#wizard city specifically is next!

[homunculus-argument]

I've got a book draft project that I call Book I Am Not Working On that I probably haven't touched for like four years now. I originally wrote the first draft of the first book like 10 years ago, didn't like the ending, and decided to write a Next Generation Reboot with the previous cast's offspring and niblings as the main characters. Skipping the world ahead 20 years, and having the new protagonists be Standard Fantasy Book Protagonist Aged, in their late teens and early 20s, they learn about the past book's events in glimpses, as almost mythical legends.

The new story's main protagonist is the niece of a character I originally wrote into the first book as a gag - a naive Farmboy Hero. In this one he's taken up the role of a Grim Mysterous Mentor, who tags along on the protagonist's misguided quest because he knows that he can't stop her, so the best he can do is help. And he mentions that there is this wise man that he used to know in his youth, who lived in this specific city - he is wise in the ways of the world, and if he is still alive, he should be able to help them.

The protagonist agrees to go find the man, and for the first quarter of the book, this Wise Man that Old Uncle Hiram Knew In His Youth is this grand and surely legendary Wonderful Wizard of Oz kind of a figure, who is surely all-powerful and could fix anything. After all, old uncle Hiram would trust him with his life, and uncle Hiram doesn't trust anybody.

And then they finally make it to The City, and find The Old Friend. Who is a completely normal-looking middle-aged guy in an apron, kind of fat and slightly balding, busy with five kids and a grandbaby. And he's just as surprised to see the protagonist and her uncle at his door.

So the protagonist's uncle and his friend retire into a more quiet room to discuss the problem at hand while the protagonist and the friend's eldest daughter head out to find new, additional problms, fully trusting that these Adultier Adults will know what to do.

Meanwhile, the two old friends sit down, and the Old Friend looks at the protagonist's uncle, just going "dude for fuck's sake. Twenty years and you haven't changed at all. All these years I thought you were dead and then you show up at my doorstep, plop a felony level problem on my lap like 'hey lol this wasn't even my problem before I decided to get involved, pls help lol' and expect me to fix it."

And Old Uncle Hiram, who in fact is only in his early 40s and suddenly doesn't seem all that old and wise at all, just shrugs like "yeah I kinda gambled my life (and my niece's life btw) on hoping that you wouldn't have changed at all, either. That you would agree to help us, while calling me a fucking idiot the whole time."

And the old friend goes "yeah no shit of course I'll fucking help. You fucking idiot."

[justporo]

Be my remedy

Being in an established relationship is still very much uncharted territory for both Astarion and you. Thankfully, your companions arrange for you to have a moment of privacy.

MASTERLIST | AO3

Author's Note: Well, this was supposed to be nothing but a little warm-up drabble. But by now I doubt my ability to write anything below 2k words... So here you go with some fluffy fluff, enjoy!

Pairing: Astarion/GN!Tav (You) Warnings: talk of past trauma if you squint Wordcount: 2,2k

