#my creation being used as a weapon against me by this person as well. it is tiring
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It intrigues me that some of the most interestingly baffling takes I see about characterisations are on Gerald of all people. There seem quite a few takes here that he was irrevocably evil, rotten to the core, cackling manically as he hurt and damaged the being he'd brought into the world with no regard for Shadow's wellbeing, and so on and so forth. And that is barely putting it as graphically as the statements about all the "torture" "Shadow" "faced" on the ARK I have read before.
But to me, Gerald seems so incredibly heavily driven by love instead? He originally did not even want to create the Ultimate Lifeform, as he deemed it something humanity should not muddle with, but his love for Maria and desperation to save her life made him accept this burden. He very explicitly calls Shadow his son, tells him he's made a mistake with accepting Black Doom's help, and worked to ensure humanity had a defence against the Black Arms. He gave Emerl and Shadow a soul like Maria's, so that these weapons of mass destruction would never fight and only use their powers selflessly. In Battle, Rouge could not spell out more to the nose that he was researching ways to bring hope and happiness to people (similarly discussed by Shadow and Maria in SA2), but forced by those in power to use his creations for war instead. When Gerald goes insane, he himself talks about the fright it gave him, that he can only think about revenge. With the added complete lack of indication Shadow was ever mistreated in any way on the ARK, the idea of Gerald as some conniving bastard gleefully causing Shadow suffering (or even just somberly causing him suffering In The Name Of Science) holds no more water at all to me. He is not at all a flawless person, but until the point he learned he lost Maria, all his concerns were centered around the happiness of the world instead. And personally, I find the idea of a person driven by love to go insane because that love caused him to lose his most important person, which only then makes him hurt his other creation he earlier regarded as a son, a lot more interesting than someone who simply always was evil and disdainful of said creation and just regarded him as a tool to help someone else. Shadow was more to Gerald that just that, of that I am certain.
I'm very glad I did not encounter a single instance of what you saw :) but I don't doubt that some fans really headcanon Gerald as being cruel. After all, apparently some are going around painting Sonic & co. as monsters for not playing therapist for Neo Metal Sonic...
It makes sense. If a fan really wants to imagine that Shadow suffered like hell on the ARK, it goes without saying that in this interpretation Gerald was a bastard who didn't care about his creation.
Anyway, it is inconceivable to me to play SA2 or ShTH (not even including Battle as at this point I think only 5% of the current fandom even remembers it) and come away with the conclusion that Gerald didn't adore Maria and Shadow. But, well. I may have answered my own question :P
@skaruresonic did you see anything resembling this?
#sonic the hedgehog#gerald robotnik#villains motivated by love my beloved#and gerald being scared of his own insanity hurts#anyway i'm glad i never look into the sonic tag <3#i actually tried now... mostly it's geraldoom lol#but yeah there are posts about shadow's angst and 'ark trauma' and how gerald didn't allow maria to call shadow 'brother'#okay
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Outside The Office Part Twenty Two
Hi All,
SO GLAD I got so many comments and likes on the last chapter- I hope y'all enjoy it! Trigger warning for body image issues and disordered ideas of what is healthy.
As always, please feel free to drop a comment, a DM or an ask if you have a situation you want Val and Reader to explore together- from shopping to sex, nothing is off limits!
Enjoy!
An hour to the dot later, Lucifer appeared in the living room. Val had left me behind as soon as breakfast was eaten with a kiss and a promise to make good on his words. As soon as he left I changed into the required attire and let myself lounge on the couch and scroll aimlessly through sinstergram while I waited.
“Well, I see you look ready,” Lucifer said drily as his eyes raked over me.
I looked up at him from where I laid on the couch. Dressed in black leggings, a tank top and sneakers I assumed my relaxed position was what he was referring to. I rolled to the side and walked towards him as I tucked my phone in my pocket.
“Ready when you are. Where are we going anyway?” I asked as he opened a portal. “Soul collecting?”
“No. And don’t call it that. We don’t collect souls, we contract souls.” He paused but shook his head, “I mean, we technically collect them but don’t call it that. I don’t like it.”
I stared at him. Even for Lucifer, that comment was weird. “Alright then, where are we going?”
“To see exactly where your military skills lie- and where you need to improve,” he answered.
His gaze fell to my wrist, and then to my collarbone. Wordlessly, he brushed his finger against both.
The bruising and pain vanished instantly.
“It’s only temporary. Won’t last more than a few hours, but at least I can get an assessment of your full, uninjured body, ” he said easily. “Word on the street is that you were one of the most ferocious angels to ever see combat.”
I didn’t answer. Extermination wasn’t something I participated in, but battling demons who encroached on our territory? That was something I did in my younger years. Mercilessly, and without thought- just as my father had taught me. But the hours I used to spend training were now spent doing much less physical tasks- modeling for Velvette, reading contacts or doing office work for Vox, and of course, studio time with Valentino. I may have been continuing to work out for a few hours a day out of habit, but I was nowhere near where I used to be.
I stepped through the portal behind Lucifer and looked around. The room was large, with mats shoved against one side and an assortment of weapons on the far wall. I eyed them. Crossbow. Sword. Gun. All things I could easily handle.
Lucifer gave me a look. “Don’t even think about it. Today is an assessment of your physical skills and fitness. Not how well you can aim a gun. That comes later, I promise. Follow me.”
I followed him through the door in the back and stepped into another room, this one fully matted, lit only by electric blue light.
“This is my own personal creation,” Lucifer said proudly. “Over the course of the next few minutes you’ll be surrounded by enemies that feel as real as you and I are. But that’s the kicker- they’re not! That being said, every punch, every kick, every action you give or take will feel real, though at the end that pain will vanish. I strongly suggest you fight as though your life depends on it- the longer you last, the stronger the enemies. And again, I promise you no actual harm will come to you. Go stand in the center of the room.”
I did as I was told and looked around at the matted walls. A sense of unease washed over me as they flickered that same electric blue.
“I’m going to stand in this corner right and send enemies your way. Fight like you would any other battle. I’ll call time when you’re officially dead.” Lucifer said.
Faceless black figures filled the room. I allowed my instincts to take over. The first punch hit me in the gut thirty seconds in and I doubled over as pain shot through me. Fuck, he wasn’t kidding when he said they felt real. It was like fighting my own father, or one of the other top angels. Behind me, I felt hands grab my hair. I reached behind and yanked the shadowy being flipping it on its back as hard as I could. It vanished.
“Kill one.” a robotic voice rang out.
Lucifer clapped his hands together. “Excellent job dear, keep going.”
I dodged the next, and fought as hard as I could until a searing pain shot through my chest. I gasped and dropped to the floor.
“Time till death. Two minutes and forty seven seconds.” the voice rang out.
“Oh reader, that was sorely disappointing. You’re going to have to do better than that, “ Lucifer tisked.
Bright white lights flooded the room and he strode over to where I lay. The pain vanished but I still struggled to catch my breath, my muscles sore from the exertion. Lucifer extended his hand and helped me to my feet.
“That was…less than impressive, my dear.” he reiterated with a shake of his head. He pressed his finger against the pulse point on my neck and looked at his watch. “I would toss you back out again, but a muscle tear would only further delay us. And judging by how slowly your heart rate is going down, I would strongly suggest conditioning yourself over the next two weeks. We can reassess then. I’d like to teach you how to utilize the power you hold, but I’m afraid we can’t do that quite yet. You’re just not physically ready.”
I must have looked dejected because he gently ruffled my hair. “Enough of that. Just because you toss inebriated demons through a wall, doesn’t mean your stamina is the same as it used to be. Follow me, I want you to see one of my staff doctors before I send you back home. Make sure you’re physically unharmed.”
The familiar portal opened and I followed him without protest, my mind reeling with both anger and disappointment at myself. I knew how to fight, I was strong, respected, and feared. Or at least, I used to be.
I stepped into what looked like a hospital room. Lucifer flung himself into one of the chairs and pulled out his phone. As the doctor performed his physical, he glanced up every now and then but quickly went back to typing.When I was told I was cleared of all major health issues, Lucifer stood up and tucked his phone into his jacket pocket.
“Alright then, let’s get you home, shall we? Again, condition- hard- for the next two weeks. We’ll repeat the same process again then, hopefully with better results.”
I followed him back through the portal, a dark cloud of shame hanging over my head. As I stepped into the apartment I was hit with the smell of vanilla cake. Velvette sat on the couch, salad in one hand and phone in the other. At least four stacks of pancakes covered the coffee table, accompanied by what looked like banana bread and cookies.
“Glad you’re here. Vox is in a tizzy.” Velvette grumbled without looking up.
“What’s his problem?” I asked as I surveyed the scene. I could see Vox whisking something in a bowl. Cookie dough maybe, or brownie batter.
“My problem?! My problem is that fucker has made his way back to hell and now I have a fucking issue!” Vox hollered from the kitchen.
Velvette rolled her eyes. Lucifer looked amused.
“Who….exactly is that fucker?” I asked.
“Alastor.” Velevette and Lucifer answered in unison.
“Radio demon.” Velvette explained as she stood up, her bowl empty. “They used to be friends until…”
“Until shit hit the fan. But we have bigger issues that I know were caused by him. Like the angels that killed your father and half of the angelic military have been spotted swooping through our fucking skies. And is it really that much of a stretch to notice that Alastor shows up at the same time? I think the fuck not.” Vox shouted over the oven timer. “Where the fuck are the chocolate chips? We can’t be out of them! Velvette! Come take the cake out of the oven before it burns! I need help!”
“In more ways than one,” she muttered as she walked towards the kitchen. “Settle down Vox, I got it.”
His words snapped me to attention. “They’re here? The angels that killed my father? Here in hell?”
“I mean, they were. I made quick work of them this morning, but you- you need to get your shit together Princess. We are running on a timeline here.” Lucifer said in an unhurried voice. “Why do you think I pulled you today? And I’m glad I did- you have work to do.” He studied my body and crossed his arms. “You’re not exactly getting tubby, but those muscles could use some work along with your fitness level.” He checked his watch, and mumbled under his breath. “I gotta go. See you soon, I expect improvement in two weeks' time.”
He vanished and I stared at the place where he stood. First the physical failure, and now he was insulting me? I felt the heat burn in my cheeks. Had I really let myself go that much?
“That was mildly rude.” Velvette said as she strode back to the couch. She flopped down and pulled her phone back out. “Care to elaborate?”
