#since all three of them cast the spell in the anime

[alexiethymia]

I really hate this panel because it shows that Aizen and Gin had already pinpointed Hinamori and Kira as the most vulnerable in that situation, and Aizen ‘picking’ Hinamori in particular.

And then I remember in the immediately preceding scene, it was Kira who screamed about not wanting to die, and Gin, in a way, answering it by killing that hollow, showing in a subtle way, how that strong loyalty could have been cemented from the very beginning.

And I keep forgetting that Renji was also in the fifth squad so his protecting Rukia from Aizen was also him standing up to his (former) Captain. Aizen must have undermined him for his brashness from the very beginning, but really that bullheadedness meant that he couldn’t be so easily manipulated so he was shunted off (but seriously that must have messed up his self-confidence). In other words, Aizen really gaslit all of them.

[mossy-rock-in-a-field]

Several weeks ago, my retirement-age mother requested that I play Baldur’s Gate 3 for her because she has trouble with controllers/keyboards and wanted “to see what all the fuss is about with that cute wizard boy.” For context, my mother and I have done this sort of thing in the past with certain RPGs (dragon age, mass effect, etc.), but it’s been a few years since she’s personally requested a game like this. Basically, I control her Tav but let her make all the choices so she can determine how the story plays out without worrying about mechanics. She treats it like a choose-your-own-adventure book.

Anyway, here is a list of some of the things my mother has said and/or chosen to do throughout the course of BG3 in no particular order:

She is (obviously) romancing Gale. She is quite smitten with him and his passion for books and learning; she also thinks he’s polite and qualifies as “relationship material.” She also REALLY likes the things he’s said about his cat so far (my mom is a cat lady), so I know she’s gonna flip shit when we meet Tara in Act III.

She’s playing a normal druid Tav with a generally good alignment. Her favorite spell is Spike Growth because she thinks it’s hilarious whenever enemies walk into the AOE and die. I usually end up having to cast it at least once per battle per her request. Sometimes twice.

Contrary to her alignment, my mother tasks me with robbing every single chest, crate, barrel, and burlap sack we come across; this also includes people and their pockets. The party is always at max carrying capacity. ALWAYS. She doesn’t like selling things because “what if I need them.” The camp stash is in literal shambles. There is no hope of organizing it. She’s got like fifty seven sets of rags and a billion pieces of random silverware.

She MUST talk to every animal and corpse in the game. I think five hours of her total playtime so far (47ish) has been spent speaking to animals as many times as humanly possible. Like, I was thorough in my own playthroughs, but this is on a whole other level.

She did NOT get Volo’s lobotomy, but she did let Auntie Ethel take her eye in hopes of a cure for the tadpole. I did not understand the logic then. I still do not understand it now.

She is far more interested in fashion than equipment stats. Do you have any idea how much gold I’ve had to spend on dyes just to make things match? SO much. Same vibe as that “please someone help me balance my finances my family is starving” tweet but instead of candles it’s thirty thousand fucking bottles of black and furnace red dye.

We broke the prisoners out of Moonrise, but they got on the boat too early and bugged the fight by leaving Astarion and Karlach behind. Wulbren Bongle somehow got stuck in combat mode even after engaging the cutscene on the docks below Last Light; he he kept trying to run ALL THE WAY BACK TO MOONRISE nine fucking meters at a time while I frantically tried to finish the fight with the Warden, otherwise Wulbren would have run straight into the shadow curse. (I would’ve let him go; fuck Wulbren Bongle, all my homies hate Wulbren Bongle. But my mom didn’t know that, and she wanted to keep him safe. So.)

She had me reload a save like eighteen times to save the giant eagles on top of Rosymorn Monastery. Wouldn’t even let me do non-lethal damage just to get past things. I think getting that warhammer for the dawnmaster puzzle took us like an hour and a half alone. (Yes, I know you can use any warhammer, but SHE didn’t.)

She’s started keeping an irl notebook to keep track of her quests between play sessions. She writes down ideas and strategies when she thinks of them during the week, then brings them to her next game session at my house. I think she wrote about three pages on possible approaches to the goblin fortress alone.

She insists that I pet Scratch and the owlbear cub before every single long rest, no exceptions. Sometimes I have to do it multiple times until she is absolutely sure that the animals know exactly how much she loves and cherishes them. She has also commissioned a crocheted owlbear plush from a friend of hers and is very excited.

I’m sure there’s a bunch of stuff I’m forgetting, but those are some fun things I thought of. She’s enjoying the game and is telling all of her retired friends to get it and play it for themselves. She asked me “what is Discord” yesterday and I think my life flashed before my eyes.

anyway shout out to my mom for being neat

Part 2 — Part 3 — Part 4 — Part 5

[vivwritesfics]

Young witch oscar discovering his older sisters first spell book and experimenting. Casting spells left and right not understanding its not a game.

Young oscar discovering karting and climbing to succes when he just wanted to have fun.

Oscar obssesing over lando and McLaren until he got onto the team and met his soul mate

Yes oscar worked hard but young oscar accidently made sure older oscar would be set for life.

Current oscar finding the spell book when he travels home to officialy introduce his bf to his family

Accidently doing a love spell and a success spell lol

hehe so we actually talked about this and threw a reader in there since i don't do just driver x driver - also i'm sorry love but i couldn't work the meeting the family bit in there, but i've... you'll see what i've done.

Warnings: Blood mentioned (human and animal), rituals

"I'm not using your blood for a ritual," Oscar said with a roll of his eyes as Lando laid in the middle of the chalk pentagram. Oscar hadn't yet lit the candles, and the chalk making up the pentagram was now printed on the back of Lando's jumper.

"C'mon, Osc," he said as he allowed the younger man to pull him to his feet. "I thought you needed blood."

He grinned at his boyfriend. God, he was cute. "Animal blood, Lan," he said and moved him away from the ritual set up. He sat him down on the sofa, beside their girlfriend, and she wrapped her arms around him, keeping him there.

The two of them loved watching Oscar do magic. They watched as he lit the candles and redrew the pentagram. It was a protection spell, the two of them knew. They'd seen him do it enough times now that they knew the ritual off by heart.

When the protection ritual was finished, Oscar looked across the room at his loves. How had he gotten so lucky?

He knew how. Little Oscar had spent months searching through his sisters spell books. Spells for luck, wealth, good fortune, good future. Oscar had cast them all.

Luck with is karting career, since skill simply wasn't enough in this world. Good fortune and good future led to him starting his Formula One career and meeting the worlds best teammate.

Wealth. It wasn't a spell for money. It could have been for money, if that wasn't already in Oscar's future. No, he was wealthy in love.

Lando was his soulmate, he knew that from the moment they met. His funny, charismatic teammate. Everybody loved Lando, he knew, but the feelings Oscar had were... indescribable.

He wasn't the only one of them that could feel this draw, but he was the only one that could explain it. He knew Lando couldn't explain why he was kissing his teammate, but he knew he he didn't want to stop.

But then he found out that Lando had a girlfriend. Of course, he did, why wouldn't he? He was brilliantly funny and charming. And Oscar knew there was nothing he could do about that.

As hard as it was, Oscar tried to let Lando go. But then he met said girlfriend. Oh God, she was cute. She wasn't like Lando, and the pull Oscar had to her certainly wasn't as strong, but it was still there.

The way she laughed at him, punched at his shoulder when he made some deadpan joke, she had to be flirting with him. At least, Oscar hoped she was.

The three of them sat alone, just hanging out. It happened often, and were Oscar's favourite times. She sat in Lando's lap as she spoke to Oscar.

And, suddenly, Lando was standing. He placed her down where he had just been sitting, and walked over to Oscar. His hands were on his cheeks as he leaned in.

Oscar was wide eyed, looked towards her as Lando kissed him. This wasn't happening. This couldn't have been happening. She just watched as Lando kissed him.

Suddenly, Oscar was on his feet. "I'm not doing this if it's some fetish thing," he said quickly, looking between the two.

They looked at each other and, well, laughed. They were actually laughing at him, and it fucking sucked. "Not a fetish thing, Osc," said Lando as he pulled him back onto the couch. "I like you, and she likes you, too. Do y'think she could come over here and kiss you?"

It went beyond kisses. Before any of them knew it, they'd been together for a year and Lando was asking him to move in with them.

He cast a protection spell in the dead of night when he first moved in. She had walked in on him blowing out the candles and wiping the blood up from the floor. He'd tried his best to explain, and she was patient with him, listening to all he had to say. She didn't believe him, of course, so Oscar proved it.

He proved it to the both of them, and they stayed by his side.

And here he was, casting a protection spell for his little family. It had been a year of living with them now. A year of keeping them safe, of only casting spells if he needed to. He kept looking at his loves, the loves he had because little Oscar attempted to cast from his sisters spell book.

Hours later there was a knock on the door. Lando pulled himself out of their little cuddle pile. "I'll get it," he said as he stretched up and walked towards the front door.

Oscar tightened his grip on her as they both waited for Lando to come back. He kissed her head and tipped his own back, watching as Lando walked back into the living room and slipped back into his seat. "Package for ya, Osc," he said and handed Oscar the rectangular package.

He pulled it open. "Wow," he whispered as he ran his fingers over the cover of the book, the first spell book he'd ever used. Without this book, would he still have his loves here, holding him tight through the nights?

He opened it to the first page. Wealth. When he'd cast it, he thought he was going to grow up to be rich. He was very wrong, and he couldn't be happier about it.

[bogleech]

MY DRAGON QUEST MONSTERS THREAD

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince is the first DQM game I've ever gotten to play after admiring the series since childhood. The bad news is that it leaves out exactly the three DQ monsters I love most. The good news is that everything else about it is great. I've been taking regular screenshots as I play and I am going to start adding things about it to this post, so it is going to get long. First of all here are exactly my next three favorite monsters in the franchise, which they fortunately did include, and were all available to me by almost the first area:

"Mad Mollusk" or in other dq games "taileater" is great because it has a sad flabby slug face at one end and a fanged leech mouth at the other end. When it uses magic, it reveals giant eyeballs in its antennae somehow?! Love how big the "carnivorous" mouth gets in the attack animation. What a stretchy guy!

"Lunatick" is just called "meda" (eye) in Japanese, I'm glad they decided it was like a parasite thing in the localization.

Finally there's DROHL, a classic DQ enemy that looks like...well I'm not gonna say what it really looks like but I think it's a cool little freak unrelated to that and I think it talks exactly like Droopy dog. Oddly it's known as a "Drohl DRONE," and I believe there are other "castes" in other DQ games, but only the "drones" are in this one sadly. I've yet to find this in the wild; I got it through the breeding system!

....Which is by far the most addicting thing about this game. The actual gameplay is good solid turn based RPG stuff, if a bit basic, but every monster can be bred with another monster to unlock a slew of other species. This is one of the first games in which they actually call it a "fusion" system now, I guess dropping the word "breed" from the English localization, but all other in-game dialog still calls these the 'parents' and 'offspring' and even makes jokes that they're getting married, so yeah, it's still breeding. What happens when you breed a slime with someone's dead grandpa??

.....There are multiple monsters you can get from that, but one of them, and the one that makes the most sense, is Slimeshroom! This is a new DQ slime that's some fungus! What's also fun is that every monster has up to three skills, and each skill actually unlocks a ton of spells, attacks, boosts and effects as you spend skill points on them. Then when you breed two monsters, you can give the baby any three skills from the parents. Any at all! I used this to make my Slimeshroom both a healer and a fire mage in the early game. This catches you up with the same progress I talked about when I first got the game almost two months ago so here's some things that have happened since:

I bred a flying cat and a vampire chinchilla to get a.....sexy bat??

I helped a fat rat - that's the name of his species - rescue his son

I bred a people ghost with a lamp ghost to get a bag of dirt!