Song: Be My Remedy - House of Say

~~~

It hadn’t been that long since Astarion’s confession at Moonrise Towers and your promise to each other to actually try and be in a real relationship with each other. You’d agreed to take it slow and especially allow Astarion to have all the space he needed.

You couldn’t be happier. Your heart was overrunning with love every time you looked at him. Wanting nothing more but to see those soft happy smiles from the vampire again. Those he gave you in these moments when he felt comfortable and content while being with you – even if those were still short and mostly quickly overpowered by other stuff: worries about the next day, insecurity, fear of the future in general, Gale being annoying.

And the way it’s been almost chaste with him since you’ve committed yourselves to each other almost broke you. With how gentle and tentative this budding relationship was this far.

You’ve gotten used to spending the evenings and nights together in one of your tents. And you enjoyed the time spent simply talking or cuddling endlessly.

You’d also stolen small little touches and kisses time and again when the others were around. But you were still cautious with it. Partly, because this was first and foremost for the two of you to share and keep. But mostly because a sudden shyness had somehow befallen both of you, now that it was more than just sultry flirting and sneaking off into the woods at night. Now that you were both sure that real feelings were involved on both ends, it was suddenly so different. And – without specifically putting it into words – you both felt a lot more vulnerable about what it was the two of you shared now. And the thought of someone carelessly putting strain on it scared you.

Not that the others didn’t know already. Of course, they had noticed. Although Astarion and you might have been wrapped up a little too cozily in your new little bubble of tender affection - to notice that they had noticed.

But the others had more or less silently agreed to not pester you about it although Gale could hardly hold back all his comebacks he’d painstakingly come up with. Karlach had needed to be elbowed more than once to not squeal out happily when she, for example, had seen Astarion cautiously grab your wrist, lifting your hand and pressing a small kiss to your knuckles. Coincidentally at the same time that Lae’zel had to be pinched in the side to stop making loud gag noises observing the same scene.

The day had been long and exhausting. Everyone had been happy when you had finally set up camp and barely even spoken when you’d sat around the campfire enjoying the latest of the wizard’s dinner creations.

You were sitting next to Astarion – like always as of late – and were softly talking to him. You were both excited to finally see your hometown again, no matter what more horrors might await you there. Sharing bits and pieces about different places in the city you each liked and how your experiences of being Baldurian were both so utterly different, you didn’t even notice how anyone else had been quietly getting up and leaving for their own tents. A few understanding nods and glances had been exchanged and now it was just you and the vampire sitting next to the warming fire.

“I really need to take you to my favourite tavern some time, you’re absolutely going to hate it”, you said to Astarion with a huge shit-eating grin while the vampire answered with a pained grimace.

“I’m beginning to ask myself why I volunteered myself for this relationship”, Astarion muttered mockingly under his breath and dramatically rolled his eyes at you.

You laughed and softly slapped his arm. And then you realised that you were the only ones still sitting by the fire. You looked around and found that no one even was in sight – very suspicious.

When you pointed that fact out to Astarion, he smirked: “Well, maybe our friends all got a sudden lesson on privacy.” “Astarion!” “What? I have nothing to do with this, I swear!”

You gave him a look and crossed your arms over your chest while he kept insisting that for once he was totally innocent (“Actually quite like most of the time, love, you are – all of you – just way to used to just, of course, conveniently blame everything on the big bad vampire!”).

The vampire pouted now, making these big red puppy eyes at you. You were pretty sure he’d already figured out that they made you positively melt and give him just about anything – bastard.

And it got you now, too. So you scooched a little closer to your vampire on the log you were both sitting on and embraced him tightly. You could hear the sigh Astarion loosened when he felt your arms around him, and you could really feel how he relaxed into your touch. His shoulders relaxed and his usually very straight and tense spine was allowed to bend towards you as he wrapped his arms around you in return.

Your thighs and knees were mushed together as you held each other. You buried your face at his chest – directly at the point where his shirt was opened, and you could feel his cool and smooth skin. You sighed as well now. Meanwhile Astarion put his chin on top of your head.

Ever since the first hug you had shared you lived for these moments when you could just hold him. Just knowing how much comfort it gave him, even though he himself might not yet be ready to admit to himself how touch-starved he was for non-sexual intimacy that had to go nowhere but the present moment.

And you were right there with him – basically never really in your life having had someone who would have held you to just console you or just because.

You remained in the embrace for quite some time. Astarion’s hands softly moved up and down your back as you held onto him desperately and tightly – not willing to ever let him go again.

After a long while you felt how the vampire’s hands sneaked both downwards. And then with his roguish quickness, Astarion grabbed you – one hand under your knees, one on your butt – and lifted you on his lap.

You yelped and clawed your hands into his shirt as you stared at him in surprise.

Astarion grinned playfully at you, adjusting you on his lap until you were both comfortable. You were still flustered by this sudden change of position and your mouth opened and closed helplessly a few times. Not because you didn’t like it – quite the opposite. But this was a sudden step up in public display of affection for him – at least the possibility of someone seeing you like this was existent.

When the vampire saw your reaction, his smirk dropped and he started fidgeting: “Oh uhm.”

He cleared his throat a little, his eyes darted around. And it was only made more awkward by the fact that you were so close to each other and he was firmly holding you so you didn’t slide off his thighs.

He coughed again and you felt that he struggled with holding your gaze. By now you had adjusted to the new situation and were quite endeared by how shy Astarion had gotten all of a sudden: overwhelmed by his own courage.

“Ah, I hope this”, Astarion finally began and wiggled his arms and legs around (which in turn made you wiggle around and giggle), “this is alright with you?”

You looked straight into his eyes once he had found it in himself to hold your gaze again. You softly cupped his cheek and let your thumb wander over his cheekbone: “It is – more than alright even!”

For a quick moment you softly dragged his face down to yours, so his forehead touched yours shortly. “I will just tell you if something’s not fine with me, Astarion. And…”

Now it was your turn to fidget awkwardly. You were only barely more experienced in this relationship thing than he was, but you were absolutely keen on giving him the space to find out what all this meant for him.

You took a deep breath and leaned back a little. You saw a single curl fall onto his forehead when you moved away a bit – you looked at it when you spoke again.

“And I’m more than happy to let you explore and experiment with what you want and expect from all this - whatever it is”, you finally finished and felt how a blush crept up your neck and then onto your cheeks. Although it might not seem much this had cost you some overcoming. Too many times had you had bad if not downright horrendous experiences with people you had offered too much before. But you were completely sure of doing this with Astarion. He had your full trust and you wanted him to know that and be as free as possible to explore this new chapter in his life.

You were still mesmerized by the soft strand of hair on Astarion’s forehead. So you lifted your hand from his cheek and lightly, between two fingers, moved it up again. A tiny sigh left the pale elf’s lips at the innocent gesture.

The vampire looked at you as your hand now lightly wandered through his hair. His eyes were shining like rubies in the warm, flickering light of the campfire. He carefully lifted one hand up to cup your face with one hand. He let his thumb wander over your bottom lip and that was also where his gaze dropped.

“That means an awful lot, my love”, he replied softly. “I promise to always tread carefully with the trust you’ve put in me.”

His eyes found yours again. “And I guess I know what I want to do with this trust right this moment.”

He leaned in to kiss you. His soft, cool lips met yours tenderly as any remaining thought in your brain just vanished. Your hand in his hair softly curled around one of his pointy ears, your thumb gently wandering over the edge of it.

You let him set the pace, patiently allowing him to decide how much he wanted. But you didn’t need to wait for long: Astarion’s lips parted and he eagerly deepened the kiss, making you sigh into his mouth yearningly as your other hand, that had been on his chest, now balled up in his shirt and unconsciously tried to drag him even closer.

Astarion’s hand was still cupping your face and now spread out. Caressing you lightly from your cheek, down your neck and almost reaching to your collarbone with his long, elegant fingers. His other arm was holding you securely on his lap but also subtly pushing to lessen the space between you even more.

It was passionate but delicate at the same time. Inducing a fire that was burning brightly, powerfully and, most of all, warming while not being all-consuming or destructive. And you were sure that this fire would keep burning unyieldingly – especially if it was fuelled passionately like this.

After a while of getting lost in the kiss Astarion’s hand wandered slowly from your face to where your hand was still clawed in his shirt – desperate to hold onto him forever – and softly loosened it, so he could hold it. He very tenderly pulled back as your mouth left his with a long low sigh leaving your still parted lips now swollen from kissing.

Your eyes were probably still glazed over but you saw how Astarion too only slowly seemed to come back from that particular cloud you’d just been on.

“I hope that was alright as well?”, he answered with his signature smirk and a teasing tone after a few more moments of regaining composure. You were just about to scold him for ruining such a romantic, emotional moment, when you heard something.

