#that as long as you have at least a copy of the bonus 4* and 3* cards and your cards are good enough

[confietti]

pt. 2 of Emo!choso

EMO!CHOSO who caressed your face while whispering sweet nothings into your ear while you cried into his chest because of your cramps. :(

EMO!CHOSO who was awfully confused the first time you sent him out to buy pads for you.

cho<3: baby whats ur pussy size? princess💝💝: what? princess💝💝: choso answer the phone. 🤦🏾‍♀️

EMO!CHOSO who your lash tech hates because he loves to cum on your face the same day she does your lashes. (he'll always pay for them, though.❤️)

EMO!CHOSO who you can never watch movies with because not even halfway through one you feel a hand slip down your underwear, causing you to look up only to be met with his shit-eating grin.

EMO!CHOSO who doesn't talk much but does silly things to you when he's bored. Randomly biting your shoulder, nudging your head with his nose, etc.

EMO!CHOSO whose idea of a good 'date night' is making out for hours and hours to his favorite songs.

EMO!CHOSO who loves to pull you into heated makeout sessions in public that leave you flustered and horny for the rest of the day.

EMO!CHOSO who will randomly smother his face into your ass while you're on your phone and you don't mind one bit.

EMO!CHOSO who has no problem paying for your hair products, braids, wigs, nails, lashes, etc. because he knows how expensive these things can be and refuses to not put at least some money towards getting them for you.

EMO!CHOSO who your parents still hate but have learned to tolerate because they've come to realize that he wasn't going anywhere.

EMO!CHOSO who took you too an art gallery as your 'official first date'. but instead of focusing on the art like you were, he was more captivated by you.. long story short, you ended up fucking in the bathroom by the end of the 'date.'

Bonus: Your loud moans bounced off the 4 walls of the men's restroom as choso pounded in you mercilessly. Your pretty dark red dress hiked up past your waist as drool dripped on your now exposed breasts. "You're doin' great sweets.. cum f'me, yeah?" his sadistic smile in the mirror was the last thing you saw before your vision blurred and you saw stars. that was the best 'official first date' you've ever had.

a/n: tysm for the support on pt.1 !!

© confietti, 2023. do not copy, steal, or repost my content without permission.

[th0rax]

(Primarily Horror) Audio Drama & Podcast Master List

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone! I'm in the midst of a pretty big and complicated fiber arts project at the moment, so I really needed the hours upon hours of listening material. I thought it might be nice to list everything that has been suggested (including what I myself listed) in case others are looking for new podcasts and want a quick reference.

The Magnus Archives.

Wolf 359.

Archive 81.

Alice Isn't Dead.

Welcome to Night Vale.

The Magnus Protocol*

Sherlock & Co* (not horror)

Camp Here & There*

Malevolent*

Ethics Town*

Red Valley*

Dracula: The Danse Macabre

Death by Dying

Unwell: A Midwestern Gothic Mystery.

The White Vault.

Old Gods of Appalacia

Eeler's Choice

Twigs and Hearts

WOE.BEGONE

I Am In Eskew

Impact Winter

Spines

The Silt Verses

Within the Wires

Shelterwood

The NoSleep Podcast

Shadows at the Door

Limetown

Hello From the Hallowoods

King Falls AM

The Penumbra

The Message

Hi Nay

The Night Post

Midst

Do You Copy?

The Bridge (warning: unfinished and will never be finished)

Margaret's Garden

Out of Place

Sayer

Leeches & Liars

Tales of Thattown

A Paladin's Bargain

Asterisk* denotes an ongoing work

Period. denotes a completed work

Will add more to the list as I see them. May organize better later.

Green - Loved.

Blue - Liked.

Orange - not my audio drama preference, but maybe it's yours. Like teen characters and/or literary storytelling? Browse the orange titles under the cut for details!

Purple - Currently listening

Original post under the Orange Explanations under the cut.

Not For Me, Maybe For You

This is the section for every podcast I haven't cared for, but for reasons that may actually be points of appeal to other people. I typically enjoy immersive storytelling with a diverse cast of primarily adult characters, and I have trouble engaging with stories that could easily be someone reading or acting out an audiobook. None of this means the storytelling isn't good or doesn't deserve your attention!

There may be other reasons a story isn't for me, but if you wish to know, message me to learn.

Old Gods of Appalacia

Do you want to feel like you're sitting around a fire, listening to an older gentleman recount fables and legends from the Appalacian woods? This podcast features antlered gods and witchy women in the context of early American settlements and superstition.

Eeler's Choice

Eeler's Choice takes place in an alternative 1800s setting, in a world where magical, celestial eels are hunted for profit to benefit the rich. It's dangerous and unethical work - eeler's make decent money as far as fishermen go, but many ships never return. This maritime story is told through both acting and narration, switching perspectives as it follows several precocious young protagonists who learn their relationship to the powers that govern the sea, the questionable ethics of eeling, and what they're going to do about it.

Twigs & Hearts

Campers have been going missing...and those who set out to find them often disappear just as quickly. The fair folk can be mischievous lot, and they like to play with the lives of humans. When her crush disappears in the woods, one teen girl sets out with a friend to find them, determined to take every precaution and never lower her guard. But will she be able to trust her own perception long enough to save anyone? Give this scrappy indie production a try and find out.

-----

Horror Audio Drama Recommendations?

Or adjacent. I enjoy nuanced explorations of the complexity of what it means to be human and the extent of forgiveness, the complexity of morality, acceptance of the strange and unsettling, ideally with a supernatural element, bonus points if there is a ritual component.

My favorites ranked so far:

1. Malevolent

2. The Magnus Archives

3. Wolf 359

4. Sherlock & Co (one of these things is not like the others)

5. Camp Here & There

6. Archive 81 (favorite to least favorite seasons: 3,1,2)

[totally-sick-blogger]

5 low energy activities for when you're feeling too unwell to get up but don't want to be on your phone.

Hi lovies!

I think that the title pretty much explains it. Still, I wanted to share 5 low-energy activities today because I know it can be really hard to find something to do when you're not feeling well but you've already been scrolling on your phone for hours. All of these are things that you can do from your bed, the couch, etc. and they are all very affordable!

Tip: If you're doing these in your bed (or somewhere else that doesn't have a good flat surface) you can use a cookie sheet/baking tray. If you don't already own a cookie sheet you can find them for really cheap at the dollar store or a second-hand store

colouring - this one is probably pretty obvious but I think it's a good one because it's pretty customizable. You can buy a colouring book from the dollar store or amazon or Walmart or wherever else. you could even find free printable colouring pages online. the same thing applies to markers/crayons etc. you probably already have some and if not you can get super cheap ones or super fancy ones.

2. crossword puzzles/word searches - I know these aren't for everyone but I love them and they're another thing that you can find paper copies of or online and you can buy a book of them or print them out yourself.

3. reading - This is another one that has lots of options for different price ranges and affordability. you can buy new books, or used books, borrow from a library, or do audiobooks or Ebooks instead. I know that some libraries have apps you can download with Ebooks and audiobooks that you can borrow as long as you have a library card.

4. bead crafts - I love making things with beads (particularly bracelets) because it's, easy, and requires no brain power. I'd also like to mention that if you have poor dexterity or fine motor skills (or want avoid eye strain) I recommend using pipe cleaners instead of string and using larger beads that are easier to pick up.

5. card games - If you have a friend, family member, or caregiver around you can play card games! they're fun, easy, you can do it laying down and there's tons of different games out there.

Bonus

6. This is bonus activity because it takes a bit more energy than the others but I always recommend finding a video essay or documentary on an interesting topic and taking notes and doing a deep dive on the subject!

that's all for today lovies, as always I hope this helps at least one person!

[desperateknot]

A bit cringy, but I will do it again.

Swap Ishqueg/LCB Queequeg AU.

Seven Assoc. South Section 4 ID uptie story:

Heathcliff: So, you see, if it was the doing of a high level member of a Finger, there is nothing we can do. A shame, really, since they promised to pay so much for the post-contract management...Hey are you even listening?

The other child doesn't even lift her face from the paper to respond.

She took another sip of the coffee, totally absorbed by the details of this new case.

She indeed didn't hear a word of what her senior said.

Queequeg: Hmm no.

She spoke slowly, but with confidence.

Queequeg: Not the Middle. This one. Copy cat.

A rare smile formed at the corner of her lips. It is truly unusual for her to be in such high spirit.

Heathcliff: What? Are you sure?

Queequeg: Sure.

Queequeg: Get uniform. We go now.

Queequeg: Get him before the Middle...For his sake too.

Confused and a bit angry, but the other child did oblige.

He decided to have faith in her deduction, after all, when the Director of South Section 6 transferred her to their department, she said.

Outis: She might be frugal with her words, but do heed them. Her insight will undoubtedly prove to be valuable.

It's totally not because he wants that bonus, no.

Either way, he believes there must be a good reason for someone like her to be accepted among their ranks.

Queequeg: Lucky you.

The culprit: Mocking me now? You caught me. What is lucky about that?

Indeed. In contrast to this child's, the body of the man at the other end of her sword has not even a speck of tattoo. He is really not a member of the Middle.

Queequeg: The Middle's retribution would not have been...

With a simple motion, she pierced her sword through the man's stomach.

Queequeg: So swift and merciful.

Queequeg: Impersonating Big Brother. Grave sin.