I fought this bastard giraffe man who called an elderly wizard a "naughty boy" and put him in candy jail.

"Duffer" from the Giraffe quest is also best friends with Eileen the eye demon, and when you rescue him, they become your loyal subjects! BAD NEWS: this entire game is actually a prequel to Dragon Quest 4, and the player character of this game is the villain of Dragon Quest 4. Duffer and Eileen are also in Dragon Quest 4. They die :( .......Maybe this game gives you a chance to fix that future??? I don't know.

[z3rinn]

# #. KINGDOM CALLING !!

Being a Keyblade Wielder you thought you'd have seen everything by now. But you never expected to end up in a world where the villains you defeated were worshipped.

more twst x kh content because i’ve been hyper fixated on it for the past few months T_T speaking of, the reason I've been gone for so long is because I’ve now got a fic in the makings- using this exact concept! it’s posted on my wattpad and quotev, but I’m also debating if I should put it on this site… it’s quite long though! lmk if you guys think I should :]

Twisted Wonderland was weird.

You thought you’d have seen everything by now. Being a Keyblade Wielder, your job was to travel across worlds, defeating the darkness and hate spread by those willing to conquer.

You’d experienced stories and magic you could barely comprehend, standing on the sidelines as you watched fairytales play right before your eyes.

Creatures and supernaturals were considered friends, being far different from the monsters you imagined them to be. Even talking animals were a common thing now, having traveled with Donald Duck and Goofy for a better part of three years now.

You never thought you'd miss them.

Your life back on Destiny Islands was simple. Back there, you had a home; with small rowing boats and hammocks on the tiny island a quick swim away. You had proper food, with star shaped fruits said to bind your soul with your loved ones. Most importantly- you had your best friends; Sora, Riku, and Kairi— all eccentric yet lovable characters that held your heart. You would do anything for them.

The island was a sanctuary, a place for comfort and familiarity. If you had known what you did now, you would've trapped yourself there, basking in the warm sand and cool water brushing across your body. But then, being young and immature, you just wanted to leave.

Three years have passed since then. Years full of mystery and surprise.

You had undergone many things on your journey; battling against Heartless and monsters. Falling down rabbit holes and encountering princesses every which way you turned. Meeting leaders of all kinds of worlds, binding your hearts to create everlasting friendships. You had even sided with villians, willing to set aside your differences to accomplish your goals.

It was odd… working with Maleficent.

At one point you even had your heart stolen. Ripped away from you to create a husk. And that was just the surface.

You thought you had seen everything by now....

But Twisted Wonderland was weird.

Everything happened so suddenly; kicking open an overly fancy coffin ( far different from the ones Jack Skellington used ) only to be met by a creature that looked oddly like Stitch. But before you could ask anything, he gave chase, demanding you give him your robes— how did you even get these on?

Panic stricken, you ran. Running across classrooms, hallways, and courtyards- all while trying to get away from the cat.

Questions and concerns began to gush through your mind. How could you have gotten here? Where was everyone?

And where were you?

The next thing you knew, you were in a regal library, cornered by the monster. Floating books and dancing lanterns surrounded you, all approaching with intrigue. They all seemed to be observing you, like they were anticiping something.

Blue fire brushed across your skin, the flames flickering against your robes. You realized they were waiting for a spell, like they knew you would cast it before the thought could even pop into your mind.

Just as you raised your hand, getting ready to summon your Keyblade, a whip wrapped around the cat.

Both of you jumped, eyes darting to the double doors, finding a crow-looking man standing there. He looked oddly disappointed. Your eyes immediately narrowed, hands tensing.

Just looking at him made you feel on edge.

He was radiating darkness.

His golden eyes seemed to be staring right into your soul, gazing deep and pulling you apart from the seams. They pierced through your own. Entrancing. Like they were studying and discerning your moves. You didn't like them.

They looked like a villians.

You were wary of the man, raising a brow when he introduced himself. Crowley was his name; Descendant of a Hero. An odd name for someone whose heart seemed so full of darkness. He led you to a chamber room, surrounded by floating coffins and magic. Dark energy overfilled the room, whispers and cackles echoing from robed figures as they eyed your form.

You thought back to Organization XIII.

You didn't like robes all that much anymore.

They were traumatizing.

Crowley huffed, pushing you in front of— the magic mirror? Was that the one The Evil Queen used?

The mask in the mirror spoke, blank eyes narrowing at you as if you'd attack it at any second. Of course, it had every right to be afraid. Your friend literally threw a giant key at it once. Hopefully it could get passed that though, and you could ask it how you got here?

It bullshitted something about you not having a soul, ( you had a strange inkling it was being petty but whatever ) but before it could finish, the cat broke free.

He yelled, claiming he was strong enough to be at this school, and that he deserved your spot. You tilted your head at his outburst. Was that all he wanted? You gladly would've given your spot to him. You weren’t meant to be in this world in the first place. Hopefully you’d be out of here soon.

You had Heartless to go fight.

You had to go find Sora.

A quick mishap occurred, with Grim ( you remembered his name ) setting the room on fire. Apparently he was trying to show off his magic; an odd way to do so but you digress. A red haired boy chased after him, along with a boy with glasses.

Their magic was strange, coming out of a jeweled pen of all things.

Wind magic was casted, similar to your own Aero spells. Water attacks were aimed at it, easily dousing the blue flames. It was honestly amazing, watching so much magic come out of a tiny pen.

The redhead stopped in front of the cat, pointing his pen at him with narrowed eyes. Your own widened as he shouted a curse.

Off with your head.

That sounded awfully familiar.

…

Crowley was going to kick you out.

The magic mirror- or rather the dark mirror- explained that you didn't have a home to go to. You guessed it was because Destiny Islands was a whole other world, and simple mirror travel wouldn't be able to reach that far.

No matter, you could simply contact Donald or Riku on your Gummi phone and go home.

But of course, the first time a phone specifically made to communicate between worlds doesn't work is when you need it most.

So you did the only thing you could.

And showed him your Keyblade.

He muttered something to himself, widened eyes never leaving the blade in your hand. His feathers ruffled in surprise and intrigue, the slight curl of them being… strange. 

It was as if they were smiling.

Your eyes flickered to his own- noticing his scary… intense gaze.

You didn’t dare break contact, being far too focused on those piercings eyes. 

Those haunting, golden eyes. 

Eyes that looked just like Xehanorts.

The Headmage led you to a rundown cabin, home to a variety of ghosts and cobwebs. The building reminded you of the ones in Halloween Town; rundown with mischievous creatures inhabiting the spaces. These ghosts just looked like marshmallows.

You let out a low sigh, allowing yourself to fall on the dusted couch in the lounge. Debris flew up under your weight, flying into the air before dissapting. Your gaze was focused on the ceiling above, dazed as rain droplets fell to your cheeks and the wooden floors below.

The building was silent, aside from the rain. Wind blew against cobwebs, flying past your face and sticking to the rotting wood. Splinters and jagged pieces spiked up, parts of the walls ripped apart from age and student endeavors.

It was lonely here.

You didn't have anyone in this world.

Not even Jiminy fucking Cricket.

You hadn’t been alone in a long time.

The door creaked open, "Myah- it's really pouring out there!"

...

Twisted Wonderland.

That's what this place was called.

A world very befitting for its name.

Everything about this world was off— or at least— Night Raven College was.

Students seemed to love and adore the beings you had tried so desperately to keep away. They had dorms dedicated to them, embracing their darkness and allowing themselves to fall under its curse. Darkness that you had to get rid of.

Of course, they didn't actually know about the dangers you faced, finding these villians to be great and kind. They didn't know of the death and tragedy caused- the mistakes you had to fix.

It was strange though. Worlds weren't supposed to know of one another, otherwise chaos could ensue.

So why was Twisted Wonderland a combination of them all?

You suppose that's how this place got its name.

Everything in this world was twisted. Villians were considered heroic; great and all mighty beings that you and Sora definitely didn't beat.

While in the botanical gardens you sometimes laugh, imagining Leona's face if you told him you helped kill Scar. He gives you weird looks, telling you to shut up and go back to sleep. You try. It doesn’t work.

It wasn't until the Riddle incident did you realize why you were sent to this world. Darkness and hatred had been accumulating in the corners of this realm, seeping into the depths of people's hearts.

It was at times like this that made you miss Sora.

You turned over on your bed, eyes focused on the ceiling above. Moonlight seeped in through the wooden cracks, bits of the glowing celestial body peeking in. It was almost speaking to you, luring you towards it with the promise of comfort.

Kingdom Hearts.

Your eyes shut, turning away from the beckoning moon.

Well whatever. You had another long day ahead of you.

…

Thoughts? This was just a quick wip that I made in like an hour lolll. I’m thinking of doing another part tho, where we dive into character interactions and such. Rlly wanna write for Silver and a KH! MC!

[redrage71890]

HEY NANBAKA FANS!!! Has anyone ever thought about the linguistic skills everyone has? Concerning the fact that the cast is largely international with the inmates primarily besides the guards since majority of them are Japanese (except for Building 5 that's mainly Chinese).

Big Note: I'm not fully caught up in the manga and just basically started it, so this is all coming from an anime watcher. If its somehow explained in the manga then someone tell me please...

Though staying with the primary cast of Building 13, 3/4 of cell 13 are foreigners from specifically English speaking countries being America and Britain. So are the three of them fluent in Japanese? I guess they would because Nanba Prison is in Japanese waters with majority of everyone being Japanese. I understand that the foreign guards would have to know Japanese for obvious reasons.

So here are my personal headcanons/thoughts for the each of the primary characters in the anime (because I haven't finished the manga):

Inmates

I think it depends on the pasts and learning abilities of the inmates for them to have a better understandings of learning another language and retaining that.

Jyugo: I find it hard to believe he would be able to learn another language easily or even moderately. He probably tries to copy how someone pronounces something but he struggles with reading and writing. From all the prisons he's been to internationally, he probably has basic English that was kind of refined from Uno helping.

Uno: Out of everyone in cell 13, Uno would most likely be bilingual with English and Japanese. I don't think he would be completely fluent however, he might struggle with more complex sentences or words he's unfamiliar with. (Also who doesn't think Uno might slip into some angry British English or something...)

Nico: I think Nico would be able to speak more Japanese than English because of watching anime. He can't read so he's going off hearing, so he might have picked up on words from how they're used in phrases and puts them in his everyday. Along with all the guards and Jyugo probably teaching him in some way.

Rock: Honestly, I see Rock using more English than the other three. Using it more emotively especially when he's angry or frustrated, mainly to himself. His Japanese I'd say is decent but not as fluent.

Tsukumo: Definitely bilingual and possibly trilingual. Japanese and English and I'll say Chinese that his 'mum' encouraged him to learn because of possible roles. Probably maintains them by trying them with English and Chinese speaking inmates.

Liang: Japanese and Chinese straight up. Doesn't know English well at all because of the environment and situation he grew up in, but he probably doesn't care about learning another language and just keeps Japanese and Chinese. Too busy training anyway.

Upa: Same thing with Liang. Don't really care and too busy training. English? I think he'd be really competitive against like Liang to see who's better at English.

Qi: Trilingual. Qi is pretty smart so I'm not surprised he would know three languages or so. He might've had foreign clients before he went to prison so he'd have to know English at least. Its Japanese, Chinese and English he knows to spell it out.

Musashi: Most likely the most knowledgeable out of the inmates, considering Musashi went to college so I'm saying trilingual. For all I know he might not be fluent in Japanese but he’s certainly fluent in German and English for obvious reasons (he’s German if anyone forgot).

Honey: Bilingual. He’s half Japanese and American but we don’t know anything about his family so who knows if he was actually taught Japanese at a young age. But Honey is quite smart with his bullets and the thread so I’d say he knows English and Japanese well to near fluency.