Somewhere behind you, you heard something squeal – almost as if someone was torturing a squirrel? You turned around on Astarion’s lap and quickly spotted… Karlach peeking out from behind her tent flap, her hands balled up into fists and lifted to her mouth. You could feel her giddy, happy energy from over where you were sitting. But you were too flabbergasted by what the tiefling had obviously just observed.

You felt yourself flush from head to toe. “KARLACH!”, you shrieked as you heard Astarion laugh (albeit a little nervously).

Karlach’s eyes widened as she realised that she might’ve been a little insensitive about this all.

“Uh – I’m sorry. I just…”, she started and then stopped again. “I’m just so happy for you”, she blurted out and you saw some of her joy return. But then she remembered that she should probably leave you alone. “Alright”, she muttered while she made to disappear into her tent again. Quickly she lowered her tent flap down again and was gone.

But then she stretched out her arm once more, offering you a firm thumbs-up.

“But just so you know, we’re all rooting for you two”, were Karlach’s final words before disappearing for good. You blushed again and turned back around to find Astarion smile genuinely at you. He softly started to laugh, then more and more. His head fell back and his eyes closed and you couldn’t help but join in.

And then that was settled.

Tag list: @spacebarbarianweird @sunfire-ancunin @tragedybunny @dependsonthedream @tallymonster @magazzne @micropoe10 @aoirohi @my-bunny-prince @lumienyx @fayeriess

[chaoticallyfluffy]

Introduction + My Shazam Masterlist!

Welcome to my blog! My name is Fluffy!

I am an artist and fan fiction writer who mostly focuses on one fandom at a time. My current obsession is Shazam!

My second blog is @fawcetttweets where I post Tweets from the DC universe, focusing on the daily lives of Fawcett City’s heroes and civilians!

My banner was created by @chocolatebriosh during art fight! The characters are my OCs :)

You can find me on TikTok and Ao3 with the username ChaoticallyFluffy or by using the links!

I tried my best to make it chronological with the oldest on top and the newest on the bottom, so if my early stuff sucks, feel free to skip to the bottom of each section!

In order I have my ficlets, fan art, animatics, and misc (mostly add-ons to other posts or tiny ideas that are too short to put into ficlets)!

The characters involved in the posts will be next to each link! Billy and Captain Marvel will just be called Billy unless they are specifically separate beings in the post.

Masterlist begins under the cut :)

Where'd he go? (Billy, JL)

Curses! (Billy, Mr. Mind, JL)

Identical (Billy, Mary, JL)

Whats in a Last Name? (Billy, JL, Batfam)

Billy Being a Menace (Billy, Bruce Wayne)

Lies and Half Truths (Billy, Danny Phantom, JL)

Ah, a Child (Billy, JL)

Power of Perception (Billy, JL)

Doomed by the Narrative + Wrong Place, Wrong Time (Billy, JL)

The Homeless Boy and Nepo Baby (Billy, Bruce Wayne)

Two Halves, Never Whole (Billy, Jason Blood, Marvel, Etigran)

Blissful Ignorance (Billy, JL)

Blunder + Look at this! (Billy, Marvel, Shazamily,

Billy Batfam (Billy, Batfam)

Silly Billy + Pocket Home (Billy, JL, Shazamily)

What are you, a cop? + Now you see me, now you don't (Billy, JL)

Gender Swap! (Billy, Freddy)

Learning to Live (Billy, JL)

Stop Calling Me Dad! (Billy, Shazamily, JL)

Matchmaking (Billy, Diana, Gay animals)

'Tis but a scratch! (Billy, JL)

Tea With Persephone (Billy, Persephone)

Home Alone (Billy, Sivana, Shazamily)

Marvel Licks Cocaine. Wait, wha- (Billy, JL)

Body Swap (Billy, Marvel)

Parent Trap (Billy, Mary, CC, Marilyn)

Serious Accusations (Tawky Tawny, Billy, JL)

Celebrity Lifestyle (JL, Billy)

Warrior Cats (Freddy)

JL as platonic Soulmates (Billy, JL)

Swear Jar (Billy, Shazamily)

Sibling Fights (Freddy, Billy, Mary, Red Robin)

Three Kids in a Trench Coat (Billy, Mary, Freddy, JL)

Clothes (Billy, Mary, CC, Marilyn, JL)

Dead name, literally (Billy, Gay people)

Unicorns! (Billy)

No Longer 2 in 1 (Billy, other)

Magical Garbage Disposal (Billy, superman, batman)

Hot to Go! (Mary, JL, Billy)

Impromptu Tour (Billy, Batman, JL)

First Shazam Fan Art! Learning to Live outfits (Billy)

False Advertising (Billy)

The Duality of Marvel (Billy, Marvel)

Skill Issue (Freddy, Billy, JL)

Stock Photos (Billy, Marvel, C!Tommyinnit)

It's not you, its him (Billy, a random small child)

Closet Cosplay (Billy, Freddy, kind of Superman and Batman)

Experimental style (Billy)

If your reading this, i still haven't used the stickers. (Billy, Marvel)

*Pats him* *pats him* *pats hi- (Billy)

Whiteboard with friends! (Billy, Mary, Freddy, + more)

Billy Ratson (Billy, Marvel)

Bored (Billy)

Magical Girl Black Adam (Black Adam)

Sunny Sparkles (Sunny)

Ghost Boy! (Billy)

Gartic phone highlights pt. 1 (many characters!)

Tiger Bleps! (Tawky Tawny, Billy)

FREDDY!! (Billy, Marvel, Freddy)

Figurine Size Matters (Technically Batman and Billy)

Surprise! (Billy, JL)

Magical Girl?! (Billy, Barry, Poorly Drawn Evil Wizard)

Home (Billy)

Everyone Loves the Boy! (Harley Quinn, Billy)

Nails, nails, nails (Billy, Divine Twitch Chat, JL)

Stop. (Billy)

*Pats him* *pats him* *pats hi- (Billy)

My first Shazam post!

He needs more love :( (Kind of Billy)

Link to 'Kill him with kindness' fic

Asking for Eldritch Ideas (Billy kind of. Interesting comments!)

Zoooom! (Freddy, Billy, Batmans limitless funds)

Happiness (Billy)

Wip game (Billy, Clark)

Chaos boys (Billy, Klarion)

Link to 'Picture Day' fic (Billy, Cissie)

The first idea for Fawcetttweets! (Billy)

Marvel's Adventure! (Billy)

Peak Billy Design (Billy)

MY Boy! (Billy technically)

Talking about my fics release

Venn diagram (Billy, C!Tommyinnit, and Dave Strider)

DND (none technically)

Charlie (Billy, CC, Batman)

WIP Tag Game (Billy, Clark, Barry, Victor, Hal)

Implications (Billy)

Laws (Fawcett)

Link to my fanfiction called 'Bugs' (Billy)

Symptoms (Billy)

Fae (Billy)

Gotta Go Fast (Billy)

Tummy ache :( (Billy)

Migraine Posting part whatever (who cares why am I writing this with a migraine this was a horrible idea)

Here’s some of my original content! I don’t really make much of it but I thought I should at least give you the option to see it :)

OC art:

First Date (Valley, Roxy)

[dyvimwhitehart]

i will actually never be over the narrative importance of azteca. yes it’s the first time the wizard fails, but that failure results in the destruction of an entire world, which means the death of most of its denizens and a great deal of its culture. and the fact that it’s predated by worlds like dragonspyre and celestia, specifically

azteca was less accessible to the rest of the spiral (in comparison to worlds like wizard city, marleybone, zafaria, etc) already. by the time the yw reaches it, they’ve already been to their share of since-destroyed worlds. they are, however, always seeing the aftermath of the destruction

they’ve wandered around the destroyed academy in dragonspyre and seen the lava moats in the streets and talked to the ghosts, all those things coming together to slowly paint a picture of what was once a functioning society. and then the real tragedy of that, i’d argue, hits full-force in the hall of time when the yw gets to step into and witness the old dragonspyre in all its beauty and greenery. i think this has to be a really pivotal moment for the yw because old dragonspyre looks somewhat like wizard city. they’re a child that’s realizing, if i DONT succeed in beating malistaire, current dragonspyre is what my world and all the worlds i’ve visited since will become. and they DO succeed!

and then they are sent to celestia, another mostly ruined world. it’s brighter than dragonspyre, but there’s a hell of a lot more activity, and the overall tone is much different. however, the wizard has been introduced to destruction in dragonspyre and has had their worldview of places like that forever changed. they know what was at stake and what has since been lost. it’s a great way to start the second arc that i think can pair really well with the young wizard’s growth to young adulthood. this is where morganthe is introduced, and the next chase begins, and once again— they know what they have to do and the consequences of what happens if they don’t succeed

but there’s just absolutely no way they can see azteca’s destruction coming. even if xibalba is an ever persistent presence, even if ruin has been foretold— the wizard has never lost! morganthe plays them like w fiddle! and azteca is the first destroyed world they spend a long time in prior to its destruction. they get to know it’s citizens, they spend time in some of the most beautiful and lush locations in the game, they immerse themselves in aztecan culture and practices. they grow to care about this place before it’s all wiped away so that, when it is, stepping into the ruined zocalo doesn’t feel the same as stepping into the ruined basilica or the celestian base camp. it has to hurt so much more, feel so much heavier, like a personal loss rather than just a mission loss

and to go to khrysalis right after that? to immediately have to rally the burrowers and the mantises? to walk around a world that was thought to be lost, but is still clinging on, and have to do that all over again????? man

[m00nveil]

w101 housing advices from a somewhat seasoned house decorator that no one asked for

#1: GET YOUR CRAFTING LEVEL THE FUCK UP !!!!! and never ever ever sell your reagents. ever. the gold isn't worth it. there are so many amazing housing recipes you can buy and craft (torald wayfinder in northguard grizzleheim and perry in sky city lemuria for example).

#2: if you have limited resources like me, keep looking around in the bazaar for items. sometimes people sell some insanely good items! many of my best items come from the bazaar. and NEVER second guess whether you're gonna buy an item or not, cause people won't hesitate to snatch it. if you see it and like it, buy it.

#3: advanced move will save your life. when i discovered it i swear to god my life changed. if you click on an object you'll see a yellow arrow next to its name on the right. USE THAT!!! you can move objects wherever you wanna without having to deal with the grid, rotate them however you want except vertically, and make objects smaller or bigger. you can create a whole new thing from a bunch of items, like i created a fridge using alhazred's repository. note that this feature is only available for wizards lvl 15 and above.

#4: don't ignore the furniture set bundles in the crowns shop. i'm sure no one does but i still gotta say it. they're literally one of the most useful things for house decorating. the school and world furniture sets can all be bought for 22500 gold and there's so many amazing items in those. i especially recommend the khrysalis furniture sets and the myth and balance furniture sets, but all of them are gorgeous.

#5: some items can serve as alternative walls, for example dworgyn's fireplace and bookshelf from the death furniture sets. you can go absolutely crazy with them.