The child let out a long sigh. And the melancholy returned to her again.

She could never truly escape them. The Middle never forgets.

However, if her knowledge about them could be of use, she would not hesitate to leverage it to live her new life.

That is the least she could do. That is the least she could have done to fulfill her end of the promise made under the setting sun.

Heathcliff: Uh...so there seems to be a really good restaurant near here-

Queequeg: No. I go back now.

Heathcliff: Huh? Aren't you hungry?

It seems like the other child's attempt at consolation flew right over his junior's head.

Queequeg: Miss Faust's tea already. Coffee...yucky.

Personal notes:

The anatomy here is kind of...atrocious. At first, I even got her eye colour, which I hastily fixed in this version. Well, my anatomy from newer pieces is still terrible, but not as terrible, I guess.

You may notice that I am not a native English speaker, so the way I phrased things and wrote things is a bit weird. I'm not good at writing in my native tongue either. I say I'm bilingual, but I'm actually just illiterate in two different languages.

This is not my proudest work, but I do still like the idea a lot.

I first thought of the idea of Seven Association Fixer Queequeg because I want to give her glasses, as I like to do with every of my favourite characters, but then I realised she would probably be good at investigating crimes (like murders) because she did some before? Especially crimes related to the Fingers. Her personal experiences would be helpful, I think.

[freakinator]

I'm so interested, but I don't know where to start watching UU. I'm so confused. Could you please advise me how to watch it properly?

honestly the best advice i can give you is to just search unstable universe and click on any of the playlists (i recommend diya's since it tends to be the most up-to-date one), if you wanna watch just one pov then feel free to do so but be warned youd be missing a part of the experience by doing so mainly through missing context/part of the story for certain scenes (although tbf that pretty much goes for any lets play but if you dont mind that aspect then go right ahead)

a few warnings before you get started tho:

its a huge time investestment, all but the first 4 episodes are more than 3 hours long with most of them either halfway through or nearing 4 hours

some vids are uploaded later than they actually take place on the timeline, i have a guide here if you wanna know at least from what i can tell the actual order is

theres a few supplementary materials (can be found in the extras part of the sheet i linked, not complete yet cause theres some vids i havent linked yet and im still on the lookout for more since some vids get added retroactively in addition to the ones uploaded explicitly for uu), you dont need to watch them to enjoy the story but theyre a cool bonus

if you wanna watch only one pov heres a guide on each of the povs specialties before doing so

general:

they all shift in style as the eps go on, nothing jarring but if you dont like more scripted storylines you may find the later eps a bit lacking

plot themes get used and reused a lot, for example spoke often goes on quests to destroy important landmarks, parrot often goes on scavenger hunts/get imprisoned/some combination of the two, and wemmbu often does things related to civilizations/kingdoms/factions

certain editing styles also get copied from each other, parrot and wemmbu in particular like to do this with each other

themes and styles can also switch around sometimes which can affect future eps on some level

certain exploits and mechanics dont work as intended so dont bother replicating how certain mechanics work according to actual mc cause chances are youll be disappointed by the results (unless youre into that sorta thing i suppose lol)

the main povs tend to stick to the same set of ppl, most likely due to scheduling reasons, so dont expect a whole lot of crossover casting (tho obv there would still be some esp if theyve got a pre-established role already)

spoke:

redacts some important events from his eps but may recount them later on depending on how the story plays out tho not in detail

not a lot of pvp in his pov and when there is chances are hes trying to run away or someone else is handling it (mainly mapicc)

doesnt upload nearly as consistently as the other two, consequently his shift in style is more obvious comparatively but so is his character development

thematically his eps tend to be about personal growth of some kind

lorewise his eps tend to focus more on server meta, for example his pov is the only one where there is clear confirmation of the server being unstable codewise, his pov is the only one where just how large of a problem duping on the server is can actually be seen and felt, and so far his pov is the only one that shows who ash is and what his goals are. basically if spoke introduces some kind of threat in his ep, chances are it'll be a threat to the server meta and youd have to think of the bigger picture in order to grasp how dangerous they actually are

his pov is also the only one you get the full picture of what a soggy little rat he actually is since in both parrot and wemmbus povs spoke is seen as a serverwide threat, directly for parrot and theoretically for wemmbu

if you like ls s4 zam and/or ls s2 spoke then youll most likely like him as well lol

has a small reoccuring cast and tends to stick to one person when going on quests while also taking note of another one

you will feel the ghost of jamatoP haunting this kid wherever he goes even if he never directly references him

parrot:

tends to get dragged along plot points, not in the sense that he doesnt have agency cause he very much does but more like he takes it upon himself to clean up other ppls messes if that makes sense

tries not to get into pvp but he still does get into them quite often, usually tries to run away but when he doesnt/cant he doesnt really have the best fighting techniques

his character development tends toward introspection which leads to a lot of "quiet" and assumptive character development, you gotta use a lot of psychological analysis when watching a parrot episode basically

thematically his eps tend to be about the willingness to get in danger in pursuit of something (whether it be for something greater, knowledge, or the safety of the other players on the server whether it be their life or memories) vs the predictable and stagnant comfort of safety

lorewise the threats he faces are ones that focuses on the actual players themselves, if one is introduced on his episode then chances are that they specifically target and affect players. an interesting example of this is zam, seen as a threat but never actually treated like an actual problem to be solved unlike the other threats he faces and it just so happens that zam is in a really interesting place antagonism-wise when it comes to wemmbu but is otherwise not a huge threat to unaffiliated players not even parrot who he apparently has beef with

has a large reoccuring cast who come in and out of his life, each of whom are important the same way cogs are important to a machine (applies to parrot himself as well). wifies sticks by him no matter what tho

wemmbu:

literally only one episode of his so far does not heavily feature or center around zam and its the one that takes place before they meet, if you do not like seeing/hearing about zam every 10 minutes or so do not watch wemmbus eps or you Will get pissed off

gets into fights quite often and is the best at pvp among the three main povs but isnt the best in terms of the server at large (hes somewhere more along the lines of average)

his character development is. rocky. and cyclical. be prepared to see him spiral and get better and spiral again over and over again basically lol

thematically his eps tend to be about princezam. i wish i was joking. but besides that, theyre also about retaliatory safety, morality, and sacrificing everything just to try and accomplish a singular goal

lorewise he causes a lot of ripple effects that affect the other two povs to a level that neither of them have ever affected him like for example him terrorizing spoke and parrot is what drove them to their current paths (anti-exploit exploiter for spoke and player protector for parrot)

has. A reoccuring cast. most of them are enemies and/or dont matter to him a whole lot personally tho... that doesnt mean he doesnt have friendly relations or allies of any kind, just that the only two you Really need to take note of are eggchan and princezam

i think thats p much all i can say about uu in terms of how to get into it but if youve got any questions of some kind feel free to ask :D

[live-emotion]

I'm new here! What's the best LP option to use for this new event? (Reiji and Otoya) I'm still stuck gaining 500 points for 1 time play with 2 LP, i want to gain more points...

Welcome!! Apologies in advance for the long reply!

Generally, the most efficient LP usage is 2 LP. For both 1 and 2 LP, you get the same rate of event points rewards (10x for 1 LP, and 20x for 2 LP) but past that the higher you use, you get diminishing returns for event points and general reward drops. 3-5 LP are still pretty good, but not as efficient. 3 LP gives 29x, 4 LP gives 38x, and 5 LP gives 46x.

Of all the options, 10 LP is the least efficient with returns of only 75x. Having said that, of course if you only have time to play one or two songs, then using 5 or 10 LP is better than not playing at all.

Disclaimer that I may be missing some tips since I myself havent been playing 100% efficiently either, but heres some extra tips:

Emotional Pieces / Team composition Tips:

Use pieces with an event bonus skill on all of your teams regardless of attribute.

Level up and idolise pieces with an event bonus as much as you can whenever you get another copy of them. In this case its the racing gacha Eiichi and Kira, and the event Reiji and Otoya. You can 'idolise' pieces by filling out the top line of their Piece Board and reading all of their story.

Guest Tips:

Choose guests with the highest event skill bonus for live shows. You can see the percentage they boost event points by in pink above their right title. Eg. 'ライブで盛られるイベントポイントを40％アップ' meaning it 'raises the received event points by 40%.’

You can reset guests using the 'ゲスト更新' button in the top left when choosing a guest to find the best one. Its a bit tedious, but getting a 40, 60, or higher percentage bonus every time really adds up.

Use your event bonus (glowstick) items to raise event points when you use guests with the super high event bonus skills. I saw an Eiichi with 100% bonus yesterday which was awesome.

Live Tips:

Make sure you're playing the event songs.

It seems best to play on the highest difficulty that you can most consistently full combo. Getting an S combo on normal is likely better than getting a C combo on expert.

Skip tickets used to be not worth much, but after some changes they now give only slightly less than playing manually so they're much more valuable. Thanks to @blueesnow for the comparison!

Only use auto if you can't play yourself and don't want to use skip tickets. If you are auto-ing a song, auto it on expert to get more points (I think).

If you lose your combo you can always exit a song by pressing the button in the top right corner, then pressing left button, then the right button to confirm. You don't lose any LP or items spent on the song. Especially useful if you've used a lot of LP or an event bonus item and don't want it to go to waste.