Trois: Most likely also bilingual but possibly trilingual. Trois is very intelligent considering his somewhat sadistic self with machinery, in my mind he probably has enough brain space for two at least languages. French is one and the other is Japanese, I said trilingual because I'm not sure if he would know English somehow.

Guards

They gotta be smart in a way and physically strong enough to keep these inmates from escaping. Not to mention the foreign guards having to learn another language to work at Nanba.

Hajime: Strikes me as a man that at least knows decent English but not fluent. I think he's very knowledgeable in other languages but he's too busy to study them or learn them.

Yamato: I don't think Yamato knows a lot of English or any other language besides Japanese. I'm not sure how he met his wife since she's Russian but I think she's bilingual while he isn't really.

Seitarou: Shy English speaker and isn't that confident in his skills, but he knows it decently. Though he doesn't give a vibe that he knows anything other than Japanese or English.

Samon: For obvious reasons he's bilingual with Japanese and Chinese. I like to think that the Chinese inmates and guards talk to each other in Chinese as a way of retaining the language. I see Samon helping some inmates retain their Chinese if some happen to forget like writing.

Inori: Again, bilingual. Highly doubt he would try to learn another language. Would he speak it at Nanba with anyone else? Honestly, he might but probably not often at all yet he somehow still remembers his Chinese.

Kenshirou: I'll be honest here, Kenshirou most likely knows the basics for a bunch of languages from his years in the police and he might of had to pick up basics for other languages for situations or so. Currently, I see his linguistics being a bit broken from not using it and or he forgets because of his work.

Hitoshi: Probably really knowledgeable on linguistics and other cultures but might have trouble speaking. Is very curious about other cultures and actually wouldn't mind learning from the people and feeling a great amount of appreciation for them. Considering the fact that he remembers that Hajime told him that Germans like beer a lot so I think Hitoshi wouldn't mind learning about other languages.

Kiji: This is hard. But I don't think Kiji would be extremely good with learning another language but I think he would know a few words. Like random words he can use and say in the correct times, though he probably would be too busy with his duties

Mitsuru: Ironically, probably knows many languages and surprisingly doesn't butcher any of them. Most likely favours English the most and is most likely fluent. Reason I'd say is from music he listens to or just saying shit for the jokes and memes.

Momoko: Relatively knowledgeable on other languages but isn't fluent in those languages. I'd say as the warden she'd have to encounter many foreigners so she'd know other languages for conversation and what's necessary.

[goodnightmemes]

THE CRAFT (1996) SENTENCE STARTERS

❛ I can't stay home and watch daytime TV for the rest of my life. ❜

❛ The almanac says today will bring an arrival of something. ❜

❛ We need someone to call out the corners-- north, south, east and west. ❜

❛ I am sorry. My defenses are up. People here have been really rude to me. ❜

❛ He comes on to anything with tits. ❜

❛ Everything in nature steals, you know. Big animals steal from little ones. ❜

❛ Maybe you're a natural witch. Your power comes from within. ❜

❛ I had a dream about you. In my dream, you were dead. ❜

❛ Man invented God. This is older than that. ❜

❛ Do you guys worship the devil? ❜

❛ Sometimes I will want it to rain, and a pipe will burst in my room and it will just get flooded. Or I will want it just to be quiet, and I will wish for it, and I will go deaf for three days straight. ❜

❛ Nothing makes everything all better again. ❜

❛ Maybe he was just trying to save face then... because... he's going around the whole school saying that... you're the lousiest lay he's ever had. ❜

❛ Why'd you lie about me? ❜

❛ Look, I don't want to go out with you again. Okay? Please stop begging. It's pathetic. ❜

❛ She's gonna cry, and then I am gonna cry. We're all gonna cry. ❜

❛ You girls watch out for those weirdos. ❜

❛ We are the weirdos. ❜

❛ Did you tell your friends? That you're a lying sack of shit. ❜

❛ Did you ever play that game, light as a feather, stiff as a board? ❜

❛ I think she doesn't want to be white trash any more. And I told her, "You're white, honey. Just deal with it." ❜

❛ Ever since I was a little girl I said, “All I want in life is a juke box that plays nothing but Connie Francis records.' ❜

❛ It's just that I can't stop thinking about you. I don't know why, but I think I love you. ❜

❛ I don't know what's happening to me. I can't eat. I can't sleep. ❜

❛ When you open a floodgate, how do you undo it? You unleash something with a spell. There is no undoing. It must run its course. ❜

❛ You should let him suffer. ❜

❛ It's not for you to judge suffering. ❜

❛ True magic is neither black nor white. It's both because nature is both. Loving and cruel, all at the same time. The only good or bad is in the heart of the witch. ❜

❛ Whatever you send out you get back times three. ❜

❛ You want to invoke the spirit? You must be experienced to do this. It's very dangerous. ❜

❛ You know, the serpent is a very powerful being. You should respect it. ❜

❛ Listen, all I am saying is I think it's enough already. ❜

❛ I know you think we're getting what we want now, but it's going to come back to us threefold. ❜

❛ Are we actually having a theological conversation here? ❜

❛ I mean, it's fun, it's scary. I mean, who gives a shit? ❜

❛ Stop trying to win them over, because it won't work. ❜

❛ How do you know what I look like? We're talking on the phone. ❜

❛ I disagreed with them once, and they turned their backs on me. That's not friendship. ❜

❛ Sometimes it's like we're one person. Know what I mean? ❜

❛ You should have seen the look in his eyes. It was so weird. They seemed empty, like it wasn't even him. ❜

❛ You're a witch! They were right. ❜

❛ The only reason you're in love with her is because she cast a spell on you. Sad, but true. ❜

❛ You don't even exist to me! You don't even exist. You are nothing. ❜

❛ The only way you know how to treat women is by treating them like whores! ❜

❛ He's sorry? Oh, he's sorry! He's sorry! He's sorry! Sorry, my ass! ❜

❛ Don't touch me! Everything I touch turns to shit. ❜

❛ You know, in the old days if a witch betrayed her coven... they would kill her. ❜

❛ I know I don't know you very well, but I just didn't know where else to go. ❜

❛ And now, it's like everywhere I turn, they're all around me. No matter what I do, ❛ they're still there. I don't know what to do. ❜

❛ She's inside my dreams. She knows what's going on inside my head. She can read my mind. ❜

❛ I can't control it. I always end up hurting somebody. ❜

❛ You must invoke the spirit. ❜

❛ If it isn’t real then why are you still bleeding? ❜

❛ Run! Run back up to your room like the little coward that you are. ❜

❛ What's going on? Why aren't you dead? ❜

❛ He came to me. Saved me. And he wanted me to give you a message. You're in deep shit. ❜

❛ By the way, what happened to [name]? They rushed out of here without even saying good-bye. That's bad manners. ❜

❛ Relax. It's only magic. ❜

❛ Look. I know I am a little crazy. I don't mean to be. ❜

❛ It all got out of hand, and I am sorry. No more games, okay? ❜

❛ We were just wondering, do you still have any powers? Because we don't. ❜

❛ Hold your breath until I call. ❜

❛ Be careful. You don't want to end up like [name]. ❜

[tokiro07]

Ichi the Witch ch. 3 thoughts

[The Hunt Begins!]

(Contents: narrative establishment - flow; lore - exposition/speculation; philosophy - respect for life)

Go With the Flow

Ah, there we are! If chapters 1 and 2 were meant to establish the setting, themes and dynamics of the cast, then as I noted was missing before, chapter 3 is meant to establish the flow of the series as a whole. Though it seems like it's only a glimpse, having a lot of the legwork happen off-screen, this is clearly what the series is intended to look like going forward - Ichi learning the habits of Magiks, applying his prior experience and knowledge, then finally passing the trial

Since this one was meant to just be a tutorial, and because Ichi doesn't have the capacity for extended magical fights yet, this hunt was practically over before it began, which admittedly makes it not all that exciting as the first "battle" of Ichi's story. However, it does to a great job of establishing just how much of a threat Ichi is to the Magiks

Raiko never really knew that Ichi was there, and all of his planning towards fighting Witches in a grand display of power were thwarted without him ever realizing he'd so much as seen one. He saw what he thought was defenseless prey and the next thing he knew he was dead(?)

Obviously future Magik fights won't be this easy, but it was important that we got at least one in before dragging Ichi to the Witches Association, as otherwise the first three chapters would be almost exclusively exposition with no real action. While this brief hunt may not really capture a lot of people's attention, it will certainly do more to retain that attention than the alternative

Plus, it's not like there wasn't any exposition in this chapter

Breadcrumbs

Ichi the Witch's approach to worldbuilding seems to be answering questions with more questions. Raiko claims that he manifested in "this world," which suggests that Magiks appear fully formed without the need for parents or reproduction, but that begs the question of how. Are they random? Are they in response to some kind of stimulus? Are they born in that moment, or are they born in another world first and then come here?

This method always gives you more information than you had previously, but also gives you something to chew on, kind of like Undead Unluck revealing that stars or the days of the week don't exist. You can take that information at face value, but it's always clear that there's something more going on with it that's rife to be explored, and pondering those questions between chapters is always a great way to keep the audience engaged (at least if that audience is me)

The lifecycle of a Magik is further enlightened/obscured by the fact that Raiko doesn't seem to need to eat; he spent two weeks barbequing every animal he could find, but instead of eating them he just leaves them lying around cus he likes the smell. Do Magiks subsist on mana in the air? The pain wrought by their mischief? Anything? Whether they need to eat at all, at the very least this behavior paints Magiks in clear opposition to Ichi's Death for Death rule

Speaking of, can Magiks even die? Both of the trials we've seen so far have effectively been "take my heart," but at least in Uroro's case he clearly persisted afterwards, and plenty of trials seem to be non-violent (at least towards the Magik, such as holding a flame for an hour or walking through the wind for 1000 miles)

When a Magik is turned into a stone, is that tantamount to their death, even if only temporary until the death of the Witch that holds them? Or is it more like a Pokeball, and they can be summoned or otherwise interacted with at the leisure of the Witch? Desscaras has yet to summon any of hers despite clearly having a myriad of spells, is that because she doesn't like doing so, because Witches as a whole are opposed to it, or because they can't?

Ichi notes that Uroro didn't turn into a stone, but I would argue that he did - it's just that his also had an entire ensemble around it too. The clasp on the cape clearly resembles Uroro's heart gem, which I took to mean that it was the same gem that Ichi had just stabbed in ch.1, with the rest of the outfit literally being Uroro's body cloaking itself around Ichi

Actually, since Ichi is a hunter and therefore inclined to wear the pelts of what he hunts, I wonder if he'll get unique outfits depending on the spells he casts...it is a bit of a shame that he didn't get to butcher Raiko...