#6: keep going around worlds and find their furniture shops. all the worlds have a furniture shop/seller except avalon, khrysalis and mirage as far as i know, but i might be wrong. many of these furniture shops have some great items that you can utilize even if your crafting level isn't high. wallaru specifically has one of my favorite sofas in the game ever, the ice dwarf sofa.

#7: if you're ever in need for a teleporter or a few, go farm the painted spider in zafaria!

#8: don't forget to rate castles in castle tours so you can craft the regal and invisible floors and walls! you can find the recipes for those from angelica windspar in the castle tours building. you can apply wallpapers and floors to the regal ones, and they're especially useful for decorations, however they can get very buggy. you need to rate 100 castles to get the castle auditor rank to craft these.

#9: you can turn fish tanks invisible with castle magic and the fish won't disappear, so it looks like the fish are just floating. you can make custom aquariums!

#10: you can put house guests on bread crumbs and you can alter their behaviors too! they don't really change much, but setting their behavior to "sad" will show their death animation. if you need someone kneeling or laying down, it's perfect.

[do-you-have-a-flag]

i was doing some personal casual investigating the alleged "first graphic shirt on film" claim about the wizard of oz.  

embroidered/knitted graphic designs were on jumpers in photos and films as early as the 20s from examples I can think of (and i do personally think of this as a precursor) but the shirts specifically seem mostly to have started with military merch where they were mostly worn as an under-layer. so the stitched on OZ of the emerald city uniforms might be the first notable example of such a design on a t-shirt in film. however it was a wool felt stitched on as opposed to the printed design of military and sporting uniform shirts. a costume version of a casual uniform. the uniform printed shirt is also credited for popularising the graphic design as fashion thanks to a magazine feature and i think the overlap with sporting uniforms adds to this.

whatever this is actually a post about the other things I saw on the auction site i found a reference for the OZ t-shirt on

Bert Lahr's Cowardly Lion costume: Lion skin and fur, [...]displayed on a custom figure featuring a photo-realistic head sculpture cast directly from actor Bert Lahr's son replete with optical glass eyes and Italian human hair wig & mane and footwear constructed out of lion pelt. [...] as each available lion hide had very particular hair patterns, swirls, coloration, scars, abrasions, fur loss, etc. that were unique to the one animal;[...] the only solution was for actor Bert Lahr to primarily wear one costume throughout filming and for stunt and stand-in performers to wear another. As a result, after each long day of filming under early and unbearable Technicolor lights, the Lahr Lion costume had to be placed in an industrial drying bin overnight so that the perspiration could be dried before the next production day. Sold for US$3,077,000

Witch Remover: listed for $125,000+

Munchkin costumes listed at $10,00+ and $23,750+

[ossidae-passeridae]

13 :)

Question from here

13. Were the Jedi right or wrong to ban attachments? What constitutes an attachment?

SO GLAD YOU ASKED

Attachment, as the word is used in Star Wars, is an attempt to translate the Buddhist idea of upadana. I… don't think it's a good one — I would have used rapacity personally — but uh, points for effort I guess. 

More than anything else, it's specifically and explicitly a cause of suffering. 

It's not love, not in any positive connotation of the word. It's coveting. It's greed. It's wanting to possess someone, not caring what their feelings are on the matter. Not letting them go, even if they beg. It's needing the next hit of a drug to function, even if you hate what the drug does to you, hate the person you become under the influence.

@gffa has an excellent post on attachment as we see it in the core lore (movies, TCW, word of god etc) if you want further explanation/examples.

So, back to the original question: are the Jedi right to ban attachments? (An aside: they don't ban it, they're not the church, but we'll ignore that for now.)

The Jedi are magical space wizards, with the power to cause mass destruction. They choose not to, because they've grown up understanding that they must be responsible, and live harmoniously with the world around them. This keeps both them and their society safe(r). 

Do I think people with built-in abilities to raze cities should be controlled by greed and fear? No, actually. I think that's a terrible idea. We had one darksider with Jedi-level powers completely destroy democracy in what was once the Republic after plunging the entire known universe into a years-long war. One. There are 10,000 trained Jedi Knights. 

I don't want to even imagine that universe. 

(All opinions expressed above are solely those of pass e. ridae and do not express the views or opinions of any affiliates or associates, passerine or otherwise)

[chronurgy]

i loveeeeeeeee your hc about gortash in all your tags!!! can you share your favorite hc about durge/gortash shenanigans in the city?

Yeah absolutely! Shenanigans hmmm....

Some of these will be a little more specific to my durge (Vesper, half-drow wizard) than others

During the Hall of Wonders heist, gortash specifically left some guards out of his reconnaissance to test how Durge handled themselves under pressure. He wanted to know if this was someone he would work with or someone too crazy to manage.

Gortash and Durge did a heist in the House of Hope as a trial run for their heist of the Crown - this is when they stole Raphael's shoes (the helldusk armor boots that Gortash keeps in the chest at the foot of his bed). Gortash didn't tell them about his history there or with Raphael before they went in. I think after seeing him there Durge did put at least pieces of it together and really left lots of burn marks and blood and guts spread around in their wake to get back at Raphael. They also broke at least one priceless and irreplaceable vase on "accident" while they were there. Their ire towards Raphael from this realization actually manages to carry over even when they can't remember why and it's partly why they're so determined to kill Raphael and so insistent that they won't work with him.

Gortash takes Durge to fancy parties, for a number of reasons - as a bodyguard, to bring them close to a murder target, to introduce them to the kind of high society stuff they'll be involved with as his co-ruler. But also because he loves to show them off, his darling assassin, loves the vicious little comments they make about the other attendees. He starts finding excuses to bring them to any party he can because he only ever enjoys these parties when they're with him, when he has someone just as brilliant as he is at his side. Durge usually has to attend in disguise but sometimes just dressing up fancy enough not to look like a sewer rat is enough to fool people.

Gortash is the kinda guy who will work himself to exhaustion and then fall asleep at his desk. The first time Durge found him like that, completely dead to the world on top of his diagrams and sketches, they thought about killing him. They imagined every detail, knew exactly how it would go. It would have been so easy, because he's so defenseless like this. They see his eyes moving under their lids, see his hands flex, and little expressions pass over his face - they know he's dreaming. They wonder what he's dreaming about (is it them?). And they don't kill him. They just watch him sleep, fascinated by the differences between the waking man they know and this unguarded sleeping one. They leave before he wakes up. I think they do this a couple of times before he finally catches them (maybe because they try to stroke his hair or something in a fit of softness). At first he's like, "oh my apologies, please don't hesitate to wake me should this happen again" before he puts together the look on Durge's face and realizes they've been watching him sleep and tried to like, touch his hair. He considers this a success because they could've killed him a whole bunch of times and didn't and they seem to be developing some sort of feelings towards him. He resolutely does not acknowledge the existence of any things he could possibly be feeling about this. Not at all.

Gortash keeps a large fancy estate in the city, Durge has a guest room there - it starts out as just an extra room but as they spend more time there Gortash starts to customize it more to their liking. He also moves their room to be next to his once he realizes that they're staying over more often, blaming a maid for knocking over a candle and causing fire damage in their old room when they ask why it was moved.

I think one night they have to have at least one really stupid caper they pulled off while extremely drunk that neither of them will talk about - as an example, they got super drunk, decided that since they were so good at heists they should do more of them, broke into some patriars estate, and stole a ton of fancy liquor. They also stole the bust of some guy from the entryway and staggered up the stairs to escape out the window of the daughter of the house's dressing room. Anyway, they woke up the next morning on the floor of Gortash's bedroom, extremely hungover and both of them (and the bust they stole) were wearing fancy little fascinator hats they can't remember but must have stolen out of the dressing room. They try to laugh at each other but gortash just ends up violently throwing up in a trash bin while durge lies on the floor with their eyes squeezed shut because the room won't stop spinning. They refuse to speak of this and will adamantly deny it ever happened if asked. Durge absolutely killed sceleritas while trying to force him into a stupid hat. The exact series of events might need some workshopping, but the core idea is some extremely stupid adventure the two of them had together that neither would ever admit to but is also a cherished memory for both of them.

Gortash's gauntlets (before he had the netherstone) used a series of capacitors and a setup akin to a self winding watch to generate an electric charge that he could attack people with. He designed them himself.

Vesper finds these gauntlets fascinating. When they first meet in person, he shows them off and discusses their construction and it's the first thing about him that they find impressive and intriguing.

As a gift, Gortash gave Vesper a set of sharpened rings designed after his gauntlets.

Vesper actually helped Gortash with some of the designs for the steel watch, looking at the plans and making suggestions - they were especially helpful when it came to the magical portions of the construct.