Play the song that you get the most event points for. In this event, Song Letter generally will give the highest amount of event points. You could also: a. Play a song with the same attribute as applicable pieces with event bonus skill. There are pieces with event bonus for each attribute this time. Playing the two Fresh (yellow) event songs will up the chance of seeing a high event bonus Eiichi guest (plus 80% or plus 100% event points). *I'm unsure how much/if the attribute of the guest bonus skill affects event points gained. b. Play the shortest song to save time.

Other Tips:

Use items marked with a pink speech bubble that reads 日限定 before they expire daily at midnight Japan time.

There are event missions for clearing each event song 3 and 5 times. These missions can be cleared by using 0 LP. They reward LP Charges and Event Bonus items. The LP Charges must be used the day that you claim them from the missions screen, so you may want to wait to claim them until you're sure you have time to use them.

Set pieces with event bonus skill your guest helpers in Menu>Player Detail>ゲスト設定>Pick one per attribute using the 変更する button. This doesn't help you, but its common courtesy since they will be your guest helpers for other players.

If you have time, it may be wise to wait until later in the event to use your event bonus (glowstick) items. By that point you'll have higher leveled event cards to use in your teams, and there'll be more guest players with high event bonus skills.

Follow guests you see with high event bonus skills so theyre more likely (?) to show up as a guest for live shows.

[kastlequill]

iii/v. ‘til my pulse loses time: pulsus paradoxus

pairing: kyle gaz garrick x f!reader word count: 1.7k synopsis: the third time you save gaz tags: whumptober, infection, wound tending, hurt/comfort, medic!reader, 4+1, no y/n warnings: none ao3: read here ← prev | next →

III.

You had lost count of how many times you’d warned him about the risk of infection, which was already quite high given the sheer frequency at which he acquired open wounds.

Best keep that thing covered, soldier, had been your soft-spoken command to close out his fourth visit in the span of a month and a half. That time, a stabbed forearm, and the time before that, a nasty gash down his spine, and so on. I don’t want to see you back in my infirmary for a long while, copy?

But it seemed your cautioning had gone in one ear and out the other. It wasn’t that Gaz didn’t know how to protect himself, nor was he incapable of mitigating the damage he sustained in combat; the sergeant was a competent man, something that you greatly appreciated when it came time to patch him up.

Rather, it was more so the case that he treated his life recklessly. Surviving was one thing, but exiting the fray unscathed? That was an altogether different and separate objective which, in his mind, warranted far less concern than completing the mission.

To him, the game plan was very simple: successfully execute orders, then get the hell out of there. Bonus points if he kept the majority of his body intact and functional.

For a soldier, this logic made total sense. Such a thought process was to be expected from someone who had spent over a decade honing his physical form into a weapon and had thus learned how to mentally detach himself from his personhood whenever necessary. During the firefight, his muscles and limbs moved in accordance with years of conditioning and training, acting on autopilot. Gaz, the man who brought you lunch on your busiest days and made damn certain none of your rowdier patients were giving you shit, faded into the background; what he did became exceedingly more important than the fact that it was he who did it.

For a medic, however? The stunning lack of self-preservation irritated you to no end.

And today, that irritation spiked to a record peak the instant he walked into the medbay with unfocused eyes and beads of sweat on his brow bone, jaw slightly loose, chest heaving for air.

“Hey, Doc,” Gaz said with a wince, the greeting sounding more like a croak than anything else. He pressed the palm of his hand to his forehead. “I’m not feeling too good. You mind if I. . ?”

Those were the last words to leave his lips before he all but collapsed into your waiting arms. Ignoring the worry that had begun to churn in your gut, you immediately helped him stumble to a nearby cot then gradually sat him down. Instinct took over, spurring you to quickly gather your medkit, don a pair of surgical gloves, gently open his mouth, and stick a thermometer under his tongue.

High body temperature, difficulty attending to external stimuli, fast pulse—textbook signs of an infection.

You were thankful that the nurse was too busy checking on another admit to notice how you cradled his face in your hands for a beat longer than was necessary after removing the thermometer. “Gaz, I need you to stay sharp, you got that? You have to show me where you’re injured so I can do my job.”

Blinking a little more awake, he gave a curt nod and lifted up the front end of his shirt to reveal what looked to be a knife wound slightly above his left hip. If the accumulation of dried pus was anything to go off of, it must have been at least a week old.

That’s definitely infected, alright.

“Why didn’t you call this in?” You lightly pressed into the inflamed flesh around the problem site, assessing its tenderness, but stopped when he let out a low, pained hiss. “We could’ve gotten it squared away in less than half an hour and saved ourselves the trouble.”

His half-lidded stare locked onto your alert, wide eyes. “Y’told me you’d rather I not come around for a bit, yeah? Can’t have you getting sick of me already, Doc. It’s bad form.”

It took everything in you not to flinch.

Of course a soldier would interpret an offhand joke in its most literal sense. Your playful tease had been intended to disguise genuine concern. Instead, the man had gotten the impression that you were annoyed by his insistence, which couldn’t be further from the truth.

In reality, you damn near prayed to any and all deities for them to shorten the time between his visits and lengthen his stays.

“That isn’t—” You swallowed an overwhelming wave of mixed emotions. “That isn’t what I meant, Kyle.”

He grinned, suddenly very coherent and present. “So it’s Kyle now, is it? Well, if I’d bloody known some measly infection is all it’d take for you to call me by my name, then I would’ve fuckin’ done this ages ago.”

Heat rushed towards your face, mostly pocketing itself in your cheeks. Some reassurance followed suit; Gaz couldn’t be too bent out of shape if he still had the energy and mental faculties to. . . to flirt with you.

As you cleaned the oozing gash, flushing it out with cool water and dabbing on a topical antibiotic with a Q-tip, the sergeant lowered his head to watch you work, eager to witness you in your element. Perhaps it should’ve annoyed you because of how frequently his forehead bumped into yours, but you understood his curiosity well. It was only fair, considering how often you wondered about him in the field; what he did, how and why he did it.

Who he became.

The occasional graze of your fingertips along his ribcage made the skin there to ripple, and he released a shaky exhale. “What’s the verdict, then?”

“Nothing that oral antibiotics and proper wound care won’t fix. But I want to keep you here overnight for observation and rehydration.” You stuck on a lopsided bandage and used your hand to smooth out any crinkles in the adhesive. When you lifted your face to address him more directly, the slight brush of his nose against yours caused a hitch in your breathing, and you jerked backward, startled by his closeness.

A pleased hum emanated from his throat. “Always lookin’ out for me. Soon as I get this blasted thing sorted, I’ll thank you properly.”

“There’s no need,” you assured him, stepping further out of reach. “Just focus on getting better, will you? This prescription is over the course of seven days. Don’t let me hear you’ve been skipping your meds.”

Needing to put several meters between the two of you, the shelves at the backend of the clinic were the perfect escape. There, no longer in view, you sifted through various supplies until you found an open box of penicillin, counted fourteen tablets in total, then funneled the antibiotic into a standard orange prescription bottle. By the time you returned to his cot with the medication, the sergeant was already munching on a couple of crackers, courtesy of the nurse.

He visibly straightened at your arrival and softly said, “Thank you. I mean it.”

Just doing my job, was what you should have replied. Nonchalant; not the slightest bit personally vested in your patient outside of the clinic.

“If you really want to thank me, you’ll stop getting hurt all the damn time,” were the words you muttered instead, sounding like a petulant child. Or perhaps you simply sounded like someone who gave a shit.

Because you did. You, a tested combat medic who should honestly know better by now, cared deeply about him, a special operator who risked his life daily so that the rest of the world remained relatively out of harm’s way. And given the horrors you’d seen both on the battlefield and in the infirmary, to care for someone like him was a terrifying notion.

What a nuisance, these matters of the heart.

His eyes dulled at your response, and you were consumed with the desire to bring back the light in those brown depths. “You know I can’t.”

The confirmation, though expected, still stung. Knowledge was such a curse, you decided. On some occasions, it benefited you to wield it, but on others, it only brought inescapable suffering. Regardless of the consequences, the possessor of said knowledge was forced to carry it within them always, robbed of a chance at blissful ignorance.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” you sighed, lips settling into a resigned smile. “It was worth a shot.”

From then on, the remainder of your tending to him was spent in silence. Not an awkward silence, nor an angry silence; just silence. A neutral, comfortable silence—your favorite.

All that was left to do could’ve been passed off to the technician or even skipped entirely, but you felt compelled to go the extra mile where he was involved. You wet a rag to rid his forehead of sweat and used a tissue to gently dust away the crystallized mucus in his tear ducts. Before you had the opportunity to assist him in laying flat on the cot, your pillow-fluffing was interrupted by the slight weight of cold metal meeting the warm skin of your neck.

A dog tag. His dog tag.

Your brain momentarily short-circuited. The gravity of the action was not lost on you, nor was its heavy implications. Not in the least.

“I’ll try. For you,” he clarified, resolutely holding your gaze, an oath on his lips, “I’ll try.”

Good enough, you thought. Because it had to be.

This would have to be enough, whatever this was. This, a fledgling, precursory thing. This, stealing moments with him during the brief lapses of warfare, hidden behind the plastic tarp covering the infirmary. This, assuaging your anxieties by catching sight of him from afar, the distance between your clinic and his barracks too vast. This, an invisible threshold, a nonexistent white line that warned do not cross. This, the space decreed by professionalism somehow both too much and too little.