Anyway, even if the gem in the outfit is Uroro's magic stone, it is still notably unique in that it has an ornate insignia in it rather than a chant as Raiko's does. Since Uroro grants the ability to amplify other spells, it seems likely that Uroro doesn't actually have a chant of his own (though I'm willing to bet he'll get one later)

I'm also curious if the chants are distinct from the names of the Magiks - I imagine so, since there's nothing stopping Ichi from just saying "Raiko" after hearing it introduce himself, especially considering that he was able to use both Lazud and Parthion without ever facing their Magiks. Presumably the chants are words in the Magik language that describe how their powers work, since again Ichi only needed to say the words themselves rather than the preceding command ("Pierce through all - Lazud" -> "Lazud")

Finally, there's the matter of the spells themselves. With over 3000 confirmed Magiks, there was always bound to be a ton of overlap between them, and Raiko gives us a good idea of how that overlap might look. He explicitly states that he wants to become the greatest of all Lightning Magiks, strongly suggesting that Magiks have categorical types

Dau, the spell to control water, is likely only one of many water-based spells, each having some way of distinguishing themselves from each other. Perhaps one allows the creation of water? Or the destruction of water? Stagnation? Location? Summoning? Integration? Absorption? Theft? Any number of verbs can be applied to any number of nouns, and each one has the potential to be its own unique spell given the framework that we know currently

The way that Raiko uses its lightning, it doesn't seem like lightning strikes in the traditional sense. The bird we see him fry in the beginning seems to just explode into electricity, which is confirmed later to have been targeting its blood to boil it from within. In other words, Raiko's power seems to be something like "the blood electrocution spell," whereas other Lightning Magiks may have things like "the magnetism spell" or "the static discharge spell"

How general or specific the spells are is up in the air right now that we can barely begin to speculate, but that's exactly what makes it so fun at this stage! When Undead Unluck started, I just threw out a bunch of "un" words to see what kind of things I could come up with, and while I guessed a few right and got the general gist of a few others, the final product was still far beyond anything I could have imagined on my own, both in scope and quality

Even if I end up being completely wrong about everything I've said so far in the last several paragraphs, the fact that this series is getting my wheels turning so much so soon is a great sign for how much I'll be able to engage with it going forward

Speaking of being wrong, I do want to note that there was one specific thing I said last week that was pretty much immediately debunked in this chapter

R.E.S.P.E.C.T

Based on Death for Death, I figured that the whole point of Ichi's approach to fighting Magiks was to demonstrate a flaw in the Witches' mentality, that since Uroro objected to how Magik culture was being treated the Witches must be callous and indiscriminate in hunting them

However, it would seem that to Witches, combat with Magiks is a fairly formal affair steeped in tradition, with each encounter being treated as an honorable dual against a worthy adversary. Even if they view them as monsters to be slain, there's a level of dignity that comes with facing them down and proclaiming one's name. It purports that the two are equals, even if diametrically opposed

Ichi, on the other hand, has no respect for tradition or the wants of the Magik. They're little more than glorified beasts, animals that happen to possess the gift of speech, and killing them is simply a matter of course. It's not about honor or glory, it's about survival, a primal need rather than a show of civility

Of course, there's still plenty of room for nuance in this. While the Witches seem to respect the Magiks as monsters to be battled with utmost caution, they also still view them as monsters. To protect civilians, killing Magiks is a Witches duty; it's effectively pest control. If there's a Magik, it's a threat, and it needs to be eliminated

But to Ichi? Magiks are living creatures. If a living creature kills to eat, that's simply what it needs to do, and it can't be held accountable for that. However, what it means to kill and eat is also a living thing, and therefore cannot be held accountable for its need to retaliate. Whoever wins was just more fit for survival, and neither is more morally justified than the other

In other words, when a Witch sees a Magik, they respect its power by dealing with it, but when Ichi sees one, he respects it by leaving it be until it proves itself to be a threat. Neither of them is necessarily wrong, but viewed from a certain angle, they're both flawed approaches, and I think both are going to need to be addressed down the line

Still, we're only on chapter three, so the nuance of these opposing ideas has only barely been touched upon, with minor analysis from the three core members of the cast. Once we start seeing more castmates, such as other Witches, Magiks and civilians, we should start to get a clearer picture of the dichotomy of this world's philosophy. I imagine seeing the teachings of the academy in Mantinel will be a great place to start

Until next time, let's enjoy life!

[princess-ibri]

Okay, so since we’re talking about Descendants, I really need to get this off my chest, it’s gonna be a bit long 😅

First of all, I have to say that I LOVE how creative you are with your stories, characters and designs!! Like, you pour so much soul into them and it’s unfortunately something that’s been very lacking lately at Disney! You did the Descendants thing so much better than they could!

There was so much that Disney could have done with the idea of a Fairytale Crossover to make this franchise stand apart from previous works that also went with it! Like, instead of having ALL the Disney characters exist at the exact same time and place, they could have existed on the same fictional continent or in the same fictional world but at different places and times so that all of their stories would have happened as they do in the animated movies. And instead of being their children, the protagonists could have been the grandchildren, great-grandchildren or distant relatives of SOME of them, because I truly don’t think that Maleficent, the Evil Queen, Cruella or Ursula would ever want to have children, but Disney went with that because they needed to sell fashion dolls with as many aesthetics as possible (which is ironic because their outfits are soulless, atrocious and pretty much all look the same compared to the ones in Ever After High)!

Had it been only some of the Disney characters having distant relatives, it would have made more sense and they could have come up with an interesting story to explain why the descendants of specific Disney characters have been brought together at this magical school (which should have been much more grand and Hogwarts-like if you ask me)! Could have been a prophecy? A spell? A curse cast by Yen-Sid? The Evil Queen? Maleficent? Or maybe something that was caused a long time ago by multiple Disney Villains? Have these characters been brought here to undo something? Unleash something?

It reminds me of the Grimrose Girls book series by Laura Pohl, which gets often compared to Descendants but is actually more comparable to Ever After High because of this idea of a fate that the characters can’t escape. It’s set in a boarding school, where the protagonists find out that they, as well as the rest of the students, are doomed to repeat the gruesome endings of various fairytales, like the ones who came before them and have to find a way to break the curse before it reaches them too. Disney could have done something similar (not with the gruesome-endings stuff but rather with the setting and idea of a curse)!

Or they could have done something similar to Kingdom Hearts and have all these Disney characters exist in different universes and time periods but have some of their descendants be brought together to the dimension of Auradon for a specific reason! Doing all of this would have allowed for the Descendants franchise to stand apart from Ever After High, but instead they decided to be lazy and rip it off! They really needed to be more creative! Imagine the interesting world-building, the lore and the unique, whimsical designs and outfits that we could have had instead of… Leather and headphones. Disney fumbled really hard!

Right??? Yeah allll of this ☝️ You came up with like three different cool ideas right off the bat, and yet the giant corporation with swimming pools of money--nothing :p

What a waste

[grailfinders]

Grailfinders Viewers' Choice: Don Quixote

today on Grailfinders we’re making Charle- wait, no, not him yet. today we’re making Don Quixote, the man de la mancha! he’s a Swords Bard to get a little too into tales of chivalry and make fantasies into reality, as well as a Watchers Paladin to bring reality crashing back down, but not before proving himself as a hero. maybe.

check out his build breakdown below the cut, or his character sheet over here!

Ancestry & Background

we’ll get to Dulcinea/sancho panza/Rocinante later, but don quixote is definitely a Human. that gives him +1 Strength and Charisma, as well as proficiency in Acrobatics because you definitely fall off your horse plenty and don’t die, as well as the Charger feat. now when you dash, you can use your bonus action to attack or shove a creature, and as a bonus, if you move more than 10’ in a straight line beforehand, you either deal extra damage, or push them even further. it’s not a “good” feat, but it fits with the don’s battle style of charging in without much of a plan.

of course, quixote’s a noble so he gets proficiency in History and Persuasion as well. he’s a little too proficient in history for his own good, and people usually at least play along with whatever nonsense he’s gotten himself into.

Ability Scores

number one is Charisma. it’s how he casts spells, and presumably how his love for stories about knights is warping reality. second is Constitution, because it doesn’t measure how much health you have, but how many hits you can take and keep going. and god knows Quixote doesn’t know when to give up. third is Strength, while that probably should be lower, we need it for multiclassing and I’m not enough of a sadist to do that to you. your Dexterity is just okay. he’s a bit clumsy but its usually played for slapstick comedy. that means your Intelligence is middling- he’s well read, but only in fiction books- and we’re dumping Wisdom. if that’s a surprise to you I really don’t know what to say.

Class Levels

1. Bard 1: since quixote was a nerd and then he tried to be a night, we’ll be getting all his bard levels first, then go to paladin afterwards. that’s probably not the best way to do it in-game, but I’m a sucker for symbolism.

still, as a bard you start off with proficiency in Dexterity and Charisma saves, as well as three skills of your choice- Athletics to charge without getting wind(mill)ed, Animal Handling to ride a horse moderately well, and Deception to fool a country into thinking you’re a king. good luck with that btw, I haven’t gotten that far in traum yet.

you also gain Bardic Inspiration- as a bonus action you can give an ally an extra d6 to add to an attack, check, or save they make in the next minute.

also, you can cast Spells using your Charisma! cantrips like Blade Ward to not die til you have armor on, or Mage Hand for a lightweight Dulcinea; or even spells like Command to be a little kingly on occasion, Feather Fall for your flying girlfriend/horse to break your fall, Unseen Servant for a heavy duty Dulcinea, or Heroism to inspire yourself and others into a battle they probably shouldn’t be fighting.

it’s worth pointing out that bards don’t get proficiency with lances, but you can either call his weapon a spear or let him be not proficient with it. it’s pretty in-character tbh.

2. Bard 2: at level two you become a Jack of All Trades, giving you half proficiency in every ability you’re not explicitly proficient in. I think this is the first time I’d call this feature out of character, but we need it to get anything else out of the class. you can also perform a Song of Rest during short rests for an extra d6 of healing but that’s so negligible it’s barely worth mentioning.

the big bonus this level is your Magical Inspiration- now your inspiration dice can be added to healing or damaging spells to help them fantasy up the place. you can also cast Longstrider this level, quickening your step so you can move ten feet faster for an hour. it’s not huge, but it’s concentration-free!

3. Bard 3: at level three you graduate from the College of Swords, giving you proficiency with medium armor so you can finally get that breastplate out of your closet and go adventuring! you also get the Dueling fighting style, adding 2 points of damage to every attack you make with only one weapon in hand.

you also learn how to make Blade Flourishes by spending your inspiration dice. now your attack actions always increase your walking speed by 10 feet, and upon hitting something you can add an inspiration die to the damage and get one of three benefits. a Defensive Flourish adds the same roll to your AC for a round, a Slashing Flourish deals that damage to every creature you choose next to you, and a Mobile Flourish pushes the target, and then you can react to have Dulcinea drag you back into melee range.

you can also cast second level spells this level, like Enhance Ability, which gives you advantage on one kind of ability check. you can literally gaslight yourself into being stronger now! speaking of checks, your Expertise doubles your proficiency bonus in Persuasion and History checks.

4. Bard 4: at fourth level you can use your first Ability Score Improvement on something useful… or dump it into Charisma for stronger spells. spells like Minor Illusion to make little fantasies for free, or Kinetic Jaunt to ricochet around the battlefield even more! for up to a minute afterwards, your speed is increased by 10’, you don’t have to worry about attacks of opportunity, and you can move through creatures without slowing down! a knight always has to be on the front lines, after all. probably.

5. Bard 5: fifth level bards get some big ol’ boons, like a bigger Bardic Inspiration die, as well as becoming a Font of Inspiration, so you can recharge them on short rests instead of long ones. also you can start learning third level spells like Dispel Magic! it feels rough to end the fantasy before it begins, but it’s hard to get this spell later. it will instantly break any magic of third level or lower, and there’s a charisma check to break higher level spells. given how busted your ability checks can be, I doubt you’ll have a problem dealing with that.

6. Bard 6: at sixth level, bards can use a Countercharm to prevent their allies from being charmed or frightened for a round. it’s not great, you use your action on it, it doesn’t last long, and it only gives advantage on saves. still in-character though. even better, you get an Extra Attack each action, so now you can attack twice instead of once.

also you can cast Motivational Speech this level! it’s a more offensively-focused Heroism, which fits your skillset better.

7. Bard 7: seventh level bards get fourth level spells, like Confusion. let’s be honest, you were confusing people way before this, now it’s just official.

8. Bard 8: at eighth level you can max out your Charisma using your next ASI, and Dulcinea can also help free you from any predicaments you get caught in by giving you Freedom of Movement. while moving freely, difficult terrain and magic cannot slow you down or make you paralyzed or restrained, and nonmagical restraints can be escaped from with just five feet of movement. you even get to move at full speed underwater! I think the only water don quixote falls in in the books is a well, so this is probably canon.

