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jq37 · 3 months

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The Report Card – Fantasy High Junior Year Ep 1

We're SO Back

School is back in session y’all!!!!

Fantasy High has returned to us after a long break and I am thrilled to come out of my recapping hiatus to bring back the Report Card for Junior Year! You know I could let my favorite chaotic high schoolers go un-analyzed!

This episode wastes no time in getting started so neither will I. Brennan makes what I think is a very strong narrative choice by starting us in media res at the end of a classic Bad Kids adventure. It is the summer between Sophomore and Junior Year and the party has spent the last four months hot on the trail of the dreaded Night Yorb.

We catch up to our Intrepid Heroes in the Red Waste and they’re trying to catch up to the Night Yorb which is a big, eldritch, manta ray like monster who threatens to plunge the entire world into darkness, creating a very slow (but still effective!) apocalypse! The Night Yorb is flanked by its groupies, made up of members of the many cults dedicated to it (collectively known as “Yorbies”).

As I said, the Bad Kids are hot on its trail, in (and on) the Hangvan. Gorgug (who has been leaning more into his Artificer vibes lately) has outfitted the top of the Hangvan with a solar lasso that can be used to capture and reel in the Night Yorb so that Fig and Adaine can defeat it with a magical sigil. I’m gonna quickly run down where everyone is and what they’re doing:

Adaine and Fig are both standing on top of the Hangvan in order to spring the sigil when the time comes. Adaine is also joined by Boggy and a new addition, Moggy the Doggy (aka, Mordekainen’s Faithful Hound), which is a very round, very cute, very invisible Pomeranian looking dog.

Gorgug is also up top with them because he’s manning the solar lasso.

Fabian is inside the Hangvan along with Baby (aka Wretchrot, aka Fig’s screeching blood imp who has no mechanical benefit unless she takes another level of Warlock as Brenan keeping reminding us) and Ecaf, a mirror with a sultry voice that Fabian is *heavily* flirting with, much to everyone’s discomfort. It’s tres Narcissus. (Also, ha, Face backwards. I see you Brennan).

Kristen is in the back with Fabian and Riz is driving, even though he is WAY too small to effectively be driving a Gorgug sized van.

The Hangman–Fabian’s trusty motorcycle/hellhound–is out in front of the Hangvan.

Also Squeem is on the roof with the others! Beloved, fan favorite Squeem!

Yeah, so this episode does a thing of pretending like we’re jumping into the last episode of an arc that we’ve seen every episode of and introducing characters in a very Sam Reich, “He’s been there this whole time” way even though it’s their first appearance. I think it’s very funny and it reminds me of that Community episode where they’re all flashing back to episodes that never aired. But anyway, I mention this so that if I mention a name and you’re like “Whomst?” it’s probably just a bit, you’re not forgetting a major character.

Anyway, we’re joining this chase already in progress which means our kids are hurt and down spell slots but their opponents are as well. The distribution is pretty uneven–Adaine is way less hurt than Fabian and Kristen for instance, which honestly checks out (curious how they decided on that though).

Because this episode is just one big battle sequence for the most part, I’m going to follow the precedent I set in the recaps for The Seven and just give the highlights in bullets and then do an analysis on where all the Bad Kids are right now at the end:

Murph comes in hot, using his first action of the new season to shoot his gun and doing 30 points of damage with a 27 to hit. New year, new Murph!

Siobhan invokes the corn cuties debacle from fight one and all the falling off the tables that happened. Clearly, a bit of Adaine’s oracle energy is rubbing off on her because the next thing that happens in that Fabian decides to jump on top of the Hangvan to cast Faerie Fire on the Night Yorb (which has shrouded itself in magical darkness), rolls the first Nat 1 of the season, absolutely eats it, and gets run over by Riz–narrowly avoiding going down. He’s ultimately fine–The Hangman comes and picks him up–but it’s not a very auspicious star from Master Fabian.

Emily and Murph have a cute moment of womping Brennan back to back by using Silvery Barbs to make him reroll two attacks on the Hangvan–one of which is a crit–and then giving each other the advantage on the next roll.

Kristen is a real pillar in this encounter–holding up the Circle of Power spell that allows her friends to ignore big chunks of damage that absolutely would have dropped them. But throughout the entire fight, her patron goddess, Cassandra, keeps trying to talk to her and Kristen keeps leaving her on read–we’ll get more into that in a bit.

Adaine comes in clutch with a Nat 1 portent roll to stop the NIght Yorb from resisting Gorgug’s attempt to reel it in further. Truly, the best time to roll a Nat 1 in this game. Divination Wizards are awesome!

We learn that “Don’t Speak of the Night Yorb” is more than just a silly bit when Fig realizes that saying its name makes it heal up which isn’t great because they’ve been *very* cavalier about invoking its name.

Squeem gets a big emotional goodbye with Gorgug on top of the Hangvan, heroically leaps off to fend off some Yorbies…and then rolls a 2 and totally faceplants. No! Squeem! Beloved fan favorite Squeem! They already had to revivify you once!

On the Night Yorb’s turn, Brennan does an attack and shakes so many dice that it sounds like maracas. It’s 61 points of damage and squishy wizard Adaine goes down, but everyone else stays up–large in part due to Kristen’s aforementioned Circle of Power. (Siobhan, describing how bad her saving rolls were zings two separate friends saying, “It was Fabian level nasty. I fucking Murph’d it.”)

Luckily, Fig and Gorgug are up on the roof with Adaine so she does not go sliding off the van when she goes down. They catch her before she can fall.

At this point the Van has sustained a lot of damage so Murph reminds the teacher that they have homework/Brennan that they have to roll for a mishap. That turns out to be the breaks blowing out. Now, all the Van can do is accelerate! It’s just like the movie Speed!

Two more characters who we totally know and have been here this whole time show up to help–Balthazar and Duggan McCann! A cool grizzled veteran and a centaur cowboy. Riz immediately starts doing cool guy banter with them because he’s somehow convinced them that he’s cool (which he is for the record, just in a completely different way lol). Unfortch, Baz almost right away gets eaten by the NIght Yorb. Who’s gonna take care of his litter (?) of parrots?????

At this point in the fight, everyone gets a ping on their crystals, reminding them that school starts in three days. This stresses everyone out more than the fight that they’re currently in.

Fig brings up Adaine with a Healing Word but she immediately has to do Wis save with the rest of the party. She and Fabian fail, but once again Fabian is saved by fear negating effects of his dad’s eyepatch. So Adaine starts to have a panic attack about the fact that she’s fighting the Night Yorb while standing on the roof of a moving vehicle which, real talk, very normal and valid reaction. In fact, probably concerning that she’s reached a point in her life where that *isn’t* the default reaction.

The Hangvan is coming up on a jump it’ll have to make to continue following the Night Yorb (and it can’t even try to stop because the brakes are cut). Riz fails the roll which means that the van is probably going to fall on its side. Adding insult to injury, a pillar of rock falls and is going to crash into the van, doing even more major damage.

Fig watches this, and almost dissociates, feeling the weight of the entire summer taken from them to do this quest. Feeling so so tired. Feeling the fact that even if they win, they’re just gonna have to go back to school and adventure some more. A piece of magic she’s been holding inside of for a long time flickers and she hears an enticing voice whisper in her ears. “If you would take me, you know what you would save.” She smells a sour, curdled scent and she knows that if she says yes, she can save her friends. Maybe there’s another way, but she just wants this to be over. “I’m yours,” Fig says.

There’s a flash of “lemony, yellow, creamy” light (hmmmm) and the rock stops falling. The Hangvan starts righting itself.

And then there’s a sick gurgle from Fig’s stomach.

Uh-oh, gang.

For those of you who are new to these recaps, every week, I give one PC Detention and put one on the Honor Roll for their in-game actions. We’re starting off hot this semester with:

Detention

Kristen Applebees for Being a BAD Friend to Cassandra

Like, OK. Faith is complicated. Kristen’s relationship with religion is complicated. Being a cleric is complicated. But notice that I didn’t say being a bad *cleric*. I said being a bad *friend*. To be clear, she’s also being a bad cleric, and I’ll talk about that later. But having understandably conflicted views on religion doesn’t make sliding in your Fantasy Airpods while the being who is essentially a lonely teen girl and who is keeping you and all your friends alive tries to talk to you NOT seem like a giant dick move. Come on girl, get it together.

