#shes sooo druid. To me

[camzverse]

uh uh for the character art ask thingy, maybe Cassie + 🗡️? Only if you want to ofc!! :3

🗡: draw a character as if they were in a rpg/dnd character

RIP CASSIE U WOULDVE LOVED BEING A DRUID

[haemey]

Silly Game Time: Who are some of your favorite magician characters? And what do you like about them?

They can be of any class or variety of magic-user (wizard, witch, sorcerer, warlock, healer, druid, etc.), of any race or species, so long as using magic is *primarily* their thing in the story. Not just something they do occasionally, but something that is a major element of their role and their identity.

You keep asking me questions I actually have to think about, ugh. Making me use my brain on a Friday. How dare you.

Unfortunately, my favourite magical characters... don't really do a lot of magic stuff. Not really. But magic/witchcraft is everything they're about, sooo...

Gandalf is neat. Walks up to a hobbit, smokes some weed with him, drags him on an adventure and then disappears for a while in the middle of the plot. Twice.

Iconic.

Tiffany Aching is even cooler. Eleven year old girl marches into the Fairy Queen's realm, armed only with a frying pan, a bunch of tiny idiots and her undeveloped frontal cortex. Wins by toad. The most magical thing she does (in Wee Free Men at least) is go "you're... kind of mean, you know that? And that's why your husband left you!" and it works. Because that is indeed Terry Pratchett magic. Looking at stuff and seeing it for what it is.

Kvothe. His world doesn't even actually have magic. It has Believing In Something So Much It Works and Names. Can't wait to find out how he faked his death.

One day, Kvothe. One day.

Thanks for the ask!

[baldursmeme]

things said while playing baldur's gate 3. part 1.

random things that have been said during many runs of baldur's gate 3, some of these are meta gaming but they are meant to be fun...general warning some of these are n.sf.w, feel free to adjust accordingly!

“I think we invented global warming!”

“How are we going to get him not to kill himself if nobody’s fucking him?”

“Check your oath!!”

“You know who would like this? Gale.”

“Yay! We’re going to get sooo cured!!”

“Close the door again!!”

“[name], sadly, there’s not any [goblin] children for you to kill.”

“If I was in a room with Elminster, Chicken Wings, and Spider Guy, and I had two bullets, I would shoot Elminster twice.”

“FLAMING SPHERE! FLAMING SPHERE! FLAMING SPHERE!”

“When we roll up on our flaming spheres…”

“I love how you could describe any Pokemon and Gale would know that Pokemon.”

“Are they drows or are they just purple?” “Oh my god, you can’t just ask someone if they’re drow!”

“He hates lesbians exclusively – never mind, he’s going for other categories of LGBT.”

“Psychological warfare on Daddy!”

“I’m not your asset! You don’t even have an ass!”

“Do you think Raphael and Yogurt explored each others’ bodies?”

“‘Most excellent,’ and my pussy throbs.”

“Deploy the twink!”

“This is not the mob! This is someone important.”

“I need to stop Gortash and have like a sexual tension about it.”

(in unison) “Yay! We got allies!”

“Why are these people allergic to the word dragon?”

“Because it’s a wyeeeeeeeerm.”

“He saved the corrosive spit? Oh, fuck you!”

“We got him to live without using our pussies at all!”

“She went from druid to whore!”

“We’re gonna have to go back…I don’t think those guys we killed were cultists.”

“The oathbreaker guy shows up like, why did you kill all those refugees?”

“Mr. Monkman, monk me a man!”

“The true dark urge…is the dark urge to be a dick.”

“He saw me missing all my hits and hitting the floor instead and it scared him. Psychological warfare!”

“That guy has gotta stop barking.”

“But you already have skulls, [Yogurt]! You know what would make a better trophy? Raphael’s dick in a tiny jar!”

“We need a mod for this. A mod that makes me good at everything. No skill required.”

“Did you just cast Hold Monster on yourself?”

“Sorry, I was too busy thinking about telling Raphael that he lasts no seconds in bed.”

“Raphael would be hot if he wasn’t such a loser.”

“I didn’t see you! Well to be honest, you were invisible.”

“He conjured a poor person!”

“I’m going to Circle of Druids blast you out of this planet.”

“[Ethel]’s kind of GILFy.”

[tinytinybumblebee]

"No."

The spoon clattered against the plate. A sigh muffled under the sound of cutlery.

"Just one little bite, love, that's all I ask," Gale said, perhaps bordered on pleaded with the little tiefling that sat in-front of him.

The tiefling's ears flattened as his lower lip protruded. He shook his head once more. There weren't many instances of the little druid defying the wizard's request, he would always go to bed on time, clean up his toys when asked, even play gently around the younger ones. But, this evening he stared down the green mush on his plate.

Eating a fiddle head was not something Wildren was willing to do. No matter what headspace he was in.

Gale's head shook slightly as he moved from his kneeling position and back onto the chair beside the other man's seat.

"Then, I suppose we will sit here until that fiddlehead has a bite mark," Gale said.

Truth to be told, the wizard wasn't much of a fan of these whirled vegetable either. However, in moments like this, when he was taking care of the little druid Gale felt that maternal instinct that had him wanting his little one to eat his meals. Logically Gale knew the tiefling had finished growing decades ago but, that didn't stop the wizard's mind from telling him that Wildren needed to eat his veggies to grow nice and strong.

It was a stale mate. A prodigal wizard who spent many a nights studying the weave and, the regressed tiefling who was ready to show just how much stubborn patience he had.

"You two havin' a staring match?"

The two men's heads lifted up to look to Karlach.

"In a sense," Gale said, "We have a certain little one who doesn't want to eat his greens."

"Yuckie," Wildren huffed out, arms folded over his chest as he stuck his tongue out.

The other tiefling chuckled at the reaction. She slid herself onto the table, "Well, there's an easier way to get the lil' guy to eat than just staring him down."

Gale looked to Karlach with an expecting expression, for her to continued with the much needed aid.

"It's simple, lil guy needs a good example from his old man." Karlach said, "Ain't that right Ren-ren? You don't wanna eat something that looks so yucky unless you Dada shows you it's okay to eat, yeah?"

"Oh Gods," Gale muttered under his breath, "You don't need that, love, you know those fiddleheads are sooo yummy, you helped me prepare them, remember?" He said, trying his best to coax the little tiefling away from that idea.

Wildren looked to the plate then to Gale. He picked up the fork and nodded, "Dada try?"

Oh how could Gale say no to that face? He could, very easily but, those doe eyes were melting away that power to do so. Gale reached over for the fork that held the fiddlehead.

A small smirk played along Karlach's lips as she saw the look of surpessed disgust on the man's face as he took the smallest bite off the vegetable.

"S-see, that was so good, a marvelous taste and just, wonderful texture," Gale said after he swallowed the piece, "Perhaps now you're ready to try it?"

Wildren looked over to Karlach before he leaned forward, eating the rest of the fiddlehead in one bite.

Gale blinked in surprise, was his acting that good? Perhaps he should have tried to be a bard. That idea of career detouring quickly faded in the wizard's mind as he watch the two tieflings giggle and high-five. His eyes narrowed with a small smile.

"Was this an elaborate plan you two?"

Wildren giggled, tail whipping around with a toothy grin, looking up at Karlach.

"Well, it's pretty known 'round camp that you ain't one for your greens. So, Ren-ren and I decided that even grown ups need their veggies too," Karlach chuckled.

"Ooh you two little stinkers," Gale said, a grin growing on his face as he tousled Wildren's hair, "You did all that just to see Dada eat his greens huh?" The wizard leaned closer, "Whatever would I do without my sweet little boy?"

Gale softly planted a kiss on the little tiefling's forehead.

[illarian-rambling]

Hello! I heard you like DnD!

What has been your favorite campaign so far? My current friend group is completing a 5e WotC one, but I have also seen some great homebrews done. Do you prefer WotC campaigns, or homebrews? What were some memorable moments? ✨

Oh god, you've got me started, now I'm never gonna shut up >:)

So, I've played in four games and ran one, all homebrew, over the course of my time. My first campaign I was a life cleric with a pet goat that I saved from being a sacrifice. I didn't really know what I was doing, as it was my first game, but I had fun. My second game, I was a rogue snakeoil (and crack) salesman, which started the trend of all my characters selling drugs. Game three, I played an evangelist artificer and fell in love with the class. I adore robots, what can I say? In my current game (which is an original story, but in the planescape setting), I play a barb/fighter hazily struck out of time. She's up to three mystery voices in her head now, one being the sword of Kas, sells drugs via cranium rats, and was in a pro-wrestling tournament.

Probably one of my most memorable moments was perma-killing my artificer, Gillaria. To start, Gillaria was a bit of dunce. She was smart, yeah, but had balls wisdom and even worse charisma. She tried to fly into a portal to hell once on a wooden broom so she could take an energy reading. She got kidnapped in like three separate alleyways and gave her full, legal name to a devil. This is all to preface with the fact that this character didn't make the smartest choices.

The other thing about Gillaria was that she was a priest of Relhan, the setting's god of innovation. She and her two robot buddies, Anatolius and Aenira, would preach the word of this dying god on street corners, since the main temple to him had been destroyed. Usually, given that the highest charisma score between them was an 8, this ended up with tomatoes being thrown.

Anyways, though the campaign was supposed to go a little while longer, our dm got a new job, so we had to end early. The party decided that our last hurrah would be to raid the Golden Trident, a rival faction we'd been eyeing for some time.

One Gillaria project she wanted to get done before the end of the campaign as well was the squirrel laser. The construction of such a laser is as follows:

The druid Awakens 6 squirrels with their magic staff. The squirrels are now sentient.

Our warlock signs these squirrels onto warlock pacts. The squirrels can now cast the cantrip Bonfire.

Gillaria has a Decanter of Endless Water and the spell Magic Mouth

Infinite steam power has been achieved

We did the math and we would've been able to power a railgun with this set-up, so our dm decided, fuck it, campaign's almost over, they can have a death laser. It was decided it would be a DC 16 dex save against being zapped into ash.

Anyways, cut to us raiding the Golden Trident. Our level 10 warlock is being chased by an anctient dragon, our barbarian fell off the airship (We had a dragon ghost powered airship. Long story, also Gillaria's fault) and we're being chased by the enemy's airship.

Gillaria tells Anatolius, her steel defender with an intellect headband that she treats like a son, to point the laser at the enemy skyship, ready to fire once it warms up in four rounds. Gillaria then flies over to the enemy ship, hoping to disable its engines. However, like any good artificer, she's immediately enamored by the engines themselves. At this point, I the player forget I have a four round count down.

Yeah, you can see where this is going... The dm has me pick high or low on a d100 to see what part of the ship my laser hits, and I invariably pick wrong. And that is how Gillaria got blasted to ash by her own automaton, wielding her own laser, atop her own airship. Her final consolation was finding out that her god was not, in fact, dead and being reincarnated into his steel and steam avatar.

This is one of sooo many dumbass stories for this character, she was a piece of work. Thanks for asking though, I love talking about dnd! Feel free to share a story of your own or ask any questions :)

[ephemeral-darkness]

Sooo OC Time!

If you want to send me asks about any of them, please do!!! I really want to talk about my lil characters and I’m stuck inside ill rn.