I think the closest the Urge ever comes to forcing Vesper to kill Gortash isn't when they first meet or during sex. It's one day when they're waiting for some spy's report, so they're sitting around in his room. He's tinkering with something at his workbench, and they're sitting at a desk working on a spell. They realize they need certain special inks for the transcription and look up to see them in the desk's little shelving unit and then they look closer and realize the desk is stocked with all the things a wizard needs - inks, chalks, paper, magical components. And this is the desk they always sit at when they're here and need to do some work. And Gortash has stocked it as a wizard's desk. He's made it their desk. And he's working at his workbench and they're working at their desk together in companionable silence. It's domestic, almost. And that's when the urge hits, with just absolutely crushing intensity, and they turn on gortash. Jokes on them, he's into that shit. After some back and forth between them (the level of explicitness is up to you! Or me, if I can get my act together and write this!), Vesper more or less jumps out the window and spends the next couple of days cutting a bloody swathe through baldur’s gate. When they finally return to him, gortash just asks them if they enjoyed their little vacation. After that, even when recreating much the same scene, the urge never comes on as strongly again (they don't know it at the time but this is the first time they've managed to throw off Bhaal's yoke when he really wanted them to kill someone. He never pushed that hard again with gortash because he's afraid of the consequences, though he still does push them to kill him a little bit).

Gortash gave durge a number of gifts over their acquaintance, both practical and fantastic: jewelry, enchanted items, clothes, shoes, books, any and everything you can imagine. He loves seeing them using his gifts, carrying or wearing something he gave them, because it helps mark them as his. He spends absolutely lavishly on them, buying them beautiful and fancy clothes for them to wear when they're in his house or out with him in public. He also buys them more practical gifts, well-fitting boots, weapons, armor, all of it enchanted and worth a small fortune.

On some of his gifts to Durge, he encodes messages for them in their cypher. They say things like "For my dearest assassin" and "To the sorrow of all" on a weapon and "pari pasu" (Latin for with equal step) and "I've always liked to play with fire", plus any number of other things.

Gortash has a thing for Durge wearing his clothes. One cold morning durge throws on his black coat when they get out of bed to check something and seeing them wearing nothing but his coat is such a thing for him that he ditches all their plans for the day to spend the day in bed with them.

Gortash has a number of affairs, to help his star rise in the upper city. He may use them to make durge jealous, but they are ultimately people to be used and discarded. He doesn't care what they do, because they're tools. Durge is his. His partner. And that's why he doesn't share.

[lanafofana]

WIP wednesday

I want to write something cute and fluffy and sweet but all my heart knows is hot chip and angst.

The Inescapable Inevitability of Goodbye

It started with Lae’zel. Tall and proud. Regal. Astride a dragon that Tav had been powerless to talk her down from. The look she had given Tav could have cleaved her chest wide open. A lifetime of words in one fierce stare and then she had nodded, just once, and the dragon had launched to the skies.

Goodbyes were inevitable, she reminded herself, heart pounding with loss.  

Next had been Karlach and Wyll. Beautiful, incadescent Karlach who had nearly given in to her fate but for dear Wyll, the voice of reason and conviction to change her stubborn mind at last. Their goodbyes had been hasty, desperately quick. Tav’s not even sure she could remember the words they exchanged, nothing specific.

But long after they’re gone, in the secret quiet places of her mind she hears Karlach’s voice saying, “My friend, my companion, I adore you.��� She keeps it close to her heart so she might be warmed by it when all other sources of warmth were sapped from her. 

She’d hardly taken a beat to process the emptiness of a Faerûn without Karlach Cliffgate and Wyll Ravengard when Astarion had gasped, his skin flaking away like burning ashes. He’d run for cover and that had been that. Another gaping wound in her chest. She wondered how it kept beating. 

Standing at the edge of the docks, grasping for something to feel victorious about Gale had materialized, staring at the horizon. Right. The crown. His duty. She was proud of him, he’d come such a long way from the wizard who had fallen out of the portal so long ago. Traded his pride for humility, his ambition for wisdom. His course was set, soon he would retrieve the crown and reforge it, taking it to his goddess. 

Tav smiled and cupped his face, ignoring his surprise. No matter how long they took dithering at the door, the goodbyes were inevitable, she had learned to grasp at what comfort she could when she could. So she stroked his beard with her thumb and memorized the exact shade of his eyes when they’re emblazoned by a smoldering city. Before he could give voice to the concern in his gaze she’d patted his cheek fondly and stepped away. 

Their night of celebration passed in a blur of music, laughter, drinking, dancing and fucking. When she woke up and rolled over to see Halsin already looking at her softly she felt another hole burning through her chest and she hated that she wasn’t even surprised. Only resigned.

Goodbyes were inevitable. 

When he began to explain the path he was now set on, his place in this post-Absolute world she smiled and nodded. Said all the right things. Because she had learned a long time ago that goodbyes were not for her, never for her, they were for other people. An opportunity for them to glean a measure of comfort and it was her place to provide it.

So she smiled while her heart cracked open and she congratulated and she soothed while the brittle spaces between her ribs turned to dust.  She promised to visit because lying came as naturally to her as breathing. And then she left.

Sometimes you had to be the one to leave first when someone told you goodbye. 

She lingers in the city, telling herself it’s to help the wounded. Tending and nurturing and healing she fills her days with servitude to those in need. At night she sits at her window, staring out at the view being rebuilt. Each night the scenery changes little by little, the wounds closing, the Gate piecing itself back together. Erasing the scars with repairs. 

She sits, and she watches, and she plucks at the chords of her heart, testing how sharply the pain twangs, and thinks about how a thing must be broken beyond recognition before it can be fixed. And wonders, if there’s nobody left to help with the restoration, can a thing be pieced back together at all.

Or if it really matters, when all her heart has ever learned to play was the same melancholy tune.  

She wakes one day and Shadowheart and her parents are gone. Jaheira and Minsc and Boo too. Forging the new paths of their lives. Tav wonders what it must feel like to hold a world of possibility in your own hands. Is it heavy? Does it burn? She packs her things and goes to the dock one last time. 

The sky is no longer on fire, the streets are no longer littered with corpses. When she drinks in the air she can smell fish and wet stone and something briney that gusts in off the water. 

“Good bye, sun,” she says to the gulls that cry over the harbor. 

“Good bye, sea,” she says to the horizon, blue and sparkling in the late morning light.  

“Good bye,” she says to her adventure, the Gate, and the million and one tiny little might-have-beens that tumble out of her heart and into the sea. 

She dries her face and tells herself the ache in her chest is a bruise and not a tear. 

“It’s time to go home.” 

[shroomyart404]

I’ve been thinking about the thunder legion, more specifically how they came to Fairy Tail. Because out of all the characters we see stuff about, we don’t see anything about them or their initial connection to Laxus.

So I got to brewing

Evergreen was the first to meet Laxus, she was maybe 12 when Laxus passed through with one of the adults in Fairy Tail. They were on their way to the train station to get back to the guild and stopped for food. She overhears Laxus say they’re headed to fairy tail and she gets so excited by the fact theirs a fairy guild she interrupts and asks Laxus numerous questions, saying she’s gonna join. So when she shows up 2 years later, dropped off by her older brother, Laxus isn’t too surprised. He is a bit caught off guard though when she only seems to hang around him though - he’s the only person she knows and joining a guild isn’t like what she’d thought.

It was just her and her brother, and he thought Fairy Tail would be a good place for her to start making friends and earn money she wouldn't get back home.

Between meeting Evergreen and Evergreen joining is when Bickslow meets Laxus and joins Fairy Tail.

Laxus had finished up a solo mission, and needed a place to stay afterwards as it was getting to night. And he was hungry. He passed through a really run-down town, grumbling about how he wasn't gonna find much out here until an old man calls him over. it's clear Laxus isn't around here, and after confirming that Laxus is a wizard asks him to protect the house for a few days in exchange for food and shelter.

Laxus agrees and stays out on guard the first night, watching as some kids his age make their way through town going to houses and taking food, led by a lanky boy with a trail of 5 dolls following him. One of the kids tries to approach the house Laxus is guarding but is quickly scared off. The next night, similar happens, but this time the lanky kid, Bickslow who is clearly the ringleader of this group, approaches him.

"You're messing with the wrong place. I suggest you leave before things get messy." Bickslow says, and Laxus refuses. So, Bicks challenges Laxus to a fight. And to no surprise Laxus wins, and before he helps Bicks up he asks what's even happening around here.

Bickslow tells him about how the city was plagued by attacks from a dark guild that's now been disbanded. The town didn't have the money or the resources to rebuild, Bickslows friends were caught in the crossfire of the dark guild's anarchy - these friends' souls are the ones in the 5 toys, later to be his totems. Laxus knows he can't help, but he tells Bickslow that money's needed he can join Laxus on higher-earning quests. Help keep other towns from ending up like this. This convinces Bicks, and the future of the town gets better because Makarov talks with his connections and the town gets rebuilt.

Finally, Freed. It's maybe a year after Evergreen joined. Freed has been travelling around Fiore trying to find someone who could take away his "curse" (the forbidden magic). He often goes to the cathedrals and such, but most either direct him on to the next or to wizarding guilds - which Freed doesn't want to go near fearing rejection. He comes to Magnolia, and after Kardia Cathedral also say there's nothing they can do, he's sat on the steps knees pulled up to his chest.

"You crying?" Evergreen approaches him, having nothing better to do while she waits for Bickslow and Laxus to be done with whatever they are doing.

"No." Freed doesn't look at her, which Ever finds rude and gives a huff.

