#this is good for some backstory stuff

[vngful]

im sorry this made me laugh so f*cking hard i had to share it here too

[vaguely-concerned]

This might be due to the fact that on my first playthrough I ended up creating a Rook more emotionally guarded than any of the companions except Minrathous-route Lucanis and perhaps Neve, so I was primed to look for it, but I never got the sense that the companions don’t care for Rook (the thought never even occurred to me until I saw other people post about it) — to me it seems much more like it’s Rook who keeps the last bit of distance, Rook who pulls away when the companions try to extend their care or worry too directly, who keeps themselves slightly apart. (Rook who is so full of grief they cannot know as grief and thus process that there’s no room inside them to let anything else all the way in, perhaps.) They deflect and flinch back when someone gets too close or approaches them too overtly about their feelings — especially when it brushes up against the theme of grief. They can offer care to all the companions who are grieving, come along to any number of funerals as emotional support, but the moment someone turns that towards them they shut that shit down Immediately, like when Taash almost gives the whole game away with ‘Like you’d know? You act like you haven’t lost anyone!’ and Rook just blandly responds ‘We’re talking about you’ and doesn’t engage. But they can also admit that they struggle with accepting compliments, or knowing what to say, or having confidence in themselves without Varric’s help.

Despite all their determination and even in their most stoic no-nonsense incarnation, Rook is awkward, with the struggles that entails. Someone who is eager and happy to be the helper wherever they can, and helplessly unequipped to know how to be the helpee, as it were. It’s not that the companions don’t return Rook’s attachment to them, there’s MUCH more of a ‘okay so what are the ways you will allow me to be good to you??’ desperation of care vibe behind all their invitations to conversations and hangouts together, to my mind. They bring Rook to their favourite places and share the things they love with them, they ask to spend time together (many times just to have their company, not because they have a problem they need help with! Sometimes the problem arises anyway b/c video game quest narrative of course), they bring them out for some direly needed grass touching, they introduce them to their families. Everyone is clearly getting the sense that Rook does Not want to talk about Varric especially (this is in fact what Harding says in banter, if she’s still alive after the reveal :’( ), but they are absolutely SCRAMBLING to find ways to show that they’re there for them even so. AND from the companions’ perspective, with the situation as they have the means to understand it, accepting that Rook isn’t ready to have that conversation and backing off is also a kind thing to do. (tl;dr: To Me Rook is that weirdly socialized friend who is a great hang once they’re actually there but you have to directly invite them or they don’t quite know how to initiate the contact themselves lol) 

Just as a crushing sense of responsibility for their family is a trait that is built into Hawke no matter how you play them or how you make them respond to that, I feel like Rook — however helpful and earnest, warm, charming, jocular, stoic or straightforward they seem at a surface glance — is always someone who struggles deeply with connecting to themselves and other people. (Emotional Intimacy, the Final Frontier.) As, indeed, is the case with all of the Veilguard companions too! It’s clearly a deliberate theme. These are all lonely people struggling with their sense of identity and belonging in some sort of way. AND having, working on and eventually starting to overcome these difficulties also makes Rook a direct foil for Solas, who doesn’t learn that lesson unless you corner him at the end of the world to force feed him his medicine lmao. They don’t manage to break out of the regret prison under their own steam, it’s because even struggling and grieving they have managed to create mutual bonds with other people who show up for them in turn now — and with all the protective walls of denial around what happened to Varric crumbling and making them less of a stranger to themselves, Rook is finally able to let them. An outcome Solas seemingly didn’t even consider to guard against, because he’s become that deeply entrenched in his loneliness, the utter isolation of the self — he can no longer truly imagine an alternative. (It’s not that he can’t form these bonds, obviously, it’s that he resolutely refuses to value them. Whether it’s because he feels like he doesn’t deserve it or out of a need for control or the martyr complex where he must sacrifice everything he loves on the sacrificial pyre of fixing his mistakes, all of the above and more, the result is the same. Mind!Varric, who I think is mostly Solas speaking, even calls this out directly. So yet again a situation where he has some self awareness about it and it doesn’t help At All haha. Solas falls to the temptation of making people into tools again and again and again, no matter how many times it comes back to bite him in the ass and the eternal solitude it traps him in.) 