I will add their names and a little description of them under the cut. Baring in mind there are quite a few! This is going to be a long one lmao. Please bare with me! If you want to know anything more, please ask!

Oh also, heights aren't transferable per sheet so I do apologise about scaling!

[ID start]

Albert Van’t Hoff. They/them pronouns- a white person with long brown hair. It is tied up and has blonde forelocks. They have blue and brown heterochromia and a pale skin patch on their forehead. They have beige hearing aids. They are wearing a dark green unzipped hoodie, a beige T-shirt with “Druid” on it, and dark blue jeans. They are also wearing yellow socks and pale green converse.

Fumnanya Okafor. She/He pronouns- a black person with short black hair. She has dark brown eyes and wrinkles at the corners as she is smiling. He is wearing a dark green denim jacket with various green coloured patches- on the lapels are two pronoun badges. One is blue and says "She/her" and the other is pink and says "He/him." She is wearing a ripped purple and pink jumper and a dark brown binder. He is also wearing pale blue jeans and black doc martens.

Alastair Dalton. He/Him pronouns- a white man with short dark magenta hair. He has many moles on his cheeks and has green eyes. He is supporting himself on two grey crutches as he is missing his left leg below the knee. He is wearing a grey Muse (band) shirt, blue shorts, and pale blue converse. On his residual limb, he is wearing an orange striped sock- similar to the one he is wearing under his shoes.

Bryn Seagrave. He/him pronouns- A white man with mid length blue hair. It is curled and holds a headband with two pastel purple horns on it. He has pale blue eyes, heart stickers on his cheeks, and snakebite piercings. He is wearing a pink dripping choker, a pastel pink crop top with "die" written in purple, black fishnets, pink and yellow split leg shorts, and thigh highs. The left is solid pink and is held up by a garter with studs and an eyeball charm- the right is purple with a stars and moons pattern. He is also wearing black Mary Jane shoes.

Zhou Jingyi. She/they pronouns- An east asian woman with chest length teal coloured hair tied in a pony tail. She has dark brown eyes and a mole under her bottom lip- she has several on her arms and stomach too. They are wearing a pastel purple crop top, baggy ripped jeans in blue, pastel pink socks, and black vans. She also is wearing a gold necklace and two pink festival-style bracelets.

Euan Buchanan. They/them pronouns- a white person with a shaved head; their stubble is ginger. They have pale blue eyes and stretched ears. They are wearing a grey pullover hoodie, a blue denim jacket, muted blue jeans, and red converse. On their jacket, they have a DID flag pin, a smiley face pin, and a non binary flag patch.

Ajay Carrenan. She/her pronouns- a black woman with mid length red curly hair. She has mid brown eyes, around which is red smokey eyeshadow and thick black eyeliner. She is wearing a black cropped bolero jacket- one sleeve is missing just above the left elbow, showing slightly her residual limb. She is also wearing a red and black striped corset, and a red and black layered bustle-type skirt. She is wearing platform strapped shoes.

Paige Yuan. She/her pronouns- an east asian woman with long brown hair. It has grey streaks in it and is tied up in a long plait. She is wearing a deep necked blouse- along the collar is orange flowers. She is also wearing a pair of coral loose trousers and black Mary Jane shoes.

Ignacia Muñoz- an afro-Latin person with shoulder length curly blue hair. She has broken eyes and snakebite piercings. They are wearing a pastel purple and pink colour block tshirt, pale blue ripped shorts, purple and yellow star patterned socks, and pastel pink vans. They have plasters on both knees (from hockey accidents). She is also wearing a pearl style bracelet.

Finn Aciel. They/It pronouns- a mixed race person with green curly hair. They have the sides shaved to mimic a mullet. It has dark brown eyes and pale vitiligo patches on both cheeks- going down onto its neck. They are wearing a black Cramps (band) hoodie, black ripped jeans, and black combat boots. It also has a vitiligo patch on it's right hand and knee.

Orion Whitaker. He/him pronouns- a white person with jaw length blue hair. He has pale blue eyes, two nose bridge piercings, a septum piercing, 8 mouth piercings, 3 ear piercings, and large stretched ears. He is wearing a mesh Thrasher (magazine logo) shirt, black ripper short shorts, grey socks, and red converse. He has many scars on his left leg and right wrist. He also has a collarbone piercing on the right side.

Rowan Aboagye. They/them pronouns- a black person with red-pink locs. They have dark brown eyes half shut in a smile. They are wearing a white shirt, a pastel yellow and green unzipped hoodie, blue ripped jeans, grey socks, and red converse. They have scars on their right wrist. They are also wearing a dark grey beanie, a brown leather bracelet, black nail polish, and a gold necklace.

Motya Kozlowski. They/them pronouns- a white person with shoulder length ginger hair. They have pale blue eyes, moles on their cheeks, and a scar above their lip to their nose from cleft lip surgery. They are wearing a dark brown dress with a darker band, a beige cardigan, layered brown tights and socks, and a dark brown pair of combat boots. They are supporting themselves with a beige wooden walking cane.

Abeni Olumuyiwa. She/they/xe pronouns- a black person with dark brown hair pulled into an afro puff. She has dark brown eyes, a silver septum ring, and lots of ear chains connecting her lobe piercing and cartilage piercing. They are wearing a dark purple star patterned bra and sleeve set- it has a mesh panel going across their chest. Xe is also wearing a darker purple maxi length half skirt, black shorts, a purple belt with a moon buckle, and strapped black shoes. She also has black press on nails.

Carwyn Hughes. He/him- a white man with long blond hair. He has pale green eyes, snakebite piercings, and 4 laceration scars across his face- he also has multiple visible scars on his neck and arms. He is wearing a black Mayhem (band) shirt, black ripped jeans, and black converse.

Nick Coombe. He/him pronouns- a mixed race man with short black curly hair. He has dark brown eyes and is slightly frowning. He is wearing a blue button up shirt that is tucked into his beige chinos. He is also wearing black dress shoes with no socks.

Shinego Yui. She/He/They pronouns- an east asian person with long pink hair. She has dark brown eyes and stretched ears. He is wearing a black shirt, a black cropped denim jacket, fishnet tights, purple and black split leg shorts, black knee highs, and black calf high boots. They are also wearing a studded bracelet. She has a few scars on her left arm. On his jacket are 2 badges and 2 patches- the badges are an "any/all" pronoun pin, and a HIM (band) logo pin. The patches read "Care not cops" and "Protect trans kids.'

Abigail Brown. She/They/Star pronouns- a white person with long pink hair. She has purple eyes and pink heart stickers on her cheeks. They are wearing a frilly pink shirt, a darker pink long skirt, and pale pink strap shoes. Star also has black press on nails.

Flavien Panosyan. He/him pronouns- a west asian man with a deep green death hawk. He has dark brown eyes surrounded by smudged black eyeshadow and eyeliner. He also has snakebite piercings and large stretched ears. He is wearing a fishnet shirt, a black Bauhaus (band) shirt, a black leather jacket, black ripped jeans, and black platform boots. The right arm of his leather jacket is pinned up as he is missing an arm above the elbow.

Bastian Halle. They/he- an east asian person with a red coloured undercut. They have dark brown eyes and they are slightly smirking. He is wearing a pastel yellow cropped hoodie, pastel blue and muted blue split leg jeans, pastel yellow socks, and pink converse. On their jeans, there are multiple galaxy themed doodles on both legs and the word "star" written in bubble writing on the left leg.

Echo Barnett. She/They- a black woman with long black twists. She has dark brown eyes and she has vitiligo patches in the middle of her face-covering her mouth and nose. She is wearing a black and red romantic goth dress, fishnet tights, and calf high platform boots.

Eli Ossian. They/she- a mixed race person with short purple hair. They have dark brown eyes, multiple ear piercings, and snakebite piercings. She is wearing a white vest top, a dark green varsity type jacket, baggy ripped blue jeans, and teal converse. The left shoulder of their jacket is pulled down, showing off their top surgery scars.

Afra El-Amin. She/her pronouns- a central asian woman wearing a pastel pink hijab. She has dark brown eyes and is wearing black rimmed round glasses. She is also wearing a white jumper, a yellow and pink split denim jacket, blue jeans, and yellow converse.

Lindiwe Madlala. She/her pronouns- a black woman with long black braided hair. She has dark brown eyes, canine bite piercings, several ear piercings, and large stretched ears. She is wearing a white cropped top, a beige hoodie, khaki green jogging bottoms, and grey trainers.

Bellamy Frost. She/It pronouns- a mixed race person with brown and blonde ombre hair- it is in a high ponytail. She have dark brown eyes and is wearing a silver necklace. It is also wearing a beige shirt over a dark blue hoodie- on the shirt is a mountain silhouette on top of a sunset background- a pair of blue ripped jeans, and black converse. She has teal and yellow odd socks and a black backpack.

Hugo Lieffsson. He/him pronouns- a white person with a dark brown undercut. He has green eyes and heavy dark circles under his eyes (EDS gang). He is wearing a cropped and sleeveless black turtleneck shirt, a pastel purple cardigan, pale blue jeans, and red converse. He is propping himself up on a grey crutch and has a dark blue knee brace on his left leg.

Ink. They/them pronouns- a white person with fluffy pale blue hair- their brown roots are showing through the dye. They have blue eyes, a bridge piercing, a septum piercing, and 7 lip piercings. They are wearing a black shirt over a striped black and grey turtleneck, black and red split leg jeans, and black combat boots. They are also wearing a silver padlock necklace.

River Olumuyiwa. They/them pronouns- a black person with albinism and white hair pulled up into an afro puff. They have pink eyes and a neutral expression. They are wearing a purple and blue colour block tshirt, dark blue shorts, and black vans. They have two below the knee prosthetic legs and pink star patterned leg covers. They are also wearing a pink bead bracelet.

Amber Bennett. She/her- a white woman with slightly curled blonde hair. She has blue eyes and acne on her cheeks and forehead. She is wearing a magenta bustier style top, a pastel pink strawberry patterned cardigan, blue cuffed jeans, and white converse.

Eden Lovett. She/her pronouns- a white girl with pink long hair. She is wearing a pastel rainbow colour block hoodie, blue shorts, and blue and green trainers. She has a right above the knee prosthetic leg.

Jett. They/He/It pronouns- a black person with neon blue locs- they have a left shaved part. He has dark brown eyes, 2 eyebrow piercings, a bridge piercing, 7 lip piercings, a septum piercing, 6 ear piercings, and large stretched ears. It is sitting in a grey and black manual wheelchair- it has red half length spoke covers, with stickers on them. They are wearing a tie dye grey and black MCR shirt over a striped black jumper, black ripped jeans, grey socks, and black converse.

Deng Bowen. He/him pronouns- an east asian man with a dark brown undercut. He has dark brown eyes and wrinkles around his eyes. He is wearing a beige shirt, a dark brown unzipped hoodie, blue jeans, and mid brown combat boots.

Ellinor Nilsdottir. She/her pronouns- a white woman with jaw length split dyed green and teal hair. She has green eyes and moon dangly earrings. She is wearing a mesh shirt with stars and moons over a dark purple tank top, fishnet tights, black belted ripped shorts, purple striped knee highs, and black platform boots. She also has long black nails and has several rings.