"Well then stop looking like you are."

"My sadness is none of your business."

"So you are sad?"

the conversation carries on like this back and forth, Freed utterly confused how this girl keeps asking questions and invading his business. Eventually, Laxus and Bickslow come over to ask Evergreen who she's talking to.

"Oh, I dunno. I didn't ask his name."

"Freed. My name is Freed Justine."

"It's got to be a bit cold sat on those steps," Bickslow says

"Does it matter? I've got nowhere further to go on my search."

"Then you can get out of the cold, don't go being stupid." Laxus holds out his hand to help Freed up, and he takes it. They take him along to the guild so they're out of the cold and have some food. They ask why he's in Magnolia, and Freed reluctantly tells them about his fruitless search to have his magic taken away.

"Well, you've come to the right place," Laxus says, and Freed has a look of hope.

"Really? You mean there's someone here who can take this curse away?"

"Nope. but there are people a bit like you here." Laxus gestures to Bickslow and Evergreen. "I seem to keep collecting randos with weird eyes, what's another one."

"Hey!" Evergreen huffs and gives Laxus a shake "But he's right. You'd fit right in, Freed."

And thus, the Thunder Legion was formed.

[sweetfire01]

Okay but,,,, what if Daddy Howl,,, and little reader,,, and can't escape because moving castle,,, and being dragged to nest-bed by bird form Howl??? Yes? Yes??? YE S?????

Y E S

Y E S

It's too long so I had to divide the fic into two part (for now, if I don't get more ideas 👀)

I'll talk about the nest in the next one!

Baby dove pt.1 (Daddy!Howl)

You couldn't stand staying here anymore. It was all becoming too overwhelming and disturbing, especially with Howl's overly protective behaviors. You didn't know how to describe it, but you had this strange feeling that you needed to get out of here as soon as possible, before things got worse. It was going well the first day he took you in, but the way he started treating you like a fragile little thing made you shiver. that's why today you took advantage of one of his long bath, trying to escape to the capital the moment he closed the door behind him.

You didn't have a specific destination in mind, you would have been chappy to reach the countryside, get on a farmer's cart and reach some remote village. You had only visited the city a couple of times and only the center and the streets around the house, but it wouldn't be too difficult, right? Wrong. Everything was more crowded than you remembered, you had to go around closed streets, squeeze into narrow tunnels, walk between stalls and almost risked getting arrested when you found yourself in the middle of the street during a military parade. The second time you passed the exact same perfume shop, you realized that you were lost. You didn't know how long you had been walking, you hoped that the Wizard hadn't noticed your escape yet. The fear of finding him behind you hadn't left your body since you went out. You forced yourself to walk again. Just in case he was on your trail, it was safer to blend into the crowd than to stay still. You had also tried going into shops to rest, pretending to take a look at the mirrors displayed inside or looking for a new wall clock. And every time you heard the people behind you commenting on your less than elegant appearance and wondering if you really had the money to buy that snakeskin belt. Rich people like them were able to buy expensive things. But you? Oh well, who care, a snakeskin belt wouldn't have improved an outfit as sloppy as yours. You were offended: you were only wearing a white shirt and light blue pants that paired with a vest of the same color. Pretty simple, sure, but not sloppy! When you heard the owner of a jewelry store muttering about how he had to keep an eye on you to prevent you from stealing, you stormed out. You were REALLY tired, running away from a crazy man, starting to get hungry, and you were called a thief? Fuck everyone. Fuck that shopkeeper, fuck this fucking city and its snobbish people, fuck Howl and above all fuck that Witch. And fuck Howl again. Fuck this sudden festival too. You didn't even know what it was for, but if everything hadn't been so chaotic today, you would have been able to get much further than this. How big was this city?? Only when the sun began to set the people head home and you wished you could take refuge in some inn and spend there the night. Unfortunately you had no money, just a few coins with which you hoped to be able to buy dinner for the evening. It had been a very unplanned escape. You sat on a bench. Damn, at least 5 minutes, your feet were starting to hurt. You prayed with all your heart that Howl was still in the bathtub. His baths were always so long, why did today have to be any different? But you couldn't get rid of the anxiety that he was behind you, ready to take you home. And now that there were few people left on the streets, you felt even more vulnerable. “Are you tired, baby dove?”

This was...HIS voice. You jumped up. There he was, off to the side, closer than you expected. You stared at him trembling, frozen in fear. He just chuckled. He didn't seem angry, not even irritated "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Come on, let's go home, it can get cold in the evening." He took off his jacket to wrap it around you. At that moment you recovered from your state of shock and now all you wanted to do was run, escape. But he didn't get upset, no, he simply grabbed your wrist and pressed it to his chest, stroking your hair. It was supposed to be an attempt to calm you down, but you were only getting more agitated, squirming in his hold. “Let me go, let me go!” "Baby dove, it's late, we have to go." "NO!" You gathered all your strength and pushed him away. You caught him by surprise and he almost fell backwards as you ran away. But your escape was short: you made it about ten meters before you felt your leg being pulled back, causing you to fall onto the road. You at least had the readiness to break the fall with your arms, even if your palms started to burn immediately after the impact.

"And that's why we don't throw tantrums and we don't run away." Howl scolded you, this time with a hint of firmness in his voice, though his tone remained condescending. Like a parent scolding a toddler. You wondered if that "don't run away" was meant just for now. Probably not, but you didn't dare to ask. He knelt down to see if you were hurt and, once he noticed that you had only grazed your hands a little, he picked you up. "If you were a good little fledgling, I would have made you walk on air with me. It seems like that will be for another time, hm?" And with that you felt his body change, filling with feathers while two powerful black wings emerged from his back, his legs transformed into bird legs and his arms into claws. If you hadn't already seen him in this form, you would have screamed in terror. It doesn't matter, you screamed anyway as he took flight and you held on for dear life, desperately squeezing your eyes shut. You were high, too high for your liking. "Don't worry, baby dove, Daddy will never let you fall." He whispered in your ear. You didn't processed it, too scared to listen.

It was a relief when you landed in front of the house. And the warmth of Calcifer that hit you when you two entered felt good. You didn't realized how cold it had been outside, despite Howl's jacket. He didn't let you go, taking you directly to his room and placing you in your bed. "Take a nap, baby dove. You're tired. I'll wake you up for dinner, okay?" he planted a kiss on your forehead before leaving the room. You laid there, legs aching, starting to cry silently. All the effort you had put in for nothing. And the fact that Howl didn't even recognize this as an attempt to escape made it worse. It made you feel pathetic. As if it were all a toddler's tantrum.

[wardensantoineandevka]

Downfall! I am EXHAUSTED, so I don't have any pre-roll here, but I am EXCITED. So, there are TWO bingos:

one for narrative stuff and mechanics, which has 49 items, located here

one entirely for specifically PC details, which has 40 items, located here

The items for both lists are under the cut. I don't necessarily have any notes right now—but yes, "Bolo joke" is there because it's funny to me and my friends. As always, if you have any questions about what a square is intended to mean, feel free to ask!

I may potentially add a couple more squares in the next half hour, but I'll make a post stating what I added. To play with those squares, just refresh your card.

Putting the Brutal in Brutalism

Apogee Solstice mention

set on Apogee Solstice

Vestige of Divergence

Arms of the Betrayers

Factorum Malleus mention

Frigid Woe mention

Aeorian Hunter

other Aeor project named

lack of windows noted

lack of windows explained

divine magic disrupted

lose contact with gods

prophecy

Bolo joke

Halas mention

Somnovem mention

Brashaar mention or appearance

Athodan mention or appearance

Prime Deity appearance

Betrayer God appearance

Predathos mention

Ethedok or Vordo mention

new Aeorian named

other known character mentioned

Avalir mention

Zemniaz mention

other flying city mention

new location named

previously named Aeor ward

Cognouza Ward still attached

Cognouza Ward missing

location other than Aeor visited

no initiative

initiative

multiple initiatives

pre-5e spell used or mentioned

Divine Sense

Divine Intervention

Scrying

Commune

Arcana check

Deception check

History check

Insight check on NPC

Insight check on PC

Perception check

Persuasion check

Religion check

Stealth check

Dramatis Personae

artificer

barbarian

bard

cleric

druid

fighter

monk

paladin

ranger

rogue

sorcerer

warlock

wizard

multiclass

2 or more clerics

2 or more paladins

2 or more wizards

2 or more multiclasses

Celestial warlock

Divine Soul sorcerer

Path of the Zealot barbarian

unclear subclass

homebrew subclass

PHB subcass

XGTE subclass

TCE subclass

subclass from other official source

level 6 to 10

level 11 to 15

level 16 to 20

follower of Prime Deity

follower of Betrayer God

Aeormaton

from another plane

from Issylra

from Marquet

from Tal'Dorei

from Wildemount

official Champion

homebrew feat

[sforzie]

Summary: Curious about his son's new girlfriend wife 'contractually bonded partner', Mephistopheles proceeds to mildly stalk her through Baldur's Gate. It goes about as well as you'd expect. ___

Mephistopheles was admittedly perplexed when he heard that his son had begun lodging with a mortal woman. Not just lodging, no, word was that Raphael and this woman had mutually signed a contract that bound them together in some sort of undisclosed relationship. If the pair had been mortals, the devil might have written it off as some sort of youthful elopement. But this was Raphael that was being talked about, and while his son was certainly still a brat he was far from young and foolish.

