#real talk if i am running an rp i will lose all will if it doesn't feel like the characters are individually motivated

[heybiji]

In reference to the last ask you posted! Do you mind going over your tips on role-playing as that active-type character and/or digging up the thread of conversation it seems the original asker was referring to? I'm so interested in your experience role-playing for both prep in possibly joining a game someday and also bc it sounds like such good character creation and general writing advice!!!! I tried checking you blog but didnt turn up anything that touched pn it more (No worries if not though!)

Sorry for this late response!

My advice is make characters that create opportunities for story.

Reacting to a story is fun! Reacting to a character is fun! But if you're always reacting then you're creating opportunity for other characters to react, so sometimes you gotta Act to let the other characters and the story React.

To do this, characters should all want something. And not something vague (like "to be happy"), it should be something more tangible, more specific, and everything else can stem from there. It'll guide your character naturally. It's their Motivation.

More under the cut (or skip to the end for more standard advice)

For example, my dnd character Dandelion wanted more than anything to go home. "Going home" meant a lot of things, yeah it means being happy, it means he wants to be with his family, it means he wants to be loved, it means he wants to feel safe, it means he wants to belong somewhere, but the tangible idea is "go home."

Because I knew this is what he wanted most of all it guided all his actions, and his actions for better or for worse all made sense because of it (and I made it clear that was what he wanted "on-screen" on multiple occasions). So anything that involved the idea of getting home would activate him, and he'd also deeply empathize with anyone and anything else away from home/away from family. Giving him one strong, clear motivation instantly made him an active participant in the story. This made him active with other characters too, any mention of home, any mention of family, any idea of not belonging, it drew him toward them.

(as a DM now this is also what I need more than anything, what's your hook? how can I tempt you? how can I make your character move forward? how can I make your character react? also characters that create opportunity for story take a LOT of work off the DM's shoulders in my experience, it shows you're engaged and it feels less like dragging a cat around on a leash haha like "are you enjoying this? do you want this? i don't know! please give me something!")

my more standard advice?

Be a good listener

Be present (in the moment)

Be curious

Be the biggest fan of all the characters

Put your story on-screen frequently, give people the opportunity to react to it and join in on it (this can be as simple as "my character's body language changes at the mention of 'home')

Create opportunities for the other characters to have their story on-screen (ask them questions! if you know what the character's buttons are and it makes sense in the moment, press them! listen to what they're saying, pay attention to what they're doing, and react to it)

Interact with the world! Interact with each other! And make these things mean something to your character!

Your character should make mistakes. Mistakes create opportunity for everyone.

If there's a genre, or theme, play toward them earnestly.

The more you RP, the better you'll get at it! It's a process and that's okay!

my little tip for knowing whether your character is Active vs Reactive: if the story were a musical, do they have an I Want song? do they have multiple moments for songs within the narrative? have they shared a duet with another character? do their songs change, evolve? songs happen for important moments in a musical so if you're not contributing to important moments, it may mean you're reacting more than you're acting. which is fine if you're playing a game solo and are granted access to the narrative by virtue of being the designated main character, but because RPing is collaborative storytelling, everyone should be doing their part!

[rphelperblog]

Outer Banks Rp Meme

inspired by @multistoty @etherealrps @kierras @kookbled @pogueframed @cfknights @jaymaybnk and @sulsurfer

“Don’t worry, I will sugar mama you.” 

"You might end up in the lions den, but you don't go there on purpose."

"You know what I was thinking, let's get married."

"I'd rather die than be without you."

You don't know what it's like to have the person closest to you vanish and then have no idea what happened. Just wake up every morning wondering."

"Here is a fun fact. Everyone you know will die."

"Its a good thing we are on a secret mission. We shouldn't even be using our real names."

"Momma's mad."

"I'd rather die than go to jail."

"Didn't you play baseball?"

"UntilI see a body, I won't give up."

"That was a good, dad joke."

"You want to make our own incriminating evidence? Is that what your talking about?"

"Denial's underrated. You should try it some time."

"It's only denial if your wrong."

“Not much of a hugger, man.”

"He's got the survival instincts of a cockroach."

"You hang out with trash, you get dirty."

Mild kelptomanic, future tax cheat."

They always, always win."

"Stupid things have good outcomes all the time."

"I can't pretend either."

"I'd for sure put his skull in the ground, but I am not like a jealous guy, so I don't care."

"This is your captain speaking."

"You love being seen with me, but you don't love me."

"When people get close to me, i feel trapped. I bail and I blame them for it."

Definitely, the weirdest summer of my life. But its not the end, its the beginning."

"I can't let you take the blame for something I did. You have too much to lose."

"I was on the math team."

"Love is five minutes of pleasure for a lifetime of pain."

"You aren't gonna just walk away like nothing happened?"

"You're so careful."

"Wars have been started for less."

"I'm stuck. You are gonna rip me."

"I'll be so safe."

"I'll pay you back."

"Your secret is safe with me."

"I look like I got kicked out of a barbershop quartet."

"You guys, not everything is a kingpin movie."

"We have one earth. We should give it 100 percent bare minimum."

The thing about hell is there is always another one below."

"Hey, do you remember when you kissed me?"

"Mold is good for you. It's a natural organism."

"This is war. They hit us. We hit them."

"What if I am not okay?"

"Why are you so weird?"

“Look, love just walked in, okay.”

"I already am who I am."

"Be safe."

"Back in the friend zone."

the WiFi’s not working. I can’t post anything.”

"I got a jet going straight to my butt right now."

"Dude, did you just yeet over that chain?"

"You look like I have never seen a boy in underwear before."

"I have a brother. Get your head out of the gutter."

"It might be storming now, but it can't rain forever."

Life is all fun and nothing not."

"Pentagon- we have safety clearance."

"I can't give up the hunt man."

"Oh my god, have you seen this shirt? Its 190 dollars."

"Stop barking at the snakes."

"And to quote the hobbit , 'down down to goblin town, you go, my lad."

Keep running you mouth and I'll come knock our J crew looking ass out."

"Its a little toosie roll."

"Buck? Whats a buck?"

"yeah, you have a death compass."

You listen to me alright. I'm coming for you."

Biggest pet peeves? Easy, giving one percent to the environment."

"Imagine if you get really old and your nipples and your boobs get really saggy and you have their eyes there and you can see if your shoe is untied."

"You powerpuff girls have a lot of fun."

"Not all of us can afford the unlimited plan."

"One last mission and I am out of this dirty dirty game."

[bingobongobonko]

Hi Bingo! I just wanted to say that I've been lurking and looking at your art for your lancer campaign for a while now and I think it's so cool! You've kinda inspired me to check out the system for myself too! I hope it's not too much trouble/making you retread anything you've talked about before, but I'd be really interested to hear your thoughts on the system and how it's worked out for your campaign! I really love mecha stuff, but I think the genre can be pretty rife with militarism that I'm not super into. I get the sense though that you've been able to find a good way to slot these really cool characters into the setting and focus on their interactions while also getting the fun of that sweet sweet mech combat. My inquiry is very low stakes haha, so nw if you don't have time to gather all your thoughts (I know that if I was tasked to talk about my own campaigns my head would burst into flames just trying to sift through what I'd want to say :P) Anyway, just a little friendly wave to you to say your art is very inspirational, and keep up the great work!

OH WOW this is . whuhh. WOW! sorry im like. wtff. i mean i ramble about my characters a lot but i didn't think anyone else actually gave a fuck which is completely ok, i just WHUHH..!!! holy shit. excitement aside, i get where you're coming from. honestly i was never into the mecha genre, but lancer rpg really made me realize how cool it is! like im not a really technical guy, and i feel like lancer is VERY strategy-heavy in combat; unless you know what you're doing and what everything does, you can easily get overwhelmed with all the features and all the things to consider in the math. for me its a lot because i struggle with spatial understanding and any sort of mathematics. that's my only real gripe on the system, but that might also just be every other system as well. it's more of a personal issue than that of the system, my friends all picked it up super quick. as for the genre, yeah, i find militaristic shit a drag and mecha has the same feel to me. its got a layer of professionalism and seriousness i don't enjoy, nor wish to play along with, so i get what you mean yeah. thankfully my friend who dms the campaign is just. Holy fuck; she just has a huuuge extra care for character stories and weaving them into the narrative she explores. so really, its her i've to thank for making mecha stuff FUN for me. lancer can certainly run hand-in-hand with militaristic-focused rp, i was in a oneshot with that sole focus and while it was interesting, without that interesting narrative stuff you kind of lose steam, but ive grown so fond of dog days cuz of how my friend lets our characters develop AND helps them do that. that and the way she sets up the story, just. FUUUUCK. the military is an afterthought in what is a fight against time and para-causality sinking its teeth into what little sanity we have. we fight against something that is a victim and a perpetrator. we're the worst people to be tasked to be saving an entire planet too, but here we are. as cheesy as it is, it's all about who you play with. thats the feel i get about most systems. honestly why im so ehhh about playing with strangers, when i'd rather play with people i like. all systems strike me as more of a tool; its the way you use em yk? the experience you get from them are more reflective of who you're telling a story with (or fighting alongside, there's no right way to play. i just really like narrative storytelling). so really, ive to thank my friends, especially @spaginithethird who introduced me to lancer in the first place as a dm!!!!!!!!!! TO A LOT OF SYSTEMS ACTUALLY shes rlly knowledgeable abt this stuff and very very very sweet too o7 so yeah really, its a really fun system BUT to me, i wouldnt be playing lancer if i didn't have a narrative to go by and follow with people i like. i am always sayin this but its my favorite thing when it comes to ttrpgs

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

NITA STRAUSS Celebrates Nine Years Of Sobriety

Nita Strauss is celebrating the ninth anniversary of her getting sober.

The 37-year-old Alice Cooper guitarist credited the 12-Step program with helping her live her life without alcohol.

Earlier today (Thursday, September 5),she shared an image revealing she has been sober for nine years, 108 months, 3,289 days or 78,916 hours.

During a December 2021 appearance on "Guitar Autopsy", the video podcast hosted by Rusty Cooley, Strauss spoke about how she managed to lose 50 pounds and get sober while on tour back in 2015.

"My whole approach to sobriety and health and fitness is to educate but not ever force," she said. "I wouldn't ever want it to be, like, 'You have to stop drinking. You have to do cardio every day,' or whatever. All I can share is really what worked for me, and that was alcohol was extremely, extremely detrimental in my personal life.