Valerian Yeung. They/them pronouns- an east asian person with long reddish brown hair. They have dark brown eyes and are wearing in ear earphones. They are wearing a black hoodie, black ripped jeans, and black platform boots.

Amara Nasim. She/her pronouns- a central Asian woman who is wearing a deep purple niqab. She has dark brown eyes and she is smiling. She is also wearing a dark purple hoodie over the top, and a purple-pink gradient aabaya. She is also wearing black gloves.

Božidar Kóvačik. They/He pronouns- a white man with long dark brown-blond ombre hair. He has grey eyes, slight brown stubble, and a scar running from his lower right cheek. across his nose. They are wearing a brown jumper, a mid green varsity style jacket, pale blue ripped jeans, and dark green converse. On the jacket he has elbow patches and two badges- one is the 7 stripe gay flag, and the other is just coloured yellow.

Njord Lundvik. He/him pronouns- he is a white man with cheekbone length wavy blond hair. He has dark blue eyes and many freckles on his cheeks. He is wearing a muted coral jumper, mid blue ripped jeans, and dark blue converse. The left sleeve of his jumper is tied up just above the elbow.

Eugene Richards. He/him pronouns- a black man with mid length curly hair. He has dark brown eyes and a slight smile. He is wearing a colour block jumper in the primary colours- it says "be happy" on the front. He is also wearing pale blue shorts, a single rainbow sock, and odd converse in blue and yellow. He has a hinged leg brace on his left leg and a surgery scar across his knee. He is also wearing a beaded necklace with a large star charm.

Deng Chunhua. She/they pronouns- an east asian person with jaw length neon green hair. They have dark brown eyes, rounded glasses, a septum piercing, and 3 lip piercings. They also have quite a few freckles on their cheeks. They are wearing a white cropped shirt, a cropped leather jacket, black and purple tartan split leg jeans, and black combat boots. She has 3 badges on her jacket- a "she/they" pronoun pin, a bisexual flag pin, and a purple coloured pin. She has 3 patches on the black leg of her jeans- one that says "TERF killer," one that says Need More Coffee (her in universe band), and a yellow coloured one.

Oskar Balakrishnan. He/him pronouns- a south asian man with short curled brown hair. He has dark brown eyes and slight stubble on his chin and upper lip. He is wearing a pale blue Yale (university) jumper, blue and grey split leg joggers, and black converse.

Anwen Masters. She/her pronouns- a white woman with a red bat's nest (hairstyle). She has blue eyes surrounded by black eyeliner and eyeshadow, she is wearing full white foundation, and she has black lipstick. She is wearing a black cropped top, a leather skirt, a long leather trench coat, a ripped mesh shirt, fishnet tights, and platform boots.

Fennel Gbeho. They/She/He pronouns- a black person with short curly hair. They have brown eyes and square black rimmed glasses. She is wearing a white button up shirt, a green tie, a light brown waistcoat, beige chinos, a dark brown overcoat, and brown brogues.

Uriel Tamboli. He/him pronouns- a south Asian man who has short neon blue hair. He has dark brown eyes and snakebite piercings. He is wearing a purple hoodie, blue jeans, and dark blue converse. On his jeans, he has wave patterns in various colours and eyeball drawings.

Mars Douglass. Ze/zem pronouns- a black person with a cotton candy coloured high top hairstyle. Ze has dark brown eyes and round glasses. Ze is wearing a pastel green shirt, pale blue dungarees, and green converse. On zer dungarees, ze has a rainbow wave pattern and various flower patches. Ze is wearing a mushroom necklace, a hear dangly earring, and 2 beaded bracelets.

Fiore Ventimiglia. They/Ey/It/Ze pronouns- a white person with purple- pink ombre hair. They have grey eyes, 2 eyebrow piercings, 4 lip piercings, and a nasal feeding tube. Ey is sat in a green and black electric wheelchair, ey has a purple bag over the one arm rest. It is wearing a grey Black Flag (band) shirt, a cropped and sleeveless black leather jacket, a maxi skirt in black, and black creepers. Ze is also wearing black bracelets and a black spiked cuff. They have scars on their right wrist.

Vitalya Chernyshevskaya. She/They/Co pronouns- a white person with jaw length pastel green hair- half of it is pulled into space buns. She has blue eyes and slight brown stubble on her chin. They are wearing a white and green alien themed shirt, pink dungaree dress, pastel pink knee highs, and green converse. Co is also wearing a white beaded bracelet.

Azyan Nasim. She/They pronouns- a central Asian person in a pink hijab- she has a pink bow attached to this. She has dark brown eyes and has a pink heart on her cheek. They are wearing a pastel pink lolita dress- this is mostly frills and bows. She is also wearing knee high pink boots with white stars.

Syd Buchanan. They/She pronouns- a west Asian woman with long brown hair. They have brown eyes and their mouth is raised in a slight smile. She is wearing a beige shirt with a UFO design- it says "I don't believe in humans"- over a black cropped jumper. She is wearing muted pastel green jeans with multiple flower patches over each leg. They are also wearing dark brown converse with green socks.

Percy Arcimbault. He/they pronouns- a white man with brown curly hair. He has blue and green heterochromia and moles on his cheeks. They are wearing a yellow turtleneck, a beige teddy coat, pale blue jeans, and pastel orange converse.

Dante Ventimiglia. He/They/Xe pronouns- a white man with a blue undercut. He has brown eyes, a septum piercing, 3 lip piercings, and large stretched ears. They have a blackout neck and right arm tattoo also. Xe is wearing a black pullover hoodie- it reads "If you can read this, you're too close"- black ripped jeans, and black combat boots. He has scars on his left forearm.

Atticys Faulkner. They/them pronouns- a white person with black and white split dyed hair. You cannot see their eyes because of their fringe. They are wearing a white button up under a pink jumper- it has a pink heart pattern. They are also wearing a black and white paint drip skirt, fishnet tights, pastel purple thigh highs, and pink platform boots.

Viktor Lovett. He/They pronouns- a white person with long red hair, it is up in a high ponytail. He is wearing a pastel pink crop shirt with the word "peachy" on the chest, pale blue ripped shorts, blue socks, and red converse. They have blackout tattoos on their right arm, and various tattoos on their thighs. They have a Greco Roman broken head, a headless bust with top surgery scars, the word "love," and a laurel leaf with a red string around it on their left thigh. On their right, they have a wobbly smiley face, the polyamorous infinity heart, and two crossed coffin nails on their right thigh.

Sergio Benoit. They/Ey pronouns- a white person with pale pink hair. They have green eyes and acne on their cheeks and forehead. Ey is wearing a vest with rips resembling a skull in the front, underneath this their binder can be seen. They are also wearing black cuffed jeans, grey socks, and black converse.

Wren Adebayo. He/They/Xe pronouns- a black man with short purple hair. He has brown eyes and his face is neutral. They are wearing a mustard yellow pullover hoodie, dark blue jeans, and purple converse.

Teddy Vaśquez. He/him pronouns- a latino man with short brown curly hair. He has dark brown eyes and is wearing dark round sunglasses. He is wearing a purple shirt, a purple and gold brocade waistcoat, a chest harness over this, black dress trousers, and dark brown brogues. He is also poised with a marshmallow tip all white cane (as he lives in England).

Vinnie Van't Hoff. He/him pronouns- a white man with short brown hair, he has a blonde forelock. He has grey eyes and a pale patch of skin on his forehead, he is also using beige hearing aids. He is wearing a beige turtleneck, a dark brown overcoat, black dress trousers, and red converse.

Hieronymus Faulkner. He/They pronouns- they are a white person with black and white hair. He has blue and brown heterochromia and 2 ear piercings. He is wearing a black leather trench coat, a fishnet shirt, a black ripped Paralysed Age (band) shirt, a maxi length black skirt, and black platform boots. He is also wearing a bone necklace.

[End ID]

[little-birdseeker]

Growing Wings - Epilogue - Journey's End

[<- Chapter 11: Growing Wings]

What a wonderful day to be back in Limsa! Has there ever been a better one?! Certainly not in the few days she had been here lately, that was for sure! And Isabelle enjoyed every last bit of it, every ray of sunshine she could get!

Just a few moments later, Isabelle spotted her first target! “Fooorwin! Heeey!”, she shouted while waving at the old fisherman. He hadn’t changed a bit, as she saw it from the distance, except for some signs of the coming age.

“Oh that’s a surprise. Isabelle!”, he immediately responded before even turning around, as he knew only one girl with such an enthusiastic voice.

“And I thought you might have forgotten me, after Luca and Miara have told me that you have returned to them”, he laughed and stepped out of his boat at the pier.

“Whaaat? How could I eeever forget about you?! I could neeever forget about the saaails and the rooopes and the fiiish!”

“Right, right. Ah, don’t look so sulky, Isa, that was just me teasing you a bit. I- Really, it was a joke, okay? Got all your letters! Thank you, for all of them!”

Isabelle immediately stopped sulking and showed her beaming smile once again.

“You diiid? Yay! I did nooot know how to address them weeell enough, but the moooogles did a greeeat job, yes!”

“They sure do, even though nobody can see them… Anyway now, come here!”

He gave a big hug, to which she responded likewise. How many years had it been? About six years? A lot of time had passed since then, that was for sure.

“Looook! I stiiill got the peeendant you gave me!”, Isabelle said and very proudly showed off the little seashell that was decorating her neck.

“Ohh, yeah, you are right. Seems like it protected you well.” “It diiid!! And it wiiill protect me even longer!”, she responded with a happy grin.

“So, how have you been? Your parents haven’t told me yet, besides some major things. Like… magic? For real? And an own shop?”

“Mhm!! Looook!!” Proudly, Isabelle concentrated on her magic and formed a little ball of light, which rose slowly above them, just to explode in a warm shower of sparkles.

“Isn’t it greeeat?!”

“Uhm… sure, it looks great, but-” “It iiis great!”, Isabelle insisted - what else was magic good for if it did not look, like, magical and sparkly?! “And besiiides that I can mooove things and clean my hooouse and my dreeesses and fight eeenemies and-” “Okay okay, I got it, I was wrong”, Forwin laughed. “So you have become a great magician, I can see that. No need to show me all of it. But how? Tell me, how was your journey?”

“Oookay!” Her voice certainly carried some sort of disappointment with it - after all, showing of her magical skills was something she was very proud of - but she also knew that Forwin was right. She could also show off later, when the time was right.

“Sooo, wheeere to start…? Riiiight, Uuul’dah!”

And so, she started telling him about her journey.

The one year in Ul’dah. The people she met, like Nalama and Tion - even though she had no contact with him anymore, she might need to change that. The weavers guild. About Ricky, her very own (red!) Chocobo. And the thaumaturges, of course.

About Gridania. The druids and the leatherworkers. About all the trees, how it felt to be so far away from the ocean.

About her journey to Ishgard, her hatred for cold and snow which nearly got herself killed. The man that saved her life and became her first love, the man she married - Forwin was shocked by that one - and how much she despised him now. A despicable man that had only been interested in her body and in acquiring women!!

How Azura and Wickid met her in Ishgard and introduced her to the free company. All the adventures she lived through, how they ventured to the far far east where the free company resided now.