This would have to be enough.

tbc.

[kame-writes]

Concerning the media overlords au:

First of all: I love it! Thank you for sharing the idea with us <33

Second: Does Alastor live in the tower with the other Vees? And does Alastor still move into the hotel? If yes, on a scale of one to absolutely how sad/pissed/jealous is Vox after receiving this info?

3. I'd like to imagine Velvette's fingers are constantly itching to get ahold of that handsome deer man, who doesn't know how to dress himself properly or trendy, and give his wardrobe an upgrade. Could you imagine this happening? (Maybe with lots of alcohol involved. So that he would at least temporarily let her experiment with his clothes. Bonus points if she is able to take picture too. Vox would obviously make himself some copies for.. private reasons...) Do you see my vision?? Can you see it??

4. Can Vox convince Alastor to do more audio features within their network? Like podcasts or interviews and the like? Or are they just screams as well? (I recently discovered a podcast about cooking, where each week they talk about one ingredient and explain a recipe with it. I think this would fit Alastor's preferences very well.. tho the ingredients might not be as commonly used now that I think about it... anyhow... now I can't stop thinking about Hannibal and Alastor hosting a food podcast.. oops.. sorry, but not really)

5. You mentioned that Husk still works in his casino, if he isn't needed. Do you have any headcanons for Niffty's whereabouts?

Anyway that's all for now! Have a lovely day/night! <33

p.s. Sorry if this ask is intrusive. For some questions it's pretty clear that I've already imagined something for myself that may or may not fit with your vision of this au. If you feel like I overstepped, feel free to ignore this or send me an alastor_fuck_u. gif :D

Im am very happy to have questions asked! You have no idea how many ideas i have and dont know what to do with xD

I'd love to see other peoples headcanons and ideas for this universe, if anyone does anything for it then please tag me so i can see ^^

This is gonna get long so I've put it under a read more

2: No one is really sure if he lives there or just works there. He HAS his own suite in the tower, but he's not always there when they go look for him, and not being able to find him is very a common occurrence, made more frustrating because he refuses to carry or awnser the mobile phone they forced on him. He hangs around in the common areas like the kitchen and living room sometimes. And if they do manage to rope him into something like a movie night its a huge hassle, because he will insist on a black and white or silent film if he HAS to engage with the tv, and Vel and Val hate those.

The whole top of the Tower is dominated by his large Radio tower though, its slightly seperated from the rest of the building, suspended above it with a staircase/ladder to enter the hatch. Valentino is usually not brave enough to check there for Alastor.

Its the same with the hotel. He does move into his own room there, but goes back and forth a lot, and doesnt have a schedule. Vox tires to pretend hes fine with it at first but often ends up the hotel to be a pain in the ass to Charlie, and getting kicked out by the staff of Alastor. Hes convinced himself that Alastor will lose interest sooner rather than later, and the others just tune out his whining at this point. No one buys it when he claims he didnt even notice Alastor was gone as soon as the Radio Demon gets back to the tower.

3: I may be planning to draw this haha He does let her dress him up ocassionally, he has a few differant suits he's approved of and kept, but does wear his original the most the time. Velvette has a line of 'Vintage chic' clothing that partly started as a way to get Alastor to agree to changing his 'ratty ass old man style' by appealing to clothes that were updated takes on his era. He still very rarely leaves the tower in anything but his own usual attire.

He does on rare occasions allow photos to be taken of him by the vees (and once, later on by charlie, under strict instructions that she keeps it to herself) but no video. And none under any circumstances are allowed on social media. He has blown up a few phones that have attempted, both the Vees and employees.

4: Alastor has agreed to be on a podcast a few times, but its rare, and only if its somehting hes really interested in talking about. It's one of the few modern things he approves of since its just a version of a radio talk show. Same with interviews, he keeps them even more extremly rare, and the mystery of the radio Demon keeps sinners in fear more than him being in the public. Vox always wants him to do more since the ratings sky rocket when Alastor features.

When Alastor has done an interview it is with his back to the camera, and sitting in a large wingbacked stupidly over the top ornate chair, that hides him from being seen, except maybe the top tuffs of his ears and antlers. And he doesnt reveal much about himself when he does. The chair is partly to hide him, and partly to stop the equitment form glitching too much. He likes to pulls faces and makes gestures deliberatly made to make Vox falter and look stupid on camera, since hes the only one who can see him in that chair.

He has teased on his own radio show that one 'lucky' sinner may get the chance to be on both a guest star on his radio broadcast AND a livestream if the mood takes. Valentino had to inform him that what he's referring to is called a snuff film

5: Niffty gets moved to the hotel pretty much full time once Alastor gets involved, Husk is a part time employee, but ends up spending less time at his casino as time goes on.

Valentino is happy Niffty is gone because she creeps him out, she ocassionally hung around his studio during work hours, especially if theyre doing a scene with 'bad boys'. Vox isn't bothered. Velvette is not happy, especially that Niffty is reduced to a maid/janitor for the hotel, and makes that very known to Alastor. Velvette loves Niffty, they are chaos sisters and work on very sketchy sounding potions together, and gang up against the boys.

Niffty is also a great seamstress herself and brings her designs to Velvette like an excited child showing off their latest art project. Almost none of these get used, but Vel has fun forcing models to parade around the studio and work in something Nifftys made, they often include bugs and bodyparts, Velvette finds this halarious.

[graysparrowao3]

Heyyooo!

I'm popping in cause i just wanted to let you i really love your stuff and miss seeing you on my dash.(why tumble timeout??) I'm sorry someone felt the need to come at you with unkindness but i bet there's a lot more people who LOVE seeing you roll across their timeline (self included). I love your writing, its super sweet and i adore how you present the characters. I do hope that person didn't dampen your spirits too much, You're a gem!

Helloooo! 💛 This was such a kind thing that you took the time to say, thank you so much. It really, really lifted my spirits and to hear that you enjoy my presence and writing is so touching (and especially as I absolutely adore all your content and posts too!). You're absolute royalty. I'm so glad to actually be able to be back in your presence and respond to you now as well!

I don't know if you remember this post, but in celebration of being freed from Tumblr jail and in gratitude for your kind words, I finally wrote you something based on this prompt. It's just a series of three short scenes but I hope you like it! I'll put it below a cut.

Summary for bonus part 4 of the Rolan, Cal, and Lia sneaking in and out for dates series: Cal and Lia are sneaking around trying to hide their romance liaisons from Rolan, who, unbeknownst to his siblings, already knows about them both...

Words: 1,174

Cal gathered up the usual stack of envelopes, scrolls, and a copy of the latest Baldur’s Mouth that filled the postbox and began to sort through them as he sauntered into the kitchen where his family was seated.  

“For the owner of Ramazith’s Tower.” Cal handed an unusual, sealed paper over, then dropped the rest of the assorted junk onto the middle of the table.

Rolan tucked the envelope quickly away.

“Love letter?” Lia teased.

“Not that it would be your business if it was.” Rolan returned the light-hearted tone.

“Just joking,” Lia leaned casually on her shoulders, “but now I’m interested.”

“Never you mind.” Rolan waved her away, taking another bite to break his fast.

“Not that you have to tell us,” Cal settled back onto the table and flipped idly through the Gazette without reading it, “but it would be nice if you found someone.”

“I’m sure it would,” Rolan mumbled, “alas, your curiosity will remain unsatisfied. I promise it is not about my personal affairs.”

“If you say so,” Cal was already distracted by one of the illustrations, dropping crumbs onto the page as he chewed. “Weird thing the other day. Could’ve sworn I was being followed.”

“How’d you figure?” Lia’s brow creased with concern as she placed her drink down.

“Pass that here,” Rolan ignored the conversation and gestured for Cal to hand him the newspaper.

“Not sure exactly. Might’ve been imagining it.” Cal grimaced as he tried to recall, “was probably nothing.”

“Worth checking, though,” his sister insisted.

“I’m sure you’re making a mountain out of a molehill.” Rolan glanced briefly over the top of the page.

“Yeah,” he shrugged, “you’re probably right.”

“Rolan,” Lia pulled down the top of the paper in front of him, “think it’s worth a check – to be sure.”

He opened his mouth, then scoffed, reluctantly agreeing,

“Fine, fine, I’ll check up on it today. I’ve got more than a few favours I can call in. I’ll keep us quite safe, fear not,” he folded the newspaper and tucked it under his arm.

“Thank you, Rolan.”

When they were done and the crumbs cleared and the plates cleaned, Rolan restrained his interest long enough to nonchalantly stroll to his office. Once inside, he quickly applied an Arcane Lock to the door and hurried to the desk, eagerly taking out the envelope and opening it with rushed hands. The letter unfolded, finally the favour he’d called in had paid off. He huffed as he read – they could’ve been a little more subtle about it, at least; he wasn't supposed to have been aware of them.

Archmage Rolan – as you wished, please find below the following information regarding the individual that has been seen in the company of your brother. Stand up member of society, as far as I can tell. Boring, honestly. And not that you asked my opinion, but they did seem rather happy in each other’s presence. It was sickening.

No, I didn’t ask, Rolan thought, but he couldn’t help but smile.