Honor Roll

Brennan Lee Mulligan for Being a Great DM!

I realized as I was writing this that I’ve given Brennan Detention but never Honor Roll so he’s getting it today. It feels so good to have him back in the dome with the kids and he drew me back into the world, right away. I’m so psyched that we have a full season of this ahead of us!

CHARACTER CHECK-INS

Like I said earlier, because this is the first episode back, I want to really quickly check in with all of the Bad Kids and where they are, character-wise. I’m going to do this roughly from least concerning to me to most concerning to me.

-Adaine: Adaine seems like she’s living her best life. She has her frog! She has her dog! Her character art is so much more chill and she’s coming into her own. This season, I’m hoping we get to see more of her relationship with her sister (yes, I’m a predictable bitch. Sue me) and with Zayn (who is also living at Mordred in her tower) who I think has a lot of potential to be an interesting supporting character with more spotlight. But yeah, go Adaine!

-Gorgug: Gorgug is making his parents proud (not that they ever weren’t) by taking another artificer level. He’s not a 7/3 Barb/Art split. I love that he’s gone from calling himself dumb to taking on this very technical skill. He also apparently has a homunculus? Fascinated to see what that looks like.

-Riz: Now that his big investigation is over and he knows his dad is a cool secret agent, Riz has switched his subclass from Inquisitor to Arcane Trickster which means he’s got tons of gadgets and that he’s a ring guy now. Love that for him. He’s very much not a chill person though so I’m very curious to know what the next thing he’ll latch onto is. He the kind of guy who always need something going on, you know?

-Fabian: Fabian is a fancy, dance boy now (6/4 Fighter/Bard)! But that doesn’t mean he’s any less athletic. I mean, have you ever seen a male ballerina? He still is, however, a total disaster. And I mean that affectionately. I mean, his current love interest (?) is a mirror that is showing a fuzzy reflection of his own face. My guy, what are you doing? Although I will say, idk if that’s more or less toxic than him dating Aelwyn.

-Kristen: Kristen. GIRL.

OK, so first of all. There is nothing inherently wrong with getting super jacked and like, respect. But in this context it feels like a red flag. Like the kind of thing you do because you’re on the rocks with your girlfriend or if you’ve recently broken up. I will be *very* interested to know what Tracker is up to as she’d not mentioned in this episode. Last we heard, she was out doing cleric stuff for the Moon Goddess, right? Long distance can be hell on a relationship. (Also, idk how seriously we’re supposed to take this but Ally mentioned the one shot it happened in in this episode so Kristen was also totally trying to flirt with a college girl in that college visit oneshot. Brennan shut it down pretty quick, but it very much did happen).

Also, speaking of cleric stuff, Cass. I feel SO bad for Cass. Like, a god isn’t owed followers, but Kristen chose that role. She CHOSE it. This isn’t like a Helio situation. Cass wasn’t pushy. She specifically says in this episode that she doesn’t want to be pushy. Hell, she says in the episode where she’s introduced that if people don’t want her around she’ll go away. But Kristen chose to be her follower, knowing what the implications of being the sole follower of a goddess is. Cass is made in her image. That’s how deeply entwined they are. Her goddess is made in her image. In The Seven, we learn that Ost’s god hasn’t talked to anyone in years. Kristen has Cass coming in like a mom offering snacks mid battle and Kristen is leaving her on read! It’s honestly kinda hard to watch her be so blithely dismissive of someone so dependent on her even though it’s played off as kind of a joke. I felt like I was watching a loyal puppy get kicked every time they interacted.

And like, I said this before, Cassandra is made in Kristen’s image. But specifically, she looks like Sophomore year Kristen. Still all skinny and still in her tie-die shirt and shorts. There is a definite vibe of almost wanting to kill the part of yourself that embarasses you, you know? It feels like she's being mean to Cass but also to herself.

Also, mechanically speaking, it’s wild to be just ignoring the person you’re getting your powers from like this. Like, this is real Wizard behavior. You don’t have to answer to anyone if you studied for your magic but you absolutely do as a cleric. Does Kristen even want to be a cleric? It honestly doesn’t seem like it. She’s shown a pattern of behavior of chafing at every god put in her path, even the ones she literally made up. I thought Cass might be the end of her searching, but we’re right back on the Merry Go Round. The party absolutely needs a healer though so idk how she deals with that.

I saw the snipped clip of Ally’s interview about Kristen’s arc this season involving what happens when chaos stops being cute, and I can def see seeds being planted. Fascinated to see how they explore that because this feels like a real ticking time bomb of a situation.

Oh also, her Dex went DOWN????? GIRL!

Fig: I had a lot more to say about Kristen but Fig has to be last on the list for making a deal with a literal devil lol. Like, classic Fig though, right? This WOULD happen. Emily talked about potentially retiring Fig and getting reeled in by some enticing plot hook from Brennan and it feels like we might be about to find out what that is. I won’t speculate on it too much right now because we’re presumably about to find out but there were a LOT of yogurt themed adjectives when that magic activated which has me very split on whether this is about to be deeply concerning or deeply silly. Or both! It could be both!

Random Thoughts

I LOVE that we have a proper theme song now. It feels so fitting and I love the opening art and it’s all so cool. The show’s so profesh now!

Also, shout out to @caitmayart for making the new art! It has the quality of a professional and the extra love of a fan. It’s my fave D20 official art so far.

I don’t know when this feature was added but I love that there is a full transcript you can pull up and search and jump to that time in the video now. That’s gonna be SO useful for me.

One of my favorite things about Adaine is that she’s generally polite but occasionally she’ll just absolutely verbally decimate someone so casually and this episode she said to the Solesian Yorbie they encountered, “What movie theater were you assistant managing before you decided to become a Yorbie?” Brutal.

Also love how vehement she was about the fact that Brennan couldn’t touch Moggy, even when she went down. You are absolutely NOT gonna kill that dog Brennan.

“Object interaction, touch Gorgug’s foot.”

Fig asks Gorgug how they can heal a van and he says, “Take it to a shop for 3-4 days.” Zac, underrated comic genius.

I really can’t overstate how funny it is that Fabian spends most of this episode flirting with his own reflection. I’ve said this many times but something I love about Lou is that he’s not afraid to make Fabian deeply uncool, even though Fabian’s whole thing is being as cool as possible.

Kristen says she needs to have an intense conversation with Cassandra when the fight is over and what does that mean? Like a breakup conversation? Which I guess would kill her because then she’d have no followers again? I am, como se dice, concerned.

Also, just looking ahead, Tracker is also a cleric. A pretty faithful one from what I can tell. I have to wonder what her take on Kristen completely neglecting her goddess and church is.

I think it’s so funny that Emily was thinking about retiring Fig so she could just ride off into the sunset with her cool rockstar life and awesome girlfriend because Riz’s big thing last year was being worried all his friend would pair up and leave him so for him to accept it and then have his fears validated right away would be like, welp.

At a certain point, Murph has to roll damage and he rolls 45 out of a possible 50 damage. That’s crazy. Let’s see how long that luck holds.

#Dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers #d20 #d20 spoilers #fantasy high #fantasy high spoilers #fhjy #fhjy spoilers #spoilers #the report card

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heliza24 · 3 months

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Thinking more about Kristen and Cassandra.

I’ve seen people say that Kristen’s continued dismissal of Cassandra (and also I might argue… discomfort? with her, or confusion how to relate to her) feels like a story let down after the end of Sophomore year, and I do agree with that. The moment Kristen finds and rescues and creates Cassandra is so so special. It’s the result of a classic Beardsley Nat 20 that Brennan spectacularly honors. It feels, in some way, like a gift between Brennan and Ally but also between D20 and its queer audience. It says “we believe that queer people have their own divinity”. It made me cry when I watched it.

So it does feel like a story let down to still have Kristen be dealing with the same chaos and confusion, to have her not learned the same thing that the audience did from that moment. It is disappointing. But also I think they’re doing that intentionally.