He sought out information on the woman, and was able to determine that she was a tiefling, not quite thirty summers of age, who had been part of the group of tadpole-infected adventurers who had stopped the relatively recent invasion of mind flayers that had been focused on the city of Baldur’s Gate. There was little else to go on, and Mephistopheles remained puzzled as to what about this woman could have drawn his son’s narcissistic interest.

So he decided to see for himself.

One day, he received word that the woman–Livia, was her name–was making a trip from the Hells and back to Baldur’s Gate. This was apparently something she did on a somewhat regular basis. Curious, Mephistopheles took on a mortal guise–that of a ruggedly handsome tiefling, thank you–and followed the woman to the mortal plane. 

He knew her when he found her, because she absolutely reeked of his son’s magic. Livia was a tiefling woman with pleasantly dark gray skin and black hair that was streaked here and there with crimson. She was pleasantly built–nearly tall, with gentle curves and long, curling tail. Mephistopheles could immediately understand why the average man would find her appealing. Hells, he certainly found her appealing, and briefly considered it a pity that she had been foolish enough to contractually bind herself to Raphael. She could have done so much better for herself…

He followed her at a somewhat careful distance through the busy city. He was impressed by the confidence in her stride, how despite being a tiefling she did not lower her gaze to those around her. She clearly did not care that she was viewed by other mortals as less-than, as tainted by her infernal ancestry. She kept her head held high, horns arcing behind her with elegant poise. Livia seemed to be on some variety of shopping trip, as most of her stops in the city were at various market stalls and shops. If she was purchasing anything, he could not be certain for sure, as she carried no packages with her from one business to the next.

One of her last stops, in the middle of the afternoon, was at a wizard’s shop in the lower city. Sorcerous Sundries was a messy, loud place, full of the mortal realm’s finest of middling magics. Mephistopheles found it all quite quaint, but managed to keep his opinions to himself as he trailed after the woman. She meandered through the shop, her pivoting gaze indicating to him that she was looking for someone specific. She eventually found her target on the second floor in the form of a ruddy cheeked tiefling man garbed in a wizard’s attire. The man stopped in his industrious fussing over a bookshelf to smile brightly and pull Livia into a hug. His enthusiasm in seeing her was quite evident by the happy wagging of the tip of his tail.

Mephistopheles wondered if there was something going on between them. He pretended to browse a nearby shelf while Livia chatted with the other tiefling. He couldn’t quite hear what was being said–the shop was rather noisy–but could still tell that the young man was gushing enthusiastically about something. A few minutes passed, and then another pair of tieflings came clamoring up the stairs. They both hugged Livia with the same ferocity as the first tiefling had.

Ah, Mephistopheles thought, just friends.

His target continued chatting with the tieflings for nearly half an hour before going on her way. Downstairs, she bought something from the shopkeep before again venturing out into the city. Mephistopheles briefly lost track of her in the busy streets, before eventually finding her once more as she made her way into a tavern. He decided that there was no harm in more directly approaching the woman here in a bar, as in a place like this striking up a random conversation with a stranger was not all that unusual.

She was ordering a drink at the bar when Mephistopheles joined her. He sat on the adjacent stool, curling his tail around the base so that he did not topple off of it. They sat side by side in silence for a few minutes, she sipping from her glass while he turned his in his fingers.

Finally, he said: “Do you come here often, miss?”

It took Livia a moment to respond. “Now and then, though not as often as I used to.”

“Moved on to greener pastures, eh?”

“Something like that.” She did not turn her face away, but Mephistopheles still got the impression that she was not interested in speaking with him. That was quite rude, he thought. He knew his mortal guise was attractive–it still looked like him, after all–and he had gotten his fair share of appraising looks while following the tiefling woman through the city. So, why did she have no interest in him? He was definitely more attractive than his son.

He decided to try again. “Tell me, young lady. What’s a lovely thing like you doing in a place like this?”

Livia looked at him from the corner of her eye. “Truth be told, a tavern is one of the best places to get all of the latest gossip in a city. And I do so like to be kept up to date on my gossip.”

So she claimed, he thought, but the woman had yet to speak to anyone else in the tavern.

“Gossip, you say? What of interest have you heard, my dear?”

“Nothing yet.” She set her glass on the counter and made a show of looking around the tavern. “Things in the city have been quiet as of late, at least on the surface.”

“And under the surface?”

She shrugged. “Who’s to say.”

Mephistopheles considered her nearly blank expression. What was she hiding from him? “You know, for someone who claims to be seeking out gossip, you do not strike me as being particularly adept at it.”

Livia blinked slowly. “Oh, I don’t know. The day is young.”

“I could offer you something far more tantalizing than petty gossip, if you were interested.” He leaned toward her. Livia did not flinch at his approach. She stared at him with lowered eyelids.

“Is that so? What did you have in mind, good sir?”

“I could certainly show a pretty thing like yourself a good time.” He grinned toothily at the woman. “I could take you places you’ve never been, and show you sights that you have never seen.”

Livia hummed to herself, seeming to consider his offer. She picked up her glass and murmured into it: “You could indeed.”

“Are you not curious, my dear? You would never want to return to listening to gossip in taverns when I was done with you.”

“You sound quite confident of yourself, sir.”

“I have no reason to be otherwise.”

He watched as she leaned back slightly and looked him over–from his long black horns all the way down to the red tail that was still loosely gripping the leg of the barstool. The bright pink tip of her tongue briefly darted into view as it traced the line of her lower lip.

“I see. I daresay my darling would have told me to expect such bravado from you.” Livia leaned in and lowered her voice. “Mephistopheles.”

He felt a jolt in his back. “Pardon?”

“You heard me, sir.”

The archduke hesitated, reluctant to drop his ruse so quickly. However, the tiefling looked quite confident in her assessment of his identity. How was that even possible?

She stared at him, waiting.

“Guilty as charged,” he finally conceded, still sincerely surprised by her observation. “How could you tell?”

Livia took a sip of her drink.

“You ordered an expensive drink, but haven’t actually consumed any of it. Not even a sniff. I know from listening to Raphael complain about you that you absolutely refuse to consume any of the ‘tepid swill’ produced in the mortal realms, and only stock your cellars with the finest of vintages produced on other planes.”

“A bold observation, but I could also be trying to stay sober while seeking out company.”

“Perhaps.” Livia tipped her head to the side and stared at him. What a piercing gaze she had! Her eyes flicked from his face and again down his front, and then back up to his horns. “Your glamour may be first class, but you still reek of the hells to anyone in the know. And on top of that, you… well, ‘smell’ isn’t the right word for it, but you smell very similar to Raphael. On a manifested level. You have a markedly similar aura.”

“And how would a little thing like you even know how to sense that?” He watched as she continued to study his face for a moment, a distinctly unimpressed look on her face.

“I fuck your son on a daily basis,” she said blandly into her glass. “And my essence has been infused with his own. I think I know what he feels like.” Livia gestured with the glass, pointer finger flexing to draw his attention to a thin golden band that looked as though it had been etched into her skin. Indeed, focusing on this strange trinket was enough to tell Mephistopheles why he sensed his son on her. The ring was composed almost entirely of his magic, of his essence. Even without touching it directly, he could detect a plethora of bits of spells woven into the band. A glamour, location spells, protection wards… He wondered if she had any idea of the true nature of that ring.

“Well then. I must concede defeat, little lady. You have indeed sussed out my true identity.”

“Of course I did.” Her pretty lips pinched briefly. “So, why were you following me all day? I knew you were there–you were kind of obvious.”

“Ah, I do apologize for my lack of stealth, my good lady. I must admit, when I heard that my son had become involved with some mortal woman, I was intrigued as to who might have drawn his attention away from his mirrors.”

“I suppose such curiosity is to be expected.” She set down her glass. “And, what did you learn?”

The archduke huffed softly. “Truth be told, only that he had become drawn to a beautiful, confident woman. I cannot profess to understand what really drew him to you.”

Her lips pulled into a smug smile. “Good.”

Mephistopheles hoped that she did not hear the faint sigh that escaped him. This little tiefling was far too good a woman to be wasting her time on his son. He could put her to much better use than Rapahel. A clever spy, perhaps, or at least a lovely new concubine with which to entertain himself.

Pity.

Of course, he could steal her away and take her back to Cania if he truly wished to, there was nothing that she or Raphael could do to prevent that. It could be interesting to do just to see his son, still flush with the power of the Crown of Karsus, come thundering into his domain to reclaim his pet. However, he had made a pledge of fealty to his son in exchange for being left in control of his assets in Cania. It would be unfortunate to have to waste time and resources over so trifling a matter as a mortal woman.

Livia was ignoring him now, seemingly, having picked up his untouched glass from the bartop and pouring half of its contents into her own. He could not tell whether or not her indifference to his station was sincere or an act.

She was a charming little thing, he thought. Perhaps just the sort of distraction Raphael needed, seeing as Haarlep had clearly ceased to be effective at their job ages ago. That was what his son needed, after all–distractions, things to keep his devious little mind occupied. Mephistopheles decided that, for the time being, Raphael could keep his new little toy.

“So, tell me, little one–Livia, wasn’t it? What did you buy at the wizard’s shop?” he asked after a few minutes. Livia’s shoulders jerked slightly, as though she had forgotten he was there, and after a moment of hesitation she pulled a paper covered bundle from her cloak. She unwrapped it, revealing a fist sized chunk of a dark red and black stone.