And that deep deep loneliness… There but for the grace of… well the theological state of thedas being what it is right now, let’s just go with the grace of Something, Presumably go you as well, Rook. The same capacity/tendency to pull away from connection clearly lives in them as well in some form (again, for whatever reason and with whatever motivations and instincts behind it for any individual Rook). Solas and Rook coming together to create a blood magic paper doll of the mind Varric in response to acute loss and loneliness is one of the most deep , deeply fucked up and invasive acts of intimacy I’ve ever contemplated. I don’t think that’s accidental, there’s something There’s Something Wrong With You (there’s something wrong with you that’s also wrong with me (derogatory)) here that resonates no matter how both parties would hate to hear it. (A fitting legacy for Varric and his wild ‘I made my best friend into a story because it’s the only way I know how to love with this desperation of sincerity’ brain to leave in the narrative, methinks. I feel he’d appreciate it on a craft level, if nothing else.)

If you read through all of Rook’s potential backstories, one of the common threads through all of them, along with a certain maverick ‘I’ll do whatever it takes’ streak, is a sense of profound alienation. They did something or have some sort of quality that made it hard for them to fit in with the group they’re from, causing a conflict that cuts them off from parts of their identity as it’s been up until now. All of which also adds to how important Varric is to them — he was clearly able to break/see through some of that and be closer with them, even in the relatively short time they spent together. No matter what else goes to shit, they can trust that a) Varric sees them, b) he genuinely likes them and believes in them not despite who they are, but for it, and c) he’s got their back, we’re in this together kid. And then he is gone, and it takes them the whole game to be able to bring themselves to accept that and know themselves again, be able to let new relationships in fully. The very understandable ‘the last time I let someone in, they got stabbed before my eyes and the world ended’ flinch away, even if they’re not consciously aware that’s what it is. Anyway I love Rook. So much space to play around in here as to WHY they might feel or react like this, even when the framework is more defined.

[drenched-in-sunlight]

saying this as respectfully as possible but. Do not put fandom content creators on a pedestal. We are also just fans contributing to a community just as you are. We have boundary on our own work and that’s it. What I say is not and should not be considered sth the whole fandom should listen to. I’m just a normal ass person ranting about things on my blog. If it does not have a fandom tag for others to engage in, do not make it out to be me trying to start fights or addressing the whole community. Because it’s not.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, my art, my lore talk, is biased. I’ve never tried to hide that I view Marika a certain way and will always develop my theory following that base assumption.

Aside from translation stuffs and pointing out in-game items, everything else I say you can look at it, agree or disagree, and move on to form your own opinions. Just because I draw stuffs doesn’t mean you get to saddle me with responsibilities about managing fandom expectations. What the hell? I’m a fan artist, I’m the last person who you should look at for “leaderism” (?) WHAT?

I can and will be a hater in my own space, like I know sometimes other artists will just post their stuffs and not engage too heavily with fandom, and for a while I did try to do that here (because I’m already a dramatic ass on twitter), that’s just not me though.

You will get art and you will get my opinions as well.

[marlynnofmany]

“Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

“Okay, calm down. I’ll preface this explanation with one thing: unbelievable scenarios sound more real if there’s something to complain about. Also, I have not touched a thing in here, and I am literally lost.”

“Lost in my house.”

“Apparently so. An inconvenience for us both.”

“So what’s your explanation before I beat you about the head with this and call the cops?”

“Right. Do you know what teleporters are?”

“I know they’re made up, from movies and—”

“And this one is the worst crock of compost I have ever had the misfortune of pressing buttons on. It’s a scam; look, even the straps are coming loose. It could have fallen off completely and stranded me between worlds, or come halfway loose and scraped my face across the edges of the realities. If I ever get back to the anus leech who sold this to me, I’m going to do thorough and creative violence to him. There will be duct tape, a sockful of batteries, and several Andromedan firewhips involved. I can borrow those from my neighbor if I ever get back home. She owes me for helping fix the antigravity in her apartment after the cat stepped on the buttons.”

“Okay. I’m willing to listen, and not beat you about the head just yet. Is it supposed to blink like that?”

“What the sweet and salty afterlife — Oh no, I’ve seen this before. Stupid straps! Fine, breaking is better than unfastening. Quick, which thing in this room do you hate most?”