9. Bard 9: ninth level bards get fifth level spells, and we can finally make your ascension-hopping make more sense thanks to the Seeming spell. for eight hours, you and anyone within 30’ of you will look different (if they don’t want to they can try a charisma save but good luck), allowing you to change their physical appearance as well as any clothes or equipment they’ve got. now you can turn beat up old relics into proper knighting around armor!

10. Bard 10: at tenth level, you get another round of Expertise to double down on your Deception game and your Acrobatics. you also learn a new cantrip, True Strike! it’s bad, but your strength score is still a 14 at level ten, so you’ll need all the help to hit you can get. also you can cast Legend Lore too, to learn (or make up) fantastical stories about whatever piece of garbage you find on your adventures.

the fun doesn’t stop there though! your Bardic Inspiration die grows to a d10, and you learn Magical Secrets, letting you pick up spells from other classes! now you can finally Summon Celestial to bring Dulcinea to life, or use Nystul’s Magic Aura to make your armor seem even more special than it already is. the latter spell lets you make nonmagical items magical or vice-versa, at least as far as magical detection is concerned. you can even make living things show up as other kinds of creatures, but that’s outside quixote’s scope.

11. Paladin 1: you’ve got all your delusions of grandeur, so now let’s get questing! at level one, you get proficiency with all martial weapons, so that means you can finally use a lance all proper-like. also you think you have a Divine Sense to root out otherworldly foes as an action 6 times a day. you’ll figure out what kind of enemy you’re facing, but not their exact identity. unless you make one up for them, of course.

also you can Lay on Hands, drawing from a pool of HP to give to yourself or your lady Dulcinea as an action. you can spend five points to curse diseases or poisonings, and they recharge on long rests.

12. Paladin 2: second level paladins get their own kind of Spellcasting, which also uses your charisma. unlike bards, paladins can swap their spells each day, so you can get a bit more loosey goosey here. that being said, I suggest checking out the Compelled Duel spell to force your dreaded nemeses to draw steel, Ceremony to give them a chance to repent like the noble knight you are, and Shield of Faith to actually make your shield a bit better for short periods of time.

you could also use those spell slots to make some Divine Smites, spending magic to deal extra damage with your lance. you’ve even got fifth level spell slots already, so you’re actually ahead of the curve compared to pure paladins. (right, almost forgot to mention, check your PHB to see what spell slots you have at any given point from here on out, multiclassing makes it weird.)

moving away from spells for a second, you get another Fighting Style, and the Protection style is perfect for a gallant knight protecting his lady love. when a creature next to you is being attacked, you can react to put your shield between them and their attacker, forcing disadvantage on the roll.

13. Paladin 3: at third level, you join the Watchers, and elite group of paladins dedicated to defeating evil from other worlds… which, if you’re being very generous, is what don quixote’s already been doing! (hey, his imagination isn’t the material plane.) when you join up, you can Channel Divinity once per short rest, letting you invoke the Watcher’s Will to give five creatures advantage on intelligence, wisdom, and charisma saves for a minute, or you can Abjure the Extraplanar to send aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, and fiends packing if they fail their wisdom save. alternatively, you can Harness Divine Power, spending your CD usage to regain a spell slot.

you also get free spells that are always prepared for you, Alarm and Detect Magic. quixote seems naturally jumpy, and you can’t end fantasy if you don’t know it’s there, probably.

you’re also in Divine Health, letting you ignore any diseases you get. sunstroke isn’t a disease though, you might want to get that checked out.

14. Paladin 4: at fourth level you get another ASI, and we could improve your strength so you can hit things better… orrr we can get Mage Slayer! now casting spells next to you provokes an attack of opportunity, and you get better at ending fantasy without even using a spell slot because everyone you hit has disadvantage on their concentration saves! you also get advantage on your saves against melee range spells.

15. Paladin 5: fifth level paladins get second level spells, a nice consolation prize since their extra attack doesn’t work with your bardic one. your freebies include Moonbeam, which will destroy any shapeshifters it hits, and See Invisibility. neither wolfman nor the invisible man could exist in 15th century Spain, I’m sad to say.

you can also Find Steed if you need Roccinante without all the others attached, or turn your lance into a Magic Weapon so you can actually hit people with it.

16. Paladin 6: at sixth level you get an Aura of Protection, giving everyone within 10’ of you a whopping +5 bonus to every save they make. some people thing spellcasting is a good choice of profession, so I guess it’s time you destroy their fantasy.

17. Paladin 7: seventh level watchers have an Aura of the Sentinel, giving you and everyone within ten feet of you a +6 to their initiative rolls. when you’re literally tilting at windmills, you’re always ready for a fight.

18. Paladin 8: okay fiiiine, I guess you can improve your Strength to something “not bad”, if you really want. now you might be able to actually hit the windmills when you fight them.

19. Paladin 9: ninth level paladins get third level spells, finally giving you Counterspell to stop fantasies in progress, and Nondetection to turn into a regular old man, no matter how many magical items you’ve picked up over this adventure.

we’ll also grab one last anti-fantasy spell with Remove Curse so now there’s practically no magic you can’t suppress, as well as Blinding Smite and Spirit Shroud for a more powerful girlfriend/squire/horse.

20. Paladin 10: with our final level, you exude an Aura of Courage, making you and friendly creatures nearby immune to being frightened. some say it’s because the image of a gallant knight riding to battle can stir the heart of the most craven of men, others say it’s because you suck all the gravitas out of a situation, but either way you won’t be fleeing any time soon.

Pros & Cons:

Pros:

bards are especially good at destroying magic, meaning this build can give even Medea and Sima Yi a run for their money in the anti-magic field. with maxed out charisma, an additional half-proficiency, and advantage from enhance ability, you have an effective +13 on your spellbreaking checks! that’s a 75% chance of breaking through ninth level magic, no matter what spell slots you use.

you’re also great at getting around. no, not like that, I mean you’re a speedy little bugger and you’re hard to pin down, letting you make sure you’re always in the least convenient spot for your enemies.

also you’ve got maxed out charisma and expertise in two different charisma skills, so you can dominate any conversation. whether that’s actually a good thing for your party or not is up to you.       

Cons:

I know I said charger is a bad feat, but it is impressive how poorly it slots into this build. you’ve already got spells that can improve your mobility, so it probably doesn’t help too much there, and not only does it stop you from using your inspiration or divine smites by eating your bonus action, but it prevents you from using your flourishes by keeping you away from the attack action to boot! in a similar vein, mage killer is nice, but if you’re using a lance you’d want to keep people at a ten foot range, not a five foot one, which negates most of the feat.

don’t spend ten levels straight in bard. just don’t. having divine smites or an aura of protection would have been super helpful earlier than we got them, and also we can’t actually use a lance as a spellcasting focus until we’re proficient with them- which currently doesn’t happen until level 11. that’s a long time to wait for a basic part of your build to work right.

the don doesn’t really have any clear direction about what they’re supposed to be doing at any point in time. you could go on defense with powerful anti-magic, or offense with divine smites, but both eat into the same resource and require your full attention to work well. and you might have high charisma, but you have terrible insight, so you’re likely to fall for the first liar you come across- making you the party’s face would be a recipe for disaster. thankfully your deception’s high enough that you can pretend those flaws don’t exist, and everyone will believe you.

[justicegundam82]

PF1: GRAVE HAG

Hello! Here's another of my attempts at retro-converting a 2E critter to 1E stats. After the Rust Hag, I surely couldn't pass up the Grave Hag, especially since I think Hags are kinda underrated and can be just as terrifying and versatile as vampires and liches when it comes to being evil masterminds.

Again I've tried to be as close as possible to the original version, though I had to drop a few special abilities in the process, since I was afraid they would have made the conversion overpowered. I'm still wondering if my conversion here might be a bit much... but I'll let you guys be the judges of that.

Hope you enjoy it!

GRAVE HAG

Image © Paizo Publishing. Accessed at Archives of Nethys here

This woman has a cadaverous appearence, with greying flesh, filthy black hair and bloody sores all over her body. Her nails are long, ragged claws, and her clothes are soiled with grave dirt.

GRAVE HAG CR 9

XP 6’400

CE Medium Monstrous Humanoid

Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +18

DEFENSE

AC 23 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge, +9 natural), touch 14, flat-footed 19

hp 104 (11d10+44)

Fort +8, Ref +10, Will +11; +4 vs. disease, fear and paralysis

Defensive Abilities negative healing

Damage Reduction 5 / cold iron; Immune energy drain, poison; Spell Resistance 20

ATTACK

Speed 30 ft.

Melee improvised weapon +17 / +12 / +7 (1d8+7) or 2 claws +17 (1d6+5 plus grab)

Ranged grave ray +15 touch (4d6)

Special Attacks curse of the grave, grave ray

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 12th, concentration +15)

1/day – cloudkill (DC 18)

3/day – animate dead, contagion (DC 18), enervation (DC 18), vampiric touch

At will – bleed (DC 14), cause fear (DC 15), command undead (DC 16), death knell (DC 15), speak with dead (DC 17)

STATISTICS

Str 20, Dex 17, Con 16, Int 19, Wis 18, Cha 17

Base Atk +12; CMB +17 (+21 grapple); CMD 30

Feats Catch Off-Guard (B), Dodge, Great Fortitude, Power Attack, Spell Focus (necromancy), Toughness, Undead Master

Skills Bluff +14, Climb +10, Craft (any one) +10, Heal +11, Intimidate +15, Knowledge (arcana) +14, Knowledge (religion) +16, Perception +18, Sense Motive +12, Spellcraft +12, Stealth +14, Survival +10

Languages Aklo, Common, Giant, Necril

Special Qualities undead mien

ECOLOGY

Environment any

Organization solitary or coven (3 hags of any type)

Treasure standard

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Curse of the Grave (Sup): Three times per day, a grave hag can put a curse on a creature, rendering it more enticing to the ravenous undead. A target can avoid this effect by making a successful Will save (DC 18). If the save is failed, the target starts drawing the undead’s attention, granting them a +4 bonus on Perception checks to notice the affected creature and on saving throws to resist spells that hide or disguise the affected creature from undead (such as hide from undead). Once an undead notices the affected creature, it feels compelled to kill and devour the affected creature, and gains a +2 profane bonus on attack rolls made against the affected creature and a +2 profane bonus on saving throws against the affected creature’s spells and special abilities. The undead also ignores any concealment less than total concealment that an affected creature has. A curse of the grave lasts for 24 hours or until removed with a successful remove curse, dispel magic, break enchantment or similar magic (against a casting level of 12). The save DC is Charisma-based.

Grave Ray (Sup): Once every 1d4+1 rounds, a grave hag can fire a black beam of bone-chilling negative energy to a maximum range of 60 feet. If the grave hag succeeds at a ranged touch attack, the beam inflicts 4d6 point of negative energy damage, which can be halved on a successful Fortitude save (DC 18). A grave ray can be used to heal undead creatures, or the grave hag herself, in this way. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Negative Healing (Sup): A grave hag is healed by negative energy and harmed by positive energy as if she were an undead creature.

Undead Mien (Ex): A grave hag counts as an undead creature for the purpose of spells, spell-like abilities or special abilities that detect undead. She also gains a +4 racial bonus on saving throws vs. disease, fear and paralysis effects.

Grave hags are a particularly powerful breed of hags with an affinity for undead and negative energy, who make their liars in cemetaries, mausoleums or other burial sites, where they surround themselves with undead servitors and form a kind of twisted mockery of a court. Unlike most hags, grave hags do not have the ability to alter their appearence into a more reassuring shape, and are forced to hide where few people would want to seek them out. However, grave hags are grieviously arrogant and self-centered, and believe that this kind of life is beneath them, so they spend most of their time concocting plans to expand their territory and set themselves up as petty rulers of undead-infested regions.