Rolan sat, legs and arms crossed. Eyelids falling gently shut before he commanded them to remain open. It would be morning soon. Lia should have been back long ago. His foot tapped restlessly against the floor. Then… a sound. He leant forward in the chair, ears willing it louder. Two sets of poorly concealed footsteps lazily approaching the door outside. He exhaled. At least she was alright. A click in the lock and the door creaked open. With a quick flick of his wrist, Rolan shrouded himself in Invisibility.

An uncharacteristic giggle followed by a soft gasp of excitement. His sister stepped backwards across the threshold,

“Shh,” Lia pressing her finger delicately against her partner’s lips, “lest my brothers hear.”

Rolan raised an eyebrow.

Lia fell back in, replacing her finger with her own lips. She pulled them in close, willing them to step into the tower with her body, hands in their hair. They obliged, their hands on her, searching the edges of her corset, exploring the material tight against her sides, sitting on her hips, teasing at her waist.

Oh, Gods, no. Absolutely not.

A sudden sound caused Lia to pull away. She turned to see a heavy tome that had slammed onto the ground nearby. She crept over and looked around, finding no obvious place where it could have fallen from or been dislodged.

“Tower is Gods damned cursed.” She muttered. She returned to her lover at the door, lacing her arms around their shoulders and pulling them in for a passionate goodbye. Rolan rolled his eyes and shuffled away, grateful to find his bed.

Rolan was enjoying a glass of his favourite red and warming himself by the fireplace after a long day. Long, but rewarding. Honestly, he couldn’t have imagined better, more fulfilling days. He heard the comforting noise of two tieflings moving into the room to join him before the night called to them all.

“I thought we might,” Rolan gestured lazily with his glass, “spend some time together tomorrow evening. Games, drinks, what have you.”

“Tomorrow?” Lia stopped before she made it to a chair, her question tenser than it ought to have been.

“Does it have to be tomorrow, Rolan?” Cal exchanged an uneasy look with her.

“I suppose not, though,” Rolan took a sip of his wine and smiled indulgently into the glass; he’d let them sweat just a little, “what’s the problem with tomorrow?”

“Just…” Cal stumbled, “something else might come up.”

“Might it,” Rolan raised an amused eyebrow.

“I just mean, there was something going on, maybe. I’m not sure. Better to be free for it than not.”

“Is that so,” he took another sip, enjoying himself immensely.

“All got our secrets,” Lia crossed her arms defiantly, “don’t ask you about yours.”

“I think you’ll find you do,” Rolan waved his goblet, “all the Gods damned time, actually.”

“Fine, have it your way.” Lia said, wishing she didn’t sound as disappointed as she did.

“No, no, by all means, do have your mysterious plans tomorrow. I’m sure I’ll figure it out sooner rather than later.”

“Don’t know about that,” Cal relaxed.

“You are many things, dear brother, but a master detective is not one.”

“Is that so?” Rolan’s smug smile loosened by the wine.

“Not saying you’re not good at other things,” Cal added, quickly.

“Just that you’re not always the most insightful. That can’t be news to you.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Rolan swirled the claret liquid around the class, “I might have picked up a thing or two over the years.”

“Go on then,” Cal tempted him, “if we’re hiding something, what is it?”

“Let me guess,” Rolan feigned ignorance, “a friend I might disapprove of – someone from the guild, perhaps? Or perhaps an unwise game of chance in someone’s basement somewhere.”

Cal and Lia shared a cheeky look.

“Yeah,” they settled into the chairs beside him, “something like that.”

“You see,” he relaxed back, a smile of contentment on his face, “I’m sure I wouldn’t have a clue.”

[anim-ttrpgs]

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy Rulebook June 6th 2024 Update and Changelog

It’s the first Thursday of the first month of us doing a regular patreon rulebook update on the first Thursday of every month, and that means a major update!

It has been so nice to be able to finally work on the rulebook again instead of doing nothing but Kickstarter prep and promotion, and man have I been hard at work. Last week, if you count my A.N.I.M. job and my “normal” job, the shortest workday I had was 9 hours and several of them were 14 hours. At least I enjoy both jobs!

We have started getting more art into the rulebook, and getting those stretch goals taken care of. One stretch goal (the forgery rules) has already been added in full, with another stretch goal about 75% done, plus a complete overhaul of how Chase Scenes work and a whole new mechanic for determining how the police react to the actions of the PCs. Now, as the PCs are investigating crimes, if they’re not careful, the police could be investigating their crimes in the background too!

In addition to all the changes from the changelog below, we now have new and improved character sheets, and the Eureka adventure module “FORIVA: The Angel Game” is now fully finished, not counting the artwork, but that is going to get its own post.

Here is the full changelog! Remember, you can get a copy of this beta version of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, along with three adventure modules, two short stories, and a novella, all for just $5 on our patreon page. And there’s no better time to do so, because of the Gorgon Initiative! Long story short, the playable gorgon monster type is a Kickstarter stretch goal we didn’t hit, but if we can reach 50 total patreon subscribers before the end of June, we’re going to be adding it to the book anyway! At the time of writing this, we’re at 41/50! You could make the difference, and get all this new Eureka content to boot!

CHAPTER 1

Have started working on replacing the examples of play with updated ones that actually fit the current and slightly more stable version of the rules. These will be found in various chapters. You can see them in the table of contents.

Added a Foreword, a section on other media to offer you inspiration when playing eureka, and a section on some of the subtler themes of eureka

Copy-edited Foreword

A few minor clarifications in the Making Rolls section

Added a chart explaining the percentage chances of failures, partial successes, and full successes for modifiers from -7 to +7. 

Added Heat optional rule. A whole new set of mechanics for tracking how much police attention the investigators may be drawing, as well as how law enforcement will respond. Currently a work-in-progress, but mostly functional already.

CHAPTER 2

Added the Forgery skill to write-in skills

Many new snoops have been added. 

Removed the “Seating” stat for vehicles, you know how many people can safely fit in a car

Removed the placeholder boat entries from the item list because we did not hit that kickstarter stretch goal

Added Skateboard to item list. 

Added four-wheeler to item list. 

Added Acceleration values to all vehicles in the vehicle list. Acceleration is a new stat used with the new way that Speed is calculated for Chases.

Adjusted the Driving bonus of motorcycles and dirtbikes.

Changed Large Mansion cost to 25 Wealth Points in character creation.

Started copy-editing this chapter.

CHAPTER 3

Added vehicle crashes to irregular forms of damage section

Tiny tweak to Drowning/Suffocation rules.

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

Completely revamped the way that Speed is calculated. 

Added a mechanic to determine how many nodes ahead a fleeing character starts.

Added an optional rule for bringing an end to chases 

Added vehicle attack rules for use during car chases

Added more guidelines for how to make your own obstacles

Added recommended numbers of nodes for chases and recommended distance between obstacles 

Added the work-in-progress random obstacle tables

On-Foot Urban Chase Obstacles table is finished but not edited

Vehicle Urban Chase Obstacles table is finished but not edited

On-Foot Wilderness Chase Obstacles table is finished but not edited. 

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

Increased capacity of an unfurled thing from beyond’s ‘stomach’ from three to fourteen.

Thing from beyond can now more easily attempt to engulf more victims after already containing one or more. This now prompts an escape attempt by victims inside rather than automatic escape.

Thing from beyond can now get a bonus to mimicry attempts by consuming a sample of the intended mimicry target’s DNA. 

Thing from beyond can now attempt to mimic a person they have never seen or heard by consuming a sample of their DNA, but narrator makes a hidden roll about it, so accuracy of mimicry will be unknown.

Gave acceleration value to witch’s brooms and other flying transportation

Gave Acceleration of +6 to Superhuman Speed trait

Gave vampire small bat manifestation +2 Acceleration

Gave vampire wolf manifestation +4 Acceleration 

Gave vampire massive bat beast manifestation +4 Acceleration

Gave wolfman wolf form +4 Acceleration

Gave lycanthrope wolf form +4 Acceleration

Added ability to resist curses to fairy and witch

Added ability for fairy to transfer curses to different names as a means of protecting themselves from curses. This gives them more of an incentive to collect names. 

Added a tiny bit about the fairy world

Added Monsters Eating Monsters section to provide rulings for some edge cases where monsters might eat other monsters and what would happen if they did

Stay tuned for a post about "FORIVA: The Angel Game", a terrifying Eureka adventure module, soon!

Elegantly designed and thoroughly playtested, Eureka represents the culmination of three years of near-daily work from our team, as well as a lot of our own money. If you’re just now reading this and learning about Eureka for the first time, you missed the crowdfunding window unfortunately, but our Kickstarter page is still the best place to learn more about what Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy actually is, as that is where we have all the fancy art assets, the animated trailer, links to video reviews by podcasts and youtubers, and where we post regular updates on the status of our progress finishing the game and getting it ready for final release.

Beta Copies through the Patreon

If you want more than just status updates, going forward you can download regularly updated playable beta versions of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy and it’s adventure modules by subscribing to our Patreon at the $5 tier or higher. Subscribing to our patreon also grants you access to our patreon discord server where you can talk to us directly and offer valuable feedback on our progress and projects.

The A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club

If you would like to meet the A.N.I.M. team and even have a chance to play Eureka with us, you can join the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club discord server. It’s also just a great place to talk and discuss TTRPGs, so there is no schedule obligation, but the main purpose of it is to nominate, vote on, then read, discuss, and play different indie TTRPGs. We put playgroups together based on scheduling compatibility, so it’s all extremely flexible. This is a free discord server, separate from our patreon exclusive one. https://discord.gg/7jdP8FBPes

Other Stuff

We also have a ko-fi and merchandise if you just wanna give us more money for any reason.