"I got sober in 2015 and I basically just decided to make the most of it and said, 'If I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do it right,'" she continued. "And I switched from going to the bar after the show to going to the Barbell in the morning, for lack of a better term. [Laughs] I hooked up with great bodybuilding coaches that [helped] me [with] my diet and my workout while I'm on the road. I use the right supplements, I eat the right food. I have dieticians at RP Strength, I have a workout coach, I take all the right supplements, I drink my green drinks, I take all my vitamins and I stay on track. And the more I did it, people in our community — the rock and metal community — were starting to ask how I did it. And I was writing these long captions on my phone: 'First things first, you drink a lot of water…' da da da. And so I thought why not inspire people to do more. So I created 'Body Shred'. And 'Body Shred' is the first fitness challenge that I know of that is aimed at the music community."

In 2020, Strauss credited her now-husband and manager Josh Villalta with helping her live her life without alcohol. At the time, she wrote: "I thought I needed a drink for just about everything. To be confident on stage. To be social after shows. To celebrate. To mourn. To take the edge off frustration or the sting out of a bad day. To relax and laugh at lunch with girlfriends, or watch football with the guys on Sundays. I was terrified that my life was going to change, that without alcohol I wouldn't be ME anymore, that I would lose my circle of friends, and my onstage charisma, and become someone else. ALL those things happened... but not in the way I thought they would.

"Change came first in my relationship, in the form of less fighting and drama, and more productivity, peace and love. Thank you @thejoshv for being the catalyst to the best thing I ever did for myself. I love you.

"The ME that I was before would have stayed up until 6 am at the bar or in the bus front lounge. The ME that I became would rather get up at 6 and get to the gym before starting the day.

"My busy circle of friends was almost immediately reduced to a core 3. I've learned that when it comes to friendships, quality is ALWAYS better than quantity. If your friends have no interest in spending time with you after you make a change for the better, they weren't your real friends.

"My first show without alcohol was in front of 15,000 people. I felt like a scarecrow someone had propped up on stage to scare birds. Nothing felt natural. I was going through the motions, with this absurd idea running through my head 'everyone is looking at me. Everyone knows.'

"I went out by the bus to talk to fans afterward, and do you know what they said? 'Wow you were so great! Where do you get all that energy? You add so much to Alice's band!'

"ALL of that insecurity, ALL the fears, ALL the doubt was in my head. Those are your demons that make you think you need them.

"I'm content to sit at the bar, order a soda water with lime and watch the game now. I wouldn't trade back to my old life for anything."

Back in 2018, Nita spoke openly about how she got finally sober in September 2015, saying that Josh has always been "a tough-love type" in the way she approached her sobriety. "He's, like, 'Look, you're on this path, and I support you, but I'm not changing the way I do things at all," she explained in an interview with "Chasing Glory With Lilian Garcia". "And I'm kind of glad, in retrospect, that he did that, because it threw me into the fire and showed me, like, 'Hey, you can be [around people who are drinking] and not drink.' He has continued to drink throughout [this entire period], but he didn't want me to drink, because when I would drink, I would start fights and I would get emotional and I would overreact to stupid things, like you do when you drink — it's part of drinking; it heightens all your emotions and everything." Nita also revealed that she has never participated in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) to help her stay sober.

[blysse-and-blunder]

in lieu of a commonplace book: a new term

saturday, sept 2 — sunday, oct 1, 2023

been running around and then lolling around and then running some more, and the last time i really understood what day it was i think it was aug 28?? though i have gotten a new wall calendar for my room so hopefully that...makes a difference?

anyway. lots of things viewed, read, played etc., but this is the ilcb where i talk about michael sheen's sex show. y'all have been warned.

reading finished this month:

light from uncommon stars, ryka aoki — there was a lot about this one to like, and lots of things that i think...could have worked better? the dialogue stood out to me as weirdly stilted. the author got so much good, fluid, lyrical writing into the descriptions of the violin maker, all the meaningful resonances of the violin, and everything else kind of paled to that. a lot of vision in this one, and hopefully readers who are less picky than i am will be able to chill out and enjoy the representation, the demons and space and music and donuts.

the empress of salt and fortune, nghi vo (audio) — stunning. short, but suggests/captures an entire world. adored the emphasis on little artifacts and material details, the flashes of actual history and the absolutely elegant touches of fantasy.

clouds of witness, dorothy l. sayers (audio) — a lord peter wimsey mystery is always a wonderful excuse to listen to a voice actor just go nuts with posh RP accents, but i do miss my girl harriet even as i know that i'm reading all the prequels on purpose :(

one last stop, casey mcquiston —i didn't think i liked casey mcquiston before, but this book was genuinely a delight. is this how everyone felt about rwrb? the romance tropes worked for me this time, the dialogue here felt natural and fun (especially the secondary characters), and the little turns of phrase and comparisons and twists hit just like you'd hope. the history! the queer community! the roommates! and you know what, fuck it. a little tooth-rotting fluff can be good for the soul.

listening bounced off of the new olivia rodrigo (sorry 😥) and the new chappell roan (sorry sorry 😥) and won't be trying to articulate why for now, haven't spent enough time with the new mitski (liked it on the first listen though) so this section of the post is going to go to noah kahan's stick season, which i have listened to on repeat for the last few weeks. i think i've got a favorite song chosen, only to notice something new about another one—it's not just 'northern attitude' and 'homesick,' though obviously the lines 'i'm mean because i grew up in new england' and 'i was raised out in the cold' / 'i was raised on little light' do fucking resonate. but so does. most of it.

at some point i have added both 'halloween' and 'the view between villages' to my liked songs, and for some reason i get a real kick out of the line in 'new perspective' about calling an intersection downtown just because it's gotten a target. but anyway here's 'stick season', simply for the line 'and i'll dream each night / of some version of you / that i might not have / but i did not lose.'

watching masters of sex (2013). if i'm honest, this is a little bit of a dodge—i watched the entire first season of this show back at the beginning of the month, it fully took over my staycation cat-sitting gig time, and then i haven't been able to get back to it now that i'm home. i think i'm scared to dip back in, honestly? because i can't let myself get sucked back in that strongly.

this show is maddening. it's fascinating. don't ask me if it's good. it's based on this book by thomas maier, which i may have to actually read, because i keep getting distracted wondering about how much the script is changing, adapting, etc. i've taken my intro psych class (and then some), i had to read about masters and johnson, and i feel like the show must be taking liberties— but also, is it?

this show isn't mad men, but it does have that period midcentury / postwar aesthetic, and they do a very good job mentioning bits of history/current events that tie it to the actual history. and there is actual history here, and i love that. but also, i have never been this aware of a show making choices for baldly strategic reasons— you can so tell that this show was written for weekly release, plot threads come and happen for an episode or two at most, only then to be either dropped (for future use if necessary?) or solved.

then again, there's some very competent and tightly-constructed stories, e.g. the episode about the nuclear attack drill and how everyone behaved, how it did and did not matter to them, how their worlds were and weren't also symbolically ending in the intertwined subplots. also a big fan of the one where they're hearing about the new research on the female orgasm! and freud! it's so interesting to have this all framed as ~the frontiers of science!~ and then see how in some ways it's more progressive than you'd expect (than we are today still, on primetime).

the other lead, lizzy caplan, is new to me, but she kills it, kills it, as ginny johnson. allison janney is in this?! caitlin fitzgerald aka tabitha from succession is in this? see what i mean, like half the cast is people who either were in big prestige tv enterprises or who would go on to be, which to me says something about the way this show was viewed as a good move for your acting career in 2013. (link to a piece of historical journalism discussing this show and nbc hannibal as not-to-be-missed viewing for 2013. wild.)

i've never thought this much about how television has changed from the early 2010s to now. this feels like a bridge, connecting pre-peak TV to where we've ended up, where it's not as 'prestige-y' as it would be now, but is still going for the sophistication and intensity. michael sheen wears a funny little bow tie and got a golden globe nom for this, but he could not be further from aziraphale here—it's like watching a totally different person (acting_patrickstewart.gif), he smiles so little and is routinely so awful to various women in his life, including those he purports to love. i distract myself watching him make acting choices in response to some of the (frankly wild) things that they've given masters to say and do, and that's. all i'll say about that.

okay that was mortifying. let's move on.

playing have now completed (for the second time) the first act investigations in pentiment, with new scenes unlocked (the spinning bee! storytime with brother sebhat! midnight in the library!) and still not a solid answer to the mystery. methinks there is a message there, but we won't know for sure until i can next find a time for me to continue with either of my play-through companions. when i play with A, we make choices based on 'i would never pick that if i was playing on my own, but since you're here, you'll be the voice of chaos egging me on,' which if nothing else has led to a lot of cackling.

things this game also excels at, besides narrating women's stories and moral ambiguity: animating children and animals. we shook hands with this dog and it was perfect.

making hungry for a handicraft. sewed a bra back together (unpictured), glued a handle back onto this little ceramic pitcher, glued a hairclip back to its backing and a slipper sole back to its upper slipper (all hail having appropriate adhesives for a job!) watched as squirrels made a meal of the valiant, late-blooming tomatoes.

working on the court romances chapter has a new direction, but it does feel a little like an albatross around my neck at this point. i sent my committee the body and soul debates chapter, but at my most recent meeting it was clear most of them hadn't finished reading it so the discussion was largely 'where's chapter 2? why isn't that here also?' they still gave me the equivalent of a little pat on the head and said 'keep going', so. i'm taking drastic steps (enlisting other on campus resources, my therapist, etc.) to try and fucking make some fucking progress.

[semimedieval]

the beach part 5: jack and augustine where the fuck are you guys

I was going to collapse the pendant-acquisition Indiana Jones plot and the lengthy post-pendant discussion unpacking the pendants. But then the post-pendant discussion turned out to be WILDLY long, so here I am cutting it into two parts anyway.

I appreciate the mystic sense of untapped power held within the pendants, which is cool and interesting even if it never necessarily gets resolved – at least the og RP tries, whereas 2.0 never even considers that a near-infinite source of magic energy needs some kind of origin story.

Rim woke up. "It was full of water," He continued as if he had never been asleep. "Like there was a whole ocean in there, and you helped me open a door to it" He babbled on getting confused. "It's kinda hard to explain…" "Odd. At that moment, actually, I felt like the all the ice power I'd had was being pulled out of me." Lupus remarked. "So it doesn't just bestow power." "It takes it," Quartz said suddenly. She had been deep in thought. "That is, one pendant takes power from another."

These are two people who absolutely have not talked their visions out in advance, but it's fun enough to read Magical Theory Quartz that I forgive Past Me for

"But it's funny how it always slowly fills you with energy, as if a charge is being built up and when your there your taking that charge, but it's still very strong," He added realizing how much stronger he felt, even after nearly suffocating. "Well, power replenishes itself after a while," Quartz reasoned. "At some point we were attacked by bandits who found a way to drain Spark's powers, but she regained them pretty soon. Although, in some cases..." She looked thoughtful.

