be other versions of Branch. For example Branch’s bed is vastly different in each. TBGO Branch does have the same basic personality as movie/special Branch but somewhat different experiences.

Either way, Branch’s basic personality to me is someone who is guarded and not very trusting and therefore prone to anxiety when things happen that are outside his control, like how he got all stuttery in Holiday “D-did you say wormhole?” The Trolls to Trolls clips in particular gave me a lot to think about, since he acts a lot less confident in some of them compared to his confidence in the first movie. Totally blew my mind that all Poppy had to do to make him cave in (high-pitched voice/submissive body language) was MENTION his bunker, never mind its location.

It’s true that sexiness is in the eye of the beholder, but actually I have some solid scientific/aesthetic reasons for thinking of Branch as sexy. First, Branch’s character has been designed to look masculine: large nose, mouth, hands, feet. Broad face. Bigger teeth, compared to Poppy. Thick hair, which implies virility, something females unconsciously look for in a mate. Also, rather than letting his hair grow random and kind of ragged like the other male trolls, Branch’s hair is always neatly trimmed, which implies good hygiene, which is also something people find attractive. Whether he’s an animated troll or not, he’s been designed to look very male and therefore appealing to those who like guys.

Second, I’ve read articles/studies on body language and dance choreography. The “hip sway/push toward us” in particular is characteristic of someone trying to attract a romantic partner. His open arms are seen as inviting/welcoming, which is appealing. Also, him pointing his toes toward someone, biting his lip, and what looks like direct eye contact are also body language that says “he’s into you”. The eye contact in particular will be seen as attractive because it implies confidence, which is universally considered one of THE most attractive traits for either/all sexes.

So my point is it’s not so much that he’s an animated troll, but that a live human who has similar features (big hands, etc) and uses the same body language and eye contact is going to be seen as attractive by a large number of viewers, who will respond on an unconscious level. The outward appearance – blue-green skin, long ears, is not really what we’re responding to as far as attractiveness goes. Thus, to me, an adult female; Branch is sexy.

So, by ‘acting out of character’, did you mean because he was (selfishly) having fun as he danced to the new-to-him Kpop and Reggaetron music? Or do you mean you thought since he left Poppy that meant that he was being selfish and protecting only himself?

You’re right that he cared less about music than other things, although since he was the one who liked Country music and he seemed to understand the Funk troll’s story on a deeper level than Poppy, it was my understanding that he DID care. The reason he seemed out of character is because despite Branch’s love for Poppy, we have to remember his basic, unshakable core characteristic: protection/defense.

In the first movie, he built a bunker to protect himself. He expanded that protection to Poppy and his friends and eventually Bridget, because he came to care about them all. We assume that he’s now friends with much more of the village. (I take his random comment “Ah, what a troll,” when talking about Legsly as support for this.) So now his entire village is under his protection.

He had to make the hard choice to go protect the village when he knew Barb would be heading there (Barb didn’t know Poppy had the string) since Poppy wasn’t doing it. And he couldn’t make her, he could only try to persuade her, which he did. So he was behaving true to himself. He IS loyal to Poppy, but when she essentially abandons her post to go to the Rock trolls’ home, he has to step up and do what he feels is the right thing, no matter how badly he wants to keep Poppy safe. That’s why I think he’ll be a good king, since he put the welfare of his people ahead of his need to stay with Poppy.

Branch didn’t go all untrusting with Hickory because Branch didn’t KNOW Hickory betrayed them. He wasn’t there when the disguise came off.

In your take on Branch and Poppy’s relationship, it’s true that them not having a “good connection” felt a little too convenient after all the relationship-building they’d had over the past year or so. To be fair, if you were writing the movie’s script and you needed some reason for Branch to get motivated to try to confess his feelings for Poppy, what do you think might have been a better scenario?

Me, I liked the high-five because it was symbolic of the progress of the relationship – no contact in the first movie, trying but unable to get a strong connection at the beginning of TWT and a strong connection at the end of TWT. But yeah, not being able to make contact made it sound like their relationship had backtracked instead of progressed, which is out of sync with all the previous progress we’ve seen.

I would have loved to have seen more “vulnerable Branch”. They probably had scenes like that, but had to cut them to keep the movie short enough. It could have been laziness, I suppose. But if there had been more scenes like that, the movie would have been a romance story rather than an adventure, and kids probably wouldn’t have liked it as much. I hope we get to see some cut scenes on the DVD. (Me, I would have liked the movie to be like a half-hour longer and all Broppy scenes, haha).