Pushing back against the finality of story climaxes, and examining what happens after the final battle is won, is definitely what this season is all about. It’s why we finished at the very end of the Night Yorb quest; this whole season is about what happens after, about the part that isn’t decisively solved in a huge moment of glory. It’s why Kalina is back, probably in a different role than before. The season is about the messy parts and the way you have to heal in real life- little by little.

Now, will they manage to make this kind of season as emotionally cathartic as sophomore year with it’s big final battle that solved all the problem? I have no idea. This kind of story telling is a lot harder to do. It’s more realistic, but it’s bucking a more traditional story structure that’s a lot easier to fall back on. It might work or it might not. But I do think it’s cool that they are taking these kind of risks with Fantasy High, because it’s what they needed to do to keep the series fresh and real feeling. I do think Ally has a real arc for Kristen in mind, and I’m really interested to see where they take her.

#dimension 20 #d20 #d20 fhjy #fantasy high junior year #fantasy high #my meta

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ratgrinders · 1 month

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**spoilers for latest episode of junior year**

when kristin reaches out to cassandra and promises to help her, cassandra responds with a reassurance that as long a version of her as she wishes to be lives in kristin's heart she can never be fully gone. what interests me though is what she says afterwards, which is "someone has made promises to bring back that which left" and an immediate cut to fire and screaming.

if cassandra was referring to kristin as the one who promised to bring her back, wouldn't she have just said so? this instead feels like a clue, especially with brennan saying cassandra "tries to give one last thing" and the cut to fire and screaming that invokes the dead god. this tells me that cassandra is actually talking about ankarna in this instance, which is additional confirmation that the forces at work trying to bring ankarna back (most likely the rat grinders) are not acting independently but have explicitly been in contact with the dead god.

its also interesting that cassandra says "left" and not "died", and that kristin couldn't even see the dead god. maybe this is referring to how ankarna did not truly "die" as a deity but instead "left" godhood by becoming a fiend. also, if what cassandra said is true that bringing a god back is possible as long as you have a perception of who they used to be in your heart, then bringing back this dead god would most likely only be possible through someone who is familiar with this deity as they used to be, rather than someone who only knew them later.

i've theorized before that maybe lucy frostblade had a familiarity with who ankarna used to be considering they were the sibling of her god ruvina, which may have motivated her and the rat grinders to promise to bring ankarna back (which i talked a little bit about here and here) but maybe that wasn't enough. lucy was devoted to ruvina so ankarna could not truly live in lucy's heart and that may have contributed to what went wrong.

#dimension 20 #fantasy high #fantasy high junior year #fhjy spoilers #original post

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sexypantsriorson · 4 months

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HELP! I THINK I'M DUMB!

*****SPOLIERS FOR FOURTH WING AND IRON FLAME BELOW****

I read this Rebecca Yarros x Variety interview (https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/iron-flame-spoilers-rebecca-yarros-fourth-wing-tv-series-interview-1235781877/) after listening to it recommended several times in an episode of Fantasy Fangirls Podcast. The question I included confused me and I just can't figure it out.... lol (I think maybe it is the way RY's response is worded idek) so naturally I came here in hope someone else can explain what they think it means to me or we can chit chat about wtf is going on...

So obviously I get and appreciate the part where RY says Xaden is not in love with Violet just based on Brennans stories. The part that confused me was the "He’s a kid. And he loves Brennan. He doesn’t know Mira. If he has one chance at revenge, it’s Violet. And not only is Violet his chance for revenge, but the mother has just taken that chance away from him. So naturally, his instinct because he doesn’t know Violet and he does know Brennan — and I would hope that if someone knew my sister, they would care for me, but they wouldn’t know me."

So is RY saying that he wanted to kill Violet the first time he saw her/ realized who she was on the parapet as revenge for what her mother did (despite the fact that he "loves" Brennan - maybe his hatred of Lilith out weighs his love for Brennan?) but couldn't because of the deal he made with her? So then what does that statement "So naturally, his instinct because he doesn’t know Violet and he does know Brennan — and I would hope that if someone knew my sister, they would care for me, but they wouldn’t know me" mean? Is he going to try and make not killing her more bearable by telling himself its for Brennan...??? is that what is going on? is that what she means?

And then if were gonna take it a step further there are several statements throughout both books when Xaden tells Violet (or the reader during his POV chapter) that he has loved her longer then she realizes, he has always been hers, yada yada yada. Obviously they were attracted to each other atop the turret - they both admit that. Then in Iron Flame he tells Violet (when speaking about Cat) that you don't have to like someone to fuck them.

So from this article/ RY's answer to this questions in combination with pros from the books were supposed to think that Xaden wanted to kill Violet because of his hatred for Lilith despite the fact that he loves Brennan (and Brennan, like everyone else who knows Violet (including their mother who put her in the riders quadrant for the exact reason that she would make the choice to go against Navarre once she found out the Fables of the Barren were indeed NOT fables and be killed for it in the scribes) believes she will make the right choice when the time comes, and I would assume if Xaden told Brennan about the favor his mom called in would have told Xaden the same) so he keeps Violet alive because of the deal with her mom but also out of respect and love for Brennan and ends up falling for her on an emotional level (since it is made very clear he is physically attracted to her from day one) along the way......?????????????

Is this what RY is saying???? I'm just very confused and of course, like Violet, I was gutted when I found out he only kept her alive because of the deal with her mom and likely would have killed her (loving Brennan or not) had she not called in the favor.

What is anyone else thoughts!? Please converse I'm begging!!!

#fourth wing #iron flame #Spoilers #xaden riorson #violet sorrengail #violet and xaden #rebecca yarros #the empyrean #send help #brennan sorrengail #lilith sorrengail

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verosvault · 1 month

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🚨SPOILERS FOR FANTASY HIGH JUNIOR YEAR EPISODE 7🚨

Dimension20 "Fantasy High Junior Year"

Episode 7 "Stress Tested"

Timestamp: 2:04:46

Video Length: 4min. & 30sec.

Discovering clues about Lucy Frostblade & Principal Grix (Pt. 1 | ‣Pt. 2)

Emily: "As their Paladin, for potentially Paladin, can I give them a Bardic? I know that that sentence makes no sense."

Brennan: "You can give a Bardic if you want."

Ally: "Yeah?"

Emily: "I think it's like corrupted, but like maybe it won't be bad."

Ally: "I don't ****ing care."

Brennan: "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go roll me a corrupted Bardic."

Ally: "It's an eight?"

Emily: "It's a d8."

Ally: "Eight, an eight on the die."

Brennan: "Okay."

Ally: "Okay, so that's a 27."

Brennan: "Yolanda says,"

Yolanda: "Lucy was a wonderful, wonderful student. It's been very hard these last few months."

Kristen: "What was her domain again or who was she following?"

Yolanda: "She worshipped a goddess of giants and giantkin named Ruvina, who was a goddess of winter and sorrow."

Kristen: "Whoa."

Yolanda: "Lucy was not a very happy soul, but was a very kind soul. And her interpretation of that goddess was, 'the winds are cold and we are made to warm each other. And the night is long and that is why we keep the fire lit.'

Kristen: "Wow, that's beautiful. Hard."

Brennan: "Yolanda sheds a tear."

Yolanda: "She[Lucy] was very special. Very, very special."

Ally: "Would Riz have told me already that she tried to put in the-"

Brennan: "We can allow that. Yeah."

Ally: "Okay."

Kristen: "Wasn't she hoping to switch from that though? Was it to something more positive?"

Yolanda: "Lucy would never have switched. No, I don't think so."

Kristen: "Oh, she was really committed to that?"

Yolanda: "Oh, undoubtedly. Her conviction was profound. I mean, it's an ancestral goddess of her people going back a long, long time."

Kristen: "Yeah, I thought so, too."

Brennan: "I'm sorry, she actually says,"

Yolanda: "From the Mountains of Chaos."

Brennan: "She's like,"

Yolanda: "Yeah from the Mountains of Chaos for a long, long time."