“Not really, I need some time to myself.” I replied as I turned down the hallway to my bedroom.
Vox yelled something and she walked back to the kitchen,her attention effectively diverted. I closed and locked the door behind me. Standing in front of the mirror, stripped myself down to nothing and studied the reflection within. As pretty as my hair and skin were, my body told a different tale. My stomach was definitely softer, my curves more prominent. My face, as clear as my skin was, was definitely rounder, an indication of the fat gained and the muscle lost. My arms, once solid, were less muscular, and my entire frame less defined. The guilt that washed over me with Lucifer flooded me now. I bit back my tears of frustration. They wouldn't solve anything- I needed a plan.
As I dressed for the gym, I thought back on how we trained new recruits- soldiers who did less than I did on a daily basis. By hell’s standards, it would probably be considered cruel. I grabbed a notebook, outlining the plan as I remembered it. Reading it back to myself, even I had to admit it was brutal, that was for sure, but also proven time and time again. Sure, I had done it to newbie soldiers a thousand times before, but never to myself. How bad could it actually be?
Find their breaking point, my father fathers voice echoed in my head. Push them until they pass out, puke or die. And then push them harder the next time. Eventually their body will break and something stronger will take its place.
I quietly slipped out of the apartment and headed down to the gym. To my relief, neither Vox nor Velvette were anywhere to be found. With the exception of several of Velvette’s models, I was alone in the gym. Perfect.
I picked up a garbage can and hesitated. I knew what was to come, and the concern that Valentino would find out and be less than enthusiastic flitted through my mind. I wondered what he would think of the whole process, but quickly decided it was in my best interest to not find out. I set the garbage pail next to the treadmill and I climb on. My wireless earphones synched up to a playlist and I let myself fall into the rhythm of a run. A mile passed. Then two. Then six. The machine didn’t stop and neither did I.
I felt the first twinge of exhaustion around mile ten but pushed on. My chest burned as I tried to keep my breathing regulated and my focus elsewhere. Angels were made for endurance, far beyond that of any human. I wasn’t quite sure where demon stamina came in but as mile thirteen passed I felt my body start to give up. Much like I pushed the new recruits I pushed myself to hit the next ten mile goal.
Blackness. Tripping. I grabbed hold of the machine and hit the emergency stop button, gasping for air. I grabbed the garbage can I had strategically placed and coughed until my stomach was empty. Fuck, this sucked beyond words.
I pulled myself back up and wiped my mouth with a tissue, tossing that in the garbage along with several others. In the back of my mind I could hear my fathers disappointed voice. How I let myself get weak. How absolutely unacceptable my performance was. I sat at the edge of the treadmill and took a sip of water. Much like I had seen in the recruits, the first sip came right back up. I waited a few moments. The second sip stayed down. With that settled, I scribbled down in my notebook how far I had run and how long it had taken me. I took another sip of water and when I was sure that would stay down, I pulled myself back to my feet and headed for the weights.
An hour and a half later I stood under the hot water of the shower, scrubbing every inch of my body. Physically, my muscles ached and I felt nauseous. But mentally? I was prouder of myself than I had been in a long time. My notebook was tucked securely away in my gym bag, not that I honestly thought any of the Vee’s would go looking for it, notice or care. But to be on the safe side, I didn’t need them to know. If I was being honest with myself, I was afraid of what they would have to say. A soft knock on the door pulled me from my thoughts.
“Princessa?” Valentino asked, “can I come in?”
I took a deep breath. His voice reminded me of the next issue to be addressed, one I couldn’t hide. Something would have to be done about the calorie laden pasta dinners we ate more often than not and Valentino had a history of noticing what I did and didn’t eat. Maybe I could just explain to him what happened and tell him I was trying to eat healthier and build muscle. Not bring up the exercise part, but at least I could be transparent in this regard.
“Come on in Val,” I answered as I turned the water off. I heard the door open and shut. I stepped out of the shower and he handed me a towel. His eyes softened as he took in the sight of my body and I felt myself flush. Why didn’t he see the shameful issues that I saw?
“You look exhausted, babydoll,” he observed. His hand pressed against my forehead and ran down my cheek. “Are you feeling alright?”
“Yeah,” I lied as I wrapped my towel around myself. “Just tired. I had a long day.” I filled him in on the events of the day with Lucifer and left out his comment about my body, and the part about the workout after. I watched for his reaction.
His expression remained neutral and he pressed his lips to my forehead and wrapped me in his arms. “Baby, I’m sorry you had such a hard day. How can I help?”
I felt a pang of something I couldn’t identify. Shame? Guilt? I closed my eyes against him. Better to just spit it out.
“Val, will it be an issue for me to stick with salads and chicken, fresh fruit, eggs, that sort of thing? And cut back on the alcohol? At least, while I work on getting my muscle back? I’ll feel better than if I eat pasta and pancakes.” I waited for his reaction, for him to yell at me about wanting to control what I ate.
To my surprise, he didn’t look upset, or even the slightest bit concerned.
“Not at all princessa. It doesn’t bother me one bit. What you put in your body is your decision as long as you’re healthy about it.” He ran his hand under my chin and tilted my head up to meet his gaze. “You sincerely look tired though. Do you want to stay home tonight?”
I nodded and rested my head against him, relief flooding through me. He wasn’t mad, he wasn’t angry and he would let me eat how I wanted to. I couldn’t ask for more from him.
He kissed the top of my head. “Good. I’ll stay with you, we can have a night in together. Our own little date night,” he grinned and tugged the towel off of my body. “Starting now, yes?”
The soreness from my workout vanished from my mind as he pushed me against the counter and pressed his lips against me. He broke away after a moment and entwined his fingers in mine.
“Come, princessa. I have an idea I think you’ll enjoy.”
#the vees#valentino x wife#valentino x reader#vox x reader#valentino x you#valentino#hazbin fluff#hazbin hotel#the vees x reader#valentino hazbin hotel#voxval#hazbin velvette#hazbin hotel velvette#vox hazbin hotel#hazbin hotel vox#vox#hazbin vox#hazbin hotel valentino#vox the tv demon#valentino x female reader
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Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes - Number 3
Welcome to A Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes! During this month-long event, I’ve been counting down my Top 31 Favorite Fictional Detectives, from movies, television, literature, video games, and more!
We’ve reached the Top 3 of the countdown!
SLEUTH-OF-THE-DAY’S QUOTE: “It is the brain, the little grey cells, on which one must rely.”
Number 3 is…Hercule Poirot.
Earlier in the countdown, I spoke of Agatha Christie – a woman many consider the greatest mystery writer of all time – and one of her two most popular creations, Miss Marple. I mentioned then that another of her characters would appear later in the list. Well, ladies and gentlemen, now is the time: this is Christie’s other most popular character, if not her most popular PERIOD, Hercule Poirot. Poirot is arguably the definitive example of the “Gentleman Detective.” Inspired by Sherlock Holmes and Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin, the character initially started off very much in the Holmesian vein, in terms of personality and methods. Very quickly, however, he began to evolve into something else entirely, and ultimately became a figure who easily rivaled Conan Doyle’s famous creation, stepping out of the shadow of past inspirations to stand on his own.
Hercule Poirot is also an example of the classic “unlikely detective,” much as Miss Marple would be. (Poirot predated her by at least ten years.) However, he is drastically different in many ways. For one thing, there is their core philosophy: Miss Marple is essentially a very cynical character. Underneath her kindly and humble demeanor, she’s a jaded lady who is no longer surprised by horror and death, having seen so much of it. Poirot, however, is sort of a romantic idealist at heart; he believes that good is something to be rewarded, evil something to be punished, and feels that crime is something out of the ordinary. Of all things, it reminds me of the difference between two famous superheroes: Batman and Superman. Batman is someone who feels crime is commonplace and tries to fight against it, while Superman feels people are inherently good and tries to uphold it.
Poirot is a small, rather foppish fellow; obsessively neat and tidy, with a fastidiously-tended moustache, who dresses in the finest of fashions and makes a point of keeping good hygiene prime in his mind. Poirot is indicated to have something like OCD (something later adaptations would latch onto with a passion), being highly meticulous, at times even to a fault, and obsessing over making sure everything in his life is neatly arranged and organized. While Sherlock Holmes typically relies on deductive reasoning and physical evidence to solve capers, Poirot is arguably the first proper criminal profiler in literary history: he looks at a scene and determines what doesn’t fit the picture, his obsessive persona quickly finding incongruities, and then tries to figure out the kind of person who would commit these crimes, and why they would do it. He often uses bluff and deception to outwit his opponents; much like Columbo would do many years later, his demeanor is sometimes his greatest weapon, as folks rarely feel threatened by this rather stuffy Belgian with an egg-shaped head, and thus underestimate him entirely.
The behind-the-scenes relationship Christie had with Poirot was stormy, to say the least. Even as the character evolved, and his popularity swelled, Christie grew increasingly dissatisfied with her own creation. She was once quoted as saying she had come to see Poirot as an “egocentric little creep,” and that she only continued writing for him because he was popular with the readers. Much like Conan Doyle had tried to do in the past with Holmes, Christie eventually decided to kill off her character…but unlike Conan Doyle, she actually succeeded in keeping him dead! The final novel, “Curtains,” was highly received, and Poirot’s literary death so rocked the world, the New York Times even published an obituary: to date the first and only time the prestigious news agency did so for a fictional character.
Of course, this was not the end for Hercule Poirot. By the time Christie killed him off, he was already a well-known and adapted character, appearing on radio played by Orson Welles, and on film in what many argue is one of the greatest mystery movies ever made: the 1974 adaptation of “Murder on the Orient Express.” There he was played by Albert Finney. Later actors to portray the character have included Peter Ustinov, Ian Holm, Alfred Molina, Jason Alexander, John Malkovich (who was AWFUL in the role, for the record), and, most recently, Kenneth Branagh. The character was also one of the titular co-stars of the anime “Agatha Christie’s Great Detectives Poirot & Marple,” which I spoke of earlier in the countdown.
By far the most successful onscreen portrayal of the character, and the one most people (myself included) consider the definitive take on the Belgian gentleman detective, is David Suchet (pictured here). His was the star of a very long-running TV series simply titled “Poirot.” The series initially started out as a straightforward adaptation of all of Christie’s Poirot stories, but – as time went on – it began to take more liberties with the source material, and added a few new dimensions to the detective by emphasizing elements of his personality that Christie had only briefly brushed the surface of in her work. Whether you love Suchet, the books, or any of the other great interpretations of Poirot most, it’s clear that “the little grey cells” continue to serve this fellow well.