Thanks for taking the time to give me your beautiful long reply to my post, @somuchflippinglitter You were very respectful :) and I honestly think analyzing a kids’ character is really important since kids learn a lot about the world by what they see on TV. Not so much the fantasy, but the way people relate to one another. Like, Branch could have tried to take Poppy back to the village by force, but he let her make the choice that she thought was right, while he did the same. Each respected the other. And I respect you.  

[leverage-ot3]

notable moments from The Low Low Price Job

leverage 5.11

parker being super clingy to hardison rb if u agree

- - - - -

(Hardison listens to audio from store)

Caroline: Can I get a “good morning, Value!More”?

Workers: Good morning, Value!More!

Caroline: And who’s Value!More?

[Value!More]

Workers: We’re Value!More!

Caroline: And what’s Value!More?

Workers: The best!

Eliot: This reminds me of North Korea.

[Interior Van]

Hardison: Come on, Eliot, shake it. Give me some soul!

[Value!More]

Eliot: Are you dancing? I hate you

hardison is a troll and eliot is DONE

- - - - -

Eliot (looking at his pay slip): You got to be kidding me.

Martin: First paycheck, huh?

Eliot: They think we can live off of this

truer words have never been spoken + eliot knows the minimum wage is bullshit

- - - - -

Hardison: Hey, man, that, uh, stuff about your pop owning the hardware shop, man, is that real or is that just an alias riff?

(Eliot doesn’t answer)

Hardison: Okay.

Eliot (hesitantly): It was more like a hole-in-the-wall... tools stacked up to the ceiling. There was method in his madness, though. He knew that place like the back of his hand.

Hardison: Did you two work it together?

Eliot: Yeah, he wanted me to run the damn joint. But I wanted to get out, change the world, needed to get out of there. I joined the service when I was 18, and, well, that was it.

Hardison: When was the last time you were back?

Eliot: We had a fight the night before I left. So... (turns up volume on the bug in the RV) this town this town’s a lot like that. It’s small. It’s— (gestures toward the display)

eliot’s lip quiver at the “when was the last time you were back”

HE WAS TEARING UP IM-

+

hardison never pushes eliot, not when it matters. he was ready to let it go but eliot opened up to him

- - - - -

sophie and her improv team tho

- - - - -

the carts moving by themselves LMAO

- - - - -

Bryan: Seriously? Not gonna tuck in your shirt?

Eliot: You made him work through his break again, didn’t you?

Bryan: What? The old-timer? He’ll be fine. We got a problem here, buddy?

Eliot: Bryan, you’re a bully. You know how much I’d love to tear your arm off and feed it to you right now? But, you see, that would make me a bully, too. You see my dilemma?

(Eliot grabs Bryan’s arm and twists it, shoving his face into the soda machine)

Eliot: Bryan, I want you to listen to me, and I want you to try to understand.

Bryan: I can’t feel my arm.

Eliot: I know. The only reason why I’m not throwing you into this soda machine is because Martin wouldn’t want me to do it. You see, Martin is a good neighbor. You? You’re not. (lets Bryan go)

Bryan: You crazy bastard. You’re fired.

(Eliot looks at Bryan’s pointing hand, then at Bryan, and slowly walks away)

eliot cares SO MUCH pass it on

- - - - -

Hardison: This little guy emits a beep at random intervals. It’s very effective. It’s driven many a college roommate to insanity.

god I would have gone inSANE

- - - - -

(Eliot resealing bottles while Hardison fills more)

Hardison: This is Caroline’s favorite. When she drinks it, it’ll taste like dust.

Eliot: Why? What’s in it?

Hardison: Food coloring and dust.

eliot, visibly taken aback: ...wtf hardison

- - - - -

[Value!More]

Parker: All right, people, place your bets.

Halliward: Don’t think we haven’t noticed.

Parker: 100 bucks gets you in.

Halliward: The success of this store is just the cherry on top.

Nate (tosses money in): I’m in. Five minutes.

Sophie (tosses money in): She’ll go seven.

Hardison (tosses money in): I say three minutes.

Parker: I’m under two.

Nate: All right, under two.

(Eliot joins them)

Nate: You got three, five five, seven

cute little fam taking bets

+ of course parker won the money

- - - - -

I l o v e it when the team stands together and gloats

- - - - -

Parker: What about the building?

Hardison: I heard an anonymous donor put in a bid for it. He said he’s gonna turn it into a theater for the local high school.

Nate: The arts are vastly underfunded in this country, don’t you think?