Kristen: "Oh, my- I have a friend who's in the office with paperwork and they just said they were sure that they saw a request form going in her record. I don't know."

Yolanda: "Does your friend have something I could see that would confirm that? Nothing ever made its way to me that-"

Kristen: "Oh, it's not in her file or in any of your info on her?"

Yolanda: "Well, it would've needed my approval. When was it submitted?"

Ally: "I give the time."

Brennan: "She looks and says,"

Yolanda: "Well, after that time period, I mean, most of us, we've already submitted our final grades. I just wasn't at school during those two weeks. This is... I need to talk to Principal Grix. This is-"

Kristen: "So she tried to switch her god, but you don't think she would ever do that, and then she died?"

Yolanda: "Kristen, I wanna thank you very much for bringing this to me."

Kristen: "Yeah."

Yolanda: "I wanna thank you very much for bringing this to me."

Ally: "Oh, can I do an insight check and see if she's real?"

Brennan: "Yeah. Yeah."

Ally: "Or if she feels like found out or something? I don't know."

Brennan: "Yeah."

Ally: *rolls dice* "Okay. Insight is, oh, that's a 27."

Brennan: "She[Yolanda] looks upset and frightened."

Kristen: "I don't know much about Principal Grix, but is that someone...?"

Yolanda: *shakes her head*

Kristen: "Or- Up to you, yeah. I just have gotten a weird, he shot a net at multiple students, and then rode out of the room leaving them in the nets. I don't know. I'm just kind of wondering if he has, like, the care capacity for something this big."

Yolanda: "You're right. I won't go to Grix, but I need to find out what is known about this. There should have been a document attached to this that would've said the deity she was changing to. Was that... is that... ?"

Kristen: "They said it was blank, or that they couldn't find that information anywhere."

Yolanda: "Okay. I won't talk to Grix. I'm gonna go talk to Vice Principal Stardiamond, see what we can find out. Thank you for bringing this to me."

Kristen: "Of course. Anything you need help with, I would love- if you need more eyes on the ground or something like that."

Yolanda: "Please keep your eyes open, Kristen."

Brennan: "She leans over and hands you a little token. And you see that there's a small little emblem that just says, 'When the only thing you can believe in is believing' and hands it to you."

Kristen: "What's this?"

Yolanda: "Hold onto it. Hold onto it."

Ally: "Is there a little picture of Bruce Springsteen?"

Brennan: "Yes, you see there is a- tight jeans, bandana. It's the Boss, baby. You head out from there."

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cloudmancy · 2 months

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i just finished acofaf and i havent finished the last few adventuring partys yet but it kind of makes me feel crazy how no one has brought up wuvvy clearly being in love with rue. especially in rue & wuvvy's last conversation theres never any indication of rue acknowledging the depth of wuvvy's feelings for them or the sacrifices she's made to be with them and its kind of baffling to me cause rue must know how wuvvy feels about them right? she left her court for them! which is literally the same exact grand gesture hob makes for rue to prove his "love" for them. except wuvvy didnt need to be persuaded. and i was so surprised how in the adventuring parties nobody rlly talked much about wuvvy's love for rue, like emily mentioned it a few times but it felt to me like this elephant in the room that no one was talking about. it's funny cause most/all of the pcs this season were queer but wuvvy comes across kind of like a "scorned lesbian" character where the lack of acknowledgement of her grievances belittles them so as to communicate that they are not legitimate and her feelings are petty and immature. which is obviously a trope intended to preserve a heteronormative and misogynistic status quo. sorry if this is kind of rambly and/or incoherent (i have the flu) i just like your posts and fanart of wuvvy and i wanted to share my thoughts!

OHHHH BOY... you're in for a treat because they do talk about wuvvy in acofaf APs 9-10. it's bittersweet because it's very much an acknowledgement of 'yeah she had feelings for rue and it's a bit fucked up what happened to her'. I cannot blame oscar for wanting to go for a PC/PC romance with brennan's character rather than the NPC but you're right... it really does bother me the way the fandom treated her as a bitch, making really aggressively violent posts when she burned hob's letter, oscar not really even acknowledging in or out of character how much rue meant to her... some of it has to be attributed to how short the adventuring parties are and how much of it was spent talking about ruehob (I have my own opinions about how baffling it was that ruehob was meta'd and built up so much entirely OUTSIDE of the campaign, the main content of the show? but that's a post for another time)

I don't think aabria, brennan, oscar, or anybody else actually meant to contribute to a lesbophobic trope or stereotype; aabria was playing a thoroughly cool character and the circumstances surrounding her just happened to end up this way. it's a game of dnd in the end where a pc/pc romance is more interesting roleplay wise and that is how the cards fell in terms of npc romance. it would not kill people to acknowledge wuvvy and how badly rue hurt her though 😞 I have a huge problem with the 'ruehob together forever, happy ending' part of acofaf & its fandom because of how little the fandom seems to remember or care about her... I do think that is a pattern of misogyny especially when you have many many fans who violently hate wuvvy for getting in the way of their (already canon) ship

I will never stop talking about wuvvy though. [slaps her horns] this satyr can contain so much devotion and angst in her

#asks #lesbianmarrow #wuvvy #acofaf #thanks for the ask! equally rambly reply back

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thoughtswordsandnonsense · 4 months

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Not so Festive Xaden x Violet

Prompt: Winter Solstice at Basgiath means a week-long break for students and teachers, most are out celebrating but Violet has a hard time getting out of bed or caring about anything. Once Xaden catches on with the help of Violet's friends, they come together to comfort her.

Trigger warning for seasonal depression and loss of family members. Sorry if this sucks, I'm in a bit of a funk right now.

Violet’s Pov:

School had let out this week and while we aren’t allowed contact with family, most found a way to celebrate. Some we’re getting drunk, others we’re exchanging small gifts of baked goods and little trinkets they managed to sneak into Basgiath.

Me, I was curled in bed feeling colder than ever, my body and mind feeling disconnected as I stared blankly at my wall. Liam had tried to come see me the first day off but I told him I wasn’t feeling well and didn’t want to get him sick. That was a few days ago and only Rhiannon had bothered to try, though I quickly fed her the same story. Adding in a few coughs while she was here, she quickly bid me goodbye so she wouldn’t catch what I had. Lying felt bad, but at this moment I didn't care.

Tairn has been grumbling at me for a few days and Andarna has made it her mission to try and get me to eat, but the energy it takes to leave this room is too much. Everything felt like it was too much. Brennan used to say the weather change made me like this though it wasn’t always this bad, he’d do his best to spend this week with me and Mira curled up in blankets with hot chocolate listening to Dad tell stories or all of us reading together.

Mom hated that he let us take it easy once Solstice hit, she said it made us all soft and we were being useless. That we should be training or learning and not being so lazy. None of us cared though, the time together felt warm, cozy and loving, but now it only added to the hurt, not having Brennan or Dad made my heart ache. Warm tears lined my vision as it blurred, thinking of them only made the hurt intensify.

“This isn’t healthy” Tairn butts in and I groan. “I’m well aware.” “Then come see us,” Andarna adds and I shove my face into my pillow, drawing my blanket above my head. “I love you both but please, just let me be.” Tairn huffs as Andarna makes a high-pitched whine that sounds similar to a dog’s. “Fine, we’ll do this the hard way.” Tairn huffs “The fuck does that mean?”

I grumble back but receive no response from either of them and I curl in on myself.

To anyone else, this may seem pathetic, but it’s easier than having to fake being happy in front of everyone.

Closing my eyes I let the coldness embrace me again, my window slightly propped open so I’d at least get some semblance of fresh air without having to go outside. There’s no noise besides the wind howling outside and it lets me slip further into numbness, tears that were going to fall earlier drying.

Some time passes as I focus on only my breathing, the slight light that is making its way past my curtain has long gone as the cold night breeze makes its way into my room and seeps into my bones.