I want to note that, while I'm adding in commas for readability, I am the only 12-year old in this damn roleplay who correctly punctuates quotations. Big win for 2012 katia, and for annoying people (Same thing). I also feel very charmed by the image of Quartz sitting on the beach and thinking about magical theory for half an hour while Rim is unconscious. It's real to ME.

Run thought for a moment. "Like the amulet pendant thingies. I wonder if these are like an Extraneis power, or several" He looked at his one. "When I look closely at mine I can almost hear waves, but maybe theyre the voices of Extranei who put their power into this…" he watched it for a few seconds of drawn out silence ten shook his head. "Never mind that's definently waves" "Hm, good point." Lupus picked his up. "Mine gives out the essence of ice. It's hard to explain, but let's just say that it's a very hot day and the pendant shouldn't be as cold as snow." Quartz sat, deep in thought.

I smiled. Rim goes on to explain the trap system to everyone else, using the phrase "think Indiana Jones" in case we hadn't already picked up that we were meant to think of Indiana Jones. Quartz thinks it's kind of hot when beautiful brunettes navigate trap systems:

Quartz looked at him and Lupus with new respect. "And you survived all that? That's a miracle all by itself." "If we're right, we wouldn't have survived without these pendants," Lupus said grimly. Rim nodded. "Though to be fair, I don't think it was supposed to stay shut like that." He pointed out. He leaned against the rock (He had gathered enough courage to sit on the sand) enjoying the warmth and watching the others. It was good to have a family. "I should hope not," she said.

AW, HE LIKES HIS FRIENDS. I love Quartz and I love her extremely, "i do declare!" approach to having a crush on this silly guy. I want them to kiss and I also want her to lose him and never forget she lost him. Yippeeeeee

Anyway there's a very long discussion regarding the technicalities of magic, which I do not feel like copying and pasting because it gets to be a little much, but I like the speculative tone of it. And look, we manage to finagle the conversation into something plot-relevant!

"I think they replenish all the time while we're simioultaneously using them to live. That is, even of we don't seem to use them, they're being used, and replentished. Some people however, have some left over, enough to manipulate and use. That's us." Quartz explained. She was enjoying this; powers had always interested her. Rim considered this. "That is interesting, so that would explain why using them to much weakens you. But that would mean using them enough would drain them completely, so that you could never use them again" Then he looked at his pendant. "Oh" he said quietly. "I don't think so, I think the only way you can lose them completely is when they stop renewing themselves. I guess that's what almost happened to Chu--" She paused and glanced over at him. "What is it?" He looked up. "That would mean that we replenish our powers after then normal people right? So that means that if a normal person were to get the right one of these…" "Then they'd have powers too?"

I immediately note that I've badly misspelled 'simultaneously' while failing to acknowledge that I also badly misspelled 'replenish.' I think this line of reasoning weakens a little bit in the light of updated lore, in which using magic is a lot more about gaining an instinctive access to the world's ambient magic rather than being about An Internal Reserve Of Magic Within You, though I guess the latter reading is still supported by vincedis and the fact that it works. Anyway, we cut to Monoceros and Shadow briefly, where their interactions just embarrass me regarding my ability to write powers.

Instead I'll stick to Rim and Quartz, and Quartz jumping to the WILDEST "are you mad at me" conclusion possible regarding Rim's theory of Power Acquisition Through Magical Pendants.

Rim nodded. "And I think I've seen one similar to Ky's before, once." "Have you met anyone who can control light besides Ky and..." she paused. "You're not implying that I'm not an authentic Extranei, right?" Rim shook his head quickly. "No-no-no, not you, I would never dream one of you guys would hide something like that, especially you, I'm thinking someone who I haven't seen use powers, but the pendant was the same, and how they dressed was mostly white and gold."

Especially you! What a classic Rimquartz moment. But the secrets of What Rim Meant By That were not meant to be for now because, if there's one thing that can distract Quartz from discussions of magical theory, it's accusations of heterosexuality. Girl how did you even hear that it was a private remark! Beaches can be big!

Ky stuck her feet into the warm sand and looked intently at Rim and Quartz, a small smiling forming on her face. "Looks like those to are hitting it off." She said casually to Lupus. "Excuse me?" Quartz asked indignantly. "Oh, nothing," Ky laughed.

It may have been bad etiquette, but Moopy was offline and Jack was back online, which facilitated this CLASSIC act of sublime gay confusion on Quartz's part. Is it Compulsory Heterosexuality? Is it Heteroerotic Embarrassment? Is she blushing tellingly? Are Rim's feelings curiously hurt? All we know is "Anyway, I'll talk to you later, hi Spark!"

"Anyway, I'll talk to you later," Quartz said, and stood up. "Hi, Spark," she said, sitting down next to her friend.

Honestly I am almost regretful because I think that Quartz ran away from a fruitful conversation with plot and universe implications and back to the safe world of Beach Episode. But such is the push-and-pull of late-stage Extranei, right? We'll hear more about these mysterious pendants, for better or worse. For now, I find my second stopping point. I guess it could have been One Long Post after all, but whatever, it's not like anybody will get MAD at me if I devote multiple sections to the beach.

[eievuimemes]

LYRIC RP SENTENCE STARTERS

“ At least tell me just to move on. “

“ Be careful not to lose ourselves. “

“ Can someone tell me please ? “

“ Can’t take it anymore. “

“ Can’t you tell I think I’ve had enough ? “

“ Come tomorrow, this will all be in our past. “

“ Didn’t have a dime but I always had a vision. “

“ Every day it feels like seams are more than torn. “

“ Every time I dare to love, it hates me. “

“ Feels like I’m losing my mind. “

“ Get prepared to go. “

“ Here we stand, without a plan. “

“ How can I take the pain away ? “

“ How dare you. “

“ I believe the storybooks I read by candlelight. “

“ I don’t have to look at it. “

“ I don’t need you. “

“ I found a strength I’ve never known. “

“ I got one more run. “

“ I hope you find your peace. “

“ I just came to talk for a while. “

“ I keep making all the same mistakes. “

“ I know he’ll appear. “

“ I never had that perfect girl who somehow could see the good part of me. “

“ I never thought that it would go this far. “

“ I never thought there’d be someone like you who would want me. “

“ I never wanted anything so bad. “

“ I see such pretty things. “

“ I started to hear it again. “

“ I talk to absolutely no one. “

“ I think it’s maybe time for me to change the location. “

“ I will not accept your mercy. “

“ I wouldn’t change you. “

“ If I had the answers, I’d have written them out. “

“ Is that what devils do ? “

“ Is there any good still left in me ? “

“ It tells me I’m a freak. “

“ It wasn’t real. “

“ It’s all somehow getting better. “

“ It’s funny how much I feel like I’m looking in a mirror. “

“ It’s impossible to hide from yourself. “

“ I’ll chew you up and I’ll spit you out. “

“ I’ll never hug my girl to me. “

“ I’ll shine, but I’ll never be see through. “

“ I’m gonna disappear. “

“ I’m hanging by a thread. “

“ I’m just looking at the sky. “

“ I’m proud of who I am. “

“ I’m terrified of these four walls. “

“ I’ve been bending backwards. “

“ I’ve been here too many times before. “

“ I’ve been left out alone. “

“ I’ve got that lightning inside me. “

“ Know I’ve done wrong. “

“ Maybe I’m just one step over the edge. “

“ Maybe we should go. “

“ Memories inside my heart are there to grieve. “

“ Need you to guide us. “

“ Never thought you’d fall so far. “

“ No escaping death. “

“ Not one man, no, nor ten men nor a hundred can assuage me. “

“ Now it’s time I realize. “

“ Only one will take it all. “

“ Remember who you are. “

“ See you later, pal. “

“ Settle the scars with honour and blood. “

“ Some of you never learned to drop the act. “

“ Some people offered up answers. “

“ Step back, I’m going in. “

“ Strike a match and watch it burn. “

“ Teach me wrong from right. “

“ That’s who I’d be. “

“ The enemy is inside of me. “

“ The time for being sad is over. “

“ The world is full of super problems. “

“ There is beauty behind every tear you’ve cried. “

“ There is no way up ! “

“ There’s no place to hide us. “

“ These aren’t the colours I should see. “

“ They can’t help me make amends. “

“ This is how I disappear. “

“ This is what you wanted, right ? “

“ Truth be told, I never was yours. “

“ We can run away together. “

“ We knew it’d happen eventually. “

“ Well, I am here for you. “

“ Well, pity a woman alone ! “

“ We’ll be the change. “

“ We’ll wear our scars like medals of hope. “

“ What if it’s us and only us ? “

“ Wondering if everything I want is worth chasing. “

“ You broke all the laws. “

“ You do it all for my own protection. “

“ You just couldn’t fight for this. “

“ You left me long ago. “

“ You live a half-life. “

“ You won’t believe how far I’ll go. “

“ Your laughter haunts me. “

“ You’ll know I wasn’t joking. “

“ You’re just too perfect for my hands to hold. “

[meadow-roses]

aske time :) for the writing asks: A1, A2, A10, A12, A14, your choice of anything in B, C8 ( :^) ), C11, D6

A1: Introduce the characters from one of your current WIPs in one or two sentences each. 

Okay let's gooo,,, I'll do The Keepers cause I haven't talked about that one as much. These aren't gonna be the best descriptions but whatever 

Ketsler: Quirky, fun-loving, everyone's weird grandpa, but also the most powerful person to have ever lived. He's old- so very, very old- and he's seen so much over all the centuries he has been protecting the worlds from Chaos, but he still makes an effort to slow down and appreciate the little things around him, because he knows better than most how fleeting life is.

Skylar: Skylar is from a world where faerie circles are real and witches turn people into frogs and trolls live in great, big castles and are slain by talking cats, a world where there's too much adventure to stay in one place, too many people to meet, and too many monsters to slay to stop running. He may be only a human (ooo mystery!!) but he is proficient in Wind magic and carries around a good bit of rune stones he and his pet dragon have found along his adventures. 

Felix: Felix is just a normal human from a small town after the earth becomes united under one world power. He wasn't born with superpowers like most soldiers are, but he was still skilled enough to join a special force working behind enemy lines when the rebellion made its move to free the planet from the tyranny that built this dystopian reality. 

Betty: A very sweet young lady, she's from a planet that was colonized by humans centuries ago. She may seem naive, but Betty can read anyone like a book and uses her gift to help those who are lost find themselves again. 