“Lamp.”

“Got it.”

KatchewwwPOP

“Okay. I believe you now.”

“Sorry about the lamp. Here, I’ve got a light.”

“And of course it’s a magical floating one. Why would I expect anything else? Or probably a high-tech one, not magic.”

“Right.”

“Do people eat ramen where you’re from? I’ll make us something while we talk. I’d like to hear all of the everything, please, and I imagine you need to figure out how you’re going to get home.”

“Ah, yes. To all of the above, thank you.”

[epicfirestormer]

What I love about Hellboy and Abe Sapien's dynamic in the comics is that, if you came into this blind, you'd expect Abe to be the voice of reason or the straight man to Hellboy's impulsive and hotheaded personality. But no, Abe is more often than not the crazy one. Hellboy would deal with fighting evil monsters and bad guys by just sighing and getting it over with, while Abe is going rabid over tearing the creature apart when he does get into a fight. Hellboy acts like it's a 9-to-5 job and will reasonably talk things out with a guy that had nearly killed him before, Abe acts like a madman in a slaughter house and his first instinct is to shoot first kill second and ask third. They're both insane, but on completely different levels.

[archersxartxblog]

So I've been watching Rotgrind from Narrative Declaration (please check them out if you enjoy ttrpgs,) have to say, Tannhauser is probably my fav out of the bunch. even though I enjoy all the characters. probably going to be drawing a lot of this stuff, sorry.

[ganondoodle]

utterly random late night panic thoughts but

if you read my zelda comic and like it i love and appreciate you but i really do need to be upfront about it being very much a self indulgent enemies to lovers story with a villain at the center that has done bad but isnt bad at his core and is struggeling to come to terms with the fact that he doesnt actually want to be the evil beast he and almost everyone else believes he should be

yes im one of those people ... fake villain fans or something ... i think .. i dont know the rules to that ... q-q

[themyscirah]

Complaining abt Suicide Squad yet again but the fact that they have Waller exposing the alien community to space racist attacks and talking abt how she got to her position through deceit and being a terrible person and stuff is just. Ahsfiwueh JUST SAY YOU DONT KNOW WALLER.

Anyways literally the 3rd mission of the Squad ever (and the first framed as smth Waller picked and not orders from above) was the Squad discrediting and stopping a rogue vigilante who was only arresting POC and funneling white people into white supremacy groups (of which he was the most prominent member) in SUICIDE SQUAD #4. and it's explicitly framed as this mission being personal for Waller that she's hiding from the government bc its illegal like. Guys. Please why are we having her incite (space bc comics) racist attacks now

Also the whole "Amanda got her position through deceit and being a terrible person" NO. she KEPT her position through being shitty and playing complicated political games!!! She wasn't always that way like there is a difference and it is IMPORTANT ppl PLEASEEEE. In Secret Origins #14 we learn Amanda's backstory and she used to be a normal, caring person! Like even after she entered into working in government and politics she wasn't automatically morally bankrupt like please people. She was originally given control of the Squad by Reagan (*sigh* 80s comics...) to distract and get rid of her because she was so successful at pushing progressive social policy in Congress. Acting like she's this static pillar of evil is such a waste of her character and so fucking uninteresting and disrespectful to her arc it drives me MAD.

Like I am NOT saying Waller is all sunshine and rainbows, she fucking SUCKS (said w love <3) but like there's a human being there. It's a progression, she has a character arc like please, DC, please!!! They've fucked up Waller so bad and made her so opaque and uninteresting she can't even be the protagonist of her own story for fucks sake!

Like I don't know how many times I have to scream it until DC hears me or remembers but WALLER IS THE MAIN CHARACTER OF SUICIDE SQUAD. ITS HER BOOK. yet right now she's a cutout to be used as the villain wherever the writers please. Even in her book we get none of her perspective really displayed, no exploration of her thoughts with any kind of understanding of the role she traditionally has played and was made to play in the story.

[dapper-lil-arts]

I read the MLP comics on your suggestion and am now obsessed with the Season 10 run, whatever drove Hasbro to close down Gen 4 when they had such good ideas in the bag is beyond me.