My door creaks and I bury myself further into my blanket. “I’m still not feeling good, you shouldn’t be in here.” I croak as my door shuts, loud footsteps make their way over to my bed and something is set heavily on my nightstand I peek my head out to see Xaden looking down at me with sympathy, my neck cranes just to see his face. A mage light shines on my desk illuminating the room. “You can fool others all you want Violet, but Tairn and Andarna tattled on you.” I groan “I hate you both right now.” Andarna whimpers and Tairn snarls “Watch it SIlver One, we’re just looking out for you.” Xaden sighs and it brings my attention back to him. “I’m not going to make you explain, I’m sure Tairn shared more than you’d like, but I won’t be leaving you like this.” “Since when do you care about more than keeping me alive?” His shoulders sag as he takes a deep breath his large warm hand coming to cup my cheek tenderly as he speaks. “Contrary to what you may think, I do care for you.” The warmth from his skin and tone shocks me as I glance up at his concerned gaze, his tall frame leaning over me as he takes in my ghostly complexion. Mira always said that a lack of sun made me look like a ghost. His hair looks devilish like he had just come from flying on Sgaeyl, the dark circles under his eyes tell me he also hasn’t slept much this break.

Another creek of the door I find Rhiannon and Liam standing in my doorway, Xaden turns and nods to Liam as they enter and make their way over. Both of them have grey fuzzy blankets draped around their shoulders and pillows under each arm. “Why didn’t you ask for help?” Xaden asks as they set up their stuff near my bed. “I just didn’t want to,” I whisper, feeling my cheeks heat up in embarrassment that they’re seeing me like this. Rhiannon meets my eyes and levels a glare that would make Mira proud, it’s similar to the look of a disapproving mother. “We’re friends, so like it or not we’re all staying here with you, including Riorson. You don’t have to suffer alone.” Liam tosses a pillow at Xaden's head that he manages to grab at the last second.

He tosses it to the other side of my bed and then leans down and picks me up, I thrash as he whispers in my ear. “I’m here whether you like it or not. So how about you don’t fight me for just this once Violence?” He arranges us so I’m sitting in his lap and I cease thrashing, he leans his back up against my headboard and settles me in between his legs. I lean back against him as he reaches one arm out to the window and promptly shuts and latches it while the other keeps a firm grip on me.

“How were you managing to be in here without getting hypothermia? Fuck, it feels like a morgue in here.” Liam comments as he pulls his blanket closer to him. “Sorry,” I shoot back quietly as Xaden pulls me even closer to him. His body feels painfully hot against mine as I try to squirm out of his hold. Xaden jumps as our bare skin connects. “Fuck, stay still.” He hisses as he pulls off his jacket and lays that on top of the blanket already on top of us.

“Do you want help with your hair?” Xaden asks and I shrug “That bad?” The loose braid I put it in when the break started was likely a mess and I hadn’t cared to try and fix it. “Not to be a bitch but, yeah dude it looks rough,” Rhiannon answers and I sigh knowing it’ll suck to fix later. “You don’t have to. I’ll get to it later.” Rhiannon tosses my hair brush that was sitting on my desk next to Xaden. “If you need help just ask.” She says as she settles into a conversation with Liam. Talking about the gossip of drunken first years at Solstice. Xaden’s hands slide into my hair, working the tie loose and starting from the bottom of my messy French braid. Lowly laughing as Rhiannon tells of Barlow throwing up on Dain, Liam's laugh is contagious to the point even I find myself cracking a smile. For the first time in days, I relax as Xaden’s fingers work through my hair, gently pulling apart tangles and rubbing my neck as he gets closer to my scalp. “Thank you.” I send down the bond to Tairn and Andarna. “Next time it gets this bad come find me, please,” Xaden says lowly into my ear as he finishes untangling my hair. “Okay.”

Xaden passes me a mug as the smell of hot chocolate hits my nose and my eyes water all over again as my heart constrictions, I swallow past the lump in my throat and look up into his onyx gold-flecked eyes. ”Thank you.”

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alli-a-baba · 9 months

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Happiness Is A Butterfly - Zack Addy x Reader

They/Them pronouns. 2,400 words. Pt.1.

Being a part of the rotating interns was difficult. Trying to keep up with Dr. Hodgins comments only his friends understood was difficult. Dr. Brennan's impossibly high standards for the professional environment were petrifying, and confusing from her friendly relationship with Agent Booth. Angela was emotionally intelligent but touchy on certain subjects. And Camille was the boss.

The way they flowed together was unmatchable, it was good for Y/N.

When the team was boiled down to their main characteristics; Hodgins was sarcastic and wanted someone who had thick skin to appreciate his pointed remarks, but smart enough to understand them.

Dr. Brennan just wanted you to do your job, and be understanding of how much time you have to allocate to keep the position. Agent Booth wants someone to understand his un-scientific humor.

Angela likes to talk about things you see outside of the lab, but also wants the discourse and drama of the people inside. Camille wants you to be able to testify and not annoy her with anything other than basic polite company and case related topics.

Y/N is a chronic people pleaser.

Then their is Dr. Addy. Dr. Zachary Uriah Addy, to be precise.

Dr. Addy was Brennan's previous grad student, her set grad student. Until he made pals with a serial killer and ate somebody. Their was little media coverage on who was caught for the crimes the serial killer committed, but it happening at the Jeffersonian?

People talked, and you listened.

It was fascinating to be in the place where it all happened, but you couldn't ask any of your coworkers about him. Anytime his name was said it was followed by a quick glance and a reminder that "Dr. Addy no longer works here."

Camille never referred to him by name. Everyone else did. The case you were working on now Hodgins had him at the forefront of his mind, "Zack would know more about this.", "Zack would've said that-"

You can't be Zack, but the fascination pressed on.

"Ask him then." Y/N said bluntly. The skull had damage all over and they were examining it, subtly watching Hodgins mannerisms.

"It's not that simple and you know that" His face was a little red and he had a soft line in between his bushy eyebrows. He was annoyed.

"Would you hurry up with the head Brennan will be here any second and I have to get the particulates."

You raised your eyebrows and the sudden outburst. "Its 'The Cranium' actually." He gave a dejected snort and a small smile at your attempt to lighten the mood while handing over the skull.

"Why isn't it that simple?" He stopped, "What do you mean."

"Asking Zack?" He took a deep breath and kept walking back to his station. Inclined for an answer you followed.

"Right, I forget you don't know him."

"Dr. Addy did some bad things and isn't working here anymore that's all nothing more nothing less." Camille snapped a fresh pair of gloves on her hands.

"You said their was some flesh flakes for me Y/N?" You laughed a little, "Yes Dr. Saroyan theirs some skin left behind in between the metatarsal bones and phalanges on the feet, what do you make of the scraping? it's all over the remains." Camille's eyes slightly opened in recognition. She pressed her lips into a thin line, moving to the table the bones rested on, "I'm not sure that's more a... Dr. Brennan question."

"Okay sounds good I'll just wait I suppose." Camille gave you a tight lipped smile as she walked away to examine the skin.

"Put the markers on this and give it to Angela, I have to go talk to Brennan." Hodgins shoved the skull into your hands, the marks were rough to the touch. He shuffled down the stairs towards Dr. Brennan using the pole for support. Probably contaminating it with the gloves he carelessly forgot to remove.

While placing the identifying markers and cleaning the pole with a chlorine based disinfectant spray, Y/N listened in on their hushed conversation. Only hearing bits and pieces. Talk of Zack and the scraping looking familiar but deeper and more rigid. When they walked up to give Angela the skull, the conversation died out and Booth cleared his throat.

"I've placed the markers," Handing the skull to Angela, "-and the remains are ready for you Dr. Brennan."

"Yes lets do that now."

They suspect cannibalism, and you knew they were relating it to Zack.

Dr. sweets was your friend in all of this. Feeling left out of their flow you talked about them together. Growing up in a household with angry spontaneous parents, you read people. You knew what they were feeling and knew what to say to keep peace. Growing up in the foster system Lance did the same. You two had that in common.

"So the remains are covered in teeth marks, were suspecting cannibalism." Sweets choked on his Miami vice cocktail. He drinks them because he likes Miami vice as a show, but mostly he cant take the flavor of more 'manly' drinks.

"Sorry, here." you hand him a napkin.

"Their all relating it to Zack?" He said gingerly dabbing his mouth.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" He tilts his head to the side scanning the left side of his brain, recalling events.