Tomorrow, we’ll feature our penultimate gumshoe, with Number 2!
CLUE: “I Am Vengeance.”
#list#countdown#best#favorites#top 31 fictional detectives#gathering of the greatest gumshoes#number 3#hercule poirot#poirot#agatha christie#mystery#murder mystery#literature#tv#television#film#movies#radio#david suchet
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Okay El, requests are up and running again.
Doc, with Dragon sickness (yes, lotr incoming because I know you love it), who is not happy because he feels threatened in his perimeter, other hermits wanting to take his diamonds and other precious materials.
But Doc adores the reader, trusts them wholly (like Thorin and Bilbo almost, only with romance) and doesn't see the readers betrayal coming
Angst ensues.
:D
I started writing the moment I saw this (totally didn't forget to queue, who would think that?). Nix, you know me all too well! Can I just say how sweet it is that whenever I open my inbox formally again, you’re always first there? It’s so kind of you ♥️
I also can't help but feel like this goes so well with the fact that Doc has been running out of diamonds lately XD
This took a bit of a darker turn then I had planned, so it might be a bit triggering in some ways?
POSSIBLE TRIGGERS: Violence, angst, addiction/obsession (if you want to count dragon sickness as that).
Anyway, lots of love, and enjoy!
Breathe in. Breathe out.
He was shrouded in darkness.
Doc leant back against the pile of shulkers behind him, each of them so filled to the brim that even with all his weight against them, they did not move an inch. It was a rare occurrence–that it was night on the Hermitcraft server. What were they trying to hide? What were they trying to take? Doc pressed his flask against his lips, downing another night vision potion. His world grew bright again.
No one would make it in under his watch. No one except you.
In a server full of people, you never know who might turn around and stab you in the back, who will take what is yours, who will shatter your pride mercilessly. Or, in some cases, will break into your stock exchange and destroy your bush. But at least among all the chaos, Doc had you.
Y/n. His Y/n. You were the person he could turn to, the person he could trust.
He tossed a diamond up into the air. It seemed to hang there for an eternity before falling back down, landing in his hand silently. Its crystalline surface was enchanting, distorting his face as he stared longingly at it. How had he only a few months prior agreed to letting people take them from him as they willed? How had he been so foolish as to build them up as a pillar for the server to see? Why was he using them as scaffolding in all his redstone, when anyone could come take or break his two greatest treasures?
But you were a beacon of light and justice for him. He knew he could trust in you to never take anything. He knew you would fight by his side if someone harmed him. He’d do anything to keep you safe from harm.
_. The sound of a pickaxe breaking through tuff met Doc’s ears; a distant sound, but all the days he’d spent gazing down at his creation or silently scheming his plans, had resulted in his hearing becoming better tuned, enough to almost match that of Ren’s.
Doc grabbed his sword, and leaping off his platform he soared against the wind in the direction of the sound. A small figure, with their wings tucked tightly behind them. They tore another chunk of the stone from the patch, dropping it quickly into their shulker. Grian. Doc raised his sword above his shoulder, his line of sight ensnared on the avian he was rapidly approaching. He spied the familiar glint of diamonds in Grian’s shulker box, despite the entirety of the Perimeter being coated in a layer of shadow.
‘You’ve done it now, bird boy.’
Doc swung his sword, blade ringing as it struck against Grian’s side. The avian let out a cry, stumbling to turn and try to locate his foe. He fumbled, trying to find his weapon–bow, sword, axe… anything–, while his non-dominant hand wrapped around his body to try and prevent more open bleeding.
‘Doc, what are you doing?’ he yelled at the looming figure sprinting towards him, weapon in tow. ‘I was just getting some tuff for my ba–.’
‘Don’t play games with me,’ Doc growled, adjusting the height of his sword to match the level of Grian’s neck. Their blades met with a resounding crash. ‘I know you’re trying to take my diamonds.’
‘Diamonds? I- Doc, you took them all when you first dug the place out! There’s nothing for me to take!’
‘I know you’re taking from me! Don’t lie!’ Doc swung his sword in the opposite direction, coming full circle to rest right on Grian’s shoulder, rubbing dangerously against his neck. ‘I swear that if I ever see you in my Perimeter again you can kiss the light of day goodbye.’
Doc heard the sound of elytra cutting through the wind, speeding towards him. He would have spun around, but the way the rockets were being fired, the way the person’s angle was adjusting, he could tell exactly who it was. He knew it was you.’
‘Stop!’ you yelled, coming to a halt a few metres behind Doc. ‘I heard yelling–what is going on here?’ Your eyes darted back and forth between Grian and Doc, the open shulker and the pickaxe lying abandoned by Grian’s feet. ‘Doc, leave him. Let him go.’
Your words cut into him like a knife. Could you not see that this was not your fight? Could you not see that Doc was only acting justly? Reclaiming what was rightfully his?
‘Are you not on my side? He’s a thief, Y/n. Let him pay back what he has stolen from me. Let him pay with blood.’
Your grip on your sword tightened. ‘You’ve gone mad, Doc. Mad!’ You charged towards him, albeit hesitantly. Doc thrust Grian back, and the avian did not hesitate to fly a good distance away to spectate. Doc turned and stared into your eyes, not bothering to block your strike; from his chest, darkness began to seep. He raised his blade once more.
You were worth so much to him, but who said that meant he couldn’t love diamonds more?
‘I have been blind,’ he snarled, ‘but now I begin to see.’ His voice dropped an octave, if that was somehow possible, but even acknowledging that his voice was not the same. It rumbled from somewhere deep in his chest, and seemed filled with darkness and anger. It wasn’t the voice of Doc, your friend, your love, but that of a stranger. He used the corner of his coat to swipe away a portion of the blood, leaving the wound exposed. You would never be able to say you did not regret it. ‘I see that true friends are harder to come by than I foolishly thought.’ He raised his weapon, aiming its tip at your chest. He glared at you from under his eyes, though now they seemed almost nonexistent; instead, they were dark voids that felt like they would never leave you, sullen like his other angular features; his robotic eye was hypnotising–the only proper light source to be seen. ‘You’re just like the rest of them. I will not part with a single coin. Not one piece of it.’
Breathe in. Breathe out.
The sounds of his dragon’s wings flapping as it circled around the flagpole was the last thing you heard before his sword plunged into your chest.
Unlike you, he would not live to regret it.
#nix melleth nin#my writing#docm77 x reader#doc x reader#hc x reader#x reader#fanfic#fanfiction#hermitcraft x reader#mcyt x reader#angst#tw angst#angst tw#violence tw#tw violence#i feel like this is the longest request i've ever written? this isn't a whole lot but usually i post short things#requests
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Lord Indra, the natural hero who never was
or why Sasuke and Madara always shine despite the whole plot in their disadvantages.
Hero : a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability. b : an illustrious warrior. c : a person admired for achievements and noble qualities. d : one who shows great courage.
Going out of my MGA writing retreat cave for a sec and share with you some of my researches...I don't have great knowledges of vedic texts and Indian culture but to what I read so far (correct me if I'm wrong) Indra is the King of the devas and Heaven. In similar fashion, Zeus king of other gods in Greek mythology. Indra controls storm, rain, and uses thunderbolt as one of his most deadly weapon. He is both the archetype of the mighty warrior, the slayer of great evil (asuras) and also the life-giver. Because you know, rain fertilises earth (if you get the metaphor 💦... 👀). One of his most famous story is how he destroys Vritra the monstrous snake/dragon, also called an asura, who was responsible for holding back waters and created drought. And by doing this, Indra slain the archaic forces blocking the creation of new lives.
As a Naruto fan, I get now the inspiration for Otsutsuki Indra. Sasuke's preference for raiton and kirin, Madara as a god of war and user of storm release, the symbol behind Sasuke killing Oroshimaru in his white snake shape, susanoo although a japanese god is still god of storm killing an other massive snake...
It's kind of funny because Indra is, based on the Vedas tradition, the allegory of the perfect hero. He comes alone, strong-willed, powerful, and slays any obstacles to the natural cycle of life, and by doing so he saves humanity from chaos. And it's precisely what is despise in the Narutoverse about the characters assimilated to him, namely Uchiha clan and Indra Otsutsuki. Indra opposing his unfair father is bad. The Uchiha clan defending themselves against oppression is devilish, Sasuke seeking revenge is detestable, Madara looking for a world purged of evil is absolutely hideous.
There is as well many shinto inspirations but I'm mostly reading here the story in a Vedic perceptive and you'll notice something else about the asura's. It's not a single god but a group of demons always confronting the devas. They are seen in a negative light, the anti-gods, the power-seekers ect... And it kind of makes sense with Naruto who can't progress on his own. He needs to be constantly help and surrounded by people. He is also notoriously possessed by a powerful demon who manifest himself in the beginning of the story when Naruto is corned to anger. Notice also that the only way to control this demonic force is either the sharingan assimilated to shinto spiritual strength or Mokuton from the Senju being assimilated with Buddhism spiritual strength.
So now you get where I'm going... isn't weird that mostly Narutoverse is respecting mythologies and adapt them to its own storyline. For instance the sannin legend, Kaguyahime story. But for Indra and Asura it's a total reverse of values. Intentionally, the good is bad and the bad is good.
Yeah but the plot Al Hekima, don't forget the plot ! I know, I know... If your main character is a boy possessed by a demon, befriends with 9 others demons and it's apparently normal, it will end up this way.
Maybe I'm not objective after all but even before going deeper into analysing the Narutoverse, Indra and the Uchiha clan being seen as cursed and evil by nature, the people who went astray and needed to be beaten into submission, always left me unsettled. Literally, I couldn't comprehend what was wrong with them which justify so much hate. And in opposite Naruto being possessed by a demon is blatantly black magic. His father is never questioned about doing it to his son, neither Hiruzen to the young Kushina, or Hashirama to his wife (in this case they may have both agree). I know it's just fiction, but art doesn't come out of the blue. It's ingrained in the artist's set of value, cultures, emotion ect... And the author stressed in interviews that he wanted to bring positive value to his younger audience. I'm just questioning sometimes what are actually those values? For the Uchihas the idea was to forgive, to not fall into hate, and move on. But forgive without justice? Putting the pressure of moving on solely on the victim and never put the perpetuator in a difficult position? Never ask any apology or reform from the aggressor? The victim needs to forgive with no assurance that it won't happened again. Believe it, right? and eventually the victim needs to help the system who harmed him to keep going... Anyway I'm rambling at this point but that's always my major philosophical disagreement with Kishimoto.