Sophie: You sly old dog.

nate can be sweet, it’s cute

- - - - -

Hardison: Oh, babe, the candy shop’s open. You in?

Parker: Sounds good.

Hardison: All right

eliot walking behind them with VERY OBVIOUS HEART EYES AND A SMILE

- - - - -

Eliot: How’s Saturday? I got to go out of town for a couple of days.

Tabitha: I would love that.

Eliot: Good.

[Outside Oklahoma City]

(Eliot pulls into a driveway and gets out. He takes a six pack from the passenger’s seat and walks to the front door where he hesitates before knocking)

Eliot: Dad?

(Eliot’s knocks go unanswered. He puts down the six pack and turns to go, tearing up)

HAHAHAHA B Y E

[queenabstract]

Do you still do trolls requests?? If so could I get a cute dickory x yodel troll reader where they reunite after the world tour and everyone’s like awwwwe

ABSOLUTELY!

Throughout you childhood, things had been a little rough. Thing was being a yodel troll, you were expected to be as loud as possible without causing a landslide. That was tough because you lived in the mountains. Little you had a voice louder than any other, and it was killing you inside that you couldn't use it. Then one day it started to change. There was one family that was always coming and going. A father and his two sons. He used to have a girl too, but you hadn't seen her in a while. The father was named Mouse Whiskers. Made sense since he was short and his hair had a way of pointing out and curving up a little. His younger son, Hickory, had his hair, but grew much taller and bulkier. Towering over his older father and older brother. The older son was named Dickory. He was short like his father, but had long hair that had a bit of a natural flow to it. You talked to them when they were there, quickly befriending the older one. The three of you would hang out and have all sorts of fun together. One day, you and Hickory were talking while Hickory played with his toy horses and you were trying to fix his wild hair.

"Now that I think about it, I've never heard you yodel that much. Why?" Dickory asked. You let out a sigh.

"Its not because I don't want to. Its that I'm to good at it."

"Excuse me?" Dickory gave you a confused look.

"I'm way to loud. I would have to hold myself back or I'd cause an avalanche." You explained.

"Oh. But that doesn't mean you can't yodel at all." Dickory pointed out.

"I hate holding myself back. Its really difficult and honestly I'd rather not make any kind of music at all if I have to hold myself back." You said. "I feel like I'm holding myself as a prisoner." You gave up on Hickory's hair. Dickory hummed and looked at one of Hickory's horses. He picked it up and held it in front of you.

"You see this horse?" He asked you. You nodded. "Now imagine the entire neck and head gone, and replace that with the top half of a troll." Dickory said.

"Uh, pardon me?" You asked.

"That's a country troll!" Hickory exclaimed.

"SHHHHSHSH!" Dickory shushed Hickory and looked around. "We're not supposed to tell anyone but...there are other kinds of music that exist out there. A whole bunch! There's Pop, Funk, Techno, Reggaeton, Hard Rock, and so many more! Including Country. We haven't just been traveling. We've been visiting our mom in Lonesome Flats. She's a Country Troll. You live with your auntie right?" Dickory asked.

"Uh...yeah. But she doesnt watch me. I once left for a whole week and she had ni clue. I just have a bed there." You said.

"Then come with us on our next trip. We'll take you to Lonesome Flats and you could live their instead! You won't have to worry about being to loud or causing landslides. Though you'd have to sing Country instead of Yodeling and you'd be expected to be a hard worker." Dickory explained.

"Are you kidding!?! Yes! Absolutely!" You exclaimed and hugged him. "Thank you, Dickory. You're the best." You said and kissed him on the cheek. You didn't notice his blush.

The very next day, you hid inside of the wagon as the family made their way to Lonesome Flats.

"(Y/N), come on out. We're here." Dickory said. You tumbled out onto the dirt.

"Woah." You said as you looked at the small town. "This is where your mama lives?" You asked. Dickory nodded.

"Yeah...though I haven't seen her yet...she usually meets us here." You and Dickory wondered off in different directions. You walked towards the center of the town where there seemed to be a party of some sorts. Dickory wasn't kidding. These trolls were half troll and half horse. It was so cool! You saw a little Country troll with red hair and a green tail around your age. She was dancing and seemed to be enjoying herself. You skipped up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. She rurned to you in surprise.

"Hi, I'm (Y/N)." You said.

"Well Howdy, (Y/N)! My name is Delta Dawn. Nice to meet ya!" Delta held out her hand. You shook it. "What brings you out here to Lonesome Flats?" Delta asked.

"Well...I was hoping to move here." You said.