Yeah its kind of derranged, but they legit had some pretty insane ideas they could have put down on the show that are better than what we actually got out there. From Discords ex to having Nightmare Rarity exist, to the Tempest gets a gf arc, to the classics retold thing, there's so many diffrent cool stories they could have told. Good writers with less oversight produce some cool shit!!!!

Theyre even making a cadance origin comic run later this january!

[theamazingmaddyas]

@riordanverse-oc-week

I've decided to also go into the story of how her mothers met, because for me that is just a subsect of Olivera's origin story. This is extremely long winded, so I hope fans of my work, and of Olivera da Silva, enjoy this lore drop.

Origin Story

Ana and Athena met when Athena had gone to watch Ana defend her thesis for her astrophysics phD from Columbia University, and was enthralled by her eloquence and intellect that, when Ana had finished, she had to approach her. The two got to talking—mainly in Portuguese when Athena found out she was from Brazil (it's canon Athena speaks the Brazilian dialect of Portuguese)—and Athena ended up offering to take Ana out to eat to celebrate her finishing her thesis since Ana's family was still in Brazil, and wasn't flying over till closer to her graduation.

Ana was head over heels for Athena, while Athena's feelings were, if we were to put a human label on it, probably more akin to queer platonic (as a goddess, Athena's experience wouldn't fall under the realm of human emotions, so this is just the closest experience), but the two had a lot of deep, intellectually stimulating conversations.

Athena broached the idea of a child to Ana the evening of Ana's graduation, after Ana's family had gone back to their hotel and Athena had gone to Ana's small NYC apartment—in true godly fashion. She revealed her identity by beginning with a long lament along the lines of:

We have had many intellectually stimulating, and altogether brilliant conversations this last month, that I have decided that you are worthy enough that, should you except, I shall bestow you a gift.

Or something along those lines. Ana, obviously, is extremely confused, because who wouldn't be? And Athena fully explains the whole; I'm Athena, goddess of wisdom. Greek Gods are real. La de da da. And Ana's like, "I graduated this morning, I'm in severe debt. And I literally just was hired for a research job, I can't go on maternity leave yet." And Athena's all like, "Money is a social construct that I do not need to abide by, I'll help you pay, and I know people." And Ana's like, "Throw in a house and give me a few months to get settled in my job and pretend that I've had a pregnancy, and you've got a deal."

So Ana tells everyone she had IVF (because she's been out as a lesbian for years, no one would believe she mishappingly got pregnant) and that her pregnancy is on the cryptic side, and gets her research started and on December 30th, here comes Athena, showing up with a baby in a wicker basket like the stork and a Camp Half-Blood pamphlet, telling Ana all about monsters before skedaddling away. She named her Olivera because (I think it's pretty obvious) her name means olive tree, as a tribute to Athena.

Ana was extremely worried about the monsters when Olivera was young, especially since she was completely non-verbal till the age of five. Even if no monsters were going to attack her yet, Ana was afraid that Ollie would have severe trauma from seeing something that Athena described as being eldritch beast-like that Ana wouldn't be able to see if she were around, much less if Ana was away at work. They made a little code to demonstrate when Olivera saw something scary, so that Ana would be able to help her not feel worried anymore. Beginning at two or three, Ana began to slowly wean Ollie onto the ideas of monsters and that she could see things others couldn't, and that some people—like her teachers, aides, and therapists—might not believe her, but that her mom would always believe her. She also used Ollie's love of art, which she had developed as a special interest extremely young, to communicate with her. When she started speaking with her help of her language-speech pathologist, little by little, Ana encouraged her to try and describe the things she saw, which worked well when she was seeing things like griffins and pegasi flying through the air.

Their system worked best when Olivera's teaching aide in first grade called her in a frenzy saying that Olivera had hidden herself in a cabinet and had a meltdown, and when they finally got her out, she refused to talk, even to her speech-language pathologist, and even refused when her occupational therapist tried to get her to paint what happened. It took a while, but Ana was finally able to get the story out of Ollie through their codes—that a horde of spiders had chased her into the cabinet and bit her—and to say Ana was worried was an understatement.