#Sharing with you some of my researches while writing my fic#madara golden age#it was suppose to be a short post but apparently I can't do that lol#and also those researchs explain why it's so easy to rewrite Madara/Sasuke as heroes because they ARE#Madara#Sasuke#Indra#Asura#Indra in vedic texts#Naruto#Sasuke's popularity almost overshining Naruto is logic#Even Naruto is obsessed with the true hero of the story
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The Great Crater of Paldea, Paldean History, and Paradox Pokemon
Hello everyone and welcome to my “I skipped hours of sleep for this post!”
I was watching an analysis video on Porytube by researchers Bird Keeper Toby and researcher Espy Juju (as well as considering @trainer-sean , and it got me thinking. So I did my usual research, which involves re-reading the Scarlet/Violet books, taking peaks at classified Paldean and Area Zero documents, and having to sneak into Area Zero again. This is an analysis of the video, as well as my own personal theories (I'll link the vid at the end!)
The Great Crater of Paldea; Theories & History
Everyone who lives in Paldea, or has heard about these Pokemon, knows about Area Zero. (And that one meme of raiding Area Zero a couple of years ago?)It’s where the Terra-orbs come out of, and are from the large Terra crystals growing inside of them.
The book itself states that Area Zero has been around for millions of years, but that was mostly a guess by Heath and didn’t have any scientific evidence to back it up. But, Bird Keeper Toby mentions something really cool, and seems like a factual theory. And, as Prof. Juju states, “[historian at Narjan-Uva academy] states the crater was a million years old. However, this seems to be a guess, or over-exaggeration for flair, or even possibly a lie to hide something bigger.” I can honestly believe the lie part, but I’ve talked to her a couple of times, and she seems like the kind of person to want to get the real truth, no matter what. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Paldean government or top professors were hiding something, and were lying to the public. But, Professor Toby has a very good theory on what happened.
Toby mentions the war across multiple regions that happened 3,000 years ago, saying it connects to the creation of Area Zero. This isn’t too hard to believe, as the war's ripple effects seem to have greatly affected plenty of regions. Meteorites began falling down from the Hoenn region at this point, and he says this was caused by AZ’s war against his brother in Kalos 3,000 years ago. This was one of the most dangerous wars in world history, with plenty of kingdoms around the world collapsing, and having great dangerous changes to the world happen. When his Floette passed away, the power of Xernas and Yveltal created an ultimate and deadly weapon, which was used to bring AZ’s Floette back to life, and the power being shot into the sky came back, and put a complete stop to the war.
It’s hard to say the full history of this. Because of this blast, a lot of ancient artifacts, documents, and even civilizations have been completely wiped out. We can guess what it was like, as there are ruins all over Paldea and legends that have been past on.
This isn’t really connected to Paldean history, but I want to mention that. You know that one fallen tower in Galar that’s located in “Watchtower ruins?” As a lot of Galar history is still a bit foggy, this tower could have been destroyed by that war. If you’re reading this @legendofzacian , you’re a historian, correct? Do you have any thoughts on this?
Anyways, back on track!
Juju says that the ancient king of Paldea (potentially AZ’s brother), had a partner Pokemon, who was the last Pokemon seen in the Scarlet & Violet book.
Considering this Pokemon (if it’s real) is theorized to be legendary or mythical, it would make sense that such a powerful king would have one. It even has the crown and everything. He suspects that this Pokemon has a relation to Zygarde in some way. One thing I find really cool is Prof. Juju’s note on the name similarities between Az and Area Zero. Area Zero can be shortened to Az, so what if Area Zero was named after AZ?
The ‘meteor’ (or theorized blast of energy) seems to have blasted the region very badly, and set the m far behind advancement-wise, putting them back in something similar to the Stone Age (I find it hard to believe it would put them back in the stone age, as they managed to rebuild their kingdom in only 1,000 years), which would end the war. Hell, he even says the blast could’ve had such a powerful impact that it created a portal/wormhole to a different point in space and time. And this is where the point in history seems to be erased. It’s so hard to pinpoint Paldean history before this because almost everything about it was wiped out. As the people of Paldea were desperate for hope, Area Zero seemed to be calling to them. Whether it was a form of mass hysteria or if it was actually calling to them is unknown. Considering that a potential legendary/mythical Pokemon was known to dwell around that area, I like to believe that it was calling to them, in a way.
So at this point, the empire wasn’t an “empire,” but different sections across Paldea that had their own ways of ruling, customs, cultures, etc. But everyone wanted to see what was happening in Area Zero and to see what possible treasures lie there (and if they could get their potential legendary/mythical Pokemon back). Wars broke out across Paldea, right after the most devastating war in world history happened, which only seemed to destroy development more. But the ones that did manage to make it to Area Zero never ended up returning.
800 years ago, the Paldeans finally realized that in order to get to the heart of the Crater, they would have to unify. So then all of the Paldean territories came together in an event known as “The Great Unification” happened. This is also when Naranja-Uva Academy was built. Originally, at the time, it wasn’t a school. It was just a place where people would store knowledge. But it acted a lot like a school, so they decided to classify it as a school not too long after that.
200 years after that, Heath and his team finally managed to descend into the Great Crater and make it out alive. This is when things get a little weird and hazy about where these Paradox Pokemon come from.
The Expedition and Heath
Compared to other old regions, like Hisui where pokemon are more wild, Paldeans at this point have been living side-by-side with Pokemon for many years at this point, so it wasn’t seen as odd for Heath to have a Cyclizar traveling with him back then.
Heath found many strange Pokemon down there, like the Paradox Pokemon we know today, but also the ones that we aren’t even sure are real in this case. There are Pokemon there that resembles the legendary trio from the Johto region, but that doesn’t match the lore of the Johto legendaries. And they didn’t and couldn’t even exist yet. Toby mentions how that wouldn’t even happen until 50 years later! So, how did they get down there? What are these Pokemon? How did they imagine Pokemon that wouldn’t even exist until a lot later?
And that wasn’t the only strange thing to happen to him as well. He mentions how he woke up in a mysterious place with notes he doesn’t remember writing, and a medal tablet being found that couldn’t have possibly existed back then, as they weren’t advanced enough for that, and the writing about the medal didn’t make any sense.
In the last part of the Scarlet and Violet book, Keith shows a drawing of a place that researchers still haven’t been able to find yet. Bird Keeper Toby states, “I believe that in the secret area of Area Zero, Heath made contact. Not physically with this disc legendary Pokemon that appears on the final page, but instead, he was able to commune with it. He had followed its voice; the voice that had been echoing out through the Great Crater to all the people in Paldea.” So, if Toby’s theory is true, that means that the calling to the people of Paldea wasn’t mass hysteria; it was the legendary Pokemon trying to communicate. Heath was able to get his artist to draw what this Pokemon looked like, and it’s in a weird space (a lot of people say they can see it, but I still can’t see where this Pokemon starts or where it ends ;-;)
As Heath and his team rose to the surface, he expected to be praised for his work! Instead, he was mocked and ridiculed. People decided that it couldn’t be true and had to be fantasy, so magazines picked it up and started talking about it as if it wasn’t true. But these pokemon were still thought of in the minds of the people, and this is where things get a little hazy.
Paradox Pokemon
Paradox Pokemon are Pokemon that come only from Area Zero and are stated to come from the far past or far future.
On my blog, I talk about Paradox Pokemon as if they’re from the ancient past. I mean, that’s what the documents say, and what the top researchers in Paldea say. But hearing the words of @trainer-sean has made me think a little.
One hole I find in Paradox pokemon is that they’re stated to be a billion years old. I disagree with this COMPLETELY. 1 Billion years ago, the planet was completely unrecognizable. The planet was literally just a giant cloud of gas, there weren’t any stars or anything like that, and it was just a completely dark place. These Pokemon being a couple of million years old? sure. But 1 billion? That just can’t be true!
Espy Juju makes another good point. These Pokemon are Bootstrap Paradoxs. They don’t have an origin, or their origin is just “A god in the machine.” And of course, there’s the theory that these Pokemon were the imagination of the professors that research them, combined with the consciousness of the people in Paldea. Prof. Juju theorizes that the Legendary Pokemon sees the wishes and dreams of the Paldean people and creates things to achieve those dreams, which would include making Paradox Pokemon. So if these pokemon were created at anytime, it’s possible that Paldean researchers were able to send them into the past, which would allow Heath to find them, and keep this weird time loop paradox going on forever.
So, why does this Pokemon want these people to enter Area Zero? Well, Toby’s theory states that after it was launched from this reality, it was stuck in a reality outside of our reality. Creating all of these Paradox Pokemon and Terra shards, it leads people to the Great Crater because it’s looking for a way out of its reality. Terrasteralizing and getting more people curious about area zero is their way of doing that. (Toby also notes how the terra shards look a bit like Zygarde, whose connection has already been stated) But using these crowns similar to that of Zygarde and using these crystals is their way of observing our world. The unnatural material that appears on the territorialized pokemon’s head (lightbulbs, temples, boxing gloves) is the Pokemon’s understanding of the world we live in. But we can’t officially note what this pokemon wants. We can only hope for more research and what the future holds.
So this adds A LOT of things here. First off: I’d have to start declassifying the Pokemon Fossils I found as “Paradox Pokemon,” which wouldn’t be too hard. Plus, I can use it to my advantage if this ever comes up in court (I snuck into Are Zero to get these). And they’d just be counted as “Ancient Pokemon.” It’s kind of exciting once you think about it. If we want to know more about the past (I know I should as a researcher, but I can’t bring myself to care about the ‘future’ paradox Pokemon), we can’t look at Paradox Pokemon. We have to look at fossils and artifacts and such.
@trainergraceneedstherapy , we could really use this information to help us study Area Zero more! If what these researchers said about it is true, this means that Area Zero would be like another plane of existence. And what more can we learn about this legendary Pokemon? What other pokemon can we find there? Can we learn about the comet that ended the war? Or just history in general, because we don’t know much about it. This is so exciting!