"Move here? Dontcha have a mama and papa?" She asked. You shook your head. "Oh. Well I can talk to my papa. He's the mayor round here. He might just be able to help you out. She said and galloped away. You looked around to fund Dickory and Hickory, but you didn't see them anywhere. You skipped up to a random country troll and asked if they knew where they went.

"Them Yodelers? Ah. Their mama died. So their papa took em and left. Good riddance."

"Dickory is gone?" You asked.

"Yeah. Why? He was a friend of yours or something?" He asked. You nodded and walked away. Their was a feeling in your chest that was hard to describe. It felt like there was a weight and it hurt inside. It didn't physically hurt but...it did? You were confused.

"I fall to pieces." You began singing. "How can I be just your friend? You want me to forget, pretend that we never met!" Your voice became louder. Thankfully, you had walked away far enough from the other trolls so that they couldn't hear you. "And I'll try I'LL TRY! BUT I HAVEN'T YET! NOW YOUR GONE! And I fall to pieces." You sang.

Delta Dawn talked to her papa. You told him everything about how and why you came. He decided to take you in as his own. The three of you bonded and you fit right in as the younger daughter. Delta made sure than you didn't live in her shadow and pushed you to yodel in front of the others and NEVER hold back. You sang and yodeled until your throat was sore. The Country trolls absolutely adored your voice and were impressed by how loud you could be. You missed Dickory and his little brother. You thought about him every night. You were still sad you never got to say goodbye or thank him. It was all because of him you were a yodeling country troll.

You grew into a strong woman. There was never a man or woman who caught your heart like Hickory once did, so you had an egg on your own and had a little baby girl. You ended up naming her Clampers. She'd spend a lot of time with you, her aunt Delta, and your cousin Growly Pete. She was a wild one and would sometimes ate random objects. You still loved her anyways. You were surprised to find her born with four legs instead of two like you, but you had to assume it was bbecause you grew up in Country, so her body adapted to it before she hatched. She spent time with Delta a lot since you'd scout the outskirts of Lonesome Flats for predators and such. You were the one who showed Delta the letter from Barb after a weird looking bat gave it too you. You rounded up more of the Country trolls to prepare for the attack and left Clampers with Delta. Your voice almost stopped Barb.

Almost.

"CLAMPERS! DELTA!" You screamed. You couldn't do anything but watch in horror as Barb turned everyone, including your sister and precious little girl into rock zombies. You were kept tied in chains near the center of the stage. Barb was pointing her guitar towards you.

"Don't worry. You're joining them." Barb said.

"No!" A voice called out and a small figure jumped out in front of you. When they broke out of the rock, you couldnt believe it. There was no way. They turned towards you. Their red eyes staring straight into your soul.

"Dickory?" You whispered. You were in so much shock, you hadn't realized that there was a fight going on onstage until the strings were broken amd drained you of your color. You fell to the ground, feeling weak. The chains slipped off and you felt gourseld being sat up.

"Mama?" Clampers asked, sitting in your lap. You held her in your arms and looked to see Dickory helping you up.

"Dickory?" You asked.

"I'm here, (Y/N)." Dickory said. You pressed your forehead against his and sighed, closing your eyes. Then you heard it, your heartbeats. You looked at the crowd and saw everyone's hearts lighting up and making music. You chuckled. Of course. I mean, you yodeled without a yodeling string, right? Delta Dawn made her way over to you and the four of you started to line up with the other leaders as you all started to sing. Even Hickory left the crowd to join you onstage. You didn't hold back a single bit. You sang and laughed with you childhood friends, just like old times.

"I missed you two so much!" You hugged both of them after the song was over.

"Yeah, we missed ya too." Hickory said.

"Look at you! Youve grown so big!" You giggled and then turned to Dickory. "And you, haven't changed a bit." You smiled at him.

"Really? Not at all?" Dickory smirked.

"Nope. Your still short as hell. And handsome. I guess you did grow more hair though." You laughed.

"Haha! That's what I thought waitwhat?" Dickory asked. Before he knew it, you picked him up and kissed him. He completely melted into it.

"EWW! MAMA!" Clampers exclaimed.

"Aww thats so cute!" You heard Queen Poppy say. You realized that everyone was looking in your direction and "Awwing" at the two of you.

"Well, if you take out all the people staring, I could get used to this." Dickory pulled you back into the kiss.

"Ah jeez get a room." Hickory rolled his eyes and walked away.

I apologize for it being so long, but if I'm doing a request, I freaking COMMIT to it. Though I admit I MIGHT have gone a teeny bit over the top with this? I hope you still enjoy though.