There's more characters but I'll just stick with those main ones cause I really struggle with descriptions xD

A2: Who's your favorite character to write and why?

Probably Joden? I haven't written most of my characters, but I looove writing his dialogue. He also makes me think so I can keep him clever lol

A10: What’s your character development process like? (As in how you develop them, not necessarily their development in-story)

I roleplay them! The more developed they are, the more I've acted as them. It really gets me inside their head to try and think like how they think, and that results in me being more equipped to "discover" why they are like that. 

A12: What kind of internal conflict does your character go through (want versus need, personality complexes or strong personality flaws/”fatal flaw” kinda thing)? How does this affect them?

It really varies depending on the character? For example Joden has this need to always have a plan, always be in control, and a breaking moment for him comes in when he finally just,,, doesn't know what to do. He's in over his head and the only thing he can do is trust Jacer to do what he can- knowing Jacer doesn't have things under control. 

So that's an example of a flaw that the character gets to overcome, but there also characters whose flaws are part of who they are. Skylar wouldn't be Skylar if he weren't stubborn. Ketsler wouldn't be Ketsler if he weren't arrogant. They never grow out of these flaws, they just learn to control them. Or I guess not be controlled by the flaw. 

This is actually something I think I struggle with for my characters, giving them those visable flaws. I see other people's characters that start out "bad" and grow into heroes, but it kinda seems like all my characters start out as heroes. 😅 I mean, they have flaws, but in comparison to other people's characters they feel really bland in that aspect. Idk

A14: Ramble about your characters. Anything special you like about them? Random little details you’ve added that you enjoy? 

Uh,,, I don't even know where to start I just love all of them for so many various reasons. Joden is just a clever little genius but he still can be so naive. He just has simple pleasures and it's not hard to make him laugh or smile and practically impossible to discourage him. He starts off just,,, wanting his old life back and then he sees what the world is like outside his little bubble and the bubble pops. He sees the atrocities for what they are and to be able to settle down again, he has to fix it. He can't just smile and do as he's told, he can't let the bad guys win. It I just his mother and wife and son he's fighting for, it's the entire wood and the idea of being actually, truly, free.

Jacer is so savvy, he knows what to do and what to say to get into and out of any situation, but at the same time he's just clueless when it comes to genuine connection. He's a princeling who's really never had a friend and now he's saving the world with Joden who only knows how to make genuine connections. Why does he have to keep hugging me??  

And Twylla who's ready to fight anything so she can get her clever idiot husband back? 

Adric who's just doing his best to be a good leader but everything keeps going wrong. He wasn't born to be a king, he wasn't born to lead an army, he always had his big brother to help him do these things and he's gone- he's gone and he's not coming back he messed up again so bad and yet here he is with everyone looking to him for answers and he doesn't know what to tell them. But he's got his friends, and he's got a good heart, and he genuinely cares and they're going to figure it out.

Skylar just keeps running forward and he never looks back at the past he just jumps from one adventure to another stopping the monsters and saving the day. He's got Gigi what more does he need? 

Felix is just,,, he's just such a nice guy. Over and over he stepped into the gap because someone's gotta fly that fighter, someone's got to fire that gun, someone's got to stabilize the bomb, someone's going to lose their life to ensure the victory, why shouldn't it be him? But he never actually dies, somehow he always survives and lives to fight the next day, and the next day and the next day, and then they win the war- the world is free. And even though he's been through so much he still hasn't lost that kindness, that love for all life that makes him himself. He still falls in love and starts a family and has his own beloved children… and even when he loses them he still doesn't become cynical. He still stands in the gap and is the one to fire the gun, to hold the hand of the one who's mourning, to scoop up the orphan child and carry them home. He fights, so others don't have to. Father to the fatherless and hero for all. Also he puts up with Skylar's time traveling craziness lol

And Ketsler? Unlike everyone else he never chose to be a hero. What are you supposed to do when you're a four year old boy and everyone tells you you're the hero they've been waiting for, praying for, you have to save them. It wasn't at all his choice to be born with the power of the universe running through his veins. To hold the Inness in his hands and bend reality to his will. But he didn't run away. He never hid from his destiny. He took the world onto his shoulders and never set it down. Only once- and he's never going to do it again. Never going to ask someone to fill in his role for him, it is his burden to bear… Except not anymore. Despite being multi-millenniums old, all that time didn't dull his appreciation for the little things. A baby's smile, sunshine through the leaves, the change of the seasons. The union of two souls in marriage, or the colors of the sunset streaking a foreign sky. He still sees these things, loves these things, fights for these things. Cause it's the little things he's fighting for, not just the big things. The precious moments and precious lives that make up the worlds. One of his apprentices asked him once, he'd been fighting for so long, when was it going to end? It's not his job to strike the final blow, to end the suffering and bloodshed, just to help. He saves the world, so that he can save it again. 

I have… several more characters I'd love to ramble about but that answer's gotten pretty long so I'll cut it off there. XD

B3: Do you have any plot twists? No need to describe them, just think about what kind of reaction you want from your readers. 

Oh I was just talking to August about this the other day. XD There is one plot twist in the Keeper's story I'm reeaaally looking forward to hehe I want to make people confused and then really mad when the whole thing is stretched out. >:) 

C8: Does magic exist in your world? Who can use it? How does it work?

It really depends on which WIP, but in general I like to keep magic restricted with rules. Joden's story and the Keeper's story are in the same universe (along with ThRoG) and follows that magic system. It's too complicated to go in depth here, but "magic" exists in another plane of existence, and things in the material world have varying levels of connection with it. It's kinda the energy that holds all worlds together and sustains life. The magic realm- the Inness is not a place where physical matter should exist, only spirits can walk there. 

Wizards are creatures that stand with one foot in the physical realm and the other in the Inness. Tevlar is destroying the world basically by turning it inside out- pulling the Inness out.

C11: Have you developed historical figures? How do you develop them? How in-depth do you go?

Oh yes. I am a complete history nerd so if any world EXISTS it has history, and history only happens because people. 

Sometimes it's a thought through process of "somebody needs to go here" and sometimes it's an npc from a time travel rp that took on more importance than I originally intended. 

It really varies how in depth it will go? Sometimes it's just a name to fill a spot and other times it's like, man I could write a whole book about this guy!

One historical figure would be Ares of the Pegasus. He was a powerful warrior that won a bunch of wars and united the different pegasus clans under his leadership and became the first king. He's really famous and people like naming their kids after him in a kinda superstitious hope they'll grow into attributes of his character. Ares is the male form of the name, Aris is for girls. It's like, the most common Pegasian name. XD

D6: Are there any writing styles that inspire you?

Probably the first writing style I wanted to emulate was Tolkien's, but I also really liked Andrew Peterson's? Tolkien is so dramatic, and Peterson isn't heavy on location descriptions, so I'm kinda aiming for in between I guess. 

[astroninaaa]

Hot take a talk about technoblade:

Okay look I've been part of this fandom since August(thank god cuz i watched it all live and it woukd be a nightmare to caatch up) I bring this up cuz i want to discuss my problem with technos character. I have watched every single techno livestream that he made on dream smp and believe it or not i used to be a techno sympathiser that is until doomsday. (By techno apologist standards i am qualified to talk about his character hooray..)

Now techno like every character is flawed if he wasn't he would be boring fandom. One of his biggest flaws is being a hypocrite. That is not something you realise until you compare what he says all the time so you need to look a little deeper to realise it and i don't blame people for not seeing it.

This wouldn't be that much of a problem because that is a character flaw among with many others but the problem that his character has faced is that he doesn't develop much.

Now i hear techno apologist jump at me every single time noooo he isn't a stagnant character he has developed a lot. I am not saying that he hasn't developed at all the problem is that he has developed very little especially when you consider everything.

His goals his ideas his perception of the world what he believes him everything that makes his character him hasn't changed much and that is not a good thing from a writing perspective. Now why do i bring this up. Firstly I'm not saying this to say techno is a bad writer far from it he can be very good when he puts his mind to it. The problem with keeping a character in this state is that it's very harmful for said character first and to the story and other characters second. Look even at yourselves i can guarantee that you aren't the exact same person you were like five years ago for example because during that time you made mistakes learned from them and you grew. Just like in real life you also can't stay stagnant in fiction.

Okay so that's the main problem with technos character that he is stagnant as a character. Now this wouldn't be as big of a problem if he didn't have the role that he has.

You see techno both c! and cc! are very good at the game basically. Now why do i bring this up. The reason why i bring this up is bc of where this places techno whuch is at the very top of the chain don't try and seny it. This means that he is one of the most powerful people on the server if you are going to try and go against this point just look at lmanberg guys that's living proof of how powerful and how terrifying he actually is. I know a lot of you are gonna say but every can get stacked or play the game but you guys forget that even if you are stacked you just don't have the skill and cc! Techno of the best people when it comes to that which bleeds into his character. Saying that is like looking at the upper class than looking at the lower class saying just get rich like it doesn't work like that.

Because of his role techno is literally the 1% by rl standards which means he can a lit of things free of consequences bc no one can give him said consequences. The butcher army was ig an attempt at that but they failed miserably let's be real here.

Because he is in the 1% is incredibly skilled at pvp and can do anything bc no one can challenge him this places him on a pedestal and creates a power imbalance a very big one at that.

And that leads to his biggest problem he has practically everything as said by Techno himself and is never challenged, but that's not an interesting character. An audience gets tired for a character that always wins or loses. Because if it happens repeatedly it just takes all the suspense oh he will win immediately. He will go and slaughter them problem solved. That's it every time. Something that techno himself confirmed is then when he has a problem he just stabs it (both of these were said during the egg stream).

And if you are going to bring the things he went through to say he's changed don't cuz as long as he doesn't act on it it means nothing. Like examples Red festival killed tubbo an ally. Traumatic experience right? This is a good moment to develop his character and give us more insight. What happens? Techno tries to dismiss it and shows us his anxiety and gives us insight on his character Great! Character development? Starting to question himself just a bit or any sign of that event having an effect on him? Nope! Why? Cuz he doesn't act on it instead he tries to hide the fact that ever happened and changes to a different topic bc there is no justification there and he knows it. Nov 16th c!technos pov he just got betrayed caused some damage wished death upon his former allies and left. Quite a dramatic scene. He feels betrayed time for some good old character development. Him thinking about himself and his actions. Reflecting on them. Great moment! Problem: literally everything that shows this is done off camera and now suddenly he's retired... Okay you know what fine it's alright he would probably expand upon and did a timeskip to explain the ling time he didn't stream. I see where it's comming from. The butcher army ge gets hunted down bc actions have consequences techno and you can't just run away like that not after doing that. Great point from the butcher army. Go give him some consequences his character needs it. And then he gets executed alright a bit too far but i guess that's how it goes in this server. Techno gets his life back immediately.. well that was a bit pointless but alright a cool scene for the animatic fair. Then he kills quackity.. the butcher army lost.. this.. what? But this was the moment of consequences... and quackity didn't get it back like techno the butcer aemy lost more than techno what? Moving along he teams up with tommy aannnd the 50 withers are up and ready of course you didn't fully retire what was i expecting. And now team up with tommy perfect way to learn about dream and give more insight on lmanberg and how dream is a tyrant and everything techno is supposed to stand against. The green festival tommy chooses tubbo over techno techno feels betrayed understandable.... and then he teams up with dream lmanberg is destroyed and the underdogs are beaten to the ground loose everything they ever worked for and are taught to be scared of the anarchists?!?!?!?!