(Here's the video
youtube
#quill talks#pokemon theory#pokemon theories#pokemon history#area zero survey corps#area zero#the great crater of Paldea#pokemon#pokemon irl#irl pokemon#pokeblogging#pokeblog#rotomblr#pokeblr#rotumblr#pkmn irl#pokemon roleplay#irl pkmn#pokemon researcher#pokemon professor#bird keeper tobey#paradox pokemon#pokemon lore#legendary pokemon#pokemkn sv dlc#pokemon scarlet#pokemon violet#pokemon headcanons#pokemon blog#Youtube
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both my personal blog and my work blog. blanket trigger warning for potential gore, medical distress, drugs, and sex (discussed but not depicted)
keep the parahuman politics to a minimum, im trying to stay as out of that shit as i can
DNI if you are anti-Amy Dallon/Panacea, pro-Cauldron, or a Slaughterhouse Nine fanboy/wannabe
FAQ and commission info under the cut.
FAQ
Q: Wait, so your name is Riley Grace Davis?
A: yes my name is Riley Grace Davis. yes I used to go by Bonesaw. yes I used to be a member of the slaughterhouse nine.
Q: Are you the serial killer that (insert crime against nature here)?
A: probably. i did a lot of those. i dont really REGRET them but i wont do it again i prommy
Q: Are you still a member of the Slaughterhouse Nine?
A: its been 25 years and i legit still get this question like every week. NO!!!!!!! we disbanded when Jack died and I was captured and the apocalypse started. im not involved with any of the copycat killer groups either, they all suck :/
Q: You're a monster, you should be behind bars, you should be dead, you tortured/traumatized/murdered my family/friend/loved one, you were part of the chain of events that started the end of the world, its unthinkable that people like you get to walk free just because you're a parahuman while unpowered people are imprisoned for petty larceny, etc.
A: L+ratio+direct all questions about the amnesty to your local PRT chapter
Q: What's an MDE?
A: medical diploma equivalency, established by the PRT of Earth Bet in 2002 AD. allows Thinker-class capes whose powers give them medical knowledge to obtain licensure to practice medicine without needing to attend medical school. after two decades of pestering the PRT nonstop it was expanded in 24 GM to also include Tinker-class capes with medical specialties in what historians call the "for fucks sake riley shut up, fine" amendment.
Q: What sort of surgeries do you do?
A: i am capable of performing almost any medical intervention, though these days i mostly limit myself to cosmetic body modifications
Q: How do you cope with the unbearable trauma of having had your childhood ripped away from you by a serial killer, your mind filled with unending horrors by a fragment of a cosmic being, and trying to find out who you were and atone for the sins of your past while in the middle of a world-reshaping calamity?
hard drugs, amazing yet potentially unethical and illegal sex with my beautiful perfect wife, and staying silly :3
COMMISSION INFO
i AM open to taking clients currently but i live in New Brockton on Earth Gimel and have heavy travel restrictions as a result of my parole so you'll have to come to me. payment in cash preferred but i also take valuable gemstones or drugs, if they are at equivalent value to the price. (for legal reasons the drug part is a joke.) no cards. or well, no credit/debit. i guess if you gave me a giftcard to somewhere that the food doesnt suck id accept it. unfortunately no insurance plan recognizes me but my rates are very affordable ($50-200 for most standard procedures, up to $400 if unexpected complications arise, esoteric procedure price uncapped and depends on cost of materials, legality, ease of operation, and how interested in the operation i am.)
operations i will do include but are not limited to:
gender-affirming surgeries
therian-affirming surgeries
phantom limb replacement surgery
turning you into your fursona
kemonomimi-fication
tentacle prosthesis
non-lethal flaying
genital enhancement
most body plan restructurings (additional limbs, fewer limbs, wings, organs that you carry in a bag outside your body and are connected to your torso via strange fleshy tubes, etc.)
multi-person conjoinment
hard nos:
creation of any virus, plague, biological weapon, etc.
natural weapons - claws/teeth are okay but no ranged weapons, venom, acid, prehensile bladed spines, etc.
ANY operation on another parahuman - too many chances to accidentally become an accomplice to something
anything capable of reproducing. THIS IS A CONDITION OF MY PAROLE. i am allowed to give functioning reproductive organs but any resulting offspring will be baseline human regardless of the state the parent or parents is in
ANY operation without the consent of ALL parties being operated on. this includes if the party is incapable of giving consent and you are their power of attorney (pets, minors, mentally disabled, intoxicated, etc.)
i reserve the right to refuse any procedure for any non-discriminatory reason or for no stated reason.
if you're still interested let me know and we can work out an appointment. i do not use general anaesthesia so if youre coming over for your surgery i recommend you bring a book or game or something. or we can talk, but for some reason usually people dont want to talk to me while im rearranging their limbs
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Headcanon: the angel who became Crowley.
Crowley, this guy is kind of...well, VERY important. Like, he had a hand in the creation of the world, which is supposed to be God's own feat, and when he became a demon he tempted Eve as a serpent, which is mostly attributed to Satan himself.
What a guy.
I know, a show needs to be dramatic about the characters, but Azi didn't get all the glorious deeds. Crowley did.
It was widely believed that Crowley used to be Raphael, but Neil Gaiman made it clear that was not true in an FAQ. Also, Raphael never fell from heaven. Doesn't make sense he becomes a demon. I know GO is creative about what the characters do or who/what they are, but at least until now, it sticks tightly with the real-world canon (whatever that is) about who is an angel and who is a demon. I personally think either archangel Raphael will show up later in S3, or simply because Azi's name is derived from this one so they avoided it.
Another theory is that he is Gadreel, who, as described in The Book of Enoch, "led Eve astray". Considering Gadreel is also one of the five satans or five lesser satans (satan being a title rather than a specific entity), it sounds promising. The only problem I have with this theory is that he is not that important as an angel. Like, he was not mentioned being an archangel but merely one of the Watchers, and the reason he fell was having sex with human women, which, of course, can be ignored for the purpose of creativity; but still, not a very famous angel.
Essentially, nobody has heard of him. From the perspective of a scriptwriter: if the identity of Angel Crowly is to be revealed, it's better to give him a name more known to the audience than just make him a random dude buried in the mountain of apocalyptic literature.
(If you want to be all nerdy about it, the "led Eve astray" doesn't even make sense, since it was sandwiched between all the other things Gadreel did: teaching humans "all the blows of death" and showing humans all kinds of weapons and war stuff, etc. By its contextual logic, if "led Eve astray" shows up as the first deed/crime of his, then it is likely to refer to the temptation in Eden; but in its current context, it sounds to me like he taught Eve something about killing or death or something to that nature.)
Anyway, I don't think Gadreel is the answer. Of course, I am not against this interpretation--I'm not against any headcanon and/or ideas about his identity; I just personally don't find it satisfying.
For me, the question is as simple as "Who has appeared in various texts and lore as both an archangel and has fallen to become an archdemon?" (Other than Lucifer/Satan himself.)
The first one that came to my mind? Samael.
And yes, in some lore he assumed the form of the snake and tempted Adam and Even--it was also he planted the Tree of Knowledge before his fall, which sounds close enough to say he participated in the creation of the world itself.
Sometimes Samael is identified as Satan, or at least largely functions as Satan, the accuser, the adversary. He leads the fallen angels, goes about to attempt humans, and creates demon children with Lilith.
On the other hand, in a lot of ancient literature, he is depicted as an archangel who rules over a significant portion of God's realms, sometimes even one of the Seven Archangels of God. Even nowadays you can still find Archangel Samiel (a variation of his name) shown in a few churches.
The significant role Samael plays as both a demon and an angel, as well as his duality presented in various traditions and literature, convinces me that he could be a good candidate for Crowley's hidden identity. Of course, Samael's fame as the "angel of death" doesn't fit Crowley, but, well, it's GO we are talking about. Gotta take some liberty.
I wish there was a fallen angel with a proper angel name--all the fallen angels have names that appear to be against God, indicating that their names might have been changed after the fall. It's really hard to find one. But I think Samael can pass this one: his name means "venom of God", kind of indicating he is not really a bad guy but just serving God in his own way, which is believed true in some traditions. (And, in the book of Job, Satan is not an enemy but the accuser who got God's permission. In GO it was Crowley who messed with Job--he is essentially doing all the Satan things.) Also, since even the churches are alright with archangel Samiel, I don't have anything to complain.
Btw, Gadreel passes this one too. His name means "wall of God", even better.
I also like the idea to use some characters like Raphael, an archangel who's never fallen, to emphasize his glorious past and to avoid a hidden demon identity (which is tricky but can be explained as he got beef with Hell and didn't want to be seen as the prominent demon anymore so he just uses an alias). I just have a hard time finding a fitting character like that and somehow Raphael doesn't feel right (also rejected by Gaiman himself, but that's only secondary).
Samael is the closest I can get. I am curious to see his angelic identity revealed in S3, if it's ever going to be.
PS: I was wondering why they didn't give Azi a typical angel name, something ends with "el", meaning God. I thought it was indicating that he is not within the high-rank angels or he is going to fall or something in S3, but in the FAQ it seems...that's just a random decision? Well, I know I'm always looking into these things too seriously lol
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jackie p1
right. Cant focus enough to draw so I thought I’d type.!
context: wheeljacks dynamic in my humanformer cyberpunk au. lol
wheeljack in my art goes by Jackie. 40’s. ex corporate engineer.
grew up street kid vibes, rough neighbourhood but very much alive and a thriving community in its own chaotic way, jackie is a swell lady!! well loved! u know sometimes theres just people that make u feel safe, despite jackies enigmatic personality and lack of self-preservation skills. she just gives off such a good vibe. im going for the kinda goofy endearing but well intentioned g1 inventor vibes, not the cowboy samurai typa scene for this wj! :D
like i wouldnt trust wheeljack to look after my dog (wheeljack WOULD get distracted and forget there is an animal in the house. it would eat some of whatever wheeljack is slinging around the workshop during her hairbrained schemes and explode or some shit) but i would trust her with my life. lover and a fighter <3 i got derailed but you get me. i trust her
early 20’s she was an Extremely talented inventor working and selling her tech on the streets (doing very well thank you very much!!!!). she was contacted and rather forcefully hired by a massive company (think militech level tech/weapon production that clocked her potential and snapped her up). wj is blinded by the opportunity. she doesnt consider the damage her inventions could/will cause when genuinely put to the test. too busy with the incredible tech and potential she has access to now, testing the boundaries of her abilities to having to come face to face with the fact her weaponry is being used to commit atrocities (leaving this open ended for if i decide to merge it with another storyline)
but the grief and realisation of the consequences of her creations wears on her immensely and she wants out. jackie learns very quickly that her Employers are Not Keen on letting her quit. (while playing cyberpunk i remember reading a random bit of a journal where someone mentioned something along the lines of companies essentially kidnapping employees from each other constantly, inspired this bit of storyline, though i have no specifics for the company right now, could be interesting to tie into a company owned by another character? who... shockwave? hm... OHHHH. HMMMM. PUT A PIN IN THAT @ ME)
going to leave this area open ended to again allow other storylines to tie in with how she escapes that situation, but she goes nomad for a time. has to stay on the move for a long while, gets VERY good at keeping herself out of corporate reach. gets a much more low-key workshop, settles down. she is terrified her friends wont welcome her back after her own weaponry was actively used against them. but jackie is well loved! though she is full of guilt, and dedicates her time into developing tech/cyberware that assists people who were damaged by her inventions with their injuries/disabilities. .