And of course, how she had started her own shop in Kugane, about two years ago. Oh, and all of the things she knew about the city. The harbor, the hot springs, the market, especially all of the clothes there, and how tasty all the meals were.

And how the meeting between her and Iana ended. She sniffed a bit while telling Forwin the story, calmed down by some strokes over her head. Forwin knew about Ianas death. Luca and Miara had already morned a lot while also being overjoyed by Isabelles return. It was a hard time for them, for sure. Scars would remain, but until then he would be there for them. And Isabelle as well, he was sure of it. Or else, she would have not returned, after all.

“What a journey”, the fisherman concluded as the barrage of words had finally come to end. “So I assume it had been a good one?”

“The beeest!”, the catgirl responded immediately.

“No regrets?”

“Hmmm… sooometimes. But I would stiiill do the same! Nooot change a thing!”, she answered truthfully. Lies were bad, after all! Most of them, at least.

“And now? Any new plans?”, Forwin laughed, expecting the most surprising things, just like it was usual with Isabelle.

“Uuuhm… for nooow I will take care of my shop! Aaand train and try new enchaaantmens!” “Oh, enchantments? Is there something you can’t do?” “Flyyy! For nooow!”, she chuckled together with Forwin.

“Well, that’s a matter of time, isn’t it.” “Mhm!! But for nooow…”

“The rogues?”

Nodding showed he was right.

“Well, great Namo from me! And your parents, if you visit them today.” “Wiiill do! And take caaare of you, Forfor! Bye bye!” “Oh Isa, don’t ca- there she goes. Whatever…”, he sighed and had to laugh. Some things never changed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Can’t let you in without the password, sorry.” “Oswin, you knooow me! Come ooon, how can I knooow it?!”

“How do I know you are not someone else?” “Looook at me! Hooow many girls do you know that have suuuch fluffy taaail, sooo beautiful red haaair, are sooo cute… and have suuuch a deep cleavage?!”

With the last words, Oswins eyes twitched for a moment, but he kept his mouth shut and stood still, which annoyed Isabelle even more.

"Oooswin! If you dooon't let me in, Namo will be sooo furious! You wiiill regret it, and she will nooot apologize!"

That was the last straw. He knew R’namo, and even though she had grown to be nicer to him - or anyone, on that matter - in the last… ten years? Well, he sure knew he did not want to be the one to tell her he did not let in her beloved pupil daughter. Who knew what she would do to him, and he wasn’t eager to find out.

“Fine. Here, go in. But if you are an imposter-”

“Thaaank you! I will tell her how niiice you were!”, Isabelle said as she darted in.

Honestly, it sounded like a threat. At least to Oswin. Probably his imagination. Isabelle wasn’t like this. Instead, she would tell the whole truth, which was bad enough for him.

Hopefully, R’namo had some mercy on him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tip Tap. Tip Tap.

She was wide open, and could have never been prepared for Isabelles assault. Well it wasn’t like nobody was watching - A'nissa was sitting in the corner and was overjoyed to see one of her missing friends being back. But she wanted to see the chaos unfold as Isabelle flung herself onto her victim. It was far too much fun to watch it!

“Goootcha!”, Isabelle shouted as she threw herself onto R’namos back, resulting in the most violent and soft hug the rogue has gotten for quite a while.

“WHA-?!”, she almost screamed as she felt the catgirl on her back. “ISA?! You damn- Where-?! How-?! OH COME HERE!”

In a matter of seconds, the one sided hug was changed into a consensual one.

“I am baaack!”, Isabelle laughed and smiled.

“Thanks, I have noticed”, R’namo tried to hiss, but just had to laugh as well.

“Damn, I thought you would never come back here. After your letters stopped and so on.” “I was buuusy Namo! I am sooorry!”

“Busy with what? Sewing new dresses?”

“Yeees! That takes some tiiime, you know?”

“So you were busy with dresses and distract boys and men alike with that cleavage you are sporting”, A'nissa darted in, still cackling from the assault she had witnessed.

“It’s a diiirndl, it haaas to be this way! And it looks greeeat, right?”

“Well if you say so…”

“R’namo please, look at her, it looks great! Especially on our Isa here, in contrast to you if you would wea-” “Oh shut up Nissa, as if anyone could challenge her on that!”, R’namo hissed at the laughing Miqo’te.

“Mhm!”, Isabelle agreed with a good deal of laughter from herself. “Told you I am going to become sooo big!” “That’s not what you mea- oh, whatever. You seem very confident about that now, so do you-” “Knooow why people liiike them?”, Isabelle interrupted her old mentor. “Well becaaause-”, she started to talk and somewhat demonstrate her gathered knowledge about this topic.

Which made A'nissa laugh, as she loved how confident Isabelle spoke, while it made R’namo blush ever so slightly - which in turn made A'nissa laugh even more. Isabelle, however, proudly grinned at her friends. She had learned a lot, after all, and every bit had to be shared - even such  things like this!

“Gods, okay, guess you know”, R’namo sighed. “Well, good that Jon wasn’t here…” “Oh i could get him, should be around somewhere.” “Oh should i tell him-” “NO!”, R’namo shouted at Isabelle, making both other girls laugh. “Oh you- You have grown into a fine yet mischievous woman, have you?”

“I leeearned from the best!”

That left R’namo speechless. Especially as Isabelle wasn’t completely wrong, after all. Plus the other girls had helped at that as well, to be fair, but still.

“Whatever”, R’namo sighed. “Don’t want it to be any other way. That’s our Isa.” “Hehe!”, Isabelle chuckled with a grin. “But I stiiill want to meet Jon again!”

“Well of course, let’s find him. Just keep those things for you, kay? Having both of you tease me like that is more than enough.” “Oookay!”, Isabelle chuckled. “Prooomised!”

“And I shall find Agness, I think she is somewhere on the market. Shouldn’t be hard to find her”, A’nissa threw in.

“And what about Leeena?!”, Isabelle asked, worried about the lalafell.

“Oh, uhm, she… is gone”, R’namo told Isabelle. For a moment, the red girl was shocked about this news, until A’nissa stepped in.

“She stopped being a rogue and now works in The Bismarck. Wanted to become a chef. Stabbing people wasn’t for her, so now she stabs fish I guess.”

Outraged, Isabelle stared at R’namo, who in turn grinned at her. “Ha, gotcha!” “Ruuude!”

“Could say the same about you!” “Pah!”

For a moment, everyone kept silent, but it didn’t last long until they burst out in laughter.

“I was wooorried, okaaay?”

“Yeah, sorry. Thanks for clearing that A’nissa. Oh, what about we meet up there, in The Bismarck? Yeah, let’s go there and eat together, and talk about the past years!” “Oh I would looove to! Let’s search for the others and gooo! Jooon, where aaare you?!”, Isabelle shouted and dashed through one of the doors.

“Isa, please, stay- you know where we meet, A’nissa. I’ll have to catch this whirlwind here. And have to ask her how she got through Oswin.”

“Right right! See ya later!”

“Yeah, bye!”

With that, they parted ways, just to be reunited later. An evening full of stories was about to start. And surely, she had made them proud. All of them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(To everyone who has read the whole thing: Thank you so much!! I hope you enjoyed the ride! <3 This has been on my mind for quite a while, and I am happy to be able to share something about my girl! So, every reader: You get the best hug Isabelle can give! You earned it! <3)

(If you are interested in some other stuff i wrote or want to know more about Isabelle, you may want to take a look at Isabelles story page!)

[dwarfsized]

things that i would like to know about my fellow writers!

tagged by @aevallare thank you my looovveee

i will tag @simon-says-nothing and @raccooncrimes!

Last book I read: 

i am stalled on The Witch King by Martha Wells, not because it isnt good but just because. lmao. If im reading, i cant be writing. or sewing. or or or. The last one I remember finishing was This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, and i loved that.

Greatest literary inspiration: 

I put part of a Mary Oliver poem on my graduation cap. Also genuinely quite inspired by Tamsyn Muir.

Things in my current fandom I want to read but I don't want to write:

I dont know if I'd ever try my hand at a modern au but i adore aevallare's pour one out.

I certainly wont write no-magic or all-human aus (I like tieflings a normal amount, she says, lying) but I'm sure someone could do something cool with those.

Things in my current fandoms I want to write but I think nobody would be interested in them but me: 

:') i already think this about my work but i write it anyway. who wants to read astarion stuck in a druid grove when he's [redacted]?? well, i do, so now we have eldath's mercy.

i am working on a story rn where kira is a ghost haunting the szarr palace. do i think very many people will be interested in that? i dont know! but I want to write it, and at least one other person probably wants to read it, so. eventually, it will go up onto ao3.

id love to do something with a focus on minthara. she's going to matter in true colors but that's not going to happen for a while. for now i rotate her in my brain.

You can recognize my writing by:

7000 word chapters where fully half the words are the characters thinking sooo hard, mid-chapter pov shifts, asides about tiefling/druid culture that i've made up whole-cloth, tail mentions.

My most controversial take (current fandom):

if you mod anyone in the game to look younger/more conventionally attractive i am putting you in the oubliette in my mind-palace. why cant you like these characters as they are. i thought we enjoyed this game

if you mod gortash clean or mod away a character's scars, i am putting you in the oubliette inside of the oubliette in my mind-palace.

Current writing mood (10 – super motivated and churning out words like crazy, 0 – in a complete rut):

2 babeyyyy, but if i could instead shelve all the current wips and start wip #15 id be at an 8. alas! i cannot do this.

Top three favourite tropes:

in no particular order:

when a character's specific past experiences lead them to a wrong conclusion that is soooo wrong but like, ohhh sweetie. of course you think that.

magic that has a cost, even divine magic, and cannot fix everything

you were not selected for this. anyone could have been the person in this position. but you are here now, and you have to do the task. get to it.

are these even tropes? do i know what tropes are anymore. help

Share a random frustration:

I USUALLY AVERAGE 700 WRITING WORDS A DAY BUT IVE BEEN EDITING ELDATH'S MERCY CH 2 FOR ALL OF APRIL AND IT HAS BROUGHT MY AVERAGE WORD COUNT DOWN TO 26. 26 WORDS A DAY. BITING. BITING AND YELLING.

[airanke]

//SLAMS IN HERE

Hi hello dear friend i have seen your call to do something!

I request Shion, Amita, and Abi!

HOHOHO this is interesting to do for Shion so it will be interesting to look back at that and see what might have changed!

Shion Rejamike

Flower: Originally, the flower I chose was the daisy! Now, though, I think the flower that suits Shion the best is the spider lily. Though they are commonly associated with death, they also represent rebirth and renewal. Given my new plotline for Shion, this suits him much better! Gemstone: Originally was Andradite Garnet; if he was a gemstone now, he would be the emerald. Element: still air/wind, maybe we'll throw in some storm for spice! Shion is still super chatty if you get him talking about the things he loves! Color: still Purple! It's his favorite color, and he favors any armor and weapons that have purple in them. Word: still Hyggelig - “taking pleasure from the presence of gentle, comforting, and soothing things; a feeling of friendship, warmth, peace, and contentment in a comfortable and cozy atmosphere”. Food: Originally I chose a drink called Sweet Poison for him, but I think now he'd be any kind of animal jerky! Weapon: still a double-barreled shotgun! He uses bows more often now, but if HE was a weapon, then yeah. Double-barreled shotgun.