We hope to see you there, and that you will help our dreams come true and launch our careers as indie TTRPG developers with a bang by getting us to our base goal and blowing those stretch goals out of the water, and fight back against WotC's monopoly on the entire hobby. Wish us luck.

[grailfinders]

Grailfinders #348: Zhang Jue

today on Grailfinders we are actually done with Traum for real this time, I promise. I mean we aren’t, we’re nowhere near finished, but the builds are- at least once we’re finished with Zhang Jue. he’s a Conjuration Wizard to summon puppets, puppets, and more puppets- and I know we’ve been playing fast and loose with summons lately, so we’ll try to keep this one constructs-only. he’s also a Battle Master Fighter for more focus to lead those puppets to victory with good old-fashioned tactical knowhow.

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

next up: eight-part ouppy bap attack

Ancestry & Background

Zhang Jue is, unsurprisingly, a Human, so he gets +1 Dexterity and Intelligence; as well as the Observant feat for +1 Wisdom, the ability to read lips, and a bonus to passive perception. speaking of, you’re proficient in Perception to boot. you can’t tactic if you can’t see the other guy’s tactics- I think Sun Tzu said that, right?

according to Zhang Jue’s backstory, he wandered off into the wilderness and returned with a big book full of holy strategy stuff, so that’s a classic Hermit background, even if they’re usually getting more “nature of the multiverse” knowledge. that gives him proficiency in Medicine and Religion, so now you have two ways to manipulate- I mean, help- your followers.

Ability Scores

your highest score is Intelligence- you use that to scheme and to blast magic all over the place. after that is your Charisma to keep your human soldiers in line. Dexterity is next, mostly because you don’t wear armor and I’m not that cruel. third is Wisdom, which helps out a bit both with schemes and manipulating your followers. this means your Constitution and Strength are both pretty low- you are an old man, after all.

Class Levels

1. Fighter 1: starting off as a fighter nets you proficiency in Strength and Constitution saves, as well as History and Insight to be a giant nerd. if you’re starting off at level one in your home game I’d recommend starting as a wizard so you don’t crumple into a paper ball before reaching level 2, but most games don’t start there, constitution proficiency is super useful, and tactical prowess is a much easier goal to reach than puppets and immortality.

speaking of, first level fighters get a Fighting Style. if your DM allows it I highly recommend the old old UA style Mariner for the extra AC and movement since we’re not going monk at all this build, but otherwise pick up Superior Technique and a battle master maneuver of your choice. as a fighter you also get a Second Wind once per short rest, giving you a little HP back as a bonus action. wizards usually don’t get any healing, so appreciate what you can get.

2. Fighter 2: second level fighters get Action Surge, and unlike sorcerer’s quickened spell this doesn’t come with any caveats- you can cast two full-action spells in a single turn, no sweat. I mean not now, now you can just hit things twice. something to look forward to.

3. Fighter 3: third level fighters can become a Battle Master, making them a Student of War. that’s just proficiency in one artisan’s tool, but you also learn how to leverage your Combat Superiority up to four times a short rest, which can be used in three methods of your choosing. a Commanding Presence lets you add your superiority die (a d8) to an Intimidation, Performance, or Persuasion check, while your Tactical Assessment adds it to an Investigation, History, or Insight check. finally, you can lay an Ambush to add the die to a Stealth check or your initiative roll. the clever guy’s good at skills, who’d’ve thunk it?

4. Wizard 1: now that we have some basics to keep you occupied, we can move on to our long-term goals! going over to wizard gets you an Arcane Recover once per long rest, recovering a couple spell slots as part of your short rest! speaking of, you can cast and prepare Spells using your Intelligence and your spellbook, which lets you copy spells you find written down out in the world.

Zhang Jue’s abilities are pretty open ended, and you get a lot of spells this way- 6 spells this level and two more every other wizard level you take- so you’ll have to forgive me for giving you a few empty slots here and there to fill as you see fit.

that being said, we’ll start off the build with some elemental effects- Create Bonfire, Gust, and Mold Earth for your cantrips. we also get some classics like Alarm and Detect Magic for counter-wizard ops, as well as Mage Armor and Magic Missile for direct combat. and while Find Familiar and Unseen Servant aren’t combat-ready, every puppeteer has to start somewhere.

5. Wizard 2: at second level you learn to specialize in Conjuration, making you a Savant. when you copy conjuration spells into your spellbook, they take less time and money to do so. why they decided every wizard subclass should have a feature that actively disincentivizes learning the spells you supposedly specialize in I don’t know, but you can get Silvery Barbs this level anyway. it vaguely makes your allies better and your enemies worse, which is what all magic in Fate does if you think about it.

also, you can use Minor Conjuration as an action now, creating any nonmagical object you choose smaller than 3’ in any dimension. the object is obviously fake, so you can’t really use it to make fake money, but as long as you’re creative you should be fine. if you can’t actually have foresight, store-conjured is fine.

6. Wizard 3: third level wizards get second level spells like Arcane Lock- it’s a lock, but arcane! if that sounds a little boring you can also tell the future with Augury. strategy is easy when you can just ask the DM to help you.

7. Wizard 4: fourth level wizards get their first Ability Score Improvement to improve one stat of their choice, like your Intelligence. that’s all your spells, so it’s important to keep intelligence on the up and up.

8. Wizard 5: fifth level wizards get third level spells, and now you can Bestow Curse! BC is pretty open-ended, so now I don’t need to keep track of every random thing tao arts can do, hooray!

9. Wizard 6: sixth level conjurers have Benign Transportation, so once a day (or after casting a conjuration spell) you can use your action to teleport up to 30’ away, possibly swapping places with another creature. pro tip: keep enemies pointed at the puppets.

10. Wizard 7: speaking of, with fourth level spells you can now Summon Constructs! only one at a time right now, but a puppet’s a puppet, and this one can be built out of different materials! clay and metal puppets have counterattacks, and stone puppets can slow down enemies.

11. Wizard 8: use this ASI to become Resilient, rounding up your Wisdom score and giving you proficiency with Wisdom saves! it’s not complicated, but it is effective.

12. Wizard 9: ninth level wizards get fifth level spells, and now you can finally summon more than one puppet at a time… so long as you carry them around with you. Animate Objects lasts a minute, turning up to ten small objects (each size up doubles how many objects said object counts as) into up to ten creatures, absolutely destroying the action economy in your favor! with five puppets and one PC, you can fill a whole party with just Zhang Jue and his backup dancers.

13. Wizard 10: tenth level conjurers have Focused Conjuration, preventing you from losing concentration on any conjuration spells. sadly this doesn’t work on Animate Objects, but your bigger puppets will stay safe!

14. Wizard 11: eleventh level wizards get sixth level spells like Guards and Wards, letting you make any house you stay in as convoluted to enter as the Xanten Tower! I’m sure your party will be thrilled.

15. Wizard 12: another ASI, bump up your Intelligence to be the smartest you can be, and your spells as deadly as possible. speaking of deadly spells…

16. Wizard 13: thirteenth level wizard, seventh level spells. Simulacrum lets you make a puppet copy of any person, with the caveat that they only have half the real deal’s HP and can’t heal or regain spell slots. still, they’re a perfect copy, so if you’d say… die, or something silly like that, it can just be a copy all along.

also, you finally get your third skill! at least, part of it. Mirage Arcane lets you warp your environment to benefit you, so while we don’t have the whole gamut yet, you can at least turn the battlefield into forest or near water stages. don’t worry, we’ll be getting upgrades for both of these spells in two levels.

17. Wizard 14: with Durable Summons, every creature you summon with conjuration spells get an extra 30 HP. annoyingly, this doesn’t help your simulacra or animated objects, but at least your puppets are tougher. maybe ask your DM for an extension.

18. Wizard 15: with our last level in wizard, you get eighth level spells! to upgrade your emergency puppet stash, grab Clone to make spare bodies you can sneak into after your regular one dies. sure they take an hour to make, and aren’t available after that for a good three months, but death is a lot longer than that normally so a plan b is never a bad idea.

as for your third skill, you can now use Control Weather to heat up a five mile radius around you, letting you make the whole battlefield super sunny and on fire. or cold, rainy, windy, etc. you can meddle with the meteorological minutiae for up to eight hours, so don’t feel like you have to decide right away.

19. Fighter 4: going back to fighter is a bit of a downgrade after learning to control the weather, but I’m sure you won’t complain too much about getting more Dexterity with this ASI. not dying is important!

20. Fighter 5: fifth level fighters get an Extra Attack each action. you probably shouldn’t be attacking at all with this build, but it’s an option if you find yourself in trouble.

Pros & Cons:

Pros:

we’ve touched on how powerful spells like clone and simulacrum can be before with Morgan, and that’s all still true here. it literally doesn’t matter how strong you are when you can roll up to a fight with 20 copies of yourself.

that being said, those 20 copies take time to make, so at least you can use your Tactical Mind in the meantime to be useful to the party even when you’re out of spell slots early on. usually wizards just kind of. stop working. when their spells are done, but you can still help out without being completely reliant on a limited resource.

like with Zhuge Liang, you’re able to heavily alter any area you’re in to your party’s advantage. if you can choose where a fight takes place, you can make every possible thing in that place work in your favor and against your enemies. why fight at all when you can mirage arcane an avalanche into their way?