would u like to know more on how grimlock ties into her storyline (grimlock is her beautiful gigantic tank of an adopted daughter. post settling down <3)
#text#not art#what do u think of posts like this? let me know :D <3#THE SCAR IS ON THE WRONG SIDE CONSTANTLY BECAUSE I FLIP IMAGES AND FORGET SORRY LOL#long post
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Could please do light yagami x reader where light has to kill the reader because he is afraid that he will loose his death note (reference to sayu kidnapping scene)
" shh shh its ok y/n " His voice franic only matching his eyes as they darted around the screen " just —just breathe for me "
you following his commands looking around the foreign room " thats it thats it in and out “ he swallowed while looking at you through the camera “ you know I’d never hurt you “
The loud silence overpowering as you hung on every one of his words “ well willingly “ he let out cooing you softly as you cried.
Right now through the camera all he could see was your body being held captive inside a box. Someone had taken you ? Maybe L ?
He didn’t know but when he picked up the FaceTime call to see you crying and begging for him to come save you well… that only set him aflame knowing he only had one thing he could use to save himself and now it was being used against him.
Who cared about you when he may go down too ? You were the one stupid enough to get caught
“ y/n baby you know I love you right “
You nodded your head trying to pinpoint where his voice was suddenly coming from. For some reason it was pouring out from all around the room did they have speakers set up in here ? And holy hell how many cameras are there?
“ y/n ~ “ he sung softly trying to get you to answer him “ I won’t save you if I don’t know if you’re still on my side or not in this war against humanity “
“ I— am I — light I do —I love you — I’ll always stand beside you “
“ yeah ? “ he smiled “ that’s really nice — really really nice because I need you to do something for me my love “
“ anythin— “
“ I need you to give up “ your heart stopped at his words what did he mean give up “ I need you to give me permission to continue on without you “
Huh ? He wanted to leave you ? He wanted to leave you behind ? You laughed a little at these words he had to be lying as much as you’d done together in a fit to save the world from assholes he wanted you to just die like this ?
“ light — “ you spoke softly making him turn up the volume “ you ? You want me to give up on all the work we’ve done so far “
He let out a small ‘ mhmm ‘ and moved to sit back in his chair as he spun himself around “ don’t make it sound like I’m making you“ he shook his head a small tsk leaving his lips “ no no no — I’m asking you to see how your death could be more beneficial to our success then if you were to live “
Your head was pounding trying to understand him but, you knew in due time he would make you understand if it was one thing about light yagami it was that his words were beyond the power of knowledge “ I see you fail to understand yet again another one of my beautiful power plays y/n “
“ I do please— enlighten me to how me dying can help society if I’m not a bad person like we usually kill— “ you shook your head in misunderstanding “ is that not ? “ you swallowed “ is that not the exact opposite of your goal ?to kill the sinners and leave the good “
“ hmm “ he stopped spinning to think “ I quite think the opposite you see “ he moved to stand from his chair as he kept the phone placed in his hand to where he could watch your movements. He knew whoever was behind this was probably just as confused as you. This only made him smirk more.
Intelligence really is a weapon when given to the wrong person
“ y/n from the beginning you’ve been nothing but devoted to my cause— since the day I showed you— brought you the savior to our creation you’ve been nothing but enraptured by it “
Your body shook at his words well yeah … it was something that fascinated you… well In the beginning you did find a problem with it seeing a random black looking monster hovering in the corner of his room randomly can do that to a person.
But was that so wrong ? To feel fascinated with his cause and reasoning “ you’ve done more damage then I have honestly “ he scoffed “ you’ve decided who to kill— you’ve decided how to kill — you’ve decided when to use the book “
He laughed “ if anything I’d say the person behind this kidnapping Is only doing the right thing in obtaining who they need to stop this ‘ kira’ person “
“ light wha— “
“ tell me y/n did you not play a major part in the destruction of our hierarchy? “ he shook his head “ the cause of our demise as a society y/n “
He spoke softly letting the next words sink in “ is you “
The silence speaking volumes as you swallowed “ but — I ? “ your eyebrows furrowing “ so I should “
“ so in the end — in the end with your fight to destroy the selfless image these disgusting devils are trying to paint about me — the love of your life — you should show them how wrong they are “ his grip tightening on his phone
“ show them how Kira is not a monster — show them how smart Kira is y/n — show them how Kira’s not to be messed with “
“ so — I— this whole time “ your heart pounded “ I’ve been Kira “
“ yes “ he spoke softly “ I— I’ll be honest y/n it was times when I was scared of your alter ego— it became so big it was often times I wanted to apologize to Kira because I felt like I wasn’t doing enough in aid to society’s demise “
“ I— light you were always doing enough “ you cried “ I’m so sorry — I’m so sorry I made you feel this way I — “
“ it’s ok shh— shhh “ he calmed you over the phone watching as your tears caused your body to roll around the small cage in fear of yourself “ yknow what they want y/n “
“ I think I’m beginning to understand ? “
“ they want to end Kira “ he swallowed “ they want the power you harbor to not only end but for them to take it — they want to use it to not only hurt the bad guys— the villians but to hurt the good people too “
He shook his head as if you could see him “ but you don’t want that right — Kira doesn’t want that y/n ? You want the good to survive to live long you want the wrong to die with Kira right ? “
“ yes — yes I do - I can’t imagine what I would do if my book were to fall into the wrong hands light “
“ then the only way — the best way to do that would be to do what y/n “
“ to give up “ you said quietly “ to let Kira die as being a savior to others to let Kira die without the power falling into the wrong hands and not only taking myself and my power out of this world but innocent families — kids —- women along with me “
He smiled as you spoke “ light “
“ yes my love “
“ write my name “
#light yagami x you#light x you#light yagami x reader#light x reader#light yagami#death note x you#death note x reader#death note imagines#death note fandom#death note fanfiction#death note#l x light#l x reader#l x y/n#l x you
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I am curious to know, what do you like the most of the WH40k universe and what do you like the least?
(note: i got too excited and rambled on for a while, sorry about the really long answer lol)
HI ANON, I’ve just recently gotten into warhammer proper— the black library more specifically. I’ve only read eisenhorn (excluding magos because I wanted to read ravenor beforehand), and the first three horus heresy books so far. I know about some other key story beats just because I am online™ and I cannot avoid the older, more well-known lore. I have never played the tabletop game nor any of the video games (yet). SO it’s a bit challenging to answer this properly.
that said,
off the bat if i could answer this OUT of universe, my favourite thing would be Dan Abnett just as a writer because that guy rules. my least favourite would be how games workshop is seemingly allergic to good business decisions regarding the reprinting of their older books and that they have done nothing to stop scalpers going hog wild lol. ALSO how mcneill writes women and "exposition" (aka tell and re-tell the reader important info so they KNOW it is important rather than treating the reader as a thinking being who can understand subtext and remember the most basic of things from previous chapters/povs/books)
jokes aside, here’s some answers to your question from my current perspective (this is so hard so im gonna share a couple rather than just one each, as i couldn’t pick. most of my gripes with 40k are out of universe minus one woman thing which ill mention below):
I very much enjoy the structure of the inquisition and how many moving parts and types of people an inquisitor employs while on the job. creates a really compelling and vibrant group dynamic within a noir-ish subgenre (i guess? i couldnt figure out how exactly to word that). although i am incredibly biased as the eisenhorn series has coloured my view on the inquisition quite ardently on its own so who knows!!
speaking of Eisenhorn and his crew; glossia is a really cool secret code concept and i personally love it, but that could also just be the romantic in me enjoying the beautiful idea of using personal relationships and poetry off hand with no written cipher to encode your speech
I love how chaos and faith are written as Things; how all of humanity is a hair’s width away from being corrupted, as it is simply the human condition to surrender to faith and “our” base values when threatened or otherwise. It’s really beautiful and tragic
speaking of tragedy; the creation and existence of each of the primarchs and their legions of astartes is just absolutely brilliant. The Emperor creating astartes after the thunder warriors (i think?) to give his soldiers more humanity overall and THAT being the thing that is his downfall (or ascension depending on how you look at it ig) is so beautifully tragic.
Fav characters so far have been literally every main/supporting character in Eisenhorn as well as Loken and Tarvitz from HH. I also think Magnus is really interesting as a primarch so far. Poor guy though lol. I am aware of his uh... big oopsie
Hereticus is still my favourite book I’ve read so far within the black library. (SPOILER: Fischig staying true to himself and his faith and doing all he can to save his friend but not knowing he just contributed to the very thing he hates most (chaos) through Osma, resulting in Medea having to kill him after hailing him to their location to give him a chance to apologize and rejoin the band (against Eisenhorn’s will). And THEN as a last stand while Aemos dies, he and Eisenhorn work together to turn Fischig’s freshly murdered corpse into a perfect daemonhost to imprison Cherubael as a weapon/tool for Eisenhorn to use in the coming battle… END SPOILER) I am still not over it and I don’t think I ever will be. That book is fucking nuts. Abnett did not have to go that hard but I am grateful for it regardless
i hate the remembrancer Petronella Vivar with a burning passion, she is the worst written character in the series period (so far?)
characters I would beat over the head with a steel pipe: Osma, Heldane, Erebus, Eidolon, Lucius, and Petronella. The other characters in this list I can still appreciate as villains. Petronella though... I could probably list some others too but those are the ones who came to mind right away
Other than Petronella idk what I would say regarding what I like the least as of now. I love the other remembrancers (minus the way Karsky was written in false gods, but again this is a McNeill issue), so its literally just her I can't stand. I blame McNeill for this though, with his glaring inability to write a compelling woman whatsoever
also orks are silly i like them
i hope this is satisfactory to you, anon!! please excuse any errors, i answered this first thing in the morning and got way too excited about it lmao. ty for the ask : D
#i could probably go on#but i am tired#ty anon :3#warhammer 40k#wh 40k#40k#asks#thoughts#i complained about mcneill several during this and i think that says a lot
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Curious why you’re upset Smosh is silent on Palestine but not any other global war happening right now. Yes what’s happening in Palestine is horrible, but so is what’s happening in Ukraine, Haiti, Sudan, Iraq, etc. Palestine isn’t the only country under siege and it says a lot that people are getting upset about this one because they have a Jewish cast member who made some really uninformed tweets about supporting Israeli civilians and liked a few Zionist hinting tweets that he unliked. I can’t think of a single instance where Smosh got vocal or involved about a political war. Yes they talk about social politics but that’s very different from something as sensitive and intricate as an actual ongoing genocide.
did you not read entirely what i wrote or not comprehend it, anon? Like I know english isn't my first language, but I thought it was pretty clear.