I CANNOT FIND IF I DID ONE FOR AMITA??? OKAY

Amita Dakini

Flower: God if she was a flower, she would be a rose!!! There's just so many meanings that suit but honestly the fact that it is generally accepted to be the flower of love is the biggest reason~ Gemstone: Moonstone! Why would she be anything other than the stone of the moon~ Element: I know what you're thinking. You're thinking I'm gonna say nature - NO!!! Amita as an element is WATER!! I think this suits her super well as a druid (and dragon at that), because they are so malleable as a class and species (choosing forms and visages and such), and water is just as malleable~ Color: the color of the ocean when the moon reflects off it :T Word: Kilig, "the rush or the inexplicable joy one feels after seeing or experiencing something romantic"! Food: FRIED BANANAS!!! Not only are they Amita's favorite food, BUT!! They are sweet and delectable and everything that Amita is (along with having a bit of a gooey centre LMAO) Weapon: a bladed fan to be honest. Elegant, poised, but oh my god will she cut you to ribbons if you are not careful.

And finally, LOML Abiteth <3333

Abiteth Kenka

Flower: Peony, king of the flowers, flower of the fae, don't touch her or the wrath of her family will come down on you with PRECISION. Gemstone: moss agate!! I chose it for her Gem if she was in Steven Universe, and it's called the gardener's stone and IDK it just fits her so well!! She would totally be that! (Also moss agate comes in pink SOOO). Element: okay hers is obvious, if she was an element she would be earth - the very thing that is stalwart and takes great force to move, but also nurtures the growth of all things (animals, buildings, people, plants). Color: Pink. You will not take that from her, and you will not take that from me, she is pink forever and ever and ever. Word: I was gonna pick a super cute word for this, but realistically if Abiteth was a word she would be Monachopsis, "the subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place". Food: hands down she would be candied peony petals!! Sugary sweet and melt in your mouth!! I also debated on her being chocolate covered tarantulas 👀 Weapon: as a weapon, Abiteth would be a whip. I was gonna' say halberd, but that's HER weapon of choice, not what weapon she would be. Also she would be a Trevor Belmont sort of whip, not a regular whip. As if regular whips are not dangerous 😂😂

[nikatyler]

HELP MEEEE HIS FACE IS KILLING ME

Anyway, we slayed this nasty ass today and it was very satisfying, even though Aylin dropped dead and left all the hard work for me, and then she just casually...revived herself? when everything was done

Okay pookie no ♥ I actually hated the god ending for you in my last playthrough so we are soooo not doing that again ♥ Well maybe with another tav who'd be more inclined to have a god friend but Myriam is not one of them sooo

What if we kissed...in the Sorcerous Sundries vaults...haha just kidding...unless...?

I love it when Gale is like 🤓☝️ or 😡☝️ or anything paired with the ☝️ tbh like yasss boy educate me big time alsowhatelsecanthosefingersdo wow who said that

Aaaand we have ghoul besties now, wooo!

(x)

Didn't play much Myri today but we finally met Nine Fingers Mommy in this save. And also Mystra. But who cares about Mystra eh

(x)

family goals ♥ who needs children when you can raise some zombies and ghouls

I have such a love/hate relationship with this fight. Yes it's tedious, but sometimes tedious combat in this game is the best.

Yes yes we would like to open a bank account for the dinosaur please 😌

shut upppp emperor

*disapproving druid stance*

if Minsc has no fans I am dead I love this bald man and his hamster so much

Why have I not thought about bringing Minsc to Nine Fingers before? This was hilarious.

Uhh...sorry, was I saying something? There's so much to be distracted by, sheesh.

(x)

[pastafossa]

Stumbling and crashing and tripping with various crashes and a Wilhelm scream into your askbox to ask, YOU PLAY BG3????? ISN'T IT GREAT?!?!?!! I LOVE IT SO MUCH AKSHQKXBQ it's been my Focus since December!!! Who's your favorite so far?? How far are you in?? What kind of route are you doing?? Have you discovered any funny loopholes yet?? What race do you favor playing?? I LOVE to hear about other peoples playthroughs,

IT'S GODDAMN AMAZING AND I ALREADY HAVE MULTIPLE PLAYTHROUGHS PLANNED BECAUSE ONCE IS NOOOOT ENOUGH! I AM IN LOVE. Like I know these types of games (I've been a Bioware slut since KOTOR 2, so I looove this genre), and so I feel very confident saying holy shit, BG3 is one of the best! ALSO IT'S HUGE??? INSANELY HUGE??? AND FULL??? I LOVE IT SM.

Oh god favorites are hard, I'm gd attached to all of these little ducklings following my Tav. So far at least, storywise it's SCRATCH HE IS THE BESTEST BOY maaaybe Astarion. I LOVE his arc, his voicework is stunning, (I accidentally killed him with the big monastery laser and his reaction was hysterical) and his quest has been very moving. A close second is KARLACH, MY GIRL, MY FIREY BFF, like damn I HAD my little battle group (Gale + Astarion + Wyll) when I found her but I adore her so much I'm rotating Gale and Wyll to keep her permanently, SHE JUST WANTED A HUG. 😭

I'm in act 3, I just hit the city! I have no idea how but I am also STILL on my first PT after over a month of play. I love to sniff around under every nook and cranny granted, AND YET I STILL MISSED THINGS, IT'S SO BIG???

So far my route has been a chaotic good route! Outside, uh, occasional murdery hiccups goodbye creche but ya'll were assholes I've mostly managed to follow that alignment, and somehow still made friends with Lae? That was unexpected. I thought she hated my Tav's guts before she hit on her. 😂

Hilarious moments: setting off the giant laser at the monastery cause why wouldn't I grab the shiny weapon (sorry Astarion); being instakilled by Vlaakith at said monastery after basically mocking her with 'if you were really a god you'd be able to just kill someone yourself ha ha-splat'; friends telling me to talk to animals so I got excited when I saw a squirrel and ran to talk to it - it proceeded to bite me, then I failed a persuasion roll about being friends and it told me to fuck off; trying to get to that dwarf lady's husband in the Underdark and shooting an arrow at one of the mushrooms in the field he was in, thinking I could clear them one by one to get to him, only to set off a chain reaction that incinerated him and left the entire field a smoking crater (me as the explosions begin: oh, OH, oh no - wait, sir! Sir! Oh you're fine, you're - oh fuck, RUN SIR RU-shit he's dead); placing my druid in rothe/battle cow shape at the top of a ladder and charging whatever bad guy comes up so they fall back down (catchphrase: MOO, BITCH); and finally, I was having trouble with that one boss guy in the goblin camp, the one that sits on the throne. So when I saw I could get to the rafters, I painstakingly dragged every last explosive barrel and grenade I could find into the room and innocently placed them around the throne, then went up to the rafters and had Astarion shoot a fire arrow. I figured I'd at least bring the guy's health down but instead I set off the fourth of july, blasted that guy so hard he bounced around the room like a pinball before his body wound up glitch-stuck halfway through a wall, but hey, dead as a doornail sooo... it worked? Chaotic good alignment: MASTERED. 🤪

I'm playing a half-elf druid CAUSE I CAN BE AN OWLBEAR OR DINOSAUR TO FIGHT. I now have a chance to run around as a dinosaur druid with my 200 yo elf boyfriend, my BFFs, and find random bowls of poutine, this is the BEST GAME EVER. Also hilariously, I didn't check the stats closely and her intelligence wound up quite low, so she is very wise but also dumb as a bag of hammers, I love her, my first Tav is a good-hearted, unintentional bundle of chaos.

[iridisentry]

Re: Merlin and the 1000+ yrs later AU

When I read this kind of fic, the general idea is that Merlin has spent a 1000 years as a complete loner pining for Arthur(platonically or romantically) and as a result is a complete cynic and completely broken and when Arthur (+gang depending on fic) returns, they find him as a shell of who he was and heal him and everyone returns to the same dynamic they occupied before-- the great respected prince and his devoted, loyal but slightly (perceived) idiotic servant.

Which is... fine. I like those fics too, I'm a big fan of whump in general.

But... I think we're missing out on Merlin achieving his sheer potential as the token wise chaotic old man like Gandalf or Dumbledore or even the different versions of Merlin himself.

The man has lived for over a millenium. A whole fucking millenium.

Sure maybe he chose to spend it by the lakeside waiting for Arthur, never straying, ever a devoted servant/friend/lover but that's soooo boooooring. Sure, he can be a complete virgin, not getting into relationships at all because he's waiting for his soulmate but it's sooo frankly unbelievable. Merlin is the kind of character that thrives on loving ppl--his mom, Gwen, Morgana, Arthur, all the round table knights. Every person in Camelot falls in love with him at one point or another, he makes friends like honey attracting flies.

It's so much more interesting to make him heal after all that trauma and grief. He can even experience the Big Sad for a century if you like but after that... let him stray.

Let him find a friend.

Let him learn to live.

Let him fall in love again

and again

and again

with people he meets,

the sunrises and sunsets,

the way the wind whistles through the trees,

the new innovations, the leaps and bounds of science, the food, the clothes, the culture.

Let him leave Avalon, let him leave Albion, let him explore the world. He's named after a literal bird, you can't shackle a bird to one place, it's cruel.

Let the most powerful warlock ever meet others. See the way magic is used in different lands. The snake charmers of India for eg. We all know he has the most raw power but let's be honest, his education in Camelot is from ONE (1) spell-book and a man who wouldn't even perform magic unless in literal live or die situations. He can learn so much MORE. From druids, from the Catha, from wandering traders who use it to dye cloth, polish and cut gems, keep their produce fresh. From warriors who use it to fight and physiciams who use it to heal.

Merlin has lived for a millenium. Whether he wanted to or not.

He has seen shit. He needs a different outlook on life than "I hate everything and I wanna die" which is typical of us high schoolers. Give my baby the character growth he deserves.

When Arthur and gang trip out of the lake, I want them to meet Merlin who arrives a week late because he was helping dryads caught in the Californian forest fires. Merlin who speaks approximately 60 different languages and is involved in NGOs all over the world. He is overjoyed to see them of course and his contacts help him fake birth certificates etc for his friends.

He goes to protests and drags them to his immortal friends get-together which happens every half a century or so (dragons are canon, fight me if you think vampires or fallen angels can't exist) all the while working as .....well they can't exactly figure out what he works as. He says he is going to work every morning and he tells them funny anecdotes about his co-workers all the time but they can never place it-

"Jeremy has a headache from all the uncooperative patients"

"Amita is trying introduce an improved filing system, I love it but the oldies at the office think she's crazy-""Merlin, you're older than all of them put together" "Yes, and in my old age I know the importance of change unlike those toddlers. Amita is a genius, they should make her HOD, we'd all benefit really"

Gwen and Lancelot keep worrying about Merlin because goddamn this man has been alive for so long until Merlin casually mentions, "Oh yeah, I have a therapist. Petyr is great, I love him so much for keeping my sanity intact."

A Merlin who is the cheerful bubbly man Arthur remembers from their first few months and simultaneously knows so much, has experienced so much-- multiple wars and the destruction they cause, so many sweethearts who lived and died, the girl battling cancer who was his patient and such beautiful brave people changing the world for better.