Cons:

if you do get into a fight you’re just an old man. you’re really banking on those puppets and other party members keeping you from being kebabed. also your HP is below Power Word Kill range, so maybe don’t skip too many fights or your DM might notice that.

conjuration is way too fickle for this build to be all that great. there’s a ton of pseudo-summoning spells that are powerful, but none of them are conjuration- all of those are super under-powered bc WotC became cowards ever since they realized conjure animals might be halfway useful in a fight.

Zhang Jue is all about tactics, and while wargaming in D&D is not only valid but also arguably the intended way to play, some people want a chance to turn their brain off when it’s D&D time. having to think and be clever to get the most out of a build certainly isn’t a negative, but it is something to keep in mind when you’re picking a character to play as.

[galactic-glamour-girl-posts]

My Rosalina Wishlist for the Nintendo Switch 2 era

In order of what I want the least to want I want the most:

For her to make appearance in (at least one of) the RPGs

Maybe they could connect her to Geno, or to the pre-established star lore of the RPGs, maybe there's another copy of the book Paper Mario takes place in in her library, have her interact with Starlow (another being who uses star power), you could do a lot with her. She's already one of the most fleshed out in the mainline games, she'd flourish in the RPGs, games which specifically aim to develop (most) of the cast as characters.

Give her a Power Up band

Technically this (and one more addition later on in this list) is not a Nintendo Switch 2 related thing but if this were to happen it would likely be during the Switch 2 era, so it's relevant enough.

Years ago I predicted that her, Toadette, DK and Diddy Kong would get power up bands based on a leak. Since then, it's been confirmed that Donkey Kong and Diddy will be getting power up bands to go alongside the Donkey Kong-themed expansion of Super Nintendo World. I still think Rosalina (and Toadette) could get one, especially if they do a Galaxy-themed expansion. It would be nice to have one in time for 2027, Galaxy's anniversary, but that's not likely given that we'd probably know about it being built by now. It could still happen not too long after it. A space-themed expansion would definitely be popular (Toadette is part of the Toad Brigade, who debited in Galaxy 1, so she could get one during this supposed expansion too).

Even if that didn't happen, Rosalina does make an appearance at the park via the VR binoculars, and she was recently given a new plush made specifically to be sold at the park, so she's already one of the most likely candidates to get a band next.

A new Rosalina-owned Mario Kart stage

Not much to explain here. It's been over a decade since she got one, and that was her first (unless we retroactively count Rainbow Road).

An appearance in a Mario movie sequel

If not as a major character, then at least as a post-credits character. After a Luma was in the first movie, it seems inevitable that Rosalina will appear in the films eventually, I just hope it's sooner rather than later! Even if it's for a short time, I think they could fit her in movie 2 somewhere. Literally just show Lumalee going home or something. They might save her for movie 3, but that would probably also happen during the Switch 2 era (I could see it releasing in 2029 or 2030, the Switch 2 would've only been out for about 4-5 years by then).

Another appearance in a mainline Mario game

I'm welcome to it being a 3D game, but I'd prefer for it to be a 2D one because she has yet to make an appearance in a 2D game.

Bonus points if she's playable!

Her own solo adventure game

Even putting my bias aside, I genuinely think this could work! She's one of the most popular characters in the franchise, it would be a good chance to find out more about her origins or at least give a Mario-adjacent game a deeper story than usual, and outer space is almost always a cool setting for any piece of media. If it were to happen (I know it probably won't, but a girl can dream), I hope it's not essentially just "Super Mario Galaxy 3, but you play as Rosalina". I'd love it if the game had a genre the Mario franchise either hasn't touched yet or hasn't done often (I still think a Kingdom Hearts-esque action RPG would suit her very well).

Although if I had to order these from most to least likely to happen during the Switch 2 era, I'd say: an appearance in a new mainline Mario game, a new Mario Kart stage, her power up band, an appearance in the Mario movie sequel, an appearance in the RPGs, and finally her solo game.

But hey, prove me wrong Nintendo! Watch how I jinx it and none of these happen lol

[torto-isemusings]

Ah, Common Sense Media: One Million Moms on a budget.

Home of one of the worst, most ignorant reviews of our beloved Incredibox I've ever seen (below)

One star from an Adult. A tough crowd these ones.

Join me, dear Reader, as I Torto breakdown the points of this review one. By. One.

For your entertainment, of course ;)

1) "Nobody will like this lackluster 'game'"

*hysterical, borderline-demonic hyena laugh*

But seriously, given the amount of fanart, mods, YouTube videos, and blogs dedicated to this game it seems like the word "nobody" implies whole swaths of people in the definition. *Sparticus voice* I AM NOBODY!

2) "The same man is copy-pasted at least 6 times"

Most people who complain about this haven't done the bare minimum of research to discover that, yes, they are all one man. That is, of course, Paul "Incredible Polo" Malburet, who voiced them all. It's meant to showcase what *just one man* can do with his (aptly named) incredible voice. Love you, Polo❤️

3) "There's really nothing to do but click on the men to produce lackluster sounds"

Say that to his adorable face, I dare you!

Risk being the target of Gallic Rage!

4) "Sure, there are different costumes but they do nothing to enhance the game"

OP must be really fun at Halloween parties /s. Repeat after me: "Costumes enhance *everything*!" Also, now that you've taken a shot at Paul, you can't resist taking a shot at Romain as well, how thoughtful. Love you too, Bily❤️

5) "There are no puzzles [or] prize wheels"

Okay, I'll give them this one. Even though the bonuses are kind of like puzzles, no puzzle just gives you the answer by hovering over the icon. However, I think this is one of the things that makes Incredibox so special: It's not about puzzles. It isn't one of those instant gratification, constant rush of dopamine games(which, imo, are on par with the "brainrot" section of YouTube). Just like writing your own music, you have to stew on it for a while, see what works, and most of all enjoy it! Experimentation can be fun!

6) "There's no way to customize the look-alike men -they're all in boring black and white"

First, see my rebuttal to point #2. Second, this just tells me you didn't play past Little Miss(which is all but confirmed later). LM is only the second version. Each version gets better than the last as the guys hone their craft. Even your oh-so-despised costumes get better! In Jeevan alone you have practically all the colors of the goddamn rainbow! At the end of the day, even though Incredibox is more about the music than anything else, the costumes are a neat bonus that keep things visually interesting. Long story short, if you want customization The Sims is right there.

7) "The game is so boring I quit after 1 minute"

While I'm pretty sure 1 minute is an exaggeration, this does pretty much confirm OP didn't play past Little Miss. Geez, even a goldfish would know you need to pay attention for more a minute to accurately assess the quality of a game.

8)"It takes about 25 minutes to load the game"

This one's just a flat out lie.

9) "The developer isn't even updating the game anymore...terribly outdated...stuck in 2019"

Patience, Grasshopper. The latest bonus for Wekiddy was released only 9-10 months ago. That isn't forever. I'm sure all three guys are working their culs off to get the third one out in a timely manner. Especially Allan, who I haven't mentioned yet. Love you as well, Al❤️

Also define "stuck in 2019"? What does a game have to do in order to be worthy of the 2020s, include a Covid-themed version?

10) "Forget about Incredibox and just get My Singing Monsters instead"

...you're lucky TV Tropes lists us as Friendly Fandoms, or I would get mad at that. I however won't because I'm mad enough.

And there you have it, Reader, my full thoughts on this godawful review. Tell me your thoughts in the tags, and if there was anything I missed💜

[goldenamaranthe-blog]

The Evolution of Team RWBY

How each member of team RWBY would react when *NSYNC  or Backstreet Boys plays over the radio. Buckle up, Buttercups. This is a long one.

Volumes 1 & 2: Think RWBY Chibi roadtrip

Yang: (totally singing and dancing while driving. Not quite full sending yet, but still dancing with at least one hand on the wheel)

Blake: (reading and trying to ignore Yang’s shenanigans, but is lip syncing the words behind her book)

Weiss: (mortified) “Ugh! Seriously? Ruby, do something about your sister!”

Ruby: “Aw, c’mon, Weiss. It isn’t that ba- OH MY GOD!!! THIS IS THE BEST PART!!!” (copies Yang singing and dancing to the chorus)

Volume 3: pt. 1

Yang: same as 1&2 but purposely serenading Blake as much as possible

Blake: smiling and doing little shoulder bobs with her book in her lap

Ruby: Full send! Dancing like a maniac. Seatbelt is unbuckled and she’s shaking the car at stoplights

Weiss: rolling her eyes but smiling

Volume 3 pt. 2 & 4:

Radio silence

Volume 5: post Weiss and Yang finding each other. 

Weiss: (on Bumblebee - notices the song first and smiles before pretending to be mortified) “Oh, no! Not this song! Whatever will I do?”

Yang: (finally listens and beams) “You can join in some of the fun!” (drives bumblebee in a way that makes it look like the motorcycle is dancing)

Blake: (hears song over Sun’s scroll as he plays it for Kali, and smiles)

Volume 6: While the party is being pulled on a trailer behind bumblebee

Yang: (plugs scroll into bumblebee audio slot) “Alright! Time to shake off that apathy!” (sings and bobs while driving)

Ruby: “Yes!” (stands up in the trailer and dances like a goon)

Maria: “Would you sit down before you throw us all overboard?”