USA is actively helping Israel with billions of the money that get from the tax of US citizens as well as weapons.
The cast are US citizen - idk maybe the fact that their money is funding genocide should concern them and they should speak against it as people who have a big platform?
I mean it'd be lovely if they speak on every single bad current event that's happening in the world but l don't think they'll be that invested.
But being invested in what your country is "helping" be done to another country perhaps is good to be your priority, especially for people who are so vocal about politics and voting. Their president is complicit in war crimes and genocide. They're on side with literal fascist.
Also as a whole US was an active participant in the creation of Israel. And they sure do great smear campaigns to keep people "at bay".
And the point about Noah - I've posted multiple times about his actions. He didn't only like a few zionist tweets. He bragged about his great-grandfather being part of the creation of Israel - which tell me, anon, how it was achieved? Ah, yes - through stealing the land of the people there and either killing them or making them refuges aka the Nakba. Which again was with the help of USA.
He had also twitted, a while ago, about going to his birthright trip. But you won't be able to find it now cus people back then told him that it is all propaganda to make jews "oh so proud of the jewish state". He covered his tracks and had deleted the tweets.
He was raised a zionist. He's not simply a misguided little boy. He's a grown man with access to so much information yet he chose to be ignorant for YEARS.
People who are trying to find excuses for him - just simply block me, cus I'm not supporting him until he makes it clear he had changed his views.
But honestly anon I don't expect that much from them - they didn't even address the whole situation with Matt Raub when it was happening and kept him working there until he left on his own (and that very much wasn't a defy issue cus they sure like to blame 99% of their fuck ups on them - yes, they were horrible but even before defy was there smosh certainly wasn't the wisest when it came to some issues). I'm just a person expressing their frustation.
Peace out
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I know a lot of Arcane/LoL JayVik meeting fics have the Viktor’s getting along pretty well to really well while the Jayce’s are on sight but I don’t think that’s the right dynamic. Don’t get me wrong, the Jayce’s would be total assholes to each other, but I don’t think the Viktor’s would get along at all.
Machine Heralds whole deal is that he hated himself so much that he tore his body and mind apart to remake himself into something completely new. That he would rather tear out his emotions then have to deal with the pain of existing as he was. And that this change altered his thinking so much that he can’t imagine anyone else wanting to exist as a human rather then a machine. He’ll do anything to achieve this goal including kill people and work with the Chembaron’s to keep moving forward. To him A!Viktor represents all the past parts of himself that he’s worked hard to destroy, everything that he hates about being human, weak and emotional.
On A!Viktor’s end, he’s a man who is intrinsically opposed to causing harm. The mere idea of people taking his work and making weapons causes him to lash out and fight against it. And while I think he’s sad that he’s dying, I don’t get the feeling he hates his body for being disabled. He doesn’t want to die but he’s not out to change himself for the sake of change. He’s empathetic and emotionally in tune with himself. A!Viktor would see the Machine Herald and see what he could become if he allowed himself to be only consumed by science. He hated himself for letting his experiment kill Sky, the idea of becoming someone who uses his creations to hurt people would be repulsive to him. He ran when Singed first revealed what he was willing to do to keep something alive, and what is the Machine Herald but a walking monument to the length’s of Singed’s ideals.
That’s not even getting into their differing views on Jayce. Before the incident on the bridge A!Viktor has almost complete faith in A!Jayce. He’s not shy about the fact that Jayce is probably the person he’s closest to, even from a non-shipping context. Jayce is the person who’s opinion matter most to him, no one else came to mind when Singed warned of the potential repercussions of his experiment.
The Machine Herald on the other hand is trying to actively erase JG’s importance in his own narrative. He protests far to hard that he never cared about him and that he doesn’t give a damn about him now. The idea that JG could be someone to trust and an equal doesn’t fit with in the story he tells about himself. JG can’t be important to him because that would mean acknowledging that JG hurt him enough to make him into the man he is now.
They would see each other as the worst aspects of themselves, the parts of themselves they’d rather cut off and hide then acknowledge. They’d be disappointed in each other on a deep level; one for how they’ve cut themselves from humanity, the other for wallowing in useless attachments.
Honestly I think A!Jayce would be far more empathetic and willing to listen to the Machine Herald then A!Viktor would be. It’s shown several times in the show that he’s always seeking outside opinions on what to do, mix with the forceful personality of MH and Jayce’s desire to save Viktor and you’ve got an interesting dynamic.
I don’t know this is just my opinion but I just find it interesting that people are more willing to overlook the contradictions in the Machine Herald and Arcane Viktor’s characters then the more obvious ones in the two Jayce’s. In the end it’s all for fun, and I’m not saying others are wrong but I wonder if anyone else thinks similarly. Let me know what you guys think.
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Sentry: A Post Mortem
Sentry was a character I played for over 2 years for a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. He was truly my first long term fictional character of my own creation. I never really thought of myself as a writer (still don't really as you'll probably agree with me if you read this whole thing) or a creative of any type for the longest time, eventually I opened up myself more to the idea of creation and art in 2020 (a lot happened personally and globally then). I feel compelled to write SOMETHING about him instead of just keeping it all in my head, because... well... he finally died.
Sentry's original concept was supposed to be something of a lone ranger/Goblin Slayer/Mandalorian/Kartos kind of a character. A bounty hunter whose purpose was lost to him but was being called to what we called the Etherium. Boring sure, not too much of a past beyond coming to the world without any sense of who he was and what to do and a past relationship with a character that my SO (the DM) came up with.
Long story short, he became a bit less robotic (funny because he was a warforged) and starts getting a personality. He eventually finds out he is an ever reincarnating champion (he had even seen some of his previous lives albeit briefly) of the Raven Queen. I don't know too much about other Warlocks, but I think the stereotype is that they don't want to be in service of whoever they are with. Sentry was not like that at all. He was a Paladin wearing the mask of a Warlock. Once he knew of his relationship with the Raven Queen, he knew he was a weapon to be used for... something. He didn't care, he knew he was being sent to remove a problem, and his god was going to lead him down the path to get him to that problem.
I really had to think about what Death meant to him, especially because he was champion of the Raven Queen. I had to make a choice for him. Either he would despair being trapped for eternity for a choice that essentially someone else made for him... or embrace it.
I chose to embrace it. For a few reasons.
First, one of my favorite artists (Flying Lotus) did a song about death (Never Catch Me). There's a lot of different ways to interpret the song but I basically broke it down to something along the lines of embrace the moments you have, keep fighting, and don't let the fear or sadness of death keep you down. At one point we kind of jokingly had to pick a song that we thought represented our characters, this was the one I chose.
Second, going on the whole Warlock stereotype, why not go against the grain and embrace that, yeah, in some ways he's being controlled, but he obviously so strongly wanted this in the past there must be some reason why he had chosen to do this. He needs to trust in his decisions and trust in himself.
Third, I think it's just the kind of headspace I wanted to be in when it came to my thoughts about death. Really what kind of sparked me to introduce more creativity in my life was because of the passing of my dog the year before. When it had happened of course I mourned, but I knew that if I really wanted to get over it I would need to change the rhythm of my life that I had danced to before into something new and spontaneous.
Especially with the whole reincarnation deal and whatnot, I would start to play Sentry more like the Doctor (from Doctor Who). A person that to a lot of people see as entirely mad and doesn't take things seriously when perhaps they should. Sentry would talk way less to an enemy than the Doctor would... so maybe not like the Doctor at all considering that aspect! I have my own feelings about Doctor Who that I'm not gonna get into, but one thing that always stuck out to me was The Tenth Doctor's regeneration scene (David Tennant to Matt Smith). He is pained, knows the metaphorical train is coming, and can't stop it. "I don't want to go." It really, I think, encapsulates all the incarnations feelings about regeneration, they all want more time to some degree, but Tennant's desire to keep going just sticks out so much more in comparison to others that it just stuck with me.
Combining all that I knew what would essentially be Sentry's last words. "I just wish I had had more time". Not to be said in an agonizing way or anything. No, he always knew the train was coming, he just didn't know when. To dwell on it, to be scared of it, run from it, it wouldn't make a difference. He of all people knew that, so why fight it? If it was meant for him, the only thing he would care about was that in his heart of hearts that he had done everything he could to try to prevent it.
And that's basically the end he got. He lived his life how he wanted even if he was ultimately just there to serve a god. A madman who remembered way too much about who he had been, essentially relived a few different past lives in an instant and becoming not really one person but multiple versions of his past self all wrapped up into one being that was just trying to do what he thought was right to keep himself from truly breaking, and someone who just wanted to get the most out of his life. He died protecting those that were closest to him (and one person he didn't really care about because he didn't know them but hey good for them). Probably the closest of whatever Sentry truly was, is, and will ever be across all his reincarnations.
I just wish I had gotten more time to spend with him.
youtube
Just one final end fact about Sentry and his fate beyond death (he's a reincarnating champion after all).
In the campaign we played at one point we get to see what everyone's soul looks like. It was kind of a throwaway for me but I had said his soul looked like a forest with an elk at the center of it.