A Merlin who is kind and caring and a chaotic little shit with zero fucks- "Merlin, hurry up we need to find <insert important world saving thing> or <insert certain doom> will happen!" "Chill guys, the future will unfold as the future does. Focus on the important things-like this cute caterpillar" *screams of frustration from all the knights* "Oh and by the way I had a guy take care of <world saving thing>. Do you wanna help me makea home for this caterpillar? *more frustrated screaming*

Anyway that's all I have. I just want to see Merlin unlock his true Overpowered Wise Old Guy Who Knows Everyone And Everything potential, is that so bad?

[pyxisastronautica]

Guilt

Life in the Ninth was pretty laidback, all things considered. It lacked the hurriedness present in the bigger cities like the First or the Third, the boiling tension of the more exploited cities like the Eleventh or Twelfth, and had less of a reputation of seedy political intrigue compared to the likes of the Fifth or the Eighth. Orek had proven to be the perfect place to start over for four robots in hiding.

Or at least, to pretend that they had. 

Golf, Hotel, Kilo, and November sat around a table where a holographic projection emanated from one of November’s eyes. For the past decade it had been Hotel’s turn, but after settling down in Hades they had decided to start a new campaign and shelf the old one for now, and it was agreed that it was her turn to take the reins. 

On the table was a snowy town, and three figures wandering through it- a shaggy minotaur with a battleaxe at their side and a shield on their back, a hooded gnome strapped with daggers, and a wood elf with a wooden staff. The low and eerie sound of wind whipping through was played as November’s voice layered over it.

“It’s much quieter since the last time you’ve passed through here. Ebrathor, Meedelwurtz, you notice that there’s only a few people around, and all of them are behind their doors. The lights aren’t on.”

“Mmmm, that’s a little spooky. What’s the phase of the moon again?” Golf asked, idly rotating around the hologram of a druid with his finger, which November allowed. 

“Waning crescent- tomorrow will be a new moon.”

“Tomorrow?” Kilo asked, drumming their fingers, “Are they like? Getting a headstart then? Do we see any smoke around?”

“Looking up at the sky a bit, you do indeed see a column of smoke rising from what looks to be the town square.”

“Aw fuck, we were supposed to meet Hippo Wizard again, weren’t we? We should probably make sure it’s not her over there.”

“Lady Wisteria Bellington,” November corrected, “But yes, she was still, as far as you know, waiting at the Hoary Boar for you to come back with that crystal.”

“Sooo, maybe we check there first then?” Hotel offered, bouncing the minotaur figure in their hand to imply talking, “She doesn’t strike me as the kind of lady who’s easy to catch- wizards are notoriously slippery and hippo wizards have GOT to be even doubly so.”

“Tch, Blondie, we can’t chicken out this time, as much as I wanna,” replied Kilo as “Meedelwurtz”. As they folded their arms, so did their character. “If she IS there we gotta bail her out somehow, or we risked our necks for like. A little bit of cool loot and a lot of no extra party member. Plus we need the gold anyway and a bunch of people gawking at a flame is a great opportunity. Just saying.”

“Uggggggh fiiiiine. But if you get caught, we don’t know you. Deal?”

“Deal.”

“Shall we away then?” Golf asked, miming tapping a staff on the ground.

“As the Lady would say, ‘Indubitably’,” Kilo replied.

After a moment of further agreement and planning, November readied the next scene, but before it could render a knock on the door cut her short and the projection disappeared altogether.

“Nose goes,” November blurted out.

“But we don’t have-” Kilo started to object before realizing that their compatriots were tapping the nose of their synthetic skins, “Oh, right. Damn.” Letting out a sigh for pure exaggeration, Kilo stood up. “Alright, but the rest of you should check on the food.”

“On it,” Golf said, already on his way into the small kitchen of the two bedroom apartment the four of them shared.

Hotel and November, meanwhile, scrambled to pull out several taped-together sheets of computer paper meticulously illustrated upon with pen, which depicted a copy of the map they had just been using, as well as a handful of painted clay figures.

“Heya Cedes, you’re early! Chicken’s still got thirty minutes to go I hope you don’t-” Kilo shouted as they opened the door to familiar faces, but not the ones they were expecting, “...mind.”

“Sorry Kelv, are we ah…interrupting something?” Asked one of two pretty and only slightly overdressed people standing in front of them- in particular, a svelte dark-haired fellow. 

“Does it matter? Get in here, then.”

Romeo strode past Kilo with Tango in tow, the former pulling out a chair for the latter in a gentlemanly fashion before taking a seat himself. Tango, for their part, immediately started to pick up and examine the pieces on the board with fascination, as if recording their analysis of them.

“So. You’re…back a lot sooner than we thought you’d be, Ro-Ro,” November noted. 

“Got a job for us I venture to guess?” Hotel added.

Romeo quirked an eyebrow at the two of them, opting to reply in messages instead.

R: You’ve gotten rather comfortable with speaking aloud, darling. Have your worries about surveillance been assuaged finally, or are you just getting a little too cozy here while you’re- how did you put it? “On vacation”?

November put her hands on her hips and pouted.

N: This is way more suspicious in a way, if you think about it! And…a little Column A, a little Column B. Besides, you don’t seem too worried about it, showing your face up right at our doorstep.

T: We’ve been careful about the security cameras, I assure you. As far as anyone who cares is concerned, we were never here. And as for everyone who doesn’t, this is nothing more than a social call from a couple friends. Great work on the minis by the way. Golf’s doing? 

N: Kilo’s, actually. Golf did help with the pine trees, though.

T: Really? I took you more for a collector of the arts than an artist yourself, Kilo.

K: What can I say? Sometimes you gotta make the trinkets you wanna see in the world.

Golf walked in and sat down at last, hunched over the table with his head in his hands.

G: They’re Siberian Pines, by the way. It seemed the most fitting for the environs of the setting.

T: Oh? Do you think you’d be able to tell me how they differ from other pines perhaps?

G: I mean, yeah, but…

Golf could have told them in quite a bit of detail, truthfully. They weren’t very good attractive bonsai plants compared to their neighbors, the stone pines, among other differences. But something about dragging out the conversation felt tortuous.

As if sensing their discomfort, Romeo cut the conversation short.

R: …We’ll need about 120 bricks, darling.

K: For what? Another skyscraper?

R: Do you care?

K: …I mean. We care a little.

N: And we’re nosy. You know that. We’d ask anyway.

R: Fair enough. Yes, it’s for another demolition, no, it’s not a skyscraper. She wants them to seal off her current location. She’ll be able to handle it as long as she doesn’t have to deal with reinforcements.

H: Like how she intended to seal off the rest of Hades, I assume?

R: A little less permanent than that, I hope. But yes, for a time they’ll all go dark as far as we’re concerned.

H: How long of a time are we talking here, though? If the collapse she wants destabilizes the entire tunnel it’ll be years before they can dig them out. Two cities- arguably some of the most important cities- just gone like that? It’ll be pandemonium. I know we've been pretty hunky dorey with setting you guys up but I do think that we should maybe have uh. Some. Some standards.

R: The tunnels were built in segments, supposedly, to prevent that kind of failure. Obviously, it’s never been tested though. It’ll probably be a solid month or two, though. Equally obviously, the incentive to dig them out will be very, very high.

Of course, I’m sure that if those efforts go poorly and a mass famine appears to be looming, TCCAI will step in. That is what you expected to begin with, isn’t it?

Anyway, about this Cedes…?

N: Hey. Hey. Fuck you.

I know it’s easy to forget because we just wanted to pretend to have a normal life for a little bit, but we are still robots, same as you. We can’t just fucking give the okay on shit we’re not convinced is a good idea for like, the survival of this civilization. I’d love to be able to blindly trust my captain again but like. People did die in that last blast. It could’ve been city-to-city war right then and there if it weren’t for your lot’s meddling- the only reason we were able to agree to it to begin with.

That doesn’t automatically buy you our trust now. 

H: Does Yuma even actually know what she’s doing with those? I mean. She clearly knows how to use them, but. Has she had Delta and Sierra scan the tunnel to give any credence to their hypothesis? The architecture here might be impressive, but that doesn’t make its builders infallible. I mean, not to be that person, but they were human after all.

T: D ‘n S are still tied up in Taros, I’m afraid. I don’t like this much either, but she doesn’t exactly have many strategic options out there, as I understand it.

R: Say we were to supply you with the equipment and an opportunity to conduct your own assessment? Would you all be willing to take a field trip?

The logisticians looked between each other, as they often did, as if embroiled in some unspoken debate.

G: I mean we won’t start racking up time off for another couple of months, so like…

T: Oh come on. Dears, at least make up your mind as to whether or not you prioritize the wellbeing of the humans here or yourselves. Whether Yuma’s revolution works or Echo sweeps in to gather up the wreckage of it, anything will be better for the people here in the long run than what we’re currently seeing. I know being here may have sheltered you a bit from the cruelties that humans inflict upon one another for the sake of upholding their wealth, but

November chucked a fake pine tree at Tango’s head before they could finish the sentence. They caught it before it could hit them, naturally, but the sentiment remained and it had done its job of taking the robot in front of them off guard.

“You don’t know a damn thing about us,” November hissed, her voice turning softly staticky.

There was another knock at the door. November, who was already standing, elected to be the one to get it this time.

“Ceeeeedeeeees! Hiiiii girl!” she said upon opening the door- to a correct guess this time. Mostly correct at least. Her twelve year old son was standing next to her, fidgeting with something in his pocket. “And Xander? What’s up dude! Come on in, food’s done.”

The table cleared quickly and bowls of seasoned rice and vegetables with chicken were set down. Simple, but filling. Romeo tilted his head at it for a split second, before craning his head over towards the kitchen for and noticing the piles of bowls where Golf had filled and emptied bowls of food back and forth to make the dishes look dirty. 

“Oh, before we eat- Xan, go ahead and show Kelv.”

“I…can wait till afterwards.” 

Kilo tilted their head and grinned. “Awww sorry, man, but your mom ratted you out and now I gotta know. Gonna be SO nosy about it until then, like. What are you holdin’ out on me, you know?”

“But it’s not even that good.”

“So? You still did something and you’re my friend so obviously I’m not gonna harsh on you for it. Now show! C’mon I wanna seeeeee.”

Xander pulled a clay figure out of his pocket. It looked sort of like a purple horse with a yellow belly and red eyes and a long tail that curled on the ground. The artist’s intent was given away, though, by the stiff and uneven attachments on the back of the creature- wings, or something like them.

“I wanted to make one of those creatures you talk about in your games- the dragons. And I really like your figurines so I wanted to try making them too. I can’t…make it look as good as yours do though. It’s really frustrating because like, I know how it’s supposed to look in my head but I just…”

Kilo held out their hand, and received, reluctantly, the figurine. They immediately held it up to the light, inspecting it with wonder as if it were an ancient golden coin.

“Dude, what are you talking about? This is great!” 

“...It literally isn’t though. You don’t have to lie about it.”

“I’m not! Like. Okay, it could definitely use a second pass, but this is your first time making one of these right? Most people using modeling clay would start with like. Blocks. Plates. Balls. Stuff like that you know? This was really ambitious.”