Blake & Weiss: (roll eyes before laughing and doing a synchronized shoulder shake left and right)

Oscar: (clinging to the trailer for dear life as it bounces) “Are they always like this?”

Volume 7: Fun Atlas Montage 

Ruby: Full Send! Jumping up on bunks and dancing like an idiot and singing horribly off-key.

Weiss: Actually dancing along to the music.

Blake: Trying to dance but is only solidifying that she has no rhythm.

Yang: Full dance machine and singing along with the choreography.

Volume 8: 

Radio Silence

Volume 9:

Blake: (plays song on scroll to lighten the mood and pulls Yang to her feet) “Still have a dance for me?

Yang: (gay disaster extraordinaire) “Always!”

Weiss: (rolls eyes fondly) “Brothers, you two definitely went from one end of the spectrum to the other, didn’t you? (joins in the dance party after grabbing Rusted Knight Jaune)

Ruby: (sulking in the corner)

Volume 10: Please Greenlight

Bonus!

After The War: Everyone is back in the car. Yang is driving. Blake is shotgun. Weiss and Ruby are in the back.

Yang: Completely losing her mind as she sings and dances in the driver’s seat. Hands aren’t even on the wheel consistently. Serenading Blake at every chance while holding imaginary microphones to Weiss and Ruby in the back.

Blake: Seatbelt? What seatbelt? Girl actually found some rhythm and is doing full body rolls in her seat while singing and winking back at Yang

Weiss: Singing a perfect harmony to the song while dancing. Her window is rolled down and her arm is waving out in the air like she absolutely does not care.

Ruby: Standing on the backseat so she can stand in the open sunroof and hit that choreographic combo 100%. She still can’t carry a tune in a bucket, but she’s doing her best. 

Team ORNJ parked next to them at the red light doing the exact thing with Nora in the sunroof, Jaune driving, Ren sitting shotgun calmly, and Oscar flopping around like a chicken having a stroke in an attempt to dance.

[rhysiana]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @hmslusitania!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

96, somehow (some of them are ficlets preserved for posterity, so there should probably be more, if I remembered to move some more things from here)

2. What’s your total word count on AO3?

342,331

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Most actively at this exact moment, kpop rpf (ATEEZ and SHINee), but all but one thing in this category is a WIP I haven't posted yet. But I also have a Devil Judge AU I *really* want to write, if my writing brain picks back up properly.

4. Top five fics by kudos

This is hilariously skewed to Teen Wolf just by virtue of the size of the fandom, I don't actually think these are the fics I'm most known for, but:

-The (un)Usual? -Can I...? -Derek from the Club -You Give Me Butterflies -Rebalance

*Bonus content, least amount of kudos (because it is one of two fics for the entire fandom):

-This Would Be Enough

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably "In Love with Ghosts," a character study about Lan Xichen and Song Lan have to deal with being left behind in the world of the living

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I write so much fluff, I'm sure this is very subjective, but I think the one that makes *me* the happiest is the 2-part Petopher series Silver & Gold, because the middle-aged second-chance romance of them finally getting everything they've ever wanted was written to cater exactly to me.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No, but I do have a hilarious bookmark saying one of my rare M-rated fics should be a G (????)

9. Do you write smut?

Related to the above answer, not really. I collab for smut very happily, but I spent several years in my irl career copy editing for a self-published romance writer who was very prolific but not great at keeping characterization consistent in sex scenes and it kind of burned me out on thinking through such scenarios for my own hobby purposes. That said, I do keep writing things that toe closer and closer to the line, so. Perhaps I am recovering from the trauma.

10. Craziest crossover?

Uh, I'm pretty sure that would be the Kent Parson/Derek Hale thing I wrote here as penance for being a vector of cross-fandom Derek confusion, but I don't think that ever got moved over to AO3. The funniest AU that's almost but not quite a crossover was the Wenzhou AU ("Persistence Pays Off") I wrote that started from the premise of Senpai, Don't You Know?, which is a niche enough reference that I'm probably the only one who understands how hilarious the mismatch is.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

Yes! Several times, it's very fun.

14. All time favourite ship?

You want me to choose??? Nurseydex, for the sheer power they had over my brain for so long, and Petopher, for being such tired Actual Adults

15. What’s a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I really want to finish Bull City Blues, but my brain started avoiding working on it hardcore because it was bringing up all my own bad grad school experiences, so I'm stuck here with most of the end written but not the ability to push through the middle, and I deeply apologize for that. I keep hoping I'll come up with a way around it, just so I can post the end, finally.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue (where I mentally always start) and descriptions of specific imagery (because I see scenes like movies in my head)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Plot. (Longfic who? I don't know her.)

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

It's fine? If I ever wrote a long enough passage in not-English that it wasn't apparent from context, I'd have the translation in footnotes/hovertext, but it hasn't come up yet. Since so many of the fandoms I've written in recently have been non-English, I do sometimes have the dialogue in my head running in two languages simultaneously, but I tend to just write it all in English for ease of reading.

19. First fandom you wrote in?

Like, to be posted on the internet? Check, Please! Ever? I genuinely could not tell you.

20. Fave fics you’ve written?

-Petals & Thorns (Nurseydex pop punk star/florist AU series)

-Silver & Gold (Petopher rock star/lawyer second-chance romance)

-This Would Be Enough (Atom no Ko post-canon, the ace-est thing I've written so far)

-Fragments of a Life Lived in Dreams (Nirvana in Fire dreamsharing AU)

Ngl, I reread all my own fics regularly, but these are probably some of the most reread ones.

Tagging: anyone who wants to play! (but especially @annundriel, @cobrilee, and @gendzl, if you want)

[epersonae]

The cooking project - Crêpes

If yesterday's post was probably one of my most-made recipe cards, this might be my most-made recipe in my binder, which is sort of a Binder of Theseus. My sister made me a binder full of typed-out recipes as a gift when I was a sophomore in college, and I still have the section separators, which were collages of images cut from magazines, and I have some (most? all?) of those typed recipes, though the binder itself has been replaced. And of course I've added many more recipes, printed from the internet or sent to me by email or clipped from magazines. (I had a subscription to Sunset for a while in the late 00s!)

This recipe, though, was copied from a webpage into probably a Word document and then printed out, and dates from March 15 2003. The URL in the image no longer works, but the contents can be found in the Wayback Machine (ctrl+f, "crepes"). It was posted as part of the author's "French Week" as sort of an oblique protest of the impending Iraq War. In any case, I have been making it since then.

Because this can be found in the Wayback Machine, and because the instructions are hilariously long, I am not going to retype the whole thing here.

My only personal notations are combining "whole wheat flour" and "white flour" into a single line (I've literally never made these as savory crepes in 20 years), and a note that 1 egg approximately equals 3 crepes.

Making the batter

One of the things I love about this recipe is that it scales really well: one egg to 1/4 cup flour. The sugar ratio is weird and I usually have to do a rough approximation, because 1/4 cup sugar is 4 tablespoons, but also it's a very forgiving recipe that way.

I have learned over the years to beat the eggs first and THEN add the flour/sugar/salt, much less lumps that way. (ironically, 20 years and I just noticed he never says when to add the salt, altho clearly it's with the flour)

I have literally no idea how much milk I use. I mix in a bit at a time until it looks like the right texture/color. It's all vibes, baby.

I don't think I've ever let it sit two whole hours but it definitely does change texture a bit, for the better, if left to sit at least a half an hour. (I have also never drunk a glass of red wine while waiting for the batter.)

Below is: just after mixing in the flour/sugar/salt, then after some milk, all the milk, and after sitting for idk half an hour? 45 minutes?

Jam! Eating while making!

As I said, I've literally never made them savory, altho the last time I had them with a little bit of local whipped goat cheese and strawberry jam, and that was FUCKING TIGHT.

My usual is to take out whatever jams I have (today: strawberry and raspberry freezer jam that I made in 2020 and 2021 respectively, quince jam that a friend made, and marmalade) and just alternate flavors as I make them. I usually end up eating some while I'm making them. (As the guy says, bachelor mode™️.)

Two eggs' worth did in fact make about six crepes, I think, which is kind of a lot for dessert but I guess I had dessert for dinner, it's fine.

(Oh, and I think I've tried flipping them without a spatula exactly once, I am just not that bold.)

In any case, this continues to be one of my favorite recipes of all time, I will make it for anyone at any time for any reason. (The longest stretch I ever went without making it was after Ryn died, and I finally had eggs and milk and enough energy...and found BUGS IN MY FLOUR and about lost my damn mind. But I have made them a couple of times since then.)

Fanfiction bonus content!

So if you are reading my fic for the benefit of all the broken hearts, and you have already read chapter 16, then you know why I posted this today. If you are reading it and have not yet read the new chapter, consider this a teaser.

If you are not reading it: for the benefit of all the broken hearts is a fix-it fic for Water Flowing Underground, a very strange beautiful fic that blurs the line between Actor AU and RPF, that plays with questions of identity and choice and intention and also what we are even doing with fanfiction. My fic picks up from the end of that fic, from the point of view of a character who is dismissed by the narrative of the original, and who finds a way out of the wreckage. (it's the weirdest goddamn thing I've ever written, and yes, I think that includes the Bigfoot fic, and also I think my best writing ever. Certainly the most work I've ever put into any writing in any medium.)

And also there are crepes.