Even for the standards of hags, grave hags are extremely smug and self-important, seeing themselves as the most powerful, cunning and strongest of all hags, and demanding respect and unconditional obedience from any “lesser” kind of hag. They tend to mock other hags’ abilities that they don’t possess (such as the ability to alter self) as pointless parlor tricks who have no inherent use to them. The exception to this are night hags, whom are seen by grave hags as role models, and to whom a grave hag will gladly submit.

In combat, grave hags tend to hold back and harass opponents with spells and withering blasts of negative energy while their undead minions tear their victims apart. They often open up combat by casting cloudkill and then letting their minions, unaffected by the poison, have their way with the opposition. Grave hags can put a curse on their victims, making them more enticing for the undead to attack. However, if forced to hand-to-hand combat, a grave hag can give as good as she gets, often using digging tools like shovels or mattocks as improvised weapons with surprising skill.

A grave hag usually stands between 5 and 6 feet tall and weighs between 120 and 180 pounds. The bloody sores she naturally sports on her body can make her look crippled and weak, but are merely cosmetical and do not hinder the grave hag in any way other than giving her an unsightly appearence. When a grave hag joins a coven, the coven adds harm to its spell-like abilities and shares the grave hag’s negative healing ability, but a grave hag will rarely join a coven that doesn’t have either herself or a night hag as leader.

[twistedtummies2]

Top 6 Castlevania Protagonists

It’s still May, so I’m still going on a Dracula-thon for the month. So, I guess it’s time for some more Castlevania focus!

A while back, I did a list of my Top 15 Castlevania Characters, overall. The problem with that list is that it was actually really, REALLY difficult to sort out the rankings for most of the characters involved, for lots of reasons. One of them is that the Castlevania franchise has gone through so many evolutions over the years, with no less than three separate continuities (more if you count a few of the one-off non-can games), each with its own unique cast of characters, as well as different spins on characters that pop up throughout the series as a whole. I therefore decided it was a good idea to revisit the idea, and simplify things by splitting the concept of the list into two separate, smaller lists: one for the protagonists of the series, and one for its antagonists. This is the former of those lists.

Now, when I say “protagonists,” I’m referring to the MAIN protagonists. I’ll be judging what counts as a main protagonist via the games, since that is where the franchise originated: to qualify for this list, the character must be a playable central character in at least one of the video games. This will not count characters who are just side figures, such as Saint Germain, nor will it count characters who can only be used as playable figures in a special mode, such as Julius Belmont: these two examples, and others, are certainly awesome in their own ways, but they aren’t the characters we really focus on in the Classic games primarily, and are also usually not central figures in other spin-off works.

With that said, there are still quite a lot of characters to choose from. Some of them are Belmonts, some of them are other heroic figures. Some of them wield whips and chains, while others wield swords or magic spells. All of them, however, typically share the same basic goal: to protect the world from the evils of Dracula and his children of the night. I’m keeping this list relatively brief, simply because - after a certain point - all of the characters sort of bunch up together, and it’s hard to keep track of them all and how they would rank. So, with that said, I present to you all my Top 6 Main Protagonists from Castlevania!

6. Hector.

Hector is the main character in “Curse of Darkness,” one of my favorite 3D-style Castlevania titles. He is a Devil Forgemaster: a human who has the power to summon damned souls from Hell, turning them into monstrous soldiers. Prior to the game, Hector was actually one of Dracula’s war generals: one of the few human servants the undead Count had. However, when Hector felt that the vampire’s bloodthirsty plans to destroy the entire human race had become too much for him to handle, he fled the Castle. This inadvertently helped to allow Trevor Belmont to destroy the Count. Years later, in the events of the game, Hector returns to Castle Dracula, in order to settle a score with his old rival and arch-nemesis: fellow Forgemaster, Isaac, whom Hector blames for the death of his wife. In the process, Hector discovers schemes to bring Dracula back from the grave, and thus must use the powers he once used to help the Count to defeat him before his plans can begin again. I love characters who have redemptive arcs or dark pasts they have to overcome; Hector is a great example of this, as he used to be a villain - one of Dracula’s top agents. This makes the story of his return to the Castle, his quest to stop the monster he once served, all the more interesting. Hector is one of a few characters on this countdown who was later adapted into the animated series; like many of the characters there, this version kept many of the basics of his backstory and appearance intact, but also took some unique liberties. In “Curse of Darkness,” Hector is a stoic and aggressive warrior, prone to following his heart more than his head. In the Animated Series, he’s reimagined as a more reserved, passive-aggressive, scheming character, who has a story arc of growth and maturity. Both versions are excellent and worthy of praise.

5. Trevor Belmont.

Speaking of the animated series, it’s largely BECAUSE of that continuity that this character makes it onto the list. The Castlevania series - at its core - is the story of two basic, feuding factions: Dracula vs. The Belmont Clan. The Belmonts are a family of monster hunters who have fought with Dracula time after time, across the centuries: every time he is resurrected, a Belmont is usually somewhere trying to send him back to Hell where he belongs. However, in my opinion - and this is going to be VERY controversial for Castlevania fans, I suspect - most of the actual Belmont CHARACTERS aren’t really all that interesting. When Trevor started out, he was no exception: in “Dracula’s Curse,” he is one of four playable characters, and I would argue he is one of the least interesting of the three. What little we know about him makes him pale in comparison to the likes of Alucard, Dracula’s own son with vampiric abilities, or Sypha, a sorceress with various magic spells at her fingertips. (Or even Grant, who is a stab-happy pirate.) This was in the early stages of gaming history, and back then, characters typically weren’t all that well-developed: they were mostly just avatars for the player to use to explore or fight with, and that was basically Trevor’s role. Over the years, however, as the games progressed and evolved, Trevor DID start to develop: more layers were added to his personality and his character. In the Classic games, Trevor became one of the mightiest of the Belmonts: a serious and charismatic warrior who was somewhat jaded by his battles, but could still be reasonable and recognize the good in people around him. But it was with the Animated Series that I feel Trevor really became a fully-rounded character on the whole: the series took those jaded qualities and expanded upon them, as Trevor starts off as a disillusioned soul with a tragic past. Over the course of the series, through facing increasingly bitter and brutal trials, he learns to accept his role and status as a hero. He’s easily my favorite of the "Classic" characters who bear the Belmont name, but since a big portion of that comes from the TV series more than the original games, I didn’t feel I could rank him TOO highly.

4. Jonathan Morris & Charlotte Aulin.

I was originally JUST going to give this slot to Jonathan, but after consideration, I decided to give both of the main protagonists from “Portrait of Ruin” their fair share of credit. This is largely because so much of what makes “Portrait of Ruin” great comes from the fact it DOES have two main protagonists: the gameplay relies on a sort of buddy system, with various obstacles that can only be overcome by using both characters, and with each character having their own special set of skills. However, not only is this doubling of protagonists important to the gameplay, it’s also an intrinsic part of the story. These two have a sort of “brains and brawn” relationship: Jonathan is the latter half of that equation. He is prone to anger and excitement, always itching for a fight, and tends to use his fists (or his sword, or his whip) before his head. He follows his heart and his instincts before all else, and while sometimes this serves him well, other times it gets him into trouble. Charlotte is the opposite: she is EXTREMELY smart, but also extremely kind and empathetic. However, she’s also much more cautious - sometimes to a fault - and has a habit of rambling and “geeking out” about things, which can sometimes cause problems in its own way. The two balance each other beautifully, both with their contrasting personalities, but also their abilities: Jonathan is very much a straightforward fighter, using melee-focused attacks and bodily force. Charlotte is a brilliant young mage, who uses spells and her wits to solve problems. I should also point out that Jonathan is actually a descendant of Quincey Morris, one of the main characters from the original novel of Dracula, and one of the few American main characters of the franchise: as an American myself, and as a HUGE fan of the Stoker novel, I’ve always appreciated these facts quite a lot. They definitely earn him a soft spot in my heart on their own.

3. Gabriel Belmont, a.k.a. Count Dracula.

Most Castlevania games focus on the main characters fighting Dracula…but what about a game where you play AS Dracula? This was the approach the “Lords of Shadow” series took. LoS was an attempt to reboot the game series, with its own lore and aesthetic approach, inspired by “God of War.” Fans remain mixed about the trilogy of games that came out of this trial, for a lot of reasons. Personally, while I think the reboot trilogy was flawed, I still think it was interesting and had lots of merits all its own…one of them being that instead of Dracula being the main villain of the games, in two out of three titles, Dracula is actually your main character. In the first game, “Lords of Shadow,” you play as Gabriel Belmont: the patriarch of the (weirdly Scottish now) Belmont line. It’s ultimately revealed that, after the tragedies and tribulations that occur for Gabriel in this first game, along with some later misadventures found via DLC story arcs, he actually BECAME Count Dracula. In “Lords of Shadow II,” the player now controls Dracula in full force, as he is resurrected in the present day to face old enemies in a new world. Gabriel/Dracula is the quintessential anti-hero: while he does and has done a lot of terrible things in the games, he’s not depicted as a straightforward villain. Instead, he’s a tortured soul who is struggling to figure out who he really is and what his purpose in the universe should be, and has to deal with inner demons (some literal, as well as figurative) that he cannot fully control. Top it off with the character being voiced by Robert Carlyle, and it’s pretty clear why this was such a fun ride. I know placing this character in the Top Three is going to be another controversial decision, but at the end of the day, getting to play as Mr. Gold as Dracula is all this NEEDED to make my personal highest ranks.

2. Soma Cruz.

As much as I love playing as Dracula in “Lords of Shadow” and its sequel…technically speaking, this character from the Classic era of the games did it first. Soma Cruz is the main character in “Aria of Sorrow” and its sequel, “Dawn of Sorrow.” He is a relatively normal young man from Japan, and is depicted as what might be termed a sort of "nice delinquent." He's ready to fight when it comes down to the wire, and he's not necessarily the most elegant person in the world, but he isn't a bully or a thug. (He also has an AWESOME fashion sense, and seems very proud of that.) He's protective of his friends, tries to help people in trouble, and gets flustered at the attentions of his best friend/love interest, Mina. (Hello, Stoker reference.) However, it’s eventually revealed that Soma has strange powers he never realized before: he’s naturally gifted with weapons he’s never before touched, and has the ability to consume the souls of the enemies he defeats, as well as use magical abilities like it’s second nature. It’s eventually revealed that the reason for all this is a dark one: Soma is actually the reincarnation of Dracula himself, and the Count’s evil spirit essentially lives, dormant, inside his body. If Soma isn’t careful, he could be lost to that inner darkness, and the good person he is will effectively die, with Dracula - memories and powers all intact - being reborn. The games thus become a story of Soma struggling with his own inner darkness, fighting to avoid giving in to temptation and stop himself from becoming Dracula. He has to not only face opponents who want to try and bring the Count back, but also those who would destroy him in a misguided attempt to prevent that from happening. It’s up to the player if Soma succeeds and remains the good, heroic spirit we all care about, or fails and allows himself to become the King of the Vampires. It’s a magnificent concept, which allows for all kinds of fun possibilities in terms of character, story, and gameplay alike. It’s not a surprise that Soma makes the top ranks for many people’s lists of their favorite Castlevania characters, and while he isn’t my personal number one…hey, second place ain’t half bad.