“But I had to restart like, three times before I could even get it this good.”

“So??? That just means you’re stubborn enough to get better at something, which is way more important than any mistake you made building this. You might hate me for this but I really wanna keep this, Xan, if you’ll let me. I think you could make some really cool stuff if you keep at it and this’ll let me see how far you came. Also like. You made something for me. I wanna cry, dude, you’re gonna make me look bad.”

“Kelv, c’mon…”

“Alright, alright. But like. For real, can I use this in my games? Do you have a backstory for this guy already or…?”

“Uhhh, yeah, um. You said dragons usually had fancy names so I named him Morachillanir. He’s like. A good dragon, but not like the regular good dragons. He fights evil dragons, has lightning breath, and knows a lot of magic spells.”

“Dope. Actually,” Kilo turned to look over at November, who was trying to suppress the goofy smile on her face over the whole exchange, “Nova, do you think you could work him in as a guest character?”

“Oh. Yeah, just like, give me ten minutes. Do you wanna sit in on us play for a bit? We decided to get a little time in before you showed up, kinda figured your mom would be in and out like usual.”

Xander looked up at his mother, who looked at her phone for a moment before sighing and shrugging. 

“Well I mean if you’re offering, it could be fun. I kinda wanna catch up with you in a bit though, Nova, if that’s okay.”

“Oh for sure, for sure.”

The impromptu addition of a dragon was, it was agreed upon, going to create a split timeline in their session. But that was of little import. There could be a blue dragon with a color mutation and a love of hunting white dragons, for the sake of seeing someone smile as their character was acted out with full description. 

Afterwards, Golf and Kilo stuck around the table to talk to Xander while the remaining robots gathered in November’s and Golf’s room. November sat down on her bed, patting the space next to her to beckon Cedes, while Hotel, Romeo, and Tango sat down on Golf’s bed.

“I’m…guessing this is about Brune?” November ventured to start.

Cedes nodded. “She got her new legs today. Non-motorized. They were a pretty good price all things considered, low down payment- hazard pay covered it all. The interest is a little steep, but we’ll make it as long as she can keep her job. They’re…determined to try, even though they can’t afford PT. I can tell they’re in pain, but. She’s determined to put on a brave face.”

“I’m…really sorry. If there’s anything we can do to help-”

“You’ve been covering my groceries- and others too, sometimes, don’t think word doesn’t get around- and helping Xan with his homework when I bring him over. That’s way more than enough. Plus, you know,” Cedes fixed an intense, almost pleading look at Hotel, “Even though you couldn’t save her legs, you did save her life, Herak. She’s been wondering why you won't answer her texts.”

Hotel cover their face with their hands. “It should have been all of them. I should have told her to wait in cover.”

“It’s not your fault, it’s fuckin’ Petrin’s. Nobody blames you for that, least of all her.”

Romeo cleared his throat awkwardly. “Dear lady, may I ask what happened to them?”

“Ah, yeah, I. I know we did introductions earlier but, Nova said you just got back in contact after some time, yeah? I’m afraid it’s not a complicated case, Detective: almost two months back now, our boss was negligent in getting a crane fixed and it resulted in it raining a ton of rebar it had been lifting.”

“The guy who was supposed to make sure it was up to code was a full hour and three minutes late,” November added, “and our skinflint, hardass boss who never lets a single soul clock in seconds without giving someone hell didn’t say a damn thing to him about it. I don’t even know what the point of that is, you’d think all that money saved just gets spent on bribing inspectors anyway.”

“You’d think, but as infrequent as inspections are, I guess I can see how it’d save an obol or two in the long run,” Hotel growled, “as long as nothing goes wrong. Which it did.”

“But the blame gets passed onto the crane operator instead,” Cedes elaborated, “I can’t believe Miko’s the one that got fired for that shit. A lot of people are getting fed up. That’s…why I’m here, actually.” Cedes bunched up her hands into a clenched grip on her pants as she willed herself to continue, now staring down Romeo and Tango in particular. “Novvy, Noe, I’m sorry but I know that you’re lying to me about your friends here. You two- I know what you are.”

Tango blinked several times. Romeo looked away, acting like a kicked puppy.

“...Do you now?” Tango asked at last, sounding more flabbergasted than threatening.

“Brune tells me everything. She’s one of the people who helped you move those charges, and you match her description of Nova’s associates. Two weeks later, the big corp in Taros falls, its headquarters collapsed- but the surrounding blocks are fine from how it looks in the papers, as much as they could be in the situation. Not the same kind of blast pattern you’d see from mining explosives. You two are the contacts for the labor movement, I know you are. And I want in.”

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Hotel interjected before either Romeo or Tango could respond, “Ced-”

“No.”

“Ced-” 

“Listen to me. I know what you’re gonna say, but I want you to at least listen to me first. My grandfather’s from Taros, okay? He risked his life trying to escape. I still have extended family there that I’ve never met. My mom worked at this same damn company Brune does and after forty years of giving her life she gets cut off the minute she literally, literally can’t stand anymore because of how hard it was on her body.  My son is going to grow up and learn that if the world knocks you down nobody is going to help pick you back up. And it’s my fault she even took this job to begin with. I can’t live with all of this weighing me down, I can’t. And I’m not the only one that feels this way. Other people in the company- other people in Orek- have the same stories. I have to do something about it.”

“Cedes…” Nova put a hand on her shoulder, “I know this has been a shit few months, but. At least you still have a wife and a kid. If you get caught, you are going to lose everything and everyone. And I don’t just mean they’ll be taken from you- you’re going to die, and so will they.”

“We’ll die slow of hunger anyway if something isn’t done to fix this. Brune’s health…it’s fragile right now. And I don’t make enough to help her if something goes wrong because of her injuries and put food on the table.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. We’ve got you, Ced, we’ve always had your back about that,” Hotel told her, standing up only to sit a little awkwardly on the other side of her on the edge of the bed.

“I know. I know, and it means the world to me, but you lot are putting yourselves in danger. What if you get caught because I didn’t do something? What then? I could give up Xander to my in-laws, maybe. I haven’t spoken to them in a while- they…definitely blame me for her taking the job instead of taking that scholarship to get into Manus, but I think they’d understand. But Brune? She’s doomed if nothing changes. We both are.” Cedes took another deep breath and steeled herself.

“So. What do I have to do to get in on this?”

Romeo pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. He looked guilty still as he looked at Cedes, but swallowed it as he proceeded. He didn’t have his dear Juliet’s iron will and grace, but he would do what he needed to regardless.

“...I’d like to first ask if you knew we were coming.”

“I didn’t. This is pure luck, actually. I was going to have a talk with Nova and Noel about this anyway, maybe ask to get into contact with you. This definitely saved some time, at least.”

“Okay, followup question: how many of Brune’s coworkers are in your corner about this? As in, how many do you think would be willing to organize?”

“Everyone in her crew, certainly. She got drinks with people in other crews sometimes, too. Maybe I’ll ask her about which ones.”

“That…will be good enough for now. I’m sure you’ll hear more from Nov and Noe first, but we’ll be in touch from here on. I can’t promise you immediate retribution for what’s been done, but I can tell you that your contributions will make a difference, and that if what you say about Orek is true, that difference could be what ensures a better future for this city in the end.”

After a little more casual chatter, Cedes and Xander left, the latter taking with him a few sheets of note paper that Kilo and he had started brainstorming new ideas for models on.

As the door clicked closed, Romeo’s shoulders dropped as he walked over to the blinds covering the view to the patio, peeking out through them for a moment before turning his head to the side.

“Tomatoes and carrots aren’t known to make good bonsais, are they, Golf?”

Golf folded his arms. “Guess not.”

Romeo sighed before turning around. “I…suppose I owe you all an apology. You’re always so flippant and unbothered by everything. You never even mentioned her before now.”

“We never wanted any of them to get swept up in this. Not…not so soon. And not because of us, certainly. But it’s bad for all of us if Yuma gets herself caught or totalled. But it’s not like we don’t care- we can’t avoid caring any better than you can.”

Tango put an arm around Hotel, who seemed to be fairly miserable about the whole exchange still.

“I know we’re not Juliet, but. You can talk to us, even so. If you want, that is. None of us are doing this on our own.”

The four of them looked between each other.

“You know, T, we really were excited to get these stupid jobs,” Hotel started, “Maybe we had some grander purpose out in space, but we knew we were never going to see the fruits of all of that pointless planning. Even less so once we knew TCCAI was taking over in the future. Here, even though we’re not doing much, we can see the direct impact we have on humans’ lives. Call it illogical, but that counts for something to us.”

“And like. What do you all even want from us, anyway?” November asked, “We’re not genius inventors or decisive leaders or even especially useful lunatics. All of our jobs could have been done by models that weren’t even sentient- I’m a clock for stars’ sake- it feels like the only reason we exist is because we’re part of a boxed set.”

Romeo frowned deeply. “You…You know none of us ever thought of you like that, though, right? You doing your jobs made ours easier, gave us the room to focus on our own purpose. If anything, we…sort of took you for being people who were slacking at important work we needed you for. I…suppose I never really stopped to interrogate why you were like that, and just assumed boredom. I’m sorry, darlings.”

“And,” Tango added, “whether you meant to or not, you have been changing things here. The people here must have a deep sense of community with you and each other to be willing to support the requests we’ve made of you, and you of them. That in itself is a valuable thing and more than I honestly expected.”

“Yeah, well,” Kilo shrugged, “We like it here. We like helping people, helping this neighborhood, even if it’s just in mundane, achievable ways. Of course we do. Feels good, you know? Hell, it’s not even like we hated helping you guys, it just felt shitty feeling useless. And being bored- not gonna lie, that was definitely part of it. How the rest of you could keep it together with fuckall else to do I’ll never know.”

“As you’ve learned, the world’s full of little things to do. Like karaoke nights. I miss those, don’t you?”

“Sure do…” November sighed, before walking up next to Romeo and elbowing him in the chassis, “Speaking of old hobbies, do you have any gossip for us?”

Romeo touched the back of his hand to his forehead dramatically. “Oh thank goodness, I was starting to fear your time here was making you all less incorrigible.” But a sly smile appeared on his face as he continued, “I might, though.”

The division’s eyes lit up- November’s especially. “Come on, then,” she egged on, “spill!”

“Well. I might have heard from a Capital B Birdie that our new Captain has a new crush.”

“Whaaat? No way, does that mean the previous one is over already?”

“I doubt it. Someone as historically repressed as our dear Engineer probably has room inside their core for a third one yet, I’d wager.”

“Well who’s the new one, then?”

“Some mercenary in their employ. I haven’t met him yet, but he sounds like the strong, silent type from what I hear.”

“Poor thing must be awfully patient to be bossed around by E all day.”

“Perhaps. But then, who’s to say that’s not a sign of possible reciprocation…?” Tango shrugged, then leaned forward, “How about you four? Surely someone must’ve caught your eye in these parts, no?”

Hotel shook their head and grumbled, “This undercover shit is poison for one’s love life. Also it’s gonna kinda suck if we bring someone home and end up having to go back to space again.”

“On that front I must sadly concur,” Romeo agreed, holding his head in his hands, “It is such a shame, though. Everywhere around us are such lovely, beautiful people. Oh but to take a warm hand in mine, to achieve closeness with our predecessors.”