"I was there when it happened. Even though I barely knew him, It's still the first thing in my mind."

You look down absent mindedly running the rim of your finger around the mouth of your drink resting your cheek on a loose fist. "What's on your mind Y/N?"

"Don't treat me like a patient Dr. Sweets," He gives a lopsided smile and ducks is head down to your slumped eye level. "They asked me to come back tomorrow since I've 'seen so much of the case already."

"Odd?"

"Yes!"

"And you're not happy?"

You sighed while sitting up to see him clearer,

"I'm happy, just tired." Sweets takes a sip of his drink to wet his throat,

"I'll see you tomorrow then-"

"Why"?

"Look whos asking questions now." He raises his eyebrows and gives you childish grin,

"They want me to ask Zack about some things, something sodium or the other. Which is salt so that is odd. I think everyone knows that's salt. Right? Anyone I was thinking someone should come with me but their all so hesitant to face him-"

"Sodium Bicarbonate, baking soda. We found traces if it on the remains- is that in invitation?" You both knew it was, but with sweets you don't need to read in between the lines when you can ask.

"Ill need to talk to Brennan and Booth but yeah, I need a mediator for the science talk."

"I think you could hold your own," You say, finishing off your drink, "but if I have to we should celebrate." they get up to order more drinks.

"Don't pretend like your not excited Y/N"

Case file in hand, you had everything laid out. You had your assumptions and everyone's findings written down systematically. Like how deep the teeth marks on the bones were, and the sodium bicarbonate particulates. As well as the traces of hydrofluoric acid in the left over skin on the toes. Having no clue on who he was besides talk, it was hard to think about how to act appropriately. So Y/N went with the basics. They dressed in blues since the color has calming properties, and parted their hair to the left, which conveys intelligence.

"Don't you look professional. Sweets said opening the door for them.

"I'm going for the nice kindergarten teacher look." Y/N said.

"More like the science teacher in middle school that plays movies every Friday after a shitty test." Perfect.

"Even better." He moves his arm behind their headrest to reverse,

"You nervous?" Completely and utterly, but saying that out loud made it true. Y/N was scared to meet him like one was scared to meet their favorite band. That they won't live up to unrealistic expectations.

"A little, but I'm mostly excited." He glances at you, he knows that's not the whole truth but it goes unspoken. The two of you are left with silence. But not a comfortable silence like usual.

"Don't get too excited he's not that cool." and then it melts away,

"Is someone jealous?"

"Get off your high horse, were here."

"Oh-" he softly grabs your hand and you flinch, "Y/N."

He takes the folder and sets it on the dash taking your other hand,

"are you okay?" He says quietly. You squeeze his hands and nod,

"You tore the folder a little with your nails, I know you're scared but he's harmless." Your eyes meet and he gives you a reassuring nod.

"He killed someone Lance, that's terrifying." He sighs and looks down before cupping his hand and whispering in your ear, "Between you and me, no, no he didn't"

"What-"

"Please state your name and why you're here?" The guard says though the speaker.

"Here to see inmate Zachary Addy, I have an appointment for 12:30?"

Sweets looked at you over his shoulder at you, apologetically.

"You can go through." The gate buzzes and slowly opens.

"We didn't have an appointment until Monday Dr. Sweets-" A voice says lowly through the door. As they walk through, he stops himself and stares at Y/N.

"who's that?" Zack asks tentatively, not bothering to ask you directly. His face was smooth having small patches of hair across his chin an jawline. It was light enough to be unnoticeable. It contrasted with his dark, disheveled hair.

"Their just here to explain the case better than I can Zack."

Zack thought for a moment, fiddling with the thick black gloves that encapsulated his hands.

"That was unnecessary, the file could've been handed over without explanation ." Zack holds his hand out for the folder, still staring at Lance. His eyes were dull and half lidded, emotionless to the situation. Sweets pulled out your chair for you and sat in his own, parallel to Zack. His hands were in cuffs with a chain linked to the table. It didn't calm Y/N's anxiety, he was a genius. Cuffs couldn't hold him if he truly wanted to get out.

The Dr. furrowed his brows in confusion, making connections in his mind. The cuffs, the way Dr. Sweets seemed to be so friendly with you, "You're my replacement."

He finally looked at you, his dull brown eyes swirled with something. Jealousy? Concern?

Y/N met his eye contact willingly, forcing the nervous cringe of their face back. You never show a predator weakness.

"Me an about a dozen other people." They flip open the folder and graze through the papers breaking the heavy eye contact, landing on the sheet that listed main points about the case. Picking out high resolution photos of the bones as well. They wanted to ask all about why Zack was in here. Why he was, how he could do that, what convinced him it was a good idea to cause such grief. Most of all if he really didn't kill that man.

He studied them, like a case of his own. Carefully looking them over, limb by limb, over the buttons on your shirt and the steady rise and fall of your chest. His eyes burnt into them, it was hard to focus.

"Their an intern Zack, we just have some questions and I'll be back tomorrow morning to pick up the file." Sweets was uncomfortable, Y/N handed him the sheets of paper so he could have a little control in the quickly unfolding scene. Lance gave you a small smile in return.

As he laid out each paper, you explained the case like you were on stand at trial. Dr. Addy never looked at the papers being placed on the table, opting to openly stare at Y/N. Wanting to keep their ground, they met his stare only glancing down every few moments to see which paper was next. It was a one sided conversation, and when you were finished he finally looked down at the images systematically placed in front of him.

"Can you work with that, Dr. Addy?" Y/N said, Zack's eyes widened at the professional connotation.

"Yes." Sweets stood up, "Great! Then were done here, Y/N?"

"I guess so." They stood up and ran their hands across the fabric of their top, smoothing out the imposed wrinkles from sitting down. Taking notice of Dr. Addy's brown eyes that followed the movement of their hands.

Zack stood up as well, stretching the chain on his cuffs to its full extent. He was tall. Taller than they thought, probably around 5'11 or 12. Y/N's eyes followed him up to the looming position he had over them. "I'll be seeing you both tomorrow then." His eyes met theirs, the smile paired with his relaxed eyes was unsettling. Involuntarily, Y/N shivered looking away at Lance. Breaking their stance in the unwavering staring contest he just wouldn't let go. Zack turned to Sweets, but never looked at him.

"No, just me Zack." He grabbed the folder that held the remainder of the case from your limp grasp, and tossed it on the table. The force made methodically laid out papers clash together. It startled Zack, his chains clamored together cutting through the silence. Lance grabbed your shoulder and pushed you to the door, swiping his card.

"Tomorrow then." Zack said.

Peeking out from behind Sweets, Y/N looked at Zack. The sides of his lips were turned, like he knew something they didn't. It was unsettling and you wanted to delve into his psyche and swim in his thoughts.

"Why won't this damn card work?"

#zack addy #zack addy x reader #bones #x reader

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perksofbeingalittletwat · 10 months

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I love FHSY with my whole heart but what makes me upset about it is I think Brennan over-emphasized the PCs relationships with NPCs in a way that made sense in-game, but didn't make sense from a player perspective. Not even to his fault, just a misstep I don't think any other season has had a chance to really correct.

So there's a couple of layers here, there's the in-universe reality, there's the Dome and the people in the Dome, and there's also the meta-reality of the people in the Dome creating a unified Product or Season together.

So from the top down, Brennan is making sure that the story happens at a fairly regular pace to keep with the number of episodes he's been allotted, pacing things to keep within the time period he gets for each stream, and most importantly for this I think, crafting ways to have cliff hangers at the end of episodes so that people are excited to come back. This is also influenced by the taped season convention of RP-Combat-RP-Combat episodes.

In the middle is the real conditions of the Dome, in which the six players+Brennan are the most obvious people in the room. The PCs have a lot to juggle here, they have to be in character, they are in character solving a mystery, they have to be attentive to how Brennan is crafting episodes and seasons which plays a lot into how they react to things, and they also have to be funny. And to be funny is to be in contact with the people around you especially in an improve setting.