She immediately called up the phone number for Camp Half-Blood Athena had given her in a panic after Ollie had fallen asleep. Chiron told her that, at her age, he wouldn't recommend camp just yet, nor would he tell her the reason for the attack was because she was a demigod, but that there was a demigod therapist—a child of Dionysus—who lived in the city who would probably be really helpful, especially since Ollie was going through constant meltdowns and panic attacks, so much so that Ana had to take a month off work because Olivera would have a meltdown every day at school without Ana around, so Ana immediately brought her over.

Her demigod therapist was able to help Ollie through understanding the spider situation in a way that didn't reveal too much to her, so that the attacks wouldn't get worse, and also showed Olivera some simple ways to fight off the monsters. The therapist also was extremely helpful because, at around the same time, Ana was getting real serious with her first girlfriend since Olivera was born.

Wendy was a fellow astrophysist who had just been transferred to Ana's team, and the two hit it off right away. A single mother to a one-year-old (whom Ana would find out years later was a demigod as well, a son of Urania) and extremely bright, Ana soon found herself falling head over heels, and, after slowly blending their families, Ana and Wendy got married when Olivera was eight and Hayden almost three.

A little before she turned ten, Olivera's therapist told Ana that they thought it would be a good time to inform Ollie about camp since Olivera was becoming more curious. Chiron and Ana joined Olivera's therapy session and explained everything to her; about Athena, about camp, about why the spiders came after her. They decided that giving Olivera a test run of camp—where her therapist would stay nearby and help her get settled, during early December, so camp wasn't too full or overstimulating, so that's what they did. Olivera immediately found herself clinging to a girl who she found out was her older sister, Annabeth, and followed her around like a duckling the first few days while her therapist tagged along, and Thalia did too, making sure everything was alright.

She was supposed to stay at camp till her birthday, but that plan turned on its head when Annabeth got kidnapped, and Ana thought it would be better for Olivera to stay with her and Wendy and Hayden instead of alone in Cabin 6. Olivera really struggled those first few days back, but with her moms help was able to bounce back. When Annabeth was saved, Ana had her come and visit Olivera to talk to her about what happened (the watered down version) and that Thalia was joining this group called the Hunters. Wendy was told that Annabeth had the same sperm donor as Olivera, and that the camp was a support group for neurodivergent kids, and it just happened they met there.

That summer, Ana sent Ollie to camp in June with the expectation that Chiron and Annabeth would help her along, but that plan was derailed with Annabeth's labyrinth's quest so Chiron ended up calling Ollie's therapist to come back to camp for a little bit to help with Olivera's constant meltdowns that had begun up again. With the impending problems with the labyrinth, and Olivera's inability to function at camp, Chiron ended up sending her home, which ended up working out because she missed the huge battle.

Ollie got sent back to camp in August, and was finally doing well enough that her therapist didn't have to stay nearby, but she did serve as a pretty good distraction for Annabeth as she dealt with Percy's feelings.

She went back home, but returned to camp in June of the next year, where she fought in Manhattan at the age of eleven with the help of Malcolm and her therapist who was called for the battle, as well as her headphones to help with the volume of the battle, and at one point, her therapist was able to pull her away so she could regroup in an alleyway.

Even with the trauma of war, she was able to get back to camp without her therapist the next year, and even without Annabeth, she was able to find comfort in camp.

She also fought in the war with the Giants, and Chiron didn't need to call her therapist during the battle, because Olivera was able to figure out her own needs. Though, they did come by after the battle because Olivera broke her leg in the sinking ground.

By Tower of Nero, we get the Olivera that we know and love—the slightly more independant, extremely artistic, shy, trying her best with her siblings, and navigating that early highschool relationships with Jerry. She's now content with being a demigod, and even though her therapist and mom are on speeddial, she managed to go on a quest without her therapist when she couldn't even go to camp without them at first, and has a ton of friends not in her cabin, and Jerry, to help her navigate life, which is something nine-year-old Ollie couldn't have imagined

[deus-ex-mona]

sometimes, i think about how ☝︎this rando☝︎ from the [redacted] anime inspired me to tl idol sengen out of spite for her butchered characterisation

[doodlejoltik]

my favourite writing device is having an un-Rei-liable narrator

[pencilofawesomeness]

Guys I'm having such a bizarre moment. I didn't expect to win like this, or to have my personal headcanons be confirmed so directly, but I also feel simultaneously robbed because Akutami is reaching into my head /jk