“Bloodstone,” she said. With a hint of shyness, she added: “It’s for Raphael. He likes to use bloodstone in his preparations of the ink he uses on his contracts.”

“I see.” Not what he had expected. “Did he send you here to purchase it?”

“No, of course not. But, I heard him grumbling about his stock being low the other day. I thought I would get some for him, since I was already here.”

A curious action on her part. “What reward could you hope to earn for such a menial task?”

“Reward?” Another sharp shrug. “Oh, I don’t know. Perhaps a smile? A kiss between the horns? At the very least, it would be one less thing for him to complain about for a few weeks.”

Mephistopheles tried to imagine his son smiling at the woman, but found it difficult. Imagining Raphael showing any sort of real affection to anyone but himself was nearly impossible.

“That’s all?”

“I need nothing more.” Livia drained the last of her drink. “I already have everything that I could want.”

He watched as she opened a pouch and set a coin on the counter next to the empty glass. “And, what was it that you wanted?”

Livia looked up at Mephistopheles, and her blue eyes gleamed.

“Him.”

[kimbap-r0ll]

It is I, the wizard.

I see the event you have going on and I'd like to put a request please!

May I please have 🩷 and 🩵 with Feitan please! You don't have to if you dobt wnat too, that's okay! please have a good day and /or night!

Hi, thank you for the ask! Ooh this one's interesting

Feitan — Soulmate AU and a letter to his s/o

In this AU, all are born with a red string of fate that connects them to another individual. They cannot change it and they only see it when they meet the person that they are fated to love.

Hey y/n, I don't really like writing letters, I honestly don't really know how to write neatly. Don't tell me to go ask Chrollo about it, he would tease me for writing to you. But, I really, really didn't think the whole soulmate thing was real. Chrollo mentioned it when we were young, I remember Phinks laughing. I laughed too, until I ran into you. It was at the junkyard, specifically the one hill with all of those crappy video game cartridges. You were looking for MarsBound, and I had the last copy. We fought for it, I just didn't think the red string was unbreakable so I tried to grab it but it slipped through, almost like a ghost. Either way, I thought I was just seeing wrong, but the more I ran into you the more my eyes traveled down to your little finger and back to mine. Are we soulmates? If this is a sick joke, stop it. I don't like romance, it's honestly gross. I...I just can't describe how fluttery I feel when we talk now. Yeah sure we're probably just friends.............maybe. I only know you from Meteor City but I rarely get to see you outside of the desert. I would be lying if I said I didn't miss you (but don't take it as me having a crush or anything like that). If you have the chance, we should meet up, no? It's not a date, but call it whatever you want. We're apparently stuck together because of this string, might as well catch up on life. The troupe's planning to hop by our city in the next month. Also, y/n, stay safe (don't disappear before I beat you in MarsBound).

— Fei

[y-rhywbeth2]

Lore: Common Phrases & Words

Accuracy Disclaimer & The Other Stuff [tldr: D&D lore is a giant conflicting mess. Larian's lore is also a conflicting mess. You learn to take what you want and leave the rest]

Abeir-Toril Why it's called the "Forgotten" Realms History | Time & Festivals | Lexicon [1] [2]| Languages | Living in Faerûn [1] [?] | Notable Organisations | Magic | Baldurs Gate | Waterdeep | The Underdark | Geography and Human Cultures --- WIP

Translating some earth phrases and words into their Faerûnian equivalents, plus some words specific to Faerûn; Here's how make friends and insult people in Faerûn. Also they have coffee, guitars and health insurance.

Also included a handful of Waterdhavian phrases and words.

-

Phrases and curses:

"Before all the gods..." - "I swear to god..."

"Well met" - default greeting; hello

"Well again" - greeting between acquaintances, business partners and friends.

"Well enough" - agreement; "ok", "that's fine with me"

“Never undress in a room with a window, a Harper may be near!” – "Be careful what you say, you don't know who's listening. an interesting warning courtesy of Waterdhavian noble matrons.

"Haularake!" - The polite way to say "gods fucking damn it!" while in front of small children.

"Hrast!" - Damn it!

"Hrasted [thing]!" - Damned [thing]!

"[Deity]'s Blood" - eg "Cyric's Blood" Religious oath, rather like jesus christ. Contracted version of Blood of [deity]

I swear that I have seen "Umberlee's Teats" and "Cyric's Balls" said somewhere...

"Being an ox-haunch" - "Being an asshole"

"a breath" - a moment, a second; "wait a breath"

"A breath or two" - A moment/second; eg, "give me a breath or two to finish this."

"A goodly breath or three" - a minute. (Waiting for a notable amount of time, maybe ten minutes, but not that long.) -- The dwarven variant is "but a little while" -- Halflings call it a "long song"

"Counting like a halfling" - Being contrary just to be difficult Most of the Realms counts on their fingers starting with the thumb, halflings do it the other way around.

"Naeth!", "Naed!" - Shit!

"Sabruin" - Fuck you, Fuck off.

"Lay down [good] coin" - "pay [a lot] for something"

“Resourceful as a bard”

"Life's better when you're not a frog." - "Avoid wizards."

“Sweet water and light laughter until next we meet” - A goodbye said between nobles. Technically an elven farewell, but human nobility decided it made them look cultured or something.

"Gone to Daggerford" - Waterdhavian phrase meaning to hide from the law by lying low outside the city

"Black as a black opal" - used to describe people who seem evil, but aren't really. (Especially if they'd dislike you saying so)

- Faerûnian Lexicon:

Scorchkettle - a Karen.

Dining-house - a Restaurant

Glim - Eye-catching, beautiful, flashy

Kaeth - Coffee ~Fireswallow - a colloquial term for Coffee.

Yarting - acoustic guitar

Short scroll - Newspaper

Nandra - mediocre, meh.

Dael, daelin - a year, years

Saer - a term to address nobility when you don't know the proper title, or when they're children

Lackwit - Idiot

Roundskull - a prejudiced idiot who doesn't use their brain; "often applied to local folk who sit drinking in their tavern displaying prejudices and repeating the words of their parents and grandparents, rather than making their own judgements about changing conditions around them, and new concepts, items, and customs."

Handfast - an engagement (to be married) Handfasted - engaged

Goldnose, Goldnosed - Haughty. aka. "Has a stick up their ass." Highnose - as above

Lackcoin - a derogatory term for those living in poverty.

Darkmorning - the early morning hours between midnight and sunrise

Highsun - Midday

the Eavestrough - the Gutter

a Bell - an Hour

a Candle - an Hour

Festhall - a type of establishment found in the Realms. A kind of fusion between an inn, laundromat, spa, night club, brothel and casino. I'll explain these in another post. Suffice to day that BG3 is the most accurate portrayal of how damn horny this setting is that I've seen in a CRPG so far.

Blesséd - an elven loanword referring to immediate family.

Harhand - a labourer (minimum wage employee)

Healthshield - Health insurance, also known as a "healing-bond"

Fire-bond - Fire insurance

Rivvim - horny

Dawnfry - colloquial term for breakfast A common breakfast, especially for travellers at camp, is to quickly fry the leftovers from last night's meal.

Highbite - colloquial term for lunch Long variant is "Highsunfest."

Latebite, Evenfest - Dinner Abbreviation of "Eveningfeast."

the Art - Magic

Lackspell - a weak, or novice wizard

Aloft - Upstairs; "she went aloft/upstairs."

High-coin - Expensive; or referring to a high paying job Low-coin - Cheap; or paying minimum wage

Finework - intricate and valuable metalwork. Silverware and jewellery, for example

Finesmith - a smith who works with precious metals.

Hiresword - Mercenary

Stareyed - naïve

Shraehouse - a type of very small tavern

Fastmud - Cement

a Swords out - a brawl or violent argument

a Smur - a light, misty rain

Beast-men - common word for ogres

Big Folk - Term used by gnomes and halflings to refer to the other races

Longears - term for an elf

Little man - insult aimed at dwarves

a Blackstick - something like a grease pencil. A writing utility made of a stick of thorden (juniper) wood that can be sharpened on one end, which is then slightly charred and used to write with.

a Blandreth - a three legged cooking pot

a Boot - a Traveller

Dadacky - Rotten, Decayed

Heartstop - a Heart attack

Coin - Money; "I've got no coin until I get paid next week."

a Broad Cry - Headline of a newspaper/broadsheet

Holy hand - a temple guard

Tenday - equivalent of a week (10 days instead of 7) Other, less commonly used terms include; an "eve," "hyrar", "ride" or a "domen".

the Elf day - the Weekend. The tenth day of a tenday, sometimes a day of rest.

House storming - a burglary; home invasion

the Realms Below - the Underdark

a Black Robe - a magistrate [Waterdhavian dialect]

a Sun - a platinum coin [Waterdhavian]

a Dragon - a gold coin [Waterdhavian]

a Shard - a silver coin [Waterdhavian]

a Nib - a copper coin [Waterdhavian]

[lemon-slushie]

Hello!! I just wanted to ask a question! I absolutely ADORE the Esmd sun and moon costume designs you did, it’s such a unique deity concept that just suits them so perfectly! (I’d love to see more of them!!)

I wanted to ask if you would be alright with me writing something for them? I’m a fanfiction writer! I’d love some more information on them if you have any sort of lore or anything!!

It’s perfectly ok if you’re not comfortable with it!!! Thank you!

YESSSSS THATD BE SOOO COOLL!!! Thank u for asking id love to see it!!! Please tell me about it if u do it!

Though on the info bit I don’t have much lol I just wanted to make cool costumes but what I do have is they mostly just kinda float around in space and what not unless needed, which is next to nothing and probably not what u wanted to hear 😖

I did have a simple idea of how it happened kinda, they vowed to become the protectors of the sun and moon and received a blessing from moonlight (I know she’s technically moon cookie but I think she’s also like the celestial god in general)

So espresso watches over moonlight and city of wizards while she sleeps and since there’s no specific sun cookie madeleine is more a protector of its light and fights against any darkness that tries to attack and take over, kinda like what happened in the republic with dark enchantress and the monsters

Sorry I’m not exactly a story writer and don’t have much but here’s some concepts of madeleine before I settled on a specific color palette and weapon for him if ur interested

I was really set on the fire sword but it didn’t go with the pallete I picked unfortunately but I think it worked out well, it probably would’ve been too cluttered had I picked it anyway