So these two meta-layers are in conflict, the Intrepid Heroes are fulfilling their roles of being in character and being in the room, and Brennan is fulfilling his role of being in the room and being above the game, but in order to do that Brennan CANT play Tracker or Zelda with the level to detail that the IHs do their characters. That's just how the game works. He has to be everyone so in some ways Tracker and Zelda or Sandra Lynn or Gilear don't exist with the same level of durability and reality as the Bad Kids at any given moment.

And so when Gorgug doesn't tell Zelda he's leaving town (because it had been over an hour since Zelda was last mentioned, and because Riz and Fig had disappeared (people who were in the room)) it wasn't because Gorgug the 'person' didn't care about Zelda, it was because Zac the Player had his three other jobs to do.

The same way when Kristen didn't tell Tracker about Sandra Lynn and Garthy (it might have related to the mystery, there were tons of bits during that time, Fabians Bad Day occurs, etc) it wasn't because Kristen hadn't told Tracker, it was cause Ally the Player was busy. Ally even says "Wait was there another reason?!" When Tracker/Brennan asks them why they didn't tell Tracker.

Again it's not anyone's fault it's just a hard game to play, especially as a cohesive media product, especially as a cohesive media COMEDY product, but it also feels so jarring as a viewer to have Tracker and Zelda get pissed by PC inattention but not have Cathilda or Ragh do the same. Or even Adaine, who's name her fellow players can't even remember half the time. It feels like punishing the players for being focused on the mystery and plot being set before them and not the radial emotional consequences.

Its some great teen angst though. Like it works for story beats. I just don't think it was like. Agreed upon as part of the story and so I'm uncomfortable.

#dimension 20 #fantasy high #fhsy #dimension 20 fhsy #brennan lee mulligan #gorgug thistlespring #zelda donovan #kristen applebees #tracker o'shaughnessey

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crunchycrystals · 1 year

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this is such an emotional scene but brennan's wifi is so bad it looks like he's slowly becoming a video game sprite

#this is so funny to me bjdkhjsgfjs like his narration and the music is so like. oh my god #and im feeling really emotional but then i look away from emily and at him and his cameras changing the color of the pixels on his shirt #every time he moves #like an animation someone made using minecraft command blocks #crunchyposts #to be fair emily's wifi is also awful #its just that brennan's fps is Bad and hers is decent #d20 #tuc

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justallihere · 2 months

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AHHHHHHHHH

Before I get into my thoughts(I freaking LOVED this chapter): I hope you find this amusing. I took a post-work nap and was super excited to hopefully wake up to the new update... I then had a very strange dream involving me reading the new chapter but it took a very strange and morbid turn where a lot of people ended up dying in your fic? 💀 I was very confused 😭 bc at some point it wasn't even FW-related anymore, it just had the characters and they were all dying and then i was fighting for my life trying not to die???? I blame the mix of caffeine I had before my nap and my chronic pain. Safe to say i woke up sweating and very confused BUT i grabbed my phone and was very happy to see the notifications for the update.

Moving onto my thoughts (Alli, the way i was LITERALLY screaming throughout the entire chapter) Strap in for a LENGTHY ask. I just love you and this fic so much can you tell my parasocial relationship might be getting out of hand

Xaden woke up and was like "Where is my wife and why isn't she here and in bed with me so I can secretly cuddle and admire her beautiful face and hair 😞", man is whipped

Violet being very grouchy and uncomfortable bc she is in pain and probably didnt sleep well? Honestly so relatable bc i was like, same girlie same. I love how you continue to highlight how Violet deals with chronic pain and how people around her are stunned by how she continues to function (i.e Garrick) It's so realistic and I love it (looking at you RY, some days ppl can't just push through and put it inside a box all the damn time) Xaden is so in tune with her needs, he's frothing at the mouth for the chance to take care of her

“It’s called taking care of you. My sincerest apologies if you’re unfamiliar with the concept.” I FREAKING SCREECHED. The fact that Xaden verbalized this to Violet's face, it just shows how he is already starting to try to re-write the narrative between the two and their relationship

Even though you already gave us the snippet of the divorce convo, I still ate it up, I can't get enough of these two!!!!

Big brother Brennan coming in clutch and telling everyone that she can only stomach fruit so Violet doesn't have to do it herself!!!! wonderful detail and it shows Violet that Brennan cares and remembers. He's trying Violet!!!! But Violet still hasn't forgiven him and I am living for it. Make him suffer girlie

I am so honored that my comment has now contributed to this fic 😭. This will be my Roman Empire for a HOT second. Of course, Xaden was able to deduct that she's good with poisons, its only right 😌. I imagine this is the progression of Garrick's face during this (🤨🤯😧😳) and Brennan has the biggest internal grin 😭 I am a sucker for older siblings being proud of their baby siblings

DON'T PANIC, THE BOOK OF FABLES WAS MENTIONED. WE ARE SO CLOSE TO THE REVEAL!!!!!!! Brennan is stirring the pot whether he knows it or not. I'm cackling manically for the havoc that is about to be unleashed on their poor souls.

Did Xaden want to wring Brennan's neck for talking about the wyvern? Or he is secretly happy that he didn't have to do it himself. I remember there was an ask about how in the contract Tyrrendor wasn't allowed to disclose that information to Violet?

freaking frack... Xaden taking care of Violet will always make me weak. The fact that Violet lets him???? Girlie deserves to be pampered after the absolute shit she has and will go through

“Have you ever considered that I like putting my hands on you?” Xaden asked. -- I would fold so fast, Violet is so strong 🫡. Xaden is so in tune with her nonverbal cues. She doesn't have to say a word and he's ready to be at her service. Man is down BAD for his wife and I am fully supportive of men being absolute simps for their hot wives

the fact that we get the backstory to how Xaden learned to braid and how Sloane MADE him redo it until it was good???? *chefs kiss* Of course Brennan would do Sloane's hair. He needed it as much as Sloane needed someone to do it for her. I am SOBBING. How do you keep making me feel things Alli??? I DON'T DO FEELINGS!!!!!

Deigh feels like a pseudo uncle or older brother to Andarana and I am LIVING for it. Andarana's like "Mom and dad need to bone so I'll make Deigh hang out with me" 😭

Of course, Violet comes up with a new way to implement runes. THATS MY GIRL! You are a genius for thinking that!!! (unless that's canon then please ignore me. I think I've reached a point where fanfics almost become canon for FW and I can't differentiate them rn)

"Disappointment washed over him, entirely illogical; he liked the sight of her wearing something that belonged to him." You poor soul Xaden. Its only downhill from here. Emotions are never logical smh

"For that alone, Xaden didn’t complain when he took the gloves, and Liam just grinned like he knew it." I bet Xaden would murder her brother if he wasn't important if it would ensure her laugh and smile like that

geez. if you read through all of this and still answer me, thank you 🖤🖤🖤🖤 (I'm re-reading this and realized I actually wrote an essay....) I hope you can rest up this weekend and take it easy!!!!

I also took a bomb nap before posting this chapter yesterday, I love that we were on the same page about it 🫶🏻 (also it’s not parasocial if it’s reciprocated, we’re besties now)

So many beautiful thoughts here thank you!!!!! Xaden is a simp and he and Brennan are NOT prepared for Violet to find out secrets and start demanding answers from them. They should be more scared than they are

I like to let Garrick learn some new scary fun fact about Violet every so often, it keeps him humble. He deserves to be scared of this woman half his size (and as soon as he figures out that keeping her happy means Xaden will do anything, he’ll take so much advantage of it. So will Mira when she starts spending more time with them).

Deigh has been roped into this strange little family and he’s like “okay this is fine I guess” because he respects Tairn and Sgaeyl and also likes Andarna but is a little scared of her at the same time

Honestly the runes in the book confuse the fuck out of me, I tried my best, I don’t think it’s canon but Violet strikes me as the type to have all these extravagant ideas about how to use them except she’s not good enough with them yet to do it herself so she asks Xaden who will do literally anything for her

#storm in the quiet

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blysse-and-blunder · 3 months

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in lieu of a commonplace book

saturday, jan 27, 2024

*brennan lee mulligan voice* heeeeeeeelllllllllllllloooooooOOOOOOOOO one and all and welcome back for another thrilling episode of...whatever this is. thank you for being here.