We received so little about Sukuna, but those brief brief brieeef moments of existentialism really caught me and I've thought about him for so long because of it. He was a fantastically terrifying villain, but there was always that dissonance there, between some of his words and actions, that portrayed that aimless longing and hurt and what that meant as a characterization point, and I'm honestly so hyped we turn around and get this in 271:

(scanlation for this panel because I think it gets the sentiment across better)

Followed by

I'm—

Y'all I started my draft for my Sukuna Reincarnation AU months ago and I never expected canon to validate me. They leave it easier and more open-ended, of course, but I'm coming on the record to say I wasn't crazy for my stretch of a character exploration and also I called it.

I won't go into the specifics of my "study Sukuna like a cockroach" notes now I just wanted to come grab the mic and announce that I beat Akutami to it >:D /lh

I'm being a good noodle and not stretching myself thin by starting a new multichap now, but I've had With the Storm in the works since January, and in light of the end of JJK and this lovely little tidbit, I'm tossing a sneak-peak from Chapter 7 because why not:

But maybe it could be. Maybe, just maybe, Uraume could accept this proffered hand and continue to hope.

---

Yet… things were different now. Things changed. Uraume changed, Sukuna changed, and even though they were still themselves, there was a myriad of shifts that piled on their shoulders until something gave way. Maybe a subconscious part of Uraume had braced for that to be a crash, but instead, Sukuna had been nothing but accepting and open. It only made them more nervous about losing him, just as they feared losing Pops. Uraume was not used to wanting, or hoping, but there was a powerful need in their chest that childishly demanded that they should get to keep both their kinder father and this happier Sukuna close, even if that may not be possible.

They nodded, not trusting their words at the moment, and Sukuna relaxed slightly.

“Good. Though that reminds me… You never really answered my first question. What do you want to do? With this life, I mean.”

There was that want again. Uraume felt the pull at their lungs until it was unbearable. They knew what he was asking; the question didn’t hinge on his involvement anymore, just them. Sukuna said he wanted to live peacefully, so what, then, was Uraume’s answer?

As much as they felt like a coward saying this, maybe that was okay. Sukuna felt the same way, after all. “I like this life too…” Uraume answered, and it was very different saying those words aloud. “Pops isn’t a shaman at all, and he’s good company and a good father. If I wasn’t able to find you, or you were not of this world, then�� I would stay as his family.”

“That’s good,” Sukuna agreed, lifting yet another anxious weight from their chest. “I get that. Nobody else in my family are shamans either—at least, not really—and they’re all good people. It’s a good life, and even though I would have never expected it… I don’t want to lose it.”

It was amazing how similar they were, then and now. Uraume…really shouldn’t have worried about a lack of understanding. Sukuna didn’t have to say it, but it was clear that their thoughts had wandered down a similar road yet again. Their families, full of normal people living normal lives, were an unexpected treasure; to willingly become a monster, to become a scourge upon the world for whatever reason, would forfeit that. More than that, having people to care about made the desire to spread destruction lessen, rather significantly. Maybe that hurt and rage and bitterness was still there, in between their ribs, but in the ones that were dead and buried—a part of them, but also not quite there anymore, like when a scar ceases to constantly itch and ache and becomes only a mark on functioning skin.

They didn’t have to be monsters anymore. There were calmer, kinder things available to want—available to receive, even.

“This is so weird,” Uraume blurted, staring at their small hands and thinking of the strange miracle their lives turned into.

Sukuna barked a quick laugh before it was muffled into something like a snicker. “I know, right?” He leaned back in a stretch, his face catching the sun and lighting him in something that wasn’t a fire, but equally bright. “It’s not bad though.”

It was weird, to be a child, to be without some far-off goal, to be loved and happy, in the sense that it was absurd and foreign and absolutely unexpected. It was a breath of fresh air after years and years of having frozen lungs. Weird, surprising, but unmistakably good after so long of believing that no such term, deceptively simple, could have ever been applicable.

“Not bad at all,” Uraume agreed, a bright and blooming thing in their chest as their life began to slot into a new place. Still open-ended and perhaps a little terrifying for it, but Pops accepted them, and Sukuna accepted them, so maybe they could truly accept themself now, and whatever that will look like.