Okay now hold up a sec I'll have to stop you right there. What. did. you. just. do. Cuz there is a limit to the amount of stuff you can let a character get away with. The line was crossed months ago this is not good at all.

Also what are yoi guys talking about consequences. Lives? All 3 home? Right there pets? The ones that died were the ones he brought expecting to not live he brought them there on purpose so they don't count. He is one of the most wealthy peoole on the server (no one beats ranboo lol) what did he exactly loose? Friendships? Was that all the hardships you guys have?

Lmanberg lost their home their lives their wealth their pets their friend everything they loved and lived for everything they stood for they lost a part of themselves in the end.

Look at the last 2 paragraphs and how imbalanced that is. How are you guys blind to this How?! And why did doomsday happen? Because the butcher army failed. And if anything techno proved them that they should have punished him harder with this.

So what was the lesson of doomsday?

That you shoukd obey the people on top and never go against them or you will loose everything you love.

Great lesson guys this is exactly the lesson the rich class and every single tyrant tried to teach society and this lesson is being told by the anarchist great job....

Do you see the problem now. This is the reason techno needs a consequence bc if he keeps going like this he will become a Mary Sue. And that is a horrible direction for a character that has a lot of potential. That potential is why i liked his character that much in the beginning but now it's almost non existent. Anyway I'll end this now cuz this went on for too long. That's basically my opinion on it feel free to share your thoughts.

okay. okay. i read this like three times bc. because look

i agree in some very specific points, but i disagree in very broad manners.

(this entire......... essay is all /rp and /nm!!!!)

anyways. send me hot takes!!!

i like c!techno. i personally think he's one of the most fun characters to watch because i enjoy the mess, the crazyness, the chaos of it all. watching doomsday through c!tommy's eyes was painful. watching doomsday through c!techno's eyes was just so fucking hilarious and exciting and fun. he's just a fun character to watch. he's just Funny. i am a fan. however

for starters: ctechno is, 100%, out of the park, an stagnant character. he has little to no development throughout the story. we see no changes in how he acts. that's not necessarily a bad thing, but considering the type of character he is, watching him develop (be it to an actually full-fledged villain or towards a redemption arc) would be ideal to keep him a character people can actually support.

i wouldn't say he's a hypocrite. c!techno has a very strict moral code and he follows it with no hesitation, with no doubts. the point is that his moral code is flawed and skewed. that doesn't make him a hypocrite, that makes him someone with bad morals.

calling c!techno "the 1%" is a stretch. for one- c!ranboo has as much resources, if not more, as c!techno does. he has dozens of totems, thousands of emeralds, and probably has one of the higher counts of diamond and netherite on the server. why is that never brought up? because it doesnt matter. c!foolish has so much gold and diamonds and netherite and just everything, really, and it's also never brought up/a reason for people to be afraid of him. the dream smp isn't a capitalist universe, there's no "1%". specially bc there's, like, i don't know, 20 players? that makes c!techno 1/20 OR 3/20 if we count c!ranboo and c!foolish. but that's not the point at all: the point is that ctechno is feared bc he's skilled and has a relevant personality, not bc he has resources. c!wilbur has no shit and he's still terrifying, there's no character willing to oppose him. not because of resources, but because of who he is. when c!techno first fled from l'manburg into "retirement" he had no shit either, it took him a while to be rich again. no one attacked him either way.

why, you ask? bc he fought against c!quackity with a fucking pickaxe and won. that's why. c!techno doesn't need resources to be feared. the power imbalance doesn't come from his resources, it comes from others’s fear. and they have a reason for that fear, bc c!techno hasn't been defeated yet. that has nothing to do with "upper class" and "lower class". because, one, not a capitalist system and class disparity isn't as simple as that, and two, even without his "riches" he still wins, bc he's got the skill. if you take out the skill, him being rich means nothing and he wouldve been easily killed by the butcher army or c!tommy or whoever decided to kill him. a good example is, once again, c!ranboo: if he wasn't friends with everyone and someone decided to actually fight him like was done with c!techno, he would've died. easily. being rich in the smp is relative.

c!techno will be challenged when we have a character strong enough to challenge him in a way that matters. it's important to be smart about it. that's why i'd love to see, out of everyone, c!philza turn against him, but that's a how other discussion (WHICH I'M WILLING TO TALK ABOUT.......... everytime i make these and i add little point i dont elaborate on and then say i'm willing to talk about them and no one ever asks me to <//3 PAIN /nm /lh).

i do think he's a character that just Always Win in narrative ways and that's very frustrating. he does need to get pulled a few notches down. again, that will only happen when we have a character that can step up to him and challenge him in a way that matters (woooo c!philza you want to hold c!techno accountable for his bullshit so bad woooo........)

now, onto c!techno's trauma. he doesn't need to show it. he- he doesn't. that's........ not how trauma works, and that's one of the points that make his trauma so forgettable for the viewers. c!techno is, from inside out, a character that hardly shows his emotions, but that doesn't mean he doesn't display symptons of trauma. he does, they're just a lot more subtle than other characters's. that doesn't mean he doesn't have any or that he isn't affect by it. c!techno is, in a lot of ways, a lot like c!tubbo: both of them don't mention the shit they've gone through and don't react to it and bc of that some of the viewers don't see how important some traumatic events were in their characterisation. that's why you analyse those characters's trauma through behavior, not through easily seen displays of trauma.

i do think it's taken a little too far with c!techno. the way he reacted to c!tommy's death was...... disappointing, to say the least. c!techno is an underwhelming character in many ways. as said before, it's because he's stagnant. that definitely needs to be worked on.

about the syndicate? yeah, no. theyre not teaching others to fear them. others just Do That bc of their history on the server, but they have literally talked about how they want to better their reputation, bc they don't want to be seen as murderers or oppressors in any way. are they flawed? yes, very much. they have no indicators of what is or isn't a government and they show no regard around the importance of a difference between an oppressive and a democratic government.

they had no right to show up at c!tubbo's door and interrogate him, because they can't appoint themselves as government police. for starters, that's not how anarchy works (they should've had everyone's permission for that. they obviously don't), but also it's just... stupid. it makes it seem that they're trying to boss everyone around so that they live like the syndicate wants them to, which goes directly against the syndicate's own ideals. however, c!techno thinks he has that right. he thinks this is what he's supposed to do. he's just following his moral code - his moral code is just deeply, deeply flawed. what he says and what he does contradict each other but not for him, not to his interpretation. to his interpretation, he's following his strict moral code.

what happened at doomsday was horrible and c!techno has to be held accountable for it, yes, but, again, no character knows how to work around c!techno enough to hold him accountable for it. that's not c!techno's fault.

l'manburg just deserved better, honestly, but to be fair c!techno has been taken advantage of time and time again (sometimes purposefully, sometimes not) and he's fucked up in the head, god bless LMAOOOOOOO

i agree that things need to change otherwise he's just gonna keep being a stagnant character who can get away with everything. i do think he has more to him than meets the eye, tho. meh idk that's still just analysis!!! we have no way of knowing the intent behind c!techno's characterisation, at least not for now. i hope for the best tho cc!techno don't let me down <3

[theregardedminecrafter]

So you see, I got this ever so compulsive urge to rewatch Tommyinnit’s Railroad war VOD after these past couple months, because I am starved of c!dream content especially the earlier days. And honestly with the knowledge gained from future events it’s rather interesting! This may be disjointed, but it’s just me rambling!

(Warning I won’t be writing c! For the characters because that is a lot of work, but I will only be referring to the canon characters and not the ccs)

First off, attachment is not a word anymore. Tommy and tubbo repeated that word during the beginning, I could practically taste Wilbur’s influence in the rp, not that it’s bad. Just really heavy handed.

So Dream dies, not a canon one, but pretty significant as it is the first instance of a minecart related incident. Just sorta stared of into the distance. He asks for them to save his stuff and they immediately start up with the attachment talk and about holding everything hostage for Mellohi, the disk given to Dream to gain independence. (Technically, my opinion, a disk Tommy is not owed.)

They know what they’re doing is not good and could spark another war despite the peace treaty, but they do it anyway. Tubbo going so far as to behind every one’s backs to stow away Dream’s sword.

Skeppy is also there, very pissed at Tommy’s ignoring and sorta sides with Dream as a friend during the insuing standoff in which they are both killed two to three times for resisting or trying to renegotiate. There is no sugarcoating that that didn’t happen or the duo didn’t know. They are kids and child soldiers hardened by one war and emboldened by the success of independence. Tommy is shanking Dream whilst wearing his armor.

This is also the conflict in which Tommy gets Spirit. Dream offers spirit to get his stuff back, knowing Tommy would use it against him, though I doubt even Dream could predict how.

Tommy was also trying to give skeppy spirit for cat, and honestly skeppy had the most respected response with a “fuck no, stopping trying to give me my friend’s beloved horse’s carcass” which is honestly the sanest thing done.

Honestly this all feels like real big set up for Dream’s unhealthy obsession with attachments, knowingly being without control or the safety of his gear, forced into choosing what is worth more, the attachment of spirit or the control of the disk. It doesn’t help that sapnap helped Tommy and tubbo out after the trade because they assumed Dream was carrying mellohi.

All Tommy and tubbo had to do was say that he might have it and sapnap just said fuck yea, I hate the green devil. And though I do love redeemed Sapnap and his dteam angst fuel, it sorta feels disconnected when I’m watching him referring to Dream as the devil after watching him say that his dream is gone in the prison arc. Especially after Sapnap eagerly and gleefully murdered dream looking for mellohi. Then he immediately turns again like it’s the fucking hokey pokey and says he’s being threatened which can’t be confirmed or denied because we don’t hear anything and Dream had no weapons because sapnap had just murdered him and what is even going on.