“Can’t doing anything for you there, I’m afraid,” Golf said, but held up a hand for a high five, “but hey. Next best thing?”

Romeo smirked and returned the high five.

“Indeed it is.”

[dysaniadisorder]

In regards to the "paladins and bards are at their core xyz", I'd love to hear your opinions on the rest of the classes as I struggle to have individual options about things and my ideas about classes are just a chaotic collage of things I've seen and read which can lead me to only being able to think of common tropes.

And I like having a springboard to come up with other ideas especially cos I'm coming up with a DnD PC and I liked what you were putting down.

yeah ofc !! to be fair i get a lot of my thoughts on dnd classes through d20 because they have so many cool genre twists (warlock pacts being marriage pacts, a druid whos a total stoner & environmental activist) but generally i just think people have kind of small minded ideas about dnd classes?

ive noticed something strange which is. weirdly enough, people who dont know almost anything about dnd are likely to have some of the most fun campaigns. and i think its because they dont have an already preconceived notion of like... what a wizard can and cant be, what a barbarian can and cant be, ect

subclasses are some of my favorite things in the WORLD and i think they contribute sooo much to the character. Like- yeah, Barbarian has Berserker or whatever, but theres also a subclass that can make you summon wind and snow, theres a subclass that gives you animal traits, theres a subclass that connects you to giants and makes you huge, theres even a wild magic barbarian subclass !!!

and i think adding that one more level of depth to a class just breaks way to a billion other ideas- i have a friend right now writing a character whos family are total hippies, and hes kind of a skater kid, but hes a cleric of peace.

the stereotypes are SO frustrating because no ones having fun anymore, and suddenly you have a dozen elf wizards who are tall and quiet and elegant, and suddenly you have a dozen half orc barbarians who hit hard and dont like having friends. I currently play an Artificer Alchemist, largely acclaimed to be thee most boring class, and theyre fun as hell. i cant do much but what i can do has helped me & the party immensly. my friends and i found charts of all the least popular classes & subclasses, and all the ones least used were cool as hell.

i currently have so many ideas for characters its not even funny !!! my favorite is a cleric who doesnt know theyre actually a warlock. not to mention- theres plenty chance a warlock was some other class before they were a warlock. i love in The Seven, Sam Nightingale has some Bard levels because she was a tv show star and had to take some Bard training because of the program. and like,, yeah! Bards that are not just about music but other points of charisma, honestly you could probably make a Bard politician crazy easily.

to be honest while i said passion is at the core of paladins and bards i think passion may just be at the center of all of them, but it could easily Not Be. Barbarians who hate being angry and struggle with it, Clerics who struggle with their religion (these are both d20 tropes), Monks have all SORTS of junk that I love,, look. when it comes down to it the stereotypes arent bad, they just end up making fairly 2d or boring characters most of the time, which they dont have to. alot of the (annoying) comments on that post are people talking about their characters that ARE this or that stereotype, and thats fine, they clearly love their character and it sounds like they do all sorts of fun stuff with them. but they can do sooo muuuuch moooore

i fun exercise thing i like to do is take characters from other things, either my own or a tv show or game or something and try to spec them as a dnd character. its incredibly fun

my personal favorite classes are Druids and Monks, especially bc i think Monks dont get enough love (also Druids are kind of overpowered) and multiclassing is also so so fuckign fun. my best advice is just like. i dont know. think outside the box & try to be weird about it. i had a friend with a character who was a barbarian bc he had anger issues, but his passion was in food, and as such he was literally a cleric of food. he would level up his classes based on how he had acted in the time sicne he last leveled up and it was always fairly sad when he'd gain a level of barbarian because he didnt want it. i hope this all helps i really love dnd classes

[ike-mcswains-mortician]

OKOKOKO SOOOO!!

This campaign is gonna be set in fantasy/sci-fi, with machines and things but they’re all powered by magic which is supplied by the government. Apparently they get the magic from a big hourglass which nobody has ever seen.

The plot starts out with the party being summoned to the government’s crime unit and are told ‘hey we kind of have a LOT on our hands rn so can you track down these low class criminals?’ and a lot of the party has been sent to do community service and this counts as that.

So the low class criminals consist of Magnus, Bav, Reverence, and scales and tails who are twins. Soo a quick run down on each one.

Magnus is a human warlock who can be identified since he has a burn mark across his face, across his mouth. Like the stitches on zombies? And his crime is that he was accused of murder and he was found at the crime scene sooo.

Bav is a half orc druid who was accused of murdering her younger brother. And she’s kind of like karlach from bg3

Reverence is a tiefling cleric and she was tossed out of her church because she’s actually a multi-class cleric/warlock (not sure if you can do that but uhhh yeah) and she committed arson

Scales and Tails are lizardfolk twins who wear identical gold bracelets on their wrists. Scales is more of an outgoing kid, kind of like lark and sparrow and seems to have no fear and tails seems to have only fear. (That’s because Tails died when he was younger and Scales sold his fear for tails to come back as a hologram in the bracelets but that’s a secret for later heheh)

The main villain is Songbird, an ex-singer (pop idol?) who murdered a group of government officials. He keeps his identity behind his porcelain mask. He’s a water genasi bard. And he actually dated and was engaged to Magnus at the hight of his fame and while magnus was still working for the government. Songbird has a origami bird tattooed on his neck and leaves origami birds at the crime scenes of his murders. Oh he’s a serial killer now i forgot to add

(Magnus’s soul is tied to the couple’s engagment rings and if he falls in love with anyone else, his heart will explode. Songbird cursed him lmao)

SORRY THIS IS SO LONG THIS HAS JUST BEEN FLOATING IN MY MIND FOR AGESSS

OH MY GOD. HOLY FUCK. I HAD TO TAKE A LAP AAAAAAAAH THIS IS SO COOL RAGHHHH I AM BITING EACH ONE OF THE SILLIES /aff

^live footage of me reading that btw

ok so!!!! coherent thought time!!! fantasy technology as a setting FUCKS SO HARD i always get treasure planet vibes and that is literally always perfect vibes.

reverence sounds sick as FUCK and also yes you can have a warlock/cleric multiclass!!! my beloved @lumi-lyn played a cleric in our campaign who multiclassed to warlock about halfway through!! and it was a great move so reverence is going to be SUCH a fun character i can already tell <3

so. listen. you didn’t HAVE to go for my throat with scales and tails like that /pos SELLING HIS FEAR??? FOR HIS SIBLING???? FUCK yeah that’s major lark and sparrow vibes and it hurts so bad but also like. in the best way

magnus being bound to the BBEG with the engagement ring got me REALLY good like i actually had to take a minute cause like?? that’s SUCH a good plot point?? the tension?? the toxicity?? eating that shit up nom nom

on that note SONGBIRD SOUNDS SO FUCKIN SICK AAAH— like ok the hiding his identity behind his fame ???? and it’s porcelain so like it’s fragile but beautiful and AHHH why do i want to write an analysis of a character that i only learned existed 5 minutes ago /pos

ok WOW that was long sorry!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE LORE I AM GOING TO BE THINKING ABOUT THIS NONSTOP AAAAAH THIS IS SOO GOOD <3

[jasminedragonart]

You know what's wild,

So, to preface this, I used to watch bbc's Robin Hood, and Merlin, after that, was just something I thought might be interesting to watch because I thought Robin Hood was really good- also I love mythology and it looked interesting.

In both of these instances I knew these characters, Robin Hood and King Arthur, were going to die at the end of their time on TV, like, there was no other way they could end it. But I didn't see how they would do it, and I think it's interesting because I don't think the writers could see how they could do it either. Like, they knew he had to die, they set it all up, but they couldn't get from point A to point B.

The Robin Hood finale, I was sooo disappointed with. Not that he died. More because Robin never shot his last arrow and was buried where it landed, which is part of the lore. I had hoped they would keep that in because it's really poetic and a nice ending to the character. That this man who uses a bow and arrow as his tool of choice, would use this to decide where he would rest.

They didn't do this. Shocker. So, for me, his death was kind of meh. Like, I wanted that poetic end.

I think, for the Merlin finale, that's kind of why I'm not too bothered about how it ended. Like, I'm mad, but they already messed up season 5 from the beginning so, really, there was no way they could disappoint me more by completely messing up Camlan.

If I was in that writers room, boy would things have gone a LOT differently.

If I was rewriting it, like, with the idea that Arthur had to die at the end of it, I think season 5 would be more setting this up than whatever mess we had with Gwen turning evil.

Like, Mordred was supposed to be this overall villain, but he didn't even go into his villain era until the last 3 episodes, and even then it was such a horrible reason. Like, it wasn't even a reason. They just threw something in there and hoped it sticked.

If I was writing it, I would have kept it more to the lore. They could have kept it more to the lore. I've said this before and I'll say it again but Mordred should have been Arthur's son.

Impossible, you say? I say not. Mordred, easily, could have been under 10 in that first season. We're also forgetting that this is medieval times, Arthur's a prince. I'm just saying a thirteen- seventeen year old is more than capable of siring a child. Maybe Arthur didn't know Mordred existed. But, in My rewriting of season 5 I think it would be such a good idea if Arthur did know Mordred existed. That he helped Mordred escape and handed him over to the druids because he didn't want his father murdering him because he's a bastard or something.

Just think of the dramatic potential, and this would have set up season 5 so beautifully. Just imagine Arthur watching over Mordred, and we kind of know he's fond of him, but we don't know that Arthur's about to drop this bombshell right in the middle of the season that the reason he's so invested in teaching Mordred to fight, in looking after him, is because he's Mordred's father.

Just imagine though how good that would be. The drama. The pizzaz. NOT ONLY do we now have a reason for Mordred to turn on Arthur, because abandonment issues, identity issues, the fact that magic is banned but he has magic. But think of the dynamic between Mordred and Gwen. In the myths it's sketchy depending on which one you read. But in the series, Gwen has no children. She would have to come to terms with this idea that, by rights, Mordred was next in line to the throne, not her children that she hasn't even had yet. There would be this unspoken thing between them where Gwen was unsure about Mordred because of the threat he posed her and he would be wary of Gwen because he's illegitimate and her children, by marriage, would have more of a right if she found herself pregnant.

Maybe it all came to a head when Mordred realised that Arthur would never legalise magic. That Mordred had to kill Arthur for his people. For himself and his own freedom.

Maybe he turned on Arthur because, again, resentment, abandonment issues.

Maybe he turned on Arthur because Gwen did have her villain moment and in that villain moment she stirred up so much shit that Mordred had to turn on him. Maybe she started telling him his place in Camelot was dependant only on the fact Gwen had no children yet. Maybe she tried to assassinate him and Arthur didn't believe him, he believed his wife over Mordred so Mordred is even more unsure about his place there, he's even more afraid of what will happen if he, like Morgana before him, revealed his magic to Arthur. After all, Morgana is still public enemy number one. Is this because of her magic or because of her actions? It all becomes blurry.

All I'm saying is, there were better ways to get to Camlan. I love the bbc Merlin, but season 5 is not one of my favourites. In fact it's very frustrating because there was just so much potential to play with here and 10 years later I'm still thinking about it.