[ignatiusteto]

valerith, the red swan

[aromanticasterisms]

moze 🤝 guinaifen

holders of backstory that makes me absolutely lose my mind and i wish was expanded upon on-screen but they've already had their time in the spotlight and probably won't come back in any meaningful capacity so i just have to sit with it by myself

[bacchuschucklefuck]

i love your bard! riz au so much. he is so tragic as a character for all the reasons of what living in constant danger fear does to your mind. can i ask about his relationship with the other bad kids and the major differences vs canon?

hey I'm glad ur enjoying what's goin on here! I don't have a Lot of it clear in my mind yet bc it is a full class swap of the entire party so some stuff will just. not play out until they do yknow? it is how it is. but I think from the beginning riz's motivation is decently different so he'll just get into it on an entirely different path - he did Not start out a very kind kid. he would be extremely conflict avoidant, he's got the Actor feat, he's stocked up on Disguise Self, he's ready to disappear mid-conversation, anyone who looks like troubles he's steering Clear of. he goes to aguefort not because he wants to be an adventurer but because sklonda was like "this works for you?" and he was like "yeah 's all good :]" (he is about to throw up bc that's where penny went missing)

I'd say he runs into fabian (rogue) first very briefly and they'd mutually be like oh. a guy. and immediately forget each other once they get out of the same like locked classroom they accidentally both hid in. and then during the corn cutie fight fabian would see the way riz react and Not Like It (haha whoa. like looking in a mirror amirite) and go actually I'd rather be a hero (derogatory) than whatever that is that guy's got going on. great surprise for him when they got out and registration's closed and the mirror is now one of his partners in the career-long group project :]

kristen (sorcerer) would be an Insane encounter at first for riz like this is someone who is extremely powerful, not very controlled, and so fucking starved for people to be nice at. riz is cordial to her on the way and she is like Fuck Yeah Friend! please go do paperwork with me I don't know shit from fuck I haven't had proper paperwork since I was like twelve and gay. do you like candies? she then throws ragh through a window for trying to bully gorgug and netting her and gorgug the detention (riz is of course immediately someone else while this is happening) (he shows up again right after like haha sorry that was scary! resolutely not looking at how kristen's face falls at the idea of someone being scared of her again)

riz and gorgug (cleric) get on like house on fire at first in the sense that they're at that point both fake bitches and they know this about each other and acknowledge this with each other implicitly and they're like I'm not poking at what's going on with you if you don't poke at what's going on with me. and then gorgug dies and sees that the god he's been feeding his anger to isn't real (yet) and has his realization that he's been indoctrinated into a cult through the support group he's been to and starts on deprogramming and in that process he starts poking at riz's deal just by proxy of dealing with his own. riz gets vicious about this a bit into it but after the arcade he kinda comes around again. it helps that at the end of sophomore year gorgug becomes the saint of the Inbetween and riz is very much in need of that stop on his way right then

fig (barbarian) on the other hand does Not like riz off the bat (her whole thing is leaning into rage to live her truth without fear) but then being as perceptive as she is soon she's like ohhhh you're just scared. like Really scared and it's ruining your life. and after that she's like I'll just protect you then :] (this is her solution to most things her friends go through) this does not help at first bc riz has picked up the pattern that is if you're protective of him bad things will happen to you. he will have a breakdown about this in sophomore year but it'll get better from there

adaine (artificer) on the Other other hand just straight up doesn't like riz until after the arcade lol. he's on the prep side, he's not socially awkward and he doesn't use that power for anything but being a coward, he lets biz talk at him in the AV club and that means biz never stops fucking talking, and every time adaine raises a complaint all he does is being like "sorry :[" and changing nothing. it's fucked up between them riz tries to appease her by doing nice things but he doesn't address the things she actually complains about so she doesn't take it. she's the person who outright calls him out for not having the backbone to stand up for himself or his party. despite this she never thinks of throwing him out of the party and he does pick up on this. they get better after the arcade and riz apologizing and by junior year adaine's the one handling the tech end of riz's freelance publication

all of this is subjected to change of course I'm mostly keeping things mobile that's where all the fun is hehe. the world is constantly in motion etc but this is kinda how I'm coming into my art atm we'll simply see!