Towards the end (for this one shot that I knew would be canonically the end for him though I didn't know if he would die) I thought back to his soul, and came to the conclusion that his "true" self is a time dragon that entered into the service of the Raven Queen. I thought this would work for a multitude of reasons (his unexplained obsession with dragons for one, reincarnation after death another), but I found artwork that had a time dragon's horns sort of look like an elk's to me.
His last time being with any of the characters (his son was the only one who got the privilege to see his true end) got to spend a moment of time with him in that forest before he was whisked away by his true self. I doubt anyone remembers that tidbit about seeing the character's souls but I thought it was a good way to close his chapter if anyone did. I only had to change things slightly to make it work!
So why did the time dragon enter service of the Raven Queen? Not sure yet. Maybe it loved her, maybe it just knew it was meant to do this. Maybe there's some grand scheme the dragon has to do all this. Only time will tell, but that's for another time.
Also why didn't we ever call him a wereforged? He was a werebear warforged hybrid!
#dnd#original character#character analysis#post mortem#spent way too long on this#tumblr text editor sucks
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Today feels like a good day for this
So there’s two main ways of playing your ttrpg characters that I’ve seen from my players and other people telling me about their games
1) protagonist - you want to be the main character. The most important, impressive one in the room, with all the good rolls and everything works all the time
Weirdly, I have also only seen this from the edgelords? And it’s definitely not a hard rule, but it’s a firm trend. So they also have to be the most tragic, with the angiest backstory, the biggest victims of every wrong but oh they’re never affected by it
They’re not scared of anything, they’ve always seen worse, they never show their real feelings and they’re always in total control
This can soooort of work? If you are playing the right game, with the right people? But it is inherently uncollaborative because one person can’t lead every scene all the time, and when the rolls don’t match the inner narrative people tend to get upset
It feels more personal when something doesn’t work out because your story becomes personal wish fulfilment, and it feels like you have failed rather than just an unlucky roll
2) feral toddler with barbies - your character is your sweet little bean and you Want To Fuck Them Up
This is the fandom whump style, putting the horse in the plinko machine, and every single time something bad happens it is a wonderful opportunity to mess up your baby
This is much less focused on the end result and much more focused on having the most fun in the journey, which tends to work really really well in bigger groups where crime can be committed
Other players have other barbies and you tell stories by smashing them together, making them kiss or fight or commit tax fraud, and sometimes one of the barbie’s heads flies off to a far corner and you need to improvise
Now, these are two ends of a spectrum, and neither of them have anything to do with the characters, the game, or the story being told
It’s about how you react to the little moments, to the pieces controlled by chance, or to when something doesn’t go the way you expected it to
You don’t control which one you start with, although newer players might find themselves leaning towards “protagonist”, especially if they play a lot of games or video games with a single Player Character
It’s familiar, it’s what we’re used to in single player, and it’s really fun for character creation to invent this super cool person you’re gonna run around and fight dragons (or space robots) with…
But it’s also more stressful in a multiplayer game where there is always more than one protagonist
Ensemble stories are hard (and trust me I write them enough to know). Not everyone is in every scene, and time is limited so you have to work together and give each other prompts to get the stories you want out
It’s still really important to pay attention to scenes your character isn’t in, and to remember that… yeah, you can ping another player out of game to say “hey ask about my Tragic Backstory/Cool Weapon/Long Lost Sibling”
And they can also tell you what to ask about to get to the cool bits of their character’s lore, which is Just As Good As Doing Yours! Everyone gets to be cool together!
It’s actually something we’ve butted up against as a full game of newbies a lot; people want to be asked about something, but in a natural way, so they can’t mention in game that they want to be asked. And of course, the dreaded “my character would never talk about this”
(They’d never want to, my darling. You, their player, both want to and Can Make Them by having fellow players or the dm apply stressors)
Or they focus on wanting their story told, and if someone else comes in with “oh I get it I also had a little brother” or “shit you also heard about that evil wizard? This is what I know” it feels like losing control of the scene
But it’s a multiplayer game. The scene’s still about you even if it’s not only about you, and if you find yourself playing in the protagonist style and getting frustrated… maybe what you actually want to do is write the story of this cool character
Writing is hard but you control the environment, the outcomes, and your special character is the center of the narrative in a way that doesn’t work for a multiplayer game
If you’re playing the game and getting frustrated a lot and writing doesn’t appeal, it might be time to look at your character through the fandom lens
Put them in silly situations for fun and profit
Make them uncomfortable and remember that the important thing isn’t what your character wants. It’s what you want
We don’t rotate the blorbo in our heads because it’s what the blorbo wants; if you love whumpy fan content, whump your heckin’ character
If you want to talk about something the character never would, fucking make them. Put them in a vulnerable spot and poke their weak points until it all comes spilling out
Because… yeah. There’s a line where “being in character” can very easily translate to “doing what the character wants to do”, and there is one critical problem when that line blurs:
If you always back away and close off from the parts of the story your character wouldn’t want to talk about, you don’t get to talk about those parts of the story
Because woe of woes, your fellow players might respect those boundaries! They might see that you’re backing away and assume it’s because you the player don’t wanna go there!
But you do, so bad, and it’s so hard to see how to break that cycle without breaking character once you’re inside
You need to open the doors that’ll put your character in the place they don’t want to be, but gets you those delicious vulnerable tragic scenes that lead to the real bonding
You will not roll the perfect crit every time for the perfect story, so the sooner you lean in the more fun failure is and the more you can work out your ideal balance of “well I rolled a one at intimidation and normally I’m very scary, but I guess I put my fist down on the table right in a blob of ketchup”
My earliest rule for our game was “I am not going to railroad your characters. You need to decide why they’re staying with the party because I will not force them to if they don’t want to, and you can roll a new one”
Cuz that’s the whole point: player agency matters so much more than character agency. It’s your character. You are their fandom baseline.
And you’re the one making the canon, so you can put everything you’ve ever wanted in it
Make that dramatic and edgy character who wants to be the center of attention, and then you the player subvert it to watch them flail
Make that stern and taciturn character who’s Hardened and Doesn’t Make Friends and then conspire with fellow party members for tiny scenes like them being handed a flower and staring at it for a minute, then keeping it
Make the silly, happy go lucky flirty character, and then wind them up until they crack and all the top secret Hidden Lore comes pouring out
Do bad things to your characters for fun and profit my loves
You aren’t the character, you’re the story teller, so work with everyone to tell the story you’ve always dreamed of
#ttrpg#queer dnd#big parties = more sharing the spotlight#the spotlight is great fun to share#even our edgy protagonists have the most fun when they get to do a bit of Edgy Rooftop Bonding together#big gay dnd problems
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Vehicle Overview
WOO! It’s been a minute since my last post here. Well, I can tell ya, it’s because this post was really, really complex to write. We’re talking about some heavy concepts, not just about gameplay. Let me get into it here.
So when I first drafted the vehicle rules, I’d already put the finishing touches on toonpunk first edition. It was my intention, once upon a time, to release these as an expansion pack; but that expansion pack ballooned up into a whole thing, and then there was a few parts of the core book I wanted to change, and now it’s just part of second edition. In a sense I prefer that: releasing it as part of a core book keeps it from being bolted-on. Players won’t have to dip back and forth between books, and there’s (theoretically) not going to be any dangling rules contradictions.
Vehicles have their own statlines and traits, which you guys are already familiar with from the way everything else works. I’ll let the text speak for itself once the book drops, but let’s talk for a moment about the philosophy behind this section. The idea behind this section stemmed out of a gameplay concept for which I’ve gotten a fair bit of flak. That being the idea of the “van guy”.
For as long as I’ve been developing toonpunk--even longer, actually, because I think this dates back to the first time I started playing roleplaying games--I was fascinated by the idea of the character who helps the crew tick along without being there on the frontlines. When you look at a typical roleplaying game setup everyone is some kind of hacker, gunslinger, ninja, wizard, or whatever. And those are all pretty exciting things to be, sure.
But you look a little closer at any gang of heroes or outlaws, and who do you see standing just behind them? You see Simon Pearson, Samwise Gamgee, Alfred Pennywise--someone who keeps the gang moving through their practical knowledge, while the “Heroic” stuff is mostly other people. Most of the time this critical supporting character stays back at the camp, or the lair, or wherever--so, in the case of a roving gang of cyberpunks, they are the “van guy”.
Everyone seems to agree those characters kick ass. So why don’t more games let you play as them? Well, that’s what brings us to this. Read after the break for more.
The idea of a largely passive and supporting character, who helps the more combat-oriented characters mostly in a logistical and medical capacity, is something that really appealed to me. So the vehicular customization and functionality of Toonpunk grew up out of the idea that this character would have a customizable safe haven, where they help the other characters--being an in the sky, their invisible hand--who would spend most of any given game session watching and waiting, coming in clutch with some obscure skill when they’re needed most. In the book, this role is called “The Founder of the Feast”.
My old co-conspirator pushed hard back on that character concept, categorically denying that anyone could ever find it fun. Me personally, I’m all about it. I love being kind of an invisible hand. Let me show you some of the tricks they get to play around with using the new vehicle section. On one hand, you’ve got things that let you support your teammates’ abilities, like this:
And then there’s some things that let you take center stage, like this.
But all of this is pretty simple. What made this part so difficult to write about? Well, because, simply put--it wasn’t enough, for me, for players to just drive cars. Toonpunk is a game about being a weird wacky character in an impossibly banal fucked-up world. One of the things I wanted--and this was another thing my old editor pushed back hard against--was for players to be able to play as talking cars and weapons. The hard part wasn’t drafting these rules on how vehicles would work; the hard part was figuring out how to integrate them into character creation.
Well, I did that part.
But then I had another, harder thing to do, which I haven’t actually done yet: which is figure out whether or not I actually should include this in the core manual. I like this idea a lot, mind you, there’s some fun stuff in here--we got acidic window-washer fluid, we got unhinging your grille and devouring people whole, we got doing really funny movements to tip-toe yourself through small places--but the core manual is already up to 210 pages and this’ll take on 30 more. So, for the last month and a half, I’ve been drafting, writing, and repeating this process in an attempt to make this thing slim enough to justify including in core but also robust enough to be worth doing.
And so far I’m not really satisfied with what I have. So this devlog ended up being late, and not having as much to show as I really would’ve liked. Sorry about that. But this does have a question, for all you out there in the audience.
Do YOU think this is worth putting into core, even if it beefs up the book? Or do you think this would be better served as a small supplement? I dunno, so...maybe you all do!
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