Tubbo has 50 sticks and Dream kills him, and know he has 50 sticks and that is the only thing he uses rather than the shank Tommy gave to him after “losing” Dream’s. Skeppys got lost in the mix Ponk was lurking and Wilbur told them to run and then scolded them for running. Tubbo would rather play fall guys...

Honestly, I’m so exhausted and this was just something I fixated on and they dumped my thoughts onto the internet 5 months after it was recorded. Maybe I’ll think of a clever theory about how this seemed to be a push That led Dream to spiraling down into the state in which all attachmentshe had could and would be used against. Not the main one but one of many rocks thrown against the glass of his mind, cracking but not yet shattering him. That sounded really fucking pretentious, but in all seriousness these are just my thoughts. Good night I’m gonna pass out.

[rphelperblog]

Renegades rp meme

“Everyone has a nightmare.Maybe I want you to be mine.” 

“Everyone has a nightmare, I guess I'm yours.”

“Some people were always meant to be heroes. 

“One cannot be awed who has no soul. Just as one cannot be brave who has no fear.” 

“She had a vision of her own and, for the first time, it did not align with his.”

“One does not have to be competent to be an enemy.” 

“Once you’ve seen as much history as I have, you won’t believe in coincidences anymore.” 

“Just like some people were always meant to be villains.” 

“One can not be brave who has no fear.”

“How can we expect people to change if we don't give them the chance to?”

“There are many dangerous people in this world. but there are also many good people. Brave people. No matter how bad things get, we have to remember that. So long as there are heroes in this world, there's hope that tomorrow night might be better.”

“Heroism wasn't about what you could do, it was about what you did. It was about who you saved when they needed saving.”

"If people wanted to stand up for themselves or protect their loved ones or do what they believe in their hearts is the right thing to do, then they would do it. If they wanted to be heroic, they would find ways to be heroic, even without supernatural powers.” 

“What exactly are we looking for?

Villains, doing villainous things.” 

“We were all villains in the beginning.”

“Your days of villainy are over.”

“You mean people don't like to see hypocrisy in their leadership? Shocking.”

“Heroism wasn’t about what you could do, it was about what you did.”

“So long as anarchy is synonymous with chaos and despair, the Anarchists will always be synonymous with villains.” 

“There was a freedom in anonymity. There was power in not having to answer to anyone.”

“It’s good to be queen.”

“Teach them ethics and martial arts and. . . I don't know. Bravery. Do you think you can teach someone to be brave?”

“Now we're talking. Let's go be superheroes!”

“Sometimes the weak must be sacrificed so that the strong may flourish.”

“What the people needed was to learn to take care of themselves, but that would never happen so long as superheroes were running things.”

“Humanity loses faith in times like that. With no one to look up to, no one to believe in, we all became rats scrounging in the sewers. Maybe Ace really was a villain. Or maybe he was a visionary. Maybe there’s not much of a difference.” 

“You missed a sprinkle.”

“She's one of us now, whether she likes it or not.” 

“knowledge is power.”

“I am not your enemy.”

“I’m taking you into custody, and you will answer for your crimes.” “Lovely as that sounds, I actually had other plans for this afternoon.”

“She once told me that it’s difficult to give things up, once you know what they’ve been through.” 

“The world needs heroes.”

“been worse. They say probation—I hear vacation.”

“Be careful, little Nightmare.”

“They were supposed to encourage every prodigy … no, every human to be as heroic as possible. How was publicly rejecting anyone going to further that goal?”

“Humanity loses faith in times like that. With no one to look up to, no one to believe in, We all become rats scrounging in the sewers.” 

“There was the potential for evil everywhere, and the only way to combat it was if more people chose goodness.”

“There are many dangerous people in this world. But there are also many good people. Brave people. No matter how bad things get, we have to remember that. So long as there are heroes in this world, there’s hope that tomorrow might be better.” 

“So much of her childhood was lost in a haze of pain and loss, mourning and anger, betrayal and a sadness so raw there were entire days in which she couldn’t summon the energy to eat, or even cry. “

“Entire nights in which shadows terrorized her, becoming murderers and monsters. There had been but one source of light in those first months. The only real family she had left.” 

Dusk was turning fast to night. Though the sky was full of clouds, to the east those clouds were tinted deep purple and heather gray. Somewhere beyond the gloom, the sun was setting.”

“Intention. He’d learned at a young age that it mattered far more than anything else where his ability was concerned. Not skill. Not execution. Intention.” 

“- And if revenge does not bring you joy? 

It’s not joy what I’m looking for.”

“She had always been astonished by people who could fall asleep fast, like there was nothing to it. Like their spirits weren’t burdened with suffering and resentment. Like their hearts and minds could so easily be at peace.” 

[endexe]

GENERAL ROLEPLAY STYLE & PREFERENCES

BOLD    :    applies  to  you.     ITALICS    :    only  applies  to  you  sometimes.     STRIKETHROUGH    :    does  not  apply  to  you.     elaborate  on  any  points  you’d  like  with  an  *

TYPES  OF  ROLEPLAY    /    HOW  I  DO  THREADS:   i  don’t.    i  just  do  whatever  is  on  my  dash  when  i’m  online.    mainly  asks.    i  do  little  short  things  mostly.    i  do  my  threads  on  discord.    long - running  threads  that  slowly  build  upon  the  muses.

PLOTTING  PREFERENCES:    wing  it.    get  a  general  idea  ooc, run  with  it  and   plot  further  if  need  be.    long  expansive  thought  out  arcs.

TYPES  OF  THREADS  I  DO  /  PREFER:    one - liners  only.    whatever  dash  shenanigans  i’m  online  for.    para  or  multi - para.    literal  novels.

REPLY  SPEED  FOR  THREADS  AND  CONSISTENCY  KEEPING  THREADS:    i  lose  threads  all  the  time  and  usually  get  back  to  them.    i  tend  to  lose  threads  but  please  tell  me  if  i  have  and  i’ll  reply.   i  drop  threads  pretty  quickly.    i’m  really  slow  but  i  will  get  back  to  you.    i  reply  on  a  schedule  /  queue.   i  usually  reply  within  a  week.    i  reply  every  day.    i  reply  almost  instantly.

* ROMANTIC  OR  SEXUAL  SHIPS:   i  don’t  do  these  ships.    i’m  not  against  them  happening  but  it  is  not  the  main  point  of  my  blog.    ships  will  have  to  be  discussed  a  lot  ooc.   super  chemistry  based.   i  love  doing  ships,  hmu  i  probably  already  ship  it  so  just  ask.   i  ship  really  quickly.   autoship  or  ship  within  a  few  interactions.    i  mainly  rp  for  the  cute  ship  fluff  or  angsty  smut.

** SMUT:    i  do  not  do  smut  at  all.    i’m  very  selective  about  it.    i  only  go  it  on  a  separate  blog  /  on  discord.    i  mainly  only  do  asks  relating  to  nsfw  headcanons  on  sundays.    i  write  it  a  medium  amount.    i  write  it  all  the  time  and  love  to.    i  am  comfortable  with  foreplay  and  fade - to - blacks  but  nothing  further.

ACTIVE  HOURS:   mornings,  8  –  10.    midday,  11  –  1.    afternoon,  2  –  5.    evenings,  6  –  8.    night,  9  –  12.    ungodly  hours  of  the  day,  1  –  onwards.

ACTIVITY  SCHEDULE:   super  slow  and  sporadic,  like  once  a  month  or  so.    slow  and  sporadic,  week - long  gaps  between  activity.    bi - weekly  ish.    weekly  activity.    daily  activity.    i’m  online  nearly  all  the  time.

STARTERS:    i  don’t  do  starter  calls.    i  want  to  do  starter  calls  but  often  don’t  have  time.    i  do  selective  calls.    i  don’t  do  calls  but  always  feel  free  to  ask  me  for  one.    i  post  calls  rarely,  regularly,  often.

AUS:   i  don’t  do  aus.    my  blog  is  an  au  but  outside  of  that  i  don’t  do  them.    i  sometimes  do  them  but  only  with  a  lot  of  plotting.    i  have  a  couple  of  aus  already,  feel  free  to  request  them.    i  have  aus  coming  out  of  my  ears,  please  interact  with  them.   i  love  making  aus,  hmu  to  plot  if  you  think  of  one.    there  are  some  aus  i  won’t  do.

CROSSOVERS:    i  don’t  do  crossovers.    i’m  selective  with  crossovers.   i  love  crossovers.

* Romantic / sexual ships:

1. I have been becoming a lot more selective with them recently because I've been getting the energy from - actually - quite some former mutuals before who wanted to ship with R solely because of their previous main faceclaim ( D.an S.tevens ) and / or of their ' soft uwu ' personality when they're obviously more than their faceclaim and ONE side of them, and now especially because I changed their main faceclaim to a more... I don’t know for a lack of better word but??? iconic??? figure ( S.hane M.adej ), I'm a lot more wary with who I interact with just in general. If I get a slightest sense that someone is interested with R in general more because of their faceclaim and / or only that one softest uwu part of their personality, I’m fucking booting them out instantly.

2. I talked about this before that a lot of my mutuals were supportive about ( not in terms of shipping but in general ) but I had noticed recently that I have a LOT of issues with communicating with literally everyone on this site because I have trouble forming and sensing connections with people I interact with here and in real life when I had been constantly fucked over by a lot of former friends and partners outside of the rpc and the fewest former mutuals who I DID manage to somehow connect so well with - something would go wrong in the end so I'm quite emotionally distant despite my usual cheerful demeanor. I say this because I am fully aware out of character communication is a very important aspect to shipping ( as it is in roleplay general, but there’s a thing where people would expect more communication when it comes to shipping than general dynamics, at least in my own personal opinion ), so this is more of a warning that I’m very quiet on my end if you ever want to ship with me. I rarely set up a shipping call or suggest a ship because of this as I don’t want to disappoint anyone lmfao, but, don’t be shy to ask me if you want to ship because there’s a chance I’d be on the same boat!

** Smut:

I actually have never written smut with and for ( via prompts ) anyone before, so I don’t really know where my line of comfort is when it comes to writing it, but I am more than okay with having out of character communication about our muses’ sexual interests and whatnot!

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

NITA STRAUSS: 'Alcohol Was Extremely, Extremely Detrimental In My Personal Life'

During appearance on "Guitar Autopsy", the video podcast hosted by Rusty Cooley, ALICE COOPER guitarist Nita Strauss spoke about how she managed to lose 50 pounds and get sober while on tour back in 2015.