1. Alucard.

Alucard is a character who was automatically interesting from day one, just because of a simple fact: he is the Son of Dracula. The offspring of the main antagonist for the entire series, who has to fight his father to save the world. That is a compelling concept no matter which way you look at it, and since his first appearance in “Dracula’s Curse,” he has only continued to develop and become more interesting. In the Classic series, his shining moment was in “Symphony of the Night” - one of the most lauded Castlevania games, and the beginning of the “Metroidvania” approach to the series. In that game, Alucard is the main character, and the story goes into great detail about the relationship with his family and the reasons he chooses to fight against his own father. In later games, Alucard would continue to pop up, usually as a sort of guide or supporting player for other characters who needed a helping hand (such as Soma, our previous pick). Being as nigh-immortal as Dracula himself, he was just as capable of continuing the battle. In the “Lords of Shadow” series, the character was conflated with Trevor, to fit the new lore of the reboot: in that version, Trevor is Gabriel’s son, and gains the name “Alucard” when his father - not realizing who he is - transforms his son into a vampire, in order to save him from true death. The two start off as enemies, but eventually become allies. Then there’s the Animated Series, which returned to the roots of the Classic games, but took a few interesting twists: after succeeding in destroying his own father, with the help of Trevor and Sypha, Alucard ends up going on some misadventures on his own, as - much like Trevor and many other characters in the series - he is forced to try and figure out where he stands. He has no mother, no father, and is utterly alone in the universe; this causes him to start to lose his way, and it seems like he could potentially end up just as wicked as his father…but eventually, he manages to find the light and prevails as a hero once more. EVERY version of Alucard is great, in my opinion (though I personally think my favorite is the Classic version, overall), because the basic struggle he has to go through is such a simple and compelling one. The rivalry between father and son, and the way their relationship is depicted in each rendition, is ALWAYS fascinating to see, and combining that with Alucard’s rarely-meddled-with design (which is absolutely awesome) and his vampiric capabilities, he instantly becomes an intriguing figure. Alongside Soma, he’s many people’s choice for the best main character in the series, and I am of total agreement there. There’s no doubt he is My Favorite Protagonist from Castlevania.

HONORABLE MENTIONS INCLUDE…

Richter Belmont.

The main character of “Rondo of Blood” (and its remake, “Dracula X Chronicles”), as well as a secondary figure in some other games. Probably my favorite Belmont after Trevor, and for me, personally, the most visually iconic. I should point out I haven't actually watched "Castlevania: Nocturne" yet, so maybe when I get a chance to see that show, Richter might take Hector's place in the top ranks.

Leon Belmont.

In the Classic games, Leon is the progenitor of the Belmont Clan. He appears as the main character in “Lament of Innocence,” the prequel to the entire Castlevania series at that time, which tells the story of how the Belmonts’ feud with Dracula began. “Lament of Innocence” is his only proper appearance to date.

Sypha Belnades.

Much like Trevor, it’s primarily thanks to the Animated Series this character gets into the ranks. We don’t really know much about Sypha in the Classic games, and she is only briefly alluded to in the Lords of Shadow reboot. In the Animated Series, however, she is one of the main protagonists, and is just as interesting as Trevor and Alucard.

[crwbannwen]

Imagine if you ran away from the fiancé you were betrothed to so you could marry a lord you were actually interested in but despite being named after wisdom he’s so naive that when someone says ‘yo, can you give me something?’ He immediately goes ‘yes, anything.’ And then it turns out to be your ex fiancé and he goes ‘I want my fiancé back’ and this happens before your wedding ceremony but after the start of wedding festivities as well! So then you have to plan to trick your no-longer-ex-fiancé into being beaten up to almost death so he’ll give you back. And you finally marry the Lord you wanted to.

But then you don’t have children and the advisors start telling your husband to find a new wife (he doesn’t listen) but after three years you get a baby boy… who your ladies in waiting lose and instead of admitting to losing him, they kill a puppy and use its blood to frame you for killing and eating your son.

Your husband believes this but also doesn’t want to divorce you so your punishment (for seven years) is to stand by the horse block to greet everyone who enters the castle and tell them your story then offer to carry them into the castle.

Then your son is returned to you by a family who found him as a baby and realised his identity when he was older. And you’re not even apologised to.

Then after your husband dies, your son marries you off to his friend because they’re avoiding war. And you then end up trapped with him, your son and daughter-in law in a world where all domesticated animals and other humans have disappeared in a magic mist. So after living by hunting and crafting you have to move to England. Since there are cities there where you can create businesses as craftsmen, but because people don’t like the competition, you’re not warmly welcomed and your son wants to just kill your competition but your new husband decides to move on quietly without a fuss. So you return to magic mist place, follow a white boar and find a tower. Your son enters and gets trapped. You scold your husband for this and go to rescue your son, becoming trapped. So your husband has to save you which he does by reasoning with the mage who cast the mist spell and something to do with a pregnant mouse. But why did the magician who cast the mist spell do this in the first place? Because you didn’t marry your first fiancé whom he was friends with…

But hey, at least you’re the goddess of horses!

[stinkiesdraws]

@vomitpremium 🥺

DON'T.....START A CONVERSATION WITH ME ABOUT MY OCS....I HAVE SOOOO MANY

I sometimes don't know WHERE TO BEGIN BUT LEMME TALK ABOUT MY FIRST OC NICK SINCE I LOVE HER SO MUCH

SHE'S MY BABY GIRL!!! I've had her since I was like 10 years old. She started as my own persona but I changed her over time to be an original character of what I wish I saw in cartoons growing up. She is my FIRST oc ever. EVER!!!

I watched a lot of anime as a kid and IT ACTUALLY....WAS always super annoying to me when the main female character SUCKED at talking with her crush. I hated the shy timid??? Lovesick fools??? (I was literally only 12 with no crush until i was like 19 so yeah) Girly girls?? Idk how to explain it. But i never felt like I could relate to any female character growing up aside from idk KATARA? FROM AVATAR...

But i also didn't like SOLELY tomboy charactera either because they were messy, rude and HATED girls that were more feminine normally so 💀 i didn't like that either. So i wanted to make the middle ground!

So i made the girl i wish I saw in cartoons and anime. The weird, silly just a fun girl who wasn't participating interested in romance, and if she did start liking someone, she wouldn't become a shy awkward mess when talking to her crush. I grew up literally thinking your partner is supposed to be your best friend! Someone you can talk to anything about...so i generally didn't like the scared to talk to the person you "like"

Anyways...i also grew up watching a lot of Magical Doremi so I made her a witch! She can cast spells, make potions, fly on a broom and talk to cats. I like the fantasy of magic and what you can do with that genre. I also like the idea of modren settings so I made THREE REALMS for my ocs and Nick sometimes likes to travel through all three of them with her friends, going on adventure and just having fun!

So yeah I have more on her but 💀 i always get intimidated when someone just vaguely says "talk about your oc" LIKE NOOOO BESTIE I GOTTA KNOW SPECIFICS?!?

Also nick has her own tag so if there was ever a chance you wanted to read more! Just click her tag right here

👇🏻

(Nick Tag)

[misc-obeyme]

hihi I'm back again, and here to ask who in the cast you think has the skill to do hair/up do's?

I'm 5'9, but my hair is now down to my mid thigh, and like around three feet long ?? I haven't chopped it since 2018, only trimmed it. Yet I only know how to do a simple braid, my hair basically lives in a low ponytail lol (though my mom will still do my hair if I ask her for help, which I'm grateful for)

anyway I got to read vol 2 of the manga and I remembered that the artist drew their interpretation of Lilith. So, it made me wonder if Beel or Belphie would know how to do hair, since they were the closest to her, and if she ever asked them for help?

I think Levi would be able to follow any tutorial, or figure out how to do something by trial and error since he cosplays (I bet he made his ruri-chan wig himself). I'd love to show him a picture of the heroine from whatever anime I'm watching and ask if he could help me recreate their style

Asmo we've seen in the dame cards, he's done some cute hairstyles!! I bet I could go to him if I had a fancy event.

I still think about Mammon's dame card... The chokehold it has on me is wild. We saw him do his own make-up in the art, and I think it was said he made his own outfit. So he's a maybe I could go to him? Or he'd put a lot of effort into learning because he knows it'd make me happy lolol

Barbatos also looks really pretty in the dame card !! I haven't read that devilgram, so idk if he did it himself, but what can't he do? I know in TTWF devilgram he literally makes MC's outfit and it made me SWOON

my last thought is if you can just do stuff with magic instead. Does it drain your energy to keep the style, or is it a one and done kinda spell, and don't gotta worry about it? Could a really powerful sorcerer change their hair color, and never have to worry about it fading? That'd be really cool, since I need to re dye the streaks in my hair. That would save lots of money LOL

okay I'm done 😅 time to wait ten billion years for my hair to dry now and try drawing (aiming for every other day to create something new to get better!!)

- ✨ anon

HOW do you handle having hair that long?!?

I'm 5'7" and I used to have my hair down to my low back. It was during the pandemic when I couldn't exactly go get it cut, so I just let it grow lol. And it grows dang fast, but I don't think I've ever had it past the low back area??? Do you accidentally sit on it sometimes? Or is it usually okay because you have it tied back?

All I know is I was so relieved to chop it all off lol! It's super short now, which is how I like it. It takes me ten minutes to wash and style it. I just don't have the patience to maintain it when it's long. And it's naturally curly, so having it short also means I can just let it curl and not worry about it. Ah but I am pretty envious because I always wanted to be able to have one of those really long, thick braids...

Anyway, getting off topic here, back to the question! I do think magic can be used to alter hair! I think sometimes you can get stuff that's temporary (I do believe there was a daily chat about this where Asmo put some kind of potion or something on Lucifer and Mammon?), but I would be surprised if there wasn't some kind of magic spell to permanently keep your hair whatever color you want. I think it's probably just a one and done situation so you wouldn't have to maintain it. Or at least, they'd want to develop something like that because otherwise it wouldn't be worth it right?

As for the characters, I agree with your assessments! I do think in a general sense, they'd all try their best to do your hair if you needed them to.

But as for who would already be capable without having to learn first, I think Asmo is a top contender. Barb can absolutely do anything and I don't doubt that styling hair is something a good butler should know.

I think Levi is another good option for the same reasons you said! I think he probably does have some skill at wig styling! And due to his ability to do costuming in general, I kinda think he'd be able to do a good job on real hair as well if he wanted to.

I love the idea of Beel and Belphie being good at it because of Lilith. Like I'm imagining they only know some really basic styles that were her favorites, but they're happy to do them for you any time. Maybe they get a little misty eyed while doing it because it reminds them of her so much. Awww...

I actually think Lucifer would do a good job, too, but expect to be sitting around for hours because he's gonna make sure no hair is out of place. Only perfection will suffice.

I think Mammon probably mastered whatever style he needed for his dame outfit, but I do think he would learn for you if you wanted him to.

Satan probably already learned from a book or maybe just from watching Asmo doing his hair. But I could see him wanting to do really elaborate styles or maybe using magic to style your hair.

I think Solomon would also be someone you could try, but he would absolutely use magic. I think if you really wanted him to, he would know how to do simple styles by hand. I could see him being really happy to carefully braid your hair by hand. But he wouldn't be able to resist a little bit of magic, maybe to give it an extra sparkle or a streak of color~ I think he'd develop all kinds of hair styling magic if you wanted him to lol.

Diavolo strikes me as willing but perhaps not the best at this particular thing... he doesn't exactly have experience with his own hair.

And I'm not sure about Simeon. I feel like he's pretty competent (except for technology obviously), so he would probably be able to learn how to do it fairly easily. But I don't know if he'd already have some knowledge. Same with Raphael. Though I love the idea of both of them like... doing the hair of little angels~

Mephisto would know about a bunch of fancy Devildom styles, but would he be able to do them? I think you might end up with your hair braided like a horse's mane instead.

Thirteen would know how to do everything. She's got her own long hair and there's no way that she hasn't experimented with it over the years! I love the idea of her doing your hair and her own hair in the same style so you match.