It's 2024! Say hi, intrepid heroes!

reading recently finished:

-orwell's roses by rebecca solnit (audio) - glad I listened, ultimately very gratifying - history, criticism, extremely lush garden-filled prose and love for growing things - nona the ninth by tamsyn muir - felt so much about [redacted] it made me cry. i can unblock ALL THE TAGS NOW - the blue sword by robin mckinley (audio) - catching up on old school fantasy continues -when the angels left the old country by sacha lamb (audio) - beautiful. not not in conversation with good omens but doing something different.

recently begun: -the ministry of the future by kim stanley robinson - can't decide if it's a scifi novel or a policy brief about ways to combat climate change- reading on my mom's recommendation -babel: an arcane history by r.f.kuang - withholding judgment, but i know you probably want me to hate it and so far i don't, really! to my own surprise -the shadow of the wind by carlos ruiz zafrón (audio) - spooky, post-modern but incredibly good at sounding like it is of the time it depicts. many thoughts on the audio book narrator's accent work, most favorable -one corpse too many by ellis peters. wild that i have only just begun reading the cadfael mysteries

listening last week was about discovering and putting on continuous loop the group trousdale on the recommendation of @m2pixie (!) and other trusted friends; the energy, the harmonies! they fill a girl group void i didn't realize i had, it feels like the best kind of throwback, like old chicks or something, some desperately needed bops. exhibit a: bad blood.

today my daylist introduced me to joy oladokun and i'm so glad it did. love her vibe, love this cover art. had to take a picture of my desk, the visuals were so satisfying.

watching the newest series of netflix's lupin!! so far i'm really, really enjoying where this season has been spending most of its time-- the new characters, the new heists, the new stakes. especially fun to watch with friends where we can all shout about the mrs doubtfire of it all, the betrayals, the misdirection, the 'he can't keep getting away with this!.' the original lupin series will always bring back memories of watching it in early lockdown; i'm glad that there's this now to think about and remember instead.

playing hollow knight hollow knight hollow kniiiiiiight. bought it a few months ago when it was on sale, after hanging out and watching @dimir-charmer stream for us a bit, but playing it yourself is a different game. i'm having a blast. it's becoming a problem. i'm having to be so so good and mature in how much i let myself just get suckered in to a full day spent in my little buggy maze adventures. the temptation to keep going until i've made a meaningful advancement of some kind (today: got the longer nail! last time: beat hornet! saved zote the mighty, got the baldur shell charm, and beat the gruz mother!) is very, very real. have also gotten around this by listening to lots of lo-fi hollow knight beats to relax and study to while being 'productive.'

(found this screenshot online, and holy extra health batman)

making pancakes. lots and lots of weekend pancakes. sent a bunch of mail since new year's, and have some new arts and crafts (charcoal pencils!! those little paper cone blender guys! better paper) to fuck around with next time i want to get ~artistic. watch this space.

working on teaching is so all-consuming. it's great, i love it. the course (maps class! if you see that tag, this is that) is going well, i think! first three lectures down. the students i've gotten to know i really like, the material has yet to get old (see one - do one - teach one is so real. i understand this class now, finally, in a way i don't think i did just being the TA, even after three times). it takes so much longer to just copy-paste-change color and font on slides than it should! i've regularly been getting four-five hours of sleep on monday nights before teaching on tuesdays, but it has meant that i don't have the brain space to be self-conscious while i'm 'on', i just. go. having fun selecting teaching 'fits, having (less) fun handling all the students who joined in the second or third week and need help with catching up, but it's not their fault there was a waiting list and lots of turnover.

(petrus roselli - portolan chart of the mediterranean, 1466)

non-teaching: - student letter of recommendation for dental school (DONE) - conference panel proposal (due 1/31) -submit revised conference paper for that prize (due 1/30) -send draft of grant application to A for her to be able to write a letter of recommendation (due IMMEDIATELY WHY ARE YOU ON TUMBLR) (you have until 2/15 to fix it but she needs the draft!) -chapter 3 edits (lmao) -read for that other course you're meant to be the TA for (oops) - give i. feedback on her thing (tonight) -RAship hours (c'mon these are actually paid work, please do them)

#in lieu of a commonplace book #phone didn’t autocomplete that tag which just proves it’s been a MINUTE #ilcb #weekly roundup #Spotify

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sparxemberflame · 5 months

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Fuckin'... Aabria Iyengar.

I am... In awe. I am delerious. I am chomping at the bit. I just... Fuck!!

So. Past two weeks/episodes Especially. Watching/listening to Burrow's End and Worlds Beyond Number back to back is an Experience. Having 2 seperate shows that contain Brennan Lee Mulligan, Erika Ishii and Aabria, in my ears telling me different stories 2 eps at a time is an absolute blast (shoutout to Lou, Jasper, Isabella, Rashawn, Siobhan and rest of cast and crew on both shows too you're awesome! Not the focus of this little outburst.)

Anyway it's GREAT. Highly recommend both shows and there are parallels I'll get into elsewhere, elsewhen. But.

This is an Aabria Iyengar specifically fucking Stan post.

You have made me feel so many overwhelmingly cool, awesome and intimate emotions and ideas that I can hardly begin to explain them. For some reason the only fucking thing that comes close is this. Silly but sorta deep thing about my favorite snack (shout out to snack gang) a Ferrero Rocher:

Aabria,

Shall I compare thee intricate weaving of characters and narratives to a Ferrero Rocher?

I shall. For this is no poem or any such writing of iambic pentameter. It is at best a floundering simile.

You have a way of creating characters and stories which much like a certain confectionary treat when unwrapped contains such an immense blend of texture and flavor. Each instance containing a wholly unique configuration of features bound together in perfectly imperfect unity. Not wholly smooth round but spherical oozing with points of uniqueness sticking out all over.

But yet if you dig just a bit deeper. There's this. Shell. Not a Barrier as it might first seem. But an Obstacle. A Challenge of sorts. Put there not to deter you but to provoke a moment of reflection. I think of Suvi and her refusal to process or be truly vulnerable in most situations. I think of the intricate power-structures of Last Bast and the Hint of this Wall that something Richer. More interesting, more honest and lovingly crafted lies Just Beneath.

This shell. Which you'll find is litterally Wafer-Thin. Should you ask the right question. Follow the right narrative thread. Bite into it with your teeth.

That curiosity is. Always and forever rewarded. With a richness of flavour and care that feels like a hug, like understanding, like being, at last: Home.

It is easy to get lost in that and yet even in this sea of what I can only call love. You find it. The Core. The hazelnut. A moral. Or a question, or a consequence. Something to once again think about and bite into.

And you realise. Once you've finally reach it that this core. This secret. Was Always Obvious. It was Sprinkled. All atop the very first layer. Litterally poking out. Each and every goddamn feature sticking out. Every chopped up uniquely distinct feature.

Was made up of the same material. Was the Core The Whole Time. Visible to the naked eye. But now having experienced the whole show. The whole treat. It is gone.

But its nourished you. The treat nourishes my body. The way Aabria tells stories nourishes my very soul.

Thinking back on many stories told that core in plain sight is often about Family or Love and the relationships between. Far from an uncommon subject in stories. But something about it. Something about the unique way Aabria does it in not just one but seemingly every story and character she creates. Its fantastic, its familiar and it... I can't describe it any other way than that it fills me with elation, jubilation and a deep sense of belonging and the implications therein drives me absolutely insane.

It's with my hat off, eyes sparkling in adoration and my heart full that I say:

Thank you Aabria Iyengar for telling these stories, for bringing these characters to life. They have changed me and many others forever and have and continue to drive me to create my own stories and campaigns for many years to come.

#Aabria Iyengar #worlds beyond number #burrow's end #dimension 20 #dungeons and dragons #phew that was even longer than I thought it'd be #rant #AND SHE LOOKS SO HOT WHILE DOING IT I CAAAAN'T #no but seriously she's amazing. They all are and FUCK I really gotta make this BATTLEMAP FOR TOMORROW'S SESH #ADHD is hard y'all

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