"My whole approach to sobriety and health and fitness is to educate but not ever force," she said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "I wouldn't ever want it to be, like, 'You have to stop drinking. You have to do cardio every day,' or whatever. All I can share is really what worked for me, and that was alcohol was extremely, extremely detrimental in my personal life.

"I got sober in 2015 and I basically just decided to make the most of it and said, 'If I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do it right,'" she continued. "And I switched from going to the bar after the show to going to the Barbell in the morning, for lack of a better term. [Laughs] I hooked up with great bodybuilding coaches that [helped] me [with] my diet and my workout while I'm on the road. I use the right supplements, I eat the right food. I have dieticians at RP Strength, I have a workout coach, I take all the right supplements, I drink my green drinks, I take all my vitamins and I stay on track. And the more I did it, people in our community — the rock and metal community — were starting to ask how I did it. And I was writing these long captions on my phone: 'First things first, you drink a lot of water…' da da da. And so I thought why not inspire people to do more. So I created 'Body Shred'. And 'Body Shred' is the first fitness challenge that I know of that is aimed at the music community."

Nita celebrated the sixth anniversary of her getting sober this past September.

A year ago, Strauss credited her longtime boyfriend and manager Josh Villalta with helping her live her life without alcohol. At the time, she wrote: "I thought I needed a drink for just about everything. To be confident on stage. To be social after shows. To celebrate. To mourn. To take the edge off frustration or the sting out of a bad day. To relax and laugh at lunch with girlfriends, or watch football with the guys on Sundays. I was terrified that my life was going to change, that without alcohol I wouldn't be ME anymore, that I would lose my circle of friends, and my onstage charisma, and become someone else. ALL those things happened... but not in the way I thought they would.

"Change came first in my relationship, in the form of less fighting and drama, and more productivity, peace and love. Thank you @thejoshv for being the catalyst to the best thing I ever did for myself. I love you.

"The ME that I was before would have stayed up until 6 am at the bar or in the bus front lounge. The ME that I became would rather get up at 6 and get to the gym before starting the day.

"My busy circle of friends was almost immediately reduced to a core 3. I've learned that when it comes to friendships, quality is ALWAYS better than quantity. If your friends have no interest in spending time with you after you make a change for the better, they weren't your real friends.

"My first show without alcohol was in front of 15,000 people. I felt like a scarecrow someone had propped up on stage to scare birds. Nothing felt natural. I was going through the motions, with this absurd idea running through my head 'everyone is looking at me. Everyone knows.'

"I went out by the bus to talk to fans afterward, and do you know what they said? 'Wow you were so great! Where do you get all that energy? You add so much to Alice's band!'

"ALL of that insecurity, ALL the fears, ALL the doubt was in my head. Those are your demons that make you think you need them.

"I'm content to sit at the bar, order a soda water with lime and watch the game now. I wouldn't trade back to my old life for anything."

Back in 2018, Nita spoke openly about how she got finally sober in September 2015, saying that her boyfriend has always been "a tough-love type" in the way she approached her sobriety. "He's, like, 'Look, you're on this path, and I support you, but I'm not changing the way I do things at all," she explained in an interview with "Chasing Glory With Lilian Garcia". "And I'm kind of glad, in retrospect, that he did that, because it threw me into the fire and showed me, like, 'Hey, you can be [around people who are drinking] and not drink.' He has continued to drink throughout [this entire period], but he didn't want me to drink, because when I would drink, I would start fights and I would get emotional and I would overreact to stupid things, like you do when you drink — it's part of drinking; it heightens all your emotions and everything." Nita also revealed that she has never participated in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) to help her stay sober.

Strauss has been playing with Alice Cooper since 2014 when she replaced Australian musician and former Michael Jackson player Orianthi. She joined Alice in time for a mammoth MÖTLEY CRÜE tour. She was recommended to Cooper by the legendary rocker's former bass player and WINGER frontman Kip Winger.

Nita's debut solo album, "Controlled Chaos", was released in 2018 via Sumerian Records. A follow-up effort will arrive next year.

[vanillawaiver]

i tried to figure out the enneagram types of dream smp characters

have you ever wanted to know the enneagram types, and therefore motivations and fears, of your favorite dream smp characters? that’s a rhetorical question. don’t answer. this post contains a quick explanation of the enneagram and an analysis for every included character. i’m just gonna put it all under the cut.

i’d absolutely love to hear your thoughts!

ENNEAGRAM EXPLANATION

a quick low-down on the enneagram, for those who don’t know:

the enneagram actually refers to a funky circular graph, numbers 1-9 on the outside that depict 9 different personality types. each type is adjacent to two other types around the circle (see image for clarification). the two types on either side are the possible wings for that specific type, a wing being an additional set of personality traits alongside the main personality type. an enneagram type is written as [type]w[wing]. for example, my enneagram type is 4, and i have a type 5 wing, so my enneagram type is 4w5.

(the lines through the inside of the enneagram won’t be mentioned in this post, but you can find more information on them online if you’re curious. i won’t link anything because links can be sketchy)

the nine enneagram types are mostly easily explained by their basic fears and basic desires. the enneagram is intended to explain the “why” behind someone’s actions, which is why it’s so hard to type someone else. you cannot get inside their head to find out their true motivations. however, today i am working with entirely fictional characters and not the content creators themselves, so i give myself a free pass. please don’t go around psychoanalyzing your friends or people you don’t even know and jumping to conclusions without their input lol

also all of these are just what i think ! if you (respectfully) disagree, i would actually love to hear your opinions - you are probably right and i am probably wrong.i don’t watch every stream or even know of every event, and my reasoning is probably weak at best. enough rambling, here we goooo

the grouping will be by type, just because… idk how else to organize this.

again, /rp /rp /rp ! i don’t know these ccs in real life and will not pretend to. i’m talking about minecraft roleplay.

(also, i didn’t proofread this. sorry fnjakdfda)

type 1: the reformer

principled, purposeful, self-controlled, perfectionistic

desire: to be good, to have integrity

tubbo - type 1w2

tubbo is a classic example of a type 1 being put into the worst possible situation for their current mental state. tubbo was the moral and sensical anchor for tommy’s more eccentric and self-centered actions, and they functioned as this duo UNTIL tubbo was made the president of l’manberg. tubbo’s more self-critical tendencies were amplified because his actions had so much weight. tubbo is quick to turn against and polarize those he sees as “evil”, making broad generalizations like “technoblade is wrong” and “tommy is good”, regardless of all the moral gray areas, and even changes his mind drastically between them as he seeks the right answer. (ex: exiles tommy, but then decides it was the wrong idea, and now seems to agree with everything he says again.) i think part of his flip-flopping comes from a sense of people-pleasing and generosity, again amplified by his position as the (now former) president of a nation.

type 2: the helper

generous, demonstrative, people-pleasing, possessive

desire: to feel loved/appreciated

quackity - type 2w3

(as far as i know) quackity’s first major action on the smp was to run for president. wilbur and tommy wanted quackity (as part of swag 2020) to share the votes of the two parties in order to ensure a victory over schlatt. however, quackity acted out against them because he felt used instead of appreciated for his ideas. schlatt promised him at least some amount of respect, so quackity switched sides regardless of what was better for the smp at large. i believe quackity kept looking for approval from others, but also some sense of accomplishment, by founding mexican l’manberg (is this even canon…idk but i liked it), starting the butcher army, and trying to bring schlatt back to life. quackity even fought technoblade despite being grossly unqualified and i believe this is due to the martyr mindset that often comes with unhealthy type 2s. 

type 3: the achiever

adaptable, excelling, driven, image-conscious

desire: to feel valuable

nihachu - type 3w2

(at the time of writing this, niki hasn’t had a ton of canon screentime, so this is mostly based off of the doomsday stream.) when in emotional distress, niki applies her type 3 ideas of being the best she can be to others, hyperfocusing on “teaching them a lesson” by destroying l’manberg. unhealthy 3s also tend to become jealous of other people’s happiness and success to the point they attempt to destroy it, perhaps explaining how niki’s character felt that no one wanted to listen to what she had to say about the political state of things. i see niki as a character that values her image in relation to others, hence the 2 wing. when fundy showed her respect, she became even more sure of herself, and this seems to be the kind of thing she is after.

schlatt - type 3w4

much like ghostbur (as mentioned later), schlatt is a very exaggerated character. it’s hard to type him, because the enneagram focuses around people who behave in the way real people do, and schlatt is a larger-than-life villain. i’ve typed schlatt as a 3 because of his narcissistic tendencies. schlatt not only wanted to be but believed he was integral to l’manberg’s continued function. unhealthy 3s tend to be devious and manipulative in order to hide their own wrongdoing, like how schlatt exiled the main opponents of his rule. schlatt doesn’t have the emotional introspection of a 4, only the temperamental self-absorption, but i think this is the best i can do lol

type 4: the individualist

expressive, dramatic, self-absorbed, temperamental

desire: to be significant, to find identity

tommy - type 4w5

most of my reasoning for tommy’s typing comes from his time in exile. tommy displayed an impressive connection to his emotions, maybe just out of necessity because he was alone. his constant cry was that no one cares about him, but not in the way a 2 may fear the same thing. tommy feared he had faded from significance. when he felt this way, he was quick to make rash conclusions and decisions. he is self-centered, caring more about his discs than about anything on the server. the 5 wing is there because of tommy’s constant assertion that people pity him when they show basic human kindness. he dreads others viewing him as incapable.

type 5: the investigator

perceptive, innovative, secretive, isolated

desire: to be capable and competent

awesamdude: type 5w6

is sam incredibly important to the plot? not as i write this. but i don’t want to leave type 5 empty. sam does cool redstone and built a cool prison. he’s super swag. i’m too lazy to attempt to do an analysis. this is just what i believe to be the objective truth on his character. give sam your primes.

type 6: the loyalist

engaging, responsible, anxious, suspicious

desire: to have security and support

wilbur (alivebur) - type 6w5

(pls disagree with me on this. this was so hard and i didn’t start watching dream smp until after the original “it wasn’t meant to be” moment sjkdfadkl) it’s right in the l’manberg national anthem. a place men could go to emancipate the brutality of their rulers. wilbur created l’manberg for what i interpret as security reasons. a peaceful land without americans. as an american, i understand completely. wilbur demonstrates the tendency of 6’s to shun outsiders and to turn to hysterical violence in times of distress. wilbur’s final action before his death was to blow up his safe place, because he believed the security had been tainted. i have typed wilbur with a 5 wing almost exclusively because of the intentionally radical beliefs that unhealthy 5s exhibit, becoming obsessed with blowing up the place he once called home.