Anyway, I hope you have been able to get some drawing done! Every other day is an excellent goal! I'm rooting for you!!

[atsadi-shenanigans]

Feeding Alligators 32 - Munchies

Gale is hungry and not for food. So is Astarion, and that innuendo IS intended.

On AO3.

So, y’all nearly lose Lae’zel. Mostly because outta the three options y’all got, “searching for the hidden location of a bunch of lizard murder hobos” sounded like the longest, most involved, and most dangerous one.

Lae’zel takes it about as well as can be expected. She cuts one of her training dummies into pieces with a single-minded viciousness that makes you wonder who’s face she’s projecting onto it.

She does end up staying, though.

Then there’s the western route. Y’all murdered druids so Halsin could have a smooth transition back into power if 1. Y’all even find him, 2. He ain’t dead, and 3. Y’all ain’t dead. Three steps makes this one slightly less of a pain but still not ideal.

So then there’s old Auntie Ethel.

You show Gale the map she gave you, with her house marked on it—damn thing is enchanted and he eyeballs it real weird. There’s only her house and a mark he says is some kinda wayfinder rune stone thingamabob.

To which Wyll chimes in about the rampaging demon woman you kinda roped all y’all into dealing with.

To which Gale puffs up, lifts his hands, and opens a fucking portal.

“Jesus fuck,” you say. “How the fuck long have you been sitting on that?”

“Will it trap us in a stone?” Astarion says, having decided to grace y’all with his presence, though he seems kinda put out by it.

Not long, Gale explains. And also no, on the stone thing.

Gale took a hit after waking up in a portal after the butthole ship went down. Shadowheart and the others chime in with the same. Spells weaker. Some unsteady (Gale says with a pointed look at Astarion, who dodges it) or unusable. Only Astarion seems to have netted positives (which sends him preening for about five minutes).

But their strength is returning, gradually. Gale had felt his magic capacity (“connection with the Weave, Eleanor” so now you’re calling it his mojo) increasing every day. So now he can cast this. Apparently, it connects to that rune stone thing on the map by Auntie’s house. As best you understand it (in between zoning out) it’s kinda a train station (or subway, since it “tunnels between the fabrics of the realms”). Y’all’ve seen weird marks carved into big rocks; those are the waypoints.

You call them teleporters, cause that’s what they seem like to you and you couldn’t follow his detailed explanation all the way through. It ain’t like you can use magic anyway.

As none of y’all want to spend the night at some stranger’s house in god-knows-where, y’all break for the night to settle in.

But Gale catches you before you get far. Up close, you can see sweat on his brow. He’s trying hard to hold himself straight, project calm and coolness as usual. But there’s a strain around his eyes that you ain’t seen before.

“May I have a word?” he says.

Only Astarion lingers, idly swirling a cup of wine near the fire. He looks up as you glance his way, but then you look to Gale again.

“Sure,” you say.

He leads you off a bit, out of earshot of most of camp. Stops at the tree you and Wyll had chatted under.

There, he tries to slap on a smile. But there’s tension around his eyes, and even the smile seems to twitch with effort.

“We’ve been on the road together for some time now, haven’t we?” he says. “Survived some perils, overcame some obstacles. Ever since you were kind enough to pull me from that stone, I’ve seen you demonstrate remarkable guile and generosity.”

This is a speech, you realize. Man’s practiced this. He’s usually expressive when he talks; waves his hands a bit and his face is animated. Here, he’s still and forced-pleasant. You watch him sharper as he goes on; having delivered the opening sentence, he backs that up with exaggerated examples you ain’t sure even he believes.

“In short, I’ve grown to trust you,” he says. And there’s the thesis.

“Okay?” you say.

He waits a pause. Probably expected something more, and when you don’t elaborate, he sort of stumbles into the next part. Uses more words than he needs to (he must be one of those people who get a “five page essay” assignment and turn that sucker into fifteen pages, single-spaced) to get to the next part. “You see, I have this… condition. Very different from the parasite we share, but just as deadly.”

You frown. “What kinda condition?”

Much better than leading with “is it contagious”, which you want to do.

“The specifics are rather personal. Suffice to say, it’s a malady I’ve learned to live with. Though not without some effort.”

Like slamming down both a dirt and a blood potion in the morning. The man makes these for you. He was one of the first of them (Shadowheart being the actual first) who tried to help you. And he cooks for y’all. You owe the man your time and attention.

And then he says he needs a magic item. Which, okay? There’s gotta be plenty of those around Faerun, right?

“I wouldn’t ask this of you if it weren’t vital—dare I say it, critical,” he says. “I may have, ah, pushed it aside for too long, now. The need has become severe.”

You nod, but then catch his glance. You got your arms folded, and your glowing ring lights his face in soft blue in the shade of twilight. Your first, real jewelry. Your enchanted jewelry.

“I know the allure magical items possess. I understand their value, and their power. All this to say: I understand the sacrifice I ask of you, and I promise, you will be rewarded with any and all means at my disposal.”

Again, the flicker of his gaze. The raw hunger in his eyes. Except it’s not just hunger, is it? That’s fear tightening his jaw and drawing a line between his brows.

“What happens if you don’t get an item?” you say.

He loses the last few threads of fake charm. His face goes entirely grim. “It’s already started, I’m afraid. And as you’ve probably noticed. I’ll spare you the finer details, but it begins with simple biological deterioration. Muscle spasms, disorientation, a slight ringing in the ears. And, if left for too long…catastrophe. And not just for myself.”

Jesus on a pogo stick. Only now do you notice the tremor in his hands. The hands he’s carefully left hanging at his sides, rather than draw attention to them as…as he normally does goddamnit.

“Why in the fuck didn’t you say something sooner?” And what the fuck is it about this group of screwheads not letting anybody else know they’re literally starving or like, melting from the fucking inside? These fucking people.

To this, Gale winces. “I don’t intend to impugn what I’ve now seen is your good character…”

“But we’re all a bunch of strangers on a butthole ship. Yeah, okay, I probably didn’t need to ask that.”

A lizard murder hobo, a vampire, and now a wizard with a chronic illness. What the fuck are Shadowheart and Wyll hiding?

You look at the ring. The one good thing in all this. The first actually nice thing you’ve ever had.

But Gale don’t look well at all. And he’s helped you so much in all this. You probably owe him your life, and it’s bad group dynamics to let one of them stumble and fall.

You sigh.

The second you get something nice, the universe comes to snatch it away. As usual.

You try to ignore the way your throat tightens as you wiggle the ring off your pinkie. It’s not even that nice of a ring and it was too small to begin with. And Faerun is littered with more. This was probably their version of one of them quarter machines in a grocery store selling kid’s jewelry. You ain’t gonna get upset over something that small, not when it sounds like this man’s life actually depends on it.

You hold the ring out. His whole face lights up in relief. “Thank you.”

He presses his hands to his chest. His whole body flares in purple light and he kind of grimaces, but it’s the Thanos snap that dissolves the ring to dust what really grabs your attention.

“Holy shit,” you say.

“Yes, it’s quite a sight.” He pants a couple of moments, dry swallows a couple more times, and then sighs as his whole frame relaxes. “H’oh, that hit the spot. I can feel it work. The magic is a lullaby that sings the demon inside to sleep.”

And if that ain’t the most concerning phrase. He must see the “what the fuck” on your face, because he lifts his hands (oh look, he’s gesturing again), and continues. “Not literally. I’m only saying, it has worked. And I am indebted to you, most gracious lady. You can count on me for any aid that you require.”

You…did do it because he makes the potion that keeps your soul from flying off into space. But you also did it because he’s part of the group and you don’t like seeing people hungry or hurting.

“It’s all good,” you say. “How, um, how often d’you need one of them?”

“I was able to wait about a tenday between, back home. I had a steady supply of such artifacts in my tower at Waterdeep, mind you, and I wasn’t gallivanting about the countryside with a worm in my head while fighting packs of goblins. I nearly pushed it too far, this time, and it hasn’t even been that. I suspect I may be down to a hand of days, maybe a few more.”

So about five days, give or take. Swell. Peachy.

Fuck.

“Right,” you say. “I guess we’ll have to keep an eye out, huh?”

The look he gives you is so warm and relieved you have to look away. “I am sorry for asking this of you, but I truly, truly appreciate your help. You do your people credit, Eleanor, to have raised such rare kindness in a person.”

And that’s hitting too close to home.

You nod again, mumble something about heading in for the night. He sweeps down into a both-arms-out bow and leaves you with a defined pep in his step.

He passes Astarion on his way back up, who gives the wizard a single, arched eyebrow.

When the vampire man reaches you, he says, “I’ve known people hungry for power, but Gale takes a bit too literally for my liking. At least I only take blood.”

So he heard. You wonder just how sharp them pointed ears actually are.

Gale needed that ring. You know that, logically. But still, you look to your bare pinkie finger and the cold disappointment sinks into you.

“At least he only wanted that trinket,” Astarion says. “Can you imagine if we’d had to give him something more valuable? Gods, what happens when he needs another one? I’m not donating.”

You try to smile. But too much has happened today, and your own masking game ain’t up to par at the moment. Astarion gives you a sort of pitying look.

“Don’t tell me you actually thought that bauble was useful?” he says.

“Not really. Just, you know. First actually gold thing I ever wore.” And that makes you feel even more pathetic, so time to change the subject and make a joke! “So that means the next one we find, I call dibs, got it?”

He lifts his hands in surrender. Eyes you a second. “Lower class family, was it? Grew up with a single pair of shoes between you and your siblings, and one good dress to visit whichever temple your family liked?”

You huff. “I had three skirts, thank you very much.”

“Oooh, someone’s family was moving up in the world.”

Normally, you’d be down for this sort of game. Teasing is fun when the other person plays into it. But this topic…it’s a little more difficult. And you’d really like nothing more than to crawl into your tent, lay down on your face, and pass out until morning.

You try to smile.

“I’m heading in for the night,” you say. Pause and look him over. He’s a touch paler than he has been the last couple days. A light smear of purple smudged under his eyes. “Have you, y’know, fed on anybody else? Since me, I mean?”

“Haven’t had the chance, darling. Are you offering?” A glint in his eye. You don’t miss his gaze moving down your neck.

“Not tonight, sorry. You took more than my usual donations, I think, and I ain’t really sure how healing spells work when it comes to replacing red blood cells.” At his stare, you veer off into explaining that part of biology, as best you can remember. Then, “But I think in a week, I should be okay. If, y’know, that’ll still help you out.”

He’s on full smarm when he says, “How could I turn down such a delectable offer? Though I’ll be sure to take less next time.”

There’s a slight question at the end of that sentence.

“And I’ll be ready with a potion and some actual bandages,” you say. Last damn thing you need is the whole crew finding your half-bled carcass drooling in the dirt again.

Astarion literally twirls one of his curls around his finger. He’s got such Blanche Devereaux energy.

“Well,” he drawls. “Do let me know when you feel up to it.”

You nod. Lift a hand. “Night.”

“Good night, darling. Do sleep well. I’ll be waiting in my own tent, whiling away the time until I can taste you again.”

Jesus lord.

You consider flipping him off. Decide you don’t wanna take the time to explain that gesture and get into a verbal sparring match over the potential innuendo. Settle for a, “You do that.”

Never has a bedroll been so comfortable.

Which is why you shouldn’t be so surprised when, halfway through a dream involving you and Deadpool (except you were Deadpool?) robbing a steam engine while fighting ninjas armed with a gatling gun, the dream shifts and your soul slams back into your body.

The sudden physicality of it jolts you. Dreams don’t have feeling, but suddenly the air is cool and smells vaguely like…burnt metal? Carbonized steak? You lie flat on your back, staring up at an old screensaver of spinning, LSD purple clouds. And there’s somebody talking nearby. And that voice is vaguely familiar.

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