#where do i think they're from? they spawned in /j

[radioisntdead]

You mentioned doing Susan and Reader type things, let me bring up to you:

Reader is Susan's adult child or Niece/Nephew. How do you think that would go? Would she be boasting them up like she does to Rosie or would she be nitpicking them all the time? You decide!

Good evening my dear! I'm gonna scream about Susan now, we don't see much of her but I adore grumpy old people characters (in fiction)

Let's start with child headcanons,

You POOR POOR CHILD, Susan definitely has a key to your home, did you give it to her? Probably not she's the type to MAKE a key, or pick the lock, look me in the eyes [?] And tell me this old woman doesn't know how to pick a lock,

She's definitely seen and done some shit in her [After?] Lifetime, you could be making dinner and she just breaks in strolls on in and starts going on about her childhood and it's just the most messed up Parent Susan lore, she also doesn't care for boundaries, doesn't matter who you are, your boundaries are being invaded, she doesn't like when others invade your boundaries through, only she can do that after all she's your mother! She assumingly birthed you,

Or picked you up from the side of the streets

I don't know how she acquired you

If you have a spouse, Mama Susan does NOT like them, doesn't matter if they're the king of hell or whatever, No one is good enough for her baby,

Heaven forbid if it's someone she already doesn't like, like Alastor for example.

That being said she wants grandkids, you don't have to spawn them, just pick one up off the streets I'm sure there are orphans in hell! Especially after extermination day

She's definitely the type to grab your cheek, squish it and just go "Have you been eating at all?!? Fucking skin and bones!"

Then she just gives you some poor demons leg to munch on, yum!

I feel like when she can make a mean cannibalistic meatloaf, but nothing else,

Maybe soup, but who can't make soup?

[I'm so sorry if you can't make soup, Don't worry I'll make you some so your not soupless]

She's definitely the type of parent to send you to your room without dinner, or keep you at the table until you finished up your meal, or smack with the cane

Honestly if we go with if she was alive in the 1800's {?} And not hellborn {also Susan DOESN'T HAVE A WIKI PAGE? GIVE OUR MEAN OLD LADY A WIKI PLEASE- /j}

Depending on your gender you definitely get raised differently, because sexism was horrid back then, woman didn't get the rights to properly vote until the 1920's, She was long gone by then.

if you're born a gal she's all

"Be more ladylike! No man will marry you if you act like this"

She loves you, and in her mind it's for your own good because society is NOT kind to those who act different than the status quo, she cannot spare you the same fate she got, she wishes you were born in a different time, in one where you'd have more freedom.

she'd lighten up after death because, you know y'all are dead, and man fuck social status that's dead now, she prefers cannibal town as to wherever you were during life

If you were born a lad then you got a ton of

"Be a gentleman! Don't be a dick, don't duel people!"

A son meant she got a pat on the back, she was capable of producing an heir, or whatever old timey crap was going on, she hoped you did NOT turn out to be a product of your environment.

I feel like she'd be very active in feminist movements back then from the shadows, she definitely earned her rights to be grumpy old lady

ANYWAYS THATS OFF TOPIC,

All in all, she's not the WORST mom, but she definitely traumatized you, I feel like y'all healed your mother-child bond in hell {that's a sentence I never thought I'd write}

NOW ON TO THE NIBLING {?} Niece/nephew

She's the single probably wealthy Aunt that probably killed her husband but no one can prove it, completely different from above, she did NOT have a child with niblings [I think that's the right term please correct me if wrong]

If she did have a offspring, congratulations your cousin is often compared to you and y'all probably have a strained relationship.

Anyways any time she sees you she either goes in for the hug and if rejected makes a comment about today's youth and respect, or she doesn't go in for the hug and rambles about today's youth being too touchy,

"What the fuck am I supposed to do with this thing."

Susan when near you.

She gives great Christmas presents though, she just like throws it to you and says she got it last minute and then it's just like 200$ present,

Or if she REALLY doesn't like you, your getting one of those cringe tshirts that's like "look out ladies, I'm a gamer"

OKAY SO ANOTHER LOVELY ANON REQUESTED A THING WITH GRANDCHILD AND SUSAN I'M WORKING ON THAT NEXT, I'm gonna take a nap first though, Thank you for tuning in!

[definesanity]

The Weird Ones

Uzi Doorman was not your typical teenage girl. In fact, she was the farthest thing from it.

Her mom had managed to get her into college, bless her, and in Copper City, no less, but people STILL knew she was the daughter of Khan.

Greeeeeeeeeat.

Thankfully, there is someone who doesn't mind. Actually, a few.

First, Lizzy and Russian Doll. No, that is genuinely her name, and isn't bullied for it due to Lizzy. Lizzy is the atypical mean girl, and Doll is... well, a friend of her's, and a Russian transfer student.

Thad is cool. Not much to say other than, minus the ones he hangs out with, he's decent enough.

And, then, there are the last three. Who are, by far, the strangest.

Nathaniel, Victoria, and Jessica Elliot. Or, more commonly, for some reason, N, V, and J.

They're the adopted siblings of Tessa James(who calls their daughter James???) Elliot, a girl who is preeeeetty high up on the social ladder. N, as much as the guy is a golden retriever, is a nice guy at the end of the day.

Which then led her to meeting V and J, and then realising that she was gay as fuck.

She means. Come on! V walks around with that coat showing off her honkers and J is. Well she definitely awakened some things!

So, it came to Uzi. Alone. Groaning that she's single. Again. For like. The. Fifth time that day.

Her phone buzzed and her arm nearly dislocated at the speed at which she grabbed it.

It was a text from N:

Golden_Retrievers_Have_Gentl: Hey! Busy? Just wanna hang out and chat about something! :D

Uzi's reply was simple, but effective:

DarkXWolf17: pls holy shit i am so fucking bored rn. where u wanna meet

Golden_Retrieves_Have_Gentl: Outside of campus! I'll wait for ya! ;3

Finally, something to do.

---------------

Eh, it's not bad.

It is just. Chatting. But, to be honest, Uzi likes N's stories. They're pretty funny at times, especially when it's concerned over Tessa and her less-than-posh ways.

Still, N eventually paused, oddly enough, and made a thinking pose.

"Yo, Thinker, you doing okay?" Uzi was gonna kill herself later for caring.

"Eh? Oh, right, sorry! Just thinking, is all... so, um. Can I ask for a favour?"

"...What is it." Uzi didn't look amused.

"Hey, I'm not asking you to win the Election! It's just, you're single, right?"

"Thanks for the reminder." Uzi didn't look impressed, and N sucked in a whince.

"Yeeeeeah... well, not related, can you... keep an eye on my sister, please? I got a call from Tessa who happily reminded me I'm needed for something, soooooooo..."

"Oh, sure, yeah. Who is it? V? J?"

"Cyn!" N replied happily.

"Who." Uzi's flat expression could be framed in a museum. Or, heck, give her a record for "Most Flat Expression" so she can be famous for something *other* than being the spawn of Khan Fucking Doorman.

"...Oh, right, yeah! Um. She's the youngest, although we're all about the same age anyways, she's pretty short, has yellow eyes, and is really sweet!"

Uzi raised an eyebrow. "...Then how come I haven't seen her before, then?"

"She's homeschooled! She's a little, uh..."

"I heard you were. Talking shit. Big Brother."

"OH JESUS CHRISTMAS--" N jumped five feet into the air, and to the side, revealing to Uzi the most autistic girl she's ever seen in her entire life.

Cargo shorts. Fucking. Cargo. Shorts.

Cyn was, put simply, kinda cute. And also heavily autistic, from what Uzi can tell.

N whispered to her, *"Hey, just so you know, she's not doing that on purpose! She has a speech problem!"*

"Annoyed Expression. I can, hear you. Dickhead."

"OHLOOKATTHETIMEIGOTTAGOANDDASHNOWBYYYYYYYE!" N ran away, leaving behind a goth in a hoodie and beanie with an autistic college(???) girl with a t-shirt with Jenny Wakeman on it and cargo shorts.

"...'Annoyed Expression'?" Uzi quoted. It definitely was strange. But Uzi herself had scoured a 97% of of 100% for an autism test so she can't say shit.

"Mm. I heard that my, facial expressions are hard to, read." Cyn's voice was slightly deep, and her words were slowly spoken. Kinda like a robot. Neat.

"Therefore. Neutral Expression. I announce my, current expression." Cyn finished with a shrug.

"...Yeah, that's fair I guess. Still, does it get tiring?"

"Bemused Look. Does it not get hot, wearing black clothes?"

"Bite me." Uzi said by reflex. A habit she developed when she was younger that sticked with her even now.

"Fair."

-------------

From there, Uzi learnt three things:

Thing One: Cyn is highly autistic, yes, but underneath the 'tism was a pretty intelligent gal. Although most that knowledge was in robotics.

(I know you're reading this Archie, and I didn't say it at the time, but 'the 'tism' was the best thing I'd heard all day /gen --Ryuusei.)

Thing Two: 'Criss-Cross Applesauce' is now the funniest thing Uzi has ever heard.

Thing Three: Um.

...She was cute, okay??? Don't blame her! Bite her!

Which led to about a few months later. Wherein she was sitting down near some statue and N was looking at her patiently.

"...So I might be dating you sister." Uzi croaked out. She didn't look dead inside, but she has a feeling she will be dead on the outside sooner than later.

N, so far, took it well. "Oh! Um. Okay! I don't mind at all! Who is it? V? J?"

Uzi made a pained noise that sounded like that of a quiet banshee scream.

N then had his two braincells knock together.

At the same time Cyn leaned over Uzi, and waved, smiling.

N had a dial-up moment. "Wah???"

"Amused Expression. You look, surprised, Big Brother, N."

"Whajiah--YEAH???"

He gestured to Uzi. Uzi went near him, and he leaned next to her ear.

"Okay, I mean, I'm not mad, really! Just a little surprised! I mean, like. The claws???"

Uzi looked at Cyn. Her 'claws' are moreso just sharp nails.

"Spicy." Uzi replied with a smile.

N looked very confused.

Cyn went '^_^'

[nomagicartz]

Pleaseeee tell us more about your TC lore :3c it's been a delight to see old mc art in this day and age and the middleschooler in me is having a blast

cracks my knuckles . chat ur in for a long one and this is just basics

TC lore okay basics . world works like if minecraft and real life were combined . game things yknow . think mcsm .

World is split up into three sections, the main lands (occupied by players), the oceans (occupied by various aquatic races), and the farlands (occupied by elves), as seen here,

Elves are quite uncommon in the main lands ! Most fled to the farlands when notch ascended to godhood or whatnot

TC's story mainly takes place in the main lands !

got that cool okay now for actual tc things

TC is a sort of special group sent on various missions to keep the main lands safe. Sometimes they are in battles and sometimes theyre just off to go meet some king or smth

For a majority of the story, several aquatic nations are at war with many land kingdoms. The war started right after a major virus outbreak (zombie infection if you will, taken from Endstone and the older Truemu stories)

Okay time for the actual team in . Almost oldest to youngest order (Except for ssun and husky)

Ssun is the 'leader' of tc, being the second eldest and the one with the most combat knowledge. He's pretty against anyone else going on combat missions, this guy is a boydad . Unfortunately his eyes are sensitive to light, so hes rockin shades all the time to help

Husky is the healer, being the eldest he prefers to be out of direct combat. They're the glue that keeps the team from falling apart, being the one that has the braincell .

Mitch is the best up front fighter for the team! He's literally coded to be a fighter, and good lord does he get even better once he gets his fancy sword (as seen in the Warzone music video). He is the one token straight, and is very brutal with his words

Jerome is the second best fighter ! He is a heavy hitter, switching between an axe and a mace for fights ! hes the family dog and weighted blanket /j

Sky is the second team 'leader', despite his lack of braincells, hes pretty good at quick thinking! They keep the morale up and often is the "face man" ! this guy just fucking rocks shades for no reason . adhd central pt 1 over here

Ty is. well . hes there. Hes there to look good and to chew gum and hes all out of gum /j (Ty and sky are a package deal)

Jason ! He's the mechanic (and the dj)! Fuckin guy made his own spacesuit and weapons ! Everyone else out here using swords and bows this guy is using literal guns ! His suit doubles as mobility aids (Specifically his lower half, his boots / leg pads have support and compression sleeves built in :]) adhd central pt 2

Seto ! this guy is the youngest of the team, often put outside of combat both because hes not built for it and Ssun will not let a kid fight. He uses his magic to help defend and distract the enemy! this fuckin guy is autistic as hell, but thats okay his spinterest in magic and elven history helps alot

okay time for out of context fun facts that i may expand on more later someone remind me to do that

there are two types of players, born and spawned (Age is based on body age, not how long one has been conscious), all mobs and elves are born, but not all players are spawned (or human)

Jason, sky, ty and seto are all under the trans umbrella ! Trans rights and wrongs

Jason was trapped in space for 4 going on 5 years . its where he taught himself how to build suits (Even with many failure)

Ty is somehow the most mentally stable team member

no one here is fully human. the one closest to being fully human is like . Jason i think

They r one big happy family chat trust me

[omgkalyppso]

Étoile and Astarion Wedding

A little warning that Astarion is a vampire (not a spawn or the Ascendant) in the timeline that I'm going to discuss.

@thetavolution tagged me in this BG3 Wedding Season ask game some days ago. I was going to chop it up into manageable posts but fuck it, you get the wall of text. You can come back and read it over time, I'll reblog it a few times. I've answered every question except the last two.

If you open this post and Regret, you can press J on desktop to skip it.

✨Details✨

1.Wedding, or something else? - What do the characters think about weddings or marriages? If not a wedding, would they acknowledge their relationship in a different kind of ceremony?

Étoile and Astarion don't get married, for years! For centuries! It wouldn't change their relationship, and their sense of union and their perception of Étoile's acceptance at being a part of what the vampires (the old Szarr siblings and the spawn) are creating, and thus, part of the family, doesn't lend to the need or expectation that a marital union is needed, necessary, or that it might even be welcome.

Astarion initially fears asking after hearing of Étoile's past and how their first relationship ended terribly because that partner had wanted a wife; and while that isn't quite what Astarion is expecting of them with either gendered, social, romantic or "professional" responsibilities, it is enough to worry that this would be viewed as limiting in one way or another.

However.

In regards to managing, settling and supporting the Spawn — they (the vampires (who are Astarion and his siblings) and the spawn (7000)) do not want to be referred to as the Szarr siblings or the Szarr vampires or Cazador's spawn, so they need to be called Something for how they engage with Baldur's Gate, Underdark society, and the public at large — the siblings debate and some (Astarion included) make cases for why the group should be referred to by their name (for implications of power); it isn't intuitive for them to decide to reclaim the title of "House Ienith" with the risk of antagonizing Menzoberranzan, but they realize what they do owe Astarion (begrudgingly) and Étoile (especially) and the other adventurers who stepped in during the Rite of Ascension, so that's where they end up.

So if Étoile took Astarion's name then that would snip their very flimsy tie to the dead House Ienith, and if Astarion took Étoile's name then it would be "as bad as" their group being otherwise named for Astarion, when his siblings want something very different in those early days.

Étoile isn't bothered by this in the same way that they're not bothered by being unmarried, but it is part of a choice taken from or otherwise influenced for Astarion in a way that would rankle. And he would initially be tempted to try and think up a plan a scheme to weasel around these expectations just to maintain the option of a more traditionally formal union for his own peace of mind.

It isn't until after Étoile has been turned into a vampire centuries later that chips fall into place.

Astarion has proven that without influence, he is reliable to his siblings and their House.

Years of bargaining, and fighting, and representing them publically, etc. And years of friendship! Paired with staying behind to help them combat portals spilling Raphael's forces into the Underdark while Étoile ventures far and away to fight him directly —

And even Astarion's eventual influence, guidance, and actions involved in turning Étoile into a vampire; to put their permanent presence among them — family already in all but the traditions of wedlock, even with the bitterness and conflicts among them.

Astarion's siblings would be surprised when Étoile came back (with Astarion from Étoile's mother's) as a vampire; but unwed to Astarion.

And some of them, even more surprised as Astarion starts up another romance (with my oc Voriya), seemingly pulling away from his partner of years because of maladjustments to Étoile looking and smelling and acting different than they had in life.

Astarion and Étoile would argue over it; Astarion's annoyance with everyone's lack of understanding, and Étoile's pleas for understanding, attention and assistance with their adjustments. Astarion knows he loves them, and that he has no intention of ending things, he simply needs time: to adjust, and to come to terms with what he's lost and what he's taken, and to witness that unlike every other vampire he's ever known that they will no now in this new form try to hurt him. But he can recognize that Étoile might worry that his apprehension at such a critical time may come across as strain, that it might appear as if he cannot live with what he's done and would leave them for eternity, rather than celebrate it.

Recognizing that he does not have time to adjust, and that a promise once inappropriate between them might re-establish and restabilize their union, Astarion realizes now is the best time to propose, to reassure Étoile — and himself, to influence his siblings' and his spawn's opinion of the quality of his character, and to maintain the level of independence needed to pursue any other future relationships without the presumption that he is unable to manage his heart or his time.

They both are under the impression that marriage serves a purpose; and theirs does.

I worry I've made that sound terribly unromantic, but it's important to them, and it's important that it happens then.

2. Proposal - Who proposed to whom? Were there rings or other gifts involved?

Astarion proposes. I think once he decides to propose he's giddy for a whole tenday or two, because he's decided that if he is going to propose that Étoile is going to accept. It is difficult to make arrangements between moments spent together, but I think he would want professional opinions on whether an enchanted ring or something less practical (and more stylish) is more appropriate for a piece of jewellery that he expects Étoile to possess for an exceedingly long time.

Astarion would only propose in an extremely private setting. He might be tempted to propose after a rest after a day / night of sex, but he would rather be dressed and would dismiss the compulsion.

He would make declarations about wanting to see the moon, and perhaps it is the season's first frost, and the sands of the Sword Coast are rigid and unyielding and he's a tad more red faced than he'd like, but Étoile looks better than they have in months — with the journey back from Impiltur largely spent in a wooden carriage like smuggled corpses, and then his inconsiderate distance when they returned to the Gate, and then the tendays re-integrating into the routines of their city in the Underdark — and now there's fresh air, and familiarity, and far less dramatic options for feeding.

He hides the ring in another gift, a necklace. In feat of sleight of hand he puts the ring on the chain when helping them put on the necklace, waiting until they notice its addition.

3. Bachlor/Bachelorette parties? - Do the characters get a bachelor(ette) party before the big day? Does anything crazy happen?

If they'd done this while Karlach was alive then she would have been all over this for them. As it stands, I can't imagine which of their friends would insist on this manner of tradition or party. It's not as though they are celebrating an end of being single or exclusivity. Any celebration of comparable purpose for them would be an unofficial party honoring the engagement (which is going to last at least a period of months, if not an entire year by virtue of elves and vampires living at a slow pace and needing to contact a variety of guests and a decision about whether it will be within House Ienith in the Underdark, in Baldur's Gate or how far east they want to push their influence for the sake of Étoile's mother).

Aurelia would take charge of this engagement party; doing so for Astarion (who insists he doesn't need one only for the sake of being able to complain if it isn't enjoyable (it is)) to spare him anything Violet or Petras might concoct specifically for torture or appearances.

She would host it in Baldur's Gate and invite a number of the couple's friends, acquaintances and lovers. There would be at least one planned fight / blood sport; but not to the death because this would sit poorly with at least whatever Ravengard descendant(s) might be present, and Dame Aylin if she can manage to get ahold of her. There would be no planned nudity, but in the later hours it's definitely the type of party where someone (not Étoile) ends up without any pants.

4. Pre-Ceremony Events - Are there any special events, ceremonies, rituals, or preparations the couple must do before the wedding day? Ritual cleansing, asking a parent for the character's hand, mehndi/henna painting, little pre-ceremony games or challenges, etc?

Aranea, Étoile mother, does not wish to leave her mountain. She fears that if she does that she will never see it again, and yet as a priest, and as the priest of their god that Étoile trusts above all others, and as their mother, she would go, if necessary, as necessary, to officiate their wedding.

I think someone who knows some manner of teleportation spell would help ease this journey for the occasion.

Astarion has already faced the brunt of her sorrow after turning Étoile, but he would not need to seek her forgiveness (and certainly not her permission) for this. She is understanding when they meet again.

There aren't any pre-ceremony ceremonies as described in this question.

5. Formal or informal affair? - Is the wedding elaborate and grand, or simple and sweet? Is it a tenday-long series of parties or is it a quick vow exchange in front of Withers?

It is a single day of ceremony but with expectations / acceptance of a tenday or two of hosting, whether and how many parties that includes depends on one's definition of a party, but the journey is not inconsiderable for a fair number of their guests. The ceremony is a formal affair and attendance reflects on the unions between House Ienith and their allies.

6. Venue - Where is the ceremony and/or reception? Inside? Outside?

I forget about fanaticism in world-building and plotting fairly often; like Shepard's number one fan Conrad Verner in Mass Effect, or "the cult" in the final season of The Magnus Archives, to name a few examples of what I mean. This is relevant because I previously pictured Étoile's faith as an extremely private thing, shared only through the necessity of proximity — like with peers in the Adventurer's Guild.

But they absolutely fight with the Spawn and vampires on multiple occasions. I don't think the source of their Paladin abilities would be that much of a mystery. And while Astarion wouldn't see Étoile's presence as Auril answering his prayers (consistently, or all the time, maybe occasionally for a flash of a moment), that probably isn't the case for the varied perspectives of all 7000 Spawn. There is probably a little temple to the fury in their established city, whether or not they worship her in the same way as Étoile (or even in a way that is recognizable to them) is something I'll have to spend more time thinking about, but for now, it lets me answer this fucking question.

The ceremony might begin at the centre of their Underdark city, but the vows and other elements of the rituals would take place on the exterior steps of this temple; with the reception being another trek back to the wider streets and the interior of the building where they usually host meetings and guests of esteem.

7. Timing - What time of year are they getting married? What time of day?

It is early winter, and evening (late morning for vampires). The vampires and Spawn like being able to operate through the night while their guests slowly and sporadically need to disperse for sleep.

.

8. Traditions - What traditions are involved in the ceremony/reception? Is there a mix of traditions from either partner?

A public exchange of rings, a public exchange of vows, and a private ritualistic death or twelve as part of the union / ceremony. Behind the closed doors of Auril's temple while their guests are making the march back to where the reception will take place, they have two monster hunters doomed to their fate to be killed in one manner or another with Cold and ice, to appease Étoile's goddess; and ten others to be turned in blood and ritual.

After three historical attempts at gifting slaves from Menzoberranzan, the drow matron mothers learned this was a waste of everyone's time and agreed with House Ienith that it just made irritable neighbours, to have the slaves freed and instead offered gainful employment in this settlement. Some of these former slaves, having resided with the Spawn for hundreds of years now, have found attachments in the city, some love, and others ambition. While the 7000 spawn are each 1000 claimed by Astarion and his six siblings, these ten will be specifically bound to Étoile.

House Ienith has rules, in general and which magically compel the Spawn to be incapable of killing anyone through vampiric bites; but I think this exception is known to Astarion's siblings. The religious attendants (Spawn) drink, so long as either Étoile or Astarion have the final drops.

I was initially thinking of others that Aranea and Étoile would be willing to kill, but I think that would frighten Astarion, who is not quite spawn!Astarion, but is still the man who initially said, "No innocents." And while he'd meant that to appease the others and be reassuring at the time, I think he's kind of grown into it. Merciful. Moral, if he can spare the thought and time. Devoted to who he wants to be, more than to any cause or code.

Additionally, I was thinking of Aranea summoning something like a temporary snowstorm or a deep chill during the ceremony, but now I think it's more interesting if, while the Cold being felt in the bones of those being married is important, it is secondary in her ritual: where the bodily warmth of those dying in this temple in Auril's name is drained, and reversed, and infused in the stone. A globe of ice forms on the ceiling, ensuring the temple itself is a place of permanent chill and frost. A place Auril would be more likely to sit, than in the dark empty space on the edge of Lolth's domain.

Astarion might bristle, worrying he's allowed something terrible into their home, it is far colder in the temple than he ever was on Aranea's mountain (though he was not there in deepest winter, nor was he there specifically seeking Auril's attention, let alone her blessings). And Étoile, later, would reassure him that it is as permanent as though they had planted a tree in a great forest as other elves might; and they would be so clear about how much they appreciate all he's stomached when it comes to their mother and their faith.

The reception would have more simple traditions: drinking, dancing, gifts, party games with ribbons (such as to determine who next might marry or what the future holds) and written words (such as guessing games about the guests), and grand sprawling tales that range from fictional tales with a lesson to things that are not entirely untrue.

9. Decor - What kind of notable decor is there at the venue? Do they have something like an arch, a carpet aisle, fairy lights in the trees, or other elaborate decorations? Did they choose to decorate at all?

There might be ribbons / banners to help designate locations and walking paths, but I don't think it would be any more decorated than what one should usually expect in their settlement. There is no arch, or change to the style of lighting (though there might be more candles for the convenience of guests without darkvision, braziers are already well scattered, raised and angled to keep their shadows from being too much of a hindrance. Glowing mushrooms are only supplementary, and affect the integrity of their buildings and so aren't really used). There are no carpets placed outside, and no carpets changed (though washed) inside. The most notable thing is the flowers:

10. Flowers - What flowers or other natural elements do they have as part of their decoration, if any? Are these flowers significant?

I think each major venue of the wedding (a particular street, the building that houses dinner for the elite guests, a building that houses the revelry of some of the spawn, the temple, etc.) gets to have a different sort (and if possible, color) of flower, a solution to indecision, as well as the fact that Astarion felt that bouquets with too many colors were tacky.

11. Bouquet or no bouquet? - Does someone carry a bouquet, or do they choose to carry something else? Or do they walk down the aisle with nothing at all?

Neither of them have a bouquet to hold. And there isn't a typical walk down an aisle.

12. Music - Is there music at the ceremony or the reception? What kind of music? Do they hire an orchestra, band, or half-decent bard to serenade them?

They hire a band or six to cycle through the night, and any musical guests of note might have a song or a set to be featured as well. I have concert pianist Aurelia headcanons to indulge. The music is largely dated to the ears of any younger guests, mostly unobtrusive and extravagant, occasionally bouncy and celebratory; very elvish except for the last band or two of the night being weird and experimental: more vampiric.

13. Outfits - What is the married couple going to wear? Is there special significance in the outfit choices, colors, jewelry, etc?

When I started this ask game, I tried to sketch out ideas for this, but I had to give up. I don't have experience in fashion design and my art is "needs improvement," and I couldn't get something I was completely proud of. dfgjhdfghdfg

So here's some inspiration though not exact outfits:

This design by Christian Lacroix for Astarion, for the ceremony.

The jacket outfit, for Astarion, for the reception. This is a design by a wedding fashion designer? An'Soe.

This design from Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Sartoria Ode to Verdi collection; designed as an outfit one might wear to the opera, as inspiration for what Étoile could wear to the ceremony.

This design by VoldaDivnaya on e/tsy as inspiration for what Étoile could wear to the reception. No crown, and maybe roses instead of the autumn leaves.

Sadly(?), I think this man influenced my fantasy wedding design taste:

14. Rings - What do their rings look like, if they choose to exchange any?

Basing myself on what I've heard about The Laws and Customs of the Eldar by JRR Tolkien, elves traditionally exchange silver rings for betrothal, often kept within the family. At marriage, the silver rings are returned to the family. If the betrothal falls through, the rings are melted down so that no one can use them again and new ones for the families will need to be made. At marriage, gold rings are exchanged.

While it takes some time, and things are never fully healed, I do like to think of Astarion reconnecting with his parents' post-canon. I've gone back and forth on whether his father was alive, or whether he dies as a result of the Netherbrain's transforming all of the infected; but I think there would have been another gravestone nearby / worth mentioning if one had appeared during his time under Cazador, and it feels a little boring to me to have his father die at that final hurdle.

I do believe Astarion's parents would have such a silver ring for him. I don't think he would use it.

Étoile has no such thing, and is not the one to propose.

Astarion proposes with something like this ruby bat ring design by cerriousdesign on e/tsy:

Before their engagement party, Étoile purchases something like this silver garnet rose ring by ArtJewelryByMoko on e/tsy for Astarion (it's plated in white gold, but let's pretend it's not):

Their wedding bands can be based on the Till Death wedding bands by digbyandiona:

15. Vows and Unity Ceremonies - Does the couple exchange vows? Do they complete any kind of "unity" ceremony, like handfasting, planting a tree together, etc?

Étoile and Astarion are addressed as individuals that their guests have come to honor or support in such a way that no presumption of closeness is made of these relationships; which makes the ceremony more digestible to the drow guests, and feels like a tongue-in-cheek joke to the Spawn, who are all so close now that to imagine Étoile and Astarion as independent instead of inextricable from the culture they've helped breed is almost comical.

It isn't presented as a melding of families; this aspect of their relationship was already done, probably centuries ago, but at least in the past two or so years when Astarion turned Étoile into a vampire.

But there are still words, for the public, for the dark, for the two being married, and (because Astarion can't escape it, marrying into Étoile's strange two-person family (and especially if I decide to declare Étoile as Auril's Chosen for their trial against Raphael)) for Auril.

And then they exchange vows. Not as transparent as they might've been in another life, among friends and loved ones, and without the eyes of thousands who rely on them or rival leaders that seek to undermine them; but still painfully romantic, long winded, and revealing. Astarion claims later that the length of his own vows were only to annoy Lae'zel, and the drow in attendance.

16. Wedding Party - Are there bridesmaids, groomsmen, attendants, special witnesses? Are they dressed a certain way or positioned in a special spot?

If Karlach was alive, she'd be Astarion's best man.

The only significant friends, lovers or family that take part in the ceremony is Aranea leading it, but other duties related to the festivities and reception have at least one designated person for if ever the newly weds are unavailable to oversee something.

Violet is a sort of master of affairs, keeping track of the guests and the general schedule to keep people on time and with oversight as to where official rooms for guests are situated and secured; in this way, she is also managing seating arrangements and security, though the latter is supplemented by the githyanki — Étoile is a little paranoid that they will have invited their mother down from her mountain, and into the Underdark no less, only to be poisoned by an overzealous drow, so they ask Lae'zel for six soldiers at least.

Aurelia oversees the music as much as she can, but she's delegating a lot because she's also acting as emotional support for her siblings who have varied feelings on the structure and visibility of this wedding.

By now they have the distribution of blood down to a science, food less so. Petras has the authority to make decisions about food and beverages, but there is a mortal hire beneath him who has ensured the quality and other relevant oversight that someone who can actually consume the food can provide.

Leon is tasked with archiving any wedding gifts as necessary, to ensure they are neither misplaced (which would include keeping anything alive too close to things they shouldn't be) nor hazardous (which would include things like items that cast Daylight).

I've been imagining dances and games; and assuming there are any which require a role like bridesmaids or groomsmen, then Astarion would have Halsin and He Who Was, and Étoile would have Lae'zel and Aylin.

17. Going Down the Aisle - Does anyone escort the character walking down the aisle? Do they go alone?

They walk together.

18. I Now Pronounce You... - Do your characters change their last names, keep their last names, arrange for a specific kind of name? For example, "Mr. and Mr. Dekarios" or "Lord and Lady Ravengard-Cliffgate"?

Since the vampires and the Spawn voted to refer to their settlement as House Ienith, Astarion (et al) would introduce himself as Astarion Ancunín of House Ienith (and similar). I don't imagine him changing this after marriage.

If they had been married years ago, there would have been contention among Astarion's siblings with regards to if Astarion or Étoile took each other's names after having voted against referring to themselves as either House Ancunín or the Ancunín siblings (he wasn't the only one of the seven of them to put his name forward; and it would have been better than Szarr BUT they were only begrudgingly grateful to him, not indebted nor ready to swear themselves to each other). If Astarion had changed his name to Ienith it would have been just as bad as being named after him otherwise, and if Étoile had changed their name to Ancunín then that would have severed the tie to the name they chose in an extremely frustrating way.

Anyway.

Étoile adds Astarion's surname to theirs, unhyphenated, Étoile Ancunín Ienith.

19. Guests - Who else is there? Are there any special details about how the guests are arranged, what they are wearing, or what they are doing?

A Ravengard is there, or a descendant of Wyll's, even if the name is lost to time. I've gone back and forth on Gale's situation, since Elminster and Volo are so old, I do think his Chosen status in addition to just being A Wizard would give him Long life, but whether this long? Maybe. Astarion's lover, my oc Voriya.

At least parties from 7 noble drow houses. Araj hasn't left Menzoberranzan since the re-institution of House Oblodra. It's so tempting to concoct exemptions, but I don't believe that the matron mothers wouldn't cannibalize the house of any noble house that would dare to so overtly thwart Lolth; probably literally.

Adult Xan is there. My oc Yar'sul.

Friends, nobility and strangers from the Sword Coast and Underdark. Maybe a knight from Impiltur who wanted to see Étoile with his own eyes and experience the strangeness of the wedding.

There's no dress code. Some of the drow try to dress in a way to upstage the newlyweds. Most people dress in fine things they own. But thinking of what this crowd looked like made me giggle. They look like the cast from The Princess and the Goblin, or like two crowds from Sleeping Beauty combined:

20. Food - What kind of food and drink is being served at the reception? Is there a lush feast or simple fare? Is there a wedding cake or some other kind of traditional wedding food?

Deepwine, certainly. I'm unclear if Green Wine is legally allowed to leave Menzoberranzan. Surfacer Red and White Wines as well. Peach and Orange Juice. Water, Coffee, Tea. The teas are magically preserved and some kinds are so old they've not been produced in six decades. The coffee is newly purchased for the sake of the event.

I think the number of non-vampiric guests means there's almost no guests who are vegetarian, but still there might be at least two main dish options for them: stuffed mushrooms, stuffed peppers or lentil curry.

The meat eating guests have more options as I imagine the amount of fucking blood the Spawn / vampiric guests are given access to for this event is ... concerning, lmfao. Lamb, Rothé, Pork, Chicken. Roasted, Fried, Blackened, Prepared as a Roast, Baked and served on Bread, Minced and made into Pie, Dried and Jerked, Shredded and braided around something like an Underdark cranberry sauce.

Sides could include salad, seaweed salad, egg salad, fried carrots and potatoes.

Flat bread, loaf bread, round buttery crackers. Some of the Spawn started a cheesery a century and a half ago, and everyone's benefiting from that.

Astarion briefly wanted a wedding cake despite being unable to enjoy it, but I think this was dismissed for convenience (and because he would be depressed about being unable to eat it). Desserts might include fruit and cream, jam and spongecake, vanilla and butterscotch ice cream.

21. Dancing - Is there any dancing? Elegant waltzes or all-out party-hard tavern music dance parties?

There is dancing. The music lends to more elegant dances while older guests and (reasonable) mortal guests are more likely to be awake, and as the hours wear on into [what's evening for a vampire (4-5 a.m.?)] the music is more likely to inspire dances of ability (where people are in a circle and each take a moment to show off), swaying, and (if you all can forgive me) headbanging (can you imagine headbanging with Dame Aylin? I have palpitations).

I don't think there's a requirement for Étoile and Astarion to "open" the dancefloor, but I do think there's pressure in regards to their first dance; and any practice, playful or sincere, that led to this public display was the first time Astarion really got to feel Étoile's new vampiric dexterity in action. For all he can fear and hate change, he does find it charming.

22. Ending the Night - How does the reception end? Is there a big send-off, or does everyone quietly fade out as the night turns into dawn?

It's a fade out. In another life it wouldn't be in the Underdark and we'd need mortal staff to do a sweep to make sure inebriated vampires are somewhere they can safely rest for sun-up. Similarly, Étoile's heart wrenches in worry when they find Halsin "resting his eyes" at a table at some point, but he's fine and Xan and a Spawn escort Halsin to his room.

23. Honeymoon - Does the couple take a honeymoon anywhere?

No...t exactly. There are vampire quarters in a few towns and cities along the Sword Coast, but maybe this marks a time where 7-15 Spawn extend work and trading opportunities further out to sea to the port of Skaug in the Nelanther, whether seeking out their own fortunes as inspired by Ulgar the Undying and Priamon "Frostrune" Rakesk the way any pirate does, or else returning to a life long-lost to them since their initial turning. I think it doesn't sit well with the vampires, sending them out to sea where a hole in a hull or a storm or a righteous mortal or the creatures of the deep present such unique challenges for their kind who are incidentally immortal and at such risk of the sun ... but there are stranger things to be found in the planarsphere than crewmen who work only at night, and maybe someday it could mean something. Give them a decade or two and Astarion (et al) can (relatively securely) visit a beach that's far enough south that it doesn't grow (as) cold (as Baldur's Gate) after the sun has set, even if it's daylight glory still eludes him.

✨Specific Moments✨

1.The Night Before - Write about the night before the wedding. Are your characters nervous? Excited? Do they see their partner or keep away?

The nature of travel in this manner of setting (paired with the ages of some of their closest guests) would mean that they'd not just arrive the day of and be done with it. Some guests might even arrive early as a matter of curiosity, to see how the vampires have survived (or what defenses they might have, etc.) and the general culture of the space. So not only the night before, but especially then, Astarion is nervous about having so many potentially hostile players in such a confined space.

He suggests he check on his parents, whom Étoile is certain are safely, soundly sleeping — same as the last time he disturbed them. Still the drow, Spawn and githyanki pacing the halls offer no reassurance; and he wishes, briefly, half-insincerely that they'd wed privately when there had been such a possibility. Étoile points out what a small part of Astarion wishes that, and after a beat tries to deflect by pointing out how tense he's managed to make the drow and still they'll put on airs to celebrate him. It helps a bit.

But then the spiral is worse, and Astarion imagines, as he sometimes does, that he will wake in starved delirium as someone pulls him from the mausoleum Cazador kept him in; that the rousing from the dream will come violently, with a cracked surface high above, and sunlight spilled onto any he dared treat as people or who imagined they treated him the same; that the rousing of the dream will come violently, with blades and pliers, forceps and sheers. Why else would he have presumed to accept love, for all its complications, why else would he have risked rejection, to kill or estrange his lover; why else except the logic of a dream.

It passes, as it always does. It's been worse again these past few years leading up to turning Étoile, after decades upon decades of ... mental peace.

Astarion's embarrassed, usually he can get through stress (complaining only as is reasonable) and only break when the peak of an event has passed, and yet now they only have a few short hours to trance and — somehow he sounds as though he's dreading what will always be a fond memory, an act of love and a point of pride.

Sincere, but overly fond to the point of humour, Étoile reciprocates to tell Astarion that it is privilege to be able to find beginnings after so long together, new experiences, even if this is the last beginning that this too would be new. Étoile speaks of what they'll do together when their guests leave, where they will go, how they will live; all while getting them both properly dressed again so they can walk out among their city, strange as it is with its flowers and ribbons, cramped as it might be with it's faraway ceiling, just to see the world beyond the pressure of their walls, to show Astarion that while there are threats there is no looming darkness targeting him or his perception of reality specifically they can't overcome.

2. Getting Ready - Who helps your characters get ready? Are there any sweet, funny, bittersweet, or adorable moments that happen?

Dalyria helps Astarion get ready. He is mostly extremely hands off, with her opinion having only been useful initially in regards to the evolution of fashion and any hidden meanings in symbols or patterns for the sake of the guests from Menzoberranzan. But she does help with final touches and making sure he hasn't forgotten anything and carries pins and buttons if necessary. In addition to Detect Poison And Disease, just in case.

Dalyria and Astarion each influenced Étoile's outfits — including the reasoning and etiquette in having a change of clothes, but when it comes to before-the-ceremony, Lae'zel, who has had little practice with Faerûnian fashion but much experience with dressing to stand before dignitaries (which, Étoile and the other vampires also do) at this point, does her best. She jokes about helping them don their armour again, and they are both emotional about the loss of time and friends (Shadowheart in particular, for this). But they get through it.

3. The First Look - Write about the moment when your married couple sees each other in their wedding outfits for the first time.

The outfits aren't secret, they attend each others fittings and things.

Astarion still makes a fuss about needing a minute before he's smiling like a fool (as a result of the joy that the outfit is an immediate reminder of) around Étoile's mother, always so sombre (and not critical but deathly sincere, now that he thinks of it). Dalyria and Lae'zel both make a fuss about Astarion not embracing Étoile at this point to keep their garments from wrinkling (to which he faux-pouts, "where's Leon" as a simple Prestidigitation would resolve the worst that he could manage (well, not the worst)).

Étoile is guilty of indulging Astarion's love of color; making Dalyria's job that much harder when trying to rein Astarion into an outfit that is more thematically coherent. And also influences the decision on a half corset. (I drew a different one than the one shown in the images earlier in this post but this post is long enough.)

4. Ceremony - Write the scene where they exchange vows, complete a unity ceremony, exchange rings, or etc.

I am not doing this with any kind of sincerity. I will rewrite it if I want to post it on a/o3. But I did want to write their vows. Also as I was writing this, I realized this part of their ceremony is almost certainly in elvish:

Aranea withheld her amusement at the congregation of guests, almost none of which kept Auril in their hearts and yet whom were seated now outside her temple, to express fear, respect, and — most surprisingly — love of the Frostmaiden, her Chosen, and the vampire, Astarion. She took a breath, this was not an arid chill that would steal her voice, but still Aranea did not want to have her voice crack or falter in front of so many discerning eyes.

Some of the Spawn clung to the sides of their subterranean buildings for a better view of the ceremony. They were giddy and hushed, unlike the mortal guests who gossiped and nudged one another like school children, or noblemen.

None of them mattered as much as the couple before her. Her child, undead against her wishes, but happy, and clearly, conscious of themself, their faith, and this decision. Astarion would always hold a strange place in her heart. She owed him much. She hated him deeply; the way one can only hate someone they also love. He did not betray her, but her grudge was impossible to deny, and would prove harder to overcome, even in the quiet acceptance she kept of him, and the smiles he shared now with Étoile, waiting for her to speak.

“We stand now at the edge of graceful darkness and all storms to come, with those who seek the permanency of marriage,” Aranea made no effort to hide her smile from the drow, the lack of marriage in their culture irrelevant to Auril's recognition, and amusing to the wedding couple. Her voice carried, deep and loud over the quiet commanded in their hollow in the Underdark. Delivered in elvish, Aranea wondered how spells and translators sought to interpret "graceful dark" or "permanency" in the context of the Underdark, the quiet of a midnight mountain, the unshakable frozen state that Auril was known to leave her most precious possessions. She could only continue, working from memory as Étoile had insisted wasn't necessary. “That their union might be part of their beauty, as inextricable in their nature as the privacy of their thoughts; the purity of their voices.”

In another declaration of one's nature, Aranea would have brought attention to the beating of a heart, the breath from one's lungs; but not so with vampires. She directed her hands at the couple.

“Speak now, a sworn and solemn vow to impress upon Auril, and all those who bear witness, the value you have found in one another and the virtues you cultivate, that none would question the foundation of your concord.”

Aranea closed her hands, raising one to her chest to gesture to her child with the other, allowing their audience a moment to judge, as was their nature. Love is not beautiful to the drow, culturally, but it could be in vogue, especially for their rivals, especially as a means to manipulate. If Astarion was good for anything, it was these little political overtures.

“Étoile,” Aranea beckoned, before continuing with their titles, “Mla'ghir, Torment of the Illithid and Councillor to House Ienith. You may lead. May Auril listen.”

Unlike Aranea, Étoile and Astarion each were going to read the majority of their contributions to the ceremony, and the paper cracked under Étoile's thumbs with the tension of their grip, a nervous energy accompanying even the tailored level of vulnerability they were subjecting themself to; to guests of either import or longevity to the point of a vampire's immortality.

“Astarion,” Étoile began, eased instantly by his smug expression. They readjusted their posture, and continued, in elvish. “When we met, I expected that if we survived we would have had an acquaintance, perhaps a friendship. I worried then, that it was very possible we would have only a few days together — the totality of the rest of our lives; but we survived, we grew closer, and I did spend the whole of the rest of my life in your company. I trusted you with my death, and … To call you my friend would be an egregious misnomer. I have loved you so long and so deeply that I wonder if to call this union marriage is not also misleading. I cannot picture my future devoid of any of your humour, your power, your support. Your promise, and your company, graces me the strength I need to challenge our rivals, our enemies, our friends and the whole of the world around us. We have not changed even this small corner of our world alone, and yet for all those I could not have succeeded without, I could not have succeeded without you. I would be a different person ten times over for not knowing you, and I am so grateful to you: for where we've been, for the security and comfort you bring, for letting me into your exacting confidence. I am so hopeful for where we're going, and for the love we'll share, with each other, through lovers we take and lives we touch. The importance you have to me cannot be overstated. If the sun never rises on me again, it will be too soon. There is so much for us in the dark, as we have proven, time and again.”

Étoile produced the box that would hold their silver rings, marking the end of their engagement, one way or another.

“Keep me close to your heart, beloved.” They vowed, “For me there is only by-your-side. I swear my heart, my hearth and my home, my silence for your secrets and my voice for your cause. Never need you ask for my shield, my rage or my patience. I am, at the heart of me, paced to overtake our every obstacle to our greatest advantage. I am, in my simplicity, desperate to make you happy, now and in whatever time stretches out before us, be it days, or the inescapable eternity of vampirism. Let our belonging take this shape, lover, and I will ever remain your confidant, your conspirator, and your friend.”

Though it was not part of the ceremony, there were not calls to reservation, modesty or celibacy in Auril's worship (though Astarion doubted he would have been respectful if there had been), and so Astarion circled one hand around Étoile's wrist to guide them down. He was sure they had some in the audience who would appreciate the romance of Étoile's declaration, and he would have it so that there were none more than him as transparent in their adoration. He led them into one long kiss, and then two shaken ones as he gathered himself. To be loved deeply was not foreign to him at this stage of his life, but it was his wedding day.

Astarion dared a glance at the drow who was soon to be his mother-in-law. To his wavering credit, she was smiling in her conflicted pride, and not weeping in disgust as she had when they'd declared their intention to turn Étoile into a vampire.

Once he separated himself, she continued to guide the ceremony, “Astarion, Leidhron, the Dread Fang, Lord of Duskwood and Councillor to House Ienith. You may follow. Auril hears you.”

“No pressure, I'm sure,” he quipped, to the amused murmurs of his guests.

“Étoile,” Astarion said before taking a moment to retrieve his vows. Still, the ceremony continued in elvish, “Our first two hundred years together — two hundred years, and a day — we were in Moonrise Village. We spent the day with Halsin, and the evening by the graves of dear friends. I was distracted, as it was officially the longest time I'd known another person since Cazador.” Some murmurs followed, his name taboo and often unspoken by the Spawn. “The inattentive would say he had no need to mold me, as, with a word, he could bid me to do anything. In truth, his every direction twisted me until I was nothing but the ugliest parts of myself; a cowardly and duplicitous slave. Since knowing you—”

Astarion stopped himself, creasing the paper in his hands, having a good memory for words and theatrics. Where he had planned to say, 'I have learned how to discern where I begin, and how to navigate myself in the constellations of our relationships.' Instead, he would echo an important sentiment from Étoile's vows.

“I am a different person, I doubt I can recount the ways. Endanya, I never mean to take you for granted,” he asserted, in reference to how Étoile and all his siblings presumed his discomfort with Étoile's vampiric transformation would never fade, “but there are stretches of time that I have been so familiar with your presence at my back — in battle, in bed, in politics and in the long monotonous moments that fill the in between; where the flowers grow, where the frost spreads, where the years pass. You motivate me to action, you support my rage and heartache, vengeance and ambitions, indulgence and hedonism, when others would turn away, sometimes rightfully. Often, rightfully.” The crowd laughed, but Étoile didn't, and Astarion smiled reassuringly.

“It is only because I knew I could rely on you through it all, that marriage felt superfluous. I have felt partner to you since before even the end of the netherbrain.” He adjusted his tone to reflect his incredulity as he gestured, “I would do anything that you asked because I know that you would not ask the impossible — although I might be required to attempt it anyway, if fate remains as stringent and demanding, in every avenue but love.” They did laugh at that, just a breath and a bounce of their shoulders, and a smile; but Astarion was still pleased with himself. “You have filled and fed my heart, literally and figuratively for so long. It is more than memories that stay with me. It is consequence. It is reward. Our choice, to be together, has never caused me regret. The world is rich for us, and we will never exhaust its treasures, not when each day can be spent in each other's company.”

Astarion produced the box that held their golden rings, the act in itself a final ritualistic recognition of his acknowledgement of their vow, before reciting his own.

“I swear I will see you through every darkened shadow, through any pain. Wherever we find ourselves, whatever befalls us; for you I am the heart of devotion. I will protect all you hold dear. I will celebrate your every victory. I will mourn your every loss. I will be bold as you require, and humble as I please.” That earned another snort from some of the audience and an accepting smile from Étoile, which struck a foolish, personal chord in Astarion and he started to falter as he went on, “I will be your lover and your husband, in this and any life. I have—” Astarion dropped his vows, and the extended volume and measured tone of his oration to swear to Étoile directly (as was the point of these things, Astarion's heart insisted) still in elvish, “I've wanted our eternity nearly all our acquaintance. I love you. I've loved you. I will — love you… The sentiment surprised me once, was foreign … once. Now it is at my core, as true as my vow, as inescapable as the shadows; as reliable as I always will be, when you need me, darling.”

When Étoile leaned down to kiss him, Astarion half-expected an embrace, but their hands fiddled between them, balancing the box intended for their silver rings in one palm, while easing their silver ring off their opposite hand. It was with a giddy scoff, lowering his face away in delight, that he mirrored the action.

5. First Dance - Does your couple have a first dance? What is that like for them?

As stated, they don't need to have the first dance of the night but they would have a first dance together.

It's simple for the most part. A slow song that has enough bounce (or bass) in it to encourage a head waggle even though most of the steps are wide or swaying. Something half-classical if not fully, where Étoile and Astarion at least drift apart and then together, if not where Étoile spins Astarion once or twice.

6. Private Moments - Every couple needs a private moment away from the big day. When does your couple escape the festivities, before, during, or after the ceremony/reception, to have a private, quiet (or perhaps not so quiet) moment?

There's a brief moment of ten minutes once they're dressed before they have to meet up with more than a handful of friends, family and staff. There's a longer moment of up to forty minutes after the ceremony where they change their outfits and ensure they're clean of blood, and revel in being married. There's not much else throughout the festivities until they settle in for the night.

[ratioyangreal]

Thank the cheese god for spawning your pinned post.

- for sunday x luocha, for the bible vibe maybe an alternate universe where the chicken is lucifer and loucha lilith (fluff, smut, whatever)

- welt x ratio, modern au where they are adoptive parents to little mc (mayvbe make caelus and stelle twins??) and they're helping them with their homework;

Also, can you show me the way to your blog where you post sampard and bronle, I rlly need it 🙏

Ehe, no problems, no problems :D

But by the sampard/bronle ships, I meant like other people who have other blogs for them, lol. I don't have a sideblog for sampard/bronle, and I don't plan on making one rn.

anyway, hope you enjoy!

- 🎗️admin

---

a/n : As for the bible study ask, (I'll assume it's a Hazbin Hotel au, for the Lucifer & Lilith names), it sounds actually super cool. Headcanons cuz it's easier for me to write them for bible study lol.

▽

- So we all know that Sunday's the king of hell, right, but he rarely shows himself during exterminations, battles, or soul deals, or literally anything else.

- Cause this man's BUSY

- Like busy with meetings, doing more deals that gain his power, making himself unable to dethrone, etc.

- He's constantly making sure his assistants can do everything properly, running around his palace, just like.

- Ordering around his servants to do everything. Making sure they know how to do it, etc

- After he's sure no one in Hell can dethrone him,

- He just. Sleeps.

- Like just goes snmohg mimimimimi

- Obviously his bed’s like the Princess and The Pea story,

- like 5 fluffiest mattresses for him and he sleeps like a baby

- As soon as he lays down

- 💤

- (I feel like Loucha would just walk in on Sunday just passed out in bed

- And just doesn't care,

- He's just like, “oh ok my husband's asleep” and Sunday’s posing like jesus christ on the stick, closed eyes and everything.)

- (But then he wakes up because he heard the door creaking as Loucha opened it lmao.)

- Anyway, Sunday's a light sleeper and he probably locks his door whenever he sleeps too lmao.

- Just to avoid getting woken up.

- When he is awake, Loucha is either out travelling the rings of hell, or cooking something for the both of them.

- I feel like Loucha would just be like those girly girl queens that hit the slay pose every now and then /j

- anyway they're content with living like royalty and doing their own thing tbh

✧

a/n : For the modern au ratioyang with adopted children!cosmic twins, AAAAAAAA- I'm in love with it. Some headcanons because. Because :).

▽

OK SO-

- Ratio wasn't fond of the idea of adopting two kids from an orphanage at first, I mean.. they are there for a reason, right??

- Welt would probably be the one to convince him, let's say he just wants to adopt them both okay. And Ratio’s, not really interested in the idea at first.

- Because, children are a lot of work y'know

- Until,,,, Ratio finds out that they both hold a stelleron in them.

- So the two end up adopting both of them.

- He'd probably end up studying them if it wasn't for Welt smh /j

- And like, Ratio treats them like his students, strict and expecting the best manners, and grades.

- But Welt helps his partner show a bit more love to the twins, and which Ratio allows himself to actually treat them like children, his children. His and Welt's.

- (I'll assume they're in high school),

- Ratio firstly doesn't think his kids need help with studying or schoolwork,

- mainly because they've listened to both of their parents squabble over science, mathematical calculations, and other stuff related.

- So it surprises him when Caelus asks for help on chemistry.

- Obviously, he's all “You don't know how to do this? This is the most simplistic thing I've ever seen!”

- But he eventually does help him,

- (without being an egotistical ass)

- (believe it or not)

- Stelle, on the other hand, turns to Welt for help on maths.

- To which Welt happily accepts, and teaches Stelle like an actual good teacher, and makes sure she's listening and understanding.

- They both have very different ways of teaching, however both of their children end up passing their exams anyways.

- So they're both proud.

- (ratio shows caelus off to his class definitely)

- (All like “You see, Caelus is a perfect example of a good student. And you morons have to learn from him.”)

---

[kunstmull]

Bauhaus v Buck-Tick

Originally written as an addendum to this great post but it got so long it might as well have its own post.

As much as I keep saying, "I wish I had that deep, decades-long history with Buck-Tick", I do have that ancient connection with Bauhaus / Love and Rockets - I spent a significant part of the 80s obsessively watching Shadow of Light, Archive and The Haunted Fishtank (gee, wonder where Mr. Imai got that word from?)

The first thing that drew me to BT, when I discovered them off an "old Visual Kei" playlist - was that, where other VK / J-rock bands seemed to have Metal as the fundamental building block of their DNA, BT had Bauhaus. (And it's interesting how both bands have such a strange relationship to the genres they spawned - Bauhaus invented Goth as we know it, but very few Goth bands actually sound like Bauhaus - ditto BT and VK.)

But here's the thing: when I went to write this post, I could think of half a dozen BT songs, where I thought "OMG, this is a direct rip of Bauhaus" - but when I went back to the Bauhaus song I thought it imitated to compare them? The BT song was clearly inspired by Bauhaus, I could hear elements of the composition, in particular the visceral, noise-based, non-technical, abuse-the-guitar sound pervert style of Daniel Ash. Bauhaus, inspired by dub reggae and funk, flipped the script around the role of the guitars - in Bauhaus, the bass was the most prominent element, carrying both the groove and the melody, leaving the guitar to occupy a semi-percussion, semi-atmospheric role. In many BT songs, the bass drives the melodic structure, while Hide creates atmospheric waves of sound and Imai punctuates the rhythm with discordant squiggles of noise, playing against what the others are doing. The effect is electric! But it's very Bauhausian.

But again, I can't ever find a Bauhaus song that sounds exactly like what they've done - I can only point out the elements they've lifted and very cleverly repurposed and re-positioned.

Let's start with an early track, Iconoclasm:

Notice how it starts with a discordant, alarm-like guitar siren before the sped-up disco bass joins in? Once the rhythm section get going, it's clear that Imai's siren-guitar guitar is playing against the grain of tight unit of Toll, Yuta and Hide's funk groove. And then the surreal lyrics are strung out over the top in long disjointed segments that form yet another complex interplay with the drums.

Now let's listen to Bauhaus:

-starts with a discordant guitar siren -sped-up funk and bass kick in -surreal strings of lyrics glazed over the top in disjointed segments

They're not even remotely the same song - different chords, different melody - but the building blocks are the same, and they've been assembled in an almost identical arrangement. Other Bauhaus songs that clearly informed this era of BT include the frenetic groove of St Vitus Dance and the withering Small Talk Stinks. (This influence is even more clear in the studio version of Iconoclasm, where you can hear them lift the background voices and double-vocals.)

Did Imai stop his pilfering when they went Cyberpunk? NO, OF COURSE NOT

Now come on, Kunstmull, this sounds nothing like Bauhaus, right? This is much heavier, more doom, more low end.

RONG!

Listen to what Imai is doing the way he's playing, syncopated against the rhythm section with that weird, repetitive, OCD tick-tick tick-SCREE scratch that makes the song so compulsive.

Where have we heard that sound before? Hmmm...

Daniel Ash's rhythm is ever so slightly different - it's SCREE-tick tick tick, but it's syncopated against the rhythm section in exactly the same way. (Also watch out for the gratuitous theremin noises in the background, LOL, Mr. Imai has never used that trick either, has he?)

Obviously the arrangement and feel of Of Lilies And Remains is very different from the BT track - BT are much heavier, much darker, much more intense... oh, kind of like Stigmata Martyr (where Ash is showing how he makes the guitar-string-scratch noise)!

It just shows how creative and how original BT are, that Imai can lift something so distinctive and easily recognisable as Ash's riff, and yet make it wholly their own.

One more and I'll stop I promise, though I could do this all day. This was one of the first BT songs I ever heard, and it stopped me in my tracks, how familiar the arrangement sounded. (And I can't even blame Imai for this - it's a Hide song!)

I know, OK, it's just backwards reverb on the vocals, in particular the little breaths at the end of the chorus (first heard about 1:30) that makes it sound like that?

Where have we heard this effect before?

Well, this is one of my all-time fave Bauhaus tracks (and videos - I cannot tell you how many times I watched this as a teenager, and did silly cosplays intently watching lightbulbs in sunglasses and a grey suit) - listen to the backwards reverb on Murphy's voice during the bridge (about 2:20) and tell me teenage Hide didn't partake of this as deeply as I did.

It's even more pronounced on the dub version of the track, where you can hear how they did the effect in isolation.

I could do this all day!

Now I want to be clear - I am not accusing the band of plagiarism! (Anyway - Talent borrows; Genius steals - and Buck-Tick are clearly on the side of Genius here!) Mostly I'm in awe at their magpie inventiveness, the way they are able to invoke the style, the spirit and the atmosphere of the older Northampton band without ever descending into parody or plagiarism. You can hear that they never sound exactly like Bauhaus - they always sound like Buck-Tick.

But the Homage is very clever, and very appreciated by those who know.

[denimbex1986]

'Cillian Murphy has certain opinions on the new age of superhero films. The apparently never-ending stream of superhero films began in 2002 with Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, a great popcorn watch. But then, in 2005, filmmaker Christopher Nolan released Batman Begins, launching a high-quality, dramatic, and dark trilogy that wasn't simply a superhero movie but, well, a cinematic excellence. Since then, companies have been encouraged to explore the Marvel and DC archives for every single character and Avenger to be adapted for the big screen. But after recent Marvel and DC films, many feel a different way. So does, Cillian Murphy. In a 2016 interview with Vulture, the Oppenheimer actor revealed his thoughts on superhero movies.

Cillian Murphy revealed his thoughts on superhero movies

Cillian Murphy, like many of us, wonders if we're running out of caped crusader stories to adapt. In a 2016 interview with Vulture, Murphy said, "Have they exhausted every single comic book ever? I don't know where they're coming from anymore.” Murphy, who played Dr. Jonathan Crane, a.k.a. Scarecrow, in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises, posed an intriguing question.

Those three films emerged at the same time when widely accessible special effects helped spawn a surge of movies deliberately designed to spread worldwide, resulting in the glut of half-baked, spandex-laden blockbusters that have followed.

The Oppenheimer star revealed while he was promoting his then-film Anthropoid, "It was a different time back then when we made Batman Begins. I believe Christopher Nolan deserves credit for creating that trilogy of films. I believe they are grounded in relatable reality. Nobody in those films ever had a superpower. Do you understand what I mean? It's a slightly elevated level of storytelling in which New York is transformed into Gotham and no one performs any magical feats. In his films, Batman basically performed a bunch of pushups and pretended to be British. That is what I liked about them.”

Murphy's Anthropoid co-star Jamie Dornan perked up and spoke up from the couch. "Do you remember when you were a kid and you used to wonder, 'Would Batman or Superman win in a fight? That is exactly what studios are doing right now. They're having playful rivalries like, 'Oh, who do you think would win in a race between these two?' 'Oh, why don't we make a bloody movie about it?' they think. It's like going to the park."

To which Murphy replied, "I think they're going to make a Rice Krispies movie starring Snap, Crackle, and Pop; I'm hoping to be able to play Crackle."

Cillian Murphy on the work front

Cillian Murphy is famously known for his part in the hit series Peaky Blinders, but the actor has recently been making headlines for his amazing performance in Christopher Nolan’s directorial Oppenheimer, where he starred as the lead character J. Robert Oppenheimer. Meanwhile, Murphy received a lot of love and appreciation from the world for his depiction of the role. Oppenheimer went on to become one of the global hits of this year.'

[myrmica]

i was originally responding in the tags but it got too long and cut off half of what i said, and then i had to retype it all!

REALLY FASCINATING THOUGHTS ALL AROUND! the thing about her needing people to specifically state their own intent or explain themselves to her makes so much sense. absolutely tracks with what I've seen of her and really elucidates some of her actions/choices.

I really like your insights on zam re: caginess around sharing his own internality. being willing to share pretty much anything, but not that. not much else to say it's just very true.

i didn't actually watch it but i DID hear about her intention being to kill him. which sort of made me think "oh so that's why she was so quick to jump on the why are you friendly with mane? thing," she was looking for a reason or an opportunity. and assuming that's true, the turn around after hearing him out is interesting.

when i say meta-conflict i don't mean the exact same thing that happened with vitalasy or with minute/pb&j, especially since i think those two things are very different from each other. (thinking about it, you do have a vague throughline with minute and kab both having attachments to particular moments in lifesteal's past, and the comparison there is interesting for how different those two reference points are, and how differently they're invoked...)

you hit on something here that I had also noticed (in more detail/with enough knowledge of kab streams to identify it as a solid pattern), which is the thing where she will leverage the border between rp and out of rp stuff to her advantage, in both directions?

like you say, she'll take arguments further out of rp if it means she'll win the argument. she'll go, "you've seen ksmp, you know how important this is to me" as a conversational move, which is an appeal to understanding her as a full person beyond lifesteal. she'll go "lifesteal is hard because i actually know and care about these people and i don't want to hurt them" to chat, and then "i don't actually care. i'm just acting. don't take it seriously chat!" two seconds later! she is simultaneously bringing everything outside of the server into her character, staking elements of her character on it, and then saying "no, that's just a dramatic construction of myself." in a way that immediately diffuses the tension, or offers plausible deniability for her supposed caring.

because you can't always trust it when people tell the audience it's not serious, the same way you can't always trust it when they tell you it is serious. those deflationary statements have to be made from time to time, so people don't go be mean to your friends over minecraft. and that's all it's really saying. (because sometimes it can be a little serious. compare to season 4, compare to branzy's video where he talks about how badly lifesteal was stressing him out, etc.)

it's not just kab who does any of this. none of it is Kab Specific. zam made the same sort of "it's just lifesteal" disclaimer during the flame blowing up spawn stuff, for example. but it stands out to me with her because she makes those disclaimers SO OFTEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so often!

and part of that is definitely just the fact that kab seems to foster a different twitch chat environment than zam does (i remember getting raided into her stream at one point and her outright saying she's not cool with zam-type antagonism from chat). but i can't not read that sort of incessant need to control how you're being interpreted as a character trait in and of itself.

and it's this thing where, that inability to discern the truth is the entire appeal of lifesteal to me. i've been wanting to write something elaborating on this by way of a comparison to kayfabe in wrestling, how over time, the ambiguous reality of wrestling was folded back into the fiction of it. ending up in a place where it purposefully plays on the fact that the audience can't really know what's real and what isn't, even when the fourth wall is clearly being broken. that's a little besides the point. the point is, everything i've seen from kab on lifesteal has been defined by her drawing attention to her own artificiality, relentlessly. it could not be more different from the way zam approaches lifesteal. zam is pathologically committed to creating a seamless continuity with his character.

(minute in s5 was defined to me by like, an embarrassed, insecure invocation of what's "for content" and what isn't. zam's approach to rp more than anything makes him vulnerable, because it's based entirely around caring intensely and openly. that's what s4 was, committing fully in a way that opened him up to being mocked. minute was guarded and image sensitive and his best moments in s5 were the times he was forced into vulnerability. kab falls into a strange place here; she seems to operate on a spectrum, where she wants bad things to happen to her character, she wants to be wrong sometimes or to hurt people, she wants her character to be hurt, she wants emotional drama. and at the same time, she's defensive and image-sensitive and quick to snap back at people in ways that are often emotional low-blows when they push the wrong buttons for her. complicated relationship with vulnerability it seems. i don't know! you give me someone who walks into lifesteal accustomed to acting and i want to see her not acting, the same way i wanted to see minutetech cry on stream, the same way vitalasy in s4 means what he does to me because he couldn't stay in control. that's the throughline. and she seems very committed to telling me she's always acting.)

and writing all this out i just keep coming back to you saying it's like she thinks that zam is "acting" in the same way she is. that's exactly what i was picking up on.

have you seen the conversation between kab & zam from yesterday yet :? i'd be so curious to hear your take on the whole thing. i like that kab is someone who will have a conversation like that in the first place, and i'm really interested in the potential of her interacting with zam in ways that might force her to confront the assumptions she's made about lifesteal (both in a roleplay-style way and an understanding the people on the server way, but admittedly i mostly want meta-conflict...) so i was kinda delighted by it. and her revealing so much about said assumptions, her own thought processes, her blind spots, in an attempt to reveal very little actual information. bacon's "training" as a little microcosm of how she reacts to problems she can't predict or control. all in all she frustrates me but in a fun way here, i like being frustrated.

I got so invested and stayed up so late taking notes. I'm writing this before watching the rest of Zam's stream and Kab's stream from yesterday, basically just looking at the conversation itself. Because oh boy that was fascinating. What a creature. 

Overall, what I’ve gathered from Kab, is a massive tendency to radically prioritize her own personal experiences with a person (one on one, face to face) over observing them through other people’s eyes and seeing how they act to other people (like through watching streams s4 and 5 or just through yt videos) and especially over what other people’s opinions are of other people. 

So it was super fascinating for her to get so excited about Zam being a wealth of information, because she observed with her own eyes that he understands people. So she now can categorize Zam in this way.  

But idk how much of what Zam said about like Mapicc and Spoke will matter in her future interactions with them, given how she accepted it, but then minutes later would not take correction when she had her own opinions on Bacon that differed from Zam’s observations. 

So like, she only, practically, gained insight on Zam. That is the only flask she is filling rn. 

I saw a bunch of people wonder what Kab exactly learned from that conversation and idk how much any of yall have been keeping up with her streams, but Kab learned A LOT from that conversation. (I might pull everything she learned in a different post. It’s not super relevant here)

Like you don't understand how little she knows about Lifestealers. I know, it’s shocking given we all saw her in chat all of s4 and most of s5.

She went on Bacon’s stream (and her’s ig) a bit ago the day they turned the field purple and said she only followed Eclipse, it was the only arc she actually followed as it came out, and then she kind of stopped paying attention. Which is why she would not realize how wild it was to say “princezam! You could create world peace on lifesteal!” as if she didn’t understand the Joker arc was PrinceZam objecting to pb&j trying to bring world peace to lifesteal. No Clowpierce needed.

And like if she ONLY saw Zam in the Eclipse arc, lowkey she could conclude that he is spineless. She just never saw the shift we’ve been watching since Eclipse.

Now I have another theory, but I might be totally wrong in this, but in a potentially 2% chance universe Kab is playing around with the concept of player knowledge vs character knowledge. Like everything she knew from before Lifesteal is off limits and she can only use knowledge she gains since being in the discord and on the server itself. 

And in this case she would be embracing the purity of rp content to the max. 

In which case she would need Zam to spell out how the Joker arc influenced his pacifism arc or she can’t use that info. 

It is a completely overly charitable concept I think, but nonetheless interesting. I could go into a full on Kenadian joking that Omziscool has dementia arc. But instead of dementia she is secretly incredible at acting. Or I could conclude that it is what it looks like, and Kab simply doesn’t remember anything she learned before Lifesteal/never bothered to pay attention bc she was never going to get on this server anyway.

And anyway, she clearly is using previous knowledge about Clown, Ash, and Squiddo, and she uses OOC knowledge all the time, getting in discord vcs and asking questions about server plans and using that knowledge for herself (mane in her video, red and woogie being teamed in this convo, etc). So I don’t think it can be concluded to be character knowledge vs player. But I find the thought interesting. 

But that brings me back to my point about prioritizing the knowledge she gains through person to person interactions: she only can analyze Clown, Ash and Squiddo so well because she knows them in person so well. 

And she doesn’t have that with literally anyone else on the server. Not even Zam or Red. I can’t remember if she talked to anyone else for any meaningful period of time other than them before joining. But clearly, CAS are only the three she knows well enough to have a good take on their personalities. 

And it is a good take, she does analyze CAS in ways I would approve of. She does genuinely have a good understanding of their motivations and personalities. So she is capable of having good takes.

But as we saw in the convo, it doesn’t yet extend past them. 

So what this means is (rn imo) I think more conversations with Zam will prove extremely interesting, but unfortunately only realistically in terms of her understanding of him and not in her learning and growing in understanding of how lifesteal works and how other members work.

Like I would love to see a Spoke and Kab conversation. I have soo many theories on how Spoke would react. But she would not learn (and therefore agree with Zam's take) that he is the master manipulator until the arc was well past and done. He does nawt spill his secrets at all. Zam spills that. So (imo rn) even if she did have a convo with Spoke, that would give her one-on-one info but she would conclude that he is a bumbling moron who has no motivations and doesn't think past the present moment. Because that’s who he pretends to be. And she takes people for their literal words until they say otherwise.

BUT! Interestingly enough she does learn well. Something I noticed through her pov of the Bacon jumpings is that she was super caught up in how unfair it was and getting pissed off at Bacon because he didn't explain why he was jumping her randomly. Because she needs someone to say word for word why they are doing something in order for her to understand.

And I think we saw this in this convo, the more Zam told her word-for-word his mentality, the more she noted it and she asked follow up questions and clarifying questions and I think noted them down rightly (maybe not tho I haven’t watched yesterday’s stream) 

And earlier, if you watched her/bacon streams that day, that was the first time Bacon said word for word the difference between practicing on pvp legacy and why it differs from fights on lifesteal and why that matters. And so therefore why him jumping her is helpful, not pointless, as she kept saying over and over. And she acquiesced to his analysis. And could only reiterate that she asks he doesn't do it when she’s lagging. 

She didn’t sound like that to Zam in the convo, but that’s bc she was trying to hide that for manipulation purposes. Even if... Whatever. It doesn't matter that it was silly and didn’t do anything meaningful, that was her using manipulation and secrecy. 

Anyway, her main sticking point the first day Bacon jumped her was (9/21 ~1:00:00)  “This feels like the most inefficient way of training though. Cause he didn't tell me what to do he just started attacking me” She wants to be told what to do first so she can internalize it. She doesn't logic out a reason based on input, she needs to be told. 

This is why I think she will ultimately be okay, she just needs a shit load of conversations like this one with Zam. Though we will need to wait and see what she actually learns (like after the season is over), but in the meantime interesting conversations for sure. 

What she will hopefully learn is that Zam freely gives out general server information all the damn time, and is always willing to talk about people’s past seasons mentalities. He loves yapping analysis.

So if she ever tries to go into a conversation withOUT obvious sus and pointed questions like she keeps doing with Zam, maybe she'll lean that she doesn't need them for him. It’s like she’s trying so hard to sound so casual about asking questions but that is just NOT necessary with Zam. He will just tell you shit, that's who he is. 

But, she did pick up on that if she asks too much about Zam’s inner mentality about current arcs he clams right up. (even though, again, if she watched his streams in the past she should understand him.) But that doesn't stop her from pushing to learn

But he is sooo uncomfortable about talking about why he does stuff in the moment. Like Planet had to work so hard s4 to get Zam’s trust and he almost got to know Zam’s wormhole day motivations about making everyone hate him, and in hating him the server members would bond together which was a good thing. But Spoke interrupted and Planet never got to know. It is a workout to get Zam to actually leak his mentality, and his mentality is the only thing he really truly cares about. Everything else is just whatever. 

But she incorrectly thinks that flattery and apology will be the way to get him to open up.

But either way it is great bc Zam, and Bacon too tbh, freely give out advice about other server members and how lifesteal works. Because they understand that it is in everyone’s best interests if they learn how this server does work and how the players think because that can only help smooth things over and get good interactions. She just doesn’t realize how /genuine they are being in that moment and takes it more as them leaking super secret information. When they’re just like, 'please learn, i beg.'

In terms of confronting role-play style and how the server lives and exists. Kab made HUGE progress.

If you didn't watch until the end of her stream, Kab had initially planned to murder Zam at the end of that convo but changed her mind bc of what happened. 

Like she said in the flower field that she wanted to “do lore” with Zam to do before session and make him not trust her anymore. And in the end she reveals that "lore" was just murdering him.

She tends, like she did with the consequences arc, to plan shit out and then execute that plan. Bc she’s a scripted lore server girl. 

But in this conversation she, in real time, adjusted her plan based on the unscripted conversation that flowed from it. Which is huge news for lifesteal enjoyers. If she can learn to embrace this we will be eating well. And that can only come through practice.

From a PrinceZam analysis, we got to see him go to work and try to get information from Kab. She leaked a lot, but he really does need the practice on extracting info, he's been talking about it a lot, and she’s a great subject to practice on. 

So I am very excited for him to get that practice in future conversations. 

And Zam does try several different approaches, feigned indifference, just asking, comforting lie that he wont tell anyone the secret is safe with him, pretending to only be interested in one thing instead of everything, asking direct questions that she must confirm or deny which should give him info either way, asking for the favor out of friendship, asking for the favor out of the continued exchange of information, asking for the favor out of her not having given as much as he had given, playing for the ego that if it’s so bad you can’t tell me it must be really bad so you want to tell me, asking over and over.

She for her part only knows flattery, apology, and the placation of emotions to make you think you don’t want to know the information anyway or because you react too strongly and it wouldn't be healthy for you to know. 

The most interesting analysis is how at the very very end of her stream she said “I’ve giving him a warning that I’m going to fuck with some stuff so he shouldn’t.. He shouldn’t label that as me betraying him” 

Whichhhhhhh is hilarious because we all know ends only in one way. But that is shocking bc this was his fundamental reason for betraying Eclipse was bc they thought this way?? Like Vi and Subz thought if they were subtle and slow and give him warning about the wormhole, that he wouldn’t take that as a betrayal. But he did. So he betrayed outright. To like, oversimplify it. But basically, warning Zam does absolutely nothing to protect yourself from him ending the relationship when you do something new that is not aligned with his morals/thoughts/desires. 

So so so interesting how she has that viewpoint if she did watch Eclipse.

Oh! Final thought that might go more into the meta-conflict side of things. I think we don’t get that much meta-conflict in a similar way to how it was with Vi or Minute and Jumper and Pentar last season. Idk hot to describe it exactly.

It might not be quite what meta-conflict means, but like how Kab stops all lore to cause conflict based on what conflict was presented to her.

Kab has a massive tendency to use embarrassment and shame as an attack when she feels unsafe or embarrassed. Like she will instantaneously go for causing you embarrassment and making you feel bad for your choices whenever she feels threatened in order to make you back off. 

Like when she said: “and zam, this is the person you’re friends with?”

But she goes for the throat like this a ton, like with Bacon this stream going towards a consent argument to make him feel incredibly awkward and that he will back off from jumping her instead of risking saying 'no does not mean no'.  

There were other times in earlier streams that idk if I can remember them, but it’s happened a lot with Woogie and Bacon whenever they imply that they have doubts that her plan will work, she takes it almost as them saying they think she’s stupid. And she reacts very aggressively and makes it about meta stuff instead of on the server stuff.

What I do find fascinating is how Bacon, in three streams or so, has already learned how to give her critiques on her plans so that she doesn’t get offended and that she instead learns his thought process and is the one to back down. He is learning quickly.

Also I just realized JUST how much analyzing lifestealers feels like completing those logic puzzels where you have to figure out who has what item and what location or whatever and you get like five clues. No wonder I love this shit so much.

[bitegore]

1 9 and 14 for dedication? @megatronismegagone

Fic link: Dedication

1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?

>.> ... okay so i read about half of a fic where Tarn and Pharma had a kid, because I thought that sounded like a goddamn train wreck. But unfortunately Tarn and Pharma are both characters I am deeply attached to and have a lot of opinions about, and no one (in my opinion) understands EITHER of them [hissing and biting etc] and I had to quit out of the fic after a near-fatal dose of "he would not fucking say/do that" poisoning. And unfortunately for all of us this got FULLY stuck in my head. I don't like to be the Fun Police and I don't want to be a person who is like "if you write a fic I don't like I'll steal your ideas and do it better" (especially because my version is, aside from a few superficial similarities, VERY DIFFERENT and a hell of a lot darker) but something something two cakes, right? I don't wish anything ill on the other author and I'm not gonna tell you who they were.

besides, frankly, their writing for both characters was very much in the like "fanon vein" and mine is outside it. if you think pharma is a coward and tarn is an incel then, like, more power to you but mine aren't. and i like my takes better and will refuse to read ones that are too far from them, which is my prerogative and you cannot stop me.

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

Not unless you're counting the one that spawned this, which I'm not.

14: Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from reading this fic?

write pharma and tarn better or die by my sword /j

Uh, but, like, no. I wanted to get the idea out of my head. All else, here, at least, is pretty much secondary.

...maybe "don't neglect your kids"? or "don't take your kids to help murder people with you after killing their primary caretaker in front of them"? But if my audience needs to learn these things I don't know why they're here, these are kind of basic obvious things. Tarn and Pharma are both pretty far to the ends of what is "bad things to do to children", this is not a normal "my parents were just kind of shitty" situation lmfao.

possibly 'if you treat your kids bad enough and also give them guns eventually they will kill you' but that's also not a lesson, it's a power fantasy.

No idea, really. Probably not.

questions can be found here uwu

[slashingdisneypasta]

Observations of: Momma Jervis and his Two Traumatised Sons

Part 2

Extra Bonus Part

I acknowledge good idea of Jonathan or Oz being the exhausted mother hen of the J Squad, but I raise you instead: Jervis as the mother hen.

He's the oldest among the J Squad, obviously. Literally he's nearing 30 years old in the series (if he isn't already) while Jerome and Jonathan are literally just 18-21 year olds. Like, he's sitting there in Arkham watching these two make all these ridiculous puns (Thinking he's somehow any better, with his rhymes) and wondering where the heck these boys parents, are?? Then he learns where these parents are, and he takes it upon himself to father them.

And you can't tell me that Jervis doesn't knit. And sow (AND BAKE). Can you imagine him busily happily knitting away so the teenage boys can have warm scarves for the winter? XD And you can bet he's taking colour requests from Jerome and sowing Jon's costume back up when it inevitably rips or gets singed. Speaking of Jon's costume and singing- Imagine Jervis keeping a keen eye on Jon when he's anywhere around Firefly. Like, "No, no, you two cannot play together without supervision. Either I or the ice man have to be in the room."

Also TEA- "Jerome no you can't have any coffee its 6 o'clock in the evening. I prepared tea already."

"But mom-" "You will drink your tea and you will like it." He hisses through his teeth.

*Cut to Jerome managing to pour a red bull into his tea before Jervis can snatch it from him*

*Meanwhile Jonathan is just happily sipping his own tea* Jervis, to Jerome: WHY CANT YOU BEHAVE LIKE MR CRANE.

Jerome: *Cackling like the demon spawn he is*

Also this. What mamma doesn't at least try to keep the peace between their squabbling children. Do you see his face? Like, he's perking up. His squabble senses are tingling. Jerome watch your mouth. You are not too old to get hypnotised, young man.

AND AND AND- Don't think its just Jerome being the bane of Jervis' existence. Nay. Jonathan is totally as 'rebellious' as Jerome at times. Like, that bit in Season 3 where Jim hangs up the phone, on Jervis? Imagine that with Scarecrow instead. And Jervis is just standing there irritated as hell, redialling the number and muttering to himself about how in over his head he is with parenthood and about these rowdy TEENS.

Plus, he's a respectful father- announces himself before opening the door + stays at the doorway of his kids room rather then barging on in, even as they're in a rush:

Also all I can say, is its a damn good thing that his children are already adolescent because clearly he isn't good with babies seeing as he tried to kill that little boy, Shane, in season 3.

Oh, headline:

CAUGHT ON VIDEO: An angry Daddy Hatter and his Emo Son On Their Way to Save his Clown Son from the Evil Long Lost Brother (Another son?? Possibly???) that put him in a Cage and a Small concrete room.

Oh, you know that bit where Jerome calls Jervis 'Hat-man' or 'Hat-guy' or something and orders him and Scarecrow like henchmen, to go get rid of Harvey and Jim? Do you remember Jervis' face!? That is a 'Young man, we've talked about this before. Now i wont yell at you in front of company but we will be having strong words when we get home tonight-' face if i have ever seen one XD Here, this face:

Annnnnnd I only get 10 images a post. So consider this part 1 because I'm not done with this.

BONUS:

Look at the picture XD Tell me Jervis doesn't look like a horrified momma who just heard his child swear at him.

[kunstmull]

Aw, THANK YOU FOR WRITING THIS!!!

I'm about to make your Long Post even Longer - because as much as I keep saying, "I wish I had that deep, decades-long history with Buck-Tick", I do have that ancient connection with Bauhaus / Love and Rockets - I spent a significant part of the 80s obsessively watching Shadow of Light, Archive and The Haunted Fishtank (gee, wonder where Mr. Imai got that word from?)

The first thing that drew me to BT, when I discovered them off an "old Visual Kei" playlist - was that, where other VK / J-rock bands seemed to have Metal as the fundamental building block of their DNA, BT had Bauhaus. (And it's interesting how both bands have such a strange relationship to the genres they spawned - Bauhaus invented Goth as we know it, but very few Goth bands actually sound like Bauhaus - ditto BT and VK.)

But here's the thing: when I went to write this post, I could think of half a dozen BT songs, where I thought "OMG, this is a direct rip of Bauhaus" - but when I went back to the Bauhaus song I thought it imitated to compare them? The BT song was clearly inspired by Bauhaus, I could hear elements of the composition, in particular the visceral, noise-based, non-technical, abuse-the-guitar sound pervert style of Daniel Ash. Bauhaus, inspired by dub reggae and funk, flipped the script around the role of the guitars - in Bauhaus, the bass was the most prominent element, carrying both the groove and the melody, leaving the guitar to occupy a semi-percussion, semi-atmospheric role. In many BT songs, the bass drives the melodic structure, while Hide creates atmospheric waves of sound and Imai punctuates the rhythm with discordant squiggles of noise, playing against what the others are doing. The effect is electric! But it's very Bauhausian.

But again, I can't ever find a Bauhaus song that sounds exactly like what they've done - I can only point out the elements they've lifted and very cleverly repurposed and re-positioned.

Let's start with an early track, Iconoclasm:

Notice how it starts with a discordant, alarm-like guitar siren before the sped-up disco bass joins in? Once the rhythm section get going, it's clear that Imai's siren-guitar guitar is playing against the grain of tight unit of Toll, Yuta and Hide's funk groove. And then the surreal lyrics are strung out over the top in long disjointed segments that form yet another complex interplay with the drums.

Now let's listen to Bauhaus:

-starts with a discordant guitar siren -sped-up funk and bass kick in -surreal strings of lyrics glazed over the top in disjointed segments

They're not even remotely the same song - different chords, different melody - but the building blocks are the same, and they've been assembled in an almost identical arrangement. Other Bauhaus songs that clearly informed this era of BT include the frenetic groove of St Vitus Dance and the withering Small Talk Stinks. (This influence is even more clear in the studio version of Iconoclasm, where you can hear them lift the background voices and double-vocals.)

Did Imai stop his pilfering when they went Cyberpunk? NO, OF COURSE NOT

Now come on, Kunstmull, this sounds nothing like Bauhaus, right? This is much heavier, more doom, more low end.

RONG!

Listen to what Imai is doing the way he's playing, syncopated against the rhythm section with that weird, repetitive, OCD tick-tick tick-SCREE scratch that makes the song so compulsive.

Where have we heard that sound before? Hmmm...

Daniel Ash's rhythm is ever so slightly different - it's SCREE-tick tick tick, but it's syncopated against the rhythm section in exactly the same way. (Also watch out for the gratuitous theremin noises in the background, LOL, Mr. Imai has never used that trick either, has he?)

Obviously the arrangement and feel of Of Lilies And Remains is very different from the BT track - BT are much heavier, much darker, much more intense... oh, kind of like Stigmata Martyr (where Ash is showing how he makes the guitar-string-scratch noise)!

It just shows how creative and how original BT are, that Imai can lift something so distinctive and easily recognisable as Ash's riff, and yet make it wholly their own.

One more and I'll stop I promise, though I could do this all day. This was one of the first BT songs I ever heard, and it stopped me in my tracks, how familiar the arrangement sounded. (And I can't even blame Imai for this - it's a Hide song!)

I know, OK, it's just backwards reverb on the vocals, in particular the little breaths at the end of the chorus (first heard about 1:30) that makes it sound like that?

Where have we heard this effect before?

Well, this is one of my all-time fave Bauhaus tracks (and videos - I cannot tell you how many times I watched this as a teenager, and did silly cosplays intently watching lightbulbs in sunglasses and a grey suit) - listen to the backwards reverb on Murphy's voice during the bridge (about 2:20) and tell me teenage Hide didn't partake of this as deeply as I did.

It's even more pronounced on the dub version of the track, where you can hear how they did the effect in isolation.

I could do this all day!

Now I want to be clear - I am not accusing the band of plagiarism! (Anyway - Talent borrows; Genius steals - and Buck-Tick are clearly on the side of Genius here!) Mostly I'm in awe at their magpie inventiveness, the way they are able to invoke the style, the spirit and the atmosphere of the older Northampton band without ever descending into parody or plagiarism. You can hear that they never sound exactly like Bauhaus - they always sound like Buck-Tick.

But the Homage is very clever, and very appreciated by those who know.

Since I've been into Bauhaus for years and B-T members have mentioned them as an influence, going deep into the roots is something I enjoy. I wasn't sure of writing this (long post), but the two bands are really important at a personal level, gonna share some thoughts.

The first time I watched Physical Neurose PV, the aesthetics inmediately reminded me of Telegram Sam MV. Sakurai has mentioned that he enjoyed "Shadow of Light" (1984), an archive with promotional videos of the band. So, it's possible he got some inspiration from it.

Physical Neurose (1988)

Telegram Sam (1980)

Tbh, there are several interviews where Sakurai (love him for being enthusiastic about the band) shows his appreciation for them, their image and Peter Murphy's vocals. He has highlighted Mask and The Sky's Gone Out as important records since he was a teenager.

It is well known that B-T members enjoy post-punk and goth bands, Imai's love for Love & Rockets, and Hidehiko and Yuta have also shown interest in Bauhaus and Peter Murphy's solo albums. They even got Daniel Ash in Schiz.o Genso -the spiderman mix-.

Six/nine videos also make me recall Bauhaus live at Riverside (1982), look at Murphy's outfit, body language, his extravagant dance moves, and the spotlight game. Also, Ash & Murphy dynamics on stage were similar to Atsushi & Hisashi in early performances.

Another example of getting inspiration from the English band might be in the title of "Mr. Darkness and Mrs. Moonlight", which made me remember "Who Killed Mr. Moonlight". Maybe it's a coincidence but as a fan, it didn't go unnoticed.

And of course here, I'm going to mention The Mortal's cover of Spirit <3 (I was very moved when I listened to this cover for the first time).

Gonna add this Bauhaus live version too 'cause it's so good and when you watch The Mortal's live version you can tell that Sakurai has possibly watched this performance at least once.

I recommend to watch that entire show (Gotham, 1999), if you like vampiric costumes, hats and boas.

I'd like to include Hamlet Machine & Sponge Spirit cover, which can be found in the Satori: A Tribute To Bauhaus (1998) album:

I'll finish by saying that Issay & Atsushi went to watch Murphy's live shows together during the 90s, soo lovely! It's cool to see how music connects people and inspires.

[bisexualdawnsummers]

queer as folk us for the ships thing, pretty please! my kingdom for a horse, i mean, for your brikey discourse! (well and for any other qaf related from you) thank you! xx

• otp – BRIKEY!!! (Shocking, I know.) They are just the epitome for me. They are the blueprint. I am endlessly fascinated by the idea of these two. It’s not unrequited love, so much as love unfulfilled imo. I do personally believe that they are both in love with each other, but what keeps them from crossing the line beyond strictly friendly territory are their own personal fears and insecurities, as well as their differing views on love and relationships. If they decided to try for ‘something more’ and it didn’t work out for whatever reason, they might lose each other, and neither could stand that. It’s almost like they love each other too much to be together. But regardless of whether or not they ever consummate their relationship, it doesn't really matter, they will always be each other's person. Always have, always will. The Brian and Mikey show will go on forever. Like I said, I'm obsessed fascinated.

• favourite canon pairing – This is a bit tricky because it depends on what counts as ‘canon’. Does that mean an explicitly sexual/romantic relationship, or is the strongly implicit love between two people enough to be seen as canon? For me, it’s the latter, so I would say Brikey. But if it’s the former then I’ll go for Ted/Emmett.

• worst pairing ever – B/J. I'll just say they're not for me and leave it at that.

• guilty pleasure pairing – Ted/Justin. I’m not sure if I would call it a guilty pleasure so much as an absolute crackship that I find interesting. I think it started with this interview where Scott and Randy joked about Ted and Justin’s secret relationship which spawned a couple of fics that I read and enjoyed.

• a pairing you want to see more – Justin/Ethan. That relationship had a lot of potential(IMO). But, also Brikey, of course, I could never get enough of them.

• that pairing everyone likes but you’re like “lol no” – B/J

• favorite non-romantic pair – This is probably the toughest one to answer because I love almost all of the non-romantic pairs on this show, but I’ll go with Ted/Brian, I just find their dynamic really interesting.

Thank you, Anon! I always enjoy discussing brikey/qaf. I hope you enjoyed my ramblings. :)