type 7: the enthusiast

spontaneous, versatile, distractible, scattered

desire: to be satisfied and content, to avoid pain

fundy - type 7w6

fundy grew up in constant distress, what with his dad kinda losing it and the constant political turmoil. fundy has acknowledged that there is nothing that comes from conflict except for personal gain. fundy is selfish (taking netherite meant for everyone, hardly taking other people’s feelings into account) by nature of the society he was born into. like most distressed 7s, he has mood swings and comes off as demanding. i gave fundy a 6 wing because of what i see as the origin of his issues: a lack of support and stability. because of this, fundy often seeks external solutions (material possessions) instead of internal ones (fucking THERAPY OH MY GOD).

badboyhalo - type 7w6

“l’manberg? pogtopia? who cares?” :D

type 8: the challenger

self-confident, decisive, willful, confrontational

desire: to protect themselves, to be in control of their own life

dream - type 8w7

(warning, a lot of this typing is based on my own theories about the smp, because dream doesn’t stream rp to give us his own perspective.) dream claims that his motivation, at least presently, is to cause as much chaos as possible, but this has to come from a more philosophical place. dream is the one who started the server, and, i believe, canonically created the world they all populate. dream’s rule was originally questioned by the creation of l’manberg, which he interpreted as a personal attack. as a type 8 would, he is attempting to destroy all that does not conform to the vision he has for a peaceful, unified server. this may make it seem like dream should have 9 wing, but i don’t believe stability factors into his reasoning. dream seeks fun, for himself and others, and also finds this by causing chaos, as mentioned before.

technoblade - type 8w7

now, just because techno and dream have the same enneagram typing here does not mean they are at all similar. techno also lashes out at things that do not conform to his vision (anarchy) but has a stronger connection to his 7 wing. he wants to protect himself because of the comfort and happiness that would provide, not exclusively to be in control. he cares more about the pain and suffering caused by the government. still, i don’t think techno’s primary motivation is to be happy, as he still causes harm and puts himself in danger in order to achieve his goals. when a type 7 would become depressed and isolated, techno decides to spawn six withers. to each their own.

type 9: the peacemaker

receptive, reassuring, agreeable, complacent

desire: to have inner stability, to avoid loss

ghostbur - type 9w1

more than anyone on the server, ghostbur is a two-dimensional character. (absolutely not meant in a negative way. i adore ghostbur as both comic relief and a consistent character. ghostbur simply doesn’t behave like a normal person, and that is the point.) this makes it difficult to type him, but i tried my best. ultimately, ghostbur cares about others, but not in the way a 2 does. blatant negativity from people he interacts with doesn’t affect him in the slightest. he hands out blue because he is good, hence the 1 wing, and not to be loved. the only time (i can remember) that ghostbur has expressed anger was when friend the sheep was killed in techno and dream’s terrorism upon l’manberg. loss is the only thing he seems to be afraid of, and he applies this to all people within the smp. 

philza - type 9w8

to put it nicely, philza is a mediator. to put it not-so nicely, he doesn’t give a fuck. philza has actually achieved much of the goals a 9 has, making him an anomaly on the smp. (most every one of these characters expresses extremely unhealthy characteristics of their type.) philza is accepting of others, and does more listening than speaking. however, philza still feels the effects of loss from murdering his own son in cold blood (just minecraft things <3) and presumably fears losing something else important to him, thus forming few attachments (ex: didn’t care his house in l’manberg got blown up, didn’t react much to tommy’s betrayal.) i typed him as a wing 8 because of his healthy self-confidence and confrontationalism.

please keep in mind that this is all referring to the dream smp characters these streamers portray. i don’t claim to know anything about their deeper philosophical reasoning for whatever they do irl. not really on that parasocial type beat, ya feel me? i would love to hear your thoughts.

 thanks for reading!

[charm-in-spades]

5. Are there any characters that you want a ship for? // 8. Do you like to be friends with the people you have ships with? \\ 9. What do you look for in a writing partner for ships?

5. Are there any characters that you want a ship for?

Not offhandedly! A lot of my characters are good where they're at and I'm not big on planning on ships, nor are they something I look for outright. Very much all in the vein of if it happens, it happens and if it doesn't that's fine too. I like things to be experienced dynamically though if it comes up and I'm enjoying how the RP is going, I'll generally bring up the interest then. Seeking out Ships of a romantic nature kind of rob the journey of its magic for me, if I feel like I know how it's going to end.

8. Do you like to be friends with the people you have ships with?

Absolutely! I actually don't ship with people, or have people take close roles to my characters if I don't feel like we can talk or vibe in some capacity. Not that I expect to talk or chill every day but t's important to communicate and to be able to check in with your RP partners to at least some extent, and this is much easier done if you are friends that already just enjoy interacting with one another.

This also (in my experience) makes it much easier to deal with feelings of being antsy if responses haven't happened in a while, if you're worried about how RP might go, if there's connections you're not wanting to lose to the character despite an unexpected RP that might have shifted something. Just across the board, close friends, familial connections, romantic partners that my character might have -- I am usually trying to be friends with the player as well.

9. What do you look for in a writing partner for ships?

Well, the first thing is probably obvious after the last question -- we got to be able to be friendly and converse. If I'm not comfortable with you, naturally, shipping is probably NOT of interest to me, nor is a prolonged interaction of any sort. So first, friendship/comfort is a big part for me.

Communication goes hand in hand, and for me that includes people who are able to be direct. I am not someone who can 'take a hint'. There's a strong difference between a casual "Hey" and a "Hey, let's do a thing." I've kind of found this to be a thing people do, and it's...not fun. Not sure if its a barrier on my end or others, but this will sorely limit how our interactions go if I think you're just saying 'Hi' a lot.

Second, making sure we're on the same wavelength, enjoy similar writing styles or subjects, all that good stuff. I can only do slice of life for so long, but on the same end, I don't always like doing back to back to back of any one thing at all. So someone who likes to diversify writing with me is always welcome.

Next, I like people...who have other people. Partners that write with other partners and are not looking for me to be their sole source of entertainment. That's been super draining in the past, and it leads into the next bit: People who don't make me feel as if I'm the one coming up with all or majority of ideas, asking for RP, setting scenes, pushing RP. If it starts to feel super one-sided, especially across the board I get burned out real quick. I don't have the energy for writing like I used to where this wasn't such a problem, but these days I'm looking for "Yes, and..." partners.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes,_and...

I had a friend explain this concept to me once, and its really the perfect analogy of what I look for and a concept I think would elevate a lot of people's RP experience if they adopted it. It's also something that's just a good, general rule of thumb for lots of interactions beyond RP like conversations, friendships, activities etc. It's the idea of providing someone the opportunity to engage with you and vice versa rather than just letting things end or hit a hard stop.

The way I look at it is this -- any kind of thing you do with another person should generally be 50/50 and not one-sided. Of course, there are days or even periods where one person can't be as 'on' as they usually are and another person has to pick up the slack a little, but eventually it should always even out and not fall on one person's shoulders to keep things running. To this end, I don't enjoy writing with someone who always has to take control of a writing situation. That is also draining. It should be creative on both ends!

These are pretty much my staples, and overall are just embodiments of healthy communication, mutual interest/engagement, good boundaries, and respect.

Thanks for the ask!

[eievuimemes]

LYRICS RP SENTENCE STARTERS

“ A part of me wishes I could just feel something. “

“ A war is coming. “

“ Am I a fool ? “

“ Be careful how you talk to me. “

“ Big fucking deal. “

“ Can’t you take a hint ? “

“ Come with me. “

“ Do you ever hear me calling ? “

“ Everybody’s got a dark side. “

“ Go back to the days when we felt like friends. “

“ God, it’s depressing. “

“ Gotta do my own thing. “

“ Hate’s a very strong word. “

“ Have I failed my daughter/son/child ? “

“ Have you any soul ? “

“ Have you no shame ? “

“ I ain’t leaving your side. “

“ I can’t take it all. “

“ I can’t trust anything now. “

“ I didn’t know everything I’ve got. “

“ I don’t dare let darkness have its way with me. “

“ I don’t even know what I’m reading. “

“ I don’t wanna remember it all. “

“ I finally had enough. “

“ I just can’t escape. “

“ I make mistakes. “

“ I remember the good times. “

“ I run the risk of losing you. “

“ I run this show. “

“ I see the way you go and say you’re right again. “

“ I still mean every word I said to you. “

“ I was never really one to plan. “

“ I will not let you down. “

“ If it kills me tonight, I will be ready to die. “

“ If you can’t hang then there’s the door. “

“ It ain’t too good. “

“ It’s never gonna happen again. “

“ It’s time for you to choose. “

“ I’ll only end up losing you. “

“ I’m afraid of the thoughts inside. “

“ I’m here to give you all of my love. “

“ I’m not hurt, I’m tense. “

“ I’m taking what’s mine. “

“ I’m thinking I love the thought of you more than I love your presence. “

“ I’ve lost all my faith. “

“ Just let it go. “

“ Let go of what I’ve done. “

“ Listen, please. “

“ Love yourself to death. “

“ My enemy’s invisible. “

“ My voice will be heard today. “

“ No room for innocence. “

“ Nobody’s a picture perfect. “

“ She looks just like you. “

“ She meant the world to me. “

“ Shes going down. “

“ Some people got the real problems. “

“ Something’s getting in the way. “

“ They don’t know what I know. “

“ They’ll return, but I’ll be stronger. “

“ This doesn’t hurt. “

“ This is my game. “

“ This is my life. “

“ This one might be a battle. “

“ Tough for you to witness, but it was for me too. “

“ Try it again. “

“ We do not want to kill anyone ! “

“ We don’t have to live like this. “

“ We’re in the fight of our lives. “

“ We’re just wasting time. “

“ We’re stronger now. “

“ We’re worth it. “

“ We’ve only just begun. “

“ What did she say about me ? “

“ What do I do ? “

“ What do I need you for ? “

“ What’s anybody saying ? “

“ What’s wrong with being confident ? “

“ Will they live ? “

“ Will you stay ? “

“ You are dead in my eyes. “

“ You can cut me loose. “

“ You can’t escape me. “

“ You can’t make me behave. “

“ You could use a buddy. “

“ You don’t have to throw it away. “

“ You don’t know how you betrayed me. “

“ You may forget me. “

“ You only wanted me to screw up. “

“ You seem so very far. “

“ You think you’ve won this fight. “

“ You watched as everything just burned. “

“ You’ll never be loved. “

“ You’re acting so weird. “

“ You’re hard to hug. “

“ You’re like my dad. “

“ You’ve always been a huge piece of shit. “

“ You’ve got everybody fooled. “

“ You’ve got some evil deep down inside you. “

“ You’